I am dying of old age, and I have awakened to the character of longevity.

Dusk.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

After Chunlan left, Xie An practiced the Five Animal Frolics for another afternoon, working up a heavy sweat.

[Five Animal Frolics: Combination of Movement and Stillness (99/100)]

[Remaining Lifespan: Fifteen Years]

Although he only improved the progress by two points, the feeling of gradual progress made Xie An happy.

"There's only one point of progress left to break through. No need to rush, it will happen sooner or later."

With the Longevity constitution, there's no need to worry about not breaking through.

It's just a matter of spending more time.

Dong, dong, dong.

A knock on the door announced He Chunli bringing dinner.

Today, Xie An didn't ask He Chunli to buy extra ingredients, so he could only eat the pawnshop's regular fare.

A bowl of white rice, a bowl of stir-fried tofu, and half a bowl of braised pork.

"Where's Zhang Bing?"

He Chunli placed the food on the table while saying, "Brother Zhang went to the Li residence this afternoon to find the eldest son-in-law, and just came back. Oh, right… Brother Zhang also sneaked into the back kitchen just now. He looked a little flustered when I saw him."

As soon as Xie An heard this, he realized something.

He didn't start eating but waited until the pawnshop closed late at night before secretly sneaking into the back kitchen with his dinner, finding the wooden barrel for kitchen waste.

He saw three rats stealing leftovers in the barrel.

Xie An dumped the dinner inside. The three rats were slightly startled, then began to devour the fresh food, making excited "squeak, squeak" sounds.

Xie An stared intently at the rats' every move.

Three months ago, Xie An keenly noticed Zhang Bing's restless and scheming nature, and specifically asked He Chunli to pay attention to Zhang Bing's actions.

Today, He Chunli also told Xie An about Chunlan's conversation with Zhang Bing in the pawnshop.

Adding that He Chunli said Zhang Bing went to the Li residence this afternoon to find the eldest son-in-law and ran into the kitchen in a panic…

Combining all the information, Xie An felt that Zhang Bing might be cornered and desperate.

Better safe than sorry.

Sure enough—

The three rats suddenly suffered severe stimulation, becoming panicked and running around wildly, screaming and roaring. In no time, they kicked their legs, foamed at the mouth, and convulsed… They died.

Hiss!

Even though Xie An was mentally prepared, he still felt a chill and lingering fear when he saw this scene.

Fortunately, he was careful, otherwise… it wouldn't have been the rats dying tonight, but himself.

"Your master is still your master!"

"My good disciple, learn to be a better person in your next life."

Xie An didn't fly into a rage but came to the pawnshop late at night to look through the pawn tickets.

Although Xie An hadn't been to the pawnshop in the past three months, he knew through He Chunli's eyes and ears that Zhang Bing's attire was becoming more and more expensive, and he even had money to give gifts to the Li family's son-in-law.

"Why are the pawn prices fluctuating so much?"

Generally speaking, pawnshops are a combination of antique shops and banks from his previous life. The income is mainly divided into four parts: lending and collecting interest, disposing of items, handling fees, and appreciation of items.

Lending is the same as in his previous life, just with high interest rates, three percent per month.

The so-called disposal of items means that if the borrower cannot redeem the collateral within the agreed time limit, the pawnshop can dispose of it on its own, profiting from it.

Some collaterals will appreciate over time, and even if the pawner redeems them, they need to add money according to the current market price. This part belongs to the appreciation business.

In addition, pawnshops need to charge a certain handling fee for handling pawn business.

It can be seen that the pawnshop is a foolproof business.

There are only a few pawnshops in Wuciao Town, and most of them do business with acquaintances, emphasizing honest management.

After all, they are all neighbors, and everyone sees each other often. If the reputation is ruined, the pawnshop will not be able to continue operating.

When Xie An looked through the pawn tickets, he found that the prices of several antique collaterals were seriously higher than the market price.

For example, a copper kettle had a pawn price that reached an astonishing twenty taels. And this copper kettle was placed on the counter. Xie An had seen it… Although the simulation technique was extremely clever, it was artificially aged and not worth anything at all.

The shopkeeper, Chen Yuan, was not proficient in appraisal and naturally couldn't see the clues.

