When I had free time, I often recalled Chuyi.

Although I had known him for a while, in my head, his impression was really vague.

We had not seen each other for a long time. Even if we had chances to meet, he always left us quickly like a lone knight.

He gave me the feeling that he was living in another world.

For example, he had never smoked nor drunk liquor.

Furthermore, he didn’t have a single friend; there was only a little Daoist ghost keeping him company.

The more mysterious he was, the more I was interested in him. I wanted to find an opportunity to see what kind of person he was.

And that chance came to me quickly.

Thus far, it was going to be the only case in my career as an otherworldly merchant where I would be working without Li Mazi.

The relationship between Li Mazi and the young widow grew fast. A month later, they had married and gotten the certificate. Li Mazi took his wife to Bali for the honeymoon. He threw his son Li Meng at me and asked me to take care of him.

Li Meng and I were close. He saw me as more of a friend than as an uncle, and he told me everything.

On that day, after drinking several beers, Li Meng asked me to let him experience life. He wanted to join a business commission with me.

I knew he didn’t want to study further, and would rather hang around with me. I thought I should scare the boy so he would know how dangerous it was to be an otherworldly merchant.

On the same day, at sunset, Chuyi came to my door.

The man was as mysterious as usual, and he didn’t talk nonsense. After drinking a cup of jasmine tea, he told me the reason why he had stopped by.

He had received a request from an old man in the circle, who asked him to solve a difficult case. However, he needed an assistant so he thought of me.

I didn’t hesitate to agree. Something difficult for Chuyi could be a life-threatening case for me; however, with him around, I wasn’t afraid. Even if the sky fell, he would shoulder it for me. 

Of course, Li Meng, being the mischievous boy that he was, didn’t want to let that chance slip away. He wore his thickest face when he asked for permission to tag along.

After some hesitation, Chuyi agreed. He said, “Could you bring Yin Xinyue along?”

I was a little surprised by that. “For what?”

“This time, it’s likely that we may need help from a female. Yin Xinyue fits my requirement.”

Yin Xinyue and Li Meng had the same character. If there was a chance to join in the fun, they would never pass it up. Eventually, Yin Xinyue joined us.

Yin Xinyue had just bought a Land Rover, which cost around seven or eight hundred thousand renminbi. And, she apparently treated it like a bumper car. I could see so many scratches, marks and dents on both the front and the back of the car. I shook my head, feeling that it was somehow heart-rending.

A rich woman's world was something that a young man who had experienced poverty, like me, could never understand.

Ever since we got in the car, Chuyi took the co-driver seat and remained silent. Sometimes, he’d gaze out the window for hours. When I asked him the details of that commission, he just shook or nodded his head.

Quite the contrary, Yin Xinyue and Li Meng had chatted lively and noisily.

Li Meng was very curious about the business, and Yin Xinyue was a carefree person. She bragged about her past experiences and propped herself up as an invincible big sister.

Li Meng was stunned. He straight off begged Yin Xinyue to protect him.

I didn’t expect that our current assignment would be out of the province. We had been on the road for five or six hours already.

When we turned to the stop service on the freeway, Chuyi suddenly asked me, “What’s the most delicious dish here?”

I thought that Chuyi wanted to have a good meal. I immediately handed him the menu and suggested some dishes. Although they were really expensive, it was rare for him to be interested in something, so I had no regret.

Chuyi disdainfully threw the menu back to the table, saying, “They’re all expensive. I want to know what a man living in the countryside would want to eat the most?”

I was surprised. I didn’t understand what he meant.

He then explained to me. “It’s related to our business this time. You must think about it carefully.”

Unfortunately, my head was full of things like sea cucumbers

or abalones

. They were delicacies that even the rich didn’t dare to eat daily. Of course, all of them were exquisite things people yearned to eat.

However, those dishes didn’t meet Chuyi’s requirements.

I talked to Yin Xinyue. Eventually, we came to an agreement that

big fishes

or big prawns were what farmers wanted to eat the most.

Chuyi nodded. Then, we asked the restaurant to cook two pounds of prawns braised in oil and stewed fish.

However, Chuyi didn’t eat when the food arrived. Instead, he asked the waiter to wrap the seafood to go.

I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d gotten used to the way Chuyi liked to work, but I was surprised nonetheless.

I didn’t understand how the two pounds of oily braised prawns and stewed fish were related to our present business.

Following his directions, we drove back to the highway and kept going until we reached a small village.

That village was located in a remote area, up on a mountain. However, there was no big street leading to the village, so Yin Xinyue had to drive her SUV as an off-road vehicle.

Chuyi told me that the villagers cultivated fruits for a living. We could pick up fruits on the road to the mountain. Normally, the villagers would pick those fruits and sell them at a low price to the passing drivers on the highway nearby.

As soon as we talked about wild fruits, Yin Xinyue and Li Meng became excited. They suggested after taking a bit of rest to go up to the mountain to pick wild fruits. That sort of natural, organic fruit wasn’t easy to find in the city. Even if they could find some, it would be too expensive.

Along the way, we saw several households. Although I didn’t count, I knew there weren’t more than ten.

The mysterious man asked Yin Xinyue to stop her Land Rover by the entrance to the village. He took me with him but had Yin Xinyue and Li Meng remain in the car. “Stay put in the car. Do not open the door for anybody else. If you encounter danger, just drive the car and run away!”

Since Chuyi had been mysterious during the whole trip, and had just advised Yin Xinyue like that, without giving any clues, I was really worried that we would bump into something extremely scary later.

Chuyi took me to a courtyard. As soon as we entered the place, we saw a man crawling out from the house.

That scene made me shudder. That man was really bony. While he was crawling on the ground, I could see bones jutting under the skin on his back. He retched, but could only vomit a sour liquid. The entire house also reeked of vomit.

I reacted by pinching my nose tightly.

Chuyi strode forward. He squatted by the retching man, asking him, “How many days have passed since you last ate anything?”

The man raised his pale face with dull eyes, wrinkling in pain. He looked at Chuyi and showed two fingers. He couldn’t even speak…

Chuyi wasn’t afraid of the filthy man. He lifted the man up and took him to the bed inside the house. Then, he turned around and shot me a look.

I hurriedly placed the boxes of braised prawns and stewed fish on the table. When I opened the boxes, delicious smells permeated the room.

My expectation was that the poor man would end up wolfing down the food. However, he just casually glanced at the boxes and shook his head. “It’s useless. I don’t have the tiniest bit of appetite.”

Chuyi furrowed his brows and ordered, “Eat!”

It seemed the other man was afraid of Chuyi. He picked up a big prawn and swiftly peeled off the shell. However, after two bites, he started to retch again. This time, I could even see traces of blood in his vomit.

I was bewildered as I looked at him. “Does he have anorexia? Why hasn’t he gone to the hospital?”

The man shot me a fierce look, and Chuyi also urged me not to talk or ask things.

“You should sleep for a while,” he said, “I’m going to take care of something with my friend…”

Then, Chuyi took me out of the room.

After we went outside, I couldn’t hold my curiosity anymore. “What’s going on?”

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