Lu Fei quickly remembered the mysterious black umbrella in the storeroom.
After reading the pawn ticket, he gave an apologetic smile to the elderly lady surnamed Feng.
"I'm sorry, Granny Feng, but the agreed redemption period has been overdue for over a week. You can't redeem it anymore."
"Why not? I'm just a few days late!" Granny Feng's narrow, sharp face immediately darkened.
"Granny Feng, this is the rule of the pawnshop. All pawnshops follow the same rules, not just our Evil Pawnshop," Lu Fei explained as he glanced at her.
"If this black umbrella is truly important to you, you can buy it back. However, it can't be at the original price when it was pawned."
"You mean to say I need to pay extra to get back something that's mine? When did Evil Pawnshop become a black market?" Granny Feng's tone was full of displeasure.
"Granny Feng, it's clearly written on the pawn ticket that overdue items can't be redeemed. Whether you can read or not, my grandfather must have explained it clearly when you pawned the black umbrella."
Lu Fei, considering her old age, patiently tried to explain.
But she wouldn't budge and insisted on redeeming the black umbrella at the original pawn price. She slammed a pair of black and white candles onto the counter.
"Here's the pair of Yin-Yang Candles we agreed on. Now, give me back my umbrella."
"A single pair won't suffice. Overdue pawned items can't be redeemed at the original price. How about adding another pair, Granny Feng?"
At the Evil Pawnshop, payments could be made not just with money but also through bartering.
Lu Fei knew well the value of Yin-Yang Candles.
Black Yin Candles, when lit, attracted spirits.
White Yang Candles had the opposite effect, repelling them.
"A single pair is already generous of me! Hurry up and bring the umbrella. I don't have time to waste here!" Granny Feng huffed coldly, acting as though she was entirely in the right.
"Granny, this isn't fair."
Lu Fei was starting to lose his patience.
If word spread about this, how could the Evil Pawnshop conduct business in the future? Did these people think they could bully him just because his grandfather wasn't around?
"If we can't agree on the price, I won't sell it! Please, leave."
"What do you mean, boy? Are you trying to keep my umbrella for yourself?" Granny Feng's cloudy eyes suddenly flashed with a chilling gleam.
"The ticket is overdue. The black umbrella now belongs to the Evil Pawnshop! Whether to sell it or not is my decision!" Lu Fei dropped his polite demeanor and spoke coldly.
"You insolent boy! Do you know who I am? How dare you speak to me like this! Even your grandfather would call me 'Shenpo' (Divine Witch) out of respect!"
Shenpo Feng?
The name rang a bell.
Lu Fei immediately recalled that during the arrest of the bald man, he had mentioned someone called Shenpo Feng.
She had given him some kind of meat that caused him to be haunted by infant spirits.
Could this be the same person?
This old lady was most likely involved in shady dealings. Lu Fei decided he wanted nothing to do with her.
"I don't care who you are. The Evil Pawnshop only honors pawn tickets, not people! Overdue items can't be redeemed, no matter who you are!"
"You're acting bold just because your grandfather isn't here!" Shenpo Feng's wrinkled face twisted in anger, her cloudy eyes flickering as she suddenly let out a sinister chuckle.
"Let's see if you're still this stubborn three days from now!"
With that, she snatched the Yin-Yang Candles and the pawn ticket, letting out a cold snort before leaving.
Despite her trembling gait, her steps were swift, and in no time, she vanished down the street.
"Three days from now? What kind of tricks is this old witch planning?"
Feeling uneasy, Lu Fei carefully inspected the entire pawnshop to ensure the old lady hadn't left anything behind. Only then did he relax slightly.
However, with the recent trouble caused by the ghost-keeper, he remained on guard.
Knowing Shenpo Feng's connections to shady dealings and the supernatural, Lu Fei quickly prepared several talismans to ward off ghosts and pasted them around the shop to prevent any malicious spirits from entering.
Just as he finished, Tiger returned.
"Tiger, did you see an old lady in funeral clothes on your way back?" Lu Fei glanced outside.
"Nope, what's up, boss?"
Lu Fei recounted the incident and warned Tiger to be cautious in the coming days.
"Got it."
Tiger nodded seriously and made sure to carry protective talismans and his dagger with dog teeth. But despite his readiness, he seemed sullen.
"What's wrong? Didn't sending money home make you happy?" Lu Fei asked, puzzled.
"Well, I was happy at first. But then my mom started scolding me, demanding to know where I got so much money. I had to explain for ages before she calmed down."
Tiger laughed sheepishly before sighing.
"I should be happy about earning money, but our village has been suffering from a drought this year. The crops failed, and everyone's worried. My mom plans to lend out the money, but we'll probably never see it again."
"It's a natural disaster. Sometimes there's no way around it. At least we're better off now than before, so even with a drought, no one will starve."
Lu Fei offered a few words of comfort and then headed to the storeroom to retrieve the black umbrella.
It was a handcrafted oil-paper umbrella with an ancient design.
The canopy was pitch black like the night, and the handle was bone-white, resembling human bone.
Holding it sent a chill through him, radiating an ominous and mysterious aura.
"The Yellow Springs Umbrella—it can communicate with the underworld and capture spirits."
Reading the pawn ticket details, Lu Fei cautiously opened the umbrella.
The inner surface revealed a hidden world.
Red patterns emerged faintly, intertwining and unfolding as the umbrella opened, resembling a blooming red flower.
Eerie and mesmerizing.
"What kind of flower is this?"
The longer Lu Fei stared, the more disoriented he felt. The red flower seemed to have a hypnotic pull.
"This is a remarkable umbrella!"
Quickly, Lu Fei closed the umbrella.
"No wonder that old witch wanted it so badly! If she had been polite and offered a fair price, I might have sold it to her."
According to the pawn ticket, when the old witch had pawned the umbrella, his grandfather had given her a stalk of Reviving Grass in return.
That was a rare herb capable of restoring damaged souls and saving lives.
Yin-Yang Candles were valuable, too, but since the redemption period had expired, a single pair wasn't enough to redeem the Yellow Springs Umbrella.
The Yellow Springs Umbrella was a rare artifact, and Lu Fei decided to keep it.
After documenting everything, he brought the umbrella out of the storeroom.
From now on, this black umbrella would belong to him.
Back at the shop, Lu Fei asked, "Tiger, no trouble today?"
"It's pretty quiet around here. There's not even a stray hair outside. Boss, what's for dinner?" Tiger glanced at the clock, ready to get dinner.
"Let's just whip something up at home." Lu Fei, feeling uneasy, decided on instant noodles.
The Yellow Springs Umbrella was too valuable a supernatural item for the old witch to give up easily. She'd surely resort to underhanded tactics. Better safe than sorry.
After eating instant noodles, the two kept watch late into the night. Only when everything remained calm did they go to bed.
The night passed uneventfully.
The next morning, Tiger finished cleaning, opened the shop as usual, and hung the signboard outside. That's when he noticed a red envelope lying at the door.
The envelope was bulging, with several 100-yuan bills poking out of the opening.
"Who dropped this?"
Tiger looked around, but the street was deserted.
Bending down, he reached for the envelope.