20
Buying Gifts in the Black Market
Today, the Bai family was hosting another feast, celebrating the birthdays of Bai Tian and Bai Lan.
Everyone was quite busy, with the cooking led by Jiu Ying, the mother of the twin brothers, and Liu Tan, the old kitchen assistant of the Bai family, who was also the mother of siblings Liu Yu and Liu Pei, both fire element users now possessing high-level martial powers.
The spirit fruits planted by Bai Xue around the family grounds were harvested to make food and desserts.
Bai San led some people to train in the Hundred Demons Forest and managed to hunt some wild animals, ensuring that everyone at the birthday party would eat well and be merry for sure.
Elder Bai Ling woke up early to prepare the testing stone, a traditional item of the Bai family.
Normally, these testing stones were passed down within families, but they were not rare or commonly found either.
Most were found in the Deadly Stone Forest, a place full of minerals and spirit crystals, a paradise for rune users and dimension users, and weapon crafters who could use these minerals to make weapons.
Today, Meng Xian and Bai Lian couldn’t attend and sent gifts instead, which were wooden toy cars carved from wood, and candies, both of which the two children liked very much.
Initially, Bai Xue thought of giving something from her mental dimension as gifts but considering the age and power levels of Bai Tian and Bai Lan, giving too precious gifts might bring them trouble.
Hence, Bai Xue decided to go to Weha City to look for gifts for the two nephews along with Zi Ting.
“I’ve never bought gifts for anyone before. I don’t know what to give,” Bai Xue complained.
The main problem was that she didn’t know what gift to give, as her two nephews already had everything.
“Why not buy jewelry for Lady Bai Lan and a wooden weapon for Young Master Bai Tian?”
“My sister-in-law has prepared jewelry, and my brother has also obtained a wooden weapon. Grandfather has prepared body-nourishing medicine, and Great-uncle Meng and Great-aunt Lian have given toys and candies. It’s only me who still doesn’t know what to give,” Bai Xue sighed again, feeling lost.
Why was buying gifts so complicated?
“I’ve heard that there’s a black market in Wari City,” suddenly Zi Ting mentioned the black market, unknown to Bai Xue.
“What is a black market?” Bai Xue asked.
“The black market is similar to any other market, except it sells dangerous items, unauthorized items, or rare items. The advantage of the black market is that anyone can sell anything, and the seller’s information is kept secret. It’s said that even human corpses are sold there.”
“Human corpses?” Bai Xue murmured in surprise, wondering what use there would be for human corpses as they hold no life essence.
“It’s true,” Zi Ting emphasized again, fearing her lady might not believe her and think she was lying.
“Have you seen it with your own eyes?” Bai Xue asked again.
“I… have never seen it with my own eyes, Young Miss.”
“Remember, Zi Ting, if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, heard it with your own ears, or known it firsthand, you should half believe and half doubt it. Because even though some stories are true, they are also mixed with lies.”
Bai Xue taught Zi Ting, who was simply too naive and could easily be deceived.
Bai Xue often took the time to educate Zi Ting, who listened well.
“I understand, Young Miss.” Zi Ting nodded.
“Then, let’s try going.”
“Go where?”
“To the black market, of course.”
Bai Xue had Xiao Hong, so traveling anywhere wouldn’t take long.
She took Zi Ting out of Weha City, summoned Xiao Hong, and flew towards Wari City, not far from Weha City.
Upon arrival, Bai Xue had Xiao Hong land in a forest away from the city gate to avoid being seen, as she didn’t want to attract attention, before walking into the city on foot.
Entering Wari City cost fifty copper coins, quite expensive for city entrance fees, but as a big city, it saw constant traffic despite the high cost.
“Is there a carriage for hire here?”
Zi Ting inquired about a guard at the city gate, as Bai Xue thought walking would take too much time.
“Walk in, the carriages for hire are on the left,” the guard instructed.
“Thank you,” after getting the desired information, Zi Ting paid the guard the exact amount in copper coins, and then they both went to find a carriage, quickly finding one.
“Yes,” Zi Ting nodded slightly, as this was no secret.
“Then, would you like to take my carriage? I don’t charge much, just ten copper coins.”
Ten copper coins?
“Are you from this city?” While Zi Ting was about to decline, Bai Xue interjected with a question.
“Yes…” Ye Nuo nodded shyly.
He was working in his father’s stead, who was ill with a fever.
These past few days, there were no customers at all.
This was the first time he had dared to approach potential customers because he saw that Bai Xue and Zi Ting were about his age, and he thought they would be easy to talk to.
But upon seeing Bai Xue’s face up close, Ye Nuo felt awkward.
Bai Xue was not as conventionally beautiful as a painting, but she looked genuinely lovely and innocent, someone you’d instinctively want to protect just by looking at her.
“Then, you must know this city very well.”
“Yes, I am quite familiar with every place in this city,” Ye Nuo responded proudly.
His father owned a carriage service, and Ye Nuo often accompanied him to work, hence his familiarity with every corner of Wari City.
