Chapter 64: Making a Scene and Wasting Money to Amuse People

  It's inconvenient to enter the Purple Boundary Realm from the villa provided by Gai Shi, so Zuo Xiao Yao takes advantage of the opportunity to go on missions in various parts of the world and enters the Purple Boundary Realm outside. She rarely returns to the villa. Everyone has different personalities, and Gai Shi's management of these cultivators is already quite relaxed, and he doesn't have any objections either.

  As for the thirteen tasks owed to Zuo Xiaoyao, Gai Shi had no intention of forcing her to accept them, nor did he have any requirements for when she should complete these thirteen tasks. He let her decide whether or not to accept which tasks based on her own schedule.

  In these aspects, Zuo Xiao Yao was still quite satisfied with Gai Shi. She had finally put down the small resentment she had when she was forced to accept the labor-for-capital transaction, even though it took her nearly three years to complete the nine tasks and her cultivation only barely reached the middle stage of the Foundation Building Stage due to being unable to calm down and focus on cultivating day and night without interruption.

  She had hoped to take the opportunity to travel around the world to complete her tasks and find a higher-grade alchemy furnace in various alchemy markets, as well as suitable materials for refining third-grade or higher elixirs. However, after spending 8,000 first-grade spirit jade, she only managed to buy an upper-grade law enforcement furnace. The spiritual herbs required by the few alchemy formulas she currently possesses are not even complete, due to the lack of herbs like Extreme Yang Grass, which is said to have become extinct in the current alchemy world. The materials needed for fourth-grade elixirs are even rarer, and most people in the current alchemy world have never even heard of them.

  In the present day Cultivation Realm, the spiritual herbs required for elixirs of third grade and above occasionally appear, but they are all different from her alchemy recipes. Even if their effects seem similar, Zuo Xiaoyao finds this point quite puzzling. Why is it that the one-grade and two-grade elixir recipes recorded in her alchemy notes require spiritual herbs that are mostly very common, far more ordinary than those required by elixirs of the same grade circulating in the Cultivation Realm? Some of the herbs required are even only used to prepare medicinal concoctions beneficial to ordinary people, and have no effect whatsoever on cultivators.

  A clever woman cannot cook without rice. With only prescriptions but no medicinal herbs, and her skills not yet reaching the level where she can modify the prescriptions herself, the plan to refine the three supreme elixirs had to be postponed indefinitely. She hoped that one day she would stumble upon great luck and discover that the extinction of the extreme yang grasses was a false rumor, provided that those medicinal herbs were still useful to her.

  She saw a ceramic pen holder, the workmanship was quite exquisite, and the quality was also very good. After carefully examining it inside and out, Zuo Xiaoyao judged that it was at least from the late Qing dynasty. Just as she was about to ask the price, a soft voice came from beside her ear, "Boss, how much is this? I'll buy it!"

  The stall owner, the white-haired old man opposite, was still smiling at Zuo Xiaoyao. He didn't seem to have any intention of answering the question asked by the young woman who suddenly appeared beside Zuo Xiaoyao, with a middle-aged man standing next to her helping her carry her bags.

  She turned her head to glance at the young woman who didn't understand the rules of the antique city's transactions, and asked about the price of the item in someone else's hand. Zuo Xiao Yao's expression slightly solidified. Who would have thought that they would meet again in this city, at this location? Moreover, the other person had also taken a liking to the same item as her, yet neither of them understood the meaning behind it. "Sir, this pen holder is really well-made, how much?"

  Zuo Xiaoyao frankly praised the craftsmanship of the pen holder. But didn't mention the meaning of the year, obviously a connoisseur, and the action of carefully looking at the pen holder just now was old and experienced, it's clear that he is someone who has put his heart into antiques. The old man smiled very happily "It seems that the little girl is a connoisseur, I'll also give you a satisfactory price, 20,000, how about it?"

  Seeing the old man not being polite to her, but being so enthusiastic towards Zuo Xiaoyao, she felt very unhappy. The young woman directly said "How do you do business? Obviously I asked first and said I wanted to buy it, shouldn't we follow some order? Two thousand one, I'll buy it!"

  "This young lady is right, things should be done in order of arrival, it seems like I was the first one here?"

  Zuo Xiao Yao replied faintly, with an undisguised look of contempt on her face that fell directly into the other person's eyes, completely a blatant provocation.

