Chapter 80: Slacking Off, Day Eighty
When the City Management, Xu Mofeng—who had never cared about such things before—suddenly started evicting street stalls, and the System simultaneously issued a mission telling her not to go to the Trial of Immortals Assembly market, Wen Ying was convinced there must be something fishy going on.
If the previous event was indeed the “White Moonlight Second Female Lead” mission, it wasn’t particularly difficult. So why, in all her previous reincarnation cycles, had the System always made her avoid it?
There must be something very interesting hidden among those street stalls.
Either the goods, or the people.
Right now, to evade City Management Officer Xu Mofeng, those stalls were scattering faster than rabbits. Trying to investigate them one by one carefully was impossible.
At this moment, Wen Ying finally appreciated the importance of being rich.
Training an army for a thousand days to use in a single moment. Those spirit stones, so numerous that Wen Ying had become numb to them, finally had a purpose.
“Xiao Ying, I was wrong to blame you just now. I’m sorry.” The “Top Gifter” Lin Yu finally reacted at this moment. He turned to ask Wen Ying, his voice having returned to its usual aloofness. “Did you know all along that Junior Sister’s face…”
However, before Lin Yu could finish his sentence, Wen Ying shot off like an arrow.
She seemed to run even faster than Rong Hua had just fled, leaving Lin Yu, who was mid-sentence, with a mouthful of dust.
Wen Ying, of course, hadn’t listened to a word of Lin Yu’s farting nonsense.
He was a scumbag; could anything good come out of that dog’s mouth?
Right now, Wen Ying’s heart and eyes were filled only with those sprinting stalls.
Watching Wen Ying’s retreating figure without her sparing him a second glance, a sense of discomfort rose in Lin Yu’s chest again. He only felt a sour bitterness on the tip of his tongue.
Once upon a time, Xiao Ying was that little disciple, that little girl who loved to follow behind him. But now, he felt she had become so distant, as if… she was already beyond his reach…
Was he wrong? Was it possible that he… shouldn’t have expelled Xiao Ying from his tutelage back then…?
The sour bitterness on his tongue grew stronger, seeming to dissolve and flow down his throat. Lin Yu felt as if his throat was blocked, an unbearable sensation.
Lin Yu took a deep breath—
“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…”
Lin Yu began coughing violently.
Just now, the sour and astringent dust had first landed on his tongue. But he was too busy wallowing in melancholy to spit it out in time, so the dust trickled down to his throat. Finally, when he took a breath—naturally, he choked.
That sour, uncomfortable feeling just now wasn’t Lin Yu’s imagination.
It was the very real taste of… uh, dirt.
Lin Yu finally realized this in hindsight, his face looking no better than Rong Hua’s had. He covered his face with his sleeve, continuing to cough as he walked back quickly.
There were many people here; he couldn’t spit out the dirt in public. Such unrefined behavior was far too unbecoming of his status.
Just as he was walking back briskly, a stone suddenly appeared on the ground for some reason. The coughing had already disrupted Lin Yu’s breathing, and he was too focused on suppressing the coughs to pay attention to anything else. He tripped hard, falling straight to his knees.
Although Lin Yu stood up immediately the next moment, his face looked even worse now. Fortunately, his sleeve still covered it. Lin Yu didn’t bother looking for where the stone came from and hurriedly walked away.
No one noticed that Shen Linfeng quietly lowered his hand back into his sleeve.
…
For Wen Ying, catching up to those pushcart stalls was naturally a piece of cake.
Wen Ying ran up beside the stall owner currently in first place. While running alongside him, she asked, “Aren’t you running from Sect Leader Xu? I’ll buy your cart and all your goods, so you don’t have to run anymore. What do you think?”
“Buy… buy all?” Compared to Wen Ying’s calm demeanor, the stall owner was already panting heavily. Squeezing out a few words was his limit.
He really didn’t want to run anymore. If he could sell everything directly, wouldn’t that be wonderful?
“Yes.” Wen Ying nodded. While jogging, she looked at the owner beside her, as relaxed as if she were on a leisurely morning jog. “How many spirit stones?”
“Seven, seven hundred, low…” The owner struggled to force the words through his teeth.
“Deal!” Wen Ying pulled a money bag from her sleeve. “Seven hundred low-grade spirit stones, exactly.”
The owner reached out while running, seemingly wanting to take the money bag.
However, Wen Ying didn’t let go immediately.
“I have only one request,” Wen Ying added. “There is a communication talisman in the money bag. If there are any after-sales issues with these goods, I need to be able to contact you.”
“Okay!” Aside from failing to get a spot for a legitimate stall, the owner was indeed an honest businessman, so he agreed readily.
Handing over the money bag with one hand and receiving the cart with the other, the owner finally stopped running. He panted as if a heavy burden had been lifted, then walked away contentedly.
Next, Wen Ying didn’t need to run anymore. She was already in first place; now, she just had to wait for the rabbits to come to her.
So, as the stalls sprinted past one by one, Wen Ying followed the same procedure, buying up every cart and stall.
After buying the last stall, Wen Ying let out a long sigh.
It had to be said—being rich was truly wonderful.
Wen Ying put all the goods from the carts into her pocket dimension.
Then, Wen Ying was left with… a pile of carts.
These carts were useless to Wen Ying, but leaving such large pieces of trash piled up here would be uncivilized.
Whatever, I’ll take these carts back to find Xiao Hei and Shen Linfeng first. I ran off in a hurry just now and didn’t tell them.
Pushing carts with spiritual energy wasn’t a remarkable spell, so even Wen Ying didn’t attract any attention from bystanders.
When she returned to the empty bookstall, Xiao Hei and Shen Linfeng were indeed still there. Surprisingly, the shopkeeper hadn’t left yet either.
“You were waiting for me?” Wen Ying asked, parking the carts to the side.
“Yes.” The shopkeeper smiled happily, her eyes curving into two crescents. “Actually… today was the first time I summoned the courage to bring my books out to sell. Before this, Master always said my books were trashy stuff that wouldn’t make it to the mainstream, especially my titles…”
“Those titles of yours, you came up with them yourself?” Wen Ying interjected.
“Mm!” The shopkeeper nodded vigorously. “You are the first person to praise me.”
…She had to admit, if she came up with them herself, she was indeed a marketing genius.
“Then your Master, do they also write storybooks?” A somewhat immature idea formed in Wen Ying’s mind.
“Yes.” The shopkeeper nodded again, though her eyes held a hint of guilt, seemingly afraid Wen Ying would ask further about her “Master’s sect.”
But Wen Ying wasn’t interested in her sect.
The only thing she was interested in was storybooks.
Thinking for a moment, Wen Ying took out the book Traversing: I Am Master’s Heart Tip, where the female lead died from excessive bleeding due to gum disease in the end, and asked, “Is this book written by your Master?”
The shopkeeper took the book, flipped a couple of pages, and immediately nodded. “Correct, this is indeed my Master’s work. It seems, customer, you really are a lover of storybooks.”
“Since the author of this book is your Master, can I ask an off-topic question?” Although Wen Ying had accepted the terrible ending, now that she saw someone related to the author, she still wanted to ask.
“Please ask.” As long as she didn’t pursue the sect issue, the shopkeeper was happy to answer other questions.
“Regarding this ending, what was your Master thinking?” Wen Ying asked euphemistically, her tone heavy.
“That is the part Master is most proud of! Master says this is called an ‘O. Henry-style ending.’ But I always felt it was a bit strange… If you like this kind of ending, customer, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed in my books.” The shopkeeper sounded a little downcast.
Wen Ying: “…”
Who the hell likes this kind of ending? Forcing a terrible ending to be ‘O. Henry-style’—O. Henry might just rise from his grave.
“No, no, no, you’re overthinking it.” Wen Ying patted the shopkeeper’s shoulder. “I think you write very well. The student will definitely surpass the master.”
“Really?”
Encouraged by Wen Ying, the shopkeeper’s eyes practically shone.
After receiving Wen Ying’s affirmation, the shopkeeper grabbed Wen Ying’s hand as if meeting a soulmate. She stuffed a communication talisman into Wen Ying’s hand. “A thousand-mile horse is common, but a Bole (good judge of talent) is rare. Meeting you is truly the fortune of my life! My name is Ziwei. Once you finish reading my works, customer, you must give me feedback!”
“…Do you live by Daming Lake?” Wen Ying couldn’t help but ask.
