Troublemaker

At night, North Street in Los Angeles is probably one of the liveliest places.

The road is lined with ancient Chinese-style buildings, and strings of festive red lanterns hang on the bluestone path.

Along the street, which stretches for about a kilometer, there are vendors selling chicken wings and grilled gluten. Rows of uniformly styled food carts line up one after another as they head south.

As soon as the red lights come on at night, the cobblestone streets become bustling with people.

In a traditional Chinese alleyway south of Beida Street, a small courtyard has a sign at its entrance: High-price buyback of Moutai, cordyceps, ginseng, gold...

An old man in the courtyard moved a long bench to the doorway, and he stood on it, gently wiping the dust off the red lanterns at the entrance with a towel.

What's the price of gold today?

A hoarse voice sounded behind the old man, who turned around and grinned, "Kid, it's you again!"

Qing Chen was wearing a hoodie with his hands in the front pockets of his sweatshirt, making it difficult to see his face unless you looked closely.

However, the old man remembered him vividly, after all, he had gotten a great deal last time, so he recognized him after just a quick look.

Qing Chen calmly said, "I've already asked around. Even without an invoice, you still have to pay me the normal gold price. That's how pawnshops always do it."

The old man wasn't ashamed at all. He smiled and said, "Who told you not to know your identity? Pawnshops all have surveillance cameras, and they're all registered with the police station. It's easy to trace your background. You have to pay the price for selling stolen goods. I've taken the risk too, haven't I?"

"400 grams," Qing Chen without hesitation. "I advise you to think carefully before answering me the price. If you give me a low price, I'll turn around and leave."

The old man chuckled and said, "Don't rush, don't rush. Gold is 390 today, how about I give you 300?"

Qing Chen turned to leave, but the old man quickly jumped off the bench and grabbed him, saying, "Young man, why are you so impatient? 320, that's the most you can do!"

"Okay," Qing Chen, entering the courtyard directly. "I want cash."

The old man followed behind him and said, "I don't have that much cash. If you insist on cash, I can only give you 100,000."

Qing Chen sneered, "A place that specializes in receiving stolen goods wouldn't have a hundred thousand or so in cash? I don't believe it, old man. If you try to cheat and lower the price again, this deal is off."

"Alright," the old man thought to himself, "This kid's not so easy to fool. Let's inspect the goods first."

Qing Chen took out the gold bars, and the old man tested their density in water using a suspended method. After confirming that there was no problem, he went directly to the backyard, opened the safe, took out 128,000 in cash, and put it into a black plastic bag.

"You're not going to count them one by one again, are you?" the old man asked doubtfully.

Then he watched as Qing Chen examined the banknotes against the light one by one, finally pulling out five. "Exchange them, thank you."

"Hiss," the old man had just said that the young man was impatient, but now he was truly shocked by the other party's patience.

He reluctantly took out five more sheets and slapped them into Qing Chen's hand. "I'm really impressed. I've never seen anyone as meticulous as you before."

Qing Chen replied expressionlessly, "I've never seen such a cunning old man as you before."

After saying that, he left the courtyard without hesitation.

This time, he will give the money directly to Jiang Xue, and then a small portion will be transferred to his WeChat account gradually by her for payment.

If anyone asks, Jiang Xue can say it's the tutoring fee Qing Chen paid to tutor Li Tongyun.

The other large portion was deposited into a separate bank card opened by the other party, which Qing Chen carried with him for use.

Jiang Xue is a legitimate Time Walker and doesn't need to worry about being suspected, but he is different. A large sum of money suddenly appeared in his account from an unknown source, and anyone with a keen eye could easily find out that something was wrong with him.

He must be careful until the owner of that Demon Stamp surfaces.

When Li Tongyun Qing Chen watching TV in his newly rented apartment. Seeing him, she excitedly exclaimed, "Brother Qing Chen, the curtains in this apartment are all electric! And you can control all the lights with your phone. The toilet is electric too! We even have a year's subscription to the TV's premium VIP program, so we can watch so many cartoons!"

Qing Chen was both amused and exasperated. No matter how precocious the girl was, she was still a child after all. So what attracted her most was actually a year's worth of TV membership...

At this moment, Jiang Xue was tidying up the house, and she replaced all the bedding with new ones.

Li Tongyun jumped off the sofa and pitifully hugged her mother's waist. "Mom, let's stay here tonight and stay with Brother Qing Chen."

Jiang Xue retorted angrily, "This is your brother Qing Chen's newly rented house. You think you can just move in like that?"

"Mom," Li Tongyun suddenly said, "You've made up all the bedding in both bedrooms!"

"Oh!" Jiang Xue blushed immediately, feeling embarrassed at being exposed.

In fact, although they are not related by blood, they are now like family, with a pure feeling that is not mixed with fame, fortune, or desire.

Whether it's Jiang Xue, Li Tongyun, or Qing Chen, they were all just pitiful people in this world.

Because of a chance encounter that led to time travel, their fates were suddenly intertwined.

Jiang Xue has experienced danger, but in the end, she is just a weak woman, so she is afraid and insecure.

While tidying up this house, I somehow ended up tidying up both rooms. I even secretly thought that if I was ever scared, I would bring Xiaoyun to stay here.

However, Li Tongyun saw through his thoughts far too quickly.

Qing Chen quickly said, "Aunt Jiang Xue, the apartments across the hall are bigger than our 101 and 201. It would be a waste for me to live in a two-bedroom apartment by myself, so you can have the master bedroom. You can stay there whenever you want."

Li Tongyun looked at Jiang Xue: "Look, even Brother Qing Chen said that!"

"Alright then, but you'll only stay here for one night. Don't cause any more trouble tomorrow, okay?" Jiang Xue agreed.

The next day at noon, Qing Chen went home early after school, waiting for the agent and Qing Guozhong to arrive.

Countdown: 8:00:00.

Around 4 p. m., it became noisy outside.

Qing Guozhong's impatient voice came through. "Didn't I already tell you? This house is mine. I can sell it whenever I want. You just need to invite your clients over. As long as the price is right, I'll go and process the transfer of ownership immediately."

The agent complained, "The key issue is that if your son doesn't want to move, it will be very troublesome even if the property is transferred. The buyer will then say that our agency is unreliable."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this today!" Qing Guozhong said confidently. In his mind, his son had always been submissive and would never oppose him.

Qing Chen listened to everything silently until the other person entered the room, at which point he pushed the door open and left.

He wanted to settle things today, so he didn't want Qing Guozhong to know where he would live from now on.

Otherwise, the other party might still come looking for you because they owe gambling debts.