"Later, I found out about this antique auction. What I told you last time, not everything was a lie. What Victoria discovered about that ancient guqin and the mysterious stone is true. But this time, we not only want to know the whereabouts of that stone, we want to take it for ourselves! And not just that stone, we want to take all the antiques for ourselves!" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Although the antiques we can inquire about for the auction are only a confirmed part and not the whole. Some may still be adjusted on site, but just this part, after calculation, the value is enough to drive us insane. We are in the same trade, you should know, the money we risk our lives for is nothing compared to the tycoons, and there are many costs. So, after confirming the rough valuation, we started planning to rob this batch of antiques."

"As for the specifics, I believe you wouldn’t be interested in listening. I’ll give a brief overview. In short, we also have our friends, so we found a key figure, an antique dealer willing to fence. After having a channel to cash out, we temporarily formed a heist team. The core members are just Victoria and me, while the actual operation, transport, and backup are handled by others. Hiding the antiques and smuggling them out is the dealer’s task. What we need to do is, under protection, move the antiques away without letting the police track us, and deliver the items to the specified place within their allotted time."

"Now you should understand, I kind of exaggerated a bit. We hope you would become an ally, yet fear you. Because with your ability, once you get involved, even if you can’t take both of us down, the others would be no problem. At the very least, we wouldn’t succeed. So, the best thing is you join us, just supervise with us, and as long as you don’t make things difficult for us, sharing part of the profits isn’t an issue. That’s all."

Li Yan had already finished his cigarette, so he lit a new one, which allowed Sonia to say so much with ease.

After she finished, Li Yan said calmly, "And the final result? You arrange for people to take away the antiques, leaving me to take the fall, being chased by Yun Country’s police, just conveniently covering for you? A promised profit can find someone with a background, an exciting scapegoat for the police, really cost-effective."

Sonia chuckled bitterly, "We didn’t mean that... compromising fellow companions to the police, wouldn’t that ruin our ’Rose’ reputation? How could we show our faces in the future?"

Li Yan sneered, "Isn’t this heist enough for your retirement? Already retired, you still care about the reputation of Rose? Care about showing faces later? Besides, once I’m up against Yun Country’s police, it’s no small problem, it’s not certain I can get out safely. Perhaps, in the end, no one in the trade knows the secret, just thinks I fled with a batch of antiques."

Sonia maybe had no way out and wasn’t persistently being servile now, "King, you don’t have to underrate yourself, with your ability, your local influence, would you be so easily set up as a scapegoat by us? You have ’them,’ how dare we make you a scapegoat? Not afraid of being hunted by your people worldwide? Why couldn’t I told you back then? If we revealed all about our background, those two weeks would have been enough for you to gather all your ’them’ people over, and what if after getting the antiques, you annihilate us? You don’t trust us, and we can’t completely trust you either! We have no friendship, only talks of interests!"

Li Yan nodded, "Well said. Initially, there’s no friendship, mutual distrust, and caution are normal. That’s why I rejected your cooperation proposal. However, you being straightforward like this makes me more inclined to believe."

"Really?"

After the last time dealing, Sonia felt King wasn’t hard to deal with, seemed easy to negotiate. So, her initial text was different in tone, only to realize later after rejection that it wasn’t negotiated. Now meeting again, he didn’t say much, yet she felt constrained everywhere, quietly alarmed. Even if Li Yan was speaking honestly, she wondered whether he was being sarcastic.

"So... the cooperation?" After the previous conversation, being able at such a crucial moment today not to let Li Yan misunderstand about kidnapping his girlfriend, avoiding conflict, Sonia already felt a bit lucky. Cooperation, she no longer hoped much for.

"As you just said, there’s no friendship, this is the first time cooperation. Even if I’m willing to cooperate with you, what guarantee do you have for my interests? It’s actually the same problem, if you flee, disappear, would I really lead ’them,’ stop working, and scour the world to chase after you? Not only is that unworthy, but it also easily exposes you."

Hearing Li Yan say this, Sonia now saw he was tempted, believed, just didn’t trust the profit-sharing channel, "Then what will assure you?"

"Give me my share first," Li Yan said directly.

Sonia immediately frowned, "We don’t have much time, how can we get the money ready for you? And fencing and cashing out isn’t something that can get money immediately, we plan to retire, spend a long time on this. With our Rose’s reputation..."

Li Yan raised an arm to interrupt, and continued, "Don’t give me verbal assurances. With your Rose’s reputation, you’ve definitely earned quite a bit over the years. Eva is dead, aside from giving her share to her family, I believe you would also divide a part, right? I just want a fifth, is it impossible to pay me?"

Sonia was slightly surprised that he didn’t demand exorbitantly, only requesting a fifth. (Anders, the 80-year-old iconic MGM company, filed for bankruptcy (you’ve at least seen their 007 or Tom and Jerry?), John Woo’s earlier ’Wind Talkers’ massive losses led to company leadership dissolution, CEO stepping down, stock price plummeting, they couldn’t bear it... For now, Anders probably won’t have anyone daring to fund John anymore, needing to continue rounding up funds from Yun Country for Lan Island actor’s success route). (To be continued, to find out what happens next, please log on to www.qidian.com, more Chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)