"You little brat, you're not going to cry, are you?" Noticing Xiao Yan's change in expression, Chu Xiao looked at him with teasing eyes.
"No way!" Xiao Yan felt his face warm up and immediately shook his head in protest.
His eyes darted around, and he suddenly rubbed his hands, a little embarrassed, saying, "Then, my good brother, can you lend me some money?"
Yao Chen: "…"
Chu Xiao: "?"
He's asking to borrow money as soon as he sees me. Is he preparing to buy the medicinal ingredients to refine Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid?
"Money isn't a woman; saying 'lend me' makes you sound like a stranger to your brother. How much do you want?" Chu Xiao smiled generously, flipped his wrist, and took out a hundred gold coins from his Storage Ring: "Is this enough?"
"A little bit short." Xiao Yan held up two fingers, asking somewhat awkwardly, "Can I have five hundred gold coins?"
According to Yao Lao, five hundred gold coins could buy the medicinal ingredients to refine one batch of Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid.
He planned to test the effect first. If it felt good, he would then find a way to borrow more money from his parents or Chu Xiao. At that time, he could refine more batches and sell them at a high price, thus achieving a money-making cycle.
Or he could directly find an excuse to cooperate with the Family. The words Chu Xiao used to reprimand Nalan Yanran in the hall today had also been heard and taken to heart by him. The Family expended resources to Cultivate him; if he had the ability, he should always repay them, otherwise, what was the difference from an ungrateful person?
"Five hundred gold coins?" Chu Xiao snapped his fingers, and two purple cards appeared between his fingers.
These were cards that Great Dou Masters or forces of the Xiao Family's level could obtain at most merchant guilds in the Gama Empire. Each card allowed for the use of three thousand gold coins.
Seeing Xiao Yan's eyes light up, looking unpromising, Chu Xiao asked knowingly, "If you really need it, I can give you five thousand gold coins, but you're not even a Dou Disciple. What do you need so much money for?"
The native Xiao Yanzi had been strictly managed by his aunt since he was young. Although he was somewhat arrogant during his Genius period, he didn't have the bad habits of those profligate young masters, nor did he have much spare money. Given his current awkward position in the Xiao Family, there were only three people he could ask for money from.
Xun Er was not included. In fact, if Xiao Yan had to choose, she might be ranked last in the entire Xiao Family.
Simply because from childhood to adulthood, the two of them had a very cold relationship, one could even say they were at odds, over the ownership of him, their older cousin.
If it weren't for fear of making things difficult for him caught in the middle, plus Xiao Yan's mood had been very low for the past three years, their relationship could have become even worse, and a direct fight wasn't out of the question.
At that time, it would devolve into Xun Er unilaterally beating Xiao Yanzi.
"Cousin, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone else for now." Xiao Yan leaned closer to Chu Xiao, looking mysterious, but his tightly clenched hands betrayed his true feelings; he was actually very nervous.
Chu Xiao pretended not to notice and nodded slightly: "Don't worry about that. You know me; I keep everything confidential unless it violates my principles, and sometimes I even cover for you."
This so-called principle was very flexible, with the final interpretation rights belonging to him.
But Xiao Yan clearly trusted him, and despite Yao Lao's dissuasion in his ear, he said, "I met a mysterious person who might be an Alchemist. He said he could solve my problem of not being able to Cultivate, and his condition was that I become his disciple."
"I don't want to turn this into a transaction. I want to use my own money to buy medicinal ingredients. If he can truly refine a Medicinal Pill that helps me recover, then I will become his disciple."
At this point, Xiao Yan paused before continuing, "That person's strength is stronger than my mother's, so he definitely wouldn't be lying to me; there's no need for that."
Not a single word of this was false; he had simply held back some information.
Chu Xiao knew everything. Asking Xiao Yan wasn't for an answer, but just to go through the motions, otherwise, it would be too strange.
"There's such a good thing?" Chu Xiao's eyes lit up, and he immediately placed the two purple cards in Xiao Yan's hand: "Use this money boldly. If that Alchemist can truly help you regain your talent, then he will be the benefactor of my entire Xiao Family."
"If he truly is an Alchemist, being able to become his disciple is your and the entire Xiao Family's good fortune."
This unconditional trust deeply moved Xiao Yan, and his Adam's apple bobbed: "Cousin, don't you suspect I'm trying to trick you out of money?"
"Would you try to trick me out of money?" Chu Xiao retorted.
"Of course not." Xiao Yan replied unequivocally: "Not for anything."
"Then that's fine." Chu Xiao naturally hooked his arm around Xiao Yan's neck and walked with him towards Xiao Zhan's residence: "Today is my, your brother's, eighteenth birthday. If your Cultivation can recover, that would be double happiness. You'll have to eat a lot later."
"No, it's triple happiness." Xiao Yan's ears turned red.
Yao Lao nodded in satisfaction, thinking, 'And the happiness of becoming my disciple.'
"Triple happiness?" Chu Xiao raised an eyebrow.
"And breaking off the engagement with Nalan Yanran." Xiao Yan said seriously, "Isn't it a joyous occasion to have no relation with that kind of woman?"
Inside the ring, Yao Lao's smile froze: "?"
I thought it was about me!
"You're right!" Chu Xiao gave a thumbs up: "Three years from today, you have to defeat her at the Yun Lan Sect, that would be even more joyous."
"I definitely will!" Xiao Yan's tone was firm.
The two walked forward, chatting and laughing.
Chu Xiao was not in a hurry to use the Instance binding opportunity because Xiao Yanzi didn't seem to have an Instance.
However, he didn't rule out that he was good at pretending, and there was also Yao Chen who needed to be probed.
Thinking of this, he moved his mind and began writing in his notebook.
"It seems I have a high probability of Rebirth!"
The women who were busy with their own affairs: "!"
As soon as Chu Xiao updated the content, the notebook reminded them in their Sea of Consciousness.
However, they could freely choose to turn this reminder on or off.
And when they encountered danger, the update reminder would not appear.
"Did he finish probing someone?"
All the women stopped their trivial tasks and stared at the notebook Instance.
The next moment, their guess was confirmed.
"Xiao Yanzi really needs money and even came to borrow money from me. Next, he should be buying medicinal ingredients to refine Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid."
"During the Dou Qi stage of Cultivation, because the human meridians are very fragile, one cannot rely on external forces like Medicinal Pills to accelerate, otherwise, when the Dou Qi inside the body gradually strengthens in the future, the meridians will break and the person will die due from being unable to withstand the increasingly strong Dou Qi impact."
"But this statement is only for small forces. For a remote place like the Gama Empire, in the eyes of large forces, there is no such restriction. The Dou Qi Continent still has many external objects that can relatively gently accelerate the Cultivation speed of the Dou Qi Realm. Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid, a second-grade Medicinal Pill, is one such example. I need to verify this."
"If this matter truly happens, then other matters are likely true as well, which means I have truly Rebirth."
The women: "?"
That's it, nothing more?
Is a mere guess worth writing about? Why not elaborate on other matters?
However, many people still found the information they wanted from it.
"As expected, he is in the Gama Empire."
Little Fairy Doctor, Medusa, and Yun Yun, who were in the Gama Empire, were not surprised.
Because they were also there, they naturally thought Chu Xiao was there too.
Unfortunately, the location and identity information were still not specific enough.
"Why didn't he write more?"