Senior Sister, Please Act Human! - Chapter 15

Xiao Yuanzhi and the vendor each brought years of bargaining experience to the table. