The Girl Who Had Caught a Chill

Before they could offer their thanks, however, Qin Yun and Feng Qing'er had already left.

The two were now heading toward the place Xiao Li had mentioned.

"How did that feel? Did you get the same feeling as with Xiao Yan?"

Qin Yun looked at Feng Qing'er with a teasing half-smile, curious about how she felt toward Xiao Yan's two older brothers.

Had they rubbed this little phoenix the wrong way too?

"They're both all right, and their personalities aren't bad. But aside from you, I still don't really like interacting with other humans." Feng Qing'er shook her head lightly.

Then, however, she asked an unexpected question.

"What magical beast did that roast meat come from? It tasted pretty good.

"I have to admit, you humans really know how to cook."

Feng Qing'er licked her lips, clearly still savoring the taste.

"Oh, that? That was a chicken drumstick."

"A chicken... drumstick?"

"That's right. What else did you think it was? A pig's leg?"

"..." Feng Qing'er's expression darkened when she heard that.

Damn it, they actually dared to feed me chicken! I really did misjudge those brothers. Sooner or later, I'll drag them off and give them a beating.

That was only a minor interlude, though. The two soon arrived at the Slave Market.

They also found Golden Tooth, whom the Xiao brothers had mentioned. He certainly lived up to his name: his two front teeth were not only unusually large, but made of gold.

"Here to buy some goods? Sorry, we're closed already. Come earlier tomorrow."

Golden Tooth had clearly packed up for the day and locked the slaves away.

Faced with this situation, Qin Yun naturally didn't start throwing his weight around like other protagonists. Instead, he used the simplest method.

He tossed a bag of gold coins straight into the man's face. Golden Tooth had initially been about to lose his temper.

But when he opened the bag and saw the glittering gold coins, his entire demeanor changed at once.

"Please come inside, honored guests. What sort of slaves are you looking for? We have all kinds here.

"We even have the rarest Snake-People in stock."

Golden Tooth was now falling over himself to please these two generous customers.

After all, that single bag of gold coins they had tossed him amounted to several months of his income.

Qin Yun and Feng Qing'er then entered the so-called Trading Floor.

The sanitary conditions here were truly appalling, and each person's living quarters measured only a few square meters.

"Get up, all of you! Stop sleeping!" Golden Tooth drove out all the slaves who had been resting.

Most of these slaves were ordinary people. Even those with a little cultivation were no higher than Dou Zhe.

There were both men and women, but what stood out most was how thin nearly all of them were. They weren't quite skin and bones, but they were still far worse off than normal people.

After all, slaves who hadn't been sold had no value whatsoever. They were lucky to get enough food to half-fill their stomachs.

Qin Yun looked over everyone present but found no little girl who matched the description.

There were a few frail girls among them, but most were the wrong age.

Nor did any of them have the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.

"Is this everyone? Do you have a little girl called Qing Lin? She should be somewhere between ten and fifteen."

After looking around, Qin Yun still hadn't found the person he was seeking.

"Qing Lin? To be honest, this is the first time I've heard that name. I don't have a little girl called Qing Lin here."

Golden Tooth tilted his head, thought for a moment, then shook it.

But a moment later, he changed tack. "I do have one unusual girl here, though.

"She's about thirteen, but she was weak and caught a chill a while ago.

"She's in isolation right now. I figured nobody would want her, so I didn't call her over."

"Unusual? In what way?" Qin Yun felt he might have found his target.

"She's a half-breed born of a human and one of the Snake-People. Her kind have very low standing around here. It's not as though we've never had mixed-blood children like her before.

"But none of them lived past three. She's the first I've ever seen make it past ten.

"What's more, she has these disgusting green scales on her body. Plenty of people take one look and kick her away.

"She's been here for half a year, and I can never sell her. Sometimes I've even thought about getting rid of her so she'd stop wasting food.

"But she doesn't have a name, so I don't know if she's the Qing Lin you're talking about."

Golden Tooth briefly described the little girl's features.

"Take me to see her." From the moment Qin Yun heard about the green scales on her body, he had been ninety-nine percent certain this was the girl he was looking for.

The three soon arrived at a rather shabby Thatched Hut.

A frail figure lay inside. They could just make out that it was a girl.

She was curled into a ball, barely conscious.

She coughed incessantly, her face as red as a tomato. One look was enough to tell she had a severe cold.

"This is her. See if she's the one you're looking for. If she is, I can give you twenty percent off."

Golden Tooth felt there was a very good chance he could finally unload this money-losing burden today.

He generously offered a twenty-percent discount.

Qin Yun stepped forward to examine her and did indeed find some green scales on the little girl's wrists.

Then came the most important step: he gently lifted her eyelid and discovered three tiny jade-green pupils.

That confirmed these were the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils. Although she had no name yet, someone must have given her one after she joined the Desert Iron Mercenary Group.

"I'll take this little girl." Qin Yun gave Feng Qing'er a meaningful look.

Feng Qing'er nodded, straightened the little girl's clothes, then gathered her into her arms.

"One gold coin will do. This one's not worth much."

Golden Tooth didn't greedily inflate the price. After all, anyone who could casually give him a bag of gold coins as a tip had to be rich or powerful. He would be better off not inviting too much resentment.

Besides, one gold coin already covered his costs. The bag they had given him upon meeting was enough to buy more than a dozen of her. In short, he hadn't lost anything; he had made a hefty profit.

"Here's a thousand gold coins. I saw you had over twenty slaves here, right?

"I'll take them all. Deliver every one of them to the Desert Iron Mercenary Group before noon tomorrow." Without even raising his head, Qin Yun tossed another bag of gold coins over.

In truth, most of these slaves had already lost their human emotions. They were nothing more than numb, walking corpses.

They only knew how to do what they were told and could no longer live like normal people.

Buying them and setting them free would only hurt them. Believe it or not, within half an hour of leaving, these slaves would be captured by someone else and put up for sale again.

The Xiao brothers were decent people. Although life with them wouldn't be particularly comfortable, at least food and clothing would be guaranteed.

As for why he had bought this whole bunch of slaves and spent money he hadn't needed to spend...

Qin Yun admitted he was being a little softhearted. Anyone else-even Xiao Yan, this world's protagonist-would probably not have done the same.

But he still remembered a saying from his previous life: you might not be able to change the fate of every starfish, but you could at least change the fate of the one in your hand.

He cast aside all those tangled, complicated thoughts and treated it as earning himself some good karma.

It was only a thousand gold coins, anyway. He had plenty.