Chapter 76.2 Ghost Market
He watched with such interest that he didn’t even notice that someone was approaching them. It wasn’t until there was a cough beside him that Lin Banxia turned around and saw an old man with white hair and a beard standing beside him. The old man was wearing a white coat, and he looked quite fairy-like, like one of those out-of-this-world masters in martial arts movies…
However, with him suddenly appearing next to him, Lin Banxia was frightened and stepped back towards Song Qingluo. Song Qingluo stretched out his arms and hugged his waist. He glanced at the old man and his expression turned cold.
The old man probably had something to say, but when he saw Song Qingluo hugging Lin Banxia tightly, he swallowed all the words that came to his lips. Lin Banxia looked at him helplessly. The old man’s face turned red, and it took him a while to say: “Song boy, what’s going on with you? We haven’t seen each other for several years…why…”
Lin Banxia guessed what he wanted to say next, probably “Why did you just find a man?”
Also, with Song Qingluo’s appearance, even if he didn’t have much money and wanted to be a pretty boy, that’s fine. Why was he reduced to being with a man…
The corner of Song Qingluo’s mouth curled up slightly, and he held Lin Banxia’s hand tighter, and said calmly: “If you don’t have money to find a wife, it would be great if someone is willing to have you. As for this bowl of mung bean paste, he invited me.”
Even if he knew Song Qingluo was joking, Lin Banxia couldn’t help but smile. His body was pressed tightly against Song Qingluo, and he could feel the temperature of his skin flowing continuously along the place where the two of them touched. It was a little hot, but not annoying.
When the old man heard Song Qingluo’s words, his body trembled. When Lin Banxia thought he was about to hold his breath, he gritted his teeth and said, “How can you explain to your mother like this?”
Song Qingluo said: “My mother is dead.”
The old man stamped his feet: “Who said she is dead! She is fine!”
Song Qingluo said: “What about her?”
The old man fell silent. After feeling sulky for a while, he said, “I don’t care whether your mother is dead or alive. You…you can’t do this!”
Song Qingluo said: “Then you give me back the money you cheated me of.”
The old man said: “I didn’t lie to you. Who did you go to?”
As soon as these words came out, Lin Banxia knew the identity of this person. He was probably the old man who went to Song Qingluo’s residence to find him. He had to say that if you only looked at his appearance, you really couldn’t tell that this person was a liar, and listening to the conversation between the two, it seemed that the old man had some other connection with Song Qingluo, and it was not just as simple as meeting him in the ghost market.
It stood to reason that Song Qingluo should be very angry because the person who caused him to be deceived was right in front of him. The strange thing was that Lin Banxia didn’t hear much anger in his tone. It seemed more like he was teasing: “So, it has nothing to do with who I like.”
The old man suddenly blew his beard and stared, as if he was about to have a heart attack because of his anger.
Song Qingluo pretended not to see him and took Lin Banxia’s hand to leave, but the old man stopped him from behind and said, “Song boy, wait!”
Song Qingluo turned around.
“I didn’t mean to trouble you!” the old man said. “You haven’t been to the ghost market in the past few months. You don’t know that something big happened in the ghost market!!”
Song Qingluo asked: “What’s the matter?”
The old man said: “It’s not convenient here, so come to my house!”
Song Qingluo glanced at Lin Banxia, obviously asking for his opinion. Lin Banxia thought it didn’t matter. They could just go and have a look. In fact, he was quite curious about the relationship between Song Qingluo and this old man, so he nodded and agreed to the old man’s proposal.
“Then let’s go.” Song Qingluo drank the last mouthful of mung bean porridge and said nonchalantly, “There’s nothing to do anyway.”
The old man looked resentful, and the resentment in his eyes was about to turn into knives, but Song Qingluo pretended to not see it.
On the way to the old man’s house, Song Qingluo re-introduced his identity, saying that his surname was Zhu, and his name was Wenbing. He was already eighty-six years old. Song Qingluo and his family used to be neighbors. Later, something happened to Song Qingluo’s family and they moved out of the yard, and the relationship gradually faded away.
Later, Song Qingluo wanted to buy some antiques, so he asked him to recommend some sellers… Everyone knows what happened next.
Along the way, despite Mr. Zhu’s murderous look, Song Qingluo held Lin Banxia’s hand and never let go from the beginning to the end. It was Lin Banxia who became ashamed first.
Mr. Zhu’s home was right next to Song Qingluo’s home. It seemed that the family was in a good financial situation. When you entered, there was a courtyard full of flowers and plants. There were also small bridges and flowing water, which provided some tranquillity in the busy city.
