Chapter 68: Ghost Market (1)

  "What's up at night, where are you going?" Li Yang had basically finished his work and indeed had nothing to do at night, but he didn't understand what Zheng Kai Da had to go out for.

  "You wouldn't want to take Li Yang to that godforsaken place, would you?" Sima Lin suddenly turned his head and asked Zheng Kaida.

  "What's wrong with that place? For me, it's a good place. With Li's luck on my side, I'm sure I won't return empty-handed this time!"

  Zheng Kaida chuckled and the Wu Xiaoli sitting in the back row suddenly felt a jolt, blurting out: "Brother Zheng, is the place you're going to tonight Ghost Market?"

  "Huh? How did you know about Ghost Market? That's right, I'm going there tonight!"

  Zheng Kaida turned back to look at Wu Xiaoli in surprise. Zhengzhou Ghost City was not a strange place for people who truly loved antiques, but for ordinary people, it seemed very mysterious and few people knew about it.

  "I remembered! Yesterday was when you took Li Yang to the antique city, how could I have forgotten this!"

  Zheng Kaida suddenly showed a look of surprise, Wu Xiaoli smiled and didn't explain anything. In fact, she really wanted Li Yang to accompany her to visit Zhengzhou's Ghost Market tonight.

  Zheng Kaida burst out laughing: "This is even better, let's go together tonight, Sima, are you going?"

  "You all went to that damned place, I'm left alone in the hotel and it's no fun, might as well follow you guys!"

  Sim Lin couldn't help but smile wryly. Zheng Kaida always chose to visit the Ghost Market in Zhengzhou at its opening time, but after following him once, he lost interest. He really couldn't adapt to staying up late at night, haggling with vendors in a noisy environment.

  Ghost market, simply put, is the underground market of antiques. Many people who like antiques have had the experience of treasure hunting in ghost markets. Most major cities across the country have their own ghost markets.

  In addition, there are many theories about the formation of Ghost Market, and the most widely accepted one is that it originated in Tianjin during the Qing Dynasty.

  It is said that during the Qing Dynasty, whenever there were natural disasters or man-made calamities, refugees would flock to Tianjin in search of a way out. Historical records show that during the Guangxu period, there was a porridge factory near Tianbao Road in Tianjin that provided food for refugees. Once, a fire broke out and over 1,000 people were burned to death, with countless others injured. This can be seen from the large number of refugees at that time.

  As the number of refugees increased, some people began to take advantage of them by collecting unwanted items from others and selling them to the refugees. Over time, a second-hand market formed in the area.

  At that time, these second-hand goods were not the same as they are now. They were all tattered and could not be used at all. Such things would not sell even to refugees. What to do? These swindlers thought of a trick, setting up stalls before dawn, covering up the goods in the dark, and then selling them to the refugees.

  For example, some people fold the torn quilt inwards so that you can't see the cotton wool coming out; some brush old shoes with ink and they look much newer, while others nail loose furniture together, making it look sturdy, but it may fall apart as soon as you bring it home. In short, it's cheating.

  The buyer is also clear, but can't stand someone who wants to take advantage of a small profit. The things in the ghost market are poor, but the price can be cut very low. In the end, it's all "the buyer has no conscience, whoever buys it is unlucky".

  After liberation, such markets gradually changed. Many tomb robbers and people who obtained cultural relics by improper means came to the ghost market to sell things. Gradually, there were more antiques in the ghost market, but fewer second-hand goods. In the end, antiques and second-hand goods were mixed together, selling second-hand goods during the day and antiques at night, which is what the ghost market is like now.

  Later on, big and small ghost markets developed a lot more, and slowly became what they are today.

  Zhengzhou Ghost Market is located in the second-hand market, which is further divided into morning market, evening market and night market.

  Among them, the morning market sets up stalls at dawn and closes around 4 or 5 pm. This type mainly sells second-hand goods, which is a real second-hand market.

  Night market refers to the time after 5 pm or when it's about to get dark. At this time, the main people in the market are those who collect old goods. Some of them will bring some usable items here to sell, which is more valuable than selling scraps directly. Because these second-hand sellers have to go around collecting things during the day, they all gather at night to sell, thus forming a night market.

  Night market, refers to the second-hand market after 12 o'clock, at this time the people who come out are not those who buy and sell second-hand goods, strictly speaking, this is the real ghost market, which sells antiques, especially some antiques that cannot be exposed to light.

  Zhengzhou's ghost market is normally held once a week, but every three months there will be a big market, and the usual ones are small markets. There aren't many vendors at the small market, mostly locals from Zhengzhou or Henan Province. Only when it comes to the big market that happens once every three months do vendors from all over the country gather here, and this is the best time to find some good stuff.

  Today's Ghost Market is exactly the big market that happens once every three months, so Zheng Kaida and Wu Xiaoli both paid attention to it and prepared to go treasure hunting.

  It wasn't until they arrived at the hotel that Li Yang finally figured everything out, and he was also very curious about the ghost market that was about to disappear.

  Zheng Kaida, Sima Lin and Wu Xiaoli have all been to the Ghost Market. Their curiosity is not as heavy as Li Yang's, unlike Li Yang who counts down the time at night, thinking about when they should set off for the Ghost Market.

  It wasn't until 11 o'clock at night that Zheng Kaida woke up Sima Lin, who was still sleepy, and set off together. Among the four people, Zheng Kaida and Wu Xiaoli were in the best spirits, Li Yang was also very curious and maintained a good spirit, while only Sima Lin was not in the mood. In the end, the driver was replaced by Zheng Kaida.

  This time to the Ghost Market, Zheng Kaida specially prepared a lot of cash, and Li Yang also took out 100,000 yuan as spare change. In case they encountered another "treasure in the belly" like last time's stone carving, they wouldn't be unable to buy it due to lack of money. Unfortunately, the Ghost Market only accepted cash, no credit cards or checks were allowed.

  The car turned many corners and didn't arrive at a run-down street corner until almost midnight. At this time, there were already many cars stopped at the street corner, including some very ordinary vans and also some luxury cars worth hundreds of thousands.

  Zheng Kaida's big sedan had been following behind all along. Although the ghost market has its own order, it can't guarantee your absolute safety here. It's better to be careful when carrying a large amount of cash to such a place. Zheng Kaida's four bodyguards were quietly following behind, just in case.

  "Is this Ghost Market?"

  As soon as he arrived at the street corner, Li Yang was stunned. The street wasn't very big, and the road surface was quite dirty, but there were already many small stalls set up on both sides of the street. Each stall had a small electric lamp hanging from it, and with people constantly walking back and forth selecting things in front of the stalls, the whole scene looked like a vegetable market, completely unlike the sneaky atmosphere Li Yang had imagined beforehand.

  ………………………………

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  In addition, today is a festival for all female friends, and I also wish all female book friends a happy holiday. Today, Xiaoyu will explode once!