The next morning, Eleanor rode her small electric scooter, carrying Celine toward the city.
Their destination was a secondhand gold shop called "Jinyuyuan." The shop owner, Shop Owner Hui, was an old acquaintance of Eleanor.
Celine sat behind, feeling a bit nervous.
Although her second brother promised everything would be fine, selling such a large amount of gold all at once still felt risky.
"Second brother, maybe we should sell it at different shops? That would be safer," Celine said, her voice carried by the wind.
Eleanor didn't turn around and spoke confidently, "Celine, don't worry. Hui is my sworn brother. He's absolutely reliable. Leave this to him, and keep your worries inside."
Seeing Celine about to say more, Eleanor started telling the story of his friendship with Shop Owner Hui.
A few years ago, Eleanor was driving a big truck out of town when he met Shop Owner Hui by chance.
At that time, Hui had just made a big deal and earned a lot of money, but some people started watching him closely.
Those people clearly weren't good, they wanted to kidnap Hui and extort money.
The situation was dangerous. Hui was alone and about to fall into their hands.
Eleanor stopped his truck, reached out, and pulled Hui into the vehicle. Then he pressed the accelerator, speeding away and losing those dangerous men.
Hui escaped death and was very grateful to Eleanor. He wanted to give him a large reward right away.
But Eleanor refused to accept any money. He said it was just a small favor and didn't want to take the reward unfairly.
Seeing Eleanor's loyalty, Hui admired him even more.
They ended up going to a small tavern, drank happily, and almost became sworn brothers.
"So, Celine, don't worry. Hui is someone I trust completely. He won't cheat us," Eleanor said, then added, "Besides, our gold has a clear origin. What's there to fear?"
By then, they had arrived at the door of Jinyuyuan.
Shop Owner Hui had already received Eleanor's call and was waiting inside.
He thought when Eleanor said he wanted to sell some secondhand gold jewelry, it would be ordinary necklaces or rings.
But when Eleanor pulled out a big pile of shining gold jewelry and dumped it all on the counter, Hui was stunned.
Gold bracelets, gold necklaces, gold rings, gold earrings... all kinds of dazzling items.
This was not just "a few pieces", it was like a small mountain of gold!
"Where... where did you get all this?" Hui asked, still a bit shocked but lowered his voice, afraid others would overhear.
He wasn't suspicious of the gold's origin but worried Eleanor might get into trouble.
After all, such a huge amount of gold without clear origins could cause problems.
Celine saw Hui's reaction and understood what he was thinking.
She stepped forward to explain.
"Hui, don't misunderstand. This gold is definitely not stolen or robbed."
"It belongs to a friend of mine whose family went bankrupt and owes a lot of debts."
"The creditors are watching him closely. He can't come out to exchange it himself, so he asked me to help handle it. I'm just earning a small fee."
Celine spoke clearly and sincerely. After hearing her, Hui believed most of it.
Still, he remained a little doubtful.
Such a large amount of gold was unusual.
Seeing Hui's hesitation, Celine decided to push harder.
"Hui, if you don't trust me, you can have it tested. If there's any problem with the gold, I, Celine, will take full responsibility!"
Looking into Celine's honest eyes and remembering what Eleanor said earlier, Hui finally decided to trust them.
He took a deep breath and nodded, "Alright, I trust you. But we have to be careful and keep this quiet."
Then Hui invited Eleanor and Celine to sit down and poured two cups of tea himself.
After that, he and his staff carefully counted all the gold jewelry on the counter.
A piece of gold jewelry sparkled brightly under the light, and Shop Owner Hui's eyes grew even brighter.
Celine was getting bored waiting. The gold shop was small and only had a fan running, making it feel stuffy.
She felt like she couldn't breathe well, so she stood up and walked out of the shop.
Just as she took a breath of fresh air, her eyes swept across the street and she froze as if struck by lightning.
It was Lorenzo!
It really was Lorenzo!
Suddenly, the pain of being tortured to death in her past life flooded over her like a broken dam, drowning Celine.
She felt suffocated. Her whole body trembled, and even breathing became difficult.
Fear was like an invisible hand gripping her throat tightly.
She stumbled backward a few steps, then fell to the ground, gasping heavily, trying to shake off the suffocating despair.
The cold ground helped her clear her mind a little, but her body still shook uncontrollably.
Then came an overwhelming hatred.
That hatred boiled inside her chest like lava, burning every nerve.
She wished she could rush up and tear Lorenzo apart!
Killing Lorenzo would be easy.
Celine knew that if she wanted, she could use her space ability to instantly take Lorenzo's life, making him vanish without a trace.
But that would be too easy for him!
She bit her teeth hard, nails digging into her palms until they almost bled.
She wanted Lorenzo alive, to watch her climb higher, only to fall and shatter to pieces!
She wanted Lorenzo and Vanissa to suffer all the pain and despair in the world!
She wanted Lorenzo to experience hell before he died.
He had not yet tasted the torment of purgatory. How could he die so easily?
Celine calmed herself like waking from a nightmare. The first thing she did was turn off her phone.
This action was quick and decisive, as if cutting off all connections to the past.
She didn't know why Lorenzo appeared here now.
In her past life, at this time, Lorenzo was celebrating the success of a major project. As a team member, he was invited to a grand banquet.
That banquet was where fate's gears started turning.
At the banquet, Lorenzo met Vanissa.
Vanissa attended pretending to be the secretary of her father. But her expensive custom dress and the way she carried herself already revealed her true identity.
Moreover, Lorenzo was very sharp. He immediately sensed something unusual between Vanissa and Father Zhou.
With a little observation, he confirmed Vanissa was Father Zhou's daughter.
So he quietly approached Vanissa, carefully planning each step, eventually winning her heart.
Celine was nothing but a backup who was kicked away coldly once she lost value.
Although Celine didn't know why Lorenzo suddenly showed up here, she was sure his purpose was to find her.
Fortunately, they had dated for two years, but Lorenzo had never been to her home or met her parents.
She had told Lorenzo about her hometown but never the exact location.
That was the only luck in this misfortune.
Celine closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
She did not want to see Lorenzo now.
If she had to, Lorenzo would have to suffer first.