Otherworldly Merchant

I glared at them again. “Who am I trying to fool? For starters, we’re going to fool a ghost tonight.” 

They couldn’t help but shiver and looked at me oddly. I ignored them and stretched my sore back. I then laid on the couch and said, “Rest. We’ll be very busy tonight.”

“Young Master, you’re really something.” The gold-toothed man sighed and slumped on the sofa. “All right, we’ll die together then.” 

I drifted into sleep, and when the gold-toothed man woke me up, it was dark outside. 

I rubbed my drowsy eyes and walked to the window to look at the dim moonlight. I sneered, “It’s dark outside. The moonlight is dim and there’s a strong wind. The perfect night to kill someone.” 

The gold-toothed man asked, “What do you mean? Are you going to kill someone?” 

I turned to look at him. “Ask Qin Sisi to bring us some food. I’m starving.” 

“Can’t we just call the maid?” the gold-toothed man asked. 

I shook my head and said, “No, it must be delivered by Qin Sisi. There’s something I need her to do for me.” 

The gold-toothed man was reluctant, but he still went to find Qin Sisi. He returned shortly after, but without Qin Sisi.

“Where’s Qin Sisi?” I hurried to ask him. 

“Every night, Qin Sisi goes to a nearby five-star hotel to have dinner. You want her to bring you food? Dream on. We’re lucky if we can get something to eat at all,” said the gold-toothed man reluctantly.

He had a point. For a rich family like this, almost all of their meals were cooked by chefs from famous restaurants. 

We didn’t have a choice. We had to wait until Qin Sisi came home as I needed to ask her to do something. 

Qin Sisi returned shortly after. Moreover, the security guard behind her had a thermal box in his hands; she had brought us dinner.

I liked Qin Sisi even more now. Although she was a noble lady from a wealthy family, she didn’t look down on us.

Qin Sisi greeted us and asked her guard to place the delicacies on the table. 

Qin Sisi had paid special attention to our dinner. There were main courses, side dishes, and even sweet dessert and fruits.

“Please forgive us for not being well prepared for your stay,” said Qin Sisi. 

“Oh, no, no, you’re very well-prepared,” the gold-toothed man said. “Miss, you were very attentive.”  

Then, he began to wolf down the food. 

Qin Sisi smiled gently. “If you need anything, directly see the housekeeper. Make yourself at home.” Then, she prepared to leave. 

I strode forward to stop her. “Second Young Lady, please wait. Can you help us with one thing?” 

Qin Sisi turned to me, her expression odd. “What do you need help with?”

I waved my hand. “It’s nothing big. You just need to stay here with us to prove that we’ve always been in our room.”

This time, Qin Sisi looked even more puzzled than before. “Aren’t you going to stay in my house?” 

I smiled. “Of course, we’re going to stay in your house. Otherwise, how could we catch the ghost? We’re just not going to stay in this room.” 

Qin Sisi thought then nodded. “All right, I’ll help you.” 

With her intelligence, I knew that she could guess my intentions.

“Did your uncle ask you what I did in your father’s room?”  

Qin Sisi nodded. “He did. I answered him as you told me.” 

I smiled. “That’s good, then.”

“I’m going to see the housekeeper for the keys,” Qin Sisi said. “Which room do you want to stay in?” 

I immediately stopped Qin Sisi. “You can’t see the housekeeper.” 

Qin Sisi was confused and looked at me. “If we don’t see the housekeeper, how could we open the room?” 

“Don’t worry. I have a plan.” 

I suspected that Mr. Qin had bribed the housekeeper. They were probably watching our every move. If we alerted them, they could become even more cautious, which would be disadvantageous to us. 

The gold-toothed man and Li Mazi were surprised. With questioning faces, they said, “What are you talking about? We don’t understand what’s going on.”

I lowered my voice. “I think that Mr. Qin is the one who has plotted against his brother. Actually, it’s not that hard to tell. At first, he didn’t even want us to join this case. Ever since I decided to accept the mission, he started to look tense. He doesn’t look like a brother that cares about his older brother.” 

“Impossible.” The gold-toothed man was scared. “If so, we can’t keep digging into this...” 

I looked at him oddly. “Why not?”

“Are you stupid?” The gold-toothed man jumped in rage. “If you bust Mr. Qin, even if he falls off his horse, he can still easily destroy us! He could just find some assassins to get rid of us. You’re playing with fire here. Not only you’re going to put yourself in danger, but we’ll also end up in trouble!” 

The gold-toothed man quickly collected his stuff and prepared to leave. 

