The ghost market existed in different cities across the country. People said it had been around for so long that no one even remembered when it first appeared. No one knew who started this and who owned this place now.
It was said that at the Ghost Market, anything could be bought as long as one could afford the price and sometimes, the price was not money.
There was a large parking area outside the market. Though in reality, it was just a flat stretch of gravel with no markings.
Li Yifan parked the taxi smoothly before stepping out of the car. Then he opened the trunk and took out Shen Yelan's wheelchair. Unlike the old wheelchair she was always seen using, this was a electrical wheelchair.
Coincidentally, the black sedan that had been following them slowly parked beside their car. Shen Yelan glanced sideways through the window just in time to see the driver step out.
She quirked an eyebrow.
Who in the Huo family was daring enough to use the Second Young Master of the Mo family as his driver?
Shen Yelan got out and settled into her wheelchair. At the same time, the passenger door of the other car opened.
The first thing she saw was a pair of long legs wrapped in dark suit pants. Then a pale hand long, slender fingers grabbed the door. And finally, a pair of phoenix eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses.
It's him.
Even after death and rebirth, this was still a face she remembered clearly. Because he was the last person she had seen on the night she had died.
It was just a glimpse as her figure sailed past the window, but that one glimpse was enough to remember that fourteen-year-old boy.
As Shen Yelan was looking at him, Huo Ziyan was also staring back at her. His gaze was fixed on her face, and he did not seem to notice the wheelchair she was sitting in. The distance between them was only a few steps.
The wind picked up, and snowflakes swirled around them like tiny fairies in the air.
The lower half of Shen Yelan's face was buried inside a white scarf, leaving only her red-tipped nose and flushed cheeks visible. Her dark hair fluttered messily in the wind, a few strands brushing across her gray eyes.
Huo Ziyan stood there in his black suit, his tall figure looking especially striking against the snowy white surroundings. Tiny snowflakes landed on his dark hair and shoulders before slowly melting away.
For a moment, everything else faded.
The scene felt so beautiful that it almost looked unreal.
Meanwhile, standing nearby, Mo Shiyu was having an entirely different emotional experience. His eyes remained fixed on the wheelchair. Inside his head, he could practically hear the sound of every fantasy he had built shattering into pieces.
The Huo family was no ordinary family. They stood too high and had too many enemies watching them from both the light and the shadows. A family like that needed strong and capable women standing beside them.
No matter how beautiful this girl was, the Huo family would never agree to it.
If Huo Ziyan knew what Mo Shiyu was thinking right now, he would probably smack him on the back of the head and ask, "Since when did I care what others think?"
On the other side, Li Yifan had also noticed the way the two men were staring at Shen Yelan. Especially Huo Ziyan.
Immediately, alarm bells started ringing in his mind.
Why did he look like a wolf staring at a harmless little rabbit?
Shen Yelan looked at Huo Ziyan for one second longer than she usually looked at people before finally looking away.
Then she turned toward Li Yifan and smiled.
"Thank you for the ride. I'll definitely leave you a five-star review." She paused. "Your company has a rating system, right?"
"It does," Li Yifan answered. Well, even if it didn't before, it definitely would now. He silently made a mental note to tell someone to add this feature into the app later.
Shen Yelan said goodbye and steered her wheelchair toward the entrance. Huo Ziyan and Mo Shiyu followed behind her while keeping some distance.
Li Yifan stared at them and frowned, definitely not liking the sight.
.
.
The ghost market actually had the appearance of a market from hundreds of years ago. Anyone who came here would think that they had travelled back into some old dynasty. The entrance was a weathered wooden archway with a sign hanging on it that read "Ghost Market."
To enter, one actually needed a token. There were two types of these tokens.
One was a ordinary wooden token that could only be used once. Every day, only fifty wooden tokens were sold at the entrance, and each one cost an outrageous amount of money.
The second was a jade token. If you had one of these, you could come and go anytime you wanted. Each jade token was different from the others and could not be replicated. And unlike the wooden tokens, jade tokens could not simply be bought with money. To obtain one, a person needed influence, status, and enough contribution inside the Ghost Market itself. In short, only the most important people possessed jade tokens.
Shen Yelan looked toward the long line waiting for wooden tokens, then looked at her watch. If she joined now, she might be lucky enough to be one of the fifty people to get the token.
However, just thinking about standing in line instantly gave her a headache.
What a hassle.
Right at that moment, a calm voice sounded beside her.
"You can come inside with me."
She looked up, and her gaze met with dark eyes behind golden frames. In his hand, he was holding a jade token.
Shen Yelan's eyes constricted at the sight of the color of the jade. It was black jade in its finest quality. How important did one have to be to own a ghost market entrance token made of black jade?
Shen Yelan blinked once before smiling. "I hope it won't be any trouble."
"It won't," Huo Ziyan said, and then, much to Shen Yelan and Mo Shiyu's surprise, he walked behind the wheelchair and began to push it.
Shen Yelan was startled. "You don't have to do this."
"It's alright," Huo Ziyan responded. He looked down at the top of the girl's head. From this close, he could smell a soft fragrance coming from her. It was something light and floral. But he couldn't quite place which flower it was.
Behind them, Mo Shiyu remained frozen as he stared at Huo Ziyan as if he had seen a ghost.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What did I just see?
Huo Ziyan, who had never once poured tea for another person, was willingly pushing the wheelchair of the girl he had just met.