“Huh?” Ziwei paused. “My residence was indeed named Daming Lakefront by my Master. Besides my name, Master also gave me a pen name called Mingzhu (Pearl), but I don’t like it much, so I rarely use it… How did you know?”
Wen Ying: “…”
A master capable of writing such bizarre, melodramatic, trash-ending stories was indeed extraordinary.
Before Ziwei could get Wen Ying’s answer, her expression suddenly changed.
“Apologies, I have some matters to attend to, I must go first.” Ziwei said apologetically to Wen Ying. Even as she turned away, she didn’t forget to instruct Wen Ying, “Customer, remember to contact me in the future!”
Ziwei’s figure quickly disappeared into the distance.
She didn’t simply run out of sight. Wen Ying could sense it—that was teleportation magic.
She had left the Xun Xian Sect.
Ziwei… another brand-new character.
This market was indeed unusual.
Now that Ziwei was gone, Wen Ying looked at the pushcarts behind her and fell into deep thought again.
How should I dispose of this trash…
Just as Wen Ying was debating whether to burn these carts or chop them into firewood for Wang Goudan to cook with, a young man’s voice sounded in her ear.
“Senior Sister, how much for a cart?”
The voice… sounded familiar, but not one she had heard recently.
Wen Ying looked up and saw an acquaintance standing before her.
It was the male lead of the no-CP secret identity novel, Cheng Fan from Wuji Residence.
At this moment, Cheng Fan did not know Wen Ying yet.
But…
How did he mistake her for a shopkeeper selling carts?
Wen Ying looked around herself—
Behind her was a pile of carts, forced upon her because she couldn’t litter.
In front of her was a stall, left behind because Ziwei left in a hurry.
It seemed… she did look a little like… a cart seller.
After all, a normal person wouldn’t bring over a dozen carts just to buy things.
Wen Ying intended to explain to Cheng Fan that she wasn’t selling carts, but on second thought, selling them was indeed a better way to deal with this large trash.
Not only did it save the trouble of chopping wood or burning them, but ultimately, these carts were still usable. Selling them would definitely make better use of their residual value than chopping them up.
“How much do you think one is worth?” Wen Ying asked Cheng Fan back.
Saying she’d give them away for free would inevitably raise suspicion, so Wen Ying simply went along with Cheng Fan’s assumption.
“Five hundred low-grade spirit stones.” Cheng Fan opened with a display of wealth.
Admittedly, on the surface, Cheng Fan was just an ordinary, bullied disciple of Wuji Residence. But in reality, he had a ton of secret identities.
For example, the richest man in Wuji City.
No wonder he needed to buy a cart; he must have bought too many things at the market.
“Five hundred it is.” Wen Ying nodded. “Pick any cart from the back.”
Just as Wen Ying was trading with Cheng Fan, City Management Officer Xu Mofeng finally appeared.
As a city management officer, he patrolled the entire market solemnly—
But he didn’t find any street stalls.
He naturally saw Wen Ying, but she was behind a legitimate shop conducting a very legitimate transaction, so he couldn’t find any fault.
Fine. As long as Wen Ying hasn’t touched the items sold by those street stalls, it’s fine.
The Master had only given him this one order. As for whether Wen Ying was selling things, he didn’t want to meddle further.
After all, seeing Wen Ying annoyed him. It was always this person causing unexpected changes to his plans. But because the Trial of Immortals Assembly hadn’t ended yet, he couldn’t kick Wen Ying out of the Xun Xian Sect.
He could endure.
After the Xun Xian Assembly… kicking her out would be the least of her worries.
Wen Ying glanced at Xu Mofeng seemingly inadvertently.
Heh, him? Xu Mofeng wants to lay a vicious hand on me?
Better worry about his own life first.
【Host, Host! Be careful! I sense that the missions for the Second Female Lead in the Farming Novel, the No-CP Secret Identity Novel, and the True Daughter Novel are all approaching!】
Wen Ying wasn’t sure if those missions were approaching.
But Wen Ying knew that Xu Huang was approaching.
Ever since returning from the trial, Xu Huang seemed to have become increasingly unhinged, and her inner voice was getting louder and noisier.
Most likely, she had unleashed her true nature that day in the garden trash pile. Now, whenever she got close, it was like Wen Ying had a vegetable-selling loudspeaker next to her ear. It gave her a headache.
Recommended Reads
