50: Chapter 50 Selling the Gold Bracelet

The plump woman arrived by the statue and glanced at where she had just placed her bracelet. Oh! It was gone.

"Ah!" the plump woman cried out, her head and body spinning around like a top.

She looked left and right, but she simply couldn't find her heirloom patina bracelet.

"Where's my bracelet? Where's my huge bracelet?" Sweat beaded on the plump woman's forehead in her panic. She was also filled with self-reproach; she shouldn't have felt the bracelet was in the way and taken it off to place by the inconspicuous base of the statue.

She was one of the better dancers in her small group, usually standing in the front row during their evening dances. That was why she had chosen to place the cumbersome bracelet by the statue's base; it hadn't left her sight, so she hadn't been afraid of losing it.

However, after the dance ended, a few close friends had approached her to ask about the key movements. Loving to play the teacher, she had been incredibly eloquent, speaking incessantly and without pause...

Well, in her excitement, she had temporarily forgotten the bracelet's existence and followed the crowd out of the park.

It wasn't until she was almost out of the park and reached into her bag for her car keys that she noticed something felt off, suddenly realizing she had forgotten her bracelet.

She hurriedly ran back, only to find that her huge bracelet was actually gone.

"How could it be gone? I remember putting it right here!" The plump woman stomped her feet in frustration after circling the statue three times.

At the same time, she also began brainstorming.

Who took it?

Who had the chance to take it?

Who passed by the statue just now?

Who was acting unusual?

Unfortunately, the scope of her suspicion was limited to her small group from start to finish. She had no idea that the true culprit had already driven away from Tianfu Park.

As for whether Chen Sheng would feel any psychological burden for taking the plump woman's gold bracelet?

Sorry! He really didn't.

The situations were different. Ms. Ma's 150,000 yuan was life-saving money, but as for the plump woman's gold bracelet—given how she disturbed the peace with her square dancing every day—taking it was practically doing her a favor by helping her accumulate some merit.

Chen Sheng first drove to a jewelry store and walked inside.

"Miss! Do you buy back gold here?"

"Sir, we do buy back gold here." The Young Lady Shop Assistant said with a blossoming smile, "Sir, please follow me this way."

It was only because gold prices had skyrocketed in the last two years that people selling gold jewelry could enjoy VIP treatment.

The Shop Assistant led Chen Sheng to the processing counter and informed the staff there of his intention. The staff member said, "Sir, I'm not sure how much gold you wish to sell. We need to inspect the goods first."

Chen Sheng placed the gold bracelet on the counter, his hand still covering it as he asked, "What is your purchase price?"

"Sir, I need to check the purity of the gold before I can give you a quote," the Shop Assistant explained again.

Chen Sheng pulled his hand away from the gold bracelet and made a gesture for them to proceed.

The Shop Assistant took the gold bracelet, weighed it in her hand first, and then placed it on an electronic scale. The scale immediately displayed a weight of 43.2 grams.

Seeing the weight, the Shop Assistant used tweezers to place the bracelet into a container. With a sizzling sound, the originally dull yellow bracelet slowly released an orange-gold luster.

After about ten seconds, the Shop Assistant used the tweezers to take the bracelet out of the container. After examining it carefully against the light, she placed it on a mold and used a blowtorch to heat it.

Once one end was glowing red, she used the tweezers to place the bracelet into a new container. After it had completely cooled, she took it out and placed it on a tray.

Then, she took out a magnet-like object and rubbed it against the bracelet. Seeing no reaction, she placed it on the electronic scale again. This time, the weight was 41.7 grams.

The Shop Assistant immediately explained, "Sir, since there was a lot of grime attached to the surface of the bracelet, it's normal for there to be some weight loss."

Seeing Chen Sheng nod, the Shop Assistant finally gave the inspection result. "Sir, there's no problem with the bracelet; it's solid gold. Do you have the purchase invoice for it?"

Chen Sheng said calmly, "It was bought a long time ago. The invoice is long gone."

"Alright, sir. Today's gold price is 514.7 yuan per gram. Since you cannot provide a valid purchase invoice, by regulation, we need to charge a fee of 35 yuan per gram. That means we can offer you 479.7 yuan—let's say a purchase price of 480 yuan per gram. What do you think?"

Chen Sheng asked curiously, "What if I had the invoice?"

The Shop Assistant replied as if victory was in her grasp, "If you could provide the purchase invoice and it was bought from our chain, we would only charge a buy-back fee of 10-15 yuan per gram. If it wasn't from our chain, we would charge 15-25 yuan per gram."

Chen Sheng twitched the corner of his mouth.

Why did he feel like he was fencing stolen goods?

"Fine! Let's go with 480 yuan per gram."

"Alright!" The Shop Assistant picked up a calculator and, after a flurry of clicking, continued, "The bracelet weighs 41.7 grams in total. Calculated at 480 yuan per gram, that's a total of 20,016 yuan. Would you like a bank transfer or cash?"

"I didn't expect it to be worth twenty thousand." This was something Chen Sheng hadn't anticipated.

However, he remained calm on the surface and said, "Bank transfer."

Chen Sheng then provided his bank card details.

Ding~

[China Construction Bank: Your UnionPay card account ending in 8677 received a transfer of 20,016 yuan on July 9th at 21:42. Current balance: 44,948.79 yuan.]

"Received!" Chen Sheng waved his phone, bid farewell to the Shop Assistant, and left the jewelry store. He turned into a nearby cake shop, bought a slice of mousse cake on clearance, and then drove home.

By the time he got home, it was nearly 11 PM. Chen Sheng put the cake in the fridge, carefully entered the bedroom to grab a change of clothes, and took a quick shower to wash off the sweat. Returning to the bedroom, he held An Xiaonuan and drifted off to sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next day at seven in the morning. Glancing at the still-sleeping An Xiaonuan, Chen Sheng slowly pulled his limbs away and cautiously slipped out of the bedroom.

After leaving the bedroom, Chen Sheng breathed a long sigh of relief. He first took the cake out of the fridge and placed it in the center of the dining table, then used what materials he had at home to decorate the table a bit.

That's life! There should be little surprises and a sense of ceremony.

After finishing all this, Chen Sheng walked through the living room to the balcony. Closing the sliding door between the balcony and the living room, he lit a cigarette in his little private sanctuary. After taking a satisfying drag, he finally opened the system interface.

host: Chen Sheng

Level: 1

Upgrade EXP: 22/100

Unread Intelligence: 1

Seeing only one unread piece of intelligence, Chen Sheng already had a guess. Following the pattern, today's intelligence was most likely useless.

However, the reality...

...