Chapter 88 She's Gone Mad (Part 1)

  "Madam Yu?" Su Mo's eyes slanted slightly.

  "Not bad," one of the female attendants said with a haughty expression.

  "It's Madame." Another maid spoke in a calm and gentle tone.

  "Is it the lady of Musou Castle?" Su Mo asked in a calm and composed tone.

  "Not bad, Madam Huan invites you over for tea." The gentle and elegant female servant said quietly.

  "The young lady, having tea with the madam is not an opportunity that everyone has." Another female servant's expression was indifferent and arrogant. She was more proud than the newly selected female servant next to Madam. After all, she was the most senior female servant, and many people were respectful when they heard the name of Musou Castle, she had long been accustomed to being admired and respected by everyone, and over time, she felt that her status was also extraordinary.

  However, Su Mo's tone was cold and detached, his eyes gleaming like water, "But I still have something to do, let Lady Yu wait for a moment."

  "Who?" The two female attendants' eyes immediately showed an expression of incredulity.

  The maid with a calm face hastily said: "Madam has been waiting for a long time, she had us come over and wait last night."

  The expression of that proud female attendant was the most complex, hastily saying: "Actually making Madame Yu wait, what important matter do you have, woman? Is there anything in this world more important than Madame Yu's summons?"

  Su Mo's eyes rolled, her complexion as transparent as crystal, and her stunning face revealed a cold, seductive intention: "Oh? How could I not have important things to do? Everyone in this world has their own most important things, there is a saying that life and death are the biggest, now the Qi State sea area is already urgent, my husband is here resisting foreign enemies, we two are both very busy and tired, many people want to see us, so it's said that only official business can be prioritized, private matters no matter what must be put aside first, especially drinking tea."

  The proud female servant's face turned slightly pale, she didn't expect that this demoness was still somewhat arrogant.

  She had already inquired about this demon girl's identity on her own initiative before, and it was indeed somewhat unspeakable.

  She privately had a good relationship with the Xia family, so this time she specifically went to ask Xia Xue'er about the matter of the demon girl. Of course, she didn't know that the other party had exaggerated and distorted the facts, making the demon girl sound extremely disreputable. On one hand, she expressed sympathy for the demon girl, saying that a pitiful person must have some hateful aspects, and on the other hand, she further exaggerated the demon girl's unscrupulous behavior. In short, this female servant only believed Xia Xue'er's words and thought that the demon girl was truly despicable. However, she had not yet had time to report the demon girl's past misdeeds to Madame Huan.

  She believed that when Madam Yu heard about this demon girl, she would also be extremely ashamed.

  Madam Yu had always been a woman who hated evil as if it were her personal enemy.

  She still remembered when Xia Xue'er told her some secrets with a sorrowful expression, and it turned out that this demon girl was just a female performer. She had previously seduced the Third Prince and was exiled to Evil Island by Emperor Qi. Later, she charmed the Fifth Prince and eventually married him using unknown means, entrancing Wen Renyi completely. However, their marriage has not been recognized by the ruler of the Qi State yet.

  This demon girl is truly shameful, too shameful!

  Of course, at this time she also didn't know what to say.

  After all, it was Mrs. Wei who arranged for us to meet and reminded me to be polite and courteous when inviting him over.

  At this moment, the proud female attendant's face gradually became solemn, and she sank into thought. She was just a messenger, after all. The Unparalleled City had always been superior to others, and she had grown accustomed to looking down on people from her high position, especially despising this kind of lowly and humble female performer.

  She stepped forward a few steps and said coldly: "Yao Ji, today no matter what you have to go to Madame Huan's place."

  Su Mo glanced at her sideways and smiled: "If I hadn't come out of the woods today, would you still be waiting?"

  "It's natural." The gentle maid hastily replied, while the proud maid glared at her.

  "Since we have to wait anyway, might as well wait a bit longer." Su Mo turned around and walked forward.

  At this time, the proud female servant scolded another female servant and then said: "You go back and tell Mrs. Huan first, I'll stay here with her." As she spoke, her eyes slanted towards Su Mo, her tone very unfriendly, "I'll see what tricks she can come up with."

  Su Mo walked straight towards a street market, her figure elegant and refined.

  That waitress's feet were aching, and she felt that the other party was definitely not a lady.

  She stamped her foot and hurriedly followed with a sinking face.

  After that, she saw Su Mo actually find a hood and put it on his head, covering up his enchanting and otherworldly face.

