Chapter 9: Ghost Market
At the beginning of the lanterns, the bluestone paved road is full of people, in this peaceful and prosperous era, there is no curfew, and it has become the living habit of most people in Anbei Town to eat and go out for a stroll at night.
The three girls in the crowd looked so eye-catching that people who passed by, whether men or women, couldn't help but look back again. But this dress looks like a big lady, and no one dares to provoke it.
"Sister, that's so fun!" Lu Bailing exclaimed in a milky voice, and the second girl turned her head to see that someone was putting lanterns by the river.
"Ling'er, slow down!" Er Ya anxiously followed the river to the river behind the fourth sister, a little baby ran fast with a little short legs, Er Ya and the three girls couldn't keep up, the black tiger stepped forward, grabbed Ling'er's collar, like a dog cub in front of the little girl, flattering wagging her tail, passers-by looked at it with strange eyes, and the black tiger returned to its majestic and cold appearance. Er Ya laughed dumbly, this dog is a sperm!
Ling'er pouted aggrievedly, looking cute. Er Yahu said with a face: "Be careful of being caught by the bad guys when you run around!"
When Erya spoke, the two women talked and walked past her, Erya looked up suddenly, looked in the direction where the two people left, and suddenly said to Sanniu: "Sanniu, you take your sister back to the inn, my sister has something to do, come back and bring you fun and delicious food, okay?"
Seeing Erya's expression, the third girl knew that her sister must have something very important, so she nodded and agreed, but she was going back soon after she came out, and she hadn't had enough fun. Erya motioned to the black tiger to send the two girls back, and the black tiger was reluctant to leave the second girl, but he still obediently followed.
Er Ya hurriedly followed the woman who had gone away, and today Er Ya came out and wore a long brocade robe with narrow sleeves and plain white, with a cone bun on her head, fixed with a simple silver hairpin, looking less soft as a girl on weekdays, and a little more strong and capable.
The two women in front walked around for a while, entered an alley, there are no vendors here, there is only one brightly lit building outside the alley, hanging red lanterns, this building is built near the water, there is no plaque, standing outside the building can hear the noisy sound coming out, I don't know what place it is, two women entered from the door on one side, Er Ya looked here by a big tree, she just seemed to hear Zhang Yuanbao's name, Er Ya followed, before leaving, I also have to find a way to clean up this disciple.
What Er Ya didn't know was that on this tree, there was a man who looked at her coldly. Erya followed the example of the two women, and approached the building, getting closer and closer, and no one stopped her, and it seemed that she could get in.
Thinking of this, Erya swaggered open the side door, and it turned out to be a staircase when she entered, which seemed to lead to the second floor.
The sound of "babbling" came from the first floor, the crowd below was crowded, and on both sides of the singing stage below stood strong men without shirts, looking fierce and vicious, the second girl hurriedly retracted his head and walked against the wall, this building seemed to be made of wood, and there was a soft sound when stepping on the ground.
There was a cloth curtain blocking the corner, and I saw that the outside of the curtain was a vertical row of thick wooden stakes, and the second girl couldn't hold her with her arms outstretched. The pillars are painted with gold patterns, and behind them are like stands, separated by wooden shelves into many independent spaces, each with a chair and covered with thick fur, and a huge candlestick hanging in the middle of the building, and countless candles illuminate this place as bright as the day, which is not a magnificent can describe.
Er Ya looked over, there were some people sitting vaguely, old and young, the only thing in common was that they were all gorgeously dressed, and they knew that they were not ordinary rich.
Suddenly hearing footsteps, the second girl hurriedly hid inside, only to see two women side by side lifting the curtain and carrying a mahogany tray to the stand. It seems that these two people are the maids here?
Erya guessed, the sound of singing downstairs had stopped, and a man wearing a bright red brocade robe and a jade crown came up from the audience. Looking over from Erya, I saw two strong men walking to the front gate and closing the two doors together.
"Today we have a rare treasure to be auctioned, I hope everyone present will be quiet, do not open a casino today, dare to make trouble and weigh their own catties!" After speaking, the man in red clapped his hands, and a woman in a foreign costume twisted her bewitching body and walked to the center of the platform with a wooden box, and the man in red smiled: "The first treasure tonight is a pair of bear paws, starting at three hundred taels of silver."
The sound of bidding sounded from the audience, and finally it was auctioned off by a middle-aged man for seven hundred taels of silver, Er Ya also understood what these people were doing, looking up, it was dark and couldn't see anything, from the outside, this building should have four floors, and now she is on the second floor, there should be two more floors on that head. Looking left and right, I felt a little bored, and I didn't see Zhang Yuanbao's figure, and Erya didn't have the heart to stay, but suddenly saw a familiar figure in the crowd, it was the owner of Fuxing Building! How could he be here?
