Lu Fei set down his chopsticks. "You want me to find that thing?"
"Yes!" Tiger nodded emphatically. "The boss may not have treated me that well, but if he hadn't picked me out from the security team, I'd still be at that dead-end job making barely enough to get by."
"Figuring this out is the least I can do to repay him!"
He sure was a loyal guy.
Lu Fei hesitated. "But I'm an outsider, and you're just an employee. Neither of us has the right to touch Duobaoxuan's belongings, do we?"
Tiger gritted his teeth. "At this point, who cares? You just do the searching; I'll take responsibility for the rest!"
Lu Fei remained doubtful.
He had already completed the goals his grandfather set for him and wasn't in a rush to handle cursed objects. The last thing he wanted was more trouble.
If he could confirm it was a cursed object and had the owner's consent, he'd be more than willing.
But under these circumstances, meddling with someone else's things wasn't right.
Besides, even with such solid evidence, it might not be a supernatural force at work.
"I'm sorry, Tiger. I really can't help with this." After a moment of thought, Lu Fei firmly declined.
"No, I was being impulsive." Tiger quickly apologized. "That's just how I am. When I get emotional, I don't think things through."
After finishing their noodles, the two of them headed back to the pawnshop.
As they passed Duobaoxuan, the street was completely deserted. Even the nearby shops had closed their doors and windows early, as if to avoid the place.
Tiger couldn't resist glancing over.
The building stood dark and ominous, shrouded in shadows, exuding a sense of gloom and foreboding.
"Was it really a cursed object that harmed the boss…?"
Tiger sighed, just about to look away, when he caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure by a second-floor window.
"Someone's there?"
His body tensed, but when he looked again, there was nothing.
Seeing that Tiger had fallen behind, Lu Fei turned back. "Tiger, what's wrong?"
"I thought I saw someone by the window."
Lu Fei's heart skipped a beat, remembering the rumors of haunting around Duobaoxuan. He looked up but saw nothing.
"There's no one there. Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"
"Maybe I'm just overthinking it."
Tiger waited a moment, but saw nothing further. He laughed at himself and continued walking with Lu Fei.
Back at the pawnshop, Lu Fei showed Tiger to the guest room.
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, after breakfast, Lu Fei accompanied Tiger back to Duobaoxuan to retrieve his belongings.
Tiger had a key.
He took a deep breath, tore off the seal, and unlocked the door.
Even after several days, a lingering smell of blood filled the air inside.
They waited for the smell to dissipate before stepping inside.
The shop looked as it always had, with shelves filled with an array of antiques.
Tiger knew that ninety percent of these items were fake; the genuine pieces were hidden in the back.
The mysterious antique the boss had collected wasn't here.
Without lingering, Tiger went to the small back room to gather his belongings.
The entire Duobaoxuan was eerily silent, and though Tiger was on edge, nothing frightening occurred.
Before leaving, he took a brave look at the backyard.
Bloodstains still marked the ground, but beyond that, there was nothing unusual.
"Brother Lu Fei, did you notice anything?" Tiger asked, unwilling to let it go.
"No," Lu Fei shook his head.
The building felt eerie, likely due to the recent tragedy, but he sensed nothing out of the ordinary.
"I guess I'm just overthinking it."
Tiger sighed, locked up, and gazed at the antique street he had called home for two years, feeling lost and unsure of where to go next.
"Tiger, what are your plans now?"
"I don't know."
After a moment's daze, Tiger turned to Lu Fei and gave a deep bow.
"Brother Lu Fei, I may not have many skills, but I've got strength and I know a bit of martial arts. If you'll have me, I'd like to work for you!"
"Huh?" Lu Fei was taken aback. "My pawnshop doesn't see much business; I don't really need extra help."
"I don't want to go back to being a security guard. Two or three thousand a month barely gets me anywhere! I can tell—you're in a big business! Please, just give me a chance!"
Tiger kept bowing, refusing to rise.
"Tiger, there's no need to rush." Lu Fei scratched his head, coming up with a compromise. "How about this: you stay with me for now, and once you find a new job, you can settle in gradually."
"I'll prove with my actions that I'm useful!"
Tiger immediately took his place behind Lu Fei, looking every bit the loyal subordinate.
Lu Fei found it a bit overwhelming.
Back at the pawnshop, Tiger placed his luggage in the guest room and rolled up his sleeves, ready to work.
"Hey, hey, Tiger, that's not necessary."
"Brother Lu Fei—no, Boss—even if you don't take me on, this is something I should do. I can't stay here for free!"
Seeing how insistent he was, Lu Fei let him be.
Despite his rough exterior, Tiger worked efficiently, soon cleaning up the backyard until it was spotless.
"Tiger, you're pretty capable."
"This is nothing! When I was a kid, I didn't just do chores at home; I worked in the fields, too. My family was poor, couldn't afford school, so I started working as a teenager, doing all kinds of tough jobs."
Tiger wiped the sweat from his face, with a faint, bitter smile.
"Back then, I worked tying steel bars at construction sites. In the scorching heat, my back would burn."
"The foreman bullied me for being young, only paid me half my wages."
"I couldn't hold back and hit him. He got back at me, brought a bunch of guys to beat me up, and made sure no other site would hire me."
"I ended up sleeping under a bridge, worse off than a dog. That's when I swore that I, Tiger, would make something of myself!"
Lu Fei couldn't help but feel moved.
Compared to Tiger's life, his own was like living in an ivory tower.
Although he lost his parents at a young age, his grandfather had protected him, allowing him to grow up without worries.
Lu Fei made Tiger some tea and invited him to rest.
The shop had no business, so having someone around to chat with was a nice change.
"Tiger, if you made it big, what would you do?"
"First, I'd go find that dog of a foreman and give him a beating!"
"And then?"
"Make money! Lots and lots of money! I'd build a big house for my parents and put up a road and a school in my village. We're so poor there. We have to cross mountains to go to school, and the village school building is falling apart. The bathroom is just some old boards, and you can see… uh… the girls'… um…" Tiger's face reddened.
Lu Fei laughed. "My pawnshop deals with cursed objects. One wrong step, and you could lose your life. Aren't you afraid?"
"To be honest, a little." Tiger recalled his torment from the Hungry Ghost money and shuddered. "But compared to poverty, what's this?"
Lu Fei found Tiger admirable—a man who could endure hardship and valued loyalty.
But the Evil Pawnshop wasn't accustomed to taking on outsiders. Should he break that rule for Tiger?
He decided to hold off on making a decision.
In the days that followed, he continued to open the shop daily, though business was as slow as ever. Liu Fugui dropped by twice, only to leave disappointed.
Lu Fei thought it might be a long time before his next deal.
To his surprise, a few days later, a returning customer arrived.
The shop filled with a strong scent of perfume as two women entered, wrapped up tightly with hats, masks, and sunglasses, as if they didn't want to be recognized.