SPMT : Chapter 93 Mighty Xiao Fan 

At the gambling stone shop.

“Jinyue, what’s so fun about gambling on stones? There’s a big merchant house next door – you can buy whatever you like there.” Ouyang Jing said to a six-year-old little girl.

Ouyang Jinyue shook her head dismissively. “What’s good about browsing a big merchant house? Going around and around, it’s all the same stuff – so boring! Gambling on stones is exciting! One cut makes you poor, one cut makes you rich. Sister Ouyang, have you heard? Before, someone at the gambling stone venue spent two taels of silver to buy a stone that didn’t look very good, but ended up cutting out a decent quality spirit pearl and sold it for over two hundred thousand taels of silver!”

Ouyang Jing nodded and smiled with difficulty. “I’ve heard about it.”

There were indeed those lucky ones who became rich overnight through stone gambling, but more people lost everything in a single night because of stone gambling.

Ouyang Jing frowned. Though Ouyang Jinyue was young, she was the legitimate daughter of the Ouyang family. The family head had gotten this daughter in his old age and doted on her tremendously. After Ouyang Jinyue came to Bifeng City, Ouyang Jing had come to curry favor with her. Ouyang Jinyue was young but had a big temper and was very difficult to handle. Ouyang Jing was being driven to distraction by Ouyang Jinyue.

“Jinyue, you’re still young. Stone gambling can wait a few more years.” Ouyang Jing had a headache. If the city lord knew she had taken his beloved daughter to browse gambling stone venues, he would definitely be very angry.

Ouyang Jinyue pouted. “Why wait a few years? I’m already very grown up now.”

Ouyang Jing said helplessly, “Jinyue, you’re still young.”

“What about him?” Ouyang Jinyue raised her hand and pointed toward Xiao Xiaofan.

Ouyang Jing looked in the direction Ouyang Jinyue pointed and saw Xiao Xiaofan holding up high with both hands an oval-shaped stone with a diameter of over eighty centimeters. Xiao Xiaofan appeared tiny and pitiful beneath that huge stone, making people very worried that the enormous stone would crush him.

Xiao Xiaofan walked unsteadily, and the surrounding customers who saw him all showed worried expressions.

Xiao Jingting held a basketball-sized stone and sheepishly followed behind Xiao Xiaofan.

Quite a few people in the gambling stone shop looked at Xiao Jingting with reproachful expressions. Xiao Jingting felt somewhat embarrassed – his youngest son wanted to display his mighty prowess and insisted on carrying the big stone, absolutely refusing to let him take the large one. He was also forced into this helpless situation!

Ever since Xiao Xiaofan had started cultivating, he had gradually displayed his natural divine strength talent. Though this stone was somewhat heavy, it wouldn’t crush his son. Xiao Jingting still had confidence in this point.

Ouyang Jinyue walked up to Xiao Xiaofan and observed him with interest. “Little brother, you’re really strong.”

“So-so, so-so.”

“Little brother, your eye for stones is really poor.”

“No, no, my eye is very good.”

Ouyang Jinyue pursed her lips with disdain. “Look at the lousy stone you bought, yet you dare say you have a good eye.”

Xiao Xiaofan glanced at Ouyang Jinyue. “How is it lousy?”

“This stone has so many cracks – it’s exactly the worst kind of cracked stone. Nothing good can be cut from it.” Ouyang Jinyue said with her head held high.

Xiao Xiaofan’s face reddened. “No, no! There are good things inside this stone!”

“Oh, what good things? Tell me about them.” Ouyang Jinyue asked.

“I don’t know.” Xiao Xiaofan said.

Ouyang Jinyue burst into laughter. “Little idiot.”

Xiao Xiaofan glared angrily at Ouyang Jinyue. “Not an idiot, not an idiot!”

Ouyang Jinyue looked at Xiao Xiaofan’s reaction and snorted lightly. “So you really are an idiot!”

Xiao Xiaofan’s face flushed red with anger. “Nonsense, nonsense!”

“Little brother, stone gambling isn’t done like this. Wait for sister to pick a few stones to show you.” Ouyang Jinyue left with her head held high.

Ouyang Jing looked at Xiao Jingting with slightly furrowed brows.

Seeing Ouyang Jing’s reaction, Xiao Jingting knew that Ouyang Jing had recognized his identity, but Ouyang Jing clearly didn’t want to get involved with him.

Xiao Jingting didn’t know how to face this woman who had once had an affair with Xiao Qingyan. Seeing that she had no intention of greeting him, Xiao Jingting naturally wouldn’t make himself unwelcome either.

The gambling stone shop was very crowded, with quite a few people paying their bills and others cutting stones. Xiao Jingting and Xiao Xiaofan stood to one side, queuing to pay.

Xiao Xiaofan stood in the queue holding the stone high, exceptionally eye-catching.

Xiao Jingting looked at the mighty and majestic Xiao Xiaofan. “Son, put it down.” His son was truly a model worker! Such a heavy stone, and he didn’t find it tiring!

Xiao Xiaofan shook his head. “No, no! Not tired, not tired!”

Xiao Jingting rubbed his nose. His son wasn’t tired, but he, as the father, felt very tired from being stared at by people!

“Boss, we want these stones.” Finally reaching their turn, Xiao Jingting said eagerly to the gambling stone shop owner.

“Alright.”

Just as the shop owner was about to settle the bill for Xiao Jingting, Ouyang Jinyue charged over aggressively with several servants. “Boss, settle my bill and then cut these stones for me.”

As soon as Ouyang Jinyue spoke, the shop owner immediately cast aside Xiao Jingting who was preparing to pay.

“We were here first.” Xiao Xiaofan muttered in dissatisfaction.

Xiao Jingting rubbed Xiao Xiaofan’s head. “No rush, no rush. Let’s wait a bit longer.”

“Miss Ouyang, that’s one hundred fifty thousand taels of silver in total.” the shop owner said obsequiously.

Ouyang Jinyue took out a stack of banknotes from her spatial ring and slapped them on the table with great wealth and arrogance.

Xiao Jingting’s eyes widened. He thought to himself: This damn girl is a total spendthrift! Coming from the Marquis Manor, she’s truly wealthy and arrogant. This is over a hundred thousand taels of silver – it really makes you mad with envy.

Xiao Jingting had originally felt he had some wealth, but seeing Ouyang Jinyue, he suddenly realized his assets might not even match this little girl’s.

After Ouyang Jinyue finished, it was finally Xiao Jingting’s turn.

“Do you want to cut the stones?” the shop owner asked.

Xiao Jingting shook his head. “No need.”

“Why not cut them? They’re just two broken stones. Are you going to hide them away to cut in secret?” Ouyang Jinyue said with puffed cheeks in dissatisfaction.

Xiao Jingting: “…” This stinking girl, this spendthrift, was really good at meddling in other people’s business.

The stones Xiao Xiaofan bought were always cut by Xiao Jingting in private. Xiao Jingting had even bought a special cutting machine for stone cutting.

Xiao Xiaofan’s gaze swept over Ouyang Jinyue’s stones. “Your stones won’t produce anything good.”

Ouyang Jinyue became furious with embarrassment. “What did you say? Your stones are the lousy ones!”

Xiao Xiaofan blinked and held up his stone in silence.

“Customer, why don’t you cut your stones in the shop? Our store offers free stone cutting.” the shop owner encouraged.

Seeing quite a few people looking over, Xiao Jingting weighed his options and nodded. “Alright then.”

Ouyang Jinyue glanced at Xiao Xiaofan. “Cut mine first, then his.”

Xiao Xiaofan rolled his eyes without saying anything.

Ouyang Jinyue’s stones were cut open one by one, revealing several pieces of decent quality superior spirit jade. Though they were quite good, roughly calculating, those spirit jades were only worth fifty to sixty thousand taels of silver.

Quite a few people around Ouyang Jinyue were flattering her. In stone gambling, nine out of ten bets fail, so Ouyang Jinyue at least recovered some of her costs – her luck was neither good nor bad.

If not for Xiao Xiaofan’s peculiar ability, Xiao Jingting would absolutely never touch this stuff.

Ouyang Jinyue looked at the results and frowned somewhat dissatisfiedly.

“Little fool, it’s your turn.” Ouyang Jinyue said.

Xiao Xiaofan glanced at Ouyang Jinyue and said sullenly, “I’m not a fool. My name is Xiao Xiaofan.”

Ouyang Jinyue shrugged noncommittally. “Your name is really awful.”

