Chu Li returned to the East Garden covered in the sunset. He saw Zhao Ying sitting next to the stone tablet in his small courtyard, drinking tea. She was wearing her lake green gown, and she looked incredibly gorgeous.
Zhao Ying saw him, stood up, and smiled.
"You're so busy!"
Chu Li smiled as he sat right opposite to her.
"My junior sister made such an arrival, what happened over there?"
He said.
"Nothing."
Zhao Ying sat down.
"I've been shopping around. I hadn't thought that Chongming Town would be this big. I still haven't finished shopping! All of them are in a good mood, there's no need to worry."
Chu Li nodded.
"It's all thanks to you. I'm really busy at the moment."
"What are you busy with?"
"It's better off if you didn't know."
"How mysterious!"
Zhao Ying rolled her eyes and stopped asking.
"How about the shop?"
"A little bit more to go."
Zhao Ying furrowed her brows.
"The progress is quite slow, I think that they had a problem with their design. The place is simply too big! There won't be this many people coming!"
Chu Li smiled.
"The location isn't good for a shop, it's too desolate."
Zhao Ying was a little worried.
"Brother, why did you pick here? There were much better choices on the streets!"
"I wanted it to be desolate on purpose."
Chu Li smiled.
"Don't worry, there will be business. Moreover, we started the shop not to earn."
"If we lose money, they will feel guilty and blame it on themselves."
"If we lose money, we'll try something else. Maybe we could earn a lot from it too. Let's go and hang around town for a bit."
"Again?"
Zhao Ying looked bitter.
"Let's go to The Floral House."
"What for?"
The statement piqued her interest.
"There are quite a lot of good things on the street. Let's see if we can find any."
The street where The Floral House was located had a lot of antique shops. It was like a street full of artifacts for the later generations. You may have found a few nice things here and here if you had good eyesight, and good luck.
Zhao Ying was ambivalent.
Both of them left the Public House and arrived at Chongming Town.
There were lanterns all over town, the bright red lanterns were making Chongming Town look as if it were still daytime. The street was hustling and bustling, full of carriages and people. The sounds of adults bargaining and children playing were echoing throughout the street, making it ever so lively.
Chu Li and Zhao Ying moved to a quiet street from the main street and walked into an antique shop.
Chu Li was very knowledgeable, and he even had the Omniscient Mirror. Searching for antiques was as easy as simply taking items out of his backpack. He found some antiques from the shops and bought it with the price of a counterfeit. He cleaned it then and there and sold it to another shop as a genuine antique.
They went past five shops, and Chu Li had already earned a hundred silver. Zhao Ying was surprised.
Both of them walked on the streets. Zhao Ying shook the banknotes on her hands, smiling like a flower.
"Brother, this money was so easily earned..!"
"Knowledge is money!"
Chu Li smiled.
He regulated himself. He did not earn too much and only made a small profit. If anyone had caught on to him, then it would be hard for him to use this method for easy money. He needed to work on it inch by inch, rather than hammering in on maximum profit.
"I actually learned something!"
Zhao Ying sighed in surprise.
She never had the chance to experience it. She believed that there was not much of a difference in knowing so much and that having great martial art skills was enough because martial arts was still the key factor during important times. But as she watched Chu Li earn money so easily, she lamented that she looked down on knowledge.
She decided on studying diligently after she returned.
Both of them entered The Floral House. There were two people picking out stuff around, and the shopkeeper was smiling next to them.
Chu Li observed the area. It was a normal wooden basket, and there were weird looking branches in it. It was suitable to be a bonsai, they were all rare trees.
The branches cost ten silver each, but it did not matter how expensive they were, they were only dead branches in the end. It could at most only be a bonsai or an item that was carved on. It was impossible to bring them back to life.
Chu Li recognized the two. It was Gu Litong and Zhou Yuting. They were both deep in concentration in choosing the products. They did not care to bother whoever came in.
