Chapter 192 – Herb Garden
The next day, Aiko was completely rested and ready to brawl.
She would shop to her heart's content, since she would soon have to sit through yet another banquet.
At that thought, Aiko just wanted to run away, but she couldn't leave Lady Liu alone with Chen Shi. Who knows what he would do to her...
And... Aiko would also like to get a gift for Lady Liu.
She took good care of her and her team and even taught them etiquette.
While it's not important currently, as Aiko could just play the 'too young card', that thing won't last forever, so she should start training the 'reserved beauty card'.
Aiko glanced at her team. They were once again chatting along. She was happy that they were on good terms, since Aiko would be sad to lose either of them.
Their cooperation was also good; the Umbra Fox always had a few ropes on her hands to tie-up the assailants. Whereas, the Blood Fox was the muscle of the group; she could easily lift all the tied-up bodies and transport them somewhere else.
...
Aiko stretched and waited for her team to get ready. She would go in the Sect Clothes, since they would attract less attention.
It was definitely not because she didn't want the Umbra and Blood Fox to dress her up.
Aiko didn't have to wait long before they were ready.
Now it looked like Aiko was the Young Miss of some wealthy family, followed by her guards.
Aiko happily nodded and took the Lamp with her. Since she got the Ghost that served as a pseudo-version of Mei, she should buy a few more pieces of clothing for Mei, since she rarely saw her change clothing.
That was not bad since Aiko was similar, but she felt that it would be better if Mei had more clothing. She was already fully grown, unlike Aiko who was yet to finish growing.
Aiko skipped a few steps and jumped on the wall to their courtyard. They couldn't use their Recognition Inhibition Bracelets inside the Palace, but that same rule didn't apply outside the Palace.
This would allow them to stay mostly hidden from others, but basically undetectable for Mortals.
They wouldn't be disturbed while shopping if they were like this.
...
Aiko equipped both of her Recognition Inhibition Bracelets, which turned her 'ugly', but compared to Mortals, she was still breathtakingly beautiful.
They traversed the alleys, since most nice shops were quite far away from the Palace for some reason.
Aiko didn't understand why, but considering their speed, that was not an issue.
She could traverse the city many times before the sun went down, which meant most of her actual time would be spent shopping
Her first destination was the Herb Garden.
Aiko had no idea why they called it like that and she wouldn't question it as long as they had good quality products.
As they arrived in front of the shop, they could already smell the alluring smell of the Herbs.
They entered the Herb Garden. It was quite a large shop compared to the shops around, but it was still smaller than the Inscription Shop owned by Chen Shi.
Aiko could only shake her head at his wealth, but she understood why he was wealthier.
Pills, at least the normally sold Pills, didn't taste good. If Aiko were to compare it to something, it would be like eating dirt at best; swallowing smelly mud was the middle ground and unbearably smelly shit was the lowest one.
Fortunately, most shops wouldn't sell the worst ones, but that still didn't mean Aiko wanted to visit Pill shops, since they still had the middle ones the most. This meant that Aiko felt like she was visiting a smelly swamp…
Aiko shivered remembering the Pill shop they passed and vowed she would never visit them.
Aiko stared towards the display with Herbs in them.
You could not touch them, but you could observe and smell them.
Aiko had no interest in smelling them, since some of them were poisonous to even smell, with only a simple Array trapping the dangerous scent.
That meant she would have to use what Mei had taught her about Herbs, and what they look like.
That was rather easy for Aiko since she had the [Perfect Memory] Passive Ability.
Aiko walked around, frowning for most of the time, while scrutinising for the rest.
This attracted the attention of some other customers. They wondered who this little girl was and some of them even snickered.
Aiko naturally ignored them since she was not here to entertain them, when suddenly an alluring smell entered her nostrils.
She sniffed gently, her hidden ears and tails twitching. She was very much interested in this smell.
Aiko turned around slowly towards the smell. It was a beautiful, six-coloured flower inside the main display above the counter.
'Six-Coloured Lotus...' Aiko immediately associated the flower with her knowledge. She also knew that this flower had miraculous healing effects if prepared properly.
'If I get this as another gift for Mei... she will definitely be happy~' Aiko hummed in her mind for her plan, but then saw a small sign below the flower.
"Answer all the questions about flowers and you will win this Six-Coloured Blazing Lotus."
'GEH' Aiko's face distorted when they mislabelled the Flower. 'Seriously, they really believe that's the Six-Coloured Blazing Lotus when it doesn't burn your nostrils from breathing in the scent.'
