“Yes…” Fang Xia nodded.
"I heard that Feng Sihai's wife has a relationship with a man surnamed Liu from the county power supply bureau. Is that true?" the landlady asked quietly.
"Um... I don't know either. It shouldn't be, right? Feng Sihai has a bad temper. If he finds out about this, he'll make a huge fuss." Fang Xia was a little stunned.
"You and Feng Sihai talked, didn't you? What's he really like?" the landlady asked again.
"...Me...and him...it was so many years ago, how could I remember?" Fang Xia's expression was clearly a little embarrassed. She glanced cautiously at Wang Yao, who was walking forward on his own, as if he hadn't heard their conversation at all.
"That's the one, do you two see him?" Wang Yao chose a spot a little distance away from Molopo, quietly pointed at Molopo, and said to the two women.
"Which one?" "Where is he?" But the two women didn't notice where Moloppo was.
"That's it. There's a shrimp vendor next to him, see? He's to the right of the shrimp vendor," Wang Yao said.
"The right side? Isn't the right side where they sell bighead carp?" The two women skipped over Moropo and looked at the person to Moropo's left.
"No, it's to the left of the fat man's stall." Wang Yao had no choice but to point to the two of them again.
"The left side? Isn't that where they sell prawns?" The two looked around but couldn't see Molupo's stall. Wang Yao was confused. Molupo's stall wasn't big, but it was still about two feet wide. Such a large space, yet the two women couldn't find anything there.
He wanted to wait until a man was buying fish at Molopo's stall before giving the two pointers, but after waiting for a while, not a single man patronized Molopo's business. Helpless, he had no choice but to lead the two closer.
"See that? There's a huge basin of crucian carp in front of him, all kept in the water," Wang Yao said.
"Crucian carp? Ah, I see them. Aren't they all dead? Oh dear, why are crucian carp and fathead carp placed together? How much do I pay for these crucian carp?" The proprietress clicked her tongue repeatedly.
Wang Yao's heart skipped a beat. It seemed that the two women couldn't see Molupo at all. Even the crucian carp that Molupo kept in the basin were mixed in with the fish sold by the vendors next to Molupo.
The fathead was sold on the ground, its head chopped off and its body separated. With the dead crucian carp mixed in with the fathead, no wonder the women weren't even interested in asking the price.
This is really weird. Does Molopo have some kind of special ability or what? Men see nothing wrong with him, but women completely ignore him.
Wang Yao refused to believe in superstitions and simply brought the two of them directly to Molupo's front. When Molupo saw Wang Yao coming again, his face immediately fell.
Why are you here again?
“Listen, he’s talking to me,” Wang Yao said, ignoring Mo Luopo and looking at the two women beside him.
"Where is he? What did he say?" The two, unable to see anyone, grew increasingly anxious. They kept looking around, but their eyes would always drift away from Moropo, even though he was right in front of them.
"What...what are you doing? I already told you I don't want any contact with women, why won't you stop?" Mo Luopo could see the two women in front of him, and after hearing what Wang Yao and the two women were saying, he knew exactly what Wang Yao was up to, and immediately became anxious.
“Molopo, two people are standing right in front of you, yet they can’t see you at all. Don’t you find that strange?” Wang Yao asked.
“What’s so strange? I’ve lived like this for over a decade. If I can’t see them, I can’t see them. I’m too lazy to even look at them,” Molopo said angrily.
"You're talking to him? Where is he?" The proprietress anxiously pulled Wang Yao along.
"Yes, where is he? I can't see him at all," Fang Xia said anxiously.
Suddenly, the sound of a wooden fish rang out beside the three of them. Wang Yao turned his head and saw that Hui Shuo was actually chanting scriptures while striking the wooden fish again. In this noisy market, what was a fake monk doing chanting scriptures here? He was about to stop him when he heard the proprietress's exclamation.
"Oh dear, I see it! Am I getting old? How come I can't see anyone right in front of me? Hmm? This...this fish looks good! How much is it per pound?"
Wang Yao paused for a moment, then looked around at the vendors and vegetable sellers coming and going. He noticed that they were all looking at Hui Shuo, who had suddenly started chanting scriptures, with curiosity, but no one seemed surprised. They would just glance at him for a couple of seconds and then go about their own business.
It seems that although Ziqiang County is a small place, the people here have seen a bit of the world. It's probably a common practice here that stalls that kill animals, like seafood stalls, would occasionally invite monks to chant sutras to help the souls of the fish and shrimp pass on. Otherwise, wouldn't the area around Huishuo be packed with onlookers? Wang Yao imagined it for a moment.
"Uh..." Moropo hadn't spoken to a woman in over a decade, and now, suddenly hearing a woman ask him a price, his mouth trembled, and he remained silent for a long time.
"I'm asking you the price, so say something!" Wang Yao urged from the side.
“Ten…five dollars and fifty…ten…fifteen dollars is fine too…” Moropo stammered.
"Fifteen? That's so cheap! I just bought some two days ago for sixteen. Hmm? These look wild, not farmed. Why are they different from the ones I saw earlier?" The proprietress didn't notice anything amiss with Molupo; her mind was completely focused on the crucian carp.
“It’s… half wild… half farmed, San… San Yan Pond… is a wild pond, but… I released the fish fry.” Molupo stammered in reply.
"No wonder, I was wondering why the fish spines weren't very attractive. Turns out they're semi-wild. But they're not bad. Give me four, here's this one, this one, and these two..." The proprietress immediately started buying.
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