Chu Li activated the Omniscient Mirror and scanned the branches. He searched for information of the branches in his palace of memories.
He looked at what was on Gu Litong's hand.
There were a total of three branches. One of them looked like a pine, and it looked very tough. The other looked like a man with a beard and the last one looked like it was black and hard, like metal. They formed a pretty ribbon, combining the beauty of softness and toughness.
"Aren't they pretty?"
Chu Li pointed and asked Zhao Ying.
Zhao Ying nodded in amazement.
"How about we buy it?"
Chu Li asked.
"But Brother Gu Litong already picked them."
Zhao Ying smiled as she said.
Chu Li smiled and slightly coughed.
Gu Litong had already known that it was Chu Li. He lifted his head.
"How timely! Brother Chu!"
"Did Brother Gu Litong find anything?"
Gu Litong held up the branches.
"It's just a plaything."
Chu Li smiled.
"Let's make a deal, why not you give them to me, and we can discuss the price."
"Hehehaha!"
Gu Litong laughed.
Zhou Yuting glared at Chu Li.
"What for?"
He looked at Zhao Ying.
"What is this..sister Zhao Ying? Are you now hooked up with Chu Li?"
Zhao Ying instantly blushed.
Chu Li's happy expression faded away.
"You'd better care for your words, Brother Zhou Yuting."
"Care for what? Am I wrong?"
Zhou Yuting laughed.
"Hehe, you clawed away Zhuo Feiyang's woman! You're pretty amazing!"
Chu Li furrowed his brows.
"Since when was Zhao Ying Zhuo Feiyang's woman! Brother, against people who spread rumors like this....I won't treat them properly."
"Hehe, I'm the only one who said it, what does it matter?"
Zhou Yuting widened his eyes.
"I'm deliberately saying this to you, Chu Li! You clawed away Zhuo Feiyang's woman!"
Chu Li sighed and turned to look towards Gu Litong.
"Brother Gu Litong, hanging around people like this who cause trouble will only make you one of his kind."
"Zhou Yuting didn't say anything wrong."
Gu Litong smiled cunningly.
"Brother Chu is indeed awesome, you snatched away Zhuo Feiyang's woman. I admire that!"
Zhao Ying inhaled and yelled:
"Shut up!"
Both of them were startled. Chu Li too, looked at her, surprised. He never expected someone as gentle as her to become this angry. It was quite interesting.
Zhao Ying' face was blaring red, and her eyes were widened. She pointed at Typer and scolded him.
"You're a big man, sure. But you only know to gossip from day to night. Your ancestors must be rolling in their graves."
Zhou Yuting widened his eyes.
Zhao Ying continued to scold him.
"I and both Chu Li and Zhuo Feiyang are from the same batch. We trained our martial arts together and shop together, and this made me their woman!? If that was how it worked, you'd be considered Brother Gu Litong's man!"
"Zhao Ying!"
Gu Litong quickly stopped her.
Chu Li waved his hands.
"Fine fine, let's all stop talking!"
He pointed over at the three branches Gu Litong was holding.
"Shopkeeper, has he paid yet?"
"Hehe, not yet."
The shopkeeper said as he looked at him with glittering eyes. He recognized that it was Chu Li. He secretly mumbled.
"It's the Public House again!"
"Good. This one..a hundred taels! I'll buy it!"
Chu Li pointed at the branch that was as hard as pine.
The shopkeeper quickly muttered.
"Thanks, Sir!"
Chu Li looked over at Gu Litong.
"Do you want this? Brother Gu Litong?"
Gu Litong stared at the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper wrapped his fists, feeling apologetic. He smiled.
"Sorry sir, I don't have a choice, I'm only doing a small business! A small business!"
Gu Litong sneered.
"Two hundred taels!"
"This belongs to Brother Gu Litong then!"
Chu Li quickly said. He then pointed at the other branch that looked like an old man with a long beard.
"This one, a hundred taels"
"Two hundred taels!"
