She acted as if she didn't know anything about what that person (Young Master Huang) had said a while ago; instead, she nodded.
--"Mom, Dad, first let me introduce you to Young Master Tang Yin. He was the one who helped me this time, and without him, I wouldn't have been able to come back so quickly and with results," she said as she pointed to Tang Yin.
--"Young Master, these are my parents," she said, and Tang Yin nodded at them.
--"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Tang Yin, and I met Miss Huang by chance. I came here because of her," he said calmly.
They then looked at him and just now noticed that there was someone else with them. But knowing that he was the one who helped their daughter to get what they needed, they should be polite.
'From his bearing, he's clearly a great cultivator. It's a blessing that our daughter has met such a person,' they both thought, so they respectfully introduced themselves.
The father's name is Huang Tu, and the mother, choosing to use the same surname as her husband, is now called Huang Fei, which is where the daughter's name came from.
--"I heard that they sent the lady in search of bamboos. Before she arrived, I was already cutting the bamboos, as I had found them by chance. But seeing that she had made such a long journey, and I needed to come to this place, I decided to ask for her help to guide me, and so I would give her half of the bamboos I could get," he said with a smile, and Huang Feifei's parents were a little surprised. For a moment, they felt some regret.
'Only half? How much would they get?' they thought, but soon Tang Yin waved his hand, dropping several piles of bamboo into the huge room.
In a minute, 200 pieces of bamboo, each one meter long, were piled up in this place.
--"It's 200 pieces of bamboo, each one is a meter long. I think they can be sold very well," he said matter-of-factly.
Anyone who saw him like this could not tell that he was lying.
Even Huang Feifei was amazed at Tang Yin's acting ability. It came so naturally to him to lie, she thought. But she was happy that this was the case.
And her parents, when they heard this, were stunned.
--"Two... Two hundred?" they asked in shock, and Tang Yin nodded to them again, matter-of-factly.
--"We got a total of 400 pieces of bamboo. Miss Huang can testify to this. It's 200 for me and 200 for you. How about it?" said Tang Yin again with a calm smile, although they could not see it.
They, though stunned, were money-loving businessmen, so they immediately smiled and nodded repeatedly.
"Haha, of course, of course, thank you very much, Young Master, for such a gift. Don't worry, we won't treat you badly. You can stay here whenever you want," said the two of them. Tang Yin nodded, then glanced at Huang Feifei, prompting her to stand up.
"Thank you very much, Young Master," she said as she bowed, then raised her head again.
"May I ask what your plans are at this time?" she asked. Tang Yin thought for a moment.
"I plan to go to the Alchemists' Association. There's someone there I need to see. If I can't come in the evening, I'll come to greet you in a few days," Tang Yin said with a smile.
Huang Feifei was surprised, and so were her parents.
'My goodness, do you have any contact with the Alchemist Association?' the two of them thought.
The Alchemist Association is one of the most powerful entities in the city. They have deep roots and are only second in status to the Divine Sun Hall, even above the Cultivator Families that rule the city. They hold significant power and prestige.
Anyone who has contact with that place holds power.
However, after a moment's thought, Huang Feifei didn't find it strange that Tang Yin had contact with them.
After all, she had witnessed many incredible things during her few days with him, and his incredible strength despite lacking cultivation showed that he was once an unparalleled genius of the South. Even if they were far from the south, it was still possible that he knew someone or had some status to join the Alchemist Association in this region. So, she nodded in understanding.
Although she didn't expect that Tang Yin was actually lying.
He had only done so because he noticed a strange expression in Huang Feifei's parents' eyes when he told them about the 200 pieces of bamboo. They seemed to be planning something, and he didn't want them to interfere with his target before he could accomplish what he needed to. That's why he had to lie, and what better way than to use the Alchemists' Association as a cover? If they wanted proof, he could provide plenty because, in his past life, he was a great genius alchemist. They were the perfect excuse to lie.
After that little episode, Tang Yin asked for directions and left the house.
There were things he had to take care of.
'It's better to have something for defense and assassination...' He thought to himself and left the place in the direction of the city's Alchemist Association.
...
Inside Huang Feifei's house, after setting everything up, her parents called her to talk to her for a moment about some important things.
--"Daughter, we have sold the house to Divine Sun Hall. They have already given us the money, and in a week's time, it will officially become theirs," Huang Fei said.
Huang Feifei looked at her in surprise.
--"What? Why did you sell it? This is the house that grandfather and grandmother left us. Why sell it?" she asked doubtfully, and Huang Fei and Huang Tu sighed.
--"The day before yesterday, Lord Huang of the Huang Family came here with several cultivators. This time they left us at a dead end and asked us to marry you to his son by hook or crook... They would destroy our business. We know how much Young Master Huang is in love with you, but we also know that you don't reciprocate. Still, we were forced to sign that compromise agreement. We cannot abandon our business," she said again, and Huang Feifei, who already knew more or less what might have happened, did not get upset. Instead, she clenched her teeth tightly, and her hands shook a little.
--"You don't mind selling me out just to save the business?" she asked, her voice sounding a little broken with grief.
Huang Fei and Huang Tu saw her and did not deny what she had said.
--"You know this business has been in our family for generations. We can't let the ancestors down." They both replied with a sigh, and Huang Feifei took several deep breaths to calm down.
--"So, will I have to marry someone who raped and murdered my best friend, whom I treated like a sister?" she asked coldly, as tears streamed down her face.
They both gave a small sigh, but after a moment, they shook their heads.
--"At first, that might have been the case, but now that you seem to have found a person who can back you up, we won't force you. Here..." Huang Tu said and handed her a small black card with white on it.
--"There are 800 spiritual gold coins there, use them to go to the Blizzard Empire. The Huang Family, although powerful, only has influence in the nearby cities. Once you get to the Blizzard Empire, they won't be able to do anything to you. Besides, if you go with the help of that Young Master, I'm sure you'll be able to stand out. We'll try to distract the Huang Family a bit so you can leave these days," he spoke.
This surprised Huang Feifei, and she looked up to see him.
--"They want me to go to the Blizzard Empire? Didn't they already almost have the pass for me to enter the Red Wind Imperial Academy? How could I give up the chance to go there? I can't accept it," she said. By the end, she was practically shouting.
Besides, what made her angrier was that they were giving her 800 gold coins when she had to risk her life to get those bamboo pieces.
Those 200 pieces of bamboo she had given them were already worth much more than those 800 gold coins, and this house they had just sold should be worth more than 10,000 gold coins. She was supposed to own half of it, and the other half was going to her brother, but they were only giving her 800 gold coins?
What the hell was going on?
Huang Tu let out a sigh again.
--"I'm sorry, daughter, but if you don't want to marry into the Huang Family, then you can only go somewhere else. Your brother already left yesterday for the Green Cloud Empire, and we will be leaving there soon. Taking you with us would be a problem for you because you don't like trade. So, it's best for you to go to the Blizzard Empire. With 800 gold coins, you can live quietly there, and you can become a cultivator as you want," he spoke.
In this, he was no longer trying to give her news; he was giving her an order.
His tone of voice was firm and strong, and it even scared Huang Feifei a little.
She stared at them.
--"You say I can become a cultivator with a mere 800 Spiritual Gold Coins? Although that may work for other people, it may be difficult for me. They charge me 400 or 500 Gold coins in the Divine Sun Hall to help me obtain the first Spiritual Bone. How can I live on 300 Gold coins? Wasn't half of the price of this house supposed to belong to me? Now that they sold it, why don't I see that half?" At this point, she was already upset and stood up to speak to them like this.
But her parents didn't back down.
They just shook their heads.
--"Daughter, you know we are merchants. We need money to make our family powerful in the future. So, we can't give you so much money. All that money is already taken by your brother, and soon we will go to him. This is all the money we can give you," they said, and Huang Feifei started to look at her parents as if she did not know them.
Despite knowing that her parents were money-loving and put money above her, she never expected it to be so.
At her wit's end, she simply looked at the bamboo.
--"So, I want these bamboo pieces. I risked my life to get them. I was chased by several packs of wild beasts and almost died. If it wasn't for the Young Master who saved and helped me, neither I nor those bamboos would be here. I think that's why they already belong to me, at least half of them," she said. But at this point, her father only let out a snort.
--"Hmph, if we hadn't given you the information, do you think you would have had the chance to see ancient spiritual bamboo in your life? You even got to meet an interesting Young Master as a result of that, and you want to take our share from me? Don't you have a beautiful face that you inherited from your mother? Why don't you use it to seduce that Young Master? I can see that he is rich, powerful, and well-connected. If you associate with him, our family will be able to rise. But here you are, paying attention to every nonsense about your cultivation when you can't even cultivate properly," Huang Tu replied coldly.
He was not going to allow her, his daughter, to set her eyes on his ancient spiritual bamboo.
In this city, selling them was the same as giving them away, but in the Green Cloud Empire, the price was unbeatable.
They would become immensely rich selling so many. How could they allow their incompetent daughter to have them?
--"Besides, it's already decided. We'll be leaving shortly. The house will be vacated in 1 week, and those people might come looking for you then too. So, you'd better get out of here before it's too late," her father said coldly, and then both husband and wife got up and left with all the bamboo.
Huang Feifei was stunned when she heard this.
She was so stunned that she fell to the ground in shock and sadness.
…