Xie Zhaofan’s brow quirked up slightly.
“These things of yours... I suspect they aren’t from a legitimate source, are they?”
The smile on the young man’s face instantly froze.
“The young miss must be joking. I only do honest business.”
“Honest business?”
Xie Zhaofan casually pointed at a few of the items. “These things have clearly just been dug out of the earth. I doubt even you know who they originally belonged to, do you?”
The young man gave two dry laughs. “The young miss truly has a sharp eye.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll report this to the authorities?”
To her surprise, the young man chuckled.
“You’re not that kind of person.”
“Oh?”
Xie Zhaofan’s interest was piqued.
The young man quickly cupped his hands. “This lowly one is called Zhang Erniu. I have no great talents, but I have a bit of a knack for reading people. One look at the young miss and I knew you weren’t the type to bully others with your status.”
Xie Zhaofan couldn’t help but smile; the fellow was quite a smooth talker.
“But you’re showing me these illicit goods. Aren’t you afraid that if I buy them, I’ll be buying trouble?”
“If you truly like them, you naturally have your ways of handling it.”
Zhang Erniu’s smile became even more fawning.
Xie Zhaofan didn’t respond, instead surveying the items with seemingly complete indifference.
On the surface, she remained calm, even showing a hint of disdain, but in reality, her mind was entirely focused.
The moment the cloth bundle had opened, she had noticed something abnormal.
One of the objects was emitting an incredibly striking blue glow.
That blue light was not as weak as a typical treasure’s; instead, it possessed a faint, profound quality. Even though it was partially obscured by other items, it was still clearly visible.
Xie Zhaofan’s heart skipped a beat.
I found it!
Although the system hadn’t directly given her a prompt like “Strength +1” as it had with the spiritual ginseng, she was absolutely certain this item was extraordinary.
Moreover, the brightness of that blue light was even more peculiar than the ginseng she had seen in Xie Jinyi’s room.
Xie Zhaofan calmly averted her gaze from the item, her expression remaining one of boredom.
“Just these pieces of junk?”
“Young miss, these are all—”
“That’s enough.”
Xie Zhaofan waved a hand, her tone filled with dismissiveness.
“I thought there might be some truly rare treasures here, but it turns out it’s just these old things dug out of the dirt.”
As she spoke, she stood up as if she were truly preparing to leave.
Zhang Erniu grew frantic, but how could he know that at this moment, Xie Zhaofan was laughing for joy in her heart?
She had finally found something that could trigger a reaction from the system.
Now the only question was—what exactly was that item?
And what kind of benefits would it bring her?
“Young miss, we beg of you, please show some mercy. To tell you the truth, we risked our lives to pull these out of an Ancient Tomb. One of our brothers was injured, and we’re waiting for silver to treat him!”
Seeing Xie Zhaofan turning to leave, the thin young man panicked. He no longer cared about hiding the origin of his goods and hurriedly blocked her path to explain.
Though he was bold enough to peddle illicit goods in such a chaotic place, he knew who he could provoke and who he absolutely could not.
Although the girl before him wore a veiled hat that obscured her face, her clothing, the maid and guards behind her, and the aura she carried all indicated she was no ordinary noble miss.
Normally, he would want to stay as far away from such high-ranking individuals as possible for fear of accidentally causing trouble, but today he was truly at his wit’s end.
They had entered the tomb hoping to strike it rich, but they hadn’t expected the traps inside to be so much more dangerous than imagined. They had barely managed to bring these things out alive.
One of his brothers had his leg sliced open by a trap, and the wound refused to heal. If it was delayed any longer, he might lose the leg entirely.
People like them lived on the edge. Money came easily, but it went just as fast.
Once they encountered something like this—requiring a large sum to hire a doctor and buy medicine—their meager savings couldn't possibly cover it.
“So that’s how it is!”
Xie Zhaofan stopped and looked at him through her veil, her tone gaining a hint of appreciation.
She had originally thought this group was just up to no good, but she hadn’t expected such a reason behind it.
“I didn’t realize you were someone so loyal. Tell me, how much does your brother need for his treatment?”
The thin young man clearly hadn’t expected her to ask this. He froze for a moment before hurriedly saying, “Not too much. The doctor said we need at least twenty taels. If the wound gets any worse, I’m afraid it will cost even more.”
As he spoke, he held up two fingers, his voice full of bitterness.
Upon hearing twenty taels, Xie Zhaofan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She had thought it would be more.
To her, twenty taels seemed like nothing more than two silver notes. She could take that out at a moment's notice; it wasn't a large sum at all.
But she had clearly forgotten that her current identity was the daughter of the Prime Minister’s residence. She usually dealt with high officials and nobles, so she couldn't truly understand what twenty taels meant to an ordinary citizen.
For a common family, working hard for an entire year might only save them a few taels. Twenty or thirty taels was enough for a family to live frugally for two or three years.
“Consider yourself lucky. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll just take two pieces of your junk to make up for the twenty taels.”
Xie Zhaofan didn't bother bargaining and directly turned to instruct Chunxing to pay.
“Miss!”
Chunxing couldn’t help but exclaim. She hurriedly lowered her voice to warn her, “This is twenty taels! Are you really going to give it to him?”
As a personal maid, her monthly salary was only two qian. Twenty taels was a nearly unreachable sum to her.
Yet the Second Young Miss was just giving it away without even blinking.
“Give it to him.”
Xie Zhaofan’s tone was flat, leaving no room for discussion.
Chunxing could only pull two ten-tael silver notes from her purse with a look of extreme pain and hand them to the thin young man.
The young man’s hands trembled as he took the notes. He clearly hadn’t expected this noble miss to actually be willing to pay twenty taels, let alone be so decisive about it.
He carefully confirmed the amount on the notes, unable to suppress the joy on his face. He hurriedly bowed deeply to Xie Zhaofan.
“Thank you, Young Miss! Thank you for your life-saving grace!”
“Don’t worry, Zhang Erniu will remember this kindness today. If there is a chance in the future, even if I have to go through fire or water, I will surely repay you!”
Xie Zhaofan waved her hand.
She didn't expect any repayment. Twenty taels was nothing to her, and if it could truly save a life, it was a good deed to accumulate some merit.
“Miss, if you like any of these, please take them all.”
Seeing how generous she was, Zhang Erniu simply pushed all the items on the ground toward her.
Rate on N.U.
