Chapter 40: Chapter 40

That evening, Chu Li returned to an East Garden that was covered in the sunset where he saw Zhao Ying sat next to the stone tablet in his small courtyard, drinking tea. She was wearing her lake-green gown, and she looked incredibly gorgeous.

As Zhao Ying saw him, she stood up and smiled. “Brother, you’re a busy man!”

Chu Li smiled as he sat right opposite her, and he could faintly smell her perfume. He replied, “Junior Sister, what a welcome surprise! Anything happened over there?”

“Nothing.” Zhao Ying sat down again. “I’ve been doing some shopping. I didn’t realize that Chongming Town would be this big. I’m still not done with shopping! All of them are in a good mood, so 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?”

“That… It’s better off if you didn’t know.”

“How mysterious!” Zhao Ying rolled her eyes and stopped asking.

“What about the restaurant?”

“There’s still a little bit more to go.” Zhao Ying furrowed her brows. “The progress is quite slow! I think that they have a problem with their design because the place is simply too big! There won’t be that many customers visiting!”

Chu Li smiled.

“The location isn’t good for a shop as well, it’s too desolate.” Zhao Ying was a little worried. “Brother, why did you pick that spot? 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 didn’t start the restaurant because of the money.”

“If we lose money, they’ll be the ones feeling guilty and might blame it on themselves instead.”

“If we lose money, we’ll try something else. Who knows if we might be able to earn a lot from it too. Let’s go and hang around town for a bit.”

“Again?” Zhao Ying looked bitterly at Chu Li.

“Let’s go to the Floral House.”

“What for?” The statement suddenly piqued Zhao Ying’s 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 at had a lot of antique shops, just like the antique streets from his previous lives. If one had good eyesight and good luck, they may find a few nice things here and there.

Zhao Ying was ambivalent.

The both of them left the Public House and arrived at Chongming Town.

There were bright red lanterns hung all over the town that made Chongming Town look as if it was still daytime. The hustling and bustling street was full of carriages and people. Moreover, the sounds of adults bargaining and children playing echoed throughout the street, making it ever so lively.

Chu Li and Zhao Ying quickly moved to a quiet street from the main one and walked into an antique shop.

With the Omniscient Mirror complimenting Chu Li’s very knowledgeable self, it made searching for antiques as easy as simply taking items out of his backpack. He would find some antiques from the shops and buy it with the price of a counterfeit. Subsequently, he would clean it then and there before he sold it to another shop as a genuine antique.

After they went past five shops, Chu Li had already earned a hundred silver. Zhao Ying was clearly stunned.

As the both of them walked on the streets, Zhao Ying shook the banknotes in her hands while she smiled like a flower. “Brother, this money was so easily earned!”

Chu Li smiled. “Knowledge is money!”

He tried to regulate himself, to earn a small profit out of what he had sold instead of a huge amount so that he did not attract attention. If anyone had caught him, it would be hard for him to use this method for easy money in the future. He needed to work on it inch by inch, rather than hammering in on a maximum profit.

“I actually learned something!” Zhao Ying sighed.

She never had the chance to experience it. She believed that knowing so much did not make a difference as long as her martial art skills were good enough, because martial arts was still the key factor during important times. However, she lamented that she had looked down on knowledge after she had witnessed how easy it was for Chu Li to earn money.

She then made up her mind that she would study diligently after she returned to the Public House.

When the both of them entered the Floral House, there were two people picking out stuff around and the shopkeeper smiled at them.

Chu Li observed the area. There was a normal wooden basket that was filled with weird looking branches in it. The basket was suitable for a bonsai, but they were all rare plants.

The branches would cost ten silver each, but it did not matter how expensive they were. In the end, they were only dead branches and at most, it could only be a bonsai or an item that was carved on. It was impossible to bring them back to life.

However, Chu Li recognized the two of them who were picking stuff out — it was Gu Litong and Zhou Yuting. They were both in such deep concentration in choosing the products that they did not care about whoever that came in.

Chu Li activated the Omniscient Mirror and scanned the branches. He searched for the information of the branches in his memory palace and tried to find out the history of these branches.

Just then, his eyesight fell onto what was in 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; the last one looked like it was metal, black and hard. Together, they formed a pretty ribbon with the combination 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 gave a faint cough.

Gu Litong lifted his head up as heard Chu Li’s voice. “How timely, Brother Chu!”

