Chapter 14

“Cough, cough…” In order to hide her embarrassment, Mu Zhao imitated the way Fu Yushang looked during company meetings. She worked hard to rein in the naturally smiling expression she was born with, lowered her brows, and said to the timid starving ghost, “Do you know how dangerous that was just now? Do you know that if I had lost control for even a second, you could have died a second time?”

The timid starving ghost was immediately fooled. Her eyes filled with tears, making her look rather pitiful.

The “little girl” who had just crawled out from behind the bar smiled and said, “This one is timid. Please don’t tease her. She hasn’t eaten any incense offerings for several days. If you accidentally frighten her too badly, her soul really might scatter…”

Her voice came to an abrupt stop. Even the hands that had been massaging Mu Zhao’s shoulders froze.

Although the painting in this little girl’s hands had not been unfolded, after sensing the power sealed inside it, the zombie’s expression immediately sank.

Her intuition told her that this thing was specifically meant to restrain demons, ghosts, and evil beings like them. Perhaps the other party truly had not been joking.

Unlike Mu Zhao, she could faintly hear the struggling and wailing of the ghost inside that painting. This ghost was most likely at the black-shadow level, while the aura inside the other painting was even stronger.

At first, she had thought this was a newly born rich little ghost who would be easy to fool. Now, it seemed she was probably no simple ruthless character. Where on earth had that dead woman Liu Qiyu gone? She was the one who provoked this person, so she should come suppress her herself!

“I originally came to ask you about some things and see whether we could make a deal. But now it seems you all… are very poor?” Mu Zhao blinked her innocent eyes, completely unaware that she was poking at someone else’s sore spot.

“Poor… just a little, but there’s a reason for that! It’s all because our boss spends money too recklessly! But our club’s strength is absolutely among the best in the country. Choosing us is definitely worth it!” The ghost poking her head out from the ceiling was afraid Mu Zhao would despise them and leave, so she immediately explained in a panic.

Oh! So there were other options. Mu Zhao keenly caught that piece of information.

“Our club’s prices are also very affordable. Unlike those people on the human side. A few days ago, an eternal lamp was sold for a sky-high price of tens of millions, almost a hundred million! They really dared to ask for that much! Isn’t it just a treasure left by a living Buddha that can suppress a Ghost King? What’s so amazing about that…”

Her words were both sour and lacking in confidence, making people want to laugh. But an eternal lamp… why did Mu Zhao feel such a strong sense of déjà vu?

In order to keep this rare major customer who had finally appeared, several nonhumans used every skill they had to praise their club until it was practically shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

The thousand-year-old zombie, who looked only fourteen or fifteen, quietly slipped out and frantically called the real owner of the club. Only after several calls did the other side pick up. She hurriedly informed the other party that the little rich lady she had mentioned before had arrived. Before she could even explain the situation, an extremely irritable voice came from the other end.

“You all receive her!”

The next second, the call was directly hung up. When she tried calling again, the phone was already turned off.

The thousand-year-old zombie’s face turned black, then green. Her eyesight was not very good, but her hearing was extremely sharp. The ambiguous sounds on the other end of the phone could not be hidden from her.

The zombie pretending to be young raised her head, looked at the sun rising outside, and directly spat.

That damn thing doing that in broad daylight! After latching onto a rich woman herself, she no longer cared whether the rest of them lived or died!

Just wait and see! When that human discovers your identity, let’s see whether your romance can still continue!

Ever since a few cunning humans established an office, almost all the business on their side had been stolen away. In the past, several of them had spent money recklessly and had not saved much at all. Now, things had become awkward. Those few pitiful little ghosts could only eat incense offerings once every Read on BaiLianTales three days or so, and their figures were already looking a little more transparent.

As for Liu Qiyu, that woman had latched onto a rich woman before. At first, she still knew to bring some money back to help out a little. Who would have thought that she would later become sincere? Then she refused to take even a single cent and even returned the money she had earned. It was truly misfortune piling on top of disaster!

To think that she was also a dignified thousand-year-old zombie who had once shaken an entire region with her power. Yet now, she had to bend her back for half a measure of rice. Just thinking about it made listeners sad and viewers shed tears! Wuwuwu… She really wanted to return to that era of war and chaos.

After wiping away nonexistent tears, the zombie still had to go coax that little ancestor who might decide their living conditions next month.

“The value of these two magic artifacts? You’ve asked the right person. We happen to have an expert in treasure appraisal here. Since this is your first visit, how about we appraise them for you for free this first time?” When the fox demon said the word “free,” her heart was practically bleeding.

