Hearing Su Zimoâs words, Su Yi was actually a little uncomfortable.
Su Yiâs âFlower Tea Gardenâ was a well-known online-famous shop on Xincheng Street. Although Su Yiâs mother was a little woman, she knew very well the methods of store management. A variety of conditioning teas, slimming teas, fat-burning teas, and fruit teas were endlessly released. No matter the teaâs effect, people would like it as long as the packaging was beautiful.
Su Yi and her mother also opened a nice online store, and even considered opening a branch in Shoushan. Su Yi had been observing her mother for a long time, and she felt that she had some understanding of store management.
But this âAn Yu Yi Yuâ seemed very strange.
In the beginning, Su Yu didnât take the rumours seriously. Although she had heard that the owner of the shop was very good-looking but rarely appeared in the store, Su Yi didnât intend to take a look at the legendary, particularly good-looking store owner just because he neighbored her store.
After all, Su Yiâs mother taught Su Yi the truth since she was a child. That is, donât look only at someoneâs appearance, but also background and heritage. In the eyes of mothers and daughters, the best things in the world were people like Su Yiâs father.
But Xu Yuan, who clearly wanted to pursue her, said that the shop called âAn Yu Yi Yuâ was very unique, and may even possess power beyond ordinary peopleâs imagination.
Hearing what Xu Yuan said so mysteriously, and knowing that her fatherâs birthday was approaching, Su Yi wanted to go to the store and see if she could actually find a special gift.
If she could find a special and outstanding gift, Su Yi would beg her mother to take her to meet her father, and along the way, give the carefully prepared gift to her father who she hadnât seen in so long.
But after walking into An Yu Yi Yu, Su Yi was a little disappointed.
Certainly, the two large green plants inside the window of the shop could make peopleâs eyes sparkle, and even Su Yiâs mother felt envious when she passed by. After entering the shop, Su Yi saw more beautiful green plants as well as the legendary, good-looking, beautiful owner of the shop.
But this wasnât a flower shop after all. There was only one shelf in the store with an unknown market aim, and the things on it looked⊠cheap.
The shop owner was really good-looking, but it wasnât the type of good-looking that Su Yi likes.
âNot too bad.â Su Yi murmured to herself.
She didnât know whether it was her womanâs intuition, but when Su Yi looked at the shop owner she felt that he wasnât the type of peach that could be picked, but like another butterfly competing with her for nectar.
Although Su Yi looked average, her mother was a famous beauty, so she didnât like people who were more beautiful than her mother.
In short, Su Yu looked like a humble, jade-like daughter, but when she stood there quietly, she had more complicated thoughts than anyone else. A suitor like Xu Yuan never knew that.
After secretly observing the whole shop with a critical eye, the only thing that Su Yi felt was of some value was the calligraphy frame that was randomly placed on the counter.
Su Yiâs ability to appreciate calligraphy and painting wasnât very high, but she could see that the text on the framed page wasnât a copy. That is, it was the original that someone had written. And an unknown person wouldnât have an authentic work so well-framed, so it was impossible that the creator wasnât even a little bit famous.
The frame used to mount the page was wooden. It could even be seen that it was solid wood. Although she didnât know what kind of wood it was, the carved patterns were simple and beautiful, and the texture outlines were just right.
Of course, based on that alone, Su Yi still felt that it wasnât suitable to be a gift for her father. She just disdained everything else in the store, so she asked.
Unexpectedly, the owner of the shop actually replied⊠âSorry, this is not for sale.â
There were so few things in the rundown shop, there werenât any valuable decorations other than the two pieces of âfakeâ green plants. Maybe the rent on the street was too much for the shopkeeper with only skin for sale. <sup>1</sup>
She had finally come to the door, but the owner wasnât selling yet?
Su Yi looked at the store with âonlyâ one shelf again, and suddenly felt that she may have guessed correctly. This rundown appearance was probably because the store couldnât go on. He was preparing to clear his inventory, right?
âBut I just fell in love with this item. Would you like to ask a price first?â Su Yi felt that it was probably just a trick for the owner to clear his inventory and sell the item, saying that it wasnât for sale just to raise the price.
âThis piece is really not for sale.â Su Zimo was also helpless.
Since discovering that ordinary people couldnât see the second shelf, Su Zimo thought that ordinary people couldnât see ghost tools. It was only now that Su Zimo realized he was wrong. They werenât unable to see ghost tools â they simply couldnât see the second shelf.
If the ghost tool was placed somewhere else in the shop, whether that was âSheet Music of the Dead,â âGhost Call,â or the black umbrella⊠It could, in fact, be seen by anyone.
Su Yi being able to see âGushan Notes: Postscriptâ was evidence.
In fact, Su Zimo held the black umbrella in front of ordinary people more than once, but didnât connect those things for a while.
But no matter what, it was impossibly for Su Zimo to sell the three star ghost tool to an unknown stranger, let along âGushan Notes: Postscriptâ with the untested special ability of âDo Not Enter.â
âI want to hear about the price.â Su Yiâs face still had a faint expression, and her thin figure with almost no flesh looked a little sickly against her white skirt.