Aiko shook her head at the flower, which attracted even more attention.
"Would you like to try our challenge?" An old Cultivator was sitting behind the counter and above that counter was the Six Coloured Lotus.
"Not really." Aiko didn't have a favourable impression of them.
"Why not?" He smiled amicably, but his words attracted more attention. "To challenge this, you need a measly Spirit Stone." But his words were laced with ridicule.
Aiko scoffed at him, 'Old and dumb...' but she suddenly smirked. "We get what's written on that sign?" Aiko smiled deviously.
"Of course, as long as you pass the challenge, you will obtain it." He pointed at the Six-Coloured Lotus inside the board.
"So we will get what's written on the sign, huh..." Aiko was deep in thought, stressing the 'on the sign' part.
The old Cultivator was slightly impatient and easily irritable, that was one of the reasons he picked a fight with this stupid Young Miss.
"Yes." He reassured the stupid Young Miss. "Now, will you take the challenge?"
Meanwhile, the peanut gallery grew, they were interested and excited about this situation.
"Of course." Aiko grinned happily. "I can't wait to rob you blind~" She hummed happily, skipping a few steps in front of the old Cultivator.
The old Cultivator's face distorted. He didn't think that this stupid Young Miss actually believed she would win anything.
"Ah, but before we start." Aiko smirked. "No bullshit with Jade Slips, alright? Everything will be done so that everyone currently inside can see it." Aiko wouldn't let them try to scam her, since the Blood Fox gave her a few tips when they were walking through the alleys.
His face distorted further, this stupid Young Miss dared to question his credibility.
"Why should we cater to you? This challenge was taken by many and none had issues." He proclaimed.
"Pfft." Aiko almost laughed out loud. "Would you be proud to announce to others that you were scammed?" Aiko giggled, her sweet laughter attracted more attention from outside and the peanut gallery increased. Some actually had real nuts!
"You wouldn't announce it; you would rather leave with pride." Aiko shrugged and shook her head at him. "Do I look like a stupid Young Miss to you, old fossil?" Aiko scoffed at him.
'Yes...' The Peanut gallery behind Aiko nodded their heads that she looked like that. Fortunately, Aiko didn't notice that otherwise, she would cuss everyone out of the shop.
"You-!" The old Cultivator behind the counter almost raged.
"Enough." The Manager spotted this commotion and came out. "What's happening?"
"He is trying to scam me." Aiko pouted innocently. "I just want to take the challenge and get what's on the sign..." Aiko hmpfed away from them, like stupid Young Miss would do.
His brows twitched, but their Owner said that they should attract more customers this way, so they had to naturally humour her.
"You can take the Challenge-" The Manager said, but Aiko interrupted him.
"So that everyone could see it." Aiko smiled from ear to ear.
The Manager was also slowly losing patience, but he had an important guest inside, so he couldn't make too big of a ruckus.
"That can be arranged." The Manager nodded, trying to satisfy this little Young Miss.
Aiko nodded with clear and innocent eyes and happily smiled.
The Shop was pretty much packed with people, only about 1.5 metres around Aiko was unoccupied and that was only because her team was holding them back with their glares.
Some sat down, others pulled out chairs. They had this odd feeling that they would be here for quite some time, so they prepared the necessities to watch the show.
"Walnuts, chestnuts, peanut, all kinds of nuts!" One spectator called out sellling the important food for spectating.
"I will take one pack.""I will take two.""Give me a few, too."
Everyone immediately jumped at this situation and Aiko's lips could only twitch.
'Maybe I should buy a few shops worth of nuts and sell them whenever I get into this situation...' Aiko thought about it for a while. Even if she raised the price a bit, some would still buy it. Not to mention, considering how often she got into this kind of trouble, she would definitely make a lot of profit…
Aiko nodded gently, swaying her body from boredom. "Have you prepared it?"
The old Cultivator was a lot more polite now, but he was still glaring at the stupid Young Miss. "We are still preparing it."
"How about now?" Aiko soon asked again.
"Not yet." The old Cultivator had a really unsightly expression and he wished that this little stupid Young Miss would finally give up and head home, but unfortunately...
"And now?" Aiko asked again and he almost flipped the whole counter on her.
"Not. Yet!" He stared daggers at the stupid Young Miss, but Aiko just shrugged.
"You should hurry it up, they are running out of peanuts." Aiko pointed at the spectators like she was concerned about them.
The peanut gallery's hearts warmed up and some of them vowed to protect this little Young Miss.