  Seeing this, the waitress immediately disdainfully curled her lip, thinking that she was a young lady of noble birth or something?

  Little did they know, Su Mo knew that his appearance in women's clothing was extremely beautiful. In order not to attract some unnecessary trouble for himself and to avoid attracting some unknown bees and butterflies, he wore a veil on his head.

  All along the way, Su Mo's eyes wandered around, her eyes like water, but she deliberately ignored the "tail" behind her.

  Recently, all over China have been making every effort to resist foreign enemies, and various places' bazaars have already started opening all day long without exception.

  Within twelve hours, shift changes and business continues, never closing.

  On the street, the usual ironwork shops, armor shops, and grocery stores were also opened one by one. This small town is only thirty miles away from the Jin Yu Tang area, and it's easy to come and go on horseback. The number of shops selling materials for making weapons was also increasing, and nobles and wealthy merchants from all over the country began to prepare for war. As a result, the prices of all kinds of equipment skyrocketed, more than doubling in some cases. Su Mo smiled slightly, knowing that his family's shops in Qi Guo were also making huge profits.

  Fortunately, she had long been prepared with a team of people and had stockpiled a large quantity of goods.

  Although it is only possible to enter and not exit within the territory of Qi, the Su family's ships can be constantly built and people can be sent over continuously.

  And she also left some messenger birds in the shop, between Yan and Qi countries it only takes two days to get each other's messages, so she doesn't worry about the problem of insufficient goods supply.

  It is believed that soon, Su's family will rise rapidly in the business world of Yan State and become the leader.

  However, the most profitable place here is actually the large shop under the eighth prince of Qi.

  It's said to be a large store under the eighth prince, but it's actually just a branch opened by the family slaves. They use their royal connections to do business and offer more than half of their profits to the eighth prince every year. Even Su Mo couldn't help but admire the princes' business acumen.

  At present, every prince of the Qi state has some private shops under his command, which are managed and operated by family slaves.

  In short, it can be said that the shop was opened by the family slaves, but they relied on the many princes. In the end, the princes were left with nothing, while these family slaves could pretend to be powerful every day. Although they made a lot of money, they also handed over a lot, and it was precisely because of this entanglement of interests that these family slaves became even more loyal and devoted, becoming the confidants of the princes. Su Mo had already understood this point thoroughly as soon as he arrived in this place.

  The state of Qi is indeed bankrupt, but all the princes have taken over the most profitable businesses in various places.

  So everyone in the group has money.

  Compared with these princes, Wen Renyi was completely different.

  Wen Renyi did not participate in business, but the military power in Wen Renyi's hands was also admired by many princes.

  After that, she walked around the city and had a general idea in her mind. She noticed that the shops were getting more and more prosperous, and couldn't help but think: The Su family should also open a branch here. Firstly, being local would make it convenient to control the business, and secondly, this was the perfect opportunity to expand their operations and make a big profit.

  She thought of this and turned around in various shops, secretly examining them, and finally came to the largest local shop.

  The female attendant behind her was already panting with exhaustion, where was the proud demeanor of just now?

  Su Mo arrived at the shop and saw that the first floor was selling ordinary goods, with many customers.

  She didn't stay and turned around to head upstairs.

  The upstairs is indeed dazzling and varied, with very few guests.

  Su Mo's eyes scanned and looked carefully.

  Suddenly she brightened up and happened to see some special materials for refining equipment.

  There is a meteorite of great value and very suitable for personal use, but it's hard to come by.

  And she recently prepared to refine about fifty long-range magic instruments, adding some powerful defensive equipment, but lacked a batch of refining materials. These meteorites can increase the firmness. She immediately raised her eyes and asked: "Partner, how do you sell these meteorites?"

  One of the shop assistants immediately came forward with a smile and said, "Miss, you really have good eyesight. These are extremely rare meteorites from outer space that have just arrived recently. They possess some icy properties, which is truly very rare. There's only one set available locally, and it can be said to be excellent for refining artifacts."

  He smiled and continued to introduce himself for a long time, but he never saw any special expression on the woman's face. Although she was wearing a veil, shouldn't she have shown some interest?

  However, Su Mo was very clear about the value of these things, so no matter what the other party said, she wouldn't take it to heart.

  Besides, what the other party said was mostly nonsense, and there were few truly useful introductions.

  "How much silver?" she asked after a moment.

  The fellow smiled and said, "Although this girl was indeed calm and composed just now, she seemed like an expert."

  Although she was prepared to ask the price which meant she intended to buy it, her words still revealed some ignorance of the trade.

