Highest Bidder Wins

Xiao Mei spoke up to refute Xiao Xun'er, but her words lacked force.

"Heh, just because you saw it first, it belongs to you? What a joke!" Xiao Xun'er mocked directly.

"There is only one rule in the market: the highest bidder wins." At that moment, Xiao Yan, who had remained quiet all along, unexpectedly voiced his opinion.

"You, you two..."

Xiao Mei, who had wanted to say more, was left speechless by their words. She was clearly furious.

Xiao Mei had stood up for him, so Xiao Bai could not possibly ignore it.

He comforted her, helping her steady herself.

Only then did he smile at the two of them. "You're right. Everything here goes to the highest bidder. Since you offered 500 Gold Coins, this Magic Crystal is yours."

After speaking to Xiao Xun'er, he turned to the shopkeeper and said:

"Boss, since Miss Xun'er has offered 500 Gold Coins, why aren't you hurrying up and wrapping it for her? Is that any way to do business?"

The shopkeeper hurriedly nodded in agreement and prepared to wrap up the Magic Crystal.

However, Xiao Xun'er waved her hand.

Xiao Mei was not one to suffer a loss. Seeing this, she immediately mocked her.

"Oh? Could it be that our Miss Xun'er didn't bring any money? If that's the case, I have a little on me. Why don't I lend you some for the emergency?"

As she spoke, she reached into her pocket as though she were searching for money.

"Hmph, thank you for your kind offer. That little money of yours was probably hard-earned, wasn't it? It wouldn't be right for me to borrow it, so there's no need."

Xiao Xun'er spoke in a friendly tone, seemingly worried that Xiao Mei wanted to lend her money.

"You..."

Xiao Mei had not expected Xiao Xun'er to be so sharp-tongued. She was left speechless by the jab, her little face turning red with anger.

Neither Xiao Yan nor Xiao Bai intended to interfere. It was not that Xiao Bai feared trouble; he simply found this sort of thing as boring as children playing house.

Although Xiao Yan did not intervene, he took the Magic Crystal from the side and put it away.

Xiao Yan did not wish to provoke Xiao Bai, but he would be more than happy to make him lose face if he could.

Xiao Bai looked at the two women, who were still bickering, then turned his gaze to Xiao Yan. Compared with a year ago, Xiao Yan had changed greatly.

If the Xiao Yan of the past had been a sharp sword with its aura exposed, then the current Xiao Yan had restrained his aura, like a sword sheathed in its scabbard.

He appeared plain and unremarkable on the surface, but once drawn, his heavy aura would rush forth and deal a crushing blow to anyone who underestimated him.

It seemed Xiao Yan had not spent the past year in vain. Though his level appeared unchanged, his state of mind was now incomparable to what it had been before.

Xiao Bai nodded as he looked at Xiao Yan and smiled. "Xiao Yan, you're quite good. As the saying goes, good things take time. Keep holding on."

As if he had remembered something, he added:

"Oh, and don't neglect your Dou Qi training. Remember that."

Xiao Yan was thoroughly baffled by Xiao Bai's words. He knew Xiao Bai seemed to be hinting at something, but he did not understand what it meant.

"Hey, what do you mean? Explain yourself."

Xiao Bai merely smiled and ignored Xiao Yan's questioning. Instead, he turned around, took Xiao Mei by the hand, and left.

When Xiao Xun'er saw this, displeasure appeared on her face.

Xiao Bai was still as irritating as ever. Earlier at the arena, he had treated everyone like monkeys, making her first place back then seem like a joke.

And now, here in the market, he was ignoring her again, acting as though she were air. How disgusting!

"Stop right there! Xiao Bai, don't you want this Magic Crystal? As long as you lower your head and admit your mistake to Brother Xiao Yan and me, I can consider giving it to you."

Seeing Xiao Bai stop, she assumed her words had moved him and continued, "Well? What do you think? Do you agree with me now?"

"Heh, you're overthinking it. It's only a Magic Crystal. I don't believe you can buy up every Magic Crystal in the entire market." With that, he turned and left without lingering another step.

Xiao Xun'er had originally planned to teach Xiao Bai a lesson once he apologized and admitted his mistake. Yet instead of hearing an apology, she heard such an answer from the two people she disliked the most.

"What? You..."

Xiao Xun'er had not expected Xiao Bai to respond to her like that. Her face was filled with disbelief.

She truly could not buy all the magical beasts in the entire market just to retaliate against Xiao Bai, and there was little point in doing so anyway.

This made her furious. A flicker of golden flame even appeared in her eyes, seeming ready at any moment to leap out and burn that hateful person to ashes.

But not long after, as she watched Xiao Bai and Xiao Mei disappear into the distance, she seemed to think of something and forcibly suppressed the flames in her eyes.

"Brother Xiao Yan, let's go back."

"Mm."

Seeing the absent-minded look on the young man beside her, she felt even more disappointed.

She had been humiliated so badly, yet he still had the mind to stare blankly into space. It was as though he had not even seen what she had gone through.

Ah, how heartbreaking!

Xiao Xun'er felt secretly hurt. She did not know when she had begun to dislike Xiao Bai so much, but she was deeply dissatisfied with him.

Perhaps it was because, unlike the other Xiao Family children, he did not treat her with reverence, admire her, and revolve around her.

As a young girl, she still possessed the vanity common at her age, though it was not particularly strong.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yan was also occupied with his own thoughts. He kept thinking about what Xiao Bai had said.

As a transmigrator, he possessed thoughts that others his age did not have, so his way of thinking differed from theirs.

He felt that those words had been deliberately spoken for him to hear. It seemed that Xiao Bai knew something that neither he nor anyone else knew, and that something was related to him.

This made Xiao Yan consider carefully whether he should find a time to meet with him.

Each occupied with their own thoughts, the two did not speak again and returned separately to the Xiao Family.

On the other side, seeing Xiao Xun'er get scolded by the person beside her, Xiao Mei was exceedingly happy. As they walked, she became much more talkative and happily introduced things to Xiao Bai the whole way.

Of course, Xiao Bai could be said to be an excellent listener, fully playing the role a listener should. He spoke at appropriate times to ask questions and kept silent when appropriate, looking every bit the attentive listener.

They had come out to relax, and relax they did. He did not take what had happened earlier to heart at all.

In Xiao Bai's view, he had already conveyed what he wanted to say. If Xiao Yan was too foolish to understand or chose to ignore it, that had nothing to do with him.

Before long, as time passed, Xiao Mei and Xiao Bai had roughly walked through all of Wutan City, and Xiao Bai gained a deeper understanding of the small city.

During this time, they each bought a few things and were fairly satisfied.

Beneath the light of the setting sun, the two finally returned to the Xiao Family.