468: Chapter 467: Tianbao Street 468: Chapter 467: Tianbao Street Xu Ruolan’s heart had been burdened with a lot of stress, which all burst forth when she took the opportunity to get drunk.
As she continuously revealed her feelings, Xu Ruolan found a great release, but in the end, she was still totally drunk.
When Ning Fan helped her back to her room to rest, she was already unconscious, murmuring something in her half-dazed state.
The Nangong Family had been in Zhonghai for about five days, and during this time, Xu Chengyuan had been shuttling back and forth between the Xu Family and the Nangong Family.
Nangong Fu had encountered foul play in Zhonghai, and as relatives, they indeed hadn’t taken good care of him.
Because of this incident, the relationship between the Nangong Family and the Xu Family had become somewhat strained.
Even though Xu Chengyuan, as the Family Head, kept trying to mediate, the sorrow of losing a son was not something that could be easily soothed.
Over these days, apart from discussing matters of the Shadow Team with Ouyang Feifei, Ning Fan was urging Ah Jiu to locate Apollo of the Fang Guild, who was now in Europe.
As for his exact location, further investigation was needed.
Early the next morning, Ning Fan left his room on time.
He felt he had woken up rather early, but when he went downstairs, he learned from Xu Xiaoqing that Xu Ruolan had already gone to work early.
“How could this woman go to work so early after being attacked just yesterday?” Ning Fan couldn’t help but murmur.
However, it was probably for the best.
Since he had time, he remembered running out of Silver Needles yesterday, so he decided to buy some today.
Originally, Ning Fan had planned to go alone, but he forgot about the troublemaker, Xu Xiaoqing.
“I want to go too,” Xu Xiaoqing clamored.
“You want to follow even without knowing what I’m going for?” Ning Fan felt more at ease handling these trivial things alone.
Having Xu Xiaoqing with him seemed to make things a lot more troublesome, despite her being quite a beauty.
“So what?
I’m going wherever you’re going,” Xu Xiaoqing chuckled, insistently speaking while pausing mysteriously before continuing somewhat helplessly, “So what are you going for?”
“To buy some stuff,” Ning Fan replied offhandedly.
Silver Needles, he knew a place that was relatively cheap, a place called Tianbao Street.
Technically, Tianbao Street was an antique trading market, but nowadays, the antique industry was too murky.
With fakes everywhere and many people engaged in antiques, anyone daring to dabble in this field usually knew something about it, meaning the actual antique market wasn’t very large.
Thus, gradually, Tianbao Street also developed a trade in small objects that couldn’t be considered antiques but were categorized as objects for play.
Items like Silver Needles could be found in some silverware shops and were much cheaper than in jewelry shops.
Moreover, ordinary jewelry stores might not even have these items.
In the end, having no choice, Ning Fan ended up taking Xu Xiaoqing to Tianbao Street.
“Follow me and don’t make trouble.
Do as I say, or I’ll send you back,” Ning Fan repeatedly cautioned Xu Xiaoqing not to cause him any trouble.
After Xu Xiaoqing nodded like a pecking chicken in agreement, Ning Fan finally nodded in satisfaction.
As they entered Tianbao Street with a specific goal in mind, they didn’t browse around, and quickly found a silverware shop that seemed decently sized.
At this time, there weren’t many people on Tianbao Street, and this shop was even more devoid of customers.
When Ning Fan and Xu Xiaoqing walked in, the salesgirl beamed as if a drunk man had seen a beautiful woman strip down, and she came over to greet them.
“What can I do for you?” The salesgirl was a young girl who was quite pretty, but Ning Fan didn’t like her thick makeup.
She politely asked, “Our shop specializes in silverware, see if there’s anything you need, or if you have any fine items, our shop also purchases them.”
Ning Fan smiled casually and was about to speak when his ears twitched slightly.
He faintly heard a series of scolding voices coming from behind, inaudible to others, but once Ning Fan got slightly distracted, he could hear them clearly.
A man’s voice seemed extremely angry, “Idiot, you’re such an idiot!
You bought this piece of junk for five hundred?
Are you blind?”
The object of the scolding seemed to be a girl, whose voice was fearful and apologetic.
She responded softly, “I’m sorry, boss, I know I was wrong.”
“Wrong?
Can admitting it be eaten as food or spent as money?
I tell you, if you cannot sell this item quickly, I’m cutting your salary in half this month!” the man sneered.
“Sir?” The waiter noticed Ning Fan spacing out and couldn’t help but call out again.
“Oh, it’s nothing, just looking around,” Ning Fan said, his eyes involuntarily drifting towards a door behind the counter.
A man and a waiter just came out.
These were the two people from behind the counter.
The man in the front was obviously the boss.
With a sharp, monkey-like face and a hooked nose, he was slim and not tall; if one had to define the look of a swindler, it would be this.
The man’s expression was clearly not the best, but as soon as he saw Ning Fan and Xu Xiaoqing, he almost instantly put on a smile.
As guests had arrived, he naturally had to play the host.
“Oh, we have guests.” The man greeted cheerfully while gesturing with his hand for the waiter behind him to leave.
“Are you…
looking to buy something?” the boss asked.
“Yes,” Ning Fan nodded.
“What would you like to buy?” the boss probed.
“Just looking around,” Ning Fan responded again.
The boss’s smile grew even thicker; with no specific target, it was easier to handle.
Seeing that both were young and probably unknowledgeable, he was immediately tempted.
The item that the waiter had just bought for five hundred, which the boss considered a huge loss, might yet be sold since there were customers visiting.
“So, since that’s the case.
May I take the liberty to introduce this item to you?” the boss said with a sly grin.
“Of course,” Ning Fan’s expression remained unreadable.
Unnoticed by others, Ning Fan’s gaze also drifted unconsciously to the item in the boss’s hand.
“Good, this one right here,” said the boss, raising the item he was holding.
“My young friend, you might not know, but this is a new arrival at our shop, a true treasure.”
This item, peculiarly, was a small, silver-white canister at first glance, not large, about the size of two fists.
It appeared to be a canister, but it was completely sealed with no opening, merely retaining the shape of one.
Although it was silver-white, the boss could tell at a glance that the material was definitely not silver, which was the main selling point of the shop.
The boss was, of course, infuriated since he had accepted an item whose material he couldn’t even identify.