Chapter 418 Ghost Market
At night, two slender figures appeared at the entrance of an alley.
"I finally have a day off today, and I want to go to the weapons shop in the west of the city. Why did you trick me into coming here?"
Zhu Qingyan, wearing a light blue dress, complained as she looked at the dark and desolate alley in front of her.
Zhu Lan changed into a rare black brocade robe, holding a folding fan, with his black hair tied up, looking like a handsome young man.
She covered her lips with a fan and said mysteriously, "This is a very interesting place. You have been in Beijing for so many years, but you have never been here before? Today I will take you to broaden your horizons.
If you want to buy weapons, there are certainly some for sale here."
"Don't give me that." Zhu Qingyan pushed away her folding fan with disdain and curled the corners of his mouth.
"Isn't it just the ghost market in Beijing? How could you not have heard of it if you haven't been there?
Do you think I'm stupid? "
"Oh my——" Zhu Lan looked Zhu Qingyan up and down exaggeratedly.
"You are worthy of being the academic master of the Imperial Academy. As expected, nothing can be hidden from you. You even know that there is a ghost market here. I admire you!"
Zhu Qingyan glanced at Zhu Lan, "You are so weird, you must have bad intentions."
But he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth a little.
Zhu Qingyan asked her again why she was going to the ghost market.
Zhu Lan said: "The Nine-Curved Pearl that the Shaofu Supervisor wanted to present to Princess Zhaoyang was stolen. I came to the ghost market to see if there are any clues."
"Then why did you trick me here?"
Zhu Lan gave a somewhat servile smile.
"This... It's too dangerous for me to go in alone, isn't it?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Qingyan's eyes widened.
"You're using me as a bodyguard!?"
"Of course not!" Zhu Lan's eyes were extremely sincere.
"Who in the capital doesn't know that the scholar Zheng Daren from the Imperial Academy is both civil and military, and that he challenged the commander of the Imperial Guards a few days ago and even forced General Li to retreat three points with just one sword strike?
"Master Xuezheng is brave and resourceful. He is working for the court by accompanying me to investigate the case. Besides, the ghost market is full of monsters, and only Master Xuezheng's righteousness can calm them down!"
"That's more like it." Zhu Qingyan was very pleased with the compliment and glanced at the empty alley in front of him.
"This is the hour of Xu. I heard that the ghost market opens at midnight and closes at cockcrow. It's still a long time before it opens."
Zhu Lan said: "I came here early to make some preparations."
An hour later, the two appeared at the entrance of the alley again.
It was almost midnight. Zhu Lan and Zhu Qingyan wore a white fox mask and a black bird mask respectively on their faces, and each held a lantern emitting a faint green fluorescent light in their hands.
There was a noodle stall at the entrance of the ghost market. The two sat down and each ordered a bowl of plain noodles.
Zhu Qingyan was eating noodles while looking around and found that many people wearing masks had gathered there. It seemed that they were all planning to enter the ghost market.
She turned around and saw Zhu Lan's hand holding the chopsticks stopped in mid-air, and the eyes behind the mask seemed to be looking in a certain direction.
"What's wrong with you?" Zhu Qingyan waved his hand in front of her.
"Look at that person...does he look familiar?" Zhu Lan pointed to the right front with his chin.
Zhu Qingyan was about to look back when he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet tremble slightly and a dull noise was heard in his ears.
There suddenly appeared a hole about ten feet wide on the bluestone ground. At the entrance there were moss-covered stone steps winding down to the underground.
"This rumored ghost market... is actually underground!" Zhu Qingyan said in surprise.
Zhu Lan nodded, "What a powerful mechanism."
The midnight hour has arrived.
Zhu Lan and the other man walked forward, stood up, and followed the crowd towards the cave entrance.
Zhu Qingyan asked in a low voice: "Since you have to wear a mask to enter the ghost market, why didn't you let the people from the Dali Temple come to check before? No one would recognize them even if they put on the masks."
Zhu Lan covered his face with his folding fan and explained:
"The ghost market is also under the jurisdiction of the government. The Dali Temple will regularly send people to patrol the ghost market. When patrolling, the patrol officers will naturally not wear masks, otherwise it will damage the dignity of the court.
The ghost market is a mixed crowd, so there might be some talented people in the world who can remember their appearances and voices.
I heard that the ghost market has its own intelligence network. If the people from the Dali Temple come to investigate secretly, once their identities are exposed and the news leaks out, there is no telling what might go wrong. "
Zhu Qingyan nodded, then remembered something and asked her, "Did you see anyone you know just now?"
Zhu Lan hesitated and said, "I felt that the figure looked familiar, but he was wearing a mask, so I couldn't recognize him at first... Never mind, it doesn't matter, let's go."
The two followed the masked crowd and went down the stone steps, and indeed there was a different world underground.
The stone steps lead to a long street, the layout of which is the same as that on the ground.
It is more like a market than a long street, with stalls arranged in an orderly manner on both sides. Stall owners wearing masks are either squatting or sitting, waiting quietly behind the stalls, but no one is shouting or hawking their goods.
Green lanterns were hung on both sides of the street, guiding people like will-o'-the-wisp lights.
The lanterns swayed dimly, seemingly without wind, and the surrounding mist added an eerie beauty to the scene.
"Do you think this ghost market has an owner?" Zhu Qingyan looked around and asked casually.
Zhu Lan nodded, "There should be some, or managers, who will collect rent from these stall owners."
Perhaps because the ghost market was located underground, Zhu Qingyan always felt that this place was unusually cold and gloomy, and he couldn't help but shrink a little.
"Ghost Market, Ghost Market...Are there really ghosts in this world?"
"I don't know whether there are ghosts or not, but those who come to this ghost market to do business are definitely human." Zhu Lan said, stopping in front of a stall.
There were some old antiques on the stall, but I didn't know whether they were real or not.
Zhu Lan picked up a copper kettle with two handles. Seeing her mysterious expression, Zhu Qingyan asked curiously, "Is it an antique?"
"I don't know him." Zhu Lan covered his face with his fan and said, "But I have to pretend to be more like him."
Zhu Qingyan: "Boss..."
"According to the rules of the Ghost Market, you are not allowed to ask whether it is true or false." Zhu Lan reminded her again.
Zhu Qingyan curled his lips, stopped talking, and glanced at the stall owner.
The stall owner was a woman in her fifties, with ordinary looks, wearing a headscarf. She was dozing with her head down, and seemed to have not noticed the two people's arrival at all.
Zhu Lan's eyes rolled, and he took out a jade pendant from his waist and placed it in front of the stall owner.
"This copper kettle with two handles is a good item. How about I exchange it for this jade pendant?"
Zhu Qingyan looked at her in confusion.
Zhu Lan raised his fan again and explained in a low voice: "I read in a book that the ghost market does not use real gold or silver for transactions, but barter. Let's test the waters first."
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