  These things are all about trading spirit stones outside, and this woman actually asks how many taels of silver, probably this woman simply doesn't know the value of spirit stones, doesn't know that during this period spirit stones are the mainstream currency. However, after all, people who can own spirit stones are a minority, and those who can afford to buy these things, regardless of whether they take out spirit stones or silver, are absolutely rich people.

  After all, he is just an accomplice.

  What he cares about in his heart is how much commission he will have after selling things.

  Little did they know, each and every one of the spiritual stones in Su Mo's hands had a use. Forty human puppets required forty spiritual stones, and currently, she didn't have any extra spiritual stones to spare. However, silver was not something she lacked. Just from what Wen Renyu gave her as pocket money after getting married, she had 100,000 taels of silver, although she had already used some previously.

  "Originally, this item was worth twenty first-grade spirit stones, or two second-grade spirit stones. At the usual market price, it should be worth a total of 100,000 silver coins."

  "Alright." Within Su Mo's acceptable range, she only had 120,000 taels of silver with her.

  "But now is an extraordinary period, the Ling Stone is no longer 5,000 taels of silver per piece, it has risen in price, so it's 1.3 million taels."

  "Thirteen thousand?" Su Mo raised an eyebrow, understanding that at this critical moment, silver was the least valuable thing.

  "Miss, this is a very special period of time. The currency in circulation in the market is spiritual stone. If you come to buy tomorrow, it may already be 140,000 taels of silver."

  "I didn't bring enough silver with me, can you give me a discount?" Su Mo furrowed her brow.

  "Miss, just a moment, I'll go ask."

  The shop assistant smiled and hurried to the counter, carefully asking: "Shopkeeper, that young lady said she wanted to buy this item, but her silver ticket is not enough. She wants to ask if it can be cheaper?"

  "What?" The shopkeeper thought disdainfully in his heart, "In a place like this, you still want to haggle over prices?"

  "Tell her to go get the silver or leave." The shopkeeper looked impatient.

  Seeing this, the female attendant in the distance also showed a hint of disdain.

  Su Mo's divine consciousness was powerful, and he naturally heard his words clearly, and couldn't help but sneer coldly in his heart.

  When Su Mo saw this person's appearance, he couldn't help but laugh, because this person was indeed the trusted aide of the Eighth Prince.

  On that day, in the Qi Guo imperial palace, she used a mechanical butterfly to blow up eight trusted aides. At the time, the explosion was not very powerful, but fortunately, this person should have been the least injured, yet they should have already broken five ribs, one leg bone, and had multiple external injuries. Now, they are sitting in a wheelchair, with a bruised nose and face, looking furious.

  It seems that all of Eighth Highness's subordinates were severely injured by her and after returning, they still have to continue making money with a greedy heart.

  These wounded soldiers and defeated generals know that business has been good lately, but they have to come out themselves to put on a show, it's really a matter of life and death.

  Su Mo even thought maliciously, but unfortunately he didn't see her face, otherwise he would have fainted in fright.

  At this time, the fellow came over with a very apologetic look and gave Su Mo a tactful explanation.

  Su Mo didn't make things difficult for him and said calmly: "Wait a moment, the silver ticket is with my husband, I'll send him a message."

  That fellow has a good impression of Su Mo. It's rare for customers to be so polite when speaking with him, this woman is indeed very well-mannered.

  "He kindly reminded her, 'Miss, no, madam, recently many nobles have come to this shop to buy and sell things. Especially in recent days, the Xia family has also come, and many nobles have gone to find the Xia family's craftsmen to refine their equipment. Those Xia family craftsmen have also started introducing some customers over here. Every time they sell an item, a portion of the commission will be given to those craftsmen. Therefore, in recent days, more nobles than usual have come to the shop to buy and sell things, and items are selling quickly. Wait for your husband to arrive, and perhaps these items will already be sold.'"

  Su Mo thought for a moment, and his heart felt a slight sense of melancholy.

  I didn't expect these Xia family refiners to actually understand how to make money, what a great skill.

  She smiled slightly, "So I have something here that can be used as collateral, just leave the goods with me for now."

  As he spoke, a wooden messenger bird had already appeared in Su Mo's hand.

  That fellow didn't know the goods, thought for a moment, and immediately ran to the shopkeeper's place to say something.

  The shopkeeper had by this time wheeled himself to the window and was gazing out into the sunlight with evident effort.

  Squinting her eyes, she sneered and said indifferently: "What kind of worthless thing is being pawned?"