But if one wanted to take, one first had to give. If they did not let the rich lady taste a little sweetness first, how would she choose them?

Free?! Mu Zhao’s eyes lit up. She worked hard to suppress the useless joy in her gaze. She had to stay calm. Her persona right now was a rich lady. How could she be so unpromising?

The fox demon and zombie brought Mu Zhao to the club’s basement and directly pushed open a door with a sign that read “Resting, Do Not Disturb.” The moment the door opened, the trash inside nearly buried them!

“Cough, cough…” The fox demon coughed awkwardly twice. “Please don’t mind it. The person inside is just lazy to death. Her professional ability is actually very impressive!”

“I understand, I understand. High IQ, low life skills,” Mu Zhao said, expressing understanding.

The fox demon sighed. After clearing the trash from the doorway, the zombie sniffed at the entrance, then directly rushed to a pile of garbage inside and rummaged through it. Before long, she pulled out a small yellow, fluffy thing.

It was a golden-yellow… hamster? Mu Zhao [stolen content]looked from afar and felt that the little thing was quite cute.

But this hamster was sleeping very soundly. Even all that tossing and turning had not woken her up. The zombie did not stand on ceremony with her and directly reached out, slapping her several times.

About three minutes later, a sloppy woman appeared before Mu Zhao, covering her swollen red face while still receiving her with a smile. During that time, the fox demon cleared all the garbage from the room and barely managed to set up a table that could be used to receive a guest.

“It’s not hard to tell that you haven’t received guests here in a very long time,” Mu Zhao remarked.

The hamster, now transformed into human form, smiled awkwardly. “Guest, what would you like to ask?”

“Don’t judge her by her appearance. She’s actually the oldest and most knowledgeable among us. She used to work in treasure appraisal, so there’s absolutely no problem with her professionalism,” the fox demon introduced.

Meanwhile, the zombie used a special method to whisper to the mouse demon, “This is the fat sheep Liu Qiyu finally managed to lure in! Pull yourself together! If you let her run away, Liu Qiyu will peel off your mouse skin later!”

The mouse demon wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, and her smile became even brighter.

“Then take a look at this. Help me estimate its value.” Mu Zhao handed the two paintings over to her.

The mouse demon took out a pair of ordinary-looking glasses and placed them on the bridge of her nose, then unfolded the scroll.

Unfortunately, the first one she picked up happened to be the painting of the little cat. The suppression from her bloodline made her hand tremble.

It must have been because she had secretly eaten the offerings meant for the Kitchen stolen content God some time ago. That was why she had been so unlucky lately!

The mouse demon’s professional ethics made her try hard to calm down. Unfortunately, as Mu Zhao watched, the mouse demon was already trembling like a leaf in the wind while holding her painting.

“This… this is a special kind of seal?”

The mouse demon was sweating heavily. How had this thing, which she had not seen in thousands of years, appeared again? If she had not dug the relevant information out from her childhood memories, she would most likely have smashed her own signboard in Mu Zhao’s hands today!

“This kind of technique has not appeared for several thousand years. Even malicious ghosts close to the red-clothed level can be sealed effortlessly, leaving ghostly beings with no ability to struggle… It’s too terrifying. I don’t know where its upper limit is. If it can seal a red-clothed malicious ghost, the market price can go up to five million yuan or even higher. If this black shadow is its limit, then the market price would still be around □□ hundred thousand yuan.”

“But these two have already been used, so their value is greatly discounted. The painting with the ghost infant can sell for over three hundred thousand, while the other one can sell for seven hundred thousand.” The mouse demon pushed up the glasses on her nose, pulled an abacus out from who knew where, and rapidly flicked the beads. “But we also cannot rule out that someone may want to study this painting. If we include its research value, the price can increase by another hundred to three hundred thousand.”

“After all, rare things are valuable. If it’s hyped up a little, perhaps some sucker would be willing to pay an even higher price.” The mouse demon winked at her frantically.

With such a frantic hint, even the slow-reacting Mu Zhao understood what she meant. But seeing the mouse demon’s pitiful look, she unconsciously wanted to tease her. So she pretended not to understand.

“So that’s how it is!” Mu Zhao smiled and prepared to take the paintings back, but she failed to pull them away. She tried again and still failed.

“Um… could you let go first?”

“Why don’t you consider leaving them here with us for consignment? We’ll absolutely sell them for a good price!” The mouse demon grabbed Mu Zhao’s hand and said with tears in her eyes, “Please have mercy! Next month, I’m going to run out of food! Our heartless boss doesn’t cover our meals!”