Chapter 131: Selling the Bracelet

“Why?” My face paled at his words, and I nearly lost my grip on 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 Clan has, but I truly consider you a friend. We don’t need to follow that whole copper-coin repayment of gratitude thing. When my grandfather sent your family rice back then, it was just a bit of relief aid. You should do whatever you need to do; there’s no need to actually follow me.”

As I spoke, I grumbled inwardly. The people of the Lu Clan were truly too stubborn. Every day all they talked about was fate and repaying debts, clinging stubbornly to the idea that every single event in a person’s life, big or small, and every debt owed had to be recorded clearly and paid back in full before they could leave it be.

Lu Ayao listened to me and shook his head stubbornly. “From the moment we climbed out of the river until now,” he countered, “haven’t you noticed anything along the way?”

I was confused. “Noticed what?”

Lu Ayao 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 make sense. That canyon was so massive, and we had tossed a pack of explosives back down when we came up, collapsing the whole cliff face along with the Buddhist pagoda inside. 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 wouldn’t come after us right away.

“It’s not Qiao Sangui’s people. I noticed it a long time ago. That’s why I went into town today to prove it. As soon as I left the hotel, someone started tailing me. I lured him into an alley and fought him. He was skilled, likely a bounty hunter or a professional killer, but he fled after we exchanged a few blows. So I don’t think I’m 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. Did you take a hit or anything?”

“No, but he got away.” Lu Ayao sounded a bit regretful.

I was still reeling from what he said. Thinking back, I had been offending people left and right lately. Fresh out of the gate, I’d gone underground with Tian Yuqing, and not long after, I had that confrontation with Hou Jinshan in the shop. After securing protection from Yin Pozi, I ran off to Yunnan and screwed over Qiao Sangui several times. But surely he wouldn’t hire a hitman to come after me, would he?

“I think the target is you,” Lu Ayao said.

“Huh? Why?” I didn’t understand. “Is Qiao Sangui really that vengeful? There’s no need to hire a hitman just to kill me. Besides, what would they stand to gain by keeping tabs on me?”

Lu Ayao added, “I’m not entirely sure. I just think there’s a strong chance the target is you. This assassin is very professional, and the people who trade with the Five Masters generally don’t have access to channels like that. He doesn’t seem like someone from around here.”

Just as he finished speaking, He Yu rolled over, grunting softly and stretching lazily, looking like he was about to wake up.

Lu Ayao instinctively quickened his pace. “We don’t know the guy’s background or what he’s after yet, so I need to stick with you. If you run into him alone, you won’t stand a chance, and then we’ll be in real trouble.”

So he was doing it to protect me. I couldn’t help feeling a bit ashamed of myself. It turned out I had been thinking too superficially and complaining about him in my head when I should have just asked first.

“What are you two whispering about behind my back?” He Yu rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, sighing with satisfaction. “Damn, that feels good! It’s so 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.”

The moment He Yu heard about food, he perked up completely. He scrambled out of bed, clutching the blanket as he moved to the edge, and gasped, “What’s the occasion? To have Yin Pozi bring me food is truly the honor of three lifetimes! I can’t throw these chopsticks away after eating; I’m keeping them as souvenirs.”

I laughed at his words, then shot Lu Ayao a look to ask if he was definitely coming with me. He understood my meaning, nodded, and pulled all the change from the meal out of his pocket to hand to me.

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

It was such a paltry sum, yet I insisted on counting it three times, wishing I could somehow scrape a few more yuan from between my fingers. Once I finished, 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 Ayao telling fortunes had been a joke, so I planned to sell something else instead.

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 figure something out. 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 said.

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. That bastard Qiao Sangui runs the show in Yunnan; he’s practically monopolized the antique market. He put the word out a long time ago, so no one around here 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 it all: 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 Ayao nodded. “I can do that.”

I immediately raised my hand to cut him off and scolded He Yu, “Fortunes my foot! Look at his standing. You want him setting up a stall on the street? If someone in the trade spots him and word gets out, how are we ever supposed to do business again?”

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 Ayao 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 get a word out to save his life, simply wasn’t cut out for hawking services on the street. Rather than having him tell fortunes, we’d be better off selling his looks.

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 Ayao’s phone.

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

Lu Ayao 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, opened Lu Ayao’s phone, and transferred 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 using it all this time. Because of that, the regular customers all think it’s his account.”

“Well, look at you! You’re pretty sneaky,” He Yu said, slapping me on the shoulder. “So you’re selling things under Fourth Brother’s name now? These people are scattered all across the country, so selling stuff will be much easier. Hmph, that guy named Qiao definitely won’t expect you to have a move like this!”

I smiled, quickly logged into the group, and posted all the photos from the phone. I typed out a line: “Aged 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 screen, planning to wait until they bid the price up to a certain point. Lu Ayao was curious and leaned in to look at the chat with me. He Yu, having nothing better to do, slipped the bracelet off my wrist to examine it.

“Whoa, I didn’t notice before, but this sandalwood material is excellent! A starting price of one thousand is way too low. This easily looks like 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 aged material?” He Yu clicked his tongue in admiration as he looked at the beads.

“My mom sent it to me when I came of age. Her current boyfriend deals in antiques. He travels all over to collect materials, then brings them back to make beads and sell them. He has plenty of this aged material. If you like it, I’ll trick him out of a few more for you when the holidays come around.” I kept my eyes on the computer screen without turning my head.

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

He Yu rolled 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 over at him. “Go ahead and ask. Is there anything between us we can’t talk about?”

“What’s the situation with your family right now anyway? Why do you always run off to 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, and her boyfriend is an antique dealer. Are you just not thinking straight, or is there another reason?”