Otherworldly Merchant

I looked at Lei Long and was shocked. He had a cloud of black mist hovering above his head, which people often called ‘death energy.’

Lei Long had death energy above his head, and mold was growing all over his body. Looking at him, I felt as if he were a walking corpse…

Anyway, misfortune was coming his way; he wouldn’t live for long.

Lei Long was startled by the way I looked at him. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”

The will of the heavens could not be disclosed. If he had to die, I couldn’t do anything. Otherwise, I would be going against the heavens.

In the meantime, that female ghost had been willing to enter a ghost marriage with a stranger to save his life. To be honest, I felt quite ashamed.

Perhaps we had misunderstood the woman. She had wanted to save Lei Long out of her own goodwill, but we were too blind to see it.

I thought hard about why she would be willing to protect a complete strange at the cost of her life, but I couldn’t figure it out.

Li Mazi gently nudged me. “What are you thinking about?”

I could only force a smile. “Nothing.”

I picked up the golden bowl and observed it. The misty layer on the surface of the bowl had disappeared, and the strange coldness was also gone. It had turned back to a normal item, I guessed.

“Look! Look here!” Lei Long suddenly screamed in excitement. “The moldy spots on my body are going away.”

I immediately turned to him. Sure enough, Lei Long’s body was recovering at speed visible to the naked eye. The mold disappeared, revealing his normal skin.

Li Mazi was also overjoyed. He pulled his pants down, asking me to check his butt. The fluffy hairs on his cheeks were also disappearing.

Lei Long felt blissful. He immediately called his wife and bought a lot of food and liquor. He wanted to celebrate the occasion.

We stayed over until the break of dawn. After taking a shower, the duo looked no different from ordinary people. Lei Long told me that he was brimming with energy, and he’d never felt better.

I planned to leave early in the morning with the golden bowl and the chopsticks. However, someone knocked on Lei Long’s door before we could leave.

Lei Long was happy, as he thought it was his wife coming home. He hurried to open the door.

However, standing at his door was an old couple, with hunched backs and farmer attire. The old man had a white cloth wrapped around his head, which made him look rather unsophisticated.

The old man opened his mouth, his voice hoarse and rusty. “Excuse me, do you have some antiques you want to sell?”

I noticed their bad acting at first glance. They were surely after the golden bowl.

Before Lei Long could send them away, I walked forward and smiled at them. “Oh, yes. Please, come in.”

I locked the door after inviting them into the house.

“Do you have any antique you want to sell? We’re willing to pay a high price.” The old man sounded anxious and restless, his voice full of worry.

I smiled and replied, “I’ve never seen a collector such as yourself. Sir, do you need something else, perhaps?”

“N-No,” the old man stammered. “We’re here to buy antiques. We don’t have any other purpose.”

His shifty eyes raked through the room. I knew he was searching for the golden bowl and chopsticks.

I guessed they were the real owners of the set.

I gave him a faint smile. “Are you looking for this?” I held the sparkling golden bowl out for them to see. They cheered up the moment they saw it.

The old woman spoke with a rasping voice, “Oh, that’s a fine antique. How much for it? We want to buy it!”

“All right, enough with this farce.” Li Mazi was a real antique dealer who had been collecting antiques all over China. He could tell in a heartbeat that the old woman was aiming for something else. “You’re the owner of this golden bowl, right? What’s your purpose? Tell us. Is there any secret behind this golden bowl?”

The old couple looked bewildered when Li Mazi questioned them. They eyed the bowl with clear embarrassment, but they didn’t know what to say given the circumstances. However, the elderly couple still held hands, giving each other support and courage.

I thought they weren’t bad people. I poured them a cup of tea to calm them down. “We’ve just subdued the golden bowl and the chopsticks. There should be no problem later.”

Lei Long also figured out that the old couple had ulterior motives. He was enraged and slammed the table. “You really fooled me! You are already so old, yet you still want to harm people! You know what? My family was almost destroyed because of you! Hmph, wait for the court’s summoning if you don’t give me a good explanation today!”

The old couple was scared. Still, the husband mustered his courage and said, “My wife has nothing to do with this. If you want to sue someone, sue me. Don’t do anything to her!”

The old woman shed tears. “Please, I’m begging you. Don’t sue us. We didn’t know this would happen; spare us.”

I comforted them after seeing them so distraught. “Sir, ma’am, you don’t need to be scared. Just tell us the truth; we’re not going to trouble you. I just want to know the origin of this golden bowl. We will let you go after you tell us the story behind it.”

Lei Long wasn’t pleased; he wanted to threaten them further. However, I shot him a glance, signaling him to stop.

The old man sighed and said, “It’s all our fault. I will tell you everything.”

Then, he went ahead and told us about the origin of the golden bowl from start to finish. The golden bowl and the golden chopsticks had been passed down from generation to generation in their family.

Their ancestor had specified that no matter how poor they became, the family should never sell this golden bowl. Moreover, they had to worship it the first and fifteenth days of every month.

Their ancestors weren’t poor, so it wasn’t a problem to worship the golden bowl. However, the current generation—the old man’s generation—did not have much money. Since they didn’t have children to take care of them, they struggle even to fill their stomachs.

Coincidentally, an antique collector had heard about their family heirloom, so he approached them to buy it. The old couple didn’t want to sell as it was a relic from their ancestors. However, they couldn’t resist the collector’s persuasion and were tempted by his money. Eventually, they gritted their teeth and sold the golden bowl and the golden chopsticks.

Still, despite their lives getting objectively better, they weren’t happy.

Previously, they hadn’t had any real pressure and could live freely even though they were poor. However, they started having nightmares right after they sold the bowl and the chopsticks. They saw their ancestor pointing at their noses and scolding them.

It was really difficult to lead such a life. The old man felt very remorseful and even thought about killing himself.

The old couple knew things couldn't go on like this. They discussed and decided to recover the golden bowl.

They searched high and low to find the address of the antique collector and went to his place. However, when they reached his house, they discovered that he had died horribly.

They were greatly shocked as they felt that his death was probably related to the golden bowl. Their ancestors had told them that something was living in that bowl.

They eventually found us after more inquiries. They had also heard that Lei Long was being haunted.

The old couple decided to take responsibility for their actions and finally came to our door.

However, they didn’t know that we had already destroyed the resentful spirit living in the bowl.