Yun Manman exchanged more points for a set of cosmetics and slightly altered the contours of her features.
Looking at her purple eyes in the mirror, she was just about to ask to exchange for a pair of colored contacts.
The space's resentment twisted into two enormous holes as it cried out in horror, "Master, points are precious, and you've already scraped the bottom! Could you please act like a human being and stop messing around? These things need to be used on the blade's edge!"
Yun Manman thought it over and said nothing. Taking the scissors and saddle, she brought the wild horse out of the space.
Yun Manman held the scissors up to the horse's head, gauging where to cut.
The wild horse stamped its hooves and kept turning its head, refusing to let Yun Manman touch it.
Because it knew this was dangerous!!!
Yun Manman put on a stern face and said in a low voice, "Don't move. Move again, and you won't get any Returning Lotus Fruit!"
The wild horse wore an aggrieved expression and snorted heavily several times.
It obediently stopped fidgeting. This woman was simply too wicked. To think that it, a proud Mongolian wild horse, had been threatened!
The infuriating part was,
her threat had actually worked!
Yun Manman snipped away with the scissors until a horse's head sporting a melon-seed haircut appeared before her. She was very pleased with her masterpiece.
Seeing the wild horse's expression of utter despair, Yun Manman chuckled and hurriedly smoothed its mane.
"Count your blessings. This melon-seed face is all the rage where I come from. Look how small it makes your face look! How pretty!"
Then an extraordinarily handsome young man in white, refined and elegant, swung into the saddle with easy, graceful agility.
The peculiar dark-brown wild horse neighed several times, then obediently broke into a run toward the county town.
An hour later, Yun Manman looked at the county town in the distance: Wuliang.
This was her first visit to the county town in her memory.
Yun Manman dismounted and put the horse into the space. Only after paying two copper coins at the gate did she enter the town, bustling with carriages and horses.
The county town was far more prosperous than the market town.
But Yun Manman was in no mood to admire it.
Ever since entering the mountains, she had relied entirely on Returning Lotus Fruit to fill her stomach. Although she felt no hunger, her mouth was starved of flavor, and her taste buds desperately needed salvation.
Looking at the various noodles and snacks along the roadside, Yun Manman ordered a bowl of cold noodles and sat down by the road to eat.
She also took the opportunity to ask the proprietress a few questions.
"Ma'am, may I ask where in this county town I can find a shop that buys game?"
There were few customers eating so early in the morning, and this young gentleman had such fine, handsome features that the proprietress was happy to chat.
She sat opposite Yun Manman and smiled, pointing in a direction.
"There are several places on the eastern end that specialize in buying game, but the largest and fairest with its prices is the Chen Family General Store. They do every kind of business there. I hear the owner behind it has powerful connections. You could ask there, young master."
Yun Manman set down five copper coins and cupped her hands in thanks to the proprietress.
Looking at the courteous young gentleman, the proprietress's aging face instantly flushed.
Actually, it would have been fine even if this young master hadn't paid.
Yun Manman did not head straight to the Chen Family General Store, but first strolled around East Street.
Finally, she chose an alley. It was a dead end with no other way through, making it very suitable for bringing out her game.
Looking at the stately, imposing building before her, with the five large characters for Chen Family General Store written in a particularly free and unrestrained hand on its dark-brown signboard, a flicker of appreciation for the lettering crossed Yun Manman's eyes.
"Welcome, young master! Your journey must have been tiring. Please come inside and rest."
Yun Manman received a warm welcome before she even entered. Her expression softened slightly as she stepped into the shop.
To the right stood a tall marble counter. A long corridor ran through the center of the hall, with small compartments on both sides for discussions and rest.
Yun Manman did not linger over the furnishings. Instead, she looked at the shop assistant and lowered her voice slightly.
"Sorry for the trouble. I have something important to sell. Could you ask the shopkeeper to come out and meet me?"
The assistant was a man who had seen something of the world.
