Otherworldly Merchant

Never would I have expected that the sluggard would open his mouth and bite his finger, gnawing on it as though he was gnawing on chicken feet. Blood dyed his whole mouth red.

Heavens, just what kind of otherworldly item was this?!

Still, I couldn't really let my thoughts wander. The most important thing to do right now was to save that sluggard. I took out a flashlight and barged into the room in a flurry.

Then, I'm not sure if it was just my imagination, but I saw a black shadow brush past the window of the sluggard's house, instantly disappearing into the darkness.

Suddenly seeing that black shadow gave me a scare, and I had goosebumps all over my body. As such, I was a little afraid to enter the room. But, after Li Mazi also got there, I gained some courage and we wobbled into the room of the sluggard together.

The sluggard was lying in bed again, sleeping like a dead pig.

The middle finger of his right hand was nowhere to be seen, and the red blood had dyed the quilt.

I cursed inwardly and rushed toward the sluggard, slapping him awake. "Quickly, wake up!"

The sluggard opened his eyes in a daze, and said angrily after hearing my words, "What are you doing? Let me sleep."

While speaking, he unwittingly spat out the half finger in his mouth. He grabbed the finger and asked in puzzlement, "What’s this thing?"

Li Mazi said, "Don't you feel any pain? That's your finger! You just bit it off."

The sluggard was at first dumbfounded. Then, he stretched out his hands and carefully looked at them. At last, he shrieked, "Save me! My finger is gone..."

Seeing that the sluggard was about to go crazy, Li Mazi and I quickly brought him to the car and headed toward the hospital in town.

Along the way, I recalled that we forgot to bring along the missing finger of the sluggard. Just as I was preparing to head back to look for it, Li Mazi patted my shoulder, and said, "There isn't enough time. Let's go to the hospital first to stop the bleeding! Even if we manage to find the broken finger, it's going to be very difficult to reattach it to the hand with the equipment they have at the hospital in town."

On the road, the sluggard cried bitterly, and I asked him if he was in pain. However, the sluggard said that he didn't feel anything, and the only thing that pained him was seeing one of his fingers missing.

He unexpectedly didn't feel any pain? I took a deep breath.

This whole matter was truly bizarre.

When the doctor at the local hospital saw the body of the sluggard, which was dripping with blood, he was stunned. Moreover, when he stitched the wounds of the sluggard, the latter didn't utter a sound.

But, when we were on our way back, around seven o'clock in the morning, the sluggard, who was sitting in the rear seat, started to cry out in pain.

It seemed he’d recovered his sense of pain.

This explained why the sluggard hadn't felt anything when he’d previously injured himself, feeling the pain only when he woke up in the morning.

But, even if he was in pain, there wasn't much we could do. We didn't have the time to turn around and go to the hospital again, asking for an injection of anesthetics.

After getting used to the pain, the sluggard asked me, "B-Big Brother Zhang, who injured my hand?"

Li Mazi snorted coldly. "Didn't we tell you already? You bit it off yourself!"

The complexion of the sluggard paled. "You... you’re joking, right? I bit off my own finger? I wasn't possessed by a ghost for the past few days, right?"

I shook my head. "We aren't sure as to what is going on yet."

The sluggard kept silent for a moment, and then said with anger, "After we get back, I'm throwing that blue and white porcelain away! I refuse to believe that a grown-up man can't deal with a stupid set of porcelain!"

I said in a hurry, "Don't even think about throwing that blue and white porcelain away. Otherwise, your fate will be a hundred times worse than now."

The sluggard was terrified. "In that case, you have to help me, Big Brother Zhang!"

I said with a nod, "Rest assured. I have more or less figured out what kind of materials were used to manufacture that blue and white porcelain. I can assure you that, from today onwards, nothing strange will happen to you."

Li Mazi immediately asked, "In the end, what was used to manufacture that blue and white porcelain?"

I replied, "I'm guessing that teeth and fingernails were mixed in the porcelain when it was manufactured. After all, this lazybones always uses his teeth and fingernails to injure himself at night."

Li Mazi couldn't help but gasp. "Even in ancient times, there were similar nutjobs? Why the hell would anyone want to manufacture this type of porcelain?"

Of course, I was asking myself the same.

After taking the sluggard back home, Li Mazi and I got in the car to start discussing that night's plan.

First, we had to find a way to temporarily suppress that blue and white porcelain, preventing it from injuring the sluggard again.

Second, we had to figure out why the blue and white porcelain was targeting the sluggard and not letting go of him.

Only after discovering the root of the problem could we deal with this matter.

