"You said you have a son, and that he will beco an orphan once you die.
Is that true?" "That wasn’t a lie," the woman’s smile beca even more bitter now. ’I do indeed have a son who’s seriously ill. He needs a lot of money for the treatnt. That’s the reason I stole from Carmine Pawnshop, that’s why I broke their rules. But I guess without my son wouldn’t really be orphaned, since he still has his father..."
"That’s fine, then."
The heavy burden weighing on Joanna’s heart lifted a little. If anything really happened to this woman, at least her child still had his father, so he would not be totally alone and abandoned in this world.
"Still, his father is now married to his forr mistress, and they have another son who’s turning a month in a few days, so I fear that he would have no ti to take care of my son..."
"Then..."
Joanna suddenly beca distraught again. Just as she was about to say sothing, Chase coldly urged the man, "Stop wasting ti! Take her away!"
The man in the black suit then escorted the woman as she disappeared into the darkness of the night. No one knew what eventually happened to her, much less what beca of her son.
Joanna could not help but think of her children, Adie and Abby... If anything ever happened to her, then her twins would suffer exactly the sa misfortune as the woman’s son, with their fates hanging by a thread...
Chase turned to Joanna and asked her, "You feel sorry for her don’t you?" "I just feel sorry for her son."
"There’s nothing to be done," he said. "She made this choice herself. Her na is Rosie. She got divorced about three years ago. When she hit rock bottom, she couldn’t even afford to fill her belly with food. By chance, I stumbled upon her and asked her to co work at Carmine Pawnshop with . She beca my helper and was pretty talented in appraising precious items. I had planned to train her as my apprentice, but... it turns out that I’ve been raising a wolf that would eventually betray . How disappointing!"
"Perhaps she really was at wit’s end, that’s why she..."
"No matter how desperate she was, she has to be punished for breaking the rules of Carmine Pawnshop. You must understand that in our line of work, betrayal is the worst cri and is absolutely unacceptable. If we don’t set a good example, we will lose the trust and respect of the public!"
Chase clenched his fists and seed just as upset as Joanna was. He was clearly feeling sorry for his apprentice too.
Seeing this, Joanna said nothing more about it and glanced at her watch.
"It’s getting late now," she said, "and your pawnshop is going to open soon, so can you take to your boss now? You made a promise, you know."
"A gentleman always delivers on his promise. I gave you my word, so I’ll naturally take you to him. Follow ..."
After finishing his sentence, Chase strode forward with his long legs and led the way. His green coat billowed under the silvery moonlight, accentuating his graceful figure. It was as if he was a character who stepped out of the old poems, where n were not just handso and powerful, but graceful and delicate.
Joanna was about to follow him but suddenly rembered sothing when she saw the silk handkerchief in her hand.
’That’s right! I was going to ask the old man where he got this handkerchief from!’
But as she turned around, not only was the old man gone, his whole stall along with all his wares had vanished into thin air...
Joanna found it weird, but because she still had an important business to attend to, she had to leave the matter there.
With Chase leading her, she passed through the whole of Water Dock unimpeded and finally arrived at the center of the downstream zone, where Carmine Pawnshop proudly stood.
"So this is the legendary Carmine Pawnshop?" asked Joanna as she stood at the door. She looked up at the gilt letters proclaiming its na on the door plaque and very bluntly comnted, "It looks so... ordinary!"
From the outside, the pawnshop looked like any other mansion. It just looked too "normal" and not at all befitting the "lawless land of heinous cris’ reputation that Water Dock had garnered over ti. In fact, it looked too simple and clean if anything.
Joanna found it hard to believe that such a mundane building had been hiding priceless treasures from all over the world that inspired great fear and trepidation in the hearts of many!
"What did you expect?" Chase turned around and smiled gently. "Carmine Pawnshop has always been an ordinary place. It was you people who have elevated it into a powerful, godlike establishnt... or should I say, twisted it into an evil lair of demons. The truth is, this place is not at all as terrifying as it’s rumored. At the end of the day, we’re just another pawn shop like any other."
"You say that," argued Joanna, "but you still accept everything under the sun, whether legal or not. You’d accept it as long as it’s worth good money, wouldn’t you? I hear that you’d even let people pawn their own lives-a deed sinister enough that befits your reputation."
What was truly frightening about Carmine Pawnshop was that no legal rules applied there. If anyone wanted to pawn sothing valuable in exchange for the life of an enemy, as long as Carmine Pawnshop deed their offering worthy enough, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill to get it, which was a horrifying thing!
"The way you put it," said Chase, ’it’s as though Carmine Pawnshop is so purgatory. In truth, as our boss has ntioned before, this place is more like a charity hall than hell."
"What?"
"Think about it. In your most desperate tis when you have nowhere else to turn to, you bring the most valuable thing in your life here to solve the most pressing problem in your life. As long as you gain enough strength to pay the agreed price later, you can always get that most valuable thing in your life back. If you can’t get it back, then it ans that thing that you pawned wasn’t really the most valuable thing in your life, since you didn’t strive enough to earn back what you lost. You can’t bla Carmine Pawnshop for being cruel or unfair, don’t you think that makes sense?"
"Well..."
Joanna stroked her chin, thinking that what the man just said did make so sense. After all, it was precisely for this reason that she decided to make this deal with Carmine Pawnshop, confident that she’d one day gain enough strength to get back the most valuable thing in her life!
"You’re back, Mr. Cheever!"
A beautiful female employee in a traditional dress was standing at the door, politely greeting Chase.
"Mm-hmm," Chase nodded, then led Joanna into the interior section of Carmine Pawnshop.
Joanna was instantly srized by the sights around her when she finally got inside. She was now in the courtyard of Carmine Pawnshop, which had traditional architecture, making it look like a museum where every little room was a small exhibition for countless rare items.
But she was in no mood to admire these items right now. She followed Chase closely behind and asked, "Can you take to your boss now?’
"Not yet," replied Chase plainly. Then, in a voice filled with pride, he added," Right now I’m bringing you on a tour around the place. Witness the true scale of our business and see how remarkable and wealthy we are."
He had acquired all these treasures himself by traveling to famous corners of the world, sotis even crossing oceans, to take them back here. He’d proudly show these trophies that spoke of his achievents to anyone he t.
This rendered Joanna speechless for a while, until she told him through gritted teeth, "Can’t you show around so other ti? Please just take to your boss first. I’m in a bit of a hurry."
"I can’t even if you’re in a hurry," Chase explained with his hands stretched out helplessly. ’Because our boss is really busy right now. He’s got a million things to do every day. I don’t even know where he is, when he’d co back, or when he’d leave..."
When he noticed that Joanna was so angry he could tear him into pieces at any mont, he added, "But you can take a chance and wait for him here in the internal section. He often cos back here lately, so you might really get the chance to see him after all."
"Is that so?’ ’s fists were tightly clenched. She really wanted to punch Chase right now. "Well, I must really thank you for your help then!"
After all she’d been through, she might not even get to et that legendary boss everyone was talking about tonight! So why the hell did Chase have to take her here in such a hurry? Was it all simply to show off his precious treasures to her?
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