Market of Qīngshān

In the early market street of Qīngshān the long street was filled with lively consumers. If you were to walk through, your ears will be filled with booth owners promoting their goods consisting of quality jewels, rare items, fine wine, fruits, herbs, and animals. The sky was clear blue and there was no sign of a single cloud at all. Surrounding Qīngshān village were tall majestic green mountains that looked as though they were painted there. The bird would chirp on trees, and kids would play around local homes. Every living creature breathes frozen in the air on this peaceful chilly morning.

Among the crowd of people we see Zhi Lan making his way through seeming nonchalant and uninterested in anything as if he has a destination to reach. Zhi Lan has a tall slender figure and carries a more elegant and beautiful femine aura than a handsome figure. If it wasn't for his height people would often mistake him as a maiden. It's understandable, Zhi lan does contain a beautiful face, equally matching beauty standard level that of any goddess' or flower fairies'. Zhi Lan tries to remain on a low profile so he'd wore a black transparent veil only covering the bottom half of his face, revealing only his large naked beautiful dark eyes. He wore an aquamarine translucent fabric over a pure white inner robe. His short loosen hair that couldn't be bound by the long braid behind him would wrap around his shoulder like roots giving him a messy wildly carefree look. The only thing he carried is a wrap pipa behind him, with a beautiful swirl pendant decoration with high quality carving.

When he had walked further enough through the heart of the street market, suddenly in one of the jewelry booths, a yellow golden jade caught his eyes. He curiously walked over to the booth and picked up the golden jade without uttering a single word. His eyes lock on to the golden jade and observe it with an intense look as though he was familiarizing himself with it.

While he was lost in thought, a sudden tiny and energetic but respectful female voice came across the table. "Good sir, are you interested in this golden Jade?"

Zhi Lan finally noticed there was a younger lady standing on the opposite side of the table. He had forgotten he was in the market, and a table of goods such as these would have belonged to a certain salesperson.

"Those are the rare golden jade found near Mt Fènghuáng." The saleswoman tried even harder to promote her golden jade to Zhi Lan in high praise. "Jade like these are rare to find these days and are a valuable gift among nobles. An interesting fact about this jade was said to be burned by the flames of the phoenix, thus changing the color to that of gold. If gifted to loved ones it will bless them with eternal love or bring longevity. Would you be interested in buying this splendid item, good sir?"

When it comes to the flames of the phoenix, Zhi Lan is an expert whether or not this jade was really brun by the flame of the phoenix. This yellow jade on his hand indeed reflects a beautiful rich color, but in this case this was just an ordinary jade. Zhi Lan wasn't going to fall for her false advertisement but his expression remained calm and aloof. Without saying anything Zhi Lan put the jade down as though he had already lost interest in the little thing.

Before he was about to turn and walk away, he took a glance at the lady again and asked. "Miss, You wouldn't happen to know of the young man and his mother who used to live in the old mansion down the streets would you?"

"The abandoned mansion of Li down further the street?" Repeat the lady looking a little confused. "I wouldn't go there if I were you, rumor has it the Li family did a wrong deed and was cursed. The locals are afraid to go near the mansion as the curse might affect them as well, but aside from that the family had moved out of the mansion 12 years ago."

"Curse? why would the mansion be cursed?" Zhi Lan asked curiously.

"Well, since we're on this topic, we might as well start from the beginning. From what I've heard long ago, the son of the head madam of the mansion was a well known scholar. A lot of the higher officials were expecting him to go further with such an exceptional mind of his, but suddenly, oneday he married this beautiful mysterious woman that the rumor claims to appear out of nowhere. It was not long before the wife became pregnant with a child, and unfortunately passed away from her childbearing. Not a year went by and that Li son went ahead and married another rich man's daughter, thus angered the first wife and she would hunt the Li family since." The Saleswoman continued, "Afterward, there were many more rumors claming the first wift would curse the father to miss her so much it would drive him crazy to the verge of suicidal. Others claim she had cursed him to fall out of love with his second wife and would beat her everyday. Others would say he was cursed to leave home to find her, and till this day he was still looking for his first dead wife. Unfortunately, with so many rumors out of hand, their business' bound to go down with a bad reputation.The remaining family had to relocate.`` The woman looked around to see if anyone was listening, and then with his hand next to her mouth like she was being sneaky and whisper."Also, rumor said sometime during a rainy day you can hear her weeping from inside the mansion."

"What about the child? What happened to the child?" Zhi Lan asked twice, still aloof.

"There wasn't manything about the Li's child. No one had seen the child either, we don't even know if the child was a boy or a girl. The locals think the child didn't even exist, or the poor thing was killed. Because of such misfortune the people claim that the mansion was cursed." said the saleswoman.

"I see, well you wouldn't happen. to know where they've moved to, right?" Zhi Lan continues to ask as she seems to know a lot of things around the locals here.

"I heard they've moved further down east where Dàhé city lies. It'll be 300 miles from here if you were to take a horse."

Zhi Lan's eyes follow to the east of the mountain where the lady's finger pointed. Feeling extremely satisfied, Zhi Lan's elegant, beautiful pale hand holding a golden coin placed it on the corner of the saleslady's booth. When the lady realized it was gold money her eyes lit up with excitement and shock but still trying to stay professional in her work.

"Present, for your generosity." Said Zhi Lan as he slowly walked away from the booth.

Ecstatic, the saleslady waited for the phoenix to turn away before hovering over the table to snatched the little gold coin in her palm like a little kid snatching candy on the table. The woman couldn't help but be a little nosy, seeming it could be one of the reasons she had obtained most of her information, "Good sir, why are you looking for the old lady?"

Zhi Lan wasn't too far away from her booth and faintly heard her small voice. Upon hearing her question, Zhi Lan thought it wouldn't be a problem to let her know, so he turned around with a gentle smile hiding under his veil. "I am not looking for the old lady, just simply looking for my wife who I've left behind."