Song Yili was startled by his younger sister's little action. Immediately, a wave of heat rushed up to his earlobes, burning them until they felt slightly hot, and he thought to himself.
This must not happen again in the future. Not only was it lying, but doing it right in front of Er Ya was unacceptable; it would lead Er Ya astray.
……
Upon arriving at the Jade Market, Song Yi'an's eyes were immediately overwhelmed, scanning the stones piled on the ground in all directions.
Her supernatural ability had leveled up; without needing to specifically focus, the stones all emitted different halos in her eyes, though most of the halos were extremely faint.
The market was crowded, and Madam Gu painstakingly protected the two children, squeezing her way to the drink stall.
The stall owner was a nimble-handed woman, busy attending to several jade gambling customers.
"Boss, two bowls of licorice drink, please." Madam Gu fished out two copper coins.
"Coming right up, just a moment." The stall owner quickly agreed, her hands never stopping as she scooped the water.
While waiting, Song Yi'an felt a bit restless. There were simply too many people, and since she was short, her view was completely blocked.
She simply closed her eyes and slowly spread out her spiritual sense, probing the nearby stone stalls.
In the stone pile to the front left, there was a piece of pine-pattern material with a trace of energy fluctuation inside, priced at five taels.
At the stall on the right, that fist-sized ugly stone had a stronger energy fluctuation than the other seed material, priced at one tael.
Just as she was fully focused, a huge commotion suddenly erupted nearby!
"Thirty taels! And all I got was this piece of dog shit!"
At the jade gambling stall next to the drink stall, a man dressed in relatively decent clothes was now slumped on the ground, hugging a few pieces of waste material and wailing loudly.
"It's all over, it's all over. How can I face my wife when I go home?" The man had taken his family's entire savings to gamble on jade behind his wife's back, and now he had lost everything.
People around pointed and whispered; some gloated, while others shook their heads and sighed.
Most gamblers were used to it. In this place, the drama of "one cut to poverty, one cut to wealth, one cut to wearing mourning clothes" played out almost every day.
Madam Gu was startled by the commotion and turned pale. She hurriedly shoved the licorice drinks she had received into the hands of Song Yi'an and Song Yili, pulled the two children behind her, and urged in a low voice, "Drink quickly. We'll leave as soon as you're done. This place is foul and chaotic."
Song Yi'an held the pottery bowl, sipping it in small mouthfuls, her gaze locked firmly on the waste material the man was holding.
The waste material was not entirely waste.
Among the waste in the man's arms was a piece that had been cut once. The cut surface was gray and white, but when she probed deeper with her spiritual sense, she sensed a mass of extremely rich green. This green was hidden too deep; although the amount was small, it was very pure and highly likely to be imperial green.
Song Yi'an pointed at the piece of seed material she had previously sensed to have a strong energy fluctuation and asked curiously, "Mother, this stone looks like a stone for pressing down a pickle jar. Can it also be sold for money?"
Song Yi'an's voice was crisp, standing out sharply among the voices of the grown men.
The nearby stall owner and onlookers heard this and looked in the direction she was pointing, then burst into laughter.
This remark from her little daughter made Madam Gu's face burn with extreme embarrassment.
"What does a yellow-haired girl know? That is seed material; your pickle stones can't compare to it!"
"Haha, Old Chen, your treasure here is only fit to press down a pickle stall now."
The stall owner, called Old Chen, felt both ashamed and annoyed that his seed material was compared to a pickle stone, but he couldn't bring himself to argue with a yellow-haired girl.
"Go, go, go, little child, don't point randomly."
Li San had been crying and making a scene at the stall the whole time. With this big and small pair blocking his business, the stall owner Old Chen just wanted to end this unlucky scene quickly. He shouted at Li San, "Li San, what's the use of crying? Are you going to gamble or not? If not, hurry up and clear the space."
Li San hugged the stone and cried even harder; he had no way to face his wife at home.
Song Yi'an would not give up; her goal today was that piece of waste material in Li San's arms.
Taking advantage of a moment when Madam Gu wasn't paying attention, Song Yi'an ran to the stall and asked brazenly, "Uncle, can this pickle stone be traded for a jar of honey?"
The little girl kept calling it a pickle stone, which infuriated Old Chen.
"Not for sale, not for sale. How much is your jar of honey even worth?"
Song Yi'an said with a smile, "Uncle, that's not how you calculate the price. Think about it: once this stone is cut open, it won't be worth this price anymore. Look at this uncle here; the stone in his arms is not even as good as a pickle-pressing stone."
Li San: "..."
Old Chen: "..."
The two of them didn't know how to refute this fact for a moment.
Song Yi'an took out a small pottery jar from her bosom as if presenting a treasure, lifted her chin, and said triumphantly, "My honey is not ordinary. This is top-quality wild honey. My brother was seriously ill before and was completely cured by drinking honey water."
After finishing, she pulled her brother from behind her to the front and had him do a 360-degree turn for display.
Song Yili, who had followed along because he was worried about his sister: "..."
Song Yili wanted to stop Er Ya from lying, but he knew that for the past few days, Er Ya had indeed been feeding him water with a hint of sweetness, and he clearly knew it wasn't honey water.
Fearing that her brother would contradict her, Song Yi'an secretly pinched his palm, signaling him to cooperate.
With a group of people staring at him, ten-year-old Song Yili opened his mouth. Recalling that Er Ya had given him peach candied fruit earlier, he figured that counted as having honey, so Er Ya wasn't lying.
"Yes, I was so sick before that I couldn't get out of bed. After drinking the honey, I can go out now." After saying this, Song Yili's expression looked a bit guilty.
Madam Gu, who had originally intended to take the two away, retreated to the side to watch. She couldn't afford to lose face like this. She wondered to herself where her little daughter had gotten the honey. Recalling that she had bumped her head a few days ago, she understood: this girl had hidden it from her and run to the back mountain to raid a beehive.
Old Chen was almost swayed by the little child's words. He suddenly snapped to his senses; this was jade gambling, and gambling was all about the "what if."
"You little girl, you're just spouting lies. How could honey water have medicinal properties? Your brother was sick, but we didn't see it. Everything requires seeing is believing."
Song Yi'an knew that a few words alone wouldn't make them believe her.
She looked left and right, her gaze landing on a corner of the alley where a stray puppy was curled up. It looked only a month old and was so weak it could barely lift its head.
Song Yi'an ran over with her little legs, carefully picked up the puppy and placed it in her brother's arms, then poured a little honey from the pottery jar into her palm and brought it to the puppy's mouth.
Having been hungry for so long, the puppy smelled the fragrance and eagerly stuck out its tongue, licking it clean bit by bit.
Before long, the little creature, which had been on the verge of death, visibly regained its energy.
Yes, given that she was penniless, she had added two drops of spiritual liquid to the honey beforehand.
The crowd watched the scene in disbelief, while only Madam Gu was worried and afraid. She hadn't seen Er Ya feed Yili honey water these past few days, and it was just wild honey; how could it be so miraculous?
Stall owner Old Chen's eyes lit up; this was truly a good treasure.
"Little girl, I'll trade with you for this honey."
✦✦✦