Chapter 12: Taobao

“Jiefang North Road is here!” the conductor shouted to everyone, “Those getting off, move to the front!”

Li Yingtang stood up and squeezed through. After getting off, she saw a newsstand and walked up to ask, “Excuse me, do you sell city maps?”

“We do, twenty cents a copy.”

“So expensive? Can you make it cheaper?” Li Yingtang bargained.

“Can’t make it cheaper. Take it or leave it.”

Li Yingtang: “...” A conductor, a newsstand seller—their attitudes were tougher than the last. Who on earth spoiled them? “Give me one!” She slapped the money down.

The middle-aged man selling the papers slanted a look at her and handed her a map.

Li Yingtang unfolded it to take a look.

The names were roughly the same as the Yanjing she knew, especially near the ancient city, where the iconic architectural landmarks were almost identical.

So, either she had experienced a reversal of time.

Or she was in a parallel space.

Did this mean she could find her relatives here while they were still in the prime of their youth?

Thinking of this, she was so excited her hands trembled. Holding the map, she navigated her way to the location of the old family home.

Gazing at the unfamiliar courtyard and surroundings, she felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over her.

For a long time, she sighed deeply.

“I might as well go to the hospital where A-San used to work.”

Li Yingtang readjusted her mood and set off. An hour later, she arrived at the hospital: Yanjing Second Hospital.

Within a five-hundred-meter radius, there wasn't a single residential house, only a large crematorium.

Good heavens!

When she told her first lie, he had known.

It wasn't until the second time that he exposed her.

Fortunately, he didn't continue to press her, otherwise, she would have surely given herself away.

She calmed her breathing and walked into the hospital, searching the photo wall.

She found a doctor who had joined the hospital at the same time as Qin San, named Gao Qing.

She registered for his department, and when her turn came, she went in.

She took off her hat and scarf, revealing her delicate and bright little face.

Gao Qing couldn't help but take an extra look. “What’s bothering you?”

“Nothing is bothering me. I want to ask you about someone. Qin San—the ‘Qin’ from Qin Shi Huang, and the ‘San’ with the rain radical on top. Do you know him?” Li Yingtang got straight to the point.

Gao Qing was stunned. “What are you to him?”

When Li Yingtang heard that, she knew she had found the right person! “I am his...” If she said she was his wife, and someone told his father, and his father verified it, wouldn't she be exposed?

She thought for a moment and said, “His assistant. I came into the city to handle some business today, and he asked me to stop by his house to pick up some things, but I lost the address he gave me. I figured since he used to work here, his colleagues would know where he lives.”

Gao Qing’s eyes flashed. “I don’t know where he lives either. How is he doing in the countryside?”

“Quite well.”

Gao Qing looked her up and down. “You don’t look like someone who studies medicine. You’re his blind date, aren't you? You came specifically to ask about his character?”

Li Yingtang’s eyes shifted cunningly, and she simply nodded. “You guessed right! What is he like?”

“Don’t be fooled by his handsome appearance. He is extremely irresponsible, self-righteous, and has his head in the clouds. Otherwise, with his qualifications, how could he have been transferred to the countryside to ruin his whole life?”

From the other party’s words, Li Yingtang felt a deep malice toward Qin San.

It seemed like he was revealing facts, but in reality, he was belittling and suppressing him.

She clenched her small fist, smiled at him like a summer flower, and said, “Then I guess I don’t have a partner anymore. Why don’t you introduce me to one? Someone like you would be fine.” As she spoke, she gave him a flirtatious wink.

Gao Qing was shaken, stunned by her beauty. He stuttered for no reason: “I—I would do?”

Li Yingtang’s smile vanished. “You’d do, my foot! Don’t you have a mirror at home? Go pee and look at your reflection to see if you’re worthy!” She opened the door and left, leaving behind only a trail of fragrant scent.

………

Li Yingtang left the hospital and unfolded the map.

It took her the better part of the day to find a small house with a rusty door lock.

She looked through the crack in the door into the courtyard.

Dead leaves were flying about, and as the north wind blew, the door to the main room creaked, on the verge of collapse.