  The young woman, who was already annoyed in her heart, suddenly became even angrier. "What's the point of you coming first? I said I wanted to buy it first, and I look down on your kind of goods that don't understand but pretend to. You're not buying anything yourself, but you're delaying others from buying, wasting other people's time, which is equivalent to plotting against someone's wealth and life. Don't you know?"

  Because the young woman's voice was too loud, it attracted the attention of the surrounding crowd, and they all looked over here, but most of them were looking at the young woman with a slightly disdainful and mocking gaze. Another small part of them had other thoughts because of the woman's extremely beautiful appearance.

  Feeling the meaningful glances, Ben Tong, who was dressed in high-end attire from head to toe and looked like he could splurge at any moment, couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. "Xiao Yue, let's talk this through, Miss. My friend took a liking to this pen holder at first sight, and she was the one who said she wanted to buy it first. Can we...?"

  When someone else is holding something or inquiring about the price, others generally cannot make an offer until the person has decided to give it up. This is a rule that is followed in almost all antique shops. Before the onlookers nearby could remind her of this rule, Xiāo Yáo smiled and said, "Why should I back down just because your friend likes it? Since I've taken it in my hands to take a closer look, it's clear that I also really like it. Otherwise, wouldn't I be wasting the gentleman's time for no reason? Oh, according to this young lady's logic, why would she openly try to swindle the gentleman out of his money and harm her own life?"

  Everyone around burst out laughing as soon as they caught the teasing tone in Zuo Xiao Yao's words. The middle-aged man flashed a look of displeasure and depression in his eyes, but then heard Zuo Xiao Yao continue to say "Alright, let's not argue about who is right or wrong. This young lady seems to think I'm short on money, with the intention of throwing money at people. Let's do this instead - fair bidding, whoever bids higher gets it, how about that?"

  It wasn't for the money, but because of his hobby that he often went to antique city to resell some things. The old man had always been particular about rules and regulations. Upon hearing Zuo Xiao's proposal, he immediately refused with dissatisfaction: "How can that be? This is a transaction between you and me, you ask for the price, I quote the price, if you think it's not suitable, we'll return it and see if we can make a deal. What does this girl have to do with it?"

  "Grandfather's words are very reasonable, but I've never wanted to take someone's favorite thing, nor do I like it when someone takes mine. Of course, if one is not capable of competing, then so be it. So, please grandfather agree. Also, please everyone bear witness, we'll bid on the price, whoever can offer the highest price gets this pen holder, each time the increase in price must not be less than 100, this way, no matter what the result is, nobody will feel uncomfortable, how about that?"

  Zuo Xiaoyao blinked at him a few times with a hint of playfulness, clearly indicating that he should not persist. The old man was impressed by the fact that there were still people like her among the young people today who understood the rules, so he had a very good impression of Zuo Xiaoyao and did not say much more, acquiescing to her proposal.

  More and more onlookers who joined in after learning about what happened were somewhat perplexed. After all, who would be willing to spend a lot of money to buy something with limited potential just because it looks good when they already have the upper hand?

  The young woman, after being slightly stunned for a moment, immediately thought this was a great opportunity for her. She recalled the scene where Zuo Xiao Yao had teased her earlier, causing everyone to burst out laughing at her expense. This made her extremely angry and she couldn't wait to see Zuo Xiao Yao humiliated in front of her. "Fine, I'll bid 250,000!"

  Immediately raised the price of the stall owner's offer by a quarter, and the surrounding crowd suddenly let out a sigh of admiration. Some people even felt envious, secretly lamenting why they didn't meet someone who was good at spending money.

  Put down the bag on her shoulder. Take out three bundles of cash from inside "30,000! Did you bring money? Don't just shout prices blindly, when it's time to pay, can you really pay?"

  The words of Xi Luo fell into the ears of a young woman, extremely piercing, and she immediately became even more furious, took over the middle-aged man's quite neat package handed over in front of her, took out four bundles of money and said "35,000!"

  "Forty thousand!"

  Zuo Xiaoyao faintly replied, taking out another dozen silver coins, which was already twice the price offered by the stall owner.

  Young woman, although she felt it didn't add up in her mind, but when she saw Zuo Xiao Yao's calm and collected expression, as if the number didn't matter to her at all, she immediately took out another 40,000 "Four hundred fifty thousand!"

  "I bid 45,100 yuan!"

  When Left Xiaoyao didn't add much this time, although she saw her take out 10,000 again, the young woman's heart was delighted, and quickly raised the price to "50,000!"

