After passing through the old wooden archway, they entered a long muddy street. This place was only the outer area of the Ghost Market. They still needed to walk for a couple of minutes before they could enter the market.
There were many stalls lined up on both sides of the road selling masks.
This was the tradition of the ghost market. Everyone entering the market had to wear a mask. That was also one of the reasons this place was called the Ghost Market. Once someone entered wearing a mask, no one cared who they were outside.
Huo Ziyan suddenly stopped the wheelchair in front of one of the stalls. Shen Yelan casually looked through the masks hanging before her when a white fox mask appeared in front of her.
She looked at it, then at Huo Ziyan who was holding it toward her.
At some point, he had already put on his own mask.
It was a black devil mask covering the lower half of his face. Combined with his golden-framed glasses and those cold phoenix eyes, he somehow looked even more dangerous than before.
Honestly, it did not particularly help him blend in. Anyone who knew Huo Ziyan would recognize him immediately.
Behind him, Mo Shiyu had also changed into a gold wolf mask that covered the upper half of his face.
It was obvious both of them had brought their masks with them beforehand.
Some people in the Ghost Market always wore the same mask every time they came here until the mask itself became their symbol. There were even people who spent ridiculous amounts of money custom-making masks with rare gemstones and expensive materials.
Shen Yelan looked at the fox mask for a second before finally taking it from Huo Ziyan.
Then she tied it behind her head. The mask covered the upper half of her face, revealing her cherry red lips and her pale jaw.
The white fox mask matched her strangely well. Her gray eyes peeking through the mask looked innocent and mysterious at the same time.
Huo Ziyan stared at her quietly for two seconds before giving a small nod to himself. He grabbed the handles of the wheelchair again and started pushing.
Shen Yelan paused slightly before speaking.
"Thank you for helping me get in. I don't want to take up any more of your time. I'll be fine on my own from here."
She felt a little guilty saying this. After all, she had already taken advantage of him to get inside. Now she was basically trying to chase him away immediately afterward.
But what could she do?
This man was Huo Ziyan.
The Huo family itself was already troublesome enough, not to mention all the people secretly watching them. Shen Yelan had no interest in getting tangled with that kind of trouble right now.
Behind them, Mo Shiyu immediately relaxed after hearing her words.
Yes.
Exactly.
Please leave.
Please turn normal again.
But before he could feel happy for more than two seconds-
"It's alright," Huo Ziyan said calmly. "We're heading the same way anyway."
Mo Shiyu: "..."
It's over.
Everything is over.
Inside his head, he had already started preparing a funeral speech for his peaceful life.
Shen Yelan quietly pressed her lips together. In her mind, she started reviewing everything she knew about Huo Ziyan.
It was said that Huo Ziyan was cold as winter frost, handsome as sin, and absolutely untouchable. No one dared to cross him, and those who did never lived to tell the tale. After he turned eighteen, he left his family home for some reason and by the age of twenty, he had built his own empire 'Aethel'. People also said that he avoided women like a plague. Any woman who tried getting close would immediately be thrown aside without mercy.
She genuinely could not reconcile the man who was pushing her wheelchair to all that information. She was seriously starting to question how reliable her sources were.
If Mo Shiyu knew what she was thinking right now, he would immediately cry and swear to heaven that the rumors were absolutely true. Huo Ziyan was just malfunctioning today.
"You never told me your name," Suddenly, Huo Ziyan said.
"You never asked," Shen Yelan responded. She looked over her shoulder and met his gaze.
Huo Ziyan looked down at her as a few snowflakes floated around her face.
"My name is Huo Ziyan. May I ask what your name is, Miss?"
The corner of Shen Yelan's lips curved into a soft smile, revealing her deep-set dimples.
"Shen Yelan."
"Yelan," Huo Ziyan repeated, as if testing how her name sounded on his tongue.
Behind them, Mo Shiyu frowned. Why did that name sound familiar?
Before he could think deeper about it, they had already entered the main market.
The buildings on both sides of the street were old and made from dark wood, giving the place an ancient feeling. Wooden signs hung above the doors, creaking slightly in the cold wind.
The deeper they walked, the livelier the market became.
There were all kinds of shops here selling things like antiques, herbs, jades, weapons, modern technology, strange medicines, information, and even illegal items.
There was almost nothing this market could not provide. Of course, that did not mean everything here was real. If someone didn't know what they were doing, they could lose a fortune in seconds.
Although only fifty wooden tokens were sold each day, the market tonight was far more crowded than usual. Which means most of these people here owned jade tokens. And anyone capable of obtaining a jade token was definitely not someone ordinary people could afford to offend.
However, everyone here was wearing masks, so no one could tell who was who.
"Where do you want to go?" Huo Ziyan asked her.
"You really don't need to stick around for me. I wasn't planning on doing anything important." Shen Yelan told him once again, hoping he would get a hint and leave.
"You're really determined to chase me away, aren't you?" Huo Ziyan looked down at her, amused. The corner of his lips was curved in an almost imperceptible smile.
Shen Yelan glanced at him, then at Mo Shiyu, who looked like he was about to lose his mind. In the end, she calmly looked away. Since Huo Ziyan insisted on being free labor, she might as well enjoy it. After all, not everyone got the chance to have the Fourth Young Master personally push their wheelchair around.
If anyone familiar with Shen Yelan saw this scene, they would probably faint from shock. Shen Yelan hated letting people push her wheelchair because it made her feel weak and dependent on others. The only reason Sun Lili could do it now was because she had annoyed Shen Yelan for years before finally earning permission.
But here she was, letting Huo Ziyan push her around with no real destination in mind. They'd stop at a shop whenever Huo Ziyan noticed Shen Yelan looking at something for more than a second.
Two hours passed just like that.
At one point, they stopped at a jewelry stall.
Shen Yelan was looking at traditional hairpins in a mirror while Huo Ziyan held one after another up to her hair, trying to find which one suited her best.
By now, Mo Shiyu had become emotionally numb. These two had just met, and they were acting like a couple that had been married for decades.
"Hurry up! The auction starts in twenty minutes," someone nearby said to his friend as they rushed past.
Shen Yelan looked toward the direction they ran. More people were beginning to head that way too.
Huo Ziyan noticed her gaze and asked, "Do you want to go to the auction?"
Shen Yelan looked up at him and blinked her eyes, "Can I?"
"Let's go," Huo Ziyan said. He paid the vendor for the hairpin that was still in Shen Yelan's hair, then grabbed the wheelchair handles again.
Behind them, Mo Shiyu almost burst into tears from relief.
Finally. They were at last heading toward the actual reason they came here tonight.