Battlefield Priest's Diary

Chapter 26 Thorny Care
"Oh! Cluck cluck cluck!!!"

A long, drawn-out laugh, like the clucking of a hen, drifted from the window of the house. The lady of the house covered her delicate mouth with her uniquely voluptuous hand.

"You're joking. I might have been considered a beauty a decade or so ago, but now I can only be described as having a little bit of charm."

Qin Hao tried hard to suppress the urge to smile, stared into the other person's eyes and said softly, "You're too modest. In my opinion, you're no different from those girls on the beach. You're still very young."

"You're so good with words!"

"So, about the meal expenses..."

"Please make yourself at home. A young man like you is clearly from a good family. How could you possibly be greedy for such a small amount of money for a meal?" The hostess waved her hand with a smile, dismissing the Asian man she was meeting for the first time without a second thought.

The shop owner stared at his wife in disbelief. He knew her all too well after decades of marriage; she was easily angered, irritable, and fiercely protective of every penny. He didn't know what was wrong with her today, that she was smiling so warmly at a stranger.

Could it be that she prefers the East Asian type? The shop owner scratched his head in confusion.

Half an hour later, Qin Hao returned the full amount of the meal fee, and the plump proprietress kept waving to him as he left.

Qin Hao's smile faded only after he turned the corner and the restaurant was no longer in sight.

He reached out and picked up the bishop's chess piece, gently stroking it.

Clearly, everything that just happened was the effect of this piece; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to persuade such a seemingly difficult woman with just a few flattering words.

This thing seems complicated.

Perhaps we should conduct another test.

He thought about it for a moment.

Qin Hao pulled out the stack of World War I Tsarist rubles from his pocket and dialed a number.

"Stella, I have something I want to show you."
-
A few days later, Irkutsk.

Qin Hao's beat-up Volga pickup truck stopped in front of an inconspicuous little shop. The shop's roller shutter door was closed and it looked rather dilapidated.

Qin Hao stepped forward and knocked on the roller shutter door.

"We're not doing business here anymore, go to another shop!" a clear female voice came from inside.

"It's me, Qin. I've come as promised."

Splash splash splash splash~~~~
The roller shutter door was opened from the inside, revealing the face of a rather dashing short-haired woman.

Stella Dmitrievna Sokolova, Qin Hao's partner, is also Qin Hao's dedicated sales channel when he obtains illicit goods.

The two were quite familiar with each other, but Qin Hao didn't actually contact her often because this woman was really good at bargaining.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time, come in." The woman, dressed in a neutral-colored short-sleeved shirt, wrapped her coat around her waist, lifted the roller shutter door with one hand, tilted her head, and made way for Qin Hao.

Qin Hao crouched down and entered the house, the back door was closed again, and the light inside the house dimmed.

Several old blueprints, their dates unclear, hung on the wall, while tools and machine parts sat on the table, and the faint smell of machine oil filled the air.

To the outside, this place is a watch repair shop; nothing about it seems to connect it to a woman's residence.

"Take your things out, let me take a look. Let me make this clear, I don't accept just anything." Neither warm nor cold, this woman, roughly the same age as Qin Hao, adopted a businesslike attitude.

Qin Hao pulled out the wad of banknotes from his pocket and handed it to the other person.

The woman took the items and, after just one glance, showed an interested expression. "Paper money from the Tsarist era, and so much at once? Where did you get these?"

"I got it by accident, don't ask where it came from, I want a good price." Qin Hao didn't continue the conversation.

Stella turned on the desk lamp and began examining the banknotes with a magnifying glass. "The anti-counterfeiting technology of banknotes during the Tsarist era was not advanced. Most denominations used a single color, and the thick cotton paper was not considered high-quality paper at the time. It is not easy to preserve them to this day. 7% of these banknotes on the market are fake."

"Actually, between 1914 and 1916, the ruble was in over-issued and its value was not as high as it was during the Provisional Government period in 1917. But the quality of your money is good, and some of it is even too new."

Once this woman gets into work mode, she's like a completely different person, fiddling with a magnifying glass while constantly muttering technical terms.

A few minutes later.

“OK! These are genuine, no problem. For this quality and quantity, I can offer you 11,000 US dollars, how about it?” The woman looked up at the person opposite her.

At that moment, Qin Hao also turned his gaze toward her.

The two looked at each other.

“I think these should be worth 100,000,” Qin Hao said softly, staring into the other person’s eyes.

Time seemed to stand still. The two of them just stared at each other, neither of them speaking. The room was eerily quiet.

Pfft~ Ha~~
The woman suddenly started laughing in an unseemly manner, and then her laughter grew louder and louder until her whole body began to shake.

"Qin, I heard about your situation from Donikov, but have you lost your mind because of your illness? These things may have some value, but how could they possibly be worth $100,000? If you're serious, I really have to question your professional competence."

"If you're joking, please don't waste my time, okay?" Stella waved her hand, seemingly trying to get rid of the ridiculous situation.

Seeing the woman laughing incessantly, Qin Hao withdrew his gaze.

It seems that the Bishop piece's ability has a limit and cannot forcibly reverse what the opponent perceives as illogical.

Then Qin Hao smiled again and said, "You misunderstood. I meant 100,000 RMB."

"Oh? Are you going back to China?"

"Didn't you hear? I was diagnosed with hemophilia and I'm thinking of going back to China to see him in a while." Qin Hao came up with a pre-prepared excuse, then said, "Since you don't agree to this price, I'll leave now."

"Wait!" the woman suddenly called out to Qin Hao.

"I'll add another thousand dollars, that's all." After saying that, the woman tossed over a bundle of banknotes without asking Qin Hao's opinion, coolly refusing to ask for his input.

"Thanks." Having achieved the purpose of the experiment, Qin Hao didn't say anything more, picked up the money on the table, and prepared to leave.

Snapped!
Something flew out of the woman's hand, and Qin Hao caught it in mid-air, finding it to be a small white medicine bottle.

"The latest British medicine is said to be very effective in suppressing hemophilia symptoms," the woman said casually, seemingly unconcerned about the other person.

Qin Hao looked at the medicine bottle in his hand and was slightly moved. Clearly, she had prepared the medicine in advance.

"Thank you, Stella. You are so beautiful and considerate," Qin Hao said sincerely, looking into the woman's eyes.

"Pah! Don't mock me. Take the money and medicine and get out of here!"

A few minutes later, Qin Hao picked up his things and left.

Stella was alone at the table, fiddling with the small tools on it.

The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock.

At some point, the woman suddenly stood up, walked to a mirror, and brushed her neat bangs aside.

"Beautiful and considerate? Me?"

"Should I get a new hairstyle?"

(End of this chapter)