novel-bin Chapter 17 The Green Plum is Sour
Chapter 17 The Green Plum is Sour
A moment later, in the guest room.
Several figures took their seats.
Da Ming looked at the young man sitting opposite him, brewing tea, with a hint of surprise on his face.
"I never expected that Boss Jiang would manage so many businesses at such a young age. He's very promising."
Jiang Ci'an shook his head, his hands moving slowly and deliberately as he poured boiling water into the teapot, releasing a fragrant aroma of tea.
"My parents died early, and I was simply forced to take over the family business."
As soon as she finished speaking, Wang Dong'er, who had been curiously looking around, immediately focused her gaze on Jiang Ci'an, her eyes changing slightly.
Even the usually calm Da Ming, holding his teacup, unconsciously paused slightly.
"I'm sorry, I misspoke." Da Ming said apologetically.
Jiang Ci'an shook his head: "It's nothing, I just suddenly thought of it without thinking."
As he spoke, he took the contract that Ning Zhicheng had given him before leaving from the drawer, spread it on the table, and pushed it in front of Da Ming, still wearing that gentle smile on his face.
"Mr. Niu, please take a look at the contract. If there are no problems, please sign it."
Looking at Jiang Ci'an's smile, Da Ming inexplicably felt a sense of reluctance, and sighed inwardly, feeling that he had said too much.
Without saying anything more, he picked up the contract and flipped through it, but didn't look at it too closely.
For him, this kind of shop lease contract was just a formality. If he were accompanying Dong'er out for a stroll, he wouldn't have come here today at all, but would have left it to his subordinates.
He wrote his name directly in the signature area, then took out a gold soul coin card from his sleeve. After a pause, he replaced it with a purple-gold one and handed it over.
"This is the rent."
Jiang Ci'an nodded, took the card, and began counting it, his face showing no sign of slipping up.
To be honest, he was a little flustered when he first recognized Wang Dong'er, Da Ming, and Er Ming.
According to his memory, under normal circumstances, Wang Dong'er should have arrived in Shrek City a few years later when Shrek Academy started, and she would have been disguised as a man.
As for Da Ming and Er Ming, they should always stay at the Haotian Sect in the Cloud Recesses and will not leave from there.
But now, these three people have appeared in Shrek City at the same time, and even in his pharmacy.
This is like leaving the starting village only to have a late-game boss suddenly blocking the entrance; anyone would be stunned for a moment.
So, he subconsciously considered the worst-case scenario: whether the other party came to Shrek City because of him.
He wondered if his arrival or some other action had created a butterfly effect, drawing the attention of a certain god-king, who then dispatched Da Ming and Er Ming to eliminate this unexpected existence and prevent it from interfering with his grand plan for millennia.
But after calming down and thinking about it carefully, he realized that this was not the case.
Because there's no reason to do that.
First of all, he is not the chosen one. No matter how biased Tang Shenwang's focus is, it should not fall on him, an orphan who moved from the Douling Empire.
If there were other reasons, he could only think of his martial spirit and that special virtual world.
But what if it was really because he did something in the virtual world that Tang San noticed...?
Given Tang San's personality, after all the way he manipulated Xiao Wu, he probably had thousands of death traps piled up above his head.
Tang San would definitely have bloodshot eyes and be panting heavily, then personally kill him, and might even extract his soul and subject him to the excruciating torture of being slowly sliced to death, making him wish he were dead.
How could he possibly let Da Ming and Er Ming come to his pharmacy to sign a lease, chat politely and normally, and even bring Wang Dong'er along?
Therefore, he could only temporarily attribute it all to some kind of coincidence.
Although he felt that was definitely not the case.
Jiang Ci'an sighed inwardly.
From a lower perspective, one can only guess, which is why there's no confidence.
For now, we can only take it one step at a time.
After a moment's thought, Jiang Ci'an finished counting the Soul Coins, looked up at Da Ming, and spoke in a businesslike tone:
"Mr. Niu, it seems you've given too much."
Da Ming waved his hand: "Consider it as me renting it for a longer period of time."
Jiang Ci'an paused slightly, then nodded after a moment, his face still bearing that gentle smile:
"That's fine, I'll add it to the contract. However, if Mr. Niu decides not to rent before the deadline, I will definitely refund the rent for the following months. I can't accept something for nothing."
Da Ming paused slightly, somewhat puzzled: "Does Boss Jiang think we won't be renting for long?"
Jiang Ci'an nodded and said frankly, "To be honest, Mr. Niu, the location of these two shops is really not good. No matter what kind of business they are in, I have never seen them open for more than three months."
"Although Mr. Niu is clearly not an ordinary person, I don't think he would keep doing business at a loss."
"Is that so?" Da Ming nodded slightly, showing no dissatisfaction, and casually offered an explanation.
"Thank you for letting me know, but we are only planning to stay in Shrek City for a short time and prepare two shops for our lodging. We will not be doing any business."
"Is that so? I was overthinking it."
Jiang Ci'an silently memorized it, took out the shop key from his storage soul tool, placed it on the table, and pushed it over.
Da Ming accepted it, and after exchanging a few more polite words, Da Ming got up to leave.
However, when Da Ming turned his head, he saw that Xiao Dong'er was still sitting in the chair, her blue and pink eyes staring straight at Jiang Ci'an opposite her, seemingly lost in thought.
"Dong'er?"
Wang Dong'er snapped out of her daze and realized that everyone's eyes were on her. Her expression changed, and she quickly stood up and coughed lightly.
"Sorry, Uncle, I was just thinking about something..."
Her voice trailed off, and then she glanced at Jiang Ci'an again out of the corner of her eye before quickly looking away.
Jiang Cian: "..."
No, why are you looking at me?
Jiang Ci'an felt utterly bewildered, but remained outwardly calm, maintaining her gentle smile.
Meanwhile, Xiao Xiao narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze flickering as she swept her eyes back and forth between Jiang Ci'an and Wang Dong'er. She pursed her lips gently and remained silent.
Da Ming paused for a moment, his gaze lingering on Jiang Ci'an for a second, then looked at Xiao Dong'er beside him, seemingly lost in thought.
But he didn't say much, he just cupped his hands in farewell.
"Then we'll be going now."
"Please take care, everyone."
Jiang Ci'an escorted them all the way to the door and watched them leave.
After taking a few steps, Wang Dong'er couldn't help but look back, her gaze lingering on Jiang Ci'an and Xiao Xiao beside him for a moment before turning back to follow Da Ming.
Jiang Ci'an maintained a smile until the three figures disappeared around the corner, then withdrew his gaze and resumed his normal demeanor.
He turned his head and saw that Xiao Xiao was also looking in that direction, but her brows were slightly furrowed, as if she was thinking about something.
"Xiao Xiao?"
Xiao Xiao snapped out of her daze, turned to look at Jiang Ci'an, and said casually, as if without thinking:
"That girl is really beautiful, Ci'an."
The tone was somber, clearly inappropriate.
Jiang Cian: "..."
My own little green plum... why does it taste sour?