The pig seller said, "I do need this rope, but the reason is inconvenient to reveal."
"I can give you the rope. One pig, plus one treasure." Li Qingxian put away the peach.
The pig seller's snout withdrew. Shaking his head, he said, "The rope can be exchanged for one pig, no more. This rope was useless to begin with. In this Eerie City, no one but me is willing to pay such a high price for it. Besides, one of them must have ties to you."
"It's a pig," Li Qingxian said.
The little white pig's gaze grew even more ashamed and indignant.
Qiu Ye did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Li Qingxian and the pig seller stared at each other without a word.
The street shrouded in gray mist was deathly silent. At the far end of the city, the child of that enormous figure was faintly visible.
"No one but me wants this rope," the pig seller said.
"No one but me can give you this rope," Li Qingxian said.
"You don't care whether your friend lives or dies?" the pig seller sneered.
Li Qingxian took out, one by one, broken roof tiles, the Jade Ring Toss, the Cat-Head Puppet, and the Movable-Type Wooden Tablet. Smiling, he said, "Which one do you think I'd use to save my friend?"
The pig seller's eyelids twitched violently three times. He drew a deep breath, fell silent for several breaths, then said, "You truly have good Fortune, to have obtained so many treasures."
"Add something more, and the rope is yours," Li Qingxian said.
"Let me think," the pig seller said.
The people behind Li Qingxian kept wiping away sweat. This fellow was too ruthless—he actually haggled with an Eerie being and even gained the upper hand. No