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“Did Brother Gu Litong find anything?”

Gu Litong held up the branches. “It’s just a something to fool around with.”

Chu Li smiled. “Let’s make a deal, why not you give them to me, and we can discuss the price.”

“Hehe!” Gu Litong laughed.

At that time, Zhou Yuting glared at Chu Li. “What for?”

Then, he looked at Zhao Ying. “What is this… Sister Zhao Ying? Are you now hooked with Chu Li?”

Zhao Ying’s face instantly blushed.

For a moment, Chu Li’s happy expression faded away. “You’d better be careful of your words, Brother Zhou Yuting.”

“Why do I have to be careful? Am I wrong?” Zhou Yuting laughed. “You have 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, I won’t treat the people who spread rumors like this nicely.”

“Hehe, I’m the only one who said it, so why 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 at Gu Litong. “Brother Gu Litong, mingling yourself with people like this who likes to cause trouble will only make you seem like one of his kind.”

“Zhou Yuting didn’t say anything wrong.” Gu Litong smiled cunningly. “Brother Chu is indeed amazing since you have the ability to snatch away Zhuo Feiyang’s woman, and I admire that!”

Zhao Ying took a deep breath and yelled, “Shut up!”

Both of them were startled, and Chu Li looked at her with surprise as well. He had never expected someone as gentle as her to have such a huge temper; he thought it was quite interesting.

Zhao Ying’s face was blazing red and her bright eyes widened as she pointed at Zhou Yuting and scolded him, “Sure, you’re a big man but all you do is gossip from day to night. Your ancestors must be rolling in their graves.”

Zhou Yuting widened his eyes.

However, Zhao Ying continued to scold him, “Chu Li, Zhuo Feiyang, and I are all classmates. We’ve trained in the martial arts together, we go shopping together, and that makes me their woman? If that is how it works, then you’d be considered Brother Gu Litong’s man!”

“Junior Sister Zhao Ying!” Gu Litong quickly stopped her.

Chu Li waved his hands. “That’s enough, let’s all stop talking!”

He pointed at the three branches in which Gu Litong was holding. “Shopkeeper, has he paid for those yet?”

“Hehe, not yet,” the shopkeeper said with a smile as he looked at him with glittering eyes. He then recognized that it was Chu Li and he mumbled bitterly under his breath, “Not another one from the Public House again!”

“Good. This one… I’ll buy it for a hundred taels!” Chu Li pointed at the branch that was as hard as pine.

The shopkeeper quickly muttered, “Thank you, Sir!”

Chu Li looked over at Gu Litong. “Do you want this, Brother Gu Litong?”

Gu Litong just stared at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper gave a fist salute as an apology and he smiled. “Sorry sir, I don’t have a choice. I only own a small business! A small business!”

Gu Litong sneered. “Two hundred taels!”

“Then this belongs to Brother Gu Litong!” Chu Li quickly said. He then pointed at the other branch that looked like an old man with a long beard. “This one for a hundred taels too.”

“Two hundred taels!” Gu Litong sneered at the same time.

“Brother Gu Litong is so generous! If that’s the case, this belongs to Brother Gu Litong too!” Chu Li smiled at his efficient dealing. He again pointed at the third one and smiled. “Five hundred taels!”

Gu Litong clenched his teeth and stared at him. However, he understood Chu Li’s intent. He was trying to avenge Zhao Ying by scamming him!

He sneered and tossed the metal-like branch to Chu Li. “It’s yours now!”

Chu Li held out his hand to take it, his brows furrowed.

Gu Litong laughed happily. “The feeling of cheating someone’s money sure feels great!”

“Brother!” Zhao Ying pulled his sleeve. Her pretty face was still red and angry.

Chu Li shook his head, looked at the branch in his hand, and shook his head again.

Zhou Yuting laughed out loud.

Chu Li stepped up and Zhou Yuting puffed his chest out without fear, glancing at him sideways.

Chu Li lowered his voice. “Brother Zhou Yuting, I wonder what will happen if I told Mr. Zhou about your residence in the southeast regions of town, and that there were women living in it?”

Zhou Yuting’s expression changed; his smile stiffened.

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 on the northwest side of the town as well? What will that do?”

“How dare you!” Zhou Yuting’s face darkened and he glared at Chu Li.

Chu Li smirked as he shook his head. “With what you have, 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 glared at Zhou Yuting as she happily walked out of the Floral House.