“Gold ingot? Did you accept it?” Chen Shi said.

“Of course it’s impossible to collect, but he insisted on using this as payment. We went to the pawnshop below to exchange it.”

Chen Shi remembered the recent gold store robbery that Lin Dongxue was involved in. “I want to go and see.”

“Wait a moment.” Gu You left and came back a while later holding a mobile phone in her hand. “We haven't pawned anything before, so we didn’t know if the gold ingot was real or fake. I'm afraid the shopkeeper secretly changed it, so I took photos of it on my phone.”

On the phone, the gold ingot was taken from all angles. From the ratio of the hand to the ingot in the photo, this thing was about the size of a lingjiao[1].

Chen Shi immediately went out and banged on the door of Peng Sijue's consulting room. “Old Peng, come out.”

Peng Sijue appeared impatiently and Chen Shi handed the phone over to him. “Is this what was lost in that gold shop?”

Seeing the words Zhoutaifu[2] imprinted at the bottom, Peng Sijue replied, “Possibly. Where did you find this?”

“Don’t worry about that. Have you finished the consultation?”

Chen Shi wanted to say that when he’s finished, Peng Sijue should go to the pawnshop with him. He didn’t expect that Peng Sijue said, “Not yet!”

“Didn’t you say you weren’t sick?”

“Of course I'm not sick! I'm talking to the consultant about some other topics.”

Chen Shi wanted to laugh and said, “Okay, you finish up first. I'll investigate and come back to you in awhile.”

“Don’t tell others that I'm here for psychological counseling!” Peng Sijue reminded sternly.

“Relax! Who doesn’t have privacy?!” Chen Shi pushed him back into the room.

Chen Shi said to Gu You, “Miss Gu, can you take me to that pawnshop? Bring the pawn ticket as well.”

“Okay, I'll find it.”

The pawnshop was just across the street. In addition to pawning, it also ran a money-lending business. Chen Shi also knew that the money to run this industry was not very clean. Many pawn shops were suspected of helping people to sell stolen goods. Nowadays, the legalization of private loans was legal, so these stores reappeared.

Gu You asked, “That gold ingot is a stolen item?”

Chen Shi said, “It's just my suspicion. There have been some robbery cases at gold stores recently. What did you think when you received it?”

“I thought it was a family heirloom or something and didn't think much about it. We didn't see the police announcement either. If we saw it, we would definitely not have accepted it.”

“You shouldn’t have too much of a loss.”

“It doesn't matter. It’s just the loss of three consulting sessions.”

The two entered the pawnshop and demanded to redeem the pawned product. This gold ingot was pawned at 40,000 yuan. Chen Shi didn't have so much cash on his body. Gu You took out a credit card and said, “I'll lend it to you for now!”

“I'll pay you back for this money. If it’s stolen, the police will reimburse you.”

“If not?”

Chen Shi held the gold ingot in his hand. “It's not a loss to buy a gold ingot for 40,000 yuan.” Although he said this, he still felt some pain in his heart.

Chen Shi asked Gu You to distract the man in the ancient dress and returned to the bureau with Peng Sijue. When the staff of the gold shop handed over the gold jewelry, he secretly put a box of anti-theft ink tags along with them. Peng Sijue identified it and concluded, “It was the gold shop on Yangquan Road that lost this.”

“That’s great. The money hasn’t gone for nothing!” Chen Shi exclaimed.

Peng Sijue called Lin Qiupu's internal phone, hung up after a brief explanation, and asked, “How much did you spend?”

“I mean, the money that I spent on your psychological counseling was not wasted. I didn't expect this unexpected gain either.”

“How much was it?”

“Not too expensive. Two hundred for an hour. Miss Gu gave me a discount of fifty yuan.”

Peng Sijue took out his mobile phone and insisted on transferring Chen Shi the money back. Chen Shi was polite for a bit before accepting the money. Peng Sijue only talked to the consultant for two hours today but he transferred Chen Shi a thousand yuan.

Chen Shi blinked for a moment, then immediately understood. “How many times do you want me to make an appointment for you?”

“I'm not ill. I just feel like I can talk to that consultant and want to just relax occasionally.” Peng SIjue emphasized earnestly.

He didn't admit it, but according to Peng Sijue's reaction, today's consultation was effective. Chen Shi didn’t press further or tease him.

Later, a large group of policemen arrived. When they learned of Chen Shi's discovery, everyone praised, “Brother Chen is amazing. We have been investigating for a few days. You just come across clues casually. How great!”

“Haha, it was just luck.”

“By the way, why were you at the clinic anyway?”

“Uh...” Chen Shi looked at Peng Sijue. “I've had insomnia recently!”

The police immediately went to detain the man in ancient dress. When he was brought into the bureau, he yelled, “How bold! How dare you be rude to your majesty? Which yamen[3] are you from? Do you know who I am?”

He was then taken into the interrogation room and Lin Qiupu asked Peng Sijue to draw blood to see if he had a criminal record... Or which mental hospital he escaped from.

When the needle penetrated into the skin, the man in ancient dress trembled and almost jumped up. The two policemen held him from behind as his face twisted in pain. He screamed, “How dare... How dare to stab your majesty? You don’t want your heads on your shoulders anymore, do you?”

This matter was too funny and interesting, so everyone went to the criminal identification room to watch the lively show behind the one-sided mirror. Lin Qiupu sat down in front of him, put the gold ingot in the evidence bag on the table, and demanded, “Name!”

“Who are you? How dare you ask for your majesty’s name?”

“I’m asking for your name!”

“What's my name? Ask yourself! Why have you arrested your majesty? What did your majesty do to be detained?”

Lin Qiupu looked helpless.

“I get it!” The man in ancient dress concluded. “You are sent by General Wang to kill me. Once I ascend to the throne, the first thing I’ll do is have the head of General Wang. I urge you to surrender from the darkness as soon as possible.”

Seeing his seriousness, the recorder almost laughed. Lin Qiupu whispered, “Record it down!”

The recorder asked innocently, “What do I record?”

Lin Qiupu shook his head helplessly as people were already laughing outside. He thought that this man was not normal. He could only change his direction to follow his line of thought.

“Who is this General Wang?”

“You don't even know who he is? He is the first evil official in my dynasty who tried to manipulate and control the princes to do his bidding from behind the scenes. You need to go back and look through the history books!”

“History books? So, you really did time-travel here?”

“Of course!” He nodded.

“Which dynasty are you from?”

“Tu Dynasty[4]!”

“What nonsense!” Lin Qiupu was almost going crazy. The many police officers outside laughed until they were out of breath. Their laughter reached the interrogation room. Lin Qiupu glanced at the one-way mirror and continued to ask the man, “Dare I ask for your big name?”

“Ah, that sounds a lot better. You have to get rid of this thing first. Your majesty doesn’t feel comfortable.”

Lin Qiupu called someone in to get rid of the handcuffs and gave him a bottle of mineral water. The man actually knew how to unscrew the bottle cap. He took a sip, shook his head, and complained, “What a plain taste.”

“With all due respect, can I please ask for your big name?” Lin Qiupu continued to ask.

“Nalan Fang, also known as Guangyue.”

“Then, Mr. Nalan Fang...”

“Immoral moderns, please don't call your majesty's name directly.” Nalan Fang stroked his beard that didn’t exist.

“Okay, Mr. Guangyue, how did you time-travel over here?”

1. https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/one-hand-holding-water-caltrop-260nw-696708181.jpg

2. Referring to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, but has probably changed it due to copyright issues.

3. Government body/police/courts/etc in feudal China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamen

4. China did not actually have this dynasty.