Chapter 813 The Middle-aged Man at the Stall
Ye Xuanyue didn’t spare attention for Ge Lao Ba anymore. She turned her head and looked toward the person who had spoken.
It was a man dressed in black. He was somewhat handsome, but only among average people—worth boasting about a little. Compared to Leng Moran, he immediately seemed bland and uninteresting.
His eyes were fixed on Ye Xuanyue’s. He openly looked her up and down. His gaze wasn’t necessarily terrible, but it unavoidably made one feel uncomfortable. He smiled and then spoke.
"That old man just now is a famous old troublemaker in Yin'an Market."
"He must have seen you were newcomers and tried to set a trap for you."
Ye Xuanyue blinked, and then she spoke.
"Who are you?"
The man in black opposite her smiled and introduced himself.
"Me? My surname is Li. I’m called Li Lu Ren."
Ye Xuanyue frowned slightly. Li Lu Ren? What a strange name.
It sounded immediately as if it wasn’t his real name, but a fake one spoken casually. Yet in a place like this, such minor details weren’t worth dwelling on.
Leng Moran also frowned. He didn’t much like this person who had appeared out of nowhere.
Ye Xuanyue didn’t have a good impression of him either, but adhering to the principle of avoiding trouble, she nodded and prepared to leave directly.
But she heard the man opposite speak up again.
"If you came here looking for a shop, you might as well follow me."
Ye Xuanyue raised her head, looked at this self-proclaimed Li Lu Ren fellow, and spoke.
"No need, we can look on our own. Thank you."
Then, without much hesitation, Ye Xuanyue turned around and walked deeper inside.
This man called Li Lu Ren stared at Ye Xuanyue’s back. He licked his lips, and a faint, meaningful expression appeared in his demeanor.
...
The place was not small. Some people were setting up stalls around, and there were also built houses with signs hung outside, directly stating things like,
"Selling such-and-such..."
It looked simple and to the point. But because there were no fixed rules, it unavoidably seemed messy. Without someone sufficiently familiar and local, it truly wasn’t easy to precisely find what you wanted in this chaotic place.
Ye Xuanyue’s gaze searched around quietly. Mu Yeqing had said before that his friend was always setting up a street stall in Yin’an Market, so he should be easy to find. And he didn’t like to stand out; looking along the corners was the right approach.
Mu Yeqing had described his friend’s appearance very clearly and had also given Ye Xuanyue a token. Right now, she was searching for this so-called friend of Mu Yeqing.
Her gaze quickly swept over the edge areas, and the corner of her mouth lifted slightly. Leng Moran followed behind the young girl and watched her until she stopped at a corner.
Ye Xuanyue lowered her head and inquired.
"Excuse me..."
In the corner sat a middle-aged man. He wore plain gray clothes, but his appearance was easy to recognize because he had a mole on his face. His looks were very ordinary, even somewhat ugly.
Hearing Ye Xuanyue’s voice, he raised his head. When he first saw Ye Xuanyue’s eyes, he was slightly stunned. Then he said quietly,
"Hmm?"
"See something you like?"
Ye Xuanyue realized he thought she was here to buy his things. But since that was the case, she simply lowered her head and carefully looked over everything on his stall.
There were many items here, assorted bits and pieces. Some looked like Spirit Beast materials, but at a glance, Ye Xuanyue couldn’t really tell for sure. Others were special types of ore.
Ye Xuanyue’s original purpose wasn’t to buy anything, so she planned to just look once and be done—but she unexpectedly found one thing that stirred her interest.
She pointed to a medicinal herb in the corner that was half red and half green and asked,
"What is that? How much?"
The middle-aged man’s voice carried a strange sense of gloom. His tone was flat.
"That is one type of Dragonblood Grass."
Dragonblood Grass?
Ye Xuanyue blinked. No wonder she felt a slight stir. She knew about this material.
Dragonblood Grass didn’t actually refer to one specific medicinal herb. So-called Dragonblood Grass was created when Dragon Clan blood splashed onto a medicinal herb, altering its properties—such herbs were called Dragonblood Grass.
But the Dragon Clan had strong defenses, and chances for them to bleed were rare. So such herbs were still quite uncommon. They could be used to refine rather special elixirs.
Different Dragonblood Grasses varied in grade. The best, naturally, were those completely soaked in Dragon Blood—herbs that grew directly from Dragon Blood itself.
Ye Xuanyue knew that the Imperial City Alchemist Association was searching for such herbs. They had posted a task, and it still hadn’t been accepted.
This Dragonblood Grass could only be considered average.
Ye Xuanyue looked at it a couple of times, then said quietly,
"A friend asked us to find you."
The person opposite didn’t move, as if indifferent. Ye Xuanyue took out a piece of what looked like withered leaf from her pocket.
This made the middle-aged man sitting there selling things raise his eyelids slightly. He reached out and pinched the withered leaf Ye Xuanyue gave him. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, which counted as revealing a faint smile.
Then Ye Xuanyue heard him speak.
"So it’s that young fellow Mu. It’s not surprising it’s him."
"He told you to find me?"
He lowered his head and spoke unhurriedly.
"All right. I owe him a favor."
"Wait over there. After I finish setting up my stall, I’ll take you to a place to rest."
Ye Xuanyue was a bit taken aback. This middle-aged man’s manner was quite interesting. He casually pulled out two stools from behind him for Ye Xuanyue and Leng Moran.
Ye Xuanyue thought about it; waiting here wasn’t the best idea, so she spoke up.
"How about you just point us in the right direction? Where should we go if we want to exchange information?"
"And which shop here is the biggest?"
The middle-aged man’s expression remained flat.
"What’s the hurry."
"Wait until I’m done."
Clearly, there weren’t any customers around, but he acted quite arrogant. Ye Xuanyue felt a bit helpless. But she held it in. She suppressed her impatience and waited patiently to the side.
She didn’t know how long they waited. A few people came, picked and chose, and bought a few things.
Ye Xuanyue looked at Leng Moran beside her. Based on his temper, he would have walked away long ago. When had he ever encountered such a soft rebuff?
But he looked at Ye Xuanyue. The young girl’s expression beside him was very calm, which greatly calmed him down as well.
After this middle-aged man sold several items, he slowly packed his things into his Spatial Ring, glanced at Ye Xuanyue, and spoke.
"Follow me."