Xiao Xiaofan bit his lip and ignored Ouyang Jinyue.

“Please cut carefully.” Xiao Xiaofan carefully put down the stone and sent it to the cutting master.

“Alright, little customer, you can rest assured.”

Xiao Xiaofan nodded and crouched nervously to one side.

Ouyang Jinyue looked at Xiao Xiaofan’s tense appearance and snorted lightly. “It’s just a broken stone, yet you treat it like a treasure.”

Xiao Xiaofan glanced at Ouyang Jinyue without making a sound.

The stone was cut smaller and smaller, but nothing came out.

Ouyang Jinyue looked at Xiao Xiaofan’s nervous appearance and said gloatingly, “I told you this stone was lousy, but you wouldn’t believe it.”

Xiao Xiaofan stared wide-eyed from the side, constantly saying, “Be careful, be careful.”

“Eh, stone within stone.”

When cut to the very center, the stone turned amber-colored, and something could be seen inside the stone.

“Little fool, you’ve hit the jackpot.”

“Eh, a worm.” Ouyang Jinyue leaned over to watch the excitement. “There’s a worm in your stone. Though it’s somewhat novel, it’s not worth money.”

“Customer, our shop offers thirty thousand taels of silver to purchase this stone. How about it?” the gambling stone shop owner said in a calm voice.

The stone Xiao Xiaofan had picked, as Ouyang Jinyue said, didn’t have very good appearance. Though it was somewhat large in size, it was only worth five thousand taels.

“No, no!” Xiao Xiaofan quickly shook his head.

“Brother, I find this worm in the stone quite adorable. How about I offer one hundred thousand taels of silver?” A man in brocade robes stepped forward.

“Little ghost, the stone you gambled is worth one hundred thousand taels.” Ouyang Jinyue said with some surprise.

Xiao Xiaofan stared fixedly at the worm in the stone, swallowed, and said, “This worm smells so good. If fried, it would definitely be delicious.”

Ouyang Jinyue looked at Xiao Xiaofan incredulously. “Ew, you actually eat fried worms. You’re so disgusting.”

Xiao Xiaofan glanced at Ouyang Jinyue with satisfaction. “Fried worms are really delicious.”

As soon as Xiao Jingting heard the shop owner and the brocade-robed man bidding, he knew this worm was a good thing. They were just bullying him for not understanding the trade. “This thing, I won’t…” sell.

“I offer fifteen Spirit Stones.” A calm voice came over, interrupting Xiao Jingting’s unfinished words.

A man with graying hair and a wine gourd hanging from his body walked out.

Xiao Jingting was immediately shocked. Spirit Stones were precious things! This realm produced very few Spirit Stones, and Spirit Stone veins were all controlled by top-tier forces. One Spirit Stone could sell for fifty to sixty thousand taels. Fifteen Spirit Stones would be close to seven to eight hundred thousand taels of silver, almost approaching the Xiao family’s annual income.

Though the man looked ordinary, as soon as he appeared, the shop immediately fell silent.

“Senior Zhao, how did you come here?” The shop owner immediately went forward to greet him with a beaming smile.

Zhao Jin glanced lightly at the shop owner. “Wang Quan, thirty thousand taels of silver to buy a ninth-grade spirit medicine silkworm is probably not enough.”

Shop owner Wang Quan laughed awkwardly.

Senior! Xiao Jingting’s heart began pounding. The shop owner had eighth layer Qi Refining cultivation, and someone he called Senior would naturally be a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

“Young friend, I’m about to refine pills recently and need exactly this spirit medicine silkworm. I wonder if you could part with it?” Zhao Jin said.

Xiao Jingting nodded hastily. “Of course! If Senior likes it, please take it.” A Foundation Establishment expert! He couldn’t afford to offend such a person.

Zhao Jin glanced at Xiao Jingting and tossed over a bag of Spirit Stones and a token. “I won’t take advantage of you either. Take these Spirit Stones, and this token – you can come find me with it.”

Xiao Jingting quickly thanked him. He thought to himself: After making such a spectacle today, some people would probably target him. Zhao Jin’s token was equivalent to a protective talisman that should make those targeting him think twice. Thinking of how Zhao Jin was looking out for his safety so thoroughly, Xiao Jingting couldn’t help but develop more favorable feelings toward this Senior Zhao.