Page 91

The ground was damp, with fish stalls and seafood vendors not far away. Large tanks for the fish were placed on the floor, splashing water all around.

Chu Yuening pulled the small wooden table further towards the entrance of the corridor, trying to distance herself from the moist ground.

After finishing her preparations, she covered her mouth to yawn. She had just moved into a new apartment the previous night and logically should have slept better than in the village house. However, she had trouble sleeping due to unfamiliarity. With nothing else to do, she cleaned up the large kitchen and prepared the dessert soup late at night, setting up her stall early in the morning.

Listening to the chatter among the market stall owners, Chu Yuening cooperated when uniformed police officers passed by to inspect her stall. The market manager happened to be passing by and noticed an additional stall in the market. He waited until the police officers left before approaching.

First, he scanned the items on the stall with his hands behind his back, then directed his gaze at Chu Yuening. "New here?"

Chu Yuening nodded.

"Have you not paid the stall fee?"

"I haven't," Chu Yuening acknowledged. She was well aware that there was a stall fee to be paid, but she had no intention of setting up shop permanently at the farmers' market. Reaching for her wallet to pay for a day's fee, she was met with a sneer from the manager.

"You need to pay for a full month within the market," the manager said impatiently. "If you're not willing to pay for a month, then leave." His face showed clear annoyance. "There's limited space in the market, and my area isn't meant for people like you to exploit."

He assumed Chu Yuening was penniless, someone who would linger from one market to another, trying to make ends meet through cunning means.

"Insufficient internal space?" Chu Yuening questioned. "A spot too tiny even for trash - wouldn't it be unoccupied even if it were available? No one would rent it, right?"

The administrator hadn't anticipated that Chu Yuening could so sharply discern that the corner stall was unoccupied.

Indeed, that corner wasn't an ideal location. Garbage from the market would occasionally accumulate there. If anyone were to set up a stall, their first task wouldn't be arranging their items but clearing the trash.

"Leave quickly if you can't afford it!" The administrator, exposed, grew even more impatient. "Even for trash disposal, the market would rather keep it empty..."

The administrator's eyes suddenly widened as he watched Chu Yuening slowly withdraw a thick stack of cash from her coat pocket. Judging by its thickness, it had to be at least ten thousand dollars. His mocking words came to an abrupt halt.

He had assumed she was penniless, yet here she was, pulling out ten thousand dollars in a matter of minutes.

In the market, people struggling to make ends meet in Hong Kong woke up as early as three or four in the morning to prepare for their day, barely earning seven or eight thousand dollars after a month of hard work. They were constantly reminded and pressured to pay their stall fees.

Who could casually produce such a sum in one go?

The administrator's face turned a mottled red and black, as if he had just been slapped in the face.

"If I were you, I'd either offer a discounted monthly stall fee or rent by the day to casual vendors," Chu Yuening suggested.

Stuffing the money back into her pocket, she continued, "Sorry, but I'm not even interested in renting a temporary spot now."

With that, Chu Yuening began packing up her things.

Actually, the spot outside the aisle was better. After all, who would buy a bowl of syrup inside a market? And who would abandon their task of buying groceries to cook dinner just to get their fortune told?

Unless there was a special reason.

She didn't particularly want to be in the market either.

Seeing the manager leave in a huff, the friendly vegetable vendor came over to help Chu Yuening clear her table. "You're really something. Huashesen has always been venomous with his words. With his title as an administrator, he acts like he wields a mighty power. We usually have no choice but to endure him."

As she slid the table into the cart, the lady smiled and said, "Seeing him speechless today truly lifted my spirits!"

"Thank you," Chu Yuening replied, pushing the cart towards the exit of the market.

Looking at the contents of Chu Yuening's cart, the lady invited, "Why don't you come to my spot? Anyway, I don't have much, so we can squeeze together. No need to hassle with finding another place!"

"No problem, there's no stall fee on the streets. I'll set up over there." Chu Yuening turned to look at the stall across the alley, which was a pork stall. A septuagenarian uncle was cutting the meat. She redirected her gaze back to Sister Liang. "Why does Uncle Gan have to work so hard and sell pork at his age?"

"Saying Uncle Gan?" Sister Liang followed her gaze. "He's doing fine. He's the only one in the market who slaughters pork manually, so his prices are higher than those from the automated lines. The rich have picky tastes; they'd buy it even if it's more expensive."

Before Chu Yuening could respond, the air around them instantly grew chilly.

A fish leaped out of its tank, splashing water that mixed with blood on the ground, turning it muddy. The girl with disheveled hair in the corner had her lifeless, pale eyes fixated on the old butcher. Blood dripped from the meat's fibers onto the floor, seeping into puddles.

"It wasn't him... It wasn't him..."

Her hoarse voice echoed throughout the market.

Black aura swirled above like thunderclouds, rolling and surging in the air.

Compared to the previous day, the female ghost's resentment was even stronger, and the dark aura was too overwhelming to suppress. If Wei Yanlin were to witness this scene, he would undoubtedly summon his fellow sect members to eliminate the threat. Once such a massive amount of negative energy took shape, the female ghost would surely become a malevolent spirit, causing widespread suffering.

Sister Liang looked up, puzzled, and rubbed her arms. "Huh? Is it about to rain? Why did it suddenly get so cold?"

Chu Yuening gazed at the ceiling, furrowing her brow in dissatisfaction.

"It wasn't him... No..."

The dark aura seemed to sense a tremendous threat and swiftly retreated back into the female ghost's body. The ghost abruptly fell silent, standing coldly in the corner as she waited.

The temperature gradually returned to normal, and Sister Glamorous lowered her arms that she had been rubbing. "This autumn is really strange. One moment it's hot, the next it's cold."

"Are there still pork stalls in the market?" Chu Yuening retracted her gaze, looking at Sister Glamorous with a smile in her eyes.

"Not anymore," the vegetable seller replied after some thought. "In the past, there were those who tried to set up pork stalls to compete with Uncle Gan for a share of the market. But their pork quality wasn't as good as Uncle Gan's. This place is frequented by wealthy patrons, so they couldn't keep up."