Chapter 131: Selling the Bracelet

“Why?” My face paled at his words, and I nearly dropped my chopsticks.

I quickly explained to him, “Look, when I said you were my bodyguard before, I was just talking nonsense. Please don’t take it to heart. I don’t know what special rules your Lu family has, but I truly consider you a friend. We don’t need to follow that whole copper coin gratitude thing. When my grandfather sent your family rice back then, it was just a bit of relief aid. You should go do whatever you need to do; there is no need to actually follow me.”

As I spoke, I grumbled inwardly. The people of the Lu family were truly too stubborn. Every day they talked about fate and repaying debts, clinging to their principles as if every single event in a person’s life, every debt owed, had to be recorded clearly and settled before they could rest.

Lu A’yao listened to me and shook his head stubbornly. He asked in return, “From the moment we climbed out of the river until now, haven’t you noticed anything along the way?”

I was confused. “Noticed what?”

Lu A’yao looked at me. “Someone has been following us.”

I frowned. “Someone’s following us? Could it be Qiao Sangui’s people?”

On second thought, that didn’t seem right. That canyon was so massive, and we had tossed a pack of explosives inside when we came up. The entire cliffside, including the Buddhist Pagoda inside, had collapsed because of us. I didn’t even know if Qiao Sangui was buried under the rubble. They had been badly injured, too; if they managed to get out, they likely wouldn’t come after us immediately.

“It’s not Qiao Sangui’s people. I noticed it a long time ago. That’s why I went to town today – to prove it. As soon as I left the hotel, someone started tailing me. I lured him into an alley and we fought. He was skilled, likely a bounty hunter or a professional assassin, but he fled after we exchanged a few blows. Therefore, I don’t think I am his ultimate target.”

I had never heard of such a thing. My jaw nearly hit the floor. “You actually fought him? He Yu and I weren’t there. You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“No, but he got away,” Lu A’yao said, sounding a bit regretful.

I was still reeling from his words. Thinking back, I had been offending people left and right lately. As a newcomer, I’d gone underground with Tian Yuqing, and not long after, I had a confrontation with Hou Jinshan in the shop. After coming under Granny Yin’s protection, I’d run off to Yunnan and screwed over Qiao Sangui several times. But surely he wouldn’t hire an assassin to take me out, would he?

“I think the target is you,” Lu A’yao said.

“Huh? Why?” I didn’t quite understand. “Is Qiao Sangui that vengeful? There’s no need to hire a professional killer just for me. Besides, what would they gain by watching me?”

Lu A’yao continued, “I’m not entirely sure. I just feel there’s a high probability the target is you. This assassin is very professional. People who do business with the Five Masters generally don’t have access to such channels. He doesn’t seem like a local.”

Just as he finished speaking, He Yu rolled over. He let out a mumble and stretched lazily, looking like he was about to wake up.

Lu A’yao instinctively spoke faster. “We don’t know the person’s background or what he’s after yet. That’s why I have to stay with you. Otherwise, if you face him alone, you won’t stand a chance. That would be trouble.”

So he was doing it to protect me. I couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. It seemed I had been too shallow, complaining about him in my head when I should have asked for clarification first.

“What are you two whispering about behind my back?” He Yu rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, sighing. “Damn, that felt good. It’s great to be back in modern society!”

I grumbled at him, “Stop reflecting on life and go wash up so we can eat. The food Old Lu bought for you is going to get cold.”

He Yu perked up the moment he heard about food. He scrambled out of bed, clutching the blanket as he moved to the edge. He let out a soft whistle. “What’s the occasion? To have Granny Yin’s person bring me food is truly the honor of a lifetime! I can’t throw these chopsticks away after eating; I have to keep them as a souvenir.”

I laughed at his words, then looked at Lu A’yao to confirm if he was definitely coming with me. He understood my meaning and nodded, then pulled all the change from the meal out of his pocket and handed it to me.

While He Yu went to wash his face, I sat on the bed and counted the money.

It was such a small amount of money, yet I insisted on counting it three times, wishing I could somehow scrape a few more yuan from between my fingers. After finishing, I sighed. We definitely couldn’t stay here any longer. We had to check out today and buy train tickets back.

However, this bit of money was far from enough to buy three hard-seat tickets. With the distance from Yunnan to Kaifeng, my backside wouldn’t be able to handle dozens of hours on a train. My previous suggestion about Lu A’yao telling fortunes had been a joke, so I planned to sell something else.

I touched the bracelet on my wrist as an idea came to mind.

He Yu came over to eat, and I made room for him. As he sat down, he said, “We still don’t have enough money. You two think of something. See if we can get a bit more, or we’ll end up sleeping on the streets.”

“I’m planning to sell my bracelet. It should fetch at least a thousand yuan. What do you think?” I asked.

He Yu shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth and waved his hand at me. “Your idea is good, but it might be hard to pull off right now. Qiao Sangui is the big boss here in Yunnan; he’s practically monopolized the antique market. He put the word out a long time ago. No one in this area dares to buy anything from us.”

I slid the bracelet off my wrist and fiddled with it in my palm. I definitely had to sell it. If I didn’t, we’d have no money. No money meant no tickets, and no tickets meant we’d be stuck here. That simply wouldn’t do.

