Settling Down

"No, it's clean, there won't be any investigation."

The old man didn't respond, took out his phone from his pocket, and quickly dialed a number.

After two beeps, a gloomy male voice answered, "Mr. Huang, what's the matter?"

The old man said calmly, "Have there been any recent incidents involving gold?"

The gloomy man on the other end replied, "Wait a moment."

A series of scolding and orders were heard on the other end of the phone, and after a minute, the gloomy man's voice came back.

"No, it's been quiet lately. No incidents involving gold."

Nodding, the old man said, "Alright, we'll follow the usual pricing."

After hanging up, he looked at Wu Mei and said, "Since it's not stolen goods, we'll buy it at 70% of the normal price. Do you have any objections?"

Wu Mei shook his head, "No objections."

The old man took the gold from the bag, went to his workbench, where there was an electronic scale.

He poured all the gold onto it, and the weight clearly appeared on the electronic scale.

523 grams, more than a pound.

The old man looked at Wu Mei and said, "The current market price is 320 per gram, 70% is 224 yuan per gram."

"Alright, no problem."

Picking up a calculator from the workbench, the old man pressed a few keys and then looked up, "117,000 yuan. I'll round it up to 120,000 for you."

Wu Mei's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this figure. It was the first time he had heard of such a large sum of money, whether in his own timeline or this one.

Although somewhat excited, he calmed down and said to the old man, "I want cash."

"Cash? That's a bit troublesome."

"Wait here."

The old man turned and walked through a door at the back. In just a few minutes, he returned, carrying a tattered cloth bag.

Thud.

He dropped the cloth bag on the workbench and pointed at it, "Inside is the cash. You count it yourself, verify its authenticity. Once you leave this door, I won't be responsible for anything."

With over a hundred thousand in cash in front of him, Wu Mei's breathing became a bit rapid.

As for the old man in front of him, who could easily produce such a large sum of cash, it took Wu Mei by surprise.

Opening the cloth bag, Wu Mei picked up a stack of bills and with a quick glance, knew they were genuine, not counterfeit.

After quickly checking all the money to make sure there were no issues, he looked at the bearded shop owner and said, "You're very generous, boss. If I have more goods next time, I'll come back to you."

Mr. Huang nodded and said, "Young man, no matter where you got this batch of goods, there isn't a whisper on the market about it. Your methods are extraordinary."

"Bring me any goods you have, and I can handle them."

Wu Mei poured the money from the cloth bag into his backpack, nodded at Mr. Huang, and turned to leave without another word.

At this time, a burly man came out of the shop and walked up behind Mr. Huang, asking, "Boss, should I follow him?"

Mr. Huang looked at the spot where Wu Mei had disappeared and shook his head, "Forget it. This guy is a bit different. He has a murderous aura about him. He's killed people, and not just a few. Don't provoke him lightly."

The burly man raised his eyebrows. Nowadays was a peaceful era, and killing people wasn't something ordinary people could do.

It was either a mercenary, someone from the military who had carried out missions, or a black-boxing fighter.

Those who worked in these professions often killed people or were simply madmen who didn't care about their own lives. They were not to be trifled with.

Leaving the opinions of the people in the Royal Jewelry Store about Wu Mei aside, he returned to the hotel with a hundred thousand yuan, picked up his belongings, and left.

Half an hour later, he arrived under a pedestrian bridge, where there was a small shop that looked ordinary and had a printing business.

This was a place he had learned about recently that specialized in making fake documents. Without a real household registration, a fake ID was very necessary.

An hour later, Wu Mei easily obtained the documents he wanted at a high price and left with a hint of satisfaction.

Another half hour passed, and he arrived at the location he had chosen to enter the Dreamland Realm.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar courtyard, Wu Mei knocked on the door.

"Knock, knock, knock."

The knocking immediately alerted the owner inside, and a man's voice asked, "Who is it?"

Wu Mei replied loudly, "Someone here to do business."

Creak.

The door opened, and an ordinary-looking man stared at Wu Mei, his eyes filled with confusion, "Who are you?"

Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him, Wu Mei knew he was the homeowner and smiled, "Are you the homeowner?"

The middle-aged man nodded and said, "Yes, what do you want?"

Wu Mei said, "I want to rent a room in your house for 3,000 yuan a month."

The middle-aged man was taken aback and looked doubtful. His house was a two-story flat with four rooms in total.

Three of the rooms were already occupied, and there was only one empty room. The sudden request to rent a room made him feel very strange.

However, the rent offered by Wu Mei was quite high, and he couldn't help but be tempted.

Three thousand yuan was not a small amount, almost equal to his monthly salary. If this was true, it would be a great help to his family.

The middle-aged man looked at Wu Mei with suspicion and asked, "You're not joking?"

Wu Mei directly took out a stack of bills from his pocket, totaling ten thousand yuan, and handed it to the middle-aged man, saying, "This is ten thousand, one thousand for the deposit and three months' rent in advance."

Seeing Wu Mei's straightforwardness, the middle-aged man couldn't help but reach out and take the money. The touch of the bills clearly told him that they were genuine, definitely not counterfeit.

Most problems in the world can be solved with money, and if they can't be solved, it's just because there isn't enough money.

All doubts and suspicions were dispelled when Wu Mei presented so much money, and the middle-aged man's concerns were mostly alleviated.

He opened the door and invited Wu Mei into the house.

In the living room, the middle-aged man brewed a pot of tea for Wu Mei.

The furniture in the living room was very ordinary, and it seemed to have been used for more than a decade. This was not a well-off family.

The middle-aged man looked at Wu Mei and said, "My name is Wang Luo, and I am the owner of this house. You can rent the room, but you cannot engage in any illegal activities. Otherwise, I will call the police."

Wu Mei smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, I have a very formal job. I'm not a criminal or a fugitive. The reason I'm living here is due to some special circumstances."

"This is my ID card. If there are no problems, let's sign the contract."

Looking at the ID card Wu Mei presented, Wang Luo nodded, took out paper and pen, wrote two copies of the contract, and both parties signed and sealed the agreement.

Both Wu Mei and Wang Luo were satisfied with the arrangement, one for the money and the other for his own plans.

Wang Luo led Wu Mei to the second floor and used the key to open the door to the second-floor room.

Wang Luo looked at Wu Mei and said, "This is your room. I'm giving you the key, and I don't have a spare. You can rest assured."

Wu Mei entered the familiar yet unfamiliar room, a hint of emotion flashing in his eyes.