Chapter 13

Chapter 13

With just one look, I was certain she was the person I was looking for!

I was about to step forward and explain my purpose when she suddenly blinked right in front of me. Reaching out, her slightly calloused fingers hooked the Scale Pendant around my neck.

Her almond-shaped eyes narrowed sharply as she demanded, “Why do you have Seventh Master’s Tail Scale?”

Those beautiful eyes were now flashing with a cold light, sharp as a blade, as if she were ready to skin me alive in the next second.

The pressure was overwhelming.

“He gave it to me for protection,” I said, taking out the Token and handing it to her. “He’s also the one who sent me to find you.”

The woman took the Token and turned it over several times, clearly agitated.

However, her emotions vanished as quickly as they had appeared. “What is your relationship with Seventh Master?”

Um…

I weighed my words before replying, “He is my benefactor.”

“I see.” The woman didn’t press further. “Leave your address. I’ll come find you once I’ve finished what I’m doing here.”

I gave her the address of the Pawnshop and asked, “How should I address you?”

“Li Qingying,” she replied, then asked, “And you?”

I reached out my hand to her. “Just call me Xiao Jiu. Sister Qingying, the Wufu Town Pawnshop welcomes you.”

Li Qingying gave a curt nod, gave my hand a brief squeeze, then turned back to her stall to grab a few items and walked away.

I was left standing there, dazed by the sudden departure.

What a cool woman.

I had so many things I wanted to say to her, but now I had to swallow them all back down.

Still, I had successfully found her, which put me in a better mood. I hummed a little tune as I rode my electric scooter back to the Pawnshop.

Over the next few days, no business came to the Pawnshop.

With nothing to do, I couldn’t help but think about school and my classmates.

But I knew in my heart that now that I had started down this path, it would be difficult to go back to my studies.

I called my counselor and told him that due to some family issues, I needed to take a leave of absence for a while.

He asked about my situation in detail, but I kept my answers vague. He comforted me and said he would help me submit the report. I thanked him.

In the blink of an eye, the tenth day of the month arrived, but Sister Qingying still hadn’t come to the Pawnshop.

The Fifteenth Ghost Market was about to open, and I was starting to get anxious, not knowing what I needed to prepare.

I hesitated over whether to make another trip to the aquatic market, but then I figured that Sister Qingying’s stall clearly wasn’t a legitimate business. She was likely only staying there because she had been waiting for news of Liu Junyan.

What exactly was the relationship between Sister Qingying and Liu Junyan in the past?

I was sitting idly behind the counter, resting my chin on my hand and lost in thought, when I noticed a young girl, about twelve or thirteen years old, peeking around the western steps of the Pawnshop.

This wasn’t the first time I’d seen her. She had been coming here every day for the past two or three days.

It seemed like she wanted something from me but was too afraid to approach.

When she peeked out again, I waved to her. “Little sister, don’t be afraid. If you need something, come in and talk to me.”

The girl froze for a moment, bit her lip, and then summoned the courage to walk inside.

She was very thin and looked pale. Despite her young age, the dark circles under her eyes were heavier than those of a corporate worker.

She walked up to the counter, keeping her head down and fidgeting with her fingers without saying a word.

I sensed she might be in some kind of trouble, so I asked patiently, “What’s your name, little sister? Are you looking for me for something?”

“My name is Sun Laiding,” the girl said timidly. “Sister, do you… do you take a Pen here?”

Sun Laiding?

Hearing that name, my heart sank. I immediately felt a surge of empathy and pity for the young girl.
I continued my questioning. “What kind of Pen is it? Could you show it to me?”

Sun Laiding pulled a blue cloth bundle from her coat and unfolded it on the counter, revealing an off-brand Pen.

It was old and unremarkable, but the moment it was laid out, I saw a thick, swirling cloud of black energy clinging to it. My expression immediately turned solemn. “Little girl, where did you get this Pen?”

“It belonged to my grandmother, but she’s been dead for over a year.”

As she spoke, Sun Laiding’s eyes filled with terror. Her whole body began to tremble, and tears started splashing down her face. She looked utterly helpless.

I quickly stood up, took her hand, and led her behind the counter to sit beside me. “Dingding, don’t cry. Take your time. I need to understand where this Pen came from before I can decide whether or not to accept it.”

I poured her a cup of hot tea.

Sun Laiding cupped the tea with both hands and tried her best to steady her emotions before she began her story.

“My grandfather passed away early. My grandmother raised five children on her own, and life was very hard for her. As she got older, it seemed like her mind started to go.

“Every year during the spring and autumn harvests, my uncles and my dad would deliver her share of grain to her house as agreed. But as soon as the grain was delivered, she would immediately contact a grain buyer and sell all of it.

“After selling it, she would run all over the village, claiming her five sons were unfilial and weren’t giving her any food. She’d say they wanted to starve her to death and that she was going to write a formal complaint to the village committee, asking the government to step in and help her.”

I frowned as I listened. This grandmother certainly sounded like a piece of work.

“Years ago, Grandma got this Pen from somewhere. She used to bribe my older cousins with money to help her write those complaints. Later, my cousins all went to the city for school, and Grandma went blind. She stayed in the village and lived with me.”

I was puzzled. “What do you mean she lived with you? Where were your parents?”

“They work in a factory south of Wufu Town,” Sun Laiding said sadly. “My mom suffered a major hemorrhage when she had me, which damaged her body, and she hasn’t been able to get pregnant with a brother since. They have to earn money for her medical treatments. I stayed in the village to go to school and look after Grandma.”

I couldn’t help but sigh. A girl barely ten years old, left to care for a blind and delusional grandmother all by herself-it must have been incredibly difficult for her.

“Grandma couldn’t see, but she saved up a bit of money from selling her grain every year. She would pay me to help her write her complaints-one yuan for every page. She’d take the papers I wrote and go around filing complaints everywhere. I could earn a few yuan a month that way to buy paper and pens. It went on like that for over two years.

“If I hadn’t been greedy, things would have been fine. It’s all my fault, my fault…”

Sun Laiding started crying again, her fingernails digging into her palms as she sobbed. “Last year, right after the New Year, my parents went back to the factory and forgot to leave me money for living expenses. I started my period and didn’t have any money for pads. It just so happened that Grandma asked me to write another complaint. After I finished, she took out her wallet and told me to take one yuan from it.

“I… in the heat of the moment, I did something stupid. I knew Grandma couldn’t see, so… so I took a fifty-yuan bill instead.

“I thought she wouldn’t find out, but very soon after, she came to ask me if I had taken her fifty yuan. She said if I had, I should give it back, or she’d have someone write a complaint to report me.

“I flatly denied it, but Grandma was certain I was the one who took it. I don’t know if it was because she was so old or if the stress of the situation got to her, but she passed away in her sleep about a month later.

“When she was buried, I saw my dad put this Pen into the coffin with my own eyes. But just last month, this Pen suddenly appeared inside my schoolbag…”