Demons Beside You

“Zola, that pearl seller you introduced to me is an *sshole.”

“What’s wrong?” Zola was confused. She didn’t know what had happened.

Chen Zhao told her about Spike raising the price for no reason, adding more emotion and details.

Hearing this, Zola furrowed her brows. “I see. I’ll make sure to get an explanation.”

Zola and Spike were only work partners. However, Zola worked in high fashion. Her brand used some jewelry and accessories. In essence, Zola was Spike’s source of income. If she stopped working with him, Spike would definitely have great losses.

After tattling, Chen Zhao felt much better. Just then, he got a call from an unfamiliar number.

“Hello, who is it?”

“Hello. I am John Longsha.”

“Hello, Mr. John Longsha. Do I know you?”

“I heard that you need pearls?”

“Huh? How do you know?’ Chen Zhao was confused.

“I have a batch of natural pearls on me,” John said. “One ton. Do you need it?”

“What price?”

“One hundred eighty dollars.”

“One hundred eighty dollars.”

“That’s it? Are you sure? I heard that the price in the pearl market is very high now, much higher than this.”

Chen Zhao was guarded. After all, with such a low price, the man might be trying to scam him with artificially-bred pearls.

“This is the true market price. The rise in price these past two days is because of my purchases.”

John was actually able to give it to Chen Zhao for free. He bought all the pearls for $200,000. Selling it to Chen Zhao for $180 was already a big loss. But with his background, he could gift him ten tons easily.

“Why are you doing this? We don’t know each other.”

“I know you and that’s all that matters. If you need the pearls, I can send them to your home.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“How can I pay you?”

“You can pay after you receive it,” John said, chuckling. “You can find a professional to check and send me the money after you’re sure there are no problems.”

“Okay. My address is 13 Banana Street, Mountain Town.”

“Please wait at home. My package will be delivered within the hour.”

Chen Zhao thought for a moment, but he didn’t know any pearl appraisers.

Just then, Normans called. “Hey, *sshole. You haven’t come here in three days. Did you forget your job?”

“I’m busy. I’ll go over when I’m free. Plus, it’s only like ten pounds. You can do it by yourself in two days.”

“There’s no one to talk to when you’re not here. I have no motivation.’

“I’m seriously busy.”

“Busy with what?”

“Oh, right. Do you know any jewelry appraisers?”

“What jewelry do you want appraised?”

“Pearls. I bought some and need a professional to appraise it for me.”

“I’m coming.”

“Coming for what?”

“I’ll help you.”

“Are you sure? Don’t scam me.”

“Do you want help or not?”

“Yes, yes, yes. Please come. You came over before, so you should know where I live, right?”

Normans hung up and hurried over. Thirty minutes later, she was here with Wouter.

Wouter was excited to be back here and ran around, playing with Black Ma and White Ma.

Normans came in with her kit. “Where are your pearls?”

“It’s not here yet,” Chen Zhao said. “Wait a bit.”

“Your house is so small. Look, White Ma and Black Ma can’t even run around in here. You should just bring them to my place. It’s bigger.”

“You can tell them yourself. If they’re willing to go with you, then they can go.”

Normans looked at them. “Black Ma, White Ma, come to my place. I have good food.”

They ignored her. What a joke! Other than her house being bigger, there was nothing good about it. There were demonic crystals here. Chen Zhao would give them some every now and then.

Normans knew that she would get this result, but she was still annoyed at getting ignored.

“How come the dogs and owner are all so annoying?”

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Chen Zhao opened it. There was an unfamiliar man in work clothes. A few men in similar attire stood behind him. “Hello, who are you looking for?”

“Are you Mr. Chen? We are the delivery men from Arita Pearl Company. My task is to send a package of pearls to you.”

Chen Zhao nodded. He took out his license. The delivery man confirmed it and said, “Excuse me, where should we put the pearls?”

“Put it into the basement.”

The workers brought boxes of pearls into the basement. Each box had Arita’s logo. They all contained two kilograms.

“Hey, *sshole, how many pearls did you buy? I thought you bought some ten-thousand-dollar high-quality pearl.”

“I only need you to check if these are natural or not.”

“Then why did I bring so many tools? You can tell just from the luster and color.”

“I didn’t tell you to bring the tools. You brought it over yourself.”

Normans was furious, but she still helped Chen Zhao in the end.

“These are all natural pearls. The quality’s pretty high too. Aren’t you a doctor? Why do you need so many of these? Are you going to change your career?”

“No, I have other uses.” Chen Zhao shook his head. “Okay, your task is complete. You can go home now.”

“What, you’re kicking me out?”

“Of course. This is my home and my girlfriend’s coming back soon. I don’t want her to misunderstand.”

“What if I don’t leave?”

“Black Ma, White Ma, please see her out.”

Normans stomped her feet in anger and left in a huff.

Chen Zhao put all the pearls into the spatial ring and called John. “Hello, Mr. Longsha, I received the delivery. Please send me your bank account.”

A car parked outside at that moment. Dell, Risfar, and their kids hopped off.

“Uncle Chen, we’re here to visit you,” Faith greeted Chen Zhao. She brought the two older girls into the house.

“Mr. Longsha, I have guests. I’ll send you the money later.”

After hanging up, Chen Zhao went to welcome Dell and Risfar. “Mr. Risfar, how come you’re visiting?”

“My daughters want to see White Ma and Black Ma, so I brought them here. Mr. Chen, you won’t mind, right?”

“Of course not. I’m glad they like White Ma and Black Ma.”

“Mr. Chen, this is for you.” Risfar offered Chen Zhao a fancy bottle of red wine.

“Thank you.” Chen Zhao took it without hesitation. “Please come in.”