A Tease from Qian Renxue: Buying Whale Rubber to Nourish Your Girlfriend?

"What... what is this, miss?"

Looking at the item she had handed over, the shopkeeper's voice was dry with utter disbelief as he asked, "Is this... some new kind of... Soul Tool?"

He simply could not connect this absurdly beautiful card with heavy Gold Soul Coins.

Wang Dong'er's hand froze in midair, and the expression on her face stiffened instantly.

She blinked, seemingly unable to process what had happened.

Lu Jing's heart skipped a beat. This is bad.

He immediately realized the problem—the Era Gap! He had been so focused on bargaining and the Whale Rubber itself that he had overlooked the most fundamental issue: payment! The soul-guided gold cards that circulated widely ten thousand years later were nothing but useless cards in this era!

In fact, gold cards and Purple Gold Cards already existed at this time, but they were nothing like the one Wang Dong'er had taken out.

"Miss... are you joking?"

The shopkeeper's expression gradually shifted from confusion to displeasure, and his tone gained a trace of suspicion. "Fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins, and you intend to pay with this... card?"

He instinctively glanced toward the guards in the shop.

Wang Dong'er finally understood. Her lovely face flushed scarlet with a swish.

She lowered her head to look at the card in her hand. In ten thousand years, it represented immense wealth, but at this moment, it seemed incomparably ridiculous. A tremendous sense of embarrassment and absurdity swept over her.

She, the young sect mistress of the Clear Sky Sect and a heavenly prodigy from ten thousand years in the future, had actually embarrassed herself because she had "no money" ten thousand years earlier!

"I..." Wang Dong'er opened her mouth, wanting to say that she had Gold Soul Coins. But in the spatial Soul Tool she carried, aside from this gold card, there were only a small number of emergency coins and cultivation resources—nowhere near the astronomical sum of fifty thousand.

She did have some Gold Soul Coins in her spatial Soul Tool, but they had been minted ten thousand years later. Their design, weight, and markings were completely different from those of ten thousand years ago. Taking them out would probably make things even harder to explain.

The atmosphere instantly became incomparably awkward.

The shopkeeper's gaze shifted from confusion to vigilance, even carrying the scrutiny he would give a swindler.

Some nearby customers who had noticed the commotion also turned curious looks their way.

Lu Jing reacted quickly. He stepped forward, inconspicuously pressing down Wang Dong'er's hand holding the gold card, then said to the displeased shopkeeper, "Boss, we're truly sorry. My sister was flustered and took out the wrong thing. We really do want this Whale Rubber. Fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins, not one coin less. Please give us a moment. We'll go back and get the money right away."

His voice was calm and firm, his gaze open and honest, instantly suppressing the suspicion that they were frauds.

The shopkeeper looked at the young man before him. Though young, he carried himself with unusual poise and spoke with sincere conviction. Then he looked at the girl beside him, so embarrassed she practically wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground, yet whose appearance and bearing absolutely did not resemble those of a swindler. His expression eased somewhat, though suspicion remained.

"You two... had better not toy with me. This Whale Rubber is exceedingly valuable, and the price we agreed on just now..."

"Rest assured, Boss. We'll be back very soon." Lu Jing assured him again, his tone resolute.

He took hold of Wang Dong'er, who was still embarrassed and dazed, and swiftly turned to leave the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.

Behind them, they could vaguely hear the shopkeeper quietly instructing his clerk to "keep a close eye on those two pieces of Whale Rubber."

Once they stepped outside, the sunlight was somewhat blinding. Wang Dong'er seemed to finally recover from the enormous blow. Looking at Lu Jing, her pink-blue eyes glistened with moisture, full of grievance and frustration. "I... I forgot... they don't recognize that card... I..."

As she spoke, she habitually reached for her spatial Soul Tool again. "I still have some gold coins, but..."

"It's no use, Sister Dong'er."

Lu Jing gently shook his head and stopped her. "The currency designs and purity from ten thousand years apart may differ. Taking them out would only create more trouble. A major shop like the Myriad Treasures Pavilion has a well-informed shopkeeper. If you bring out strange-looking gold coins, he'll become even more suspicious that they're counterfeit or something else."

He led Wang Dong'er briskly toward the Worship Hall, speaking quietly as they walked. "The only option now is to go back and find Qian Renxue. Only she can immediately produce fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins, and they'll be currency recognized by Spirit Hall."

Wang Dong'er bit her lower lip and nodded. She understood that this was their only option.

But when she thought of the humiliation just now, and of having to ask Qian Renxue to lend them money, she felt stifled.

The two hurried along, no longer paying attention to the street scenery, and returned to the Worship Hall as quickly as possible.

When they appeared before Qian Renxue again, she was preparing to depart. Seeing the two return so soon, with traces of awkwardness and urgency on their faces—especially the blush that had not yet fully faded from Wang Dong'er's face and her faint grievance—understanding flashed through Qian Renxue's eyes, and a barely perceptible smile curved her lips.

"Back already? Was Spirit City not interesting to explore?" she deliberately asked, her tone tinged with amusement.

Lu Jing took a deep breath and got straight to the point without any hesitation. "Sister Xue, I'm truly sorry. We ran into a problem, and I'd like to borrow some money from you."

"Borrow money?" Qian Renxue raised an eyebrow, seeming somewhat surprised by the reason.

Lu Jing briefly explained what had happened, emphasizing that they had found two pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Jelly at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion and agreed on a price of fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins, but the other party could not recognize Wang Dong'er's gold card, while the coins she had on her were insufficient and might not match the local style.

"Fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins?" Qian Renxue was slightly moved. That was no small sum.

Her gaze swept over Wang Dong'er. Seeing her nod slightly in confirmation, Qian Renxue's eyes grew even deeper.

If she was not mistaken, this girl should have come from an aristocratic family. She and Lu Jing were not from the same world; they had merely met because of some circumstance.

She did not ask further. After pondering for a moment, she took out a Purple Gold Card and said with a smile, "This is a money card issued by Spirit Hall's bank. You can use it to buy things in the future."

Although fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins meant nothing to her, she still could not quite understand spending it on Whale Rubber.

"Thank you, Sister Xue." Lu Jing accepted it.

Just as Lu Jing was about to leave with Wang Dong'er, Qian Renxue suddenly spoke. Her tone carried a hint of probing as she asked, "Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Jelly... is indeed good stuff. But Xiaojing, what are you buying it for? Could it be to nourish your girlfriend's body in the future, and to make that sort of thing more convenient?"

Her meaningful gaze flicked toward Wang Dong'er, whose temperament was peerless. Her tone carried a trace of teasing, but also concealed a test.

She did not believe the two had merely gone out shopping. Under normal circumstances, almost no one was willing to buy Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Jelly, even for brewing medicine or improving performance in that regard. There had to be some other reason; she simply did not know what it was.