Chapter 10 Gold Bricks: Appearance Matters More Than Just Looks

The heir of the Prince of Pingnan also fell silent.

"How much?"

The trusted aide lowered his head and replied, "130,000 taels of silver."

The heir of the Prince of Pingnan sneered, "Are they trying to take advantage of our Prince of Pingnan's family?"

“Tell them that we will only pay a maximum of 30,000 taels. As for the rest, let them file a complaint against us.”

A moment later, another trusted aide came before the heir of the Prince of Pingnan's mansion.

"Your Highness, Miss Xiu has entered the Yiqing Garden. The madam recognized her as one of ours through her 'Flying Immortal' technique and sent someone to inquire if there are any new tasks assigned to her?"

"Yiqing Garden? What would a young lady like her be doing at a brothel? Could she be trying to find out some information?"

After a moment's thought, the Prince of Pingnan replied, "Tell the people at Yiqing Garden not to worry about it. If she has any requests, try to fulfill them as long as they don't interfere with our grand plan."

"yes."

With a wave of his hand dismissing his trusted confidants, the Prince of Pingnan lost the will to continue practicing his swordsmanship.

Thinking of the news reported by his confidant, the heir of the Pingnan Prince's Mansion decided to go to the Lord of Baiyun City.

"Greetings, Master."

Ye Gucheng nodded slightly in response.

"Master, did the woman I brought over really learn the Celestial Immortal Technique in just half a day?"

“It wasn’t half a day,” Ye Gucheng continued before the Prince of Pingnan could even breathe a sigh of relief, “To be precise, he learned it after only glancing at the manual a few times.”

"!!!"

"Is there really such a martial arts prodigy in the world?"

Ye Gucheng also fell silent.

"So you really are here."

Just as the two were silent, a clear voice suddenly rang out. They looked up and saw the woman who had only left the place a little over half a day ago standing on the courtyard wall, looking at them.

The original pink dress had disappeared, replaced by a golden exotic outfit. The mid-length top was worn, with red tassels adorned with pearls, and below the pearls was a slender waist that could be encircled with one hand.

Her lower body was clad in a long, golden skirt that reached her ankles, with a string of silver bells faintly visible at the ankles.

The woman lightly leaped down from the wall and walked straight to the heir of the Prince of Pingnan's residence. She produced a pink handkerchief from somewhere and stuffed it into the heir's arms.

"You, you, you..."

He should have scolded her loudly, but a feeling of pity welled up from somewhere, and the Prince of Pingnan couldn't help but blush.

He stammered, "Why are you dressed like this?"

He proudly twirled around, showing off his amazing find: "This is a new outfit that the slim-waisted lady gave me, isn't it beautiful?"

"What kind of behavior is this! What kind of young lady dresses like this!"

"Why don't any girls dress like this anymore? It looks so good. Once I post this, all the girls in JX3 will have the same free outfit in less than a day."

Unable to persuade the Prince of Pingnan, who had just revealed his extraordinary adventure, he was about to turn to his master for help when he suddenly realized that Ye Gucheng, who had been standing next to him, had already disappeared.

Seeing that he still looked like he couldn't accept it, she spoke up rather unhappily about her extraordinary encounter.

"If you don't like it, don't watch it. I like it anyway."

"Change it," the Prince of Pingnan took a deep breath, "I'll pay more!"

"Still ten thousand taels?" Showing off the extraordinary encounter immediately changed his attitude.

The heir apparent of the Prince of Pingnan spat out a single word through gritted teeth: "Yes!"

“However, new clothes must be appropriate, like your previous outfit…” Before he could finish speaking, the Prince of Pingnan suddenly remembered that the previous outfit was actually a bit daring, and quickly changed his tone: “I will have someone bring new clothes over later, and you will have to wear those clothes from now on.”

*********

Having unexpectedly discovered some new information, Show-off lingered in the Garden of Elegance for a while, watching the beautiful women dance. He then showered the NPC ladies with compliments before finally getting up to leave.

Slender Waist: "Wait a minute, miss."

Slender Waist: "You are the first woman who doesn't look down on me. You seem to really like the clothes I'm wearing. I have a new one that I can give to you."

"Really?" Showed off her delighted surprise.

Slim waist: "Of course it's true."

The NPC lady left for a while, and after a cup of tea, she came back in with a new outfit.

This outfit is similar in style to the one worn by the NPC, only the colors are different. The NPC's outfit is red, while the outfit shown by the NPC is gold.

Excitedly, I changed into the new look, showed off my adventure by spinning around a few times, and was extremely satisfied.

She couldn't wait to clear the game levels and then post a message to show off her new look.

As for why it's not being released now?

"Haha, I still haven't received the final payment of 90,000 gold. Keep it low-key. If I post something and brag about it, the developers might suddenly realize that the task rewards are too high and change them off, which wouldn't be good."

"Keep a low profile, keep quiet, that's how you make a fortune!"

With this in mind, Xiu Chu decided to go find Lu Xiaofeng and give him the new clue. This would surely save him a lot of time.

However, before that, Xiuchu glanced at the nearly expired mandarin duck handkerchief in her backpack.

"Let's go and raise the boss's favor first. It's not common to see such a generous NPC. Who knows, he might give out gold coins again sometime."

Exit the Celestial Immortal skill interface, show off your adventure, and use your great lightness skill to fly towards the house you just visited.

Before she could land, she saw the name of the Prince of Pingnan's heir appear in the focus list. She quickly clicked the emergency descent button and landed directly on the courtyard wall.

"So you really are here."

Jump directly to the Prince of Pingnan's heir, select the target, and click on the Mandarin Duck Handkerchief to start using it.

Prince Pingnan's heir: "You you you..."

Prince Pingnan's Crown Prince: "Why are you dressed like this?"

He proudly twirled around, showing off his amazing find: "This is a new outfit that the slim-waisted lady gave me, isn't it beautiful?"

The Crown Prince of Pingnan exclaimed, "What kind of behavior is this! What kind of young lady dresses like this!"

This NPC seems rather old-fashioned and clearly doesn't appreciate this outfit. He's a little unhappy about showing off his unexpected encounter.

"If you don't like it, don't watch it. I like it anyway."

Prince Pingnan's Heir Apparent: "Change it, I'll pay more!"

Showing off an extraordinary encounter commands our utmost respect.

"I was careless. It was actually our esteemed VIP boss!"

He tentatively asked, "Is it still ten thousand taels?"

Prince Pingnan's Heir Apparent: "Yes!"

Unaware that the other person's tone was off, he proudly showed off his amazing adventure, opening his backpack to admire his increasing bank balance.

"Not counting the remaining 90,000 taels of silver I haven't received yet, this NPC has already given me a full three bricks. He's really rich! Isn't this better than me rebelling at the Taiji Palace?"

Showing off her extraordinary encounter, she looked at the Prince of Pingnan with extremely loving eyes.

Just as she was thinking about whether she could use the NPC's personality to change the swimsuit appearance and farm more gold bricks, she saw an even more exciting message bubble pop up.

The Prince of Pingnan said, "However, new clothes should be appropriate, like the one you wore before..."

The Prince of Pingnan said, "I'll have some new clothes brought over later. You'll have to wear those clothes from now on."

There's even a new look!

Show off your extraordinary encounter and decisively abandon your previous shameful thoughts.

"The BRICS are more appealing than their appearance."

She responded loudly, "I'll do whatever the boss says, I'm absolutely fine with it."

*********

After burying the Snake King's body, Lu Xiaofeng learned from the Snake King's subordinates that the Snake King had actually gathered the clues he needed and had gone to the scene of the incident alone to deliver the message to him.

“I dragged him down with me; he was silenced.” Lu Xiaofeng felt very heavy-hearted.

Hua Manlou patted Lu Xiaofeng on the shoulder and comforted him gently, "It's not your fault. If anyone is to blame, it's the murderer."

"We have no time to be depressed now. We must find evidence as soon as possible to bring the Embroidery Thief to justice and avenge the Snake King. Only in this way can we comfort the Snake King's spirit in heaven."

Lu Xiaofeng was indeed comforted. He wiped his face vigorously.

“You’re right. Since Jin Jiuling would kill someone to cover it up, it means that the direction we asked Snake King to investigate was correct. There must be a huge deficit in his assets. We need to find the evidence before he erases it.”

As he spoke, he stroked his beard, his mind racing.

"He only rides the best horses, drinks the strongest liquor, and seeks out the most beautiful girls. Perhaps we should go to the horse farm and brothels to ask him first."

"The best horse ranch in the capital is the Pegasus Ranch outside the city. Since it's not dark yet, we can go out of the city and explore it."

Having made up their minds, the two set off immediately.

People who can do horse business have very powerful backgrounds, and Jin Jiuling doesn't have the ability to kill them in such a short time.

Of course, this also means that it will be more difficult to obtain accounting information from the other party.

Fortunately, he had Hua Manlou with him.

The Hua family, being wealthy merchants in Jiangnan, had businesses all over the country and some connections with the horse farm owner. Moreover, a member of the Hua family held a high-ranking official position in the imperial court. The horse farm owner would have to give them face, no doubt.

Through his connection with the Hua family, Lu Xiaofeng successfully learned from the horse farm owner how much Jin Jiuling spent on purchasing horses each year.

“A good horse can actually have a long lifespan, but Kim Gu-ryung has always prided himself on riding only the best horses. Therefore, he comes to us every year to buy new horses.”

"However, the old horses are not wasted. He will sell them to us at a discount, which can offset part of his expenses. Therefore, the amount of money spent on our horse farm every year is about 20,000 taels."

"So expensive?" Lu Xiaofeng, who never pursued fine horses, was somewhat surprised.

"Actually, it's not that expensive. This amount includes the cost of fodder. The fodder for top-quality horses is different from that for ordinary horses and needs to be grown by a specialist. If it weren't for the old horse that he had to pay, he would have to spend at least 30,000 taels of silver more each year."

Hua Manlou nodded.

Although he didn't care about the quality of the horses, the Hua family's financial situation meant he had some understanding of these things.

"Indeed, the best horses will only eat king grass. This kind of grass is very difficult to raise. Just one basket of horse grass will cost more than ten taels of silver. If you add other materials, the cost of horse grass alone will be more than three thousand taels a year."

A note from the author:

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