Yuan Qi looked Xiao Ran over again.

At the age of seventeen or eighteen, a time when one should be full of vigor and ambition, he had the appearance of someone much older than himself. His composed demeanor, experienced manner, and calm eyes all indicated his control over the situation.

His face was sickly pale, clearly unhealthy, and he was excessively thin, leading Yuan Qi to suspect that he was sometimes hungry and sometimes full, and probably couldn't even eat three meals a day normally.

Xiao Ran coughed lightly twice, covering her mouth. Yuan Qi couldn't help but worry that this person was coughing up her lungs.

Green Bamboo quickly moved a stool over, and Red Fir brought a teacup and poured tea for Xiao Ran.

“Your body… is so frail.” Yuan Qi stood up and helped you up.

Xiao Ran thanked her with a faint smile: "Thank you, Miss Seven. Although I am weak, I will not be blown away by a gust of wind. You don't need to worry so much."

Yuan Qi guessed what was going on. These two people had come to her for treatment. She was just a Taoist doctor, not a deity. She was also worried when she saw such a broken body.

Yuan Qi couldn't help but feel sorry for Xiao Ran. Despite being born into royalty and being the Empress's eldest son, he was so weak. It was a waste of the identity that Heaven had given him.

In the end, it all comes down to this person's bad luck. Yuan Qi secretly observed Xiao Ran's face and found that his children's palace was dim, indicating that he would probably have no children in his life and that he would also have a short life.

"I wonder what business Your Highness and the Princess have with me this time?" No matter the occasion, Yuan Qi was too lazy to exchange pleasantries.

Princess Liyue and Xiao Ran exchanged a glance, and Xiao Ran spoke up: "Seventh Miss, I heard that you have a kind of red spiritual fruit that is very effective in strengthening the body. I would like to buy some from you."

The other party was sincere and also quite pitiful.

But luck wasn't on my side.

Yuan Qi, despite his sympathy for Xiao Ran, could not help him: "It's really unfortunate, I have no more Red Spirit Fruits left. Your Highness arrived too late. More than half a year ago, I gave away or sold all the Red Spirit Fruits."

Xiao Ran and Princess Li Yue were indeed very disappointed, and Xiao Ran even looked somewhat pained.

But in the blink of an eye, the eunuch behind Xiao Ran placed the brocade box in front of Yuan Qi and opened it.

Inside was a thick stack of gold notes, all in denominations of one hundred taels.

This stack must contain at least a hundred sheets.

That's ten thousand taels of gold.

Wealth can be very tempting.

Xiao Ran suppressed her regret and looked at Yuan Qi calmly: "I would like to trouble Seventh Miss to find some more for me."

Yuan Qi glanced at it again, and it did indeed tempt her. So much gold was enough for Fusang Temple to provide porridge and relief to the poor for more than half a year, and it could also provide medical treatment and medicine to benefit the people.

Regardless of how Xiao Ran knew she had the Red Spirit Fruit, Yuan Qi felt she could save him because of Xiao Ran's noble status and the fact that he hadn't done anything immoral.

"Alright, I'll accept these. However, the Red Spirit Fruit grows in the mountains and ridges where spiritual energy is abundant. The terrain where it grows is dangerous, and it only bears fruit once every hundred years. It's not something Your Highness can just have whenever you want it. Your Highness, please wait patiently for a while. Once the goods are available, I will personally deliver them to you."

Xiao Ran and Princess Liyue smiled with delight. Xiao Ran added, "If Miss Seven trusts me, I can send someone to accompany her. Moreover, this is only half of the deposit. The other half will be paid after the matter is settled."

Yuan Qi raised his hand to refuse: "No, no, no, I bought the Red Spirit Fruit from someone else. It doesn't need Your Highness's people. That place is thousands of miles away from here, and it's not an ordinary place. Let alone Your Highness's people, even I would find it quite difficult to go there."

Xiao Ran looked at Yuan Qi with great admiration: "Could it be that Miss Seven knows an immortal?"

Yuan Qi chuckled and replied, "I suppose I could be considered an immortal."

Is Huang Xian considered an immortal?

"This red spirit fruit is quite effective for Your Highness's health. I wonder how Your Highness knew that I had this and that it would be useful to you?"

Xiao Ran gently shook her head: "Seventh Miss runs a fortune-telling stall on Tianshui Street. Once, I also wanted to have my fortune told to see if I would ever recover. Unfortunately, Seventh Miss wasn't setting up her stall that day, so I had to give up and just ate a bowl of noodles at the noodle stall next door. I heard that a little girl who ate the red fruit given to her by Seventh Miss was able to speak again even though she was mute. I've been thinking about getting some from Seventh Miss ever since. What if it works for me too?"

Yuan Qi understood: "So it was Mei Zi. No wonder, many people know that Mei Zi can talk, so it's normal that Your Highness has heard of it."

Jiang Jiulu and Jiang Songlu listened from the side, completely confused. They had never seen Yuan Qi have any Red Spirit Fruit, but Jiang Jiulu did know that Mei Zi used to be mute, but later became mute.

Both of them felt very uncomfortable because Yuan Qi would rather give good things to outsiders than to them.

However, seeing that Xiao Ran used so many gold notes to buy this Red Spirit Fruit, the two felt that the Red Spirit Fruit was very rare. No matter what Yuan Qi was like in the past, after Yuan Qi got the Red Spirit Fruit this time, they must try a few.

After finishing their business, the girls chatted excitedly together, creating a very friendly atmosphere.

Princess Liyue knew perfectly well that Ninth Prince was very likely interested in Yuan Qi, yet she remained calm and chatted casually with him as if nothing had happened. No matter how much she disliked Yuan Qi, she showed no sign of it on her face.

Yuan Qi originally intended to have the two of them stay for lunch, but Princess Liyue and Xiao Ran left after sitting for a short while.

Yuan Qi knew that the matter of the Red Spirit Fruit could no longer be kept secret, so he told Xiangli Mingzhu the truth: "The Red Spirit Fruit was given by Huang Xian. It is extremely rare. It is quite an achievement that Seventh Prince was able to obtain the information."

Xiangli Mingzhu told her, "Although the Empress's eldest son cannot be the Crown Prince, and the Empress seems very low-key and docile, she is actually quite capable to have remained on the throne for so many years without being pushed off by the Feng family. It is said that the Empress has a group of spies who gather information, and those people are very capable. If Xiao Qi can be sold to the Seventh Prince, then let's sell him. Let's try to offend as few people as possible."

Yuan Qi hummed in agreement. Although she didn't know if what Xiangli Mingzhu said was true, she agreed with Xiangli Mingzhu's statement. If the Empress had no ability at all, she would have been killed by Consort Feng long ago.

After exchanging a few words, the two parted ways.

Jiang Songlu told Xiangli Mingzhu everything she had seen, and complained, "Mother, Seventh Sister has such good things but didn't give them to you, instead she gave them to that lowly commoner. She's really outrageous."

Xiangli Mingzhu was quite perceptive and didn't care: "Don't complain. We didn't get along well with her before, so it's normal that she didn't give us anything. I guess she'll give me a few Red Spirit Fruits this time. But she said they're extremely rare, so she probably won't give us many."

Jiang Songlu was still not very happy: "I don't know how many good things she has, Mother. She is still a layer away from you."