But how could I let him go? I jumped forward and stood in his way. He wanted to force his way out, but I grabbed his shoulder and pinned him to the wall. “If you leave, I’ll tell Mr. Qin that you suspect him and that you want to go to the police station to report this case.”

“Y-You… You’re despicable!” The gold-toothed man almost cried. “Young Master, can you just ignore me? Let me go, please. I don’t want to die just yet.”

I smiled. “I still need you. I don’t want you to leave just yet.” 

Li Mazi sighed and walked forward. “Gold-toothed, you’re not sincere enough. We’re all in the same boat. If you ditch us, we’ll not end well, either.” 

The gold-toothed man slumped on the ground. “Sigh! I’m sure I owed you money in my previous life.”

I laughed and let go of him. It seemed I had him completely under my control this time. “All right, Gold-toothed, follow us. We’re going to buy something.” 

The gold-toothed man lifted his head to look at me. “What do you want to buy?” 

“You’ll find out soon.” I turned and smiled at Qin Sisi. “Miss Qin, you should come with us, too. Just think of it as keeping an eye on us. I’m sure Mr. Qin will ask you about us later.” 

Qin Sisi nodded. “All right.”

We left the manor. We went to the bustling commercial street and asked Qin Sisi to take us to a nice coffee shop. 

Actually, I had noticed that someone was stalking us. If I wasn’t wrong, it was one of Mr. Qin’s men. It was the right decision to bring Qin Sisi with us. 

If we hadn’t taken Qin Sisi with us, the other person would have kept a close watch on us, which would have troubled me and made it harder to play tricks.

Qin Sisi brought us to the coffee shop, which happened to be the one where we had met Mr. Qin. It was called, ‘Yipin Store.’ 

After ordering three cups of coffee, I asked, “Gold-toothed, go to the hospital now to buy something for me.” 

“Ah, what is it?” The gold-toothed man was curious enough. 

“Liquid ether,” I said. “Secretly sneak out of here. Do not let that outsider see you…” 

“Outsider?” The gold-toothed man looked at me strangely. Obviously, he didn’t know what I meant by ‘outsider.’ 

I helplessly shook my head. “Are you even a member of the Zhang family? Someone has been following us, and you haven’t noticed?”  

The gold-toothed man was startled and turned to Qin Sisi. “Why would your security guards keep an eye on us?” 

Qin Sisi reluctantly sipped her coffee. “Do you need to ask? Of course, it was my Second Uncle’s doing. He wants to know what you’re going to do.”

The gold-toothed man burst out laughing. “Second Lady, you also doubt your Second Uncle?”

Qin Sisi put her cup down. “I doubt everybody, including you.”

I was surprised. I couldn’t believe that the elegant and naive-looking Qin Sisi was this thoughtful.  

This woman wasn’t simple. It seemed I shouldn’t tell her anything the next time. I had to keep my eyes wide open around her. 

At the same time, that narrow-minded, quick-tongued Qin Tiantian wasn’t someone we had to worry about. 

The gold-toothed man said, “Okay, you guys wait for me here. I’m going to get it now.” 

The gold-toothed man scanned the room. Then, his eyes fixed onto the air vent. He quickly climbed inside and crawled his way out. 

I turned to Li Mazi. “How are your lock-picking skills?” 

Li Mazi smiled. “Still good. I need to count on them when my antique trading career no longer feeds me.”

“Do you need to prepare any tools?” I asked. 

Li Mazi said, “I need to take a look at the door first.” 

Then, our eyes turned to Qin Sisi. 

“Well, my house’s locks aren’t easy to pick,” Qin Sisi said. “We use digital smart locks. Moreover, they connect to a cell phone. You need a password to open it. My phone can solve the password thing. However, you have to get through the sensor chip of the lock.” 

Li Mazi looked pensive. “All right, I’m going to prepare some tools.” 

I nodded. Li Mazi also crawled out of the room through the air vent.

Now, only Qin Sisi and I were left in the room. The atmosphere turned a little awkward. I rarely communicated with beautiful women. Moreover, she was a rich woman from a wealthy family. 

She and I didn’t have any common topics to talk about, so we just sipped our coffees in silence. 

Shortly after, I had already finished my cup of coffee.

My gaze shifted from my empty cup to Qin Sisi’s cup; it was still half full. 

She elegantly stirred her cup, and since I was somewhat embarrassed, I picked up Li Mazi’s cup of coffee and stirred it as well. 

“Haha.” Qin Sisi looked amused and gave a sweet smile.

I was puzzled. “Why are you laughing? Do you think that I look disgraceful while I drink coffee?”

Qin Sisi waved her hand. “No, it’s not that. Actually, I admire you because you can live your life freely.”