Gu Litong sneered.
"Brother Gu Litong is so generous! If that's the case, this belongs to Brother Gu Litong too!"
Chu Li smiled, squeaky clean. He again pointed at the third one and smiled.
"Five hundred taels!"
Gu Litong clenched his teeth and stared at him. He understood the intent of Chu Li. He was trying to avenge Zhao Ying by scamming him!
He sneered and tossed the metal branch to Chu Li.
"It's yours now!"
Chu Li held out his hand to take it. He then looked at him with his eyes furrowed.
Gu Litong laughed.
"The feeling of cheating someone's money sure feels great!"
"Brother!"
Zhao Ying pulled her sleeve. Her pretty face was still red.
Chu Li shook his head and sized up the branch on his hand. He shook his head again.
"HAHAHA!"
Zhou Yuting had a hearty laughed.
Chu Li stepped up, and Zhou Yuting puffed his chest out without fear and glanced at him sideways.
Chu Li lowered his voice.
"Brother Zhou Yuting, I wonder what would happen if I told Mr. Zhou about you having a residence in the southeast regions of town, and that there were women living in it?"
Zhou Yuting's expression changed. His smile became stiff.
Chu Li shook his head:
"Look at yourself, Brother Zhou Yuting!... What if I tell Mr. Zhou a little more about your women in the residence at the northwest side of the town, hmm?"
"How dare you!"
Zhou Yuting's face darkened and he glared at Chu Li.
Chu Li smirked. He shook his head.
"With you and your ability, you'd still dare to make such ridiculous rumors. If anyone out there passed around any bad rumors about Zhao Ying here..you know what the consequences are."
"Chu Li, you're despicable!"
Zhou Yuting shouted out in anger.
Chu Li did not look at him any longer. He smiled and held out his hand, towards Zhao Ying.
"Sister Zhao Ying, let's go!"
Zhao Ying stared at Zhou Yuting and gently walked out of The Floral House.
Chu Li returned to the East Garden covered in the sunset. He saw Zhao Ying sitting next to the stone tablet in his small courtyard, drinking tea. She was wearing her lake green gown, and she looked incredibly gorgeous.
Zhao Ying saw him, stood up, and smiled.
"You're so busy!"
Chu Li smiled as he sat right opposite to her.
"My junior sister made such an arrival, what happened over there?"
He said.
"Nothing."
Zhao Ying sat down.
"I've been shopping around. I hadn't thought that Chongming Town would be this big. I still haven't finished shopping! All of them are in a good mood, there's no need to worry."
Chu Li nodded.
"It's all thanks to you. I'm really busy at the moment."
"What are you busy with?"
"It's better off if you didn't know."
"How mysterious!"
Zhao Ying rolled her eyes and stopped asking.
"How about the shop?"
"A little bit more to go."
Zhao Ying furrowed her brows.
"The progress is quite slow, I think that they had a problem with their design. The place is simply too big! There won't be this many people coming!"
Chu Li smiled.
"The location isn't good for a shop, it's too desolate."
Zhao Ying was a little worried.
"Brother, why did you pick here? There were much better choices on the streets!"
"I wanted it to be desolate on purpose."
Chu Li smiled.
"Don't worry, there will be business. Moreover, we started the shop not to earn."
"If we lose money, they will feel guilty and blame it on themselves."
"If we lose money, we'll try something else. Maybe we could earn a lot from it too. Let's go and hang around town for a bit."
"Again?"
Zhao Ying looked bitter.
"Let's go to The Floral House."
"What for?"
The statement piqued her interest.
"There are quite a lot of good things on the street. Let's see if we can find any."
The street where The Floral House was located had a lot of antique shops. It was like a street full of artifacts for the later generations. You may have found a few nice things here and here if you had good eyesight, and good luck.
Zhao Ying was ambivalent.
Both of them left the Public House and arrived at Chongming Town.