This young master appeared to possess excellent bearing and refinement, so she surely had both backing and strength. Not daring to slight her, he hurriedly replied,
"Please wait a moment, young master. I'll go upstairs and ask the shopkeeper to come down."
Yun Manman nodded. Only after watching the assistant head upstairs did she turn her gaze behind the ground-floor counter, where various valuable beast pelts and horns hung on the wall.
To the left, however, stood a large chessboard. Yun Manman studied the partially played endgame on it for several breaths, then looked away.
Childish!
Sensing someone watching her from behind, she turned to look at the person on the stairs.
He was a middle-aged man of forty, with wisdom and shrewdness in his clear, upright eyes and a small mustache on his face.
Yun Manman could clearly sense that this man's martial arts were not weak.
Moreover, ever since she had entered this shop, it had felt as though several pairs of eyes were watching her from the shadows.
Seeing Yun Manman sizing him up, the shopkeeper also smiled.
He descended the stairs and approached Yun Manman.
This young master looked slight and delicate, yet even he could not gauge her abilities. Her entire bearing was noble and cool.
Those purple eyes were all the more soul-stirring, as though they could see through the thoughts at the bottom of one's heart.
The last time he had encountered eyes that made his heart tremble like this, they had been the blue eyes of that person at the border.
He had never expected to encounter another such person now.
"What would you like to sell, young master? Might we discuss it upstairs?"
Yun Manman also knew that such a large quantity of goods did indeed require sitting down for a detailed discussion.
The two entered a room and sat down. The shopkeeper took the lead in brewing tea and introducing himself. "You may call me Shopkeeper Chen, young master. May I ask your surname?"
"You're too courteous, Shopkeeper Chen. My surname is Man. I have over forty head of game. I wonder whether your Chen Family General Store can swallow that much?"
Surprise appeared on the shopkeeper's face. He had not expected this young master to be selling game, and in no small quantity.
"As long as you have it, young master, never mind forty-even over a hundred head would be well within our Chen family's capacity. Where is your game, and what kinds do you have?"
Yun Manman's purple eyes swept toward the shopkeeper as though casually. Her voice was quiet, but every word was clear.
"Just some lions, snow leopards, wild yaks, and things like brown bears, grizzly bears, and wild boars. All fresh, killed not long ago."
The shopkeeper's expression changed. So shocked that he rose straight out of his chair, he stammered, "Young-Young Master Man, this, this..."
Even if this young master's martial arts surpassed his own, she could not possibly have hunted so much game at once. There was no great family surnamed Man in the Southern Mo Kingdom.
But how could the household of an ordinary young master from a wealthy merchant family have so many highly skilled guards?
And this young master had even come in person to sell the game they had hunted.
Yun Manman's expression remained unchanged. She calmly took a sip of tea before looking at the shopkeeper and raising her brows.
"My family has plenty of money and keeps plenty of guards. I can only take them into the mountains to catch some game. Otherwise, a large household and large holdings mean large expenses, too. Do you have any concerns, Shopkeeper?"
"Ahem..."
Shopkeeper Chen coughed lightly and cupped his hands toward Yun Manman in apology.
"Please forgive my loss of composure, young master. It's simply that we rarely receive such valuable game here. Our Chen family will buy it all. May I ask where your game is?"
Yun Manman's purple eyes rested steadily on Shopkeeper Chen for a long moment before she said quietly,
"Come to the innermost alley on East Street in a quarter of an hour. There's too much game, and the smell of blood is too strong. It wouldn't be convenient to pile it in the courtyard here. I'll have the servants deliver it there. Just send people to work out the price and haul it away."
His face full of solemn earnestness, Shopkeeper Chen looked at Yun Manman and cupped his hands again.
"Rest assured, young master. Our prices will certainly satisfy you. If you have game like this in the future, simply send it over. Our Chen family will buy it all."
This young master's bearing was calm and steady, and every movement suggested the descendant of a great family.
No matter which family she belonged to, if they could become friends, they must not make an enemy of her.