But Xie An, who possessed superb appraisal skills, could see it.

Adding up all these abnormal pawn tickets, there were more than two hundred taels!

In summary, a fact emerged in Xie An's mind:

Zhang Bing embezzled.

The amount was astonishing!

Xie An would need to not eat or drink for ten years to earn this much. As for Zhang Bing… he might not be able to earn this much money in his entire life.

If he reported it to Master Li, with Zhang Bing's status as a slave, he would probably not escape the fate of being beaten to death by Master Li.

Thinking of this, Xie An couldn't help but shake his head.

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"No wonder he took the risk of poisoning me, fearing that I would discover his embezzlement after re-accepting the pawnshop's work…"

A person just walked away like this.

Perhaps Zhang Bing really thought Xie An was dead for sure, and coupled with currying favor with the Li family's son-in-law, he believed that he would be the future appraiser.

But he never expected that Xie An… would come back!

But Zhang Bing dared to embezzle two hundred taels as soon as he made a move. Wasn't he too bold? It always felt like something was wrong…

Xie An put away the pawn tickets, extinguished the oil lamp, and left the pawnshop, but didn't return to the small house in the backyard to sleep. Instead, he went out again that night…

…

Two days later.

"Master, Brother Zhang is about to be beaten to death by Master Li."

He Chunli hurriedly knocked on Xie An's door early in the morning.

Xie An followed He Chunli to the backyard of the Li residence. As soon as he entered, he heard Master Li's furious roar and Zhang Bing's miserable wails.

Many of the Li residence's maids and servants gathered around, and even the pawnshop's shopkeeper, Chen Yuan, was among them.

Xie An walked to Chen Yuan's side, "Old Chen, what happened?"

Chen Yuan sighed, "Hey, yesterday Chen He brought Appraiser Liu Jiang to the pawnshop to buy a copper kettle at a high price, but Liu Jiang discovered it was a fake. I checked a little and found out that Zhang Bing was embezzling. He embezzled a total of two hundred taels. Then I told Master Li… I really didn't expect that Zhang Bing, a slave, would dare to bite the hand that feeds him. He deserves to be beaten to death…"

Speaking of this, Chen Yuan became angry, "It made me get scolded by Master Li. Fortunately, Old Xie, you've been recuperating recently, otherwise you wouldn't have escaped a beating."

Xie An showed a regretful expression and saw through the crowd that Zhang Bing was being whipped until his skin was torn and flesh rolled, which was shocking. He wanted to speak several times, but a piece of rag was stuffed in his mouth, and he couldn't say anything at all.

Master Li naturally wouldn't do the beating himself. Instead, he handed it over to his son-in-law… that is, the eldest son-in-law Lu Wei in Chunlan's words.

"You dog thing who bites the hand that feeds you, my Li family kindly took you in, but you embezzled my Li family's money. A lowly slave deserves to be beaten to death."

The son-in-law Lu Wei raised the wooden stick and slammed it hard on Zhang Bing's back.

Crack!

The crisp sound of bones breaking made everyone around tremble.

In the end, Zhang Bing was beaten to death by the Li family's son-in-law, and two servants rolled him up in a straw mat and carried him away.

Many servants and maids were so frightened that their faces turned pale. Especially He Chunli, who had lived with Zhang Bing for ten years, living in the same dormitory, and couldn't help but feel some emotion. Seeing Zhang Bing's fate, he became more and more aware of the humble and worthless lives of slaves.

Obviously, Master Li deliberately called everyone over to serve as a warning.

Xie An was undoubtedly the calmest one among them.

Only Xie An knew best how this happened…

When going out, Xie An seemed to have thought of something and asked Chen Yuan, "Old Chen, who stuffed the rag in Zhang Bing's mouth?"

Xie An had sharp eyes and knew the inside story. He could see that Zhang Bing had something to say before he died, but his mouth was stuffed.

Chen Yuan said, "The eldest son-in-law brought two guards to the pawnshop early in the morning to tie up Zhang Bing, and stuffed the rag in Zhang Bing's mouth at that time…"

Xie An's heart tightened.

The eldest son-in-law… Lu Wei.