"Young Master Lu, these things should be considered evil objects, right? How about you take them, and we'll give you a discount on the price?"
"How about half price?"
"If not, then one-third...or even one-fifth would be fine..."
So, still thinking about money?
Lu Fei found it laughable and didn't want to say a word to these people, directly telling Hu Zi to get rid of them all.
"With the kind of trash you have, my boss wouldn't even look at it! If you don't want trouble, better donate it to the temple."
Hu Zi shut the door in disdain.
These people actually had the nerve to bang on the windows and doors outside, making a lot of noise.
Lu Fei simply went to the backyard to find some peace.
"I really can't believe these people! What time is it, and they're still thinking about money! Is money more important than life?" Hu Zi shook his head in exasperation.
"Those who used ceramic basins to turn into wealth have all suffered misfortunes; that old fraud should be having an even harder time, right?"
"Boss, it will be the third day tomorrow, will that old fraud come to see you?"
Lu Fei didn't know either.
What if that old swindler is already dead?
Who knows?
It couldn't even wait until the third day.
That very night, late into the night.
A sneaky figure, limping, crossed the antique street and came to Sinisterium Pawnshop, carefully knocking on the door.
While knocking, he nervously looked around.
"Manager Lu! Manager Lu!"
The voice sounded like a ghost calling for a soul.
"Who is it, not sleeping at this hour of the night!"
Hu Zi woke up cursing, and as soon as he opened the door, he was instantly stunned.
Then, he was amused.
Standing outside the door was a man with a goatee, a darkened forehead, and an appearance that suggested he was possessed by some sort of malevolent spirit.
Who else could it be but Master Yuan?
"Excuse me, is Manager Lu here?"
Master Yuan's face was pale, his eyes filled with fear. He leaned on a cane and held a black cloth-wrapped object in his arms, forcing an ingratiating smile as he spoke to Hu Zi.
"Who are you? What do you care if my boss is here or not!"
Hu Zi crossed his arms, his nostrils flaring as he coldly snorted at Master Yuan.
"Young brother, I have an urgent matter to discuss with Manager Lu, please let him know I'm here," Master Yuan said, nodding and bowing to Hu Zi.
"No time! Keep dreaming!"
After Hu Zi said that, he was about to close the door.
"Young brother! I was wrong! I shouldn't have spoken wildly to Shopkeeper Lu, please ask Shopkeeper Lu to save my life!" Master Yuan hurriedly pressed his hand against the door panel.
To Hu Zi's surprise, he found that there were only two fingers left on his right hand.
The other three had been severed at the palm, and blood was still seeping from the cut, as if they had been bitten off by sharp teeth. It was a terrifying sight.
"This is a matter of life and death, young brother! Please do me a favor and ask Shopkeeper Lu to save me."
"I was wrong before, I shouldn't have lied, but I just did it to get by... I don't want to die..."
Master Yuan knelt down at the door, with a determined look that he wouldn't give up until he saw Lu Fei.
"Only Shopkeeper Lu can save me, please, I beg of you..."
He was crying and snotting, making Hu Zi feel extremely disgusted.
"Let him in."
Lu Fei had long been awakened by the commotion, and only after Master Yuan finished kowtowing did he slowly speak up.
"Manager Lu, save me!"
Master Yuan was overjoyed, not even bothering to wipe the snot from his face as he limped into Sinisterium Pawnshop.
Only then did Hu Zi notice that this old swindler had lost one of his feet as well.
The area beneath his ankle was empty, the stump wrapped in a white cloth, which was soaked through with blood, turning it a dark red.
"Oh, old swindler, with your missing limbs, who are you trying to trick by pretending to be Li Tieguai?" Hu Zi gloated.
"Manager Lu, I'm not faking it!"
Master Yuan struggled to crawl onto the sofa, placing the black cloth-wrapped package on the coffee table, and looked at Lu Fei with tears in his eyes.
Without even looking, it was clear that the package contained the treasure basin.
"My fingers and foot were eaten by this basin! Not just my limbs, but also the flesh from my body!"
After saying that, he tremblingly pulled open his clothes with his severed hand, revealing an unsightly belly.
Lu Fei and Hu Zi were both startled.
His belly was covered in a reddish hue, with much of the flesh cut away, resembling a depression filled with bloody pits.
It was a horrific sight!
"Isn't this the Bountiful Basin? Instead of turning into gold and silver, it's changed its taste to human flesh? And your few old chunks of meat, you don't even mind how rancid they are!" Hu Zi, his scalp tingling, did not forget to mock Master Yuan, "You only lost a few pieces of flesh, but several people on this antique street nearly lost their lives because of you!"
"Young brother, I didn't know it would turn out like this..."
Master Yuan wore a mournful expression, fearfully pushing the porcelain basin towards Lu Fei. The smugness from two days ago was gone, replaced by endless regret and terror.
"Shopkeeper Lu, I truly had no idea who I was dealing with before! A great man like you shouldn't hold a grudge against a small person like me!"
"Sinisterium Pawnshop specializes in collecting evil objects, only you can save me!"
"Then explain, why does the Bountiful Basin want to eat your flesh?" Lu Fei showed no sympathy on his face.
"I got this basin from a villager. That day, after returning from the cemetery, I took a ride back to the city and happened to be on the same bus as that young man, sitting in the same row."
Master Yuan immediately recounted how he had acquired the precious basin.
At the time.
He noticed that the young man was guarding the package in his hands like a treasure, guessing it must be something valuable. After some indirect inquiries, he learned that it was an antique the other man had dug up from underground, and immediately became interested.
With a series of sweet talk, he bought the white porcelain basin for a few thousand yuan, thinking he had good luck and could make a profit.
Little did he expect that when he brought it to the antique street, the thing was not worth much at all.
He was unwilling to accept this and decided to package the porcelain basin and find another sucker to take it off his hands.
While he was holding the basin and pondering, the string of the jade pendant he wore around his neck to show off suddenly broke, and the jade fell into the basin with a clink.
Just as he was about to retrieve it, he noticed something was amiss.
The jade pendant wobbled a few times and, surprisingly, turned into two.
He immediately lost his composure and began experimenting with other items, only to discover that the white porcelain basin could only replicate things like gold, silver, and treasures, and each item could only be replicated once.
But this was still miraculous enough!
"This is a treasure-gathering basin! I'm finally going to make it big, I'm finally going to make it big!" He was overjoyed.
That night, he slept hugging the white porcelain basin, dreaming of making a fortune.
Who would have thought that when he woke up the next day, he felt a piercing pain in his leg. Pulling up his pant leg, he was drenched in cold sweat at what he saw.
A piece of flesh was missing from his leg, as if something had bitten it, and blood was seeping out.
For some reason, he thought of the white porcelain basin.
At the time, he was a bit scared, but one look at the two jade pendants made his fear disappear.
As long as he could get rich, losing a bit of flesh was nothing; it would heal in a few days, wouldn't it?
However, he didn't have anything valuable, and the jade pendants were hard to convert into cash. After much thought, he came up with a brilliant idea: to help others replicate their valuables and profit from it.
He thought he could reach the pinnacle of his life and become the richest man in the world with the help of the treasure basin.
But to his surprise.
The appetite of the treasure basin was getting bigger and bigger each time.
A piece of meat, two pieces of meat, were no longer enough to satisfy it.
After each duplication of possessions, Master Yuan would faint once, then wake up in great pain.
But that was not all; there was something even more terrifying to come!