5, Swindler Yinduo

Gringotts stood in the middle of a commercial street, a very tall white building that was strikingly conspicuous compared to the surrounding structures.

No matter the world, banks were always imposing.

Two solemn-looking goblins stood before the gleaming bronze doors, dressed in crimson uniforms trimmed with gold. When they saw Hoffa approaching, both goblins gave a slight bow.

Legend had it that this was the very first shop in all of Diagon Alley.

The man and goblin entered Gringotts one after the other. Once inside, Yinduo, dressed in a suit with his head held high, completely shed his previous vulgar, sleazy appearance.

They passed through a second pair of silver doors, upon which several warning slogans were written.

Welcome, stranger, but beware

What becomes of boundless greed.

Those who take without toil

Shall surely face the harshest punishment.

So if you wish to take from our underground vaults

A fortune that never belonged to you,

Thief, you have been warned:

Beware lest you find not treasure, but retribution.

The slogans were written in Old English and carried a strong sense of age.

Even normally calm Hoffa could not keep his heart from churning like a bucket in a well when he saw those words. His first stop after being reborn was Gringotts, where he was going to swindle money for school. He really had gone mad.

But seeing Yinduo's supremely confident expression, Hoffa could only steady himself. Things had come to this; complaining was useless. Only by playing his role well could he earn more trust. In a bank, trust was money.

Yinduo said, "Your name is now—Silby Spencer. You are the descendant of a French noble family. Understand?"

Hoffa mocked, "You really came well prepared."

After passing a group of goblins who seemed to be weighing gemstones every moment of every day, Hoffa and Yinduo arrived at the counter.

Yinduo moved his lips and whispered.

"Silby does not speak English. From now on, leave everything to me. Understand?"

Hoffa nodded speechlessly.

Yinduo looked up at a bald old goblin wearing spectacles behind the counter.

"This guest has come from France. He represents his family in discussions with us regarding investment matters. This is proof of the Spencer family's overseas properties."

As he spoke, Yinduo produced a sheet of paper from nowhere and handed it over.

The old goblin looked solemn. Folding his fingers together, he first looked Hoffa up and down, then gave him a slight nod.

Hoffa returned the gesture with a restrained nod.

The old goblin then took out a magnifying glass and carefully studied Yinduo's paper.

When Hoffa saw that paper, his teeth itched with hatred. Yinduo had clearly prepared for this long ago. Perhaps he had intended from the start to rope Hoffa into scamming money, which was why he had deliberately gambled away Hoffa's tuition.

After examining the paper, the old goblin gestured, and a goblin secretary behind him came over.

The old goblin said, "Take them to Room 103."

The goblin secretary immediately nodded in acknowledgment. He led Hoffa to Gringotts' elevator and pressed a few buttons. The old-fashioned elevator with sliding doors then floated up on its own, rising toward the upper floors.

Hoffa remembered that Harry Potter and Hagrid had gone underground when they first came to Gringotts, while he and Yinduo were going up. The unfamiliarity of it all left him deeply uneasy.

At the tenth floor, the elevator opened.

Yinduo immediately bowed at the doorway and, with the manner of an attendant, let Hoffa go first to emphasize his noble status.

Hoffa sneered inwardly. A professional swindler indeed—he even put on a complete performance.

He did not refuse either. Imitating the aristocrats he had seen in movies in his previous life, he walked out with reserved dignity.

The corridor on that floor carried the fragrance of fine roses. Red carpet covered the floor, and gilded magical lights shone on both walls. It was exceptionally luxurious.

The goblin secretary escorted Yinduo and Hoffa into Room 103, then withdrew.

It was broad daylight outside, yet flames burned in the room's fireplace. The walls were covered in silverware and oil paintings. The room was dim, but lavish.

"Mr. Ralfa, look who I have brought this time."

Yinduo cleared his throat cheerfully and spoke in a ringing voice.

Before the fireplace, a wheelchair turned around.

Sitting in it was a goblin. An old goblin. An ancient goblin on the verge of death.

He was draped in a red blanket, his head trembling slightly, his nose as long as Hoffa's forearm.

Hoffa swore he had never seen a goblin so old and so crippled. He was practically the Stephen Hawking of goblins.

Yinduo walked over and loudly kissed the old goblin on his nearly bald forehead.

"Mwah!"

Hoffa felt a chill run down his spine.

The old goblin split his mouth in a grin and pointed toward a red sofa nearby.

Hoffa quietly sat down.

Yinduo went to a cabinet at the side and, as if he owned the place, took out a glass of red wine.

As he poured, he said, "Ralfa, the French wizarding world is facing problems now. Germany's ambitions are unstoppable. Mr. Spencer here is willing to mortgage some of his family's properties in France in exchange for the British Ministry of Magic's protection."

Ralfa muttered, "Alarmist nonsense, Yinduo. You are always like this..."

His voice was as hoarse as a broken gong.

Yinduo handed over the parchment. "Believe it or not, this is the deed. Take a look."

Ralfa took it and examined it, then muttered, "Delphina Spencer... it truly is ownerless land." The old goblin glanced at Hoffa. "Though I do not know this gentleman's relationship with Miss Delphina..."

Yinduo patted his chest in assurance. "Her brother, her blood brother, the Spencer family's sole heir. Rest assured, there is absolutely no problem."

The old goblin nodded.

"Only the price..."

Yinduo raised one finger.

"Ten thousand Galleons, plus a security agreement. That is the price. If it works out, you can obtain vast tracts of land, including the Port of Bordeaux, with the transfer completed within two years."