  Su Mo raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, thinking that these people's eyesight was really poor, yet he had a faint feeling that something was off.

  The mechanical bird she made was different from the one made by Shi Ou, it only emphasized function and didn't emphasize material, so at first glance there was nothing special about it.

  However, those who understand the array pattern will certainly know the rarity of this mechanical bird.

  "Just listen to the shopkeeper's continued ridicule: 'This broken and tattered wooden bird actually dares to be used as collateral? My store is not a pawnshop, nor is it a charity hall. We've never been short of collateral goods. If every customer who comes here says they want to mortgage something and then leaves, only to have the next customer want to buy but can't take it away, and you end up unable to afford it, ultimately delaying the sale, who will compensate for these losses?'"

  His words were very impolite and then he muttered a few dirty words.

  Su Mo's gaze swept over from outside the window, but found that this person's eyesight seemed to have some problems.

  After a moment's thought, it turned out that this person's eyes were actually blown up by his own butterfly.

  She furrowed her brow, and if all else failed, she would use her true form to scare the other party. It seemed that the other party's eyes were also not good.

  She turned around and came outside, took out another messenger bird, stood outside and said a few words.

  If it weren't for that meteorite being extremely rare and hard to come by, she wouldn't have stayed here.

  The waitress waited for a while, seeing her still lingering there, and even more disdainful. What kind of woman is this who doesn't even have enough silver on her body, yet runs to such a place to lose face?

  She believed that Mrs. Yu would also dislike this demon girl.

  At this time, the shopkeeper snorted coldly and said to the clerk with a gaze full of contempt: "Fool, as my shop's clerk, what can you do with such a poor ghost who doesn't even bring spirit stones when buying things? You tell her that something worth 1,000 taels is worth 10,000 taels, something worth 10,000 taels is worth 100,000 taels, and something worth 100,000 taels is worth 1 million taels. Wait until she brings enough silver, or wait till next life!"

  However, another old fellow came forward and said in surprise: "Boss, this looks like a carrier pigeon, it's very valuable."

  "What... what messenger bird?"

  "The organ bird is said to be very rare and has a price but no market."

  The shopkeeper was taken aback and said incredulously: "So it's a messenger bird... Alright, let her off this time, have her bring the silver first."

  Then he put his hand on the mechanical bird and stroked it back and forth, with a somewhat manic expression.

  The fellow immediately nodded and went out to inform Su Mo.

  This shopkeeper is a skinflint and has a strong preference for wealth over poverty, he is very aware of it in his heart.

  At this time, a luxurious carriage was heading towards the shop, and the coachman pulled the reins to slow down the speed. A slave girl then knelt under the carriage, and a young woman with a smooth complexion like jade and wearing gold and silver jewelry stepped out of the carriage, her golden lotus feet stepping on the slave's back as she got down. She was surrounded by maidservants on both sides.

  As soon as the carriage stopped, someone came out to greet them and helped lead the horses.

  Everyone in the shop looked up at the woman's appearance, their eyes fixed in a daze.

  Su Mo was outside using the messenger bird to convey his words, and he bumped into that woman. However, she didn't put anyone in her eyes, holding her head high, with no one in her eyes, and went straight to the second floor.

  When they saw the woman come in, the smiles of the men all became flirtatious.

  This woman is now the biggest customer in the store, and the shop assistant hurriedly whispered two sentences to the boss.

  At this time, the shopkeeper had already forgotten about his poor eyesight and pushed the wheelchair out.

  "It's actually the honorable wife of the governor who has arrived, you are a noble guest, a rare guest. As soon as you came to our humble shop, it immediately became prosperous and glorious. And seeing the madam arrive, I felt extremely fortunate." The shopkeeper saw a vague shadow slowly going upstairs and immediately put on a flattering face with a smile full of fawning, although he was under the eighth prince's command, people being polite to him was also because of the eighth prince's face.

  At present, this governor is after all a provincial leader with military power in his hands.

  Many great generals have followed his command, but he is just a house slave of an imperial prince.

  Moreover, although the woman looked only twenty-five or six years old, she was already a titled lady. This kind of woman commands respect wherever she goes.

  Nowadays, the governor of Qi State's capital has few administrative tasks to attend to, but is in charge of military affairs. Although the various princes have taken charge of eight islands, others who participate in military affairs cannot be idle and may be dispatched to participate in defense at any time.

  She, as the wife of the governor, also knew that at this time she had to be willing to spend money and have more weapons forged.

  To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools!