"Hey, where did the little girl come from?"
Just as she was surprised, Erya heard a voice with a smile, her voice was a little hoarse, like an old man.
Er Ya turned his head, and sure enough, he saw an old man with gray hair and a gray patched robe, he tilted his head to look at Erya, with a long gray beard on his chin, Er Ya subconsciously stepped back, but heard: "If you retreat again, if you are discovered, I am afraid that you will not be able to walk back tonight!"
The second girl hurriedly walked back again, and glanced back with a weak heart, and the downstairs was already bidding for the third auction item, obviously not noticing her. Er Ya breathed a sigh of relief.
"This grandfather, I don't know what to do?" Er Ya smiled politely.
The old man touched his beard and said, "It's okay, I saw that you sneaked in like me, come and say hello." The old man smiled mischievously. Erya couldn't help but have a black line on her face, where did this strange old man come from?
Erya wanted to leave secretly along the same road, but heard the old man say: "Do you think that this ghost market is to come and go if you want, it is impossible to go back along the same way!"
"Ghost market? How could it be ......"
Erya was surprised by the old man's words, and doubted the truth of these words, "What is the ghost market?" ”
The old man grinned when he saw Erya's expression, "I knew at a glance that the first time you came, I was curious, you said that you are a little girl, how did you sneak in, this ghost market is nothing more than that!" ”
The second girl was angry, "What nonsense are you talking about stinky old man, get out of the way, I'm leaving, it's not fun here at all!" Seeing that the old man did not answer her question, he was about to leave.
The old man straightened his face and said lightly: "Let me tell you with kindness, this is a ghost market, there is no reason to leave if you want to enter this building, unless the auction is over and the ghost owner allows you to leave, otherwise you will not be able to get out of the door maze."
Erya was skeptical, and finally didn't insist on leaving. "It's really boring, then what are you stinky old man doing here, and you know so many things?"
The old man looked old and indecent again, tilted his head slightly and said: "You little girl, you really don't know how to be polite, I can tell you, there is a treasure that will be auctioned tonight, you have eyes and see the world."
"What treasure?" Looking at the old man's appearance, Erya asked curiously.
"Don't say it." The old man arrogantly refused.
"Okay, I'll see for myself." Er Ya didn't ask any questions, and stood aside and looked at the audience carefully.
When the old man saw that the second girl didn't ask, his old face sank and said, "You little girl." There is really no perseverance in doing things, the old man told you something, do you want to hear it? ”
Er Ya learned from the old man's appearance just now and said, "Don't listen!"
The old man was anxious and said, "If you call me master, I will tell you a special magical thing."
The old man didn't have any intentions, he Taixu really wanted to accept disciples, what not, but he felt that the girl was very eye-catching, and she could avoid the guards of the ghost market and sneak in, she was definitely not simple, if there was his training, she would definitely have great attainments in the future.
Hearing the old man say that there was something magical, Erya hesitated a little, thinking of the fact that he flew down from the second floor of the Baoyue Inn, his heart beat the drum, maybe this old man really has some ability, and he will not suffer a loss by calling the master, and then turned his head and said sweetly: "Master!"
The old man didn't expect this girl to change so quickly, and he was startled. reacted and smiled: "Okay, I'll reveal you an interesting thing."
"In this world, there are some unknown places, there are some things that you can never know, do you know the Chu State, the Chu State is the strongest country among the three countries, because it has a mysterious place that the rest of the countries do not have, and everything there is different from the outside world."
The old man paused and said, "When I was outside just now, I saw a black dog not far behind you, and that dog has a very high intelligence, you raised it!" I suspect it's from the place I'm talking about. ”
Hearing the old man mention the black dog, Erya smiled, "I let it go back, how could it follow me?" Erya naturally thought that this stinky old man was playing with her, and she was a little impatient.
The old man said clearly: "So I told you that your dog is highly intelligent, and he is afraid that he is worried that you are in danger, so he followed you, and now it is estimated that he is outside the door!"
Before Er Ya had time to ask him how he knew, he saw the old man disappear in front of him, suddenly appeared on the auction table, stretched out his hand and grabbed the brocade box on the bewitching woman's tray, and fled upstairs at a very fast speed.
Everyone didn't react to this sudden change for a while, only knowing that the last auction item was snatched away the moment it was taken out, and the man in red was the first to react, jumping up suddenly, wanting to catch the old man jumping everywhere.