"200,000?" Shen Youlin looked at the necklace in his hand with disgust and threw it back on the shelf: "This broken thing is outrageously expensive, worth 2,000 yuan at best."
"Yes, yes!" Qian Laomao kept nodding and apologizing, "It's all because I'm blind, I didn't recognize my grandmother."
Shen Youlin put his arm around Yu Shu's shoulder, holding a playboy script in his hand, and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? How could we have such a freakish grandson like you?"
Qian Laomao's face turned green, still kowtowing and nodding: "Yes, yes."
Shen Youlin was clearly just looking for trouble. The group of bodyguards standing at the door were all tall and sturdy. The customers in the store didn't dare stay and watch the fun, hurriedly leaving.
With a look from Shen Youlin, the bodyguards at the door immediately closed the antique shop's door.
The light inside the shop suddenly dimmed, making it feel even more gloomy and terrifying.
Several shop assistants realized things were going badly, and ran to the backyard, giving their boss a look of "Good luck, we can't help you" before leaving.
Qian Laomao cursed those spineless men in his heart, while bending even lower, using his sleeve to wipe the cold sweat on his forehead.
Yu Shu noticed that this man was missing both pinky fingers, and the stumps were smooth.
The bodyguards brought over two chairs for Shen Youlin and Yu Shu to sit down. Shen Youlin put his arm around Yu Shu: "Grandson, grandpa wants to ask you something. Have a seat and talk."
Just earlier he denied having this grandson, now he's claiming him again.
"I'll just stand, thanks."
Shen Youlin immediately scowled and kicked him: "Sit down when I tell you to!"
Qian Laomao was knocked to the ground, but didn't get up, just sat there: "Okay, okay, I'll sit here on the floor then."
Shen Youlin smiled again, acting just like a mercurial villain: "That's better, an obedient grandson is a good grandson."
Yu Shu couldn't help but laugh. Shen Youlin glanced at her: "What are you laughing about?"
Yu Shu covered her mouth laughing: "I'm laughing because you're like a villain from those popular romance novels. The righteous protagonist will descend from heaven soon to deal with you, slap you in the face and trample your dignity, grinding you into the mud."
Shen Youlin was delighted: "That does sound about right! Don't worry, we're in a sweet romance novel, I'll be your supporting character. The male protagonists of sweet romance novels are invincible!"
"The male protagonists of sweet romance have to be rich, filthy rich, so they don't care about money and always put the female protagonist first, caring about her the most." Shen Youlin held her hand and kissed the back, "You're the female protagonist of my life."
"Cheesy~" Yu Shu lightly punched him.
The grandfather and grandmother suddenly started flirting and bickering. Qian Laomao sat on the floor, not knowing whether to laugh or not, feeling extremely awkward as he picked at the floor with his toes.
After kissing her hand several more times, Shen Youlin finally turned to look at Qian Laomao: "Hey, lift your head. I have something to ask you."
Qian Laomao raised his head, forcing a smile: "Please ask, I'm at your service."
"I want to get some explosives to play with recently. Do you have any connections?"
Qian Laomao was shocked: "That's...that's illegal, grandpa can't mess with that stuff!"
"Oh, so you know now that illegal stuff is off limits?" Shen Youlin mocked. "You've really grown a lot."
With those meaningful words bringing up the past, Qian Laomao shuddered: "I...I don't dare anymore, I don't even dare scam people ruthlessly now."
"Yes, even that broken necklace, you used to dare ask for 800,000. I'm not talking about that. In the antique business, buying and selling depends on skill. Being scammed can only blame your own lack of judgment, not the seller." Shen Youlin leaned closer and lowered his voice to ask: "Do you still take advantage of young girls?"
Qian Laomao shook his head repeatedly, holding out both hands: "I don't dare anymore, I really don't dare anymore. With these hands, I don't even dare reach out!"
"Then that's good." Shen Youlin sat back. "Anyway, do you have any connections to get me some explosives to play with? Just make the introduction, nothing else is your business."
Qian Laomao trembled all over: "I really don't..."
Shen Youlin interrupted him: "Think it over before answering."
"I've heard that there's a small workshop in the suburbs of Jin City that makes...makes this stuff, but I've never been there myself, just heard people mention it, and I don't know the exact location."
"Who did you hear it from? Call them right now and ask. If you can't find out, I'll just sit here and not leave."
"Oh, oh." Qian Laomao took out his phone with shaking hands and made a call.
After leaving the antique shop, Shen Youlin instructed his bodyguards: "Did you hear that? Contact Jiang Han and have her take out that workshop."
"Yes."
Shen Youlin held Yu Shu's hand as they leisurely strolled down the antique street, bodyguards following discreetly behind them.
"Qian Laomao's missing fingers, did you do that?"
Shen Youlin hunched his shoulders, his cool villainous aura from earlier instantly gone.
"No...no..."
Yu Shu's fingertips slid across his palm: "I know when you're lying~"
"I did it, I chopped them off with a knife."
Shen Youlin carefully watched her expression, afraid of seeing any trace of disgust or fear, but Yu Shu's face remained the same as she asked: "Why? You must've had a reason for doing that."
"He took advantage of young girls! Only underage young girls!"
Shen Youlin told her about some of the rotten things Qian Laomao had done in the past. Qingfeng Hall used to sell some inexpensive but pretty jewelry, priced from a few hundred to a thousand yuan, affordable even for frugal students.
When pretty young girls came to the shop to look at the jewelry, Qian Laomao would take a liking to them. He would use some fake antiques to falsely accuse the girls of breaking them, asking a price of hundreds of thousands. Those schoolgirls were only in their teens, no match for Qian Laomao. Hearing those prices, they would cry in fright. After threatening and intimidating them, Qian Laomao would say some hypocritical words, then do some unspeakable things to the girls.
Afterwards those girls would choose to stay silent, leaving Qian Laomao without deserved punishment, allowing him to run rampant for many years. It wasn't until Shen Youlin walked into his shop one day and sensed something wrong.
"Humph! How could I possibly get slapped in the face, I'm the one who descends from heaven with justice!" Shen Youlin said proudly.
Yu Shu tiptoed to kiss him: "You're so awesome!"
"Hehe, you don't think I was...too excessive or violent or anything like that, right?"
"Do I look like some saintly goody-goody?" Yu Shu asked back. "I just think you let him off too easy. At least castrate him physically, then the man would get what he deserved."
Shen Youlin looked left and right, then leaned in close to whisper in her ear: "Saying this stuff out loud would dirty your ears. Whether that Qian Laomao was castrated or not doesn't make much difference."
Yu Shu frowned in disgust: "And he still doesn't behave properly?"
"A psychological pervert. I originally wanted to put him away, but it was difficult to find those girls again. The few I did find were unwilling to testify—I figured any girl experiencing something like that couldn't take it, so I didn't want to reopen old wounds. So I chopped off two of his fingers, to remind him every time he wants to reach out with his hands, how he lost those fingers. So far it seems to be working pretty well."
Shen Youlin asked expectantly: "Do you love me even more now?"
"Yes, much more."
"Heehee~"
The two continued chatting while walking. Shen Youlin suddenly stopped, his gaze falling on a small roadside stand, or rather, on a blue and white porcelain bowl.
