This is a spacious hall with hundreds of large pillars scattered all over the area, supporting a huge arched dome. Brightly-lit shops circled the pillars, each sparkling with a rainbow of different halo-colored lights. The various customers wearing Taoist robes, Kasayas and Confucian dress moved in a never-ending flow. Every now and then there were a few foreigners in large cloaks or glamorous monk's robes. The atmosphere in the hall was lively.
"This is the gathering place for wizards to do business, it is called the Four Seasons Pavilion, meaning this market is open for four seasons throughout the year. There are a total of nine Four Seasons Pavilions in the wizarding world, and mainland China owns three of them: the Great Ming Pavilion, the Forbidden City Pavilion, and the Nanjing Pavilion." Thomas was pulling Zheng Qing around, explaining as he walked: "This is the Great Ming Pavilion, the closest to your home. You can buy everything listed on your shopping list here."
As they spoke, they passed a green postbox and Thomas took out a wallet from his pocket, pulled out a card and swiped it on a card slot on the side of the postbox. Accompanied by a "beep beep" sound, a newspaper with a scent of ink was spat out from the mouth on top of the postbox.
"Is this magic?" asked Zheng Qing curiously.
"This is a vending machine." Thomas shook his head and opened the newspaper.
Zheng Qing looked askance in embarrassment and saw a huge headline on the side of the newspaper: "Pan-China Wizards' Representatives Conference solemnly opened in Anyi... Ji Zi delivered an important speech", below, a dark mass of heads still filled up half of the page. They cast an enormous shadow over a man in the photo, who was waving his arms.
"Luo Zu Clothing, your noble choice." With soothing music, a seductive voice came from a nearby shop. Zheng Qing couldn't help but turn to look. Behind the transparent glass, a handful of stunning models were dancing to the soothing music. The glimpses of their fair skin revealed by the music made Zheng Qing swallow his saliva a few times.
"Don't come here if you don't have enough power." Thomas was flipping through the newspaper without ever looking up and grunted: "Otherwise you will really understand the meaning of being a businessman."
"So beautiful." Zheng Qing's eyes were a little blank, and he gave a silly laugh: "I am going to buy some clothes."
"You will, but not here." Thomas helplessly took out his brown notebook again, lightly tapped Zheng Qing's head and sighed: "These guys are getting more and more tricky with their strategies. But they really did put effort into those puppets."
Having come back to his senses with a shiver, Zheng Qing no longer dared to look around. He followed behind Thomas obediently, with his hands folded in front of him.
"This is the place," Thomas pushed Zheng Qing into a bustling small shop, "Once inside, give your shopping list to Cloud Mother, and wait here after receiving your clothes. I'll go get other equipment like Dan Ding Jade for you."
Before Zheng Qing could say anything, Thomas had turned into stars and disappeared on the spot.
Zheng Qing sighed, and looked up at the clothing store.
Cloud Think Boutique.
The name is pretty, but the storefront didn't look very big. Zheng Qing snorted and pushed the door to enter.
Compared to the small storefront, the inside of the shop was spacious. Inside the shop, which had a floor space of hundreds of square meters, there were colorful robes and gloves hanging everywhere.
The shop was empty. Other than clouds and robes floating all around the room, there were no salespeople and no sound at all. It was eerily quiet.
Could it be a clothing store opened by a ghost? Zheng Qing, who had just come into contact with the world of wizards, was full of fantasies.
"Welcome to Cloud Think Boutique!" A cloud fell from the ceiling in front of Zheng Qing and spat out a few words formed by cloud vapor.
Zheng Qing was blankly looking at the cloud, not sure if he should take out his calligraphy pen to write.
Next, he remembered the list in his hand, so he stupidly handed it over.
The cloud rolled for a moment, forming the face of an old woman, complete with a monocle.
Zheng Qing probably understood what Thomas meant by "Cloud Mother".
"Ha, you are a scholarship student!" The wrinkly face in front of him suddenly cracked into a smile like a blooming chrysanthemum flower, and spat out a chain of fancy characters: "The material I have for clothes is the most authentic in the shop, and we just happened to have a new batch of aged silkworm silk. As for gloves, how about yellow deer skin? The price is right and the quality is very good."
Zheng Qing nodded repeatedly.
"Let's get your measurements." After the old woman exhaled these words, she turned into small, delicate clouds. The clouds rolled and folded around Zheng Qing, quickly knitting a robe that fit perfectly. Zheng Qing understood why the shop was so quiet.
"Stand straight!" The cloud spat out a huge exclamation mark.
Zheng Qing immediately straightened up, not daring to move.
"All right, it will take a few more minutes." The cloud-constructed robe changed a few times before leaving Zheng Qing's body and re-transformed into the face of an old woman, "A freshman?"
Zheng Qing smiled and nodded.
"Just feeling your youthful spirit makes me happy." Cloud Mother spat out a string of fancy characters: "Scholarship students can receive one free beverage, would you like Green Bee or Amber Light?"
Zheng Qing tried his hand and pointed to the Green Bee.
Cloud Mother nodded, took her time floating away, and quickly brought back a cup of light green beverage.
"You can go outside for a walk and look around." The old woman kindly looked at Zheng Qing, and a string of fancy characters came out like flowing water: "Old lady needs to brand symbols on the finished product, which will take some time."
Zheng Qing obediently nodded, but he stood idly by with his drink in his hand, looking around, and didn't go out.
Customers came and went in the Cloud Think Boutique, quiet and quick. Many people directly bought ready-made robes and cloaks, with very few choosing to customize on the spot.
"Why can't I come in!" A rough voice questioned at the door.
Zheng Qing turned around and saw a bald, chubby guy with a roast chicken in his hand trying to enter the shop. A dark cloud stopped him.
"Food and drink are not allowed in the clothing shop." The dark cloud spat out these standard words.
Zheng Qing realized that these clouds could hear sounds.
"Why can he do it!" The chubby man squinted his eyes, noticed the cup in Zheng Qing's hand, and loudly questioned.
"He is a scholarship student, the drink was provided by our shop." The cloud's response was short and inflexible.
The chubby man was taken aback, shoved the chicken violently into the Da Lian on his shoulder. His greasy hands rubbed on the Da Lian for a while, then turned back to the dark cloud.
The dark cloud silently floated to the side.
The chubby man, with his triple chin shaking, squeezed into the clothing shop.
Zheng Qing looked at the strange scene in front of him, feeling slightly lost.
At this time yesterday, he was talking enthusiastically with his high school classmates at the dinner table, reminiscing about the past and her, and looking forward to a promising future in three to five years.
Today he found himself deep into this magical world, watching clouds spit out words, clouds weaving clothes, and clouds blocking the road.
Life is strange like this at times; you never know what you will be facing the next day.