“If all else fails, we can buy a piece of cloth and dress Old Lu up a bit. We’ll set up a stall and let him tell fortunes. We can do everything – marriage, career, wealth, face reading, Yin Dwellings, and Yang Dwellings. He’s so gifted at it, he’d surely make plenty in a day.” He Yu ate a mouthful of chili.

Lu A’yao nodded. “I can do that.”

I immediately raised my hand to cut him off and scolded He Yu, “Fortunes my foot! Look at his status – you want him to set up a stall on the street? If someone in the industry sees him and word gets out, how are we supposed to do business in the future?”

The main issue was that this kind of business was thankless. Fortune-telling stalls weren’t like other industries; they usually relied on a base of regular clients. Lu A’yao had previously been working in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas and had no foundation at all in Yunnan. Consequently, he could easily spend a whole day at his stall without earning a single cent. Even after several days of effort, the small amount he finally managed to bring in wasn’t even enough to cover one night’s expenses at our hotel.

Besides, a guy like him, who could barely squeeze out a word to save his life, simply wasn’t cut out for the kind of shouting required for that job. Rather than having him tell fortunes, it would have been better to just have him sell his face.

An idea came to me as I thought about it. I stood up from the bed and walked over to the soft sofa, picking a spot where the fabric wasn’t torn. I laid my string of beads out on the sofa and turned back to borrow Lu A’yao’s phone.

“What’s up? Do you have another idea?” He Yu asked, leaning over to look.

Lu A’yao pulled out his phone and handed it to me. I opened the camera function, knelt on the floor, and took several photos of the beads.

He Yu leaned in to look and chuckled. “Your photography skills aren’t bad. You actually made that raggedy cloth sofa look like velvet. Not bad at all. You’re just like your Fourth Brother; you’re definitely going to be a little hustler in the future.”

I told him to get lost and stop talking nonsense.

After putting the beads back on, I glanced at the two of them. “Once we’re done eating, we’ll check out. We need to find an internet cafe. I’ve thought of a way to make money.”

The three of us moved quickly. He Yu devoured his food like a whirlwind. Once we packed our things and checked out, we headed straight for the only internet cafe in town. The town was quite small, so the rules at these shady internet cafes weren’t strict. Usually, you could get on a machine just by paying. The place was dark and gloomy, filled with middle school dropouts huddled together, smoking until the air was thick with haze.

Knowing this might take some time, I specifically booked a private room. I asked the front desk for a data cable, took Lu A’yao’s phone, and uploaded all the photos I had just taken to the computer. Then, I opened QQ and entered my password.

Back then, communication wasn’t like it is now. In those early years when QQ groups were first becoming popular, my Fourth Brother couldn’t figure out how to use those newfangled things. However, he knew that setting up a group to showcase goods would be much more convenient, so he had me create one for him. The account was actually mine, but it contained many regular customers who bought beads.

I explained, “I don’t use this account much, so Fourth Brother has been the one using it all this time. Because of that, the customers all believe this is his account.”

“Well, look at you! You’re pretty sneaky,” He Yu slapped me on the shoulder. “So you’re saying you’re selling things under your Fourth Brother’s name now? These people are from all over the country, so it’ll be much easier to sell things. Hmph, that guy named Qiao definitely won’t expect you to have a trick like this up your sleeve!”

I smiled and quickly entered the group, posting all the photos from the phone. I typed out a line: “Old-growth Small-leaf Red Sandalwood. Starting bid: one thousand.”

There were quite a few people in the group, and responses came in quickly. I watched the monitor, planning to wait until they raised the price to a certain level on their own. Lu A’yao was curious and leaned in to look at the chat logs with me. He Yu, having nothing better to do, snatched the beads from my wrist to examine them.

“Whoa, I didn’t notice before, but this sandalwood material is excellent! A starting price of one thousand is a bit low. This has the look of something worth at least three thousand. I can’t believe you wore something this good while going underground! Where did you get such high-quality old-growth material?” He Yu clicked his tongue in admiration as he looked at the beads.

“My mom sent it to me for my eighteenth birthday. Her current boyfriend deals in antiques. He usually travels all over the place to collect materials, then brings them back to turn into beads and sell them. He has plenty of this kind of old-growth material. If you like it, I’ll trick him into giving me a few more for you when the holidays come around.” I kept my eyes on the computer, not even turning my head.

Lu A’yao leaned in next to me to watch. The chat box was scrolling incredibly fast. After a while, he probably found it boring and sat back down. He took off his mask, closed his eyes, and lay back on the sofa in the private room.

He Yu fiddled with the beads in his hand and patted me. “I have a very personal question. It’s a bit abrupt, but can I ask?”

His tone was strange, so I instinctively glanced at him. “Go ahead and ask. Is there anything we can’t talk about?”

“What exactly is the situation with your family right now? Why do you always run off to your Fourth Brother’s shop every time you’re on break, or go stay in your grandfather’s old house? I heard your mom settled down in Jiangsu and even bought several houses. Her boyfriend is an antique dealer, too. Are you just not thinking straight, or is there another reason?”