âMaybe itâs two hundred yuan, right?â Su Zimo bluntly quoted a price that surprised the other party.
âTwo hundred?â Su Yi looked at Su Zimo in surprise. It was hard to believe that that was the price that Su Zimo wanted to increase. You must know that the scented fasting tea in her store could sell for over three hundred yuan for a box of seven packets. That wasnât even mentioning things like calligraphy or paintings that shops could randomly offer.
âYes. Two hundred yuan.â Su Zimo smiled and nodded. âItâs not an expensive item, itâs just a non-sale item. This is the relic of an old ancestor of my ancestor, so I canât sell it, sorry.â
âIs that so?â Su Yi heard Su Zimo say so, and she was embarrassed to continue asking. She could only pretend that nothing happened and strolled around the shop again.
This time, Su Yi stopped in front of the first shelf, then her eyes fell onto the lipstick from the nightmare world.
Su Zimo still remembered the text boxes from the âNightmare Brand Ordinary Lipstick.â It said that as long as the lipstick was applied, the holder could get a bit of ghost-like mystique, but whether that was a blessing or a curse, only they knew.
Although the text boxes were a little mysterious, Su Zimo wasnât worried about the effects of the lipstick. After all, it was just an ordinary product without a star rating and wouldnât cause trouble for ordinary people.
âThis lipstick could be regarded as the shopâs signature item.â Su Zimo was confident as he said this. After all, since the second shelf wasnât visible, the lipstick that was priced at 5 yuan was indeed the shopâs most expensive item.
Moreover, the products that were brought back by Su Zimo were all unopened products. The lipstick was placed in a small wooden box with a thin cloth layer and a lipstick tube. The body was decorated with black and silver decorative lines, seeming to have that favored national flavor.
âIt seems to be a brand that Iâve never seen before. Is it domestically produced?â Su Yi didnât see any brand logo from the outer cover of the lipstick, and almost didnât even see that it was lipstick.
âWell, it can be regarded as being from a relatively small special workshop. The quality of their products are much higher than others of the same price.â Su Zimoâs face was a sincere businessmanâs smile.
âThis one is for sale, right? How much?â
âFive yuan.â Su Zimo stretched out five fingers, white and slender.
ââŠâŠâ Su Yi was silent for a moment, and found that there was indeed a price tag marked â5 yuanâ in front of the lipstick. At first she thought it was a mistake. âItâs very difficult to find lipstick at this price.â
Although it felt a bit ridiculous because of the price, Su Yi really liked the feel of the lipstick. She could even imagine the frosted feeling of the tubeâs body, and the outline of the silver lines was exquisite.
Su Yi even took out her phone to search for similar styles on the internet, and found that there was no information about the lipstick.
âIâll buy it.â Su Yi picked up the lipstick directly from the shelf. âCan I pay by scanning the QR code?â
âSorry, this shop can only accept cash.âSu Zimo had no choice but to spread his hands. After all, even if he posted a QR code, if the shop information on the phone wasnât accepted, his business wouldâve been done in vain.
âWait a moment, Iâll go next door to get some change.â Su Yi was taken aback, then put down the lipstick box in her hand and walked out of the store.
After Su Yi left, Su Zimo had the opportunity to put his backpack down and set the three one star âNightmare Brand Standard Daggersâ on the bottom of the second shelf.
It was called the bottom layer, but on the two shelves of An Yu Yi Yu, there was a cabinet for storage underneath the three individual layers where goods could be placed. So, even if they were placed on the bottom layer, there was no need to worry that the three daggers would be overlooked.
On the first layer of the second shelf, there was also a carved round mirror inlaid with âReal Fragments,â a bottle of âNightmare Brand Sleeping Pills,â the two one star products, âCell Phone of the Admiredâ and âCell Phone of the Fake Psychicâ from Zhang Xiaoqingâs world, and the two star product, âCell Phone of the Liar.â Su Zimo thought for a while, then placed the âBloodstained Set Squareâ beside them.
Since the products were scattered around, when the price tags appeared neatly around the products, the first layer of the second shelf was full.
As for the âAmulet of Fireâ, because of its special ability to hide a body within smoke, the ghost umbrella hid it within the black umbrella at Su Zimoâs request.
In addition to the products placed on the shelves, Su Zimo also had the mysterious black umbrella in his hands, Gushan Notes: Postscript, Sheet Music of the Dead, Ghost Call, the two star âGhost Severerâ shears that werenât available for sale, as well as âGhost Eyes of the Blind,â the bloodstained cloth strip that Zhang Xiaoqing took into her possession. <sup>2</sup>
After Su Yi brought the change from next door and purchased the lipstick with the unknown effect, the shop information on Su Zimoâs computer updated toâ
[Shop: An Yu Yi Yu (Ayuyuyu)]
[Owner: Su Zimo]
[Life Savings: 601 days (246)]
[Shelf No. 1 Capacity (No Stars): 31/50]
[Shelf No. 2 Capacity (One Star): 10/20]
[Ghosts in the Shop: Ghost Umbrella, Peng Peng, Zhang Xiaoqing]
[Shop Upgrade Progress: 246/1000]
[Shouhua: 0 Flowers (For Sale, Not Available to Store Members)]
It seemed to be a small-scale shop, but only Su Zimo could understand the difficult process of restocking the products.
