I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 1039: Chapter 333: Misunderstanding Chapter 1039: Chapter 333: Misunderstanding Typically, the ones who can truly hurt you are not those obviously visible enemies. That’s because, against such people, normal folks always have their guard up. But when it comes to friends who hover at their side, people tend not to be so cautious, just like Xu Qingyue could never have imagined that her kind big sister would abscond with the money. In her view, it was the utmost folly, akin to throwing away a watermelon to pick up sesame seeds.

Even after being “escorted” out of the private room by the restaurant, Xu Qingyue still couldn’t believe that the “kind” big sister was actually a fraudster.

Feeling indignant, she took her sword and went to find that embroideress, Luo Jinxiu, wanting to demand where her big sister had gone and confront her face to face.

But upon hearing Xu Qingyue’s story, the embroideress exclaimed in surprise, “How would I know the whereabouts of an agent whom I’ve never met before?”

“Aren’t you Wang Sao’s relative? How can you have never met her!?” Xu Qingyue asked insistently, with a raised eyebrow.

The embroideress, smiling with pursed lips, said, “Young miss should go and inquire around Chaochang City. These agents who roam the streets, there are not one thousand, there are eight thousand of them. They usually deal in selling rouge, face powder, and also introduce singing boys, dancing girls, and concubines to affluent households; they also recommend workers to fabric stores and rouge shops. To gain clients’ trust, agents always claim to introduce their own relatives, but such claims can’t be taken seriously.”

Xu Qingyue left Luo Jinxiu’s house feeling as if she had been struck by lightning, then went to the municipal office of Chaochang to seek help from the power of Chaochang’s commerce, hoping to find the agent who had absconded with the funds.

However, when the municipal office staff heard her intention, they jeered at her as if she was a fool, “You, intending to be a merchant like this, really think that coming to Chaochang will make you wealthy?”

“What do you mean by that!”

Xu Qingyue, who had never been humiliated in such a way, flushed with anger and challenged them with a raised voice.

“An agent managed to take all your money, if it were me, I would dig a hole and bury myself in it, not go around proclaiming it!” sneered the clerk from the municipal office, glancing at Xu Qingyue, “Lords like you who are ignorant of the ways of the world, Chaochang encounters many of you each year. Either you get tricked or swindled, and then you go yelling about it, as if you’re afraid of not being embarrassed enough. Once you step out of this door, just ask any shopkeeper casually, whether it’s the agent’s cunning or your own stupidity that got your money stolen. Understand the essence of this matter, then decide whether you want to stay in Chaochang or not.”

Having said that, he waved his hand impatiently at Xu Qingyue, “If there is nothing else, please leave, as there are people waiting in line behind you!”

Xu Qingyue, who had grown up in Ying City, had never suffered such an insult. Known as Qingyue Princess, wherever she went, she was the pearl cherished in the palms of people. She had believed Chaochang to be the city of her dreams, a place of freedom, but now she saw it as a chaotic place lacking any semblance of order and rule.

Her money was swindled by an agent, and it wasn’t the agent’s fault, but rather her own stupidity, this statement actually came from the mouth of a minor official from a municipal office, utterly unheard of!

“Smack! Smack!”

Fueled by her fury, the sword intent of the Ling Water Sword circulated through Xu Qingyue’s pointed sword, transforming into a whip that cracked across the face of the boasting clerk, making two crisp sounds.

The previously laughing municipal office fell into chaos instantly, and the clerk whose face was slapped even screamed with a squeaky voice, “Guards, guards!”

But those stationed guards were no match for Xu Qingyue, with the lineage of the Mysterious Moon Sword Sect and her own skill in swordsmanship enabling her to lay them out flat on the ground with a few swift moves.

Having done all of this, Xu Qingyue turned her head to the terrified clerk and said indignantly, “Listen to me, I will certainly become the most outstanding merchant in Chaochang!”

After dropping her fierce declaration, the Qingyue Princess turned on her heel and left the Municipal Hall. The moment she stepped out the door, tears uncontrollably cascaded down her face. Although she sounded resolute, she really had no idea how to become a merchant without a penny to her name.

As she was engulfed in sorrow, she suddenly heard someone calling her. Looking up, it was Wang Sao, the agent who had swindled her of her money, coming her way.

“Oh, you dare to come back!” Xu Qingyue stepped forward and grabbed Wang Sao’s wrist, causing the woman who had never practiced martial arts to cry out, begging for mercy, “Miss, let go, please let go, it hurts terribly!”

Still gripping Wang Sao’s wrist, Xu Qingyue released a bit of her strength upon hearing the woman’s cries, yet her face remained cold as she demanded, “Hand over the promissory notes now!”

“Why, miss, how can you change your face so fast? Weren’t you the one who asked this old woman to go buy the shop?”

At this point, Wang Sao started to play the victim: “For half a month, this old woman has scoured the entire Middle and Lower City Districts just to find a shop to return home to, and the moment I got the chance, I hurried to the inn to find miss. But I was told that you had left early this morning. Thinking that you might come to the Municipal Hall, I rushed here as well, but the first thing you do upon seeing me, without any explanation, is to seize me. What is the meaning of this!?”

Chaochang was too big; since ancient times, the great city protected by the Yun Clan had never suffered any harm. Just the Upper City District alone was home to hundreds of thousands of people, a scale on par with Longzhou Giant City. Not to mention the Middle City District wrapped around the Upper City District and the Lower City District that enveloped the Middle one.

For an agent not versed in martial arts to have traveled all over the Middle and Lower City Districts looking for a shop in half a month was no small feat. Yet, Xu Qingyue had seized her without a second thought at their meeting. If Wang Sao were indeed a swindler, she would have been too busy trying to avoid Xu Qingyue rather than calling out to her.

All at once, Xu Qingyue, who had been in the grips of chaos, suddenly realized her mistake. She quickly let go of Wang Sao’s wrist and awkwardly apologized, “This is Qingyue’s first time venturing out, and there’s much that I don’t understand. I ask for elder sister Wang’s generosity to forgive my rashness. I apologize here and now for the wrong I’ve done!”

With a mix of embarrassment and joy, Xu Qingyue bowed deeply to Wang Sao, but the agent, still massaging her wrist, wore a displeased expression: “This old woman has been running around for half a month to buy a shop for miss, yet to have miss mistake me for a swindler is truly disheartening!”

After some awkwardness, agent Wang Sao led Xu Qingyue to a relatively quiet street in the Middle City District and pointed to a shop named “Tongyi Square”, saying, “This is the shop that I’ve found for miss. I’ve already made a deposit. Once we go inside, miss must remain silent and let this old woman negotiate with the owner. I’m sure to get a better price for miss!”

Lingering over the quiet street, Xu Qingyue’s perception of the shop didn’t match with her expectations, but feeling indebted to Wang Sao, she refrained from voicing any objections and just nodded in agreement.

Wang Sao ushered Xu Qingyue into the shop, and after they met with the shopkeeper, Xu Qingyue was invited to wait in the tea room. She could only listen to the fierce bargaining between Wang Sao and the shopkeeper outside, as they argued persistently over the price.

Hearing Wang Sao haggling with such dedication on her behalf, Xu Qingyue felt even guiltier and silently swore to herself that she would make it up to Wang Sao.