I work as a security guard at a cemetery, and I overhear the dead chatting about getting rich quick.

Sure enough, trouble struck the next day.

Lin Ye had just handed over his shift when his phone vibrated.

It was a message from Ningzhi.

"Is it convenient for us to do a follow-up interview today?"

Lin Ye stared at the screen for three seconds and replied with two words.

"inconvenient."

Ningzhi replied instantly.

"Then I'll be there in a bit."

Lin Ye: "..."

This is what a journalist is like.

When she asks if it's convenient for you, she's not really asking for your opinion.

It's to inform you so that you can be mentally prepared in advance.

Lin Ye slammed the phone down, preparing to play dead.

Unfortunately, life didn't give him the chance to play dead.

Around 10 a.m., a white car stopped at the entrance of the cemetery.

Lin Ye thought it was Ning Zhi who had arrived. He was about to lower his head and pretend to organize the registration book when he saw the car door open and a man get out.

The man was in his thirties, with his hair tied in a small bun, wearing a loose shirt, and looking very frustrated.

Lin Ye recognized him at a glance.

The owner of Old Time Cafe.

Lin Ye's heart skipped a beat.

He knew this day might come.

I just didn't expect it to come so quickly.

Even more unexpectedly, the other party was able to find Qingshan Cemetery directly.

Lin Ye later learned that after the boss found out the painting had sold for 420,000, he first went to ask the truck driver who helped transport the painting that day.

The driver remembered it very clearly.

Because Lin Ye received a phone call from Uncle Zhao in the car that day, saying that he had to go back to Qingshan Cemetery for his shift that night.

In addition, the transfer records contain names, and the coffee shop's surveillance footage shows faces.

It wasn't difficult for the boss to come looking for us.

When people are looking for a bargain, they always think they are being very careful.

But when trouble came knocking, they realized that they had made mistakes all along the way.

The coffee shop owner walked a few steps to the security booth and stared at him through the window.

"Mr. Lin."

Lin Ye stood up, trying to remain calm.

"What brings you here?"

The boss gave a cold laugh.

"If I hadn't come, were you planning to open a bed and breakfast?"

Lin Ye coughed awkwardly.

"That was necessary for communication at the time."

"Is communication necessary?"

The boss laughed in exasperation.

"You told me you bought the painting to renovate your guesthouse, but then you went and sent it to an auction house and sold it for 420,000?"

Lin Ye corrected, "It's not an auction, it's a transfer through an auction house."

The boss was stunned for a moment, then became even angrier.

"Is there a difference?"

Lin Ye thought for a moment.

"In terms of the outcome, it's probably not the case."

The boss slapped his hand on the windowsill.

"Lin Ye, you're lying!"

That was quite a shout.

Uncle Zhao was sweeping fallen leaves not far away when he was startled and stopped sweeping.

Two family members who came to register for tomb sweeping next to the gate also looked over.

Lin Ye felt a chill run down his spine and lowered his voice.

"Boss, let's talk this out."

"Speak properly?"

The boss pointed at him.

"I've had that painting hanging in my shop for years. You said you liked old paintings, so I sold it to you for only 18,000. You resold it for 420,000. How can you live with yourself?"

Lin Ye was stunned for a second by that question.

Emotionally speaking, he was indeed having a hard time getting over it.

From a business perspective, he felt he was doing alright.

After all, it wasn't him who forced the boss to sell it at knifepoint.

The boss used to say that hanging the painting outside the bathroom was too oppressive, but now it's suddenly become his favorite.

Human emotions toward old things sometimes do not depend on the things themselves.

It depends on how much it sold for later.

Lin Ye said, "Boss, you were the one who quoted the price, and the deal was made voluntarily. I didn't say it was fake, nor did I say it was worthless."

The boss's face stiffened.

"Still trying to deny it? You know perfectly well it's valuable!"

Lin Ye shrugged.

"If I really knew, why would I have spent so much time haggling with you? I was afraid of buying the wrong thing."

That's the truth.

He felt uneasy when he saw the anti-floating bottle.

The number 18,000 has already given him a psychological trauma.

Before the boss could say anything more, a woman's voice suddenly came from behind him.

"So you admit that you sold it to him willingly?"

Lin Ye closed his eyes.

I know who it is without even turning around.

Ningzhi has arrived.

Today she was wearing a light-colored coat, carrying a canvas bag, and holding a notebook. She stood to the side, her eyes shining as if she had just discovered news material delivered to her door automatically.

The coffee shop owner turned to look at her.

"Who are you?"

Ning Zhi showed her identification.