It was extremely dilapidated.

She posed as a prospective tenant and asked the neighbor, an older woman, about the owner of the house.

The woman said, “A young man lived there a couple of years ago, but I don’t know where he went after that.”

“Did the young man have no relatives?”

“He said he was an orphan.”

Li Yingtang: “He left, so the house is just sitting there with no one to claim it?”

The woman looked left and right, then put her hand to her mouth and lowered her voice. “It’s a haunted house. Rumor has it a woman died there in childbirth; it’s very ominous. You’ve seen it yourself—we’re surrounded by a hospital and a crematorium, everyone avoids this place like the plague. Who would want to get close to this?”

Li Yingtang was very satisfied.

This place was perfect for her to settle down in!

Once she bought a house here in the future and established a foothold, she would move out.

By then, if she could contact the owner, she would definitely compensate them generously as an apology.

She silently noted the house number at the intersection, thanked the auntie, and walked away.

She ate a bowl of noodles at a nearby noodle shop.

She passed a small shop, bought a flashlight, and headed toward Jinyuan with the map in hand.

The map marked this place as a second-hand market, which, in her understanding, was a place to hunt for treasures.

When her grandfather was young, he dealt in antiques and often talked to her about his youthful experiences.

In her grandfather’s descriptions, the eighties were full of opportunities everywhere.

As long as you grabbed one, you could turn your life around and become someone of status.

And she only needed one small opportunity to live comfortably for a good while.

When she arrived, Li Yingtang looked out over the area—a vacant lot enclosed by brick walls, spanning two or three acres, where merchants had set up simple shacks.

Pedestrians were coming and going, and Li Yingtang mingled among them, looking at each shop one by one.

The second-hand goods were a motley collection, dazzling to the eye.

Ceramics, calligraphy and paintings, lacquerware, embroidery, bronzeware, Buddha statues, gilded items—each was exquisite, but unfortunately, she didn't know how to appraise them.

Only with jade did she know a thing or two.

Therefore, when she took a fancy to something, she would shine her light on it to examine it closely.

“Hey! Are you buying that, little girl? If you aren't buying, don't shine that broken light around blindly.”

Li Yingtang pressed her scarf down and retorted, “You old fatty, if I don't shine the light, how am I supposed to tell the real from the fake?”

The stall owner was about to roll up his sleeves to hit her, but when he saw her face, he gritted his teeth. “If it weren't for the fact that you’re pretty, I would have slapped you without a second thought.”

Li Yingtang stuck her head out. “Come on, slap my face. Your auntie here has beaten the bullies of Zhenguanxi and kicked the Jiangmen God. That’s no joke!”

The stall owner: “...”

Li Yingtang waited for a long time, but seeing no movement from him, she gave a haughty cold snort and walked away with her head held high.

At the next stall, she continued to shine her light.

After browsing half the market, she finally picked out a piece of jade she liked—a plain pendant.

The oiliness and warmth were quite good, and the fineness was acceptable too.

She turned on the light to look at the internal structure; although there were black spots, that was normal for jade.

However, she didn't take it. Instead, she picked up the white jade bracelet next to it, lifting it and putting it on, shining her light through it from the inside out.

“Girl, you’ve been fiddling with that for ages, are you buying it or not?”

Only then did Li Yingtang put down the bracelet. “I’m buying it. How much?”

“Ten yuan.”

Li Yingtang: “Can you make it cheaper?”

“Nine yuan, not a cent less.”

Li Yingtang held the bracelet, reluctant to let go. “Still too expensive. How about three yuan? I only have three yuan.”

“Seeing as you’re pretty, I’ll take a loss. Three yuan it is.”

Li Yingtang: “You answered so readily, I’m a bit afraid to buy it now. It wouldn't be fake, would it? One yuan.”

“Hey! For three yuan, if you go to a proper market, let alone a jade bracelet, you’d be lucky to get a pendant. And you want it for one yuan? What can you buy for one yuan? Are you here to make trouble? If you aren't buying, don't get in the way of business.”