A Gesture of Goodwill

Before long, the reception room door opened.

The maid led two young servants inside, carrying three large bundles and several wooden boxes, and smiled with a sincerity and warmth greater than before.

"Young masters, these are the medicinal herbs you requested. Everything has been packed!"

"Also, our proprietor gave special instructions to round down this transaction for you. You need only pay twenty thousand Gold Coins!"

At that, a thoughtful look appeared in Xiao Bai's eyes.

Xiao Yan, however, asked with some curiosity, "Why would your proprietor do that?"

The maid smiled. "Please don't overthink it, young masters. The proprietor said she merely wished to form a good connection with the two of you!"

Xiao Bai said nothing. His Soul Strength swept over the medicinal herbs in the bundles and boxes, and after confirming that both the quantity and quality were correct, he waved his hand and stored them in his Storage Ring.

Then he took out twenty-three thousand eight hundred Gold Coins and said to the maid, "Please tell your proprietor that we appreciate the sentiment, but we don't accept rewards without merit. We'll buy them at the original price!"

Afterward, he left the Mittel Auction House together with Xiao Yan.

The top floor of the Mittel Auction House was richly decorated, with carved beams and painted rafters, resplendent with gold and jade, filled with an air of luxury.

From here, the scene before the main entrance of the Mittel Auction House could be seen in full.

At this moment, two figures stood before the window, a young woman and a white-haired old man, silently watching the backs of Xiao Bai and Xiao Yan as they left.

"Master Gu Ni, are you certain what they purchased were the medicinal herbs for refining Blood Coagulation Powder?" the young woman asked the old man beside her, her voice charming and alluring.

The woman had a pair of slightly upturned Peach Blossom Eyes, her gaze as limpid as spring water, her clear eyes shifting with delicate charm. Her jade-like lips were soft and powdered, and her lovely face was more radiant than flowers.

Her smooth wine-red hair was coiled into a bun, making her appear very capable. She wore a red qipao that tightly outlined her mature and graceful figure, and every frown and smile of hers was enough to stir the soul.

The hale and spirited old man beside her turned a blind eye to all this and nodded as he replied, "That's right. Those were indeed the three medicinal herbs used to refine the first-rank pill, Blood Coagulation Powder!"

The woman gently waved the round fan in her delicate hand. After pondering for a moment, she said to those behind her, "Go call Little Sixteen, A Da, and A San up here. I have something to ask them!"

The maid behind her answered softly, then went out. Before long, she brought three people up, precisely the three who had just gone to deliver the medicinal herbs to Xiao Bai and the others.

"Little Sixteen greets the proprietor!" "A Da greets the proprietor!" "A San greets the proprietor!" The three bowed together to the enchanting woman by the window.

"No need for ceremony. Little Sixteen, you grew up in Wutan City. Do you know those two people from earlier?" the woman asked softly of the maid who had just received Xiao Bai.

"Replying to the proprietor, Little Sixteen does not know, but A Da should!" the maid Little Sixteen said.

"Oh?" The woman's gaze shifted, falling on one of the two young servants.

A Da was usually responsible for deliveries. This job required him to run all over Wutan City, so he was extremely familiar with all manner of gossip and rumors in the city, and naturally well-informed.

At this moment, when A Da saw the pair of wondrous eyes of this enchanting proprietor fall upon him, his breathing immediately grew somewhat hurried, and his face flushed red.

From the very first moment he had seen this proprietor, he had thought her a celestial beauty. That bewitching jade-like face and alluring body made him unable to stop thinking about her every night.

"A Da, A Da?" Seeing A Da standing there in a daze without answering, Little Sixteen quickly reached out and pushed him.

A Da jolted awake at once. Seeing everyone staring at him, his face turned even redder, and he hurriedly stammered, "Re-replying to the proprietor, those two should... should be people from the Xiao Family!"

"The Xiao Family?" the enchanting woman murmured, her fingers lightly stroking her tempting red lips. In her heart, she felt not the slightest ripple at the man's reaction before her.

Over the past few years, she had seen far too many men reveal that sort of expression toward her, and she also knew the filthy thoughts in their hearts. At first, she had found it very irritating.

But later, she realized that if she minded every single one of them, there would be no living her life. So now, whenever she encountered this sort of thing, she simply treated it as if she hadn't seen it.

"Do you know who they are in the Xiao Family?"

"Re-replying to the proprietor, I don't know the younger one, but the young man with gray-white hair should be called Xiao Bai!"

He had only learned this two days ago when people from the Xiao Family were discussing Xiao Bai in the market. With that head of gray-white hair and that young face, after living in Wutan City for so many years, he knew of only that one person who fit.

"Xiao Bai, is it?" the enchanting woman said thoughtfully, as though she knew the name.

Back in the Imperial Capital, she had heard Nalan Yanran mention that the Xiao Family had produced two geniuses, who were also two pieces of trash.

In that case, the other one was likely Nalan Yanran's fiancé, Xiao Yan.

Thinking of this, she immediately felt somewhat disappointed. This trip to Wutan City had been something she had only obtained after great effort, by pleading with the Family Elder of her branch.

It was both training and a wager.

The family intended to have her marry into one of the empire's three great families, the Mu family. She was unwilling to simply accept her fate, so she requested that the elder send her out to this small border city.

For this, she had even signed a wager with the family. Within two years, she had to double the profits of the Mittel Auction House Wutan City Branch. Only then would the family acknowledge her value and refrain from forcing her into marriage.

But how could that be easy? The Wutan City Branch's annual net profit was three hundred thousand Gold Coins. Two years meant six hundred thousand, and she had to expand the profit to one million two hundred thousand within those two years.

For the sake of succeeding this time, she had spent a great deal of favor to invite Master Gu Ni, a Second-Rank Alchemist, to help her complete this task. But from the looks of things now, it was still not enough.

This city might look prosperous on the surface, but it was not wealthy. Most of the people coming and going were mercenaries, and these people could not bring in much profit.

When she was in the Imperial Capital, she had heard that there was no Alchemist Guild here, not even any alchemists, so she had believed that bringing an alchemist with her would surely allow her to complete the task.

But only after arriving did she learn the situation here. It was not without reason that there were no alchemists here.

Because there were no alchemists here, one profession had become extremely concentrated—physicians. The profession of physician did not have the same harsh requirements as alchemists. As long as one understood medicinal herbs and pharmacology, one could almost become a physician.

They could compile various medicinal herbs into all sorts of prescriptions according to their properties and principles, either blending them into small pills or preparing herbs by prescription to be decocted in water. These could likewise achieve some of the effects of first-rank or second-rank pills.

It was just that this method was not as pure as the medicinal properties inside an elixir. It contained many impurities, and its effects could not compare to an elixir's, but it had one advantage elixirs could not match.

It was cheap!

One had to understand who the main consumers in Wutan City were: the mercenaries who entered the Demon Beast Mountain Range. When they bought things, they cared about one thing—cheap and effective.

This had impacted the price of first-grade elixirs in Wutan City. They could certainly still be sold; after all, the effects were there. But if they were priced too high, people simply would not buy them, resulting in extremely low profit margins for elixirs.

Of course, selling at a lower price and relying on volume could still make money, but she only had one alchemist under her. Even if he refined elixirs nonstop for all twelve double-hours in a day, how many could he make?

So just now, when she heard someone had bought a large amount of first-grade elixir ingredients, she thought she had encountered an alchemist, which was why she went over to show goodwill in hopes of winning him over. But now it seemed, what kind of alchemist was this!

The seductive woman shook her head with a somewhat bitter expression.