There were lanterns all over town, the bright red lanterns were making Chongming Town look as if it were still daytime. The street was hustling and bustling, full of carriages and people. The sounds of adults bargaining and children playing were echoing throughout the street, making it ever so lively.
Chu Li and Zhao Ying moved to a quiet street from the main street and walked into an antique shop.
Chu Li was very knowledgeable, and he even had the Omniscient Mirror. Searching for antiques was as easy as simply taking items out of his backpack. He found some antiques from the shops and bought it with the price of a counterfeit. He cleaned it then and there and sold it to another shop as a genuine antique.
They went past five shops, and Chu Li had already earned a hundred silver. Zhao Ying was surprised.
Both of them walked on the streets. Zhao Ying shook the banknotes on her hands, smiling like a flower.
"Brother, this money was so easily earned..!"
"Knowledge is money!"
Chu Li smiled.
He regulated himself. He did not earn too much and only made a small profit. If anyone had caught on to him, then it would be hard for him to use this method for easy money. He needed to work on it inch by inch, rather than hammering in on maximum profit.
"I actually learned something!"
Zhao Ying sighed in surprise.
She never had the chance to experience it. She believed that there was not much of a difference in knowing so much and that having great martial art skills was enough because martial arts was still the key factor during important times. But as she watched Chu Li earn money so easily, she lamented that she looked down on knowledge.
She decided on studying diligently after she returned.
Both of them entered The Floral House. There were two people picking out stuff around, and the shopkeeper was smiling next to them.
Chu Li observed the area. It was a normal wooden basket, and there were weird looking branches in it. It was suitable to be a bonsai, they were all rare trees.
The branches cost ten silver each, but it did not matter how expensive they were, they were only dead branches in the end. It could at most only be a bonsai or an item that was carved on. It was impossible to bring them back to life.
Chu Li recognized the two. It was Gu Litong and Zhou Yuting. They were both deep in concentration in choosing the products. They did not care to bother whoever came in.
Chu Li activated the Omniscient Mirror and scanned the branches. He searched for information of the branches in his palace of memories.
He looked at what was on Gu Litong's hand.
There were a total of three branches. One of them looked like a pine, and it looked very tough. The other looked like a man with a beard and the last one looked like it was black and hard, like metal. They formed a pretty ribbon, combining the beauty of softness and toughness.
"Aren't they pretty?"
Chu Li pointed and asked Zhao Ying.
Zhao Ying nodded in amazement.
"How about we buy it?"
Chu Li asked.
"But Brother Gu Litong already picked them."
Zhao Ying smiled as she said.
Chu Li smiled and slightly coughed.
Gu Litong had already known that it was Chu Li. He lifted his head.
"How timely! Brother Chu!"
"Did Brother Gu Litong find anything?"
Gu Litong held up the branches.
"It's just a plaything."
Chu Li smiled.
"Let's make a deal, why not you give them to me, and we can discuss the price."
"Hehehaha!"
Gu Litong laughed.
Zhou Yuting glared at Chu Li.
"What for?"
He looked at Zhao Ying.
"What is this..sister Zhao Ying? Are you now hooked up with Chu Li?"
Zhao Ying instantly blushed.
Chu Li's happy expression faded away.
"You'd better care for your words, Brother Zhou Yuting."
"Care for what? Am I wrong?"
Zhou Yuting laughed.
"Hehe, you clawed away Zhuo Feiyang's woman! You're pretty amazing!"
Chu Li furrowed his brows.
"Since when was Zhao Ying Zhuo Feiyang's woman! Brother, against people who spread rumors like this....I won't treat them properly."
"Hehe, I'm the only one who said it, what does it matter?"
Zhou Yuting widened his eyes.
"I'm deliberately saying this to you, Chu Li! You clawed away Zhuo Feiyang's woman!"
Chu Li sighed and turned to look towards Gu Litong.
"Brother Gu Litong, hanging around people like this who cause trouble will only make you one of his kind."
