The crowd dispersed, leaving only the girl turning her head to look at him expectantly.
Qiguan Yuan looked at the girl in front of him whose eyes were shining, but did not answer her question about her boyfriend.
He twirled his ear in his hair, catching the various sounds in the hall.
He asked the girl in front of him, "Do you know where Listening to the Waves Mansion is?"
The girl paused for a moment, ran the address through her mind, and then nodded vigorously.
"I know, I know. It's on the outskirts of the city. Just walk along the lake until you see houses with white walls and gray tiles. Go out this way, turn left, then turn right at the first traffic light. Walk straight for about two kilometers, then turn left when you see a gas station. Walk another kilometer and you'll be there."
Qiguan Yuan nodded with a smile.
He didn't understand a single word.
Left turn, right turn, east side, west side—these words swirled in his mind, then, like the red threads that had been tangled together before, became a jumbled mess.
"Thank you," Qiguan Yuan said.
The girl thought for a moment, then added another sentence.
"If you really can't find it, you can take a taxi and tell the driver to the Listening to the Waves Mansion. The drivers there all know it."
This sentence is useful.
Qiguan Yuan thought it best to follow the predestined Thread of Fate directly to find Pei Yubai.
He had good hearing and heard a girl in the distance telling her companion that Pei Yubai was surrounded by a crowd in a shopping mall.
He remembered the fans who had chased after him earlier and silently gave up the idea of going to find Pei Yubai.
As for the taxi, it was the big box that Pei Yubai had taken him in that morning.
You should pay someone for helping you with something.
"How much would it cost to take a taxi there?" Qiguan Yuan asked.
The girl assumed he was from out of town and was worried about being overcharged by the driver, so she quickly waved her hand. "It should be around thirty yuan. We don't have such shady drivers around here, don't worry. Listening to the Waves Mansion is in the suburbs, a bit far from here, so it will be a little more expensive."
Qiguan Yuan didn't know how much thirty yuan was, but he didn't ask. He thanked the girl again, turned around, and left.
The girl stood there, watching his retreating figure. It took her a while to come to her senses, and she lowered her head to touch her burning ears.
Hehe, I'm so lucky today, I met a gorgeous woman.
Qiguan Yuan walked out of the hall and slowly strolled along the sidewalk.
He walked slowly, his silver hair gleaming softly in the sunlight, making him stand out in the crowd.
There weren't many people on the street, but it wasn't exactly deserted either.
Everyone who passes by him slows down and looks back. Some people look at him once and then look back again after they've passed by.
Qiguan Yuan attracted a considerable number of attention.
Qiguan Yuan didn't pay attention to any of that; he was thinking about how to get thirty yuan.
He walked a short distance and saw a small stall by the roadside.
A dark cloth was laid on the ground, covered with all sorts of hair ties and clips, colorful and neatly arranged.
Next to the cloth stood a cardboard sign with the words: "Hair ties, one yuan each."
The stall owner was a young woman who was arranging her goods with her head down, occasionally glancing up at passersby.
Qiguan Yuan's ear twitched slightly in his hair.
He could probably do that too.
Sell your items, get the money, and then go find that big box.
Just as he walked over, the stall owner looked up.
When the girl saw Qiguan Yuan walking towards her, her eyes lit up and her heart skipped a beat.
She noticed that Qiguan Yuan's hair was tied up with a hair tie and assumed he was there to buy hair ties.
I've already mentally reviewed all the hair ties on the stall, ready to recommend the best-looking one to him.
Someone this beautiful deserves the most beautiful hair tie.
Qiguan Yuan stopped in front of her, glanced down at the cloth on the ground, and asked, "Little friend, do you have any more of this kind of cloth here?"
When the girl heard the word "little kid," her mind went blank, and it took her several seconds to realize what he was asking.
She nodded, quickly rummaged through the large bag beside her, pulled out a neatly folded piece of cloth, and handed it over with both hands.
She had originally planned to use this cloth interchangeably, but she hadn't replaced it because she was afraid the cloth at the stall would get dirty.
After all, her stall was set up on the ground, so it was inevitable that it would get dirty.
If something is dirty, it won't sell well, so she usually prepares two extra as spares.
Qiguan Yuan took the cloth and said thank you.
Then, to the girl's astonishment, he squatted down and laid the cloth she had handed him next to her stall.
Qiguan Yuan straightened the four corners of the cloth, making it lie flat on the ground. Then he reached into his wide sleeve, rummaged around inside, and pulled out a large handful of red rope.
The red ropes were tangled together, a messy jumble, like a ball of red yarn.
He placed the ball of red rope in the center of the cloth, grabbed it a few times, and untangled the knotted ends, spreading the red rope out on the dark cloth.