"Qingcheng Evening News, Ning Zhi"

The boss was stunned for a moment, then immediately felt like he had found his people.

"A reporter is here right now! You be the judge, he tricked me into drawing it!"

Lin Ye's expression changed upon hearing this.

"No, please don't talk nonsense."

Ningzhi looked at Lin Ye, her tone very soft.

"Mr. Lin, it's nice to see you again."

The word "again" made Lin Ye's back tense.

Ningzhi opened her interview notebook.

"Boss, you just said he lied to you. Could you elaborate?"

The coffee shop owner immediately recounted the whole story.

He said that when he was renovating, someone used an old painting to offset part of the renovation cost.

He said the painting had been hanging next to the bathroom for many years, and he always thought it was just an ordinary decorative painting.

He said that Lin Ye was holding a coffee and looked at the painting for a long time that day, claiming that he was preparing to open a bed and breakfast and wanted to buy old paintings for decoration.

He said that Lin Ye cut the price down from 30,000 to 18,000 and transferred the money on the spot. The painting sold for 420,000 the next day.

As he finished speaking, his tone became as grief-stricken and indignant as that of a wife who had just been abandoned by an old painting.

Ningzhi listened and took notes.

Lin Ye watched her pen move swiftly, and his heart grew colder and colder.

He always felt that he would soon appear in a news report.

The title might be:

"420,000 at the Toilet Entrance: The Mysterious Business of a Cemetery Security Guard".

Even he himself wanted to click on the title to read it.

After Ning Zhi finished writing, she looked up and asked Lin Ye.

"Do you have anything to add?"

Lin Ye thought about it seriously.

"I don't own any guesthouses."

Ning Zhi: "..."

The coffee shop owner angrily retorted, "You admit it! You lied to me back then!"

Lin Ye quickly explained.

"What I mean is that guesthouses are indeed still on a spiritual level, but the transactions are real. You sell a painting, I buy a painting, it's voluntary on both sides, the price is agreed upon on the spot, and the money is paid on the spot. How much it's worth later is another matter."

The boss sneered.

"You make it sound so easy. That's 420,000!"

Lin Ye nodded.

"I know."

"You know that, and you still have the nerve to say that?"

Lin Ye was silent for a moment.

"Boss, you've had it hanging there for years and didn't notice. Customers walk right past it to the restroom every day and still didn't realize it. I saw a possibility, so I bought it and took the risk. If it turns out to be fake, I can't go back to you for a refund, can I?"

This sentence left the boss speechless.

He really wanted to argue.

But I couldn't find the right angle for a while.

Ning Zhi glanced at Lin Ye, her eyes holding a hint of something more.

She did not speak.

He simply lowered his head and wrote another line.

Lin Ye really wanted to snatch her notebook and take a look.

After hesitating for a long time, the coffee shop owner finally managed to utter a sentence.

"Then you should at least make up some money for me, right?"

Lin Ye asked, "How much should we supplement?"

The boss immediately said, "Half."

Lin Ye almost laughed out of anger.

"How much is half?"

Two hundred thousand.

Lin Ye looked at him.

"Boss, before you opened the coffee shop, did you consider opening a wishing well?"

Uncle Zhao, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but cough.

Ning Zhi lowered her head, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.

The boss blushed.

"Then how much will you say?"

Lin Ye said, "From a transaction standpoint, I don't need to make up a single penny."

Upon hearing this, the boss was about to explode again.

Lin Ye quickly raised his hand.

"But as a courtesy, I can get a membership card at your store."

The boss was stunned.

"Membership card?"

Lin Ye nodded.

"If my friends want to drink coffee in the future, I will recommend them to your shop."

The boss pointed at him angrily.

"Do I need your few friends?"

Lin Ye thought for a moment.

"Then you probably don't need my 200,000."

The boss's face turned green.

Ning Zhi finally couldn't help but laugh.

The laugh wasn't loud.

But that made the boss even angrier.

Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control again, a car stopped at the entrance of the cemetery.

The car door opened, and Lu Zhixia got out of the car.

White shirt, black trousers, and hair neatly tied up.

Lu Zhixia glanced around the scene.

Coffee shop owner.

Ningzhi.

Uncle Zhao.

Forest.

There's also that overly conspicuous anti-floating bottle in the corner of the security booth.

She looked at Lin Ye one last time.

"I just reminded you yesterday not to be too conspicuous."

Lin Ye silently lowered his head.

Lu Zhixia continued, "Were you blocked at the door today?"

Lin Ye whispered, "Strictly speaking, it was a blocked window."

Ningzhi couldn't help but laugh.

Lu Zhixia's gaze became even calmer.

"You're quite detail-oriented."