"Zhou Yuting didn't say anything wrong."
Gu Litong smiled cunningly.
"Brother Chu is indeed awesome, you snatched away Zhuo Feiyang's woman. I admire that!"
Zhao Ying inhaled and yelled:
"Shut up!"
Both of them were startled. Chu Li too, looked at her, surprised. He never expected someone as gentle as her to become this angry. It was quite interesting.
Zhao Ying' face was blaring red, and her eyes were widened. She pointed at Typer and scolded him.
"You're a big man, sure. But you only know to gossip from day to night. Your ancestors must be rolling in their graves."
Zhou Yuting widened his eyes.
Zhao Ying continued to scold him.
"I and both Chu Li and Zhuo Feiyang are from the same batch. We trained our martial arts together and shop together, and this made me their woman!? If that was how it worked, you'd be considered Brother Gu Litong's man!"
"Zhao Ying!"
Gu Litong quickly stopped her.
Chu Li waved his hands.
"Fine fine, let's all stop talking!"
He pointed over at the three branches Gu Litong was holding.
"Shopkeeper, has he paid yet?"
"Hehe, not yet."
The shopkeeper said as he looked at him with glittering eyes. He recognized that it was Chu Li. He secretly mumbled.
"It's the Public House again!"
"Good. This one..a hundred taels! I'll buy it!"
Chu Li pointed at the branch that was as hard as pine.
The shopkeeper quickly muttered.
"Thanks, Sir!"
Chu Li looked over at Gu Litong.
"Do you want this? Brother Gu Litong?"
Gu Litong stared at the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper wrapped his fists, feeling apologetic. He smiled.
"Sorry sir, I don't have a choice, I'm only doing a small business! A small business!"
Gu Litong sneered.
"Two hundred taels!"
"This belongs to Brother Gu Litong then!"
Chu Li quickly said. He then pointed at the other branch that looked like an old man with a long beard.
"This one, a hundred taels"
"Two hundred taels!"
Gu Litong sneered.
"Brother Gu Litong is so generous! If that's the case, this belongs to Brother Gu Litong too!"
Chu Li smiled, squeaky clean. He again pointed at the third one and smiled.
"Five hundred taels!"
Gu Litong clenched his teeth and stared at him. He understood the intent of Chu Li. He was trying to avenge Zhao Ying by scamming him!
He sneered and tossed the metal branch to Chu Li.
"It's yours now!"
Chu Li held out his hand to take it. He then looked at him with his eyes furrowed.
Gu Litong laughed.
"The feeling of cheating someone's money sure feels great!"
"Brother!"
Zhao Ying pulled her sleeve. Her pretty face was still red.
Chu Li shook his head and sized up the branch on his hand. He shook his head again.
"HAHAHA!"
Zhou Yuting had a hearty laughed.
Chu Li stepped up, and Zhou Yuting puffed his chest out without fear and glanced at him sideways.
Chu Li lowered his voice.
"Brother Zhou Yuting, I wonder what would happen if I told Mr. Zhou about you having a residence in the southeast regions of town, and that there were women living in it?"
Zhou Yuting's expression changed. His smile became stiff.
Chu Li shook his head:
"Look at yourself, Brother Zhou Yuting!... What if I tell Mr. Zhou a little more about your women in the residence at the northwest side of the town, hmm?"
"How dare you!"
Zhou Yuting's face darkened and he glared at Chu Li.
Chu Li smirked. He shook his head.
"With you and your ability, you'd still dare to make such ridiculous rumors. If anyone out there passed around any bad rumors about Zhao Ying here..you know what the consequences are."
"Chu Li, you're despicable!"
Zhou Yuting shouted out in anger.
Chu Li did not look at him any longer. He smiled and held out his hand, towards Zhao Ying.
"Sister Zhao Ying, let's go!"
Zhao Ying stared at Zhou Yuting and gently walked out of The Floral House.