  "Fifty thousand one hundred!"

  Xiao Yao's expression remained calm as she took out another 10,000. Her face changed color, and the young woman followed up with "600,000!"

  Unfortunately, Zuo Xiao Yao still used the method of adding the minimum price of 100. When taking money, she was always very quick and nimble, making people look down on her as a young woman. Although it was painful, she endured it silently, holding back her anger, and every time she would take out the cash from her bag with an even quicker speed.

  "900,000!"

  When the young woman shouted out this price, Zuo Xiao Yao, who had been ready to take out her money at any moment, suddenly started putting the money she had taken out back into her bag. She said with a smile, "Congratulations, you've won the bid! That pen holder now belongs to you. I'm really envious... unfortunately, I..."

  She widened her eyes and saw that Xue Ya was quickly putting away her money, then she put it back on her back again, and pushed the old man's money to the front. The old man, without any politeness, stuffed the 90,000 into a gift bag next to him, while saying "This time, I've got a great deal! Since this young lady likes it so much, and you're so kind-hearted, Miss, this pen holder is yours!"

  The young woman's face turned red with rage. After the outburst, she, now quite clear-headed, shouted angrily: "This is a scam! I'm going to report you!"

  As soon as she spoke, the surrounding crowd looked at her with a gaze that seemed to be looking at an idiot, wondering which family's daughter was unclear about things and ran to the antique city to lose face. The middle-aged man knew that the antique city had always followed the rules of not returning goods once they were sold. He picked up the pen holder, held onto the young woman, and forced a smile to comfort her, saying "Xiao Yue, let's go out first, it seems like they don't accept cards here, we're out of cash, let's consider the gift later, choose another one."

  "No way, don't pull me! You... and he are in cahoots, you're intentionally deceiving me, I'm going to report you!"

  Zuo Xiao Yao was also annoyed, but smiled warmly and said "I know you're Liu Ying Yue, graduated from W City Medical University, but I don't know who this gentleman is. If we really want to partner up, shouldn't it be us partnering up instead?"

  "Who are you? How did you know me? Are you intentionally trying to frame me?"

  Too lazy to answer her question, Zuo Xiao Yao merely teased with a "Are you so guilty that you have persecution complex? Everyone here can be witness, but you were the one who broke the rules of trade first, trying to buy something I was already looking at. And I, just gave you an opportunity to make a deal, you should thank me instead! Besides, if it's something you truly like, no matter how much money you spend, it's worth it, right? I also saw that you really liked it, so I intentionally wanted to help you out, don't be too grateful!"

  Liu Yingyue was furious, her slender body trembling with rage. Zu Xiaoyao turned around and left, but just a few steps away, she suddenly turned back and said, "It's better to be down-to-earth when being a person. Don't covet what doesn't belong to you. Your mother, Ding Hongya, the general manager of Yuqinghong Pharmaceutical, didn't have a good ending either!"

  Qing Hong Pharmaceuticals was a thing of the past, and Ding Hongya was suspected of illegal pyramid selling, illegal production of banned drugs, tax evasion, and other crimes, and had been sentenced to severe punishment. Before Hongxin was acquired, she was once a shocking figure in the country. Because her mother got into trouble, she lost the treatment of a wealthy young lady, and all the people who wanted to fawn on her disappeared. She had no choice but to marry Liu Yingyue, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, but with considerable assets. When she heard this, her face suddenly changed. For her in the past, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands were small matters, but for her now, even getting one thousand would require paying a price. She was squandering her youth and beauty, while the surrounding onlookers had long forgotten who Ding Hongya was!

  A dull life indeed needs some seasoning. She had thought of secretly destroying the pen holder in the hand of that middle-aged man with a gloomy face, letting Liu Yingyue taste the loss of both wealth and goods, to see if she would still dare to use her money to bully people so recklessly. But thinking about it, Left Xiaoyao gave up on this idea, not wanting to take things too far, she absolutely refused to admit that she was so enthusiastic about throwing money around and playing with people in public because Liu Yingyue had provoked her at the God Farmer's Platform.

  Thinking of Shennongjia, it's hard to help but remember Lu Hongtian, who hasn't been seen for over three years. I wonder how he is now, but he probably wouldn't think that his cultivation has reached the middle stage of foundation building. Zuo Xiaoyao's mouth corner revealed a slightly warmer shallow smile, and she was still more concerned about this fellow cultivator whom she had met for the first time!