I Treat You as My Sister, But You Want to be My Wife?!
Chapter 268: Discovering the Watch is a High Replica_1

Chapter 268: Chapter 268: Discovering the Watch is a High Replica_1

The next day.

Feng Lijuan stepped out and made her way to a large pawnshop located in the downtown area.

The pawnshop was open for business, and weekends were business days.

"Hello, ma’am, how may I assist you?"

As soon as Feng Lijuan entered the pawnshop, a staff member approached her.

According to the information Feng Lijuan had found, this pawnshop was the largest one in Hai City, and it was part of a chain.

Feng Lijuan had chosen this pawnshop because she feared that smaller pawnshops might not be able to produce such a large sum of money on the spot.

The watch she was pawning was valued at 1.5 million.

Based on her estimation, she should be able to pawn it for about 1.2 to 1.3 million.

After all, she hadn’t bought it long ago.

"I want to pawn a watch," Feng Lijuan stated directly.

"Very well, ma’am, please follow me," the staff member led Feng Lijuan to a small room and poured her a glass of water, "Ma’am, I am Wu Min, a member of the staff here. You can call me Xiao Wu. May I ask how to address you?"

"My surname is Feng," Feng Lijuan responded indifferently.

Wu Min smiled and said, "Miss Feng, please take out your watch. We need to appraise it. Oh, have you brought the receipt for the purchase of the watch along with any other related items?"

Regardless of what was being pawned, everything required an appraisal from an appraiser, who would then provide a valuation.

Chen Yuting placed the box containing the watch on the table: "I’ve brought everything, it’s all here. Please carry out the appraisal."

Instead of taking the watch, Wu Min stood up and said, "Miss Feng, please wait a moment; I’ll go call our appraiser over."

After saying this, Wu Min left the room.

Before long, she returned with an elderly man.

"Miss Feng, this is Mr. Tan, our pawnshop’s appraiser, specialized in jewelry, gemstones, and watches," Wu Min introduced.

"Please proceed with the appraisal," Feng Lijuan pointed to the watch on the table and said to Mr. Tan.

"Of course," Mr. Tan nodded slightly, put on white gloves, opened the box, took out the receipt and other items, and began to examine them.

These items posed no issues.

Lastly, Mr. Tan picked up the watch to inspect it.

The main objective was to verify the authenticity of the watch and assess depreciation to offer a pawn value.

"Hmm?" After inspecting for a while, Mr. Tan’s brows furrowed.

"Is there a problem?" Feng Lijuan couldn’t help but ask upon seeing Mr. Tan’s expression.

Without answering, Mr. Tan inspected the watch more carefully and eventually took out tools to dismantle it and examine the interior to confirm his judgment.

This disassembly would not impact the watch; it was akin to servicing the watch.

After confirming his judgment, Mr. Tan spoke up, "Miss Feng, the watch you have brought does not match the watch described by the receipt and other items you have provided."

His words were somewhat convoluted. Feng Lijuan was taken aback and, after a moment of thought, understood the implication behind Mr. Tan’s words. She widened her eyes in disbelief, "What do you mean, are you saying my watch is fake?"

Mr. Tan nodded, "Yes, according to the receipt information you have provided, your watch is supposed to be a genuine Patek Philippe worth 1.5 million, but this watch here is a high-quality counterfeit worth approximately 20,000."

"How is that possible!" Feng Lijuan sprang to her feet, her face etched with disbelief.

How had her watch suddenly become a high-quality counterfeit?

A Patek Philippe watch worth 1.5 million had turned into a high imitation worth 20,000 yuan.

How exactly did this happen?

"Miss Feng, it seems you are still unaware of the condition of your watch, always believing it to be genuine. As to what actually happened, only you would know," Mr. Tan looked at Feng Lijuan with some pity.

If there were no surprises, the watch must have been swapped out.

The woman was still in the dark, knowing nothing.

"How could this be? I bought it from a Patek Philippe store. Their stores wouldn’t possibly sell fakes," Feng Lijuan still couldn’t believe it, her eyes doubtful as she questioned Mr. Tan, "Could it be that you’ve made a mistake in appraisal?"

Mr. Tan smiled bitterly, "Miss Feng, I have been in this industry for the better part of my life; dealing with these jewels and watches every day, there is no way I could be mistaken. Although the exterior of this watch is very much like the real thing—to the extent that even I cannot be certain from its appearance if it is real or fake—but..."

Having said that, he picked up the disassembled watch to show Feng Lijuan, "Look, this is the movement. This type of movement is very common in the market, it can be bought for just a few hundred yuan. You see, it’s even marked as produced in a city in the southern part of the country. Patek Philippe’s movements aren’t like this—they are much more exquisite."

He hadn’t reassembled the watch precisely to point out the problem to Feng Lijuan.

The movements of Patek Philippe watches are different from those of ordinary watches.

When crafting high imitations, the focus is primarily on replicating the surface to make it look authentic. Naturally, it suffices to use an ordinary movement for the inside.

"Why would this happen, what exactly is going on?" Feng Lijuan still couldn’t figure it out.

Mr. Tan couldn’t have appraised it incorrectly; she had watched the entire appraisal process herself, so there was no possibility of a switch.

A Patek Philippe boutique wouldn’t possibly sell fakes either.

So why did a watch worth 1.5 million become a high imitation worth 20,000 yuan?

Suddenly, Feng Lijuan thought of something, her face turning pale as she slumped into a chair.

She remembered lending the watch out previously.

She had always worn the watch herself.

If there was a chance that the watch could have been swapped, it would only be that one time it was rented out.

That girl, who had rented it for a day, certainly had the opportunity to buy a watch and switch it.

The exterior of this high imitation watch was such that even Mr. Tan, the appraiser, found it difficult to discern the authenticity just from its appearance.

Being unfamiliar with such matters herself, she was even less capable of telling them apart.

That girl took her real watch and returned a high imitation to her.

And she knew nothing about it.

Feng Lijuan hastily took out her phone to look up the girl’s WeChat and made a WeChat call.

But it showed that the other party had already blocked her.

She quickly opened the WeChat group for future upper-class women, searching for the girl, but she was nowhere to be found.

"I’m finished," Feng Lijuan felt a bout of dizziness; her complexion grew even paler.

She had rented out her watch for a day and earned 30,000 yuan, thinking she had made a profit.

Unexpectedly, the girl had swapped the watches.

The other party had appeared to be an urban beauty, not at all like someone who would deceive.

People nowadays are just too deceptive.

"Miss Feng, even though this is a high imitation, it’s still worth around 20,000 yuan, which is valued higher than many watches on the market. If you still need to pawn it, you can get 10,000 yuan for it," said Mr. Tan.

Although Mr. Tan expressed sympathy for Feng Lijuan, procedures had to be followed, and he gave her the pawn price.