"Right, is it possible that the blue and white porcelain is now on its period? It didn't do anything for generations, and just when it happened to fall into the hands of the sluggard, it started to act crazy," Li Mazi said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

I told Li Mazi to get me some human teeth and fingernails; the more, the better. Li Mazi asked me, "What do you want to do with that stuff?"

I said with a smile, "I want to fight poison with poison."

As for how to use poison to fight poison, I wasn’t sure, either. But, I didn't tell Li Mazi this.

Li Mazi went to collect the things I’d asked for while I went to see the sluggard.

At this time, the sluggard was in a fetal position due to the extreme pain. After seeing me, he knelt in front of me, looking very pitiful.

In his eyes, I was perhaps the only straw he could grasp at.

I sighed and helped him up, saying, "If you want to live, honestly reply to some of my questions."

Since his life was at stake, the sluggard didn't dare to refuse and immediately nodded, saying, "If I know the answer, I'll definitely reply."

I asked, "First, during the past few days, did you do anything that might have annoyed the blue and white porcelain? Such as placing it in the bathroom or throwing it among your underwear?" 

The sluggard shook his head like a rattle-drum. "No, no, I absolutely haven't done anything of the sort."

"You better tell me the truth."

"I really haven't!" The sluggard felt wronged.

"Good. In that case, reply to my second question. Did you offend anyone in the past few days, or let other people come in contact with the blue and white porcelain? I feel that someone might have angered this blue and white porcelain."

The sluggard thought for a moment but still shook his head. "I can assure you that I’ve treated the blue and white porcelain like a treasure during this period of time, and I didn't let anyone get close to it."

Well, this was definitely strange. If nothing had happened, why was the blue and white porcelain acting up like this?

Two hours later, Li Mazi came back with a cloth wrapper in his hands.

He arrived in front of me, and angrily threw the cloth wrapper at me, saying, "Next time, if you want to collect this weird stuff, do it yourself." 

I asked, "What happened?" Li Mazi's face turned red. "The villagers leaped at the chance to rob me of my money. They wanted me to pay 2000 RMB for this little bit of fingernails."

I was at a loss for words.

Next, I told Li Mazi to buy me a big rooster, the redder its comb, the better. As for me, I ground the teeth and fingernails into a fine powder and fed it to the rooster.

Li Mazi and the sluggard looked at me in puzzlement. After I was finished, the duo couldn't hold back and asked, "What were you doing?"

I said with a smile, "What could I possibly be doing? I'm preparing a substitute for this sluggard."

Li Mazi laughed loudly, "You want a rooster to take the place of this sluggard? Isn't it too humiliating for this poor rooster? I bet it feels especially aggrieved."

The sluggard glared at Li Mazi. "Brother Li, can you mind your language? Look at what has become of me, and yet you’re still making fun of me."

Anyway, tonight's task was to discover how the sluggard had offended the blue and white porcelain. This was the only way to solve the problem.

Given how wounded the sluggard was, there was no way he could cook. As such, Li Mazi gave him a box of instant rice, which he could boil in water for a bit and then eat. From the looks of it, it was the first time that the sluggard had eaten something of the sort. He said that it was delicious and almost ended up eating the box as well.

Now, the long wait could begin.

However, I suddenly started to get a little uneasy.

I thought about the fact that my grandfather and father must have also encountered all sorts of strange things while doing this business. And, even when they’d met some unusual otherworldly items, they’d been able to solve the matter within one day.

Compared to them, I lacked both skills and knowledge. But, I felt that this whole profession consisted in gathering experience. An expert could tell the origin of an otherworldly item at a glance, and then act according to the situation. Thereafter, solving the problem would be a piece of cake.

The item we were dealing with this time was much more troublesome than the embroidered shoes. Due to this, I took a piece of paper and started to note down all the unexpected things that could happen. This was to avoid not knowing what to do in case something unexpected really happened.

Night gradually fell. Li Mazi and I went on the roof again, carefully observing everything happening below us.

As for the sluggard, I told him to place the rooster on the bed, while he himself would sleep under the bed.

Hopefully, this method would work, causing the otherworldly item to mistake the rooster for the sluggard.

Tonight was slightly warmer, and the round moon was hanging in the sky. The moonlight shone on the distant forest, covering the place with a silvery veil. Amidst all this, the houses of the village acted as adornments, giving the place a local flavor. If not for this matter related to the blue and white porcelain, it wouldn't be exaggerated to use the words 'paradisaical land' to describe the current scenery.

As usual, nothing happened before midnight...

As far as I was concerned, this long wait was no different from torture.

This was because I knew that the real danger had yet to come!

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