I had basically picked up these 800,000 renminbi for free, but I was still very happy.
The first thing I did after getting a hold of the money was to fix the antique shop. I’d already decided that I would rely on this profession to make a living in the future.
But, just by fixing the shop, I spent almost half of what I’d earned. As for the remaining 400,000 renminbi, I put them in the bank. People in this line of business would make a lot of money, but at irregular intervals. Therefore, it was always better to have some cash at hand.
For the next month, I wasn"t able to do any business, which caused me to become somewhat irascible. After all, sitting all day in the shop and doing nothing was rather irritating.
Still, I hadn"t expected that it would again be Li Mazi who brought me my second deal...
Li Mazi was in a good mood that day, and he brought over a lot of stuff when he came to visit me. Judging from his glowing face and confident tone, it seemed he’d come because he had good news.
Li Mazi was different from me. He could leave the shop to his a.s.sistant and head to the remote countryside to buy and sell antiques. Moreover, he’d been in the business for a long time and had broad connections. He was much more experienced than I.
Therefore, when Li Mazi suggested forming a partners.h.i.+p, I benefited a lot.
Li Mazi held a bottle of "China Blue" worth 300 renminbi[1] in his hand, while I grabbed some beef and started eating.
I asked Li Mazi, "Do you have a job for me?"
Li Mazi grinned and said, "Little Brother Zhang, I got a big one this time. The last time, you sold those d.a.m.ned embroidered shoes for 800,000 renminbi, but I get the feeling that we"ll make more than one million this time."
My interest was piqued, and I asked Li Mazi the details.
Li Mazi drank a mouthful of wine and started with his explanation. After seeing me make 800,000 renminbi the last time, he didn"t feel like selling antiques anymore. Although the antique business was a lucrative one, the controls were very strict nowadays, and it had become increasingly difficult to do business. Moreover, he was the one that had discovered the embroidered shoes, and he wanted to earn back the money that he’d missed back then.
Li Mazi was someone who’d traveled far and wide over the years, and he’d also heard about some antiques causing trouble. So, after getting home, he started to carefully recall all the strange things he’d heard over time. Afterward, he sifted through the rumors and checked each household to see which ones were still in trouble.
Of course, it wasn’t so easy to find otherworldly items. Most of the rumors were fabricated and didn"t have any real basis.
Nevertheless, Li Mazi was a patient man, and his determination allowed him to find a clue amidst those hundreds of rumors!
There was a well-known story back in his native place.
Towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, a wealthy family lived in his hometown. The leader of the family spent a great deal of effort to send his daughter to the Imperial Palace, making her Emperor Pu Yi"s concubine.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, an old court eunuch accompanied the concubine back to her native place. As she came back, she brought along a carriage filled with the treasures of the Imperial Palace.
However, the happiness of the family didn"t last long, and soon after, the country was shrouded in the flames of war once again. Amidst the chaos, almost all of the treasures in the family were stolen, and only a strange set of blue and white porcelain was left behind.
Now, the only person left in the huge family was a sluggard.
This guy didn"t even bother removing the gra.s.s growing in the fields, and bought ready-made stuff all year round. In the end, the family was thoroughly ruined in his hands.
But, one day, a peddler heard that there was a treasure in the family of this sluggard, and he headed there to buy it. As soon as the sluggard heard that he could sell the strange blue and white porcelain in his house for 2000 renminbi[2], he happily accepted.
However, strange things started happening soon after he sold the porcelain. Whenever he got up in the morning, he would be dripping with blood. b.l.o.o.d.y wounds were all over his body as though someone had deeply scratched him with their fingernails.
The scariest thing was that he didn"t feel any pain even though he had all those wounds on his body.
At first, the sluggard thought that someone was playing pranks on him. Therefore, he tightly shut the doors and windows, and even tied a strand of hair to every entrance and exit. If someone barged in, the strand of hair would break, and he would know it.
However, the sluggard hadn"t expected that there would be an even higher number of wounds on his body the next morning. There were five b.l.o.o.d.y cuts on his back, so deep that even the flesh was visible.
As for the strands of hair he’d tied to every entrance and exit, they were perfectly intact. It seemed like no one had barged into his room.
The sluggard was dumbfounded, and he quickly realized that this was the doing of the blue and white porcelain.
His ancestors had said that the blue and white porcelain was a treasured family heirloom that had to be protected at all costs. Otherwise, a calamity would befall him.
Even if the sluggard were greedy, he couldn"t help but be cautious when his safety was involved!
Luckily, the person that had taken the porcelain away was a local relative. As such, the sluggard used both hard and soft tactics to deal with them. Whenever he was free, he would stand at the entrance of their place and cuss, giving inauspicious speeches. In the end, the opposite party couldn"t bear it anymore and gave him back his family heirloom.
Speaking of which, the sluggard didn"t encounter anything similar after recovering the porcelain.
To increase the credibility of this story, Li Mazi repeatedly told me that this strange incident had spread far and wide back then. All the nearby villages got wind of it, and a newspaper even went there for an interview.
Li Mazi had unconsciously recalled this matter the last time. After that, he’d made a trip to that sluggard"s house, and luckily for him, the trip wasn"t in vain. He found out that the sluggard was once again experiencing strange things!
Every day, he would be too afraid of sleeping because he would wake up covered in blood the next morning.
But, after the lesson he’d learned the last time, the sluggard had carefully safeguarded the blue and white porcelain. It was unknown how he’d exactly offended it this time.
Li Mazi concluded that the blue and white porcelain might be an otherworldly item. Therefore, he told the sluggard that he would look for a specialist to solve this matter.
Li Mazi had a shop there, and he was a well-respected character in the village. So, it took him only a sentence to gain the trust of the sluggard.
After hearing the story, I was startled. Then, I said," Li Mazi, Li Mazi! Aren"t you being too much of a good samaritan here? You almost lost your life last time, and yet, you still decided to look for something this dangerous!"
"The embroidered shoe could only make people sleepwalk and didn"t have the ability to harm them directly. However, this thing can injure them just fine. It must have a very special origin!"
Li Mazi was taken aback. "Little Brother Zhang, how can that be? Last time, I personally saw how skilled you are!"
I sighed, and said, "We people in this line of business have three kinds of items we don"t accept—items that can endanger one"s life, items that can affect one"s fate, and items that can absorb one"s blood and essence. As you can see, the object you’re talking about already breaks two of the rules! It can endanger one"s life and also absorb one"s blood and essence. I"m sorry, but I won"t be dealing with it."
Li Mazi pleaded, "Little Brother Zhang, please, you have to take a look at it! I even boasted in front of that guy! You just have to take a quick look at the place. If it"s something you can deal with, good. If it"s not, we can simply walk away. After all, it"s not like you have anything to do here. You can consider it as going on an adventure."
I smiled coldly. "We still have another rule in this profession. When it comes to dealing with otherworldly items, you can either ignore the item, not bothering with it for a lifetime... or get involved, and have to deal with it for a lifetime."
"How come this profession of yours has so many rules? Alright, Little Brother Zhang, I get it. We’re both adults, and there’s no need to resort to these tricks. Still, the fact that you’re treating me like one of your customers really saddens me. Instead of splitting the revenue 50-50, I can give you a 60-40 deal," Li Mazi said.
"This isn"t about the money."
"70-30, how does this sound?"
"Deal."
"f.u.c.k."
There was no time to waste. As such, we immediately got into the car and headed toward Li Mazi"s hometown.
1. Around 42 USD.
2. Around 180 USD.