The old goblin's cloudy eyes lit up. He looked at Hoffa without speaking.

Yinduo said, "Do not worry. He does not speak English."

The old goblin immediately began haggling with Yinduo.

As he watched the two argue in front of him, Hoffa smiled on the outside while cursing inwardly. Yinduo was a beast who lied without even blinking. How had someone like him earned a decent evaluation in Dumbledore's eyes?

Dumbledore was one of the few wise men in the world of Harry Potter. Could this goblin really be so shameless that he had deceived even Dumbledore... or was Dumbledore simply not old enough yet? Had he suffered badly at Yinduo's hands, only to become so wise afterward?

At last, the haggling ended.

The old goblin looked at Hoffa expectantly.

With a dark expression, Yinduo came to Hoffa's side and whispered in his ear, "Is that old fellow's nose funny? Nod for yes, shake your head for no."

Hoffa silently stared at the old goblin's enormous bulbous nose for a while. Finally, under the old goblin's expectant gaze, he nodded gravely.

The old goblin revealed a satisfied smile.

Yinduo stood up and cursed, "Damn it, five thousand it is. You old bastard, even Grandet was not as vicious as you!"

Ding!

With a crisp chime.

Ten minutes later, Hoffa and Yinduo stood at the exit of Gringotts. A thick gold coin flipped between Yinduo's slender fingers.

Carrying a small leather bag, he looked at Hoffa and smiled. "So? I told you, goblins never lack money."

Hoffa looked at the little leather bag. It did not appear large, but it had been enchanted with an Extension Charm and contained at least five thousand Galleons.

Five thousand Galleons—probably even Harry Potter's little vault did not hold that much money.

Hoffa asked, "So those property deeds were all forged by you?"

Yinduo shrugged. "What else? Did you really think you were some French noble?"

Hoffa sighed. "Aren't you afraid those people will come after you? This is blatant fraud."

"Kid, if your vision is long enough, you will never have to worry about Galleons."

Yinduo grinned and strode ahead.

"The times are about to change. Before those greedy fellows can complete their business transfers, all that land will become scorched earth. All prosperity will vanish into smoke. By then, whether the deeds are real or fake will be completely meaningless."

Hoffa stared at Yinduo's back in shock.

If he had been an ordinary eleven-year-old, he would not have understood a word Yinduo meant. But Hoffa knew that World War II was imminent. France would be among the first to fall and become a war zone.

Forget Yinduo selling fake deeds to the goblins—even if he had brought them the deed to Versailles Palace, those goblins would never get it. This guy was simply exploiting the gap in time to profit from war.

Still confused, Hoffa hurried after him.

"Hey, how did you know? What makes you so certain there will be a war in the future? And what if those people discover it before the war begins?"

Yinduo turned around, and a strange gleam flashed across his face.

"Of course I know. I am a goblin from Heligoland, Germany. As for being discovered, do not worry. No one would dare go to Hogwarts to trouble a first-year student."

As he spoke, Yinduo tossed a small cowhide pouch directly to Hoffa.

Hoffa caught it, and his hand sank under its weight.

When he opened it, it was full of gleaming Galleons.

Yinduo said, "One Galleon is worth seventeen Sickles, and one Sickle is worth twenty-nine Knuts. I gave you one hundred Galleons, far more generous than Hogwarts' student aid. It is enough for you to buy some books and a wand, and they will not even be secondhand."

After playing with the wizarding coins for a while, Hoffa raised his head with a trace of annoyance.

"We worked together. Why did you get five thousand Galleons while I only got one hundred?"

Yinduo blinked. "But you did not do anything."

Hoffa pursed his lips without speaking and tucked the little leather pouch close against his body.

One Galleon could be exchanged for five pounds. Converted into the RMB of his previous era, it was worth forty-five yuan.

One hundred Galleons was four thousand five hundred yuan. For him right now, it was already a huge sum.

Hoffa liked money, but he also knew it was better not to take too much ill-gotten wealth. This time, he had taken such a risk only because he had no other choice. Even if it killed him, he would not do this again. He had no desire to test Gringotts' power.

Returning to Malkin's clothing shop, Yinduo reclaimed his gold watch under old Malkin's unwilling gaze.

Hoffa, meanwhile, took off his fancy clothes and changed back into his filthy garments, like Cinderella returning to her original form after midnight.

Fortunately, he had bought school robes, and they were not secondhand.

After buying his school robes, Hoffa went with Yinduo to Flourish and Blotts and purchased his Hogwarts textbooks. Although he desperately wanted to open them and start reading at once, he knew the time was not right.

By the time he had wandered through more than half of Diagon Alley, the exploration progress of the secret realm in Hoffa's mind had already reached 45 percent.

As long as he raised it another five percent, he could receive the system's first reward: one-third of a spell fragment.

But compared with spell fragments, there was something that excited and thrilled him even more.

A wand.

The thing he had dreamed of.

Led by Yinduo, Hoffa arrived at the shop that would make Harry Potter fans all over the world green with envy: Ollivanders wand shop.

Just as described in the books, despite being one of the most mysterious shops in the world, the place was remarkably inconspicuous. A tiny storefront, a sign with peeling gold paint, and dusty display windows.

Just as he reached the entrance, Yinduo suddenly stretched out an arm and stopped the eager Hoffa.

Hoffa immediately understood why.

A massive magical surge suddenly came from within the shop.

It was accompanied by wildly excited laughter.

"That's right, just like that, just like that!!"