Forehead...
It's still a mess.
The girl was completely stunned as she watched Qiguan Yuan do these things.
She borrowed the cloth; although this location was a public area, she had been setting up her stall here for a long time, and Qiguan Yuan set up his stall right next to her.
Is this some kind of blatant attempt to steal business?
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then didn't know what to say.
She glanced at the hair ties that had been laid out in front of her for half an hour with hardly any sold, then looked at the pile of red ropes in front of Qiguan Yuan.
She told herself it was okay; he wouldn't be able to sell many of those broken ropes anyway, so giving him some space wouldn't hurt. Besides, she could get a few more glimpses of the handsome guy from the side.
After Qiguan Yuan arranged the red rope, he looked at the girl's stall.
The girl's stall had cloth, goods, and a sign with prices.
He doesn't have that brand.
Qiguan Yuan glanced at the girl again. "Excuse me, do you have any extra of these brands?"
The girl shook her head. "No, I only have paper. Do you want some?"
Qiguan Yuan nodded.
The girl took out a piece of white paper and a pen from her bag and handed them over.
Qiguan Yuan took the pen and examined it. This pen was different from the one he usually used; the nib was hard, and the body was plastic.
That's a bit strange.
He uncapped the pen and tested it on a piece of paper; a black line appeared on the paper.
Under the girl's strange gaze, he used a very odd way to hold the pen, with the pen resting between his index and middle fingers and his thumb pressing on top, writing like he was holding a calligraphy brush.
He writes very slowly, stroke by stroke, with straight lines.
The paper displayed the words: "Red rope, one yuan each."
The girl leaned closer for a look and paused, then froze.
She had initially thought Qiguan Yuan's handwriting would be terrible because his pen-holding posture looked so strange, almost like the way one would hold a calligraphy brush.
Who has a good pen grip when writing with a pen?
But those few characters were written beautifully, with slender, firm strokes and a balanced structure, better than anyone else she had ever seen written.
Qiguan Yuan placed the written sign next to the red rope and then remained still. He sat on the cloth, his exquisite silver ponytail hanging down his chest, and his red robe spread on the ground.
His eyes were half-closed, and his posture was lazy, as if he were sunbathing in his own yard, not setting up a stall.
The girl secretly glanced at him several times.
She realized that Qiguan Yuan had no intention of hawking his wares at all; he just sat there, not even looking at the passersby.
She figured he probably wouldn't be able to sell a single one, and was about to look away when someone walked over.
They were two young women, wearing T-shirts and shorts, carrying backpacks, and holding milk tea in their hands.
They were just passing by when one of them glanced in their direction and stopped.
She grabbed her companion's hand, her eyes fixed on Qiguan Yuan: "What does this stall sell? That young man is so handsome!!! My God! How can I describe him? He's so beautiful!"
Her companion followed her gaze, the milk tea cup hovering at her lips, but she forgot to drink it.
The two walked up to Qiguan Yuan's stall and squatted down.
They weren't looking at the red rope; their eyes were involuntarily glued to Qiguan Yuan's face.
Several seconds passed before one of them looked a little embarrassed.
Looking at the red string on Qiguan Yuan's stall, he asked, "Boss, how much is this red string?"
Qiguan Yuan glanced at her. " Wealth Luck Red Thread. Wearing it will bring you a small fortune, one yuan each."
The two girls exchanged a glance.
They don't care about fortune or anything like that.
One yuan a stick, what more could you want?
They picked out two of the most vibrant red strings from the pile and held them in their hands. "I want two. Boss, where's your payment QR code?"
Qiguan Yuan looked at her. "I didn't."
Payment collection horse?
What kind of horse is that?
The girl paused for a moment, then suddenly realized.
Such a handsome guy must have many people wanting his WeChat every day. He says he doesn't have a payment QR code, which really means he doesn't want to give it to anyone.
She didn't expose him, but stood up and walked to the girl's stall next to her, asking the stall owner.
"Sister, could you give me some change?"
The girl nodded with a complicated expression, then took out two one-yuan bills from her bag and handed them to her.
The girl scanned two yuan and gave it to the stall owner, then took the two one-yuan bills back to Qiguan Yuan's stall, handed them over, and then held the two red strings in her hand.
"Boss, can I take a picture? Just one, I won't use it for anything bad."
That's the ultimate goal.
Qiguan Yuan nodded.
He is generally willing to accommodate some minor requests from his customers.
They completely forgot about Pei Yubai.
The girl quickly took out her phone, found a good angle, and pressed the shutter.
She glanced at the photo, a smile creeping onto her lips. She thanked Qiguan Yuan and left with her companion.