When the café owner saw her arrive, he immediately asked, "Are you from the auction house? Did you help him sell that painting?"

Lu Zhixia nodded.

"Yes."

"Then you also bear responsibility! He tricked me out of the painting at a low price and then resold it at a high price through you."

Lu Zhixia's expression remained unchanged.

"The auction house was not involved in his deal with you."

The boss opened his mouth to speak.

Lu Zhixia continued, "You sold it voluntarily, the price was agreed upon, and the money arrived immediately. There was no coercion or false appraisal. Lin Ye did not impersonate a professional, nor did he tell you that the painting was worthless."

The boss was stunned by her string of words.

Lu Zhixia looked at him.

"You can regret it, but regret can't undo the deal."

Lin Ye stood to the side, silently applauding Lu Zhixia in his heart.

profession.

That's incredibly professional.

He said the same thing, but it sounded like a sophistry.

When Lu Zhixia spoke, it sounded like a court judgment.

The boss's face turned pale and then red.

"So I just have to accept my bad luck?"

Lu Zhixia spoke calmly.

"You can treat this as a lesson. In the future, when dealing with old items, you can first have them evaluated by professionals."

The boss fell silent.

That sounds polite.

But a more accurate translation would be:

You didn't understand back then, so don't make a fuss now.

Ning Zhi, who was watching from the side, suddenly asked, "Teacher Lu, is this kind of thing common in the secondhand goods market?"

Lu Zhixia looked at her.

"common."

Ning Zhi pressed further: "If these old items all come from deceased elderly people, or even from family members who are unaware of the situation and are in a hurry to clear out their belongings, wouldn't that be considered a gray market?"

Lu Zhixia did not answer immediately.

Lin Ye's heart tightened.

Ning Zhi was definitely not there to watch the show.

Lu Zhixia glanced at her.

"It's difficult to characterize a single transaction. But it's different when it's continuous, systematic, or involves inducement or concealment."

Ning Zhi's eyes brightened slightly.

"So you also think that's possible?"

Lu Zhixia spoke in a calm tone.

"I think your problem now goes beyond today's dispute."

Ning Zhi smiled.

"Professional habits".

Lin Ye felt a headache coming on.

One follow-up question.

A calm.

The coffee shop owner was still standing there, unwilling to give up.

Uncle Zhao listened from behind, looking completely bewildered.

The anti-floating bottle stood in the corner, like the only thing that saw through everything in the whole dispute.

In the end, the coffee shop owner still couldn't get the money.

Before leaving, he looked at Lin Ye and said through gritted teeth, "Don't ever come to my shop again."

Lin Ye nodded.

"Don't worry, I'm not too keen on drinking coffee lately."

The boss was so angry by those words that he glared at him again, then turned and left.

Ning Zhi did not leave.

Lu Zhixia didn't leave either.

The two women, one holding a notebook and the other with her arms crossed, both looked at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye felt a chill run down his spine from their stares.

He felt like something he had just found at a flea market.

One wants to get it identified.

One wants to be exposed.

Lu Zhixia spoke first.

Do you understand now?

Lin Ye nodded.

"clear."

Ningzhi asked, "Understand what?"

Lin Ye glanced at the entrance to the cemetery, then at the anti-floating bottle in the guard booth.

"Understanding that finding a bargain isn't just about picking it up and then it's over."

Lu Zhixia asked, "Anything else?"

Lin Ye remained silent for two seconds.

"I understand that in the future, when I make up excuses, I can't make up excuses like 'bed and breakfast'."

Ning Zhi laughed out loud.

Lu Zhixia closed her eyes, seemingly disappointed with his ability to summarize.

She looked up at Lin Ye, her tone more serious than usual.

"Lin Ye, if you keep picking them up like this, someone will be watching you sooner or later."

Lin Ye did not speak.

In fact, he had already been targeted.

Ning Zhi stood right next to her.

And it seems they're not planning to move.

Lu Zhixia glanced at Ning Zhi, then looked at Lin Ye.

"Some leaks are opportunities."

She paused.

"Some leaks are part of the scheme."

Lin Ye's heart sank slightly.

He suddenly remembered the anti-floating bottle.

I also remembered the question Ningzhi had just asked.

If these old items all come from deceased elderly people, and someone is specifically looking for their belongings, is that just picking up bargains?

A breeze blew in from the cemetery entrance, carrying a hint of the cool air from the pine and cypress trees.

The anti-flood bottles in the security booth stood quietly.

For the first time, Lin Ye felt that it wasn't just a reminder to stay grounded.

It was also like a reminder to him.

Don't mistake every windfall for good luck.