Chapter 321: Back to the Old Days
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
While Jin Er was talking about the strange things that had happened that night, such as crossing 16 green lights consecutively and seeing four red lights in the same crossroad, Snowy had collected enough opinions from her fans and posted a new Weibo.
“Live broadcast notice.”
“Location: Amazing Fate Pet Shop.”
“Specific time: To be announced, will let everyone know before the broadcast.”
“Theme: The amazing parrot in the pet shop.”
The Mercedes-Benz limousine slowly parked beside the road and Jin Er reminded her, “Snowy, I think this is the second-hand store you are going to, correct?”
She turned her eyes away from her cell phone screen, looked outside through the car window and saw a sign that said “Back to the Old Days”.
“Yes, this is the place. Thank you, Uncle Jin.”
Snowy put on her gloves and plush hat again, got out of the car, and extended gratitude to Uncle Jin.
Good-for-Nothing barked at her, as if saying: And me! Don’t forget about me!
She smiled and waved at Good-for-Nothing, “Goodbye, Good-for-Nothing, when you take off your bandages and the collar on your neck, I will bring Snowball to play with you.”
Hearing the name of Snowball, Good-for-Nothing trembled, probably because it had been defeated by Snowball too many times…
“Do you need me to wait for you?”
Jin Er looked around. It was a spacious and bleak alley with few pedestrians. He worried that Snowy might run into danger if she was left there alone. He was the one who brought Snowy out of their neighborhood, and if something happened to her, he would get himself into trouble too. He wouldn’t worry about the safety of other girls the same age of Snowy, but Snowy had only lived in a comfortable and safe environment and was well-protected by her parents, so he worried that she would be gullible and would easily fall into strangers’ traps.
“I will be fine.” Snowy shook her head, “Uncle Jin, you should take Good-for-Nothing for a check-up and bandage removal now. I will take care of myself.”
“Alright, if anything happens, call me.” Jin Er reminded her again.
“Understood. Don’t worry about me, Uncle Jin,” Snowy smiled.
Jin Er said goodbye to her and asked his driver to drive off.
After they left, Snowy raised her head to observe this two-story store of antique design.
The storefront had a red-lacquered gate set with brass studs. On the left and right side were two red-lacquered columns as wide as water buckets. Right above the gate was a plaque with yellow characters saying Back to the Old Days on a blue background. The imitation of the design found in ancient times was quite successful— the only flaw was that everything seemed too new. They hadn’t suffered from harsh weather for decades, so the old-vintage element was missing. Apparently, this store had been built not long ago.
The red-lacquered gate was open, and the store inside seemed a bit dark.
“Hello?” Snowy knocked on the gate, crossed over the high threshold and walked in.
The store was extremely messy, with all kinds of strange-looking things scattered on the floor and hanging on the walls. All these things made her dizzy, yet also made her feel a bit creeped out.
A lean old man dressed in a long robe of the ancient times gradually walked out from back of the store. He was holding a feather duster with a long handle, dusting off the items around him as he walked towards Snowy, with a carefree expression on his face.
When he came closer, Snowy saw that he was a white-goateed, robust and hearty old man in his seventies, with his eyebrows and hair turning grey. He smiled and looked at Snowy, “Yes?”
“Hello, are you the owner of this store?” asked Snowy.
The old man nodded slightly, “Yes, I am the owner. What do you want, my guest? It’s not a big store but there are some rare and interesting items here. Take a look. If you need anything, just tell me.”
“Well… Actually, I am an anchor.” said Snowy hesitantly. It was always troublesome for her to explain this term to seniors who didn’t understand what an anchor was. They always mistook her as a television reporter.
The old man replied, “Anchor, that I’ve heard of. Does that mean you host live broadcasts on the internet?”
It was such a relief to Snowy. She didn’t expect this old man to be quite fashionable that he knew what anchor was for, thus saving her a lot of energy to explain.
“Yes, but I’m just an unheard-of anchor.” Snowy stuck out her tongue cheekily, “May I ask if I can host a live broadcast in your store? It will be good for your business.”
After entering the shop, Snowy didn’t see any customers there, which meant that business must be very rough. It was possible that just like other antique stores, this store could sustain itself for years by selling only one item. But, as she observed, though the products were seldom seen in daily life, they were not old enough to be deemed as antiques, which were much more lucrative than simply being rare.
The old man smiled and said, “Thank you for your kindness. But I opened this store to have a serene place for myself and all these stuffs. It’s against my intention to attract a lot of customers.”
What? Snowy was stupefied by his reply. A store owner who didn’t want to attract more customers?
“You don’t want to sell products to make money? How are you going to make money without customers?” she asked in astonishment.
The old man stroked his goatee, narrowed his eyes and said calmly, “Yes, everyone wants to make money. But, I think it’s better to leave it to fate. Customers walk by my store one day and they suddenly decide to come in, and they find an item they really like. Isn’t that nice?”
Snowy sucked in a cold breath. In the past, she could never understand why someone opened a store yet didn’t care about profits. After paying a visit to the Teahouse in Hidden Fog with Zhang Zian, she learned that there were people whose intentions of opening shops were not about money, but for adhering to their ideals, or simply passing time. In terms of wealth and taste, this simply dressed old man in front of her probably was another low profile Tuhao, who could be even better than Sister Ye, the owner of Teahouse in Hidden Fog!
Even the name of the store, “Back to the Old Days”, was more decorous and stylish than Teahouse in Hidden Fog. Whoever came up with the name Back to the Old Days must be a knowledgeable person. Besides, Teahouse in Hidden Fog was located deep in a mountain afar, while this store was located in a quiet alley in the city, which had embodied the spirit of “I have built my cottage amongst the throng of men, and yet there is no noise of horse and of carriage” as described in an ancient Chinese poem.
She couldn’t help but wonder. Honestly, it was really rare to encounter one Tuhao, why had she seen so many Tuhaos recently? Was it because of the mutual attraction among rich people?
But then she understood right away. The stores opened by Tuhaos were distinctive with special furnishings. The owners didn’t care how much they spent, the collections in their stores were either the most expensive or the best, and they didn’t care if someone would buy them or not. The reputations of such unique stores spread wide easily — when the citizens heard about these stores, they would mention them to Snowy, asking her to pay a visit and introduce the stores to them—which explained why Snowy had a higher chance of meeting Tuhao.
Though she had figured that out, she was in pain. This was the store where she was going to host the live broadcast, but the owner had clearly turned her down. However, a lot of her fans were waiting for her broadcast, she couldn’t cancel on them… Though they would understand, she couldn’t do that to them.
Snowy hesitated for a moment and decided to give up on this site. Amazing Fate Pet Shop would be her next stop.
“Sorry, I came here today for live broadcasting, I’m not buying anything… Sorry to disturb you.” She bowed slightly to the old man to extend her apology and intended to leave.
As she turned around, she was so scared by something that she stepped back.
In the corner of the gate, a creepy looking cat was squatting there.
