"Manager Lu, I'll go first! My second-hand house is so haunted! My son and his wife can't even live there anymore!"
"Don't listen to him, Manager Lu, I came first, you should listen to me first! My second-hand car is even more haunted! Our whole family doesn't dare to drive it!"
The two were vying with each other, neither willing to give way.
Lu Fei didn't even have the chance to interject.
"Is this a nest of second-hand hauntings?"
He rubbed his temples.
Sometimes, too much business can also be a burden.
Just got back, haven't even had time to catch my breath, and now two customers have come at once.
"Alright then, the two of you discuss it first, I'll go back for a drink and come right back."
Seeing that the two people were arguing incessantly, Lu Fei turned and went to the backyard directly.
The alcohol smell in the courtyard had dissipated quite a bit. As soon as he entered, the small black dog who was biting a slipper barked and ran up to him, wagging its little tail.
"You don't bite the slippers I bought specifically for you; you just like biting the ones I've worn!"
Lu Fei was speechless. Since this little guy arrived, he hadn't had a single pair of intact slippers.
"Huzi!"
Then, he walked into the kitchen.
Huzi had propped a chair by the stove, sitting on it backward with his head resting on the backrest, staring blankly at the fire.
"Huzi?"
Lu Fei called out again, and only then did Huzi seem to come to his senses, standing up weakly.
"Boss, you're back."
Lu Fei almost burst out laughing at the sight of his face.
To keep himself from dozing off, this guy had actually put transparent tape on his eyelids, pulling them wide open.
"Do you have to go that far!"
Lu Fei walked over to the stove, lifted the lid, and saw that only half a pot of water was left inside.
"You didn't steal a drink, did you?"
"No! No! The boss specifically told me not to, how dare I! Besides, I'm strong and healthy, I don't need that!" Husky replied earnestly, rolling up his sleeves to show off his biceps.
"Good, as long as you didn't drink it. I'll take care of the rest, go get some rest." Lu Fei waved him off.
"Really? Great!"
Husky breathed a sigh of relief, not even bothering with pleasantries, and quickly pulled off the tape from his eyelids, dashing into the room. In less than two seconds, a thunderous snore could be heard.
It seemed this guy really hadn't been slacking off; he hadn't slept for two days and nights.
Lu Fei found a glass wine jar, cleaned it thoroughly, and then poured the remaining wine into it.
After such a long time of brewing, the wine had become incredibly clear, as beautiful as amber, though it no longer had much of an alcohol scent.
"I wonder what this wine tastes like, whether it's good or not."
Lu Fei took a few glances but didn't try it; after all, he had no use for it.
Then he stored it in the warehouse, washed up, and returned to the pawnshop.
"Have the two of you come to an agreement?"
The two argued until their faces were red and their necks were swollen, clearly without reaching any conclusion.
Lu Fei didn't have the time to waste on them. He had been busy all night and still hadn't had a chance to rest.
"Then you can play rock-paper-scissors. Whoever wins gets to speak first. If you don't like that, go back and find someone else to help you."
The two stared at each other with wide eyes, but in the end, they extended their hands.
One round to decide the winner.
"I won! I said it first!"
Among them, the middle-aged man with a Mediterranean hairstyle won and was quite smug about it.
The other middle-aged man with a Fire Cloud Evil God hairstyle snorted coldly and sat down beside him, looking angry.
"Manager Lu, my name is Guan Shengli. Just call me Old Guan! In fact, I was referred by Master Xu from Shan yuan tang." The Mediterranean one greeted politely, "Master Xu said that Sinisterium Pawnshop specializes in collecting evil items and is the best at dealing with strange matters. I didn't expect Manager Lu to be so young; truly, he is very accomplished for his age!"
"I was also referred by Master Xu!" said the Fire Cloud Evil God, indignantly.
"Master Xu Bei?"
"Yes, yes, but I'm not sure if you deal with second-hand properties here?"
Lu Fei understood.
No wonder two customers showed up suddenly; it turned out they were referred by Xu Bei, probably as a thank-you for Lu Fei's agreement to help his friend.
Others usually ask for a favor first, then express their thanks. He expresses his gratitude first, then asks for the favor.
Whether this person is pretending or really is a great philanthropist, the things he does are indeed impressive.
"Old Guan, tell me first, what's the situation with your house? On a larger scale, anything in the world tainted by evil spirits can turn into an evil object, and a house is no exception. Since Master Xu referred you to me, if I can take on the case, I certainly will."
Lu Fei nodded at Old Guan, who had a Mediterranean hairstyle.
"Great! The person referred by Master Xu is really reliable!"
Old Guan immediately began to talk about the issues with his house.
"My house is a second-hand one, bought as a wedding home for my son."
"My son and his wife-to-be ended up with an accidental pregnancy, and she wouldn't marry him unless they had a house, saying she couldn't let the child be born in a rental property."
"That makes sense! We can't blame the girl for being practical; owning a home is the most basic requirement for starting a family, right? And besides, it's our responsibility to secure the future of the next generation of the Guan family."
"So I took my son around to look at houses, but we couldn't afford the expensive ones and didn't like the cheap ones."
"Later, we finally found a suitable one after great difficulty."
"The location of the house and the neighborhood were both good. The original owner was in a hurry to sell it because he was going abroad, so the price was about several tens of thousands cheaper than the market. My son and daughter-in-law were very satisfied after seeing it, so we decided right there and then."
"Moreover, the house was well decorated, and we could move in with just some minor cleaning. We thought we had got a real bargain."
"But not long after the young couple moved in, something happened."
Old Guan frowned and shook his head.
"At first, my daughter-in-law kept saying there were strange sounds in the house, sometimes from the drawers, sometimes from the wardrobe. When she opened them, there was nothing inside. She also said that when she slept at night, she dreamt of bugs crawling on her face, and when she woke up, the bed was full of bugs."
"But my son didn't see anything and thought it was due to her being sensitive because of the pregnancy, or that she was too tense. However, later on, my son also noticed something was wrong."
"One day, he dozed off on the sofa and suddenly felt a tongue licking his feet. The tongue was wet and quite disgusting. He woke up with a start and found the soles of his feet pitch black, which hurt for several days."
"Another time, while my son was taking a shower, he realized there was no soap in the bathroom. He asked my daughter-in-law to bring a new one. After a while, a bar of soap was handed to him, but when he turned around, he saw a hairy man's arm instead."
"He almost fell over in shock. When he looked again, the arm was gone, and there was a bar of soap on the floor. He dared not finish his shower and came out to ask if anyone else was in the house. My daughter-in-law said no, she had been watching TV in the living room and hadn't heard him calling for someone."
"This kind of situation has happened several times."
"My son also realized something was wrong with the house, but he didn't dare to tell his wife, fearing it would scare her. So he found an excuse to go out and came back to discuss it with me."
"I remembered how eager the original owner was to sell the house, and I thought, 'Oh no, did we buy a haunted house?' So I immediately took my son with me to ask around in the neighborhood."
"When we got there, my son's eyes kept twitching, and he felt very uneasy. He said, 'Let's go upstairs and take a look.'"
"What we saw was terrible!"