Cause and Effect

Qian Chenghe's situation was more complicated.

First of all, he was not as old as he looked. Do not forget that he had a two-star disguise talent. His current appearance was just a disguise. Otherwise, when he was arguing with Lin Zhengping, he would not have said that he could still live for decades.

In addition, he was actually a wanted criminal, a wanted criminal who had scammed people, kidnapped people and even killed his father.

What Xia Xu said just now was the information he saw from the background story of the Guanyin statue.

Of course, there were certain areas of the story he had to deduce and exaggerate. Although the summary emphasized the origins of the Guanyin statue, the overall description was relatively simple. He speculated and expanded it, which resulted in a fatal blow to Qian Chenghe.

However, this was not entirely due to his words.

Since Qian Chenghe was willing to buy a Buddha statue for his father after making money, it showed that he still recognized his father. It was not to the point where they had completely cut ties.

The subsequent act of killing his father was mostly due to anger and impulse. Of course, it was just a reason. In short, he was worse than a beast.

He was in fact in a state of escape, but according to the storyline of «Person About to Die», he took out the Guanyin statue from his old home at the risk of being discovered. But after placing it in his residence, he suffered psychological torture day and night, so he was ready to sell it.

One could tell from his actions that he was still not remorseful, and he had been finding excuses to avoid the truth.

After Xia Xu completely exposed his cover, he was no longer able to escape. He also learned that his father's treasure was actually the Angong Niuhuang Pills that saved his life. He kept lying to himself that he was 'right', so he finally collapsed when there was no reason for him to stick to his belief anymore.

"…I'll buy it."

After a long time, Qian Chenghe was done crying, or maybe his heart was already dead.

He calmed down and spoke with difficulty. He struggled to straighten his upper body and took out a bank card from his pocket with a dazed and lonely expression. "There should be more than five hundred thousand yuan in this card, and the passcode is six 6. It was not registered with my ID, so you can withdraw without worry."

After he finished speaking, he slowly put the bank card on the ground, then stopped looking at Xia Xu and the others. He slowly picked up the Guanyin statue fragments on the ground like he was dead inside, ignoring the cuts and blood stains on his hands.

"So generous?"

Xia Xu bent down and picked up the bank card without any qualms.

Qian Chenghe did not respond immediately. He was silent for a moment, then he said lifelessly, "You must have come for me to have investigated what happened more than a decade ago so clearly. I probably won't need this money anymore in this life."

"You are not stupid. Although you guessed wrongly, the result is the same."

Xia Xu took out his notebook and pen. As he wrote on it, he said, "Unfortunately, if you want to reduce your sense of guilt in this way, it's useless. Moreover, don't you think you're lying to yourself? If you knew this would happen, you wouldn't have done this in the first place."

"Have you ever drowned before? Anyone who falls into the water will grab onto anything, even if it is a strand of straw."

The gloomy conversation between the two ended in silence.

"I prefer a legal transaction. Do you mind signing another contract?"

After a while, Xia Xu finished writing and handed over a newly written transaction contract.

Qian Chenghe did not refuse. He signed his name and pressed a thumbprint with the blood on his hand.

However, he didn't return the notebook to Xia Xu. Instead, he tore off the newly signed contract and put it in his inner pocket. He pressed it against his chest, then wrote another contract and handed it to Xia Xu.

Xia Xu put away the booklet and saw that Qian Chenghe had no intention of running away, so he walked to Xia Xue and handed over the box of Angong Niuhuang Pill he had used to aggravate Qian Chenhe. "Here, this is the thank you gift from last time. Also, I apologize for what I said just now."

"This is…"

Xia Xue was at a loss.

She was indeed furious that Xia Xu was previously speaking up for a scammer, especially when Xia Xu was someone she had helped before. The indignation she felt was indescribable.

But Xia Xu's subsequent actions made her understand that things were different from what she thought. At least Xia Xu was not on the old swindler's side.

Lin Zhengping took the initiative to explain, "Lass, this Angong Niuhuang Pill is effective in treating patients in coma. You said that your grandfather was hospitalized for cerebral hemorrhage, right? This medicine might be effective."

"Um… I will pay for this."

Xia Xue felt that it was not good to accept gifts, but her grandfather's illness was obviously more important, so she only hesitated for a moment before taking the box and hugging it firmly to her chest.

"Don't worry about the money, your grandfather's illness can't be delayed. You should quickly send it to your grandfather and ask the doctor if it's okay to use this pill."

Xia Xu shook his head and smiled.

Xia Xue couldn't stand still after hearing this. She left anxiously, but she still asked for his contact number before leaving.

After dealing with Xia Xue, Lin Zhengping couldn't wait for his turn to come. He looked at Xia Xu pitifully.

"Old man, I can't give this to you for free, I need to earn something and you don't seem to lack money."

Xia Xu smiled and joked.

Lin Zhengping's reputation was quite terrifying. The president of the Star City Antiques Association was not someone who lacked money.

Moreover, the price of the Angong Niuhuang Pill was not ridiculous. There was no demonized hype caused by any special incident on Planet Aquamarine, so the price of the Angong Niuhuang Pill was only tens of thousands of yuan per pill. Especially for pills inside this kind of paper box, it cost no more than ten thousand plus yuan.

Without much effort, Lin Zhengping asked for five pills from Xia Xu without hesitation. Moreover, he insisted on keeping his promise and bought them at a price of thirty thousand yuan each.

"Sorry, Boss, I was wrong. I almost ruined your plan."

Yang Bowen saw that Xia Xu had finished talking to Lin Zhengping. He stuttered for a while before walking over with a look of shame on his face.

His boss had been looking for the old man at the construction site, knew about his crimes and even the things inside the Buddha statue. He must have planned to catch this old man and earn some money ever since a long time, upholding justice and earning a tidy sum at the same time.

But because of his impulse just now, all of this was almost gone.

Especially after knowing the effects of the Angong Niuhuang Pill, he felt a lingering wave of fear.

After all, the 'divine medicine' obtained from the Guanyin statue was related to the treatment of Old Man Lin's wife and the little girl's grandfather.

Since the boss knew that those pills were inside the Buddha statue in advance, he must have planned to buy it and give it to the two of them. At that time, their conditions would improve as well.

But if he really drove the scammer away or sent him to the police station, these two people would probably have died.

After all, the little girl came to him as soon as he set up his stall, and he even learned that he almost killed her grandfather. After leaving, he would definitely run away overnight, making it even harder to find him in the future.

As for escorting him to the police station, with the old man's crimes, he would never be able to come out again. Even if the goods from the stall were not used as material evidence, they would not be able to obtain it. Even if they could obtain it through some channels, it would take a long time. How could a patient suffering from stroke and a patient suffering from cerebral hemorrhage afford to wait that long.

'Wait a minute, is this the reason why Boss keeps emphasizing the legal transaction?'

Yang Bowen suddenly remembered that both when he bought the Buddha statue and when he sold the Buddha statue, his boss emphasized the 'legal transaction' and requested to sign a transaction contract.

The boss probably didn't plan to let the old swindler go from the beginning. He would definitely have sent him to the police station. He must have spent so much effort to buy the Buddha statue and sign the transaction contract because of this.

After all, if they hadn't made the transaction in advance, the statue might have been counted as evidence when this old swindler got arrested. At the very least, it would have belonged to the old man himself, and the police wouldn't have given it to them.