I Inherited a No-Frills Pawnshop from the Start

The day his grandfather died, Lu Yan inherited the shabbiest pawnshop in town, a dodgy operation with no license, no tax records, and a sign made from an old plank. It wasn't until the ledger began turning its pages by itself in the dead of night that he discovered the truth: this shop dealt in time.

Pawn five years of your lifespan, and the shop will double the days you have left. Pawn a memory, and it will erase that part of your past from everyone's mind. Pawn an obsession, and the shop will repay what you owe, with interest.

Lu Yan was born with a pair of "pawnshop eyes": he could see the countdown of every person's remaining lifespan, the evil miasma drifting through the city, and the debts everyone owed.

In his first month running the shop, he did three things.

The Qin Group came to break off his engagement. He turned around and calculated the betrothal gifts, with interest, into an astronomical bill, then plastered it all over town. The eldest daughter of the Qin family came to his door in person. "The Qin family's daughter is not for sale."

He stumbled upon the largest counterfeiting den in the spirit market. The Qin Group's official seal was stamped on its invoices.

He received an invitation from the Mist Lord of Mist Street. Only on the night he went to meet the lord did he learn that the pawnshop his grandfather had guarded all his life had a branch on Mist Street.

And the time coin his grandfather left him, engraved with "998," was counting down, day by day.

The waters of Chuzhou run deep. The waters of the pawnshop run deeper still.

All he wanted was to look after the family business and live a quiet, steady life. But some debts, once brought to light, can never be settled again.

Lu Yan, of Lu's Pawnshop, the 999th to face the countdown, awaits your arrival.