  This woman is certainly coming out to buy some refining equipment for herself to save her life.

  When the woman went up the stairs, she was surprisingly supported by maids on both sides, with a charming and flirtatious appearance. Her eyes only glanced at the shopkeeper's face, seeing his miserable state, and a wave of annoyance rose in her heart. She said lightly: "Alright, shopkeeper, I just came here yesterday, but you keep calling me a rare guest. Am I that unusual? Your words are really quite cheesy."

  "It's been ages since we last met."

  The woman spat and walked forward, "Right, wasn't it said that new goods arrived today? Take me to see them."

  The shopkeeper immediately ordered someone to push a wheelchair and led her to the counter. The woman looked at the counter and raised an eyebrow: "Shopkeeper, why are these processed materials different from last time? Some of them don't even have color or luster, I'm afraid they're not good quality. What I want is something with higher levels."

  "Madam, you probably haven't seen these new goods before. They are all rare materials, not necessarily shiny is good." The shopkeeper hurriedly explained to her.

  "Really?" The woman puckered her lips, her eyes still scrutinizing.

  "These materials all have a moist luster, and it's said that using them to refine equipment will bring great fortune and prosperity. And in terms of luck, they're also quite good." The shopkeeper had fully exercised his silver tongue, speaking with such eloquence that he made these materials sound like the most precious things under heaven. Although his eyes were no longer clear, his words were truly convincing. "Madam, these items are absolutely rare and hard to come by. Each material is one-of-a-kind, and once they're gone, they'll be gone forever. I know that only someone as refined as you has the qualifications to buy them."

  The woman listened, curled her lips and smiled: "Those summer family's smelting masters said that the best metal materials are needed, these meteorites are not considered metal, but since you said it was so good, I think you must not be cheating me, then I'll buy them back to take a look."

  As she said this, she pointed at all the new things, "I bought all of these."

  Including the meteorite on Su Mo's watch.

  "Madam has a great eye for things! Wrap it up, all of it."

  The shopkeeper knew that such a big customer was his own god of wealth, and immediately became cheerful.

  At this time, Su Mo had already stepped forward with a light step, and stood in front of the two people with a stern expression. The enchanting eyes had already revealed a displeased look, "The shopkeeper seems to have forgotten one thing, that meteorite was bought by me."

  The shopkeeper's face sank, he didn't expect the other party to come so quickly.

  Although he knew that his behavior was not proper, he didn't want to offend the big client. The provincial governor's wife wasn't someone to be trifled with. As for the woman in front of him, he couldn't care less. So, the smile on the man's face faded slightly, and he deliberately said: "Just now you said you didn't bring enough silver, what are you doing here?"

  "I've already gone to make up for the silver, are you going to sell it to someone else?" Su Mo asked coldly.

  "Silver? Someone still uses silver?" The governor's wife gave Su Mo an incredulous glance, as if she had just heard a very amusing joke. She thought this girl was really ignorant, daring to argue with her over something, without even considering what kind of person she was dealing with?

  She curled her lips and deliberately spoke in a bad tone to scold the shopkeeper: "I'm telling you, shopkeeper, a woman who doesn't even have spirit stones dares to come here to buy things. Are you intentionally trying to lower your own value? Let's have these customers follow someone with no face?"

  The woman thought it was just a meteorite and bought it back to play with, she didn't know much about it.

  But since the other party wants to buy it, she will absolutely not let go of it.

  As long as someone is eager for it and someone is fighting for it, then it's a good thing.

  Su Mo's eyes narrowed, her face sank, and her tone turned cold. "Just now I clearly put down a pledge, but the shopkeeper is being contradictory. So your store likes to extort customers?"

  The shopkeeper did not expect the other party to say such things about himself, and he was naturally somewhat annoyed.

  The noblewoman deliberately sneered and said, "Don't bother with her, I have all the spirit stones here, I'll give them to you directly."

  "The shopkeeper hastily said: 'Please wait a moment, they will pack it up right away.'"

  The noblewoman continued: "Right, I also plan to buy some mechanisms. I heard that many good ones have come out recently."

  The shopkeeper's eyes rolled over and he said, "None."

  The noblewoman sighed and said, "What a pity."

  "Wait a minute, there...there is one." The shopkeeper then took out the transmission bird that Su Mo had pawned.

  In an instant, Su Mo's lips curled up with a hint of coldness, and at this time she had already removed her veil, revealing her stunning face.

  Digression

  The next chapter is going to abuse slag, it can't be written at 6 points, so I can only update twice.