Otherworldly Merchant

I was happy to receive two million renminbi out of nowhere, thanks to the Gold Perianth.

Of course, since three people had worked on this case, we divided up the money equally.

After we had taken our shares, there was some extra money that we couldn’t split up. Yin Xinyue said that we should use it for the traveling fee to Nanjing and that we were going to have a luxurious trip. This place had been the capital for six dynasties. If we traveled around, perhaps we could bump into some more otherworldly items.

I nodded and agreed. However, Li Mazi’s heart ached.

Although it was winter, Nanjing was still beautiful. We walked along the banks of Quinhuai River and admired the old architecture. Our souls felt refreshed.

The areas around Qinhuai River had been renovated into many big and small hotels and inns. Since we were in a scenic area, the inn costs were really high. We decided to have fun and spent the night on a ‘flower ship’ above Qinhuai River.

Li Mazi joked, “Well, we’ve got meat and liquor here. We just need women. If I were born during ancient times, I’m sure I would go to Qinhuai River every night to listen to those singers. If I could see Liu Rushi when she was at her prime, I wouldn’t regret it if I had to die young.”

I felt that Li Mazi would die on some woman’s belly one day…

However, when we got on the ship at night, something odd happened.

The ship owner was a middle-aged man. I guessed he was forty-something. He was drinking with his friends at the front deck. Since they were drunk, they were very loud. It disturbed everyone’s sleep.

Li Mazi was enraged. He went to talk to the ship owner many times, but the ship owner didn’t want to quiet down.

As a result, Li Mazi was completely infuriated. He rolled his sleeves and prepared for a fight.

We weren’t from the area, so it wasn’t wise to quarrel with the locals. I pulled Li Mazi back to his room and talked him into letting it go. Tomorrow, we would move to some inn.

Li Mazi agreed. However, it didn’t take long for the anger that he had tried to suppress to burst out again.  

I was worried that he would cross the line, so I tried harder to talk him out of it.

Li Mazi smiled. “Little Brother Zhang, don’t you worry! Look, they are gambling out there. I’m going out to play with him. If I win, I won’t take a penny from him. Instead, I’ll ask him to shut his mouth.”

I thought this was a good idea.

I was aware of Li Mazi’s gambling talent. I agreed with him and said nothing more.

Li Mazi returned shortly after. However, the ship owner raised his voice louder and louder.

Looking at Li Mazi’s irritated face, I asked, “Did you lose?”

Li Mazi balled his fingers into fists. “I didn’t lose! I won three damn games in a row, but he didn’t keep his promise.”

I patted his shoulder and asked him to not think too much about it. “Let’s just enjoy the night.”  

We gradually fell asleep despite the loud noises from the ship owner.

After midnight, I was awakened by Li Mazi’s crazy laughter.

Enraged, I scolded, “It’s already this late, what the hell are you?”  

Li Mazi was very excited and pulled me up from my bed. “Quick, come out here. Look at the ship owner! He’s running around naked! Oh shoot, he didn’t keep his word earlier when we gambled, but look at him now, he’s fulfilling his promise…”

I rushed out of the cabin and looked. Indeed, a naked, grown man was running wildly around the deck. He had nothing on his body and his eyes were wide-open. He walked in an orderly manner. It didn’t look like he was sleep-walking at all.

I asked Li Mazi, “What’s going on?”

Li Mazi said, “When I gambled with him, the conditions were, if I win, he shuts up. Otherwise, he has to run around the ship naked.”

The ship owner had agreed earlier but when Li Mazi won, he didn’t keep his words. That’s why Li Mazi was enraged earlier.

Who could have imagined that the ship owner would keep his promise at such a strange time... After he sent his customers off, he began to run wild and naked at midnight.

Li Mazi said, “This is a precious moment to remember!” Then, he used his phone to record the scene and posted it to his circle of friends on WeChat.

I was speechless. I didn’t know how or why we had encountered such a bizarre situation.

However, I doubted that the ship owner had done it to keep his promise. There must have been another reason for him running.

Anyway, I was sleepy and didn’t want to think much about it. I returned back to my room and slept.

On the second day, we wanted to leave the flower ship and move into some inn. However, when we walked back from Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, my legs were extremely sore. I wasn’t in the mood to find another hotel. We continued to stay on the flower ship.

When we returned to the ship, we found the ship owner quarreling with a woman. We listened in and figured out that the married couple wanted to divorce.

The ship owner had promised that if they divorced, the ship would belong to his wife. Now, he had changed his mind. He gritted his teeth and said that he had never promised anything like that.

I gave a reluctant smile. It seemed the ship owner was unreliable. He didn’t take responsibility for his words.

Eventually, the woman left crying. She had no choice. If the man didn’t agree, she wouldn’t have ownership of the ship.

Before we left, the ship owner cursed his wife one more time. “That shameless woman. Even if she kills herself, I won’t give her this ship!”

Later, the ship owner acted strange. He sat at the bow of the ship with blank eyes. He stared at the floating lanterns in the distance.

The cold moonlight shone on him, stretching his shadow. His face was pale and he wore thin clothes. The wind blew over, billowing the hems of his shirt. He didn’t seem to feel cold and just sat like that. He looked strange.

It was really late at night and a man was sitting at the ship’s bow with such a strange appearance. His appearance reminded people of many horrible old stories.

I reluctantly smiled. It seemed that the ship owner was hurt, and he would be depressed for a while.

I didn’t really think much about it and went back to my room to sleep.

However, not long after I had slept, I was startled. I heard someone screaming.

When we got out of the cabins, we were speechless.

We never would have thought that the ship owner, the one who had persistently denied to give up the ownership of this ship to his wife, had already moored his ship and invited a notary from the court. He directly apologized to his wife and said that he was a filthy animal and an irresponsible, lying husband. He was now willing to give this ship to his wife unconditionally.

I could only imagine how speechless and perplexed his wife was feeling…

The procedure was completed smoothly. The ship was now under his wife’s ownership.

It wasn’t hard to recognize that to him, losing this ship was like a buffalo losing a strand of hair. Since he could invite some notary from the court at midnight, he was somewhat a powerful man in Nanjing.

When the man signed the paperwork to hand over such a big ship to his wife, his hand didn’t shake at all. It seemed he didn’t care about this little loss of his assets. Damn, this is a rich man's world. We poor people will never understand!

Although I could earn millions, compared to the local businessmen who got rich by tourism, I was a lot less wealthy.  

During the night, the ship owner collected his clothes and moved out. Of course, we didn’t care about this.

I returned to my room to sleep.

I was awakened by a loud noise early in the morning. It was the ship owner. He was crying again.

That bastard was driving me crazy. It was two days in a row now. We couldn’t even spend one day in peace! If he got a mental illness, how did it get so bad?

Li Mazi put on his clothes. He sat with a hot teapot and watched the fun. “Little brother, I think that it’ll be a really good idea to buy a house by Qinhuai River! We could have some entertaining drama to watch every day. We don’t even need a TV!”

I yawned continuously. “What’s going on? Why is that ship owner crying again?”

Li Mazi smiled. “Well, what else could it be? He gave away this ship last night. His heart aches now!”

After listening to the ship owner sob for a while, I had a guess about what was going on...