Ming Yi looked at the fabric of his clothes and nodded, “I can forge it, but your master’s son needs to come in person. Only then will I know what kind of divine weapon suits him.”
“This… can’t you come with me?”
“No,” she refused flatly.
Xiu Yun nervously grabbed her arm, fearing she might provoke a conflict. But for some reason, despite her firm attitude, the servant seemed even happier and immediately said, “Good, good. Please wait, I’ll go fetch my master and young master right away.”
Xiu Yun was puzzled, “This person… bullies the weak and fears the strong?”
“No,” Ming Yi said softly, “It’s because most forgers have eccentric tempers. The worse their attitude, the more skilled they tend to be.”
Xiu Yun: “…” She had never heard of such a thing.
The market was crowded, but not many people carried a thousand shells. They manned their stall for an hour and only sold half of their “One Tree of Fragrance” items.
Ming Yi wasn’t in a hurry though. Weighing the shells she had earned, she happily discussed with Xiu Yun, “Shall we have roasted pigeon today?”
“How about roasted duck? Ducks are fatter, more meat.”
“That works too. We’ll buy a few on our way back.”
As they were talking, the servant returned with an impatient young master and a pleased older gentleman.
“It’s here,” he smiled, pointing at Ming Yi.
The young master glanced at Ming Yi and sneered, “This scrawny thing can forge divine weapons?”
“Look at these, they’re all made by her,” the servant pointed at the “One Tree of Fragrance” items on the stall.
The old gentleman was excited. He picked one up to try, saw its smooth mechanism and low Yuan Power requirement, and immediately put down a gold nugget, “I’ll take all of these. Take them back for our household guards to use.”
The servant complied, carefully gathering the remaining dozen or so “One Tree of Fragrance” items into his arms.
The young master still looked disdainful, “Being able to forge divine weapons and being able to forge rare divine weapons are two different things. Old man, if you pin your hopes on these useless trinkets, I won’t be able to enter the Yuan Shi Academy even in ten years.”
Ming Yi glanced at his meridians, thinking that with his talent, he indeed couldn’t enter the Yuan Shi Academy.
But calling her creations useless trinkets displeased her. She raised her hand and summoned the Star River Sunset.
The young master was startled and immediately dropped his Realm of Oblivion, warily watching her, “What are you doing?”
“Didn’t the young master want to see a rare divine weapon?” Ming Yi smiled, “Let me show you.”
With his Realm of Oblivion blocking the surroundings, Ming Yi unleashed her power, secretly injecting a strand of white Yuan Power into the Star River Sunset.
Just as the young master raised his hand to counterattack, the fine needles, carrying pure white Yuan Power, showered down on him like meteors.
It was truly a bombardment. The glowing needles struck his shield, and just three of them punctured holes in it. Yet there was still a golden light in the compass, like a setting sun filling the gaps in the starry river’s attack, about to assault him.
“Stop! I surrender!” The young master frantically dodged the attacks, shouting in fear, “Father, pay her! Pay her!”
Ming Yi withdrew the compass and said seriously, “This item is not for sale, but I can make something else for you. It can be delivered tomorrow.”
“You’re lying,” With the surrounding threat gone, the young master regained his courage, “Even the most skilled forger in our city needs three days to craft a rare divine weapon. You can deliver in one day?”
Ming Yi replied calmly, “Yes, one-day delivery.”
The old gentleman scrutinized her for a moment, then nodded, “Good. We’ll come to collect it at this time tomorrow. Here’s the deposit, keep it safe.”
It was a thumb-sized gold nugget, quite weighty.
Ming Yi weighed it and put it in her purse, “Take care on your way.”
The young master kept looking back as they left, still doubtful, “She’s not just scamming us, is she?”
His father walked ahead with his hands behind his back, “Even if it’s a scam, who could escape from Mu Xingcheng under my nose?”
Xiu Yun had kept her head down without a word. When they were far away, she told Ming Yi, “Those two are from a noble family in the main city. They have people who often pay respects in the inner court.”
“That’s good. If this deal goes well, we won’t lack people coming to give us money in the future.”
They packed up the stall and Ming Yi took her back to the courtyard. The two counted money with their heads down, growing happier as they counted.
“If we have such good earnings every day, we could buy a beast cart within a year,” Ming Yi calculated.
As she calculated the time, she felt a bit lost.
“I didn’t expect money to come so quickly,” Xiu Yun grabbed a handful of shells, watching them slip through her fingers, and said with an exaggerated expression, “If I had met you earlier, I would have run away sooner.”
Amused by her, Ming Yi came back to her senses and chuckled, “Let’s eat out today. We’ll order a fat duck to roast.”
“Yay!”
The two changed clothes and went out together to Hua Biezhi, known for the best roast duck.
But as soon as they sat down, a group of people arrived at the entrance.
“I’m telling you, this isn’t a wedding. Why did you call us for a feast?” Shu Zhonglin complained, “It’s so hot today.”
“Have some sympathy. Xiuyuan just wants to show off that he has company now.”
“Huh, who doesn’t have company? Ji Bozai’s household just got over twenty new people to keep him company.”
As soon as the words fell, Shu Zhonglin spotted Ming Yi sitting by the main hall and immediately fell silent.
Ji Bozai, walking in front, sensed something was off and turned his head to look.
Ming Yi was sitting across from Xiu Yun, directly facing them. Seeing their gaze, she smiled leisurely and nodded as a greeting, then lowered her eyes to continue chatting with Xiu Yun.
After not seeing her for some time, he had thought Ming Yi would have grown thinner. Unexpectedly, her face seemed even rosier. Only her eyes were calm and unruffled, showing neither happiness nor panic.
He indifferently withdrew his gaze and called the waiter, “Are the upstairs private rooms all full?”
The waiter was puzzled, “No…”
Ji Bozai gave him a deep look.
The waiter understood and immediately slapped his thigh, “Sir, you’re truly prescient. I was just wondering how to apologize to Young Master Liang. The upstairs private rooms were booked early. If you don’t mind, I can section off a part of the main hall for you, ensuring no one will disturb you. How about that?”
Liang Xiuyuan, hearing this from behind, said dissatisfied, “With our status, how can we sit in the main hall…”
Before he could finish, Yan Xiao beside him covered his mouth.
“The main hall is good,” Yan Xiao said, “It’s well-ventilated and cool.”
The group sat down, not next to Ming Yi’s table, but opposite her. Ming Yi only needed to look up to see Ji Bozai’s face.
How annoying.
“What’s wrong with you?” Xiu Yun focused on calculating when they could go to Feihua City and looked up to see Ming Yi’s displeased face.
“It’s nothing,” she said, “Let’s just eat and leave quickly.”
“Oh, alright.” Xiu Yun held her chopsticks, looking towards the kitchen, waiting for their roast duck to be served.
However, for some reason, their dishes didn’t come for a long time, while people who arrived after them were already eating.