“Good, then I’ll give you ten silver coins. Take me to the black market and help guide me around,” Bai Xue, visiting Wari City for the first time, was unfamiliar with the area.
Having a local guide would certainly help.
“Ten silver coins!” Ye Nuo looked at Bai Xue in shock and disbelief.
Such a large sum could take days to earn, but now…
“Yes, do you agree?”
“Yes! I agree,” Ye Nuo certainly wouldn’t refuse.
Just driving the carriage and guiding them would earn him ten silver coins.
It would be foolish to decline.
“Then let’s go,” Bai Xue nodded in satisfaction.
Then the three of them headed to Ye Nuo’s carriage, which was ordinary but clean.
Bai Xue took Zi Ting onto the carriage, and Ye Nuo led them towards the black market.
The black market was located right in the heart of Wari City, surprisingly large and openly selling dangerous and forbidden items.
In the sacred lands, there were no strict laws against using prohibited items if they didn’t harm anyone.
However, if forbidden items caused trouble, the Enforcement Hall of the sacred lands, dedicated solely to punishing violators, would intervene, which of course required the approval of the powers that be.
“If you want to enter the black market, you must buy a wooden plaque from over there first. If you want to go deeper inside, you’ll need to buy a more expensive wooden plaque,” Ye Nuo explained, pointing towards a line of people waiting.
“Hmm,” Bai Xue hummed in acknowledgment.
She wanted to explore the entire market, so she needed to buy the most expensive wooden plaque available.
With that thought, Bai Xue led Ye Nuo and Zi Ting to queue for the wooden plaques.
“Red wooden plaque: one hundred copper coins Green wooden plaque: one hundred silver coins Purple wooden plaque: one hundred gold coins White wooden plaque: three hundred gold coins Black wooden plaque: five hundred gold coins.” The seller listed the prices for various plaques, which varied widely.
If there were VIPs, there must also be VVIPs.
Having been auctioned off before, Bai Xue knew this truth all too well.
No one held absolute power, and no one was the wealthiest.
There was always someone higher up.
“Black wooden plaque,” Bai Xue decided after considering her options.
The black plaque allowed two companions to enter with her and was the most expensive available, making it her choice.
“Only two followers can enter, and once inside the black market, do not engage in any quarrels or fights.”
“I understand,” Bai Xue nodded, before pulling out gold coins from her dimensional ring and handing them to the seller in full amount.
Before leaving, Bai Xue had already placed coins in her dimensional ring from her mental dimension to avoid drawing attention.
The seller paused when he saw the dimensional ring on Bai Xue’s finger.
Having worked here for a long time, he had seen many rare items, so he knew well that dimensional rings were rare and highly valuable.
The ring on Bai Xue’s finger looked particularly high-grade, possibly of a sacred level, though in reality, it was of a saint level.
This was enough for the seller of the entry plaques to easily guess that the young person before him must belong to the upper class or even be a powerful figure.
“Here you go,” he handed over the wooden plaque to Bai Xue respectfully.
After receiving the plaque, Bai Xue nodded her thanks and immediately led Zi Ting and Ye Nuo into the black market.
Ye Nuo had never seen a black entry plaque before.
The upper-class people he had seen, those who dared to spend so much money at once, were also new to him.
Especially a youngster like Bai Xue, being able to spend so freely, must not be an ordinary person.
“Let’s look around first. You might find something you like.”
“Yes,” Bai Xue turned to Zi Ting, who now had quite a bit of gold thanks to the status of Zi Zhong and Zi Ping, who were masters in the Bai family.
Now, Zi Ting wasn’t as poor as before.
This was Zi Ting’s first time out of the mansion since becoming part of the Bai family, so she was very excited and thought she would buy quite a lot today.
Inside the black market, the outer areas sold common items at reasonable prices, similar to any ordinary market.
As Bai Xue walked deeper, she began to encounter unusual jewelry and weapons, life essences of demon beasts and spirit beasts, and a large number of animal carcasses.
Going further in, she found a wide variety of herbs, poisons, and forbidden items.
Bai Xue thought that if one wanted to kill someone, just coming here would suffice, as lethal weapons were available everywhere.
She led Zi Ting and Ye Nuo to the very depths of the black market.
Bai Xue looked around before beginning a ‘shopping spree.’
Bai Xue was thrilled to finally freely spend the gold coins she had stored in her mental dimension.
She bought so many items that Zi Ting was astounded, not expecting her lady to be such a spender.
The gold coins Bai Xue spent were incomparable to the amount Zi Ting had.
Initially, Bai Xue said she came to buy gifts for Bai Tian and Bai Lan, but now it seemed she was buying for herself.
At this rate, when would they return to the mansion?
Read ‘Transmigration: When Miss Assassin Becomes a Farmgirl’ before anyone else with more chapters at https://www.jinovel.com/en/publisher/novel/34187f79-aaf0-4e77-9daf-f2d2901cae6c