Mr. Zhu led them into the main room. As soon as he entered, Lin Banxia felt a chill. It was very comfortable in the hot summer. He was about to ask what method he used to keep the room so cool when he saw Song Qingluo pointed to the roof and said, “There is a special mechanism there that can release air conditioning.”
Lin Banxia was surprised: “What mechanism?”
Song Qingluo: “An air conditioner.”
Lin Banxia: “…” This joke is really a bit cold.
However, even if Lin Banxia didn’t know much about houses, he could tell from the surrounding furnishings and decorations that this old man came from a wealthy family, so he didn’t know why he wanted to have trouble with Song Qingluo, a poor junior.
After sitting down on the chair, Mr. Zhu called the servants and served each of them a bowl of herbal tea. Lin Banxia took a sip. He didn’t understand and couldn’t tell the difference between good and bad. However, Song Qingluo’s expression softened slightly and he seemed to like the cup of tea very much.
“Tell me, old man.” Song Qingluo got straight to the point, “What happened to the ghost market?”
“Did you go abroad for a while in the past few months?” Mr. Zhu asked.
“Yes.” Song Qingluo said, “I went to Russia for a few days.”
Mr. Zhu said: “The incident happened during that time. I originally wanted to find you, but you were not in the country. It took me a long time to find out where you lived…” He muttered, with a complaining expression.
Song Qingluo was not impatient. He took a sip of tea and waited for Mr. Zhu to continue.
“The weather wasn’t so hot at that time, and there were more people in the ghost market.” Mr. Zhu said, “The weather was nice that day, so I thought about going out for a walk. While I was at the ghost market, I met a person selling small items. The person was wearing a mask and sunglasses, and couldn’t be seen clearly. You know, the things of such people are usually not clean and cannot be bought.” He murmured, “I didn’t give it much though at the time. In my mind, I looked at it for a few times and then left. I walked around and came back. I saw the boy from the Zhao family squatting by the stall, seeming to have his eye on something. I went over to take a look and found that he had his eye on a thumb ring…[1.]”
“A thumb ring?” Song Qingluo said, “What thumb ring?”
“It’s said to be something from the Shang and Zhou dynasties,” Mr. Zhu said. “I thought it seemed to be too new… I tried to persuade the boy from the Zhao family, but he seemed to be possessed and insisted on buying it. So just buy it, it’s not expensive anyway, it’s only a few hundred yuan, so there was no stopping him…” He slapped his thigh, feeling extremely regretful, “Who knew something would happen?!”
Song Qingluo: “What’s wrong?”
Mr. Zhu said: “It seems like two weeks have passed since this happened and the boy from the Zhao family suddenly went crazy.”
Hearing the word “crazy”, Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo glanced at each other almost at the same time, seeing the same look in each other’s eyes.
“It was said that there was a worm in the ring.” Mr. Zhu said, “He couldn’t remove the ring finger, so he chopped off all my his with a knife. Fortunately, he was found quickly, and is still in a mental hospital.”
Song Qingluo tapped his fingers on the table: “Then what?” If it was just like this, he didn’t think the old man would come to him again.
“Then, that man came again.” Mr. Zhu said, “He came last week…why weren’t you at home?” This time, he went to find Song Qingluo again, but he still couldn’t catch this kid. Luckily, they met Ji Leshui at home and finally got the news.
Song Qingluo said: “I went back to his hometown.”
Mr. Zhu said: “Why are you going back to his hometown?”
“For me to give a betrothal gift.” Song Qingluo said lightly, “Before doing anything big, you have to meet the parents first.”
As soon as these words came out, Mr. Zhu, who had a relatively fair complexion, suddenly turned green and red, as if he had opened a dyeing workshop. Lin Banxia saw that Song Qingluo was deliberately angering the old man, so he held back his laughter and showed a shy expression: “Stop it, why are you talking about this?”
Song Qingluo blinked slyly and said gently: “I just like to tell people about us. The more people know about us, the happier I am.”
Mr. Zhu completely collapsed and slapped the table and roared: “Shut up, you two!!”
Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo couldn’t help laughing at the same time.
The author has something to say:
Lin Banxia: Isn’t it bad to bully an old man like this?
Song Qingluo: I already gave him face by not kissing you in front of him.
Mr. Zhu: Two little bastards!!!
Translator’s comments:
- Thumb rings were worn by archers to take the strain of the cords and bows as they drew them.
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