The ghost umbrella came out of the black umbrella. Without explaining what happened to the ghost eye that was about to revive, he made some new tea with a comfortable smile on his face. Although Peng Peng disappeared after returning from the nightmare world, the upright piano in the shop started to play by itself, and the black and white keys fell occasionally, as if played by invisible hands.
Su Zimo wasnât afraid of any guests who may arrive. After all, in this era, pianos with automatic playing mechanisms werenât uncommon.
Zhang Xiaoqing also disappeared, leaving behind only the white smartphone on the counter.
In the end, Su Zimo decided to put his phone card into Ghost Call. He also bought a phone card for Ghost Umbrella and left his cell phone in the store as a backup phone.
âYou seem to be in a good mood.â Su Zimo glanced at the blushing ghost umbrella while hanging the framed âGushan Notes: Postscriptâ on the prepared wall above the piano.
âI feel like I ate a delicious snack.â Ghost Umbrella garnished the cup of milk tea with a small flower in his good mood.
ââŠâŠâ
Before Su Zimo could ask about the ghost eye, he suddenly discovered that after he hung Gushan Notes: Postscript on the wall, the text boxes of the three star ghost tool had changed slightly.
The ability âDo Not Enterâ that was originally unexplained, had not been explained in detail.
[Special Ability: No strangers are allowed entry. It can attract some special customers to the shop. During the effective period of the ability, ordinary customers will be greatly reduced, customers from ghost tools (including trained customers) will increase, and ghosts will greatly increase. Please pay attention to the identification of store members.]
[Limitations: The specific increase in the ghosts is limited by the number of ghost events in the current world.]
Su Zimo tried taking the frame off the wall again, then found that the explanation of the ability âDo Not Enterâ became unexplained again. It was as if the ability only worked when hung on the wall of the shop.
The specific effect of the ability, put into simple terms, was that the next guest who enters An Yu Yi Yu may be a trainer or non-human.
Perhaps it was because Peng Peng was also playing âMusic of the Deadâ which could also increase his customer base. Not long after Su Zimo hung up the frame, the door to An Yu Yi Yu was opened by a new customer.
âWelcome.â
Walking in from outside the glass was a stylishly dress woman. She was wearing brand names, various jewelry, and light brown sunglasses, but she looked somewhat flustered. She was relieved when the shop door closed behind her.
âSorry, can I rest here for a while?â The woman saw the table and chairs in the corner of the shop and walked over to the set as she asked.
âOf course. You can also try our tea. For the time being, itâs free.â Since Su Zimo didnât have time to prepare a small blackboard for Ghost Umbrella to sell tea, he hadnât set a suitable price yet.
âThank you. It feels⊠very quiet here.â The lady sat there with her hands on her forehead, looking very tired. âItâs so noisy outside.â
After resting her head for a while, the lady started to massage her temples. She seemed to be suffering from pain continuously. Even though the ghost umbrella put the oversized cup of milk tea in front of her, she didnât even glance at it.
âItâs too noisy. Itâs really too noise outside. Itâs so noise that people canât even do anything. How can it be so noisyâŠâ The lady massaged her temples and muttered to herself softly. It took her a while to calm down.
An Yu Yi Yu did have the ability to isolate all kinds of noise from the outside world. The sound of the piano being played by ânobodyâ in the store was leisurely and light. It wasnât surprising that it was deemed âquiet.â
When Su Zimo looked outside the shop, he thought he would see traffic moving back and forthâŠ
But what he really saw was⊠a long row of pale âhuman figuresâ standing right next to the glass window. Those âpeopleâ standing by the glass were not only pale and bloodless, but some were stained with blood, some had bloody tears, and some with hair like seaweed were even trying to enter the store!
Thatâs not a row of people. Thatâs clearly a row of ghosts standing outside the store!
Su Zimo didnât expect that the first time he saw a ghost in the real world, he would feel a sense of inexplicable excitement. He couldnât help but think that the reason why the lady thought the outside was noisy wasnât because of the traffic, but because of the ghosts.
Those horrible ghosts may even have come here after the lady!
âThis world⊠has it begun too?â The ghost umbrella standing behind the counter mumbled inexplicably while looking outside the store.
Footnotes
<ol>çźćçćș, Pinang de dian, meaning skin/leather shop. Itâs saying heâs selling his looks, not any products. The gardening shears were previously called æéŹŒ (Duan Gui), author has now used æçœȘ (Duan Zui). The previous was translated as Ghost Severer, and this is translated as Conviction. Until itâs mentioned again with the new name, Iâll keep it as Ghost Severer. Conviction sounds cooler though.</ol>