The girl watched all this from the side, not selling a single hair tie.
She told herself it was okay, it was just two; she still had at least several hundred red strings left, more than she could sell.
What happened next almost shattered her completely.
A line started forming in front of Qiguan Yuan's stall.
One after another, as soon as the person in front left, the person behind squatted down.
Everyone who came was a young person, both men and women, but mostly women.
But there are quite a few boys too.
They squatted down in front of Qiguan Yuan, their faces flushed, and their voices were several tones softer than usual.
Good heavens, so many clips!
No one picked and chose; Qiguan Yuan said it was one yuan a piece, and they handed over one yuan.
However, not everyone happened to have a one-yuan note. Someone handed over a five-yuan note and said, "Take five sticks. "Qiguan Yuan counted out five sticks and handed them over.
The other person took it and held it in their hand, took out their phone to take a picture, but was too embarrassed to do so, and lingered there for a while before leaving.
A girl in a floral dress stood in front of the stall for a while, clutching a hundred-yuan bill.
She didn't have any change, and the stall owner next to her couldn't give her any either. Qiguan Yuan looked at her, and she looked at Qiguan Yuan, her face growing increasingly red.
She gritted her teeth, shoved a hundred yuan into Qiguan Yuan's hand, and grabbed a handful of red rope from the cloth without even counting it.
Then, with Qiguan Yuan's permission, she took out her phone, snapped a picture of Qiguan Yuan, and ran away.
He ran a few steps, then came back, whispered, "Boss, you're really good-looking," and then ran off again.
Qiguan Yuan looked at the hundred-yuan bill in his hand, then at the empty space next to him, folded the bill and put it into his sleeve.
The girl next to me has stopped doing business.
She sat behind her stall, numbly watching people come and go in front of Qiguan Yuan's stall, watching the pile of red ropes dwindle at a visible rate.
Her mouth remained open the entire time.
She had only one thought in her mind: This will work? You can buy a whole bunch of this tattered rope online for nine yuan and ninety cents. Why didn't she think of selling red rope before?
How about she goes and sells red ropes in the future?
No, that won't work either, she doesn't have Qiguan Yuan's face.
well...
Half an hour later, all the red ropes on Qiguan Yuan were sold out.
Not a single thread remained. The fabric was completely bare, with only a few loose threads scattered around.
The crowd surrounding the stall gradually dispersed, with some people looking back as they left.
Qiguan Yuan collected the loose change from the cloth; coins and banknotes were mixed together in a large handful.
He folded the large bills and put them in his sleeve, while holding the coins and change in his hand.
He stood up, shook off the loose threads from the cloth, folded it neatly, and walked over to the girl's stall next to him.
The girl was still sitting there in a daze, with all the hair ties in front of her still there.
Qiguan Yuan returned the folded cloth to her, then took half of the loose change from his hand and placed it on her stall. "Thank you for lending me the cloth, this is a token of my gratitude."
The girl looked at the pile of change on the stall, then at Qiguan Yuan, opened her mouth as if to say no, but Qiguan Yuan had already placed the cloth beside her and turned to leave.
The girl picked up the cloth and hugged it to her chest, watching Qiguan Yuan's retreating figure. After a long while, she lowered her head and counted the pile of loose change.
Three hundred and twenty-seven yuan.
She put the change into her pocket, sat behind the stall, and stared blankly at the empty spot where the red rope stall had once stood for a long time.
In reality, at one yuan each, Qiguan Yuan couldn't possibly earn that much.
There are about two hundred red ropes, so that's about two hundred.
Unfortunately, many customers were only focused on taking photos, and they gave Qiguan Yuan whatever they could find in their bags.
They took the photo and ran away.
As a result, Qiguan Yuan inexplicably earned nearly eight hundred yuan.
Qiguan Yuan walked to the roadside and tidied up the loose change and coins in his hand.
He just asked the girl, and she said it would cost 30 yuan to take a taxi from here to the Listening to the Waves Mansion.
He has more than thirty in his hands; that's enough.
He stood by the roadside, watching the flow of traffic.
He didn't know which were taxis, but there was a row of cars of the same color parked on the side of the road, each with a lit sign on its roof.
Qiguan Yuan walked to the front of the first car and bent down to look at the driver sitting inside.
The driver's phone was propped up next to the steering wheel, playing a short video on the screen. The sound wasn't loud, but you could hear that it was a clip from a TV series.
The driver looked up and saw Qiguan Yuan's face. His hand slipped, and his phone fell from its holder, hitting the center console.
Qiguan Yuan looked at him. " Listening to the Waves Mansion, shall we go?"