Staring at the black iron gate in front of him, Ethan Carter vaguely remembered that this was the place. Last time, Little Brian had brought him here to find someone called Mr. Turner to fence some stolen goods.
He stepped forward and knocked on the door. After quite a while, the door finally opened.
“Who are you looking for?” A heavily made-up woman opened the door and looked at Ethan Carter in confusion.
“I’m looking for Mr. Turner, here to fence some goods,” Ethan Carter said with a smile.
The woman was startled. Other people always spoke very euphemistically when coming to fence goods—no one just blurted it out like that. She scrutinized Ethan Carter again, saw that he didn’t look like a cop’s informant, figured he was a rookie, and let him in.
Ethan Carter followed the woman through the door and into the house.
The room was dimly lit, with about seven or eight people inside. Aside from the woman who brought him in, the rest were all burly men.
Sitting in the chair at the center of the room was a bald man with a scar on his face—this was Mr. Turner.
Even though he was outnumbered, Ethan Carter wasn’t afraid. He was here to fence goods, to bring them money, not to pick a fight. Every trade has its own rules, and if you break them, you’ll naturally be punished.
“Mr. Turner, right? We met last time.”
Since he needed something from him, Ethan Carter didn’t dare slight Mr. Turner. As soon as he entered, he hurried forward and spoke.
Mr. Turner looked up at Ethan Carter, grinned, and said, “I remember you. You came with Little Brian last time. Got more stuff?”
“Give me a price!” Ethan Carter nodded, tossing the black plastic bag in his hand onto the table.
“Little Blondie, take a look at it.” Mr. Turner glanced at Ethan Carter, thinking that with such shabby clothes, he couldn’t have brought anything valuable. He gave the order, then pulled the heavily made-up woman onto his lap and started kissing her passionately, not caring at all about Ethan Carter’s presence.
At Mr. Turner’s words, a young man with yellowish hair responded, dumped out the contents of the black plastic bag, and began examining them carefully.
“Mr. Turner.” After a long while, Little Blondie finally looked up and said, “I’ve finished appraising. The total is 475,000 yuan.”
“That’s too little!”
“That’s too much!”
Ethan Carter and Mr. Turner blurted out at the same time.
Actually, when Ethan Carter and Little Brian had appraised the jewelry at home, they figured it was worth at least over 500,000 yuan. But now, Little Blondie had shaved off tens of thousands, so of course Ethan Carter thought it was too little.
As for Mr. Turner, seeing how poorly dressed Ethan Carter was, he didn’t believe he could have brought anything valuable, so he also thought the price was too high.
After the appraisal came the bargaining. Both sides had to haggle: the fence would try to lower the price, while the thief would try to raise it.
Really, it was just like shopping in the market—those who know how to haggle always get a better deal.
“Mr. Turner, these things are worth at least 600,000. Only offering 400,000-something is way too little!” Ethan Carter quickly said. He knew that the key to bargaining was to seize the initiative, so he made the first move and even raised the original price a bit.
Mr. Turner was taken aback. He quickly pushed the woman off his lap and looked at Little Blondie.
Little Blondie winked at Mr. Turner, meaning: These things are worth at least this much, can’t go any lower.
“I don’t think these things are worth that much,” Mr. Turner said, going over to inspect the jewelry and frowning.
Of course, he knew the stuff was worth that much—he just wanted to push the price down a bit more.
“How about this!” Mr. Turner waved his hand, a barely noticeable glint flashing in his eyes, and smiled. “Let’s round it down!”
Little Brian was waiting at the hospital for this money to save his life, and Ethan Carter didn’t want to waste any more time. Bargaining was just a tactic to show Mr. Turner he wasn’t a pushover—his real goal was to close the deal quickly.
Just as Ethan Carter was about to agree to knock off 5,000, Mr. Turner suddenly said, “Just 400,000. Not a cent more!”
“400,000?” Ethan Carter was stunned, then immediately noticed the malicious smile at the corner of Mr. Turner’s mouth.
At first, the others in the room were also a bit surprised by Mr. Turner’s words. But after seeing his signal, they quickly caught on. Two sharp-eyed thugs swiftly closed the door, and then seven or eight people surrounded Ethan Carter.
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Chapter 5: The Psychic
“Mr. Turner, isn’t this a bit out of line?” Seeing the situation, Ethan Carter’s face darkened and he said in a low voice.
Ethan Carter wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t have dared to bring goods worth hundreds of thousands to Mr. Turner to fence if he wasn’t confident.
“I wonder how funny it would be if a broom suddenly flew up and hit someone during a fight,” Ethan Carter thought, his gaze falling on the broom in the corner, a hint of anticipation in his heart.
Mr. Turner had made it clear he was going to double-cross him, but Ethan Carter wasn’t afraid. Even though he was outnumbered, his mental powers were nothing to scoff at.
Facing Ethan Carter’s challenge, Mr. Turner just laughed. “Today I’m going to double-cross you. After all, your stuff didn’t come through legitimate channels. I may be breaking the rules, but if you die, who’s going to know?”
“Die?” Ethan Carter’s face turned grim. He had only wanted to teach these people a lesson, but he hadn’t expected them to actually plan to kill him. That was ruthless!