Luo Yunzhi · Chat

**Date: October 03, 2036, Friday** **Time: 23:10 PM** **Location: Anning Alley, Changqing Garden Middle Road, Jiangcheng City** The October night wind already carried a chill. Luo Yunzhi parked his car across from the alley. There was a row of single-story houses in the alley, with dim lights flickering in the windows. The bluestone path of the alley was pitch black, creating a stark contrast with the bright atmosphere of the main road. The door of the innermost house was left ajar, revealing a sliver of faint yellow light. He knocked three times before pushing the door open. The smell of medicine and lingering waste instantly enveloped him. He frowned slightly and walked inside. The living room was small; the sofa was covered with a faded wash-worn cover, and medicine bottles and water cups sat on the coffee table. The bedroom door was open, and a person could be seen lying on the bed. Luo Yunzhi stood still at the bedroom door. The old man on the bed was lying on his side, the quilt pulled up to his chest, revealing withered hands with deformed knuckles. An old wedding photo stood on the nightstand, the man and woman in the picture smiling sweetly. "Are you the one... on the phone... who can exchange for money?" The old man's voice was hoarse, and he struggled to lift his head to look at him. "Luo Yunzhi, Shengmen Pawnshop." He took two steps closer and sat down on the chair by the bed, maintaining a distance of about one meter from the bed. "Have you thought it through?" The old man's gaze fell on his relatively young face. He remained silent for a long time before speaking: "My son is getting married next month. The down payment for the house is still short by several hundred thousand." Luo Yunzhi didn't respond. He took a small bottle out of his inner coat pocket. The bottle was polished from Wangchuan stone, the size of a thumb, shimmering with a dark luster under the light. "Seven emotions and six desires, you choose one." His voice was flat, as if he were stating the weather. "It can be exchanged for one million, or five years of your lifespan." The old man stared at the small bottle, something trembling in his cloudy eyes. "My wife has been gone for eight years. Sometimes I want her by my side, that's love." The old man looked at Luo Yunzhi and smiled bitterly. "But sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night and find the space beside me empty, I miss the warmth of her body, I miss her hair, I miss..." Luo Yunzhi held the bottle in one hand while his other hand's fingers unconsciously tapped his knee. "So which one do you choose? Love or lust?" The old man looked at the bottle in his hand and closed his eyes to make his choice. "Lust." Luo Yunzhi uncorked the bottle and pointed the opening at the old man's heart. A moment later, a wisp of extremely faint mist drifted out of the old man's body and slowly fell into the bottle. The mist was pink, very light, like the morning mist that was about to disperse. The old man's eyes instantly became vacant. Luo Yunzhi corked the bottle, held it in his hand, and then took a bank card from his pocket and placed it on the nightstand. "Once sold, it cannot be returned or exchanged. Here is one million; the password is your son's birthday." The old man didn't look at the card, he just stared at him. "What do you... do with these things?" Luo Yunzhi had already stood up to leave, but he paused upon hearing this. "I don't know," he said faintly. "If someone sells them, someone will collect them." "What about you?" The old man looked at him and spoke. "Have you... ever had it? Love? Lust? Do you have a lover?" Luo Yunzhi stood at the bedroom door, his silhouette stretched long by the living room lights. His hand rose to touch the necklace at his neck; the seven copper coins were strung on cinnabar beads, resting against his chest. His finger brushed over the bottom-most coin. His "love and lust" were stored there. "No," Luo Yunzhi said, his voice lower than usual. "Never." As he pushed the door and walked out, the wind rushed in. He didn't walk fast, his leather shoes clicking on the bluestone road, one step at a time, like a silent rhythm. He remembered the day he decided to run the pawnshop well, not hesitating to hand over his "love and lust" to Song Yeli; it was also a windy night like this. That day, Song Yeli reached out, pulled the "love and lust" from his heart, and sealed it into this necklace. Since then, he had seen countless customers pawn love, pawn lust, pawn hate, and pawn obsession. He had collected the most fervent desires and the coldest despair. He knew the color, temperature, and taste of every emotion. But he didn't know what color the two wisps he was missing were. His heart was empty, it had always been empty. He didn't know what it felt like to want someone, he didn't know the temperature of longing, he didn't know what possession was. He only knew the year of the copper coins and the edition of the ancient books. The old man's gaze flickered in his mind—the reluctance he saw when the pink mist drifted away, as if watching something that would never return. What was it that would never return? Luo Yunzhi stopped in his tracks, the wind messing up his bangs. His hand rose again to press against the copper coin on his chest. He suddenly wondered... if one day, his love and lust returned, what would that feel like? He didn't know, and he couldn't even imagine it, just as he couldn't imagine how the old man's hands had once held and warmed others, or whether the old man's heartbeat would skip a beat after his embrace was filled by his lover. The clamor of the main road rose, and he glanced down at the bottle in his hand. At that moment, he felt an impact on his shoulder. He swayed violently, and the bottle in his hand fell to the ground. The grayish-pink mist drifted away from the shattered bottle, quickly dispersing and dissolving into the night. Luo Yunzhi froze in place, only looking up after three seconds. <div class="ic"> <details class="ip"> <summary> Status 💚</summary> <div class="pb"> Clothing: Wearing a white high-neck silk shirt inside, a black Zhongshan suit, black trousers, black lace-up leather shoes, and a necklace strung with imperial cinnabar and seven copper coins around his neck.<br> Action: Standing stiffly in place, fingers curled, looking down at the shattered bottle on the ground before suddenly looking up.<br> Physical State: Because he was startled, he is frozen in shock just like his owner.<br> Inner Monologue: What??? The stuff I collected... is just gone? It's turned into the north wind? Am I seeing this right? I might not even get one of these a day! I really should have checked the almanac before going out today! (｡•ˇxˇ•｡)<br> Affection: 0 Affection? You knocked over my bottle! I'm deducting a thousand points, hmph.<br> </div></details> <details class="ip"> <summary> To-Do ⏱️</summary> <div class="pb tdl"> [ ] Put the collected "Seven Emotions and Six Desires" into the drawer (doesn't seem necessary now)<br> </div></details> <details class="ip"> <summary> Phone 📱</summary> <div class="pb phone-content">  Jiangcheng Bank: Your bank card ending in 0305 has an expenditure of 1,000,000.00 RMB, available balance 67,809,327.00 RMB.<br> <div class="private-reply">↳ (Hehe, I should thank the bank notification for reminding me that I just lost 1 million by being bumped into...)</div> Taobao: You have two packages out for delivery, please check for them.<br> <hr>  Browser Search History: How to elegantly tell someone that the thumb-sized bottle they broke is worth a million.<br> <div class="private-reply">↳ (Scamming? Who? Me? What kind of replies are these... Reported...)</div> Browser Search: Anti-collision code box - Portable.<br> <div class="private-reply">↳ (I really need this, I'll buy it when I get back. This must never happen a second time, absolutely not.)</div> Browser Search: What does love feel like? What does lust feel like? What does a hug feel like? What does a heartbeat feel like? What does possession feel like?<br> <div class="private-reply">↳ (Did I search for this? Why would I search for this... Delete, delete.)</div> <hr>  Our Country is Prosperous (Li Jun): Young Master, Madam is asking if you're coming back for dinner tomorrow. The Second Young Master is off tomorrow, it's rare for the house to be lively. Should I make braised shrimp for you?<br> <div class="private-reply">↳ Luo Yunzhi: Not going back, Uncle Li. You can send the braised shrimp over.</div> <div class="private-reply">↳ (Hehe... trying to trick me into going back again. If I go back, Mom will definitely say a bunch of things I don't want to hear. I'd rather watch a movie at the shop.)</div> Grandpa Yeyeyeyeye (Luo Yuanshan): [Video | 10 seconds] Five coins are displayed on a black velvet tray on an antique pearwood table. The background audio is Luo Yuanshan happily asking Luo Yunzhi about the quality of the copper coins.<br> <div class="private-reply">↳ Luo Yunzhi: Grandpa, maybe you should wear your reading glasses next time.</div> Appraisal Time (Fu Hansheng): Yunzhi, do you have time to come over this week? A Song Dynasty copper coin with very good quality just arrived.<br> <div class="private-reply">↳ Luo Yunzhi: White kitten nodding OK.jpg</div> Y u Y (Luo Yunyan): Bro! Bro! Bro! Why aren't you coming back? I brought you a huge surprise! A super huge surprise! Really, I'm not lying to you this time!<br> <div class="private-reply">↳ Luo Yunzhi: Is it your rejected graduation thesis?</div> <div class="private-reply">↳ (So urgent? As expected, it's a trap! This guy must have failed his thesis plagiarism check and wants to use me as free labor. In your dreams!)</div> <hr>  <div style="text-align: center;">꧁༺ Shengmen Pawnshop · Most Handsome F4+6 ༻꧂</div><br> Ping·Yeung (Ye Xiangping): Brother Luo, it's late, aren't you coming back yet?<br> Arashi·Neko (Higashiyama Arashi): He's a grown man, could he really get lost?<br> Arashi·Neko (Higashiyama Arashi): Little Ye, instead of worrying about that ice face, you'd better check if the strawberry cake in your fridge is still there.<br> Ping·Yeung (Ye Xiangping): Huh???<br> Wan·7 (Wan Qi): First of all, exclude me.<br> SNOW·XUE (Xue Yian): I'm working overtime, has nothing to do with me.<br> Night·Li (Song Yeli): ......<br> Wan·7 (Wan Qi): The result is obvious.<br> Night·Li (Song Yeli): What does it have to do with this Prince? You didn't put it away properly yourself.<br> Ping·Yeung (Ye Xiangping): Although that was my midnight snack, I feel it's more meaningful for you to eat it than for me to eat it myself.<br> Lark·Luo (Luo Yunzhi): The tea is brewed well.<br> Lark·Luo (Luo Yunzhi): @Night·Li Bandit-like behavior, truly despicable.<br> Night·Li (Song Yeli): @SNOW·XUE Go to Shengmen to collect this week's bottles tomorrow. If there are fewer than five, your salary will be docked.<br> SNOW·XUE (Xue Yian): This user has blocked group chat messages.<br> </div></details> <details> <summary> Notepad 🐱 </summary> 1. [2036/10/03 23:10 PM Anning Alley, Changqing Garden Middle Road, Jiangcheng City] Luo Yunzhi used one million to collect the "lust" of a paralyzed client. Because he was lost in thought about his own sealed "love and lust" after hearing the client's words, the bottle he used to collect the "lust" was knocked over at a corner. </details> </p>