Chapter 98: Making the First Move is an Advantage

Su Jinyue and Zhan Yihan stopped in their tracks and turned around to see a tall and thin middle-aged man walking towards them.

Zhan Yihan tightened his grip on Su Jinyue’s hand and exchanged glances with her. They both sensed an unusual aura from the other party. He was undoubtedly an ancient martial arts practitioner.

“Did the two of you just go to Ruicheng House and buy a rusty short sword?” the middle-aged man asked. He had been searching the streets for a long time, and only the two of them were in pairs. Moreover, they were young people. Usually, only middle-aged people or older people would come to Liulichang. Young people rarely came to this place.

“We did buy it, but we lost it,” Su Jinyue said. Since the other party had come looking for them, he should know that they had bought the short sword.

“Lost it? Who are you lying to?” The middle-aged man snorted unhappily.

“If you don’t believe me, then forget it.” Su Jinyue rolled her eyes at the middle-aged man and pulled Zhan Yihan away. In any case, the short sword was in her storage pouch. No matter how capable the other party was, he would not be able to find it.

The middle-aged man followed closely behind, his gaze carefully sizing up Zhan Yihan and Su Jinyue. His frown deepened. He indeed did not see the rusty short sword on them, and he did not sense the aura of the short sword either. Could they have really lost it?

He followed Su Jinyue and Zhan Yihan to the dumpling shop. Seeing the two of them sit down, the middle-aged man also sat down at an empty seat.

Su Jinyue picked up the menu on the table and looked at it. She raised her head and looked at Zhan Yihan. “What dumpling fillings do you eat?” She chose to ignore the middle-aged man.

“The cabbage and pork fillings here are not bad. It’s their signature. Do you want to try it?” Zhan Yihan asked. He had been here several times and felt that the cabbage and pork fillings were better.

…

“Then let’s eat the dumplings with cabbage and pork fillings,” Su Jinyue decided with a smile.

Zhan Yihan smiled and nodded. He waved to the waiter and said, “Give us half a catty of cabbage and pork dumplings.”

“Alright, please wait a moment!” The waiter took the menu and walked towards the kitchen.

The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes and scanned Zhan Yihan and Su Jinyue’s bodies. He could now confirm that the short sword was no longer with Su Jinyue and Zhan Yihan. Although the short sword was short, it was much longer and much heavier than ordinary daggers. It was almost impossible to hide it on one’s body without being discovered.

Sighing, he stood up and walked outside. Regardless of whether the other party had thrown the short sword away or not, he was certain that the short sword was not with them. In that case, there was no point in him following them. He might as well go and see if he could find anything similar to the short sword.

…

After finishing the dumplings, Su Jinyue and Zhan Yihan went to Liulichang once again. They shopped around one store after another.

After shopping for an entire afternoon, she didn’t see a single antique with a purple glow.

Su Jinyue sighed in disappointment and was about to return to the hospital.

“It’s a clearance sale. Don’t miss it.” A shout attracted Su Jinyue’s attention. She looked over and realized that it was a store that specializes in selling ancient books.

“Let’s go take a look.” Su Jinyue pulled Zhan Yihan’s hand and walked towards the shop.

When they entered the shop, Su Jinyue saw that the middle-aged man who had followed them earlier was also there. She couldn’t help but feel a little surprised. The other party is able to realize that the short sword is unusual among so many antiques. He is definitely not an ordinary person. There might be something that attracted him here.

Her gaze swept across the shop. As the store was having a clearance sale, old books and paintings were piled up everywhere. It looked very messy. If not for her eyes being able to discern the age of antiques by color, it would definitely be very difficult to find treasures amongst these old books. After all, the original her only knew a little about antiques.

A light purple glow entered Su Jinyue’s eyes. Su Jinyue was delighted and was about to pull Zhan Yihan forward. However, when she saw the middle-aged man looking over, she immediately hid her expression and pretended to be relaxed as she walked to a pile of books not far away and started flipping through them.

The middle-aged man snorted and turned his head. When he walked past the shop earlier, he felt the same aura as the short sword coming from the shop. However, there were too many books here. He searched for a long time but still couldn’t find what he was looking for. However, he believed that his intuition was right.

“Shall we go over there and take a look?” Su Jinyue pulled Zhan Yihan and walked towards the pile of books that were glowing with purple light.

When she reached the pile of books, Su Jinyue squatted down and started flipping through them. As she flipped through them, she asked the boss sitting at the counter, “Boss, how much are you selling these books for?”

“An ancient book costs ten yuan per book, a painting costs twenty yuan each, and the rest is eight yuan each,” the boss said with waning interest. If it weren’t for his family’s urgent need for money, he wouldn’t have sold the books and paintings that he had painstakingly collected.

Su Jinyue nodded her head in understanding. She randomly picked a few books that shone with yellow and green light. When she picked the book that shone with a purple glow, she quickly put it into her storage pouch.

She then stood up and went to another place to pick up two more books. She walked to the boss and said, “Boss, there are a total of nine books here. Please count them.”

The boss nodded.

Su Jinyue took out the money and passed it to the boss before leaving the shop with Zhan Yihan.

The boss counted the money and realized that there was an extra ten yuan. He wanted to stop Su Jinyue and Zhan Yihan but realized that they had already walked far away. He could only sigh and keep the money.

The middle-aged man stopped searching and frowned. He suddenly realized that the aura was gone. Could it be that the thing he wanted had been sold to the two young people?

At this thought, he hurriedly chased after them.

“Stop right there!”

Hearing the low shout from behind, Su Jinyue’s lips curled up into a faint smile. “He really caught up.” She guessed that the middle-aged man should be able to sense the item with the purple glow. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have realized it right after they bought the book.

Zhan Yihan and Su Jinyue stopped in their tracks and looked at the middle-aged man.

“What do you want?” Zhan Yihan asked in a low voice.

“Take out the books you just bought,” the middle-aged man said coldly.

“Why?!” Zhan Yihan’s face turned cold as he looked at the middle-aged man with a bone-chilling gaze.

“Don’t make me do this the hard way when I’m being polite. If you piss me off, you won’t be able to bear the consequences,” the middle-aged man threatened with a cold face.

Su Jinyue tugged at Zhan Yihan and said, “It’s not impossible for you to take a look, but I can’t let you look at them for free. How about this, if you pay the price of one book, I’ll show you one book. If you agree, I’ll let you take a look.”