The daughter of a noble family is reborn, and she is doted on by her godmother.

Chapter 109 Pawn Shop

"Excuse me, Mr. Yun, but let me make a guess: you've discovered some of Marquis Ankang's secrets, which is why they're targeting you?"

Qian Lanlan spoke very softly, with a slightly playful tone, asking in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

Yun Yuke was startled, but remained calm and first sensed the surrounding situation to confirm that there was nothing unusual nearby.

"Miss Qian, what do you mean by that?" Yun Yuke didn't say anything at first, she just asked.

Qian Lanlan smiled slightly, "Mr. Yun is indeed calm. Alright, after all, I took the initiative to seek cooperation with you, so I definitely need to show you my trump cards first."

"Miss Qian, what you're saying..."

Qian Lanlan waved her hand and took out a stack of receipts.

The first item is a sales record for a piece called a plain white porcelain vase, marked with the Qianji Antique Shop logo.

The second document was a pawn order for a plain porcelain vase. However, it wasn't issued by Qianji Pawnshop, but by Miaochun Pawnshop, a small pawnshop in the north of Changgan City. According to the record on the document, the porcelain vase had already been redeemed.

The subsequent receipts almost always appeared in pairs.

An antique shop sells a jade pendant, and Miao Chun Pawnshop has a jade pendant that is pawned and then redeemed.

There are probably a dozen or so cases like this.

Yun Yuke looked at these documents and had some ideas in mind.

At least in the current situation, the prices of goods sold in antique shops are generally not very high. However, at pawn shops, the prices are usually several times higher.

Judging from this, Miaochun Pawnshop must have significantly increased the prices of these antiques under certain circumstances.

However, it's still unclear why this Ms. Qian wanted to show him this kind of thing.

"Excuse me, Miss Qian, what does this mean? I don't quite understand." Yun Yuke deliberately feigned ignorance and asked the young woman.

"Let me explain, Mr. Yun."

Qian Lanlan took out a pair of receipts and explained them in detail.

"Boss Yun, look at this. My shop gets a batch of simple and pretty ordinary porcelain pieces almost every year. They're not expensive, just for ordinary people to buy as toys. Like this one recorded here."

Qian Lanlan tapped on the record above. "My father has a small workshop that produces these kinds of bottles. They are very cheap and not of any high quality, so you can get them for ten taels of silver."

"Hmm, it seems the price is indeed reasonable."

Qian Lanlan's smile deepened. "Boss Yun, take another look at this receipt. It's a pawn receipt from Miaochun Pawnshop."

"I just saw the pawn order. It seems to be for a plain porcelain vase, an antique from the previous dynasty. So the pawnshop is asking for 1,500 taels of silver, and it will be forfeited if it is not redeemed within three months."

Qian Lanlan nodded. "Yes, Boss Yun, what would you think if I told you that these two porcelain vases are actually the same thing?"

Yun Yuke thought for a moment and then spoke.

"If these two orders are actually for the same item, then isn't the appraisal level of this pawnshop a bit too poor? Can't they tell the difference between an ordinary porcelain bottle and an antique porcelain bottle? Or... did this porcelain bottle change hands at the pawnshop... and become something worth 1,500 taels of silver?"

Qian Lanlan nodded, her face showing admiration and approval.

"Boss Yun truly deserves to be our role model; he grasped the key point immediately."

Qian Lanlan straightened up and said seriously, "To be honest, Mr. Yun, this Miaochun Pawnshop is a property under my name, which is why I was able to discover the problem."

"This? Your pawnshop?"

“When my older brother and I were fifteen, my father would give us a sum of money so we could run our own businesses. I took over this pawnshop without thinking about how much money I would make. It was purely because the pawnshop owner’s daughter, Du Xiaowan, was my childhood playmate. She unfortunately died young, and I helped take care of the elderly couple. Their business was having problems, so I thought I should help them.”

"Miss Qian is kind and righteous for taking care of her friend's parents."

“Sigh, I’ve done my best. Let me continue. When my father gave me the money, I hadn’t figured out what to do with it. I had been saving the money until three years ago when they were having financial difficulties, so I invested in it. At that time, Uncle Du was embarrassed to accept my help for nothing, so he was willing to let me participate in the operation of their pawnshop. I was looking through the records when I happened to run into the owner of this plain porcelain vase who came to redeem his item.”

"What a coincidence!" Yun Yuke exclaimed.

"Yes, it was just such a coincidence," Qian Lanlan continued.

“I remember that plain porcelain vase that was redeemed very clearly. It was made in my father’s small workshop, and I even know the specific sales records for that particular model. Outsiders might not know, but my family does. There was a small mark on the bottom of the vase, a simple marker. I would never mistake it. That vase was definitely not worth 1,500 taels.”

"However, the pawn ticket from Miaochun Pawnshop indirectly proves the value of this porcelain vase..."

"Look, Boss Yun understands what I mean. Someone is using the pawnshop's name to turn cheap items into antiques."

"But doesn't your pawnshop have anyone who inspects the goods? How could you not see the problem with the porcelain bottle? Could it be that your pawnshop..."

“That’s right, there’s something wrong with the pawnshop’s front desk manager. During the time my friend passed away, Uncle Du and his wife were in poor health and didn’t have the mind to pay attention to the pawnshop’s operation. This person took the opportunity to cause trouble. By the time I discovered the problem, several items had already been transformed into valuable antiques through Miaochun Pawnshop’s manipulation.”

Qian Lanlan's eyes sharpened. Yun Yuke had seen this look in Boss Qian's eyes before.

“I found some suspected pawned items among the redeemed items, but since these items were all redeemed a month later, there was really no way to prove that the other pawned items were in the same condition. Of course, that’s not important. What’s important is that the person who came to pawn the items was the steward of the Marquis of Ankang’s mansion, and the manager in charge of the business in front was a relative of that steward of the mansion, and also surnamed Gao. The two of them were brothers from the same clan.”

"So... this was basically a gang operation?" Yun Yuke muttered to herself.

"What does 'gang crime' mean?" Qian Lanlan asked, puzzled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just rambling. They planned this together. Miss Qian, please continue."

Qian Lanlan continued, "When Uncle Du and the others asked me for help, they didn't tell the pawnshop clerks about these things. In fact, the pawnshop clerks didn't even know that my friend had passed away, and they had never met this Miss Du before."

Qian Lanlan's tone grew increasingly resolute.

"That's why, after I discovered the problem here, I discussed with Uncle Du and the others about concealing the details. The pawnshop's clerks and manager didn't know I was involved, so to Miaochun Pawnshop, I was their Miss Du."

"You've thought this through quite thoroughly," Yun Yuke nodded approvingly.

"Yes. After all, this matter is related to Marquis Ankang, so we must treat it with utmost care."

Qian Lanlan patted the remaining documents.

"This list basically contains all the pawned items that I've handled at pawnshops and that I'm certain have any issues with."

"Boss Yun, these things are actually worth nearly 30,000 taels of silver."