Reincarnation to the Past

Chapter 80

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Yǔ's POV

"What does she want from sister Lien???" inquired Ying Yue, not in the least concerned.

"Hmm..." I hummed, taking my sweet time to guess before tilting my head innocently. "Would she be willing to kowtow three times and accept me as her master??" I suggested picking a childish yet humiliating dare. If I go for something too troublesome, then it could prove problematic for me.

Li Lien (horrified): You... What on earth are you suggesting??? How could you make your sister go through such humiliation??? 

Me (tilting my head in confusion): But isn't having my fiancée court another woman humiliating me??? And sister values her prestige over all else, so to make things fair. Of course, if sister is afraid, she can always say no (shrugs)

At that, all the onlookers closed in with interest. Given the high stakes involved, they were more than interested in seeing who'd lose and the consequences they'd be bound to face. Both wagers were extremely humiliating, for me having my fiancée court another woman openly and my sister at that. And for my sister, the fact that she had to do something as humiliating as kowtowing to me three times and then accepting me, who was in the 'lower foundational realm' as opposed to her, who was in the upper heaven realm, as her master.

Li Lien (gritting her teeth): Let's do it...

"Goody... But first, let's change the terms of the bet. We will each pick three stones and have them opened and sell them at the highest bid to those present, and the winner will be the one with the highest overall bid with all the separate bids added together." I suggested masking my smirk, as a cunning idea crossed my mind. This will not only crash all her hopes and humiliate her for trying to touch my man, but it will also get me lots of money in the process.

Lien smirked at me in confidence as she agreed. She must have thought that the rules were more beneficial to her than the previous rules since anyone would be willing to buy a stone from her just because she was the favored and highly talented daughter of the Li household, while I, the disgraced child, would not be able to make a sale. And it was true; no one here would be willing to buy from me because of my ruined reputation as well as the fact that they wouldn't risk getting on Lien's bad side, which was what Lien was holding on to...

But something like that has an easy fix... Just give them something they absolutely can't and wouldn't dare to refuse, and the little fishies will bite. After all, there is a reason why greed is included among the seven most deadly sins that man can possess. And in this case, nothing is more reliable than human greed.

We both separated in different directions to select our three ores and had two servants of the den accompany us to help move the larger stones. I pointed the servants to three of the largest stones present in the den, set on random tables, which were brought and put on a table. Lien smirked at my choices while the two beside her chuckled, thinking that I had randomly picked the stones because of their size.

I watched as Lien picked out her stones after I was through. She picked two small stones and a medium-sized one, two of which contained a good amount of qi, before walking back to a table adjacent to mine that had been set for us and placing the stones on it. It wasn't uncommon for bets like this to be carried out in the den, so the merchants would ensure that all we required would be available, like the tables and the carver.

The carver dramatically brought the hammer to one of the small ores and broke open Lien's first rock, which proved to be a common ore, resulting in a symphony of 'oohs'. And as the carver came towards my table, I controlled the mist to make him choose the furthest rock, which also wound up being common.

Returning to Lien's table, he opened her second rock, and a dense aura, belonging to Artemis, spilled out. On the inside of the ore, there was a fine moonstone with the qi held within. Now, even if people didn't have the said qi, that doesn't mean they wouldn't buy it because, as long as the aura is strong, they could sell it for an even astronomical price to those who did. They could even auction them off or even use them to create jewelry, so it wasn't surprising when a whole hoard of people started flooding us with bids. Lì pulled me closer to keep me from getting trampled. Her second stone finally went for 1,500 gold taels.

My second stone also wound up being a common rock, which made everyone super confident of my loss. The two posses were grinning from ear to ear; Lien was trying to hide her smirk with a straight face, while Bai Zou had a worried look in his eyes. Lì, on the other hand, smiled down at me with a look of complete confidence.

"Get ready to lose your fiancée!" Ying Yue whispered snarkily, coming closer to me as the carver returned to Lien's final rock, which contained a fine gold crystal, going for up to twice the previous price, her total coming up to 4500 gold teals.

I skillfully masked my smirk into anxiousness as the carver broke into my final rock. The second the crystal was exposed, the sheer pressure from the waves of qi being exuded forced all of us to take a few steps back. The carver dropped the hammer onto his feet in shock.

"Th-tha-that's..." exclaimed one of the onlookers in such disbelief that he was unable to complete the sentence.

"That's a dream crystal..." gasped another, staring at the clear blue crystal.

While I have no idea what a dream crystal is, I had purposely picked one of the very few rocks that exuded the strongest amount of aura in the whole tent, with the total number being about ten or so. And I purposely picked one that exuded Hermes' aura because I had noticed a certain person who was dressed lavishly and shared the same aura, who instantly showed interest in the rock.

I brought my hands to my mouth and gasped in shock while watching the corner of Lien's lips tremble in hatred while the other two's eyes shone in fear.

"I will buy this stone off you for 50,000 gold teals," announced the man instantly; without allowing anyone else to bid, anyone who wanted it instantly backed off. Knowing the purpose of the bet, he didn't waste any time offering the price, which was forty-five thousand five hundred gold taels more than what was given to Lien. I gasped again while nodding to him, this time truly taken aback, as the man motioned for a servant to come to him.

"He's the richest and most successful merchant in the country, from the Nan family. Even though he's in his mid-forties, he's upheld the reputation of his family, which has been established and maintained for five generations. He's known for making successful investments and taking risks as long as the profit is high, as well as for the trustworthiness of his word." Bai Zou informed in a soft voice as Mr. Nan took a piece of paper, wrote on it, and handed it to me.

"Unfortunately, I have spent all the money that I brought with me, so I can only give you this. If you show this to any of my shops, the owners will give you what is due." He said in a business-like tone. I glanced at Lì, who nodded, before accepting the paper with a thankful smile. Almost instantly, he parted ways as I was reading the contents of the paper, which said that I was owed fifty thousand gold taels and the receiver was supposed to pay them on his behalf. It was signed by him too, in order to ensure its authenticity.

"Now then... Isn't someone supposed to fulfill a certain dare???" I remarked, turning to the three, who looked like they wanted to escape from here, as my lips curled upwards in a smirk. All three ladies flinched in horror, especially Lien, at the thought of having to bear the humiliation.

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How was the chapter??

I'll be following a weekly update pattern for the most part, so the next chapter will be either on the coming Saturday or Sunday. Look forward to it. And don't forget to vote, comment and follow.

Once again, Happy New Year everyone. Thanks for sticking with me for the past years (especially while I went AWOL on you all), and I hope you all will continue to stick with me for the years to come and enjoy RTTP as well as any other books I write.

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