Rebirth: My Home Has Become a Gathering Place for Young Women with a "Crazy" Spirit

Qin Lang brought his phone closer and glanced at the time: 11:23 AM.

It's already noon? He took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.

"Feed?"

The next second, Su Yue's voice boomed from the other end of the phone, filled with obvious panic: "Brother Lang! You finally answered the phone! I called five times and you didn't answer!"

Qin Lang rubbed his temples, suppressing his impatience, and said, "I just woke up. What is it? Aren't you home?"

"We're not home, we're out having fun!" Su Yue's voice was low, with a hint of guilt. "Um...brother...I need to tell you something, don't rush me..."

Qin Lang's drowsiness vanished almost instantly.

"Don't panic," according to common sense, this sentence is like the cool breeze before a storm, the slow-motion before tragedy, the preview of fate...

"What is it?" Qin Lang's voice turned serious.

"Well... um... we've run into a little trouble here..." Su Yue's voice trailed off, so soft that Qin Lang had to hold the phone to his ear to barely hear her. "It's nothing serious, it's just... um... could you come over for a bit? It would be best if you brought a few more people..."

Should we bring a few more people? At this moment, Qin Lang was no longer sleepy at all.

"What's going on? How many of you are there? Where are you?"

"We...all ten of us are here..." Su Yue stammered, like a child who had made a mistake, "...at the...the cultural and creative park near the Eiffel Tower shopping mall..."

All ten are here? Qin Lang's mind raced. Ten—that meant Su Yue, Ruan Zhihuan, Xu Han, plus Wu Xiaoxiao and the six young women—ten people in total. All of them meant that all ten of them had gone out and were now together.

He knew the Iron Tower Shopping Mall Cultural and Creative Park. Since the reconstruction of the commercial street, it has transformed from a traditional wholesale market into a diversified commercial district integrating shopping, dining, entertainment, antiques, and night markets, and is known as the "No. 1 place for citizens' leisure." In recent years, it has become a "popular spot for internet celebrities" and a gathering place for young people in Liaobei, with a thriving night market.

"What exactly happened? Explain yourself." Qin Lang said as he sat up in bed, holding the phone in one hand and starting to look for clothes with the other.

Su Yue took a deep breath, probably organizing her thoughts, and then said, "We...we were just browsing around, and then we went into a shop...that shop sells...I don't know how to say it...you know, really expensive things, like bottles, bowls, bracelets and stuff...and then...and then Xiao Han accidentally bumped into one, and it fell to the ground and broke..."

Qin Lang closed his eyes, trying to extract useful information from Su Yue's words. She was saying... they went to an antique shop, and then Xu Han accidentally broke a bottle. This plot... is incredibly melodramatic...

"How much compensation?" Qin Lang asked directly. He could ignore it if someone else had broken it, but Xu Han...

Su Yue paused for two seconds, then her voice became even softer: "Thirty...thirty thousand..."

Thirty thousand?

"Who are they?" Qin Lang asked.

"It's just... the owner of Fengya Pavilion, he's in his forties, and he's pretty fierce. He said... he wouldn't let us leave unless we paid..." Su Yue's voice was a little angry, but mostly helpless. "Brother... he also... he also closed the door... we can't get out..."

"You won't let me leave?" Qin Lang's eyes suddenly turned cold. This was no longer a simple matter of compensating for damaged goods.

Did you call the police?

"No... Xu Han said he'd call you first... Ouch... Why did you grab my phone...?"

"I told you to call someone to deliver the money, why are you talking so much nonsense..." A strange man's voice came from the phone.

"Wait there, I'll be right there." Qin Lang hung up the phone, got dressed, grabbed his keys, and went out.

The weather in Taipei City today is not good. The air is hot and humid, and the sky is hazy, as if covered with a layer of gray gauze. The sun is behind the clouds, and only a little bit of white light shines through.

Qin Lang walked out of the residential compound and hailed a taxi. He gave them his address, leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples. His head was throbbing… He had to get rid of those young women as soon as possible, or he wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully again…

The taxi weaved through traffic, the street scenes outside the window rushing past. Qin Lang took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts, hesitated for a moment, and didn't call anyone. He thought of Zhou Ruoyun, but he didn't make the call. He didn't want to owe anyone a favor.

The taxi drove for about twenty minutes before stopping at the entrance of the Eiffel Tower Shopping Mall Cultural and Creative Park. Qin Lang paid the fare, got out of the car, and stood at the entrance looking inside.

The entrance to the cultural and creative park is an antique-style gatehouse with blue bricks, gray tiles, and upturned eaves, which looks quite stylish. Below the gatehouse is a wide stone-paved road with shops of various styles on both sides, selling handicrafts, coffee and desserts, pottery workshops, and a few that look like small exhibition halls.

It wasn't the weekend, so there weren't many visitors in the park. People strolled around in twos and threes, and occasionally someone would stop in front of a shop to take a picture before continuing on their way.

"Fengya Pavilion..." Qin Lang strode inside, glancing at the signs on both sides as he went.

After walking about two hundred meters, Qin Lang saw a shop on his left. The shop was not large, but it was decorated very elegantly. Above the door was a black plaque with gold lettering that read "Feng Ya Ge" (meaning "elegant and refined"). Two stone lions were crouching at the entrance.

A person was standing at the entrance of the shop.

Qin Lang got closer and saw clearly that it was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a dark gray polo shirt, dark trousers, and shiny leather shoes. The man wore gold-rimmed glasses, his hair was neatly combed, and he looked very refined, but his eyes were as sinister as a snake.

"Looking for someone?" the middle-aged man asked, his voice cold.

"Yes. A few of my friends." Qin Lang stopped, looked into the other person's eyes, and said, "They said they're being held here and won't be allowed out?"

The middle-aged man stepped aside, gestured for them to come in, and said with a slight smile, "It's inside, please come in."

Qin Lang didn't rush in, but first glanced around the store. Through the glass window, he could vaguely see that there were quite a few people inside. Su Yue was standing at the front, followed by Ruan Zhihuan, then Xu Han, and behind her were Wu Xiaoxiao and the six young women.

"Go in." The middle-aged man's voice came from behind again.

Qin Lang stepped inside. The shop's layout was simple, with an aisle in the middle and wooden shelves on both sides, filled with all kinds of porcelain: bottles, bowls, plates, teacups, teapots, big and small, a dazzling array.

Qin Lang had no interest in appreciating these things; his gaze fell on the ground at the end of the corridor, where a few pieces of broken porcelain lay scattered.

Although Qin Lang wasn't very knowledgeable about antiques and porcelain, in his previous life, he had dabbled in these kinds of things in order to write a good script.

The fragments before me vary in size, and some edges of blue-and-white patterns still remain. Judging from the size and shape of the fragments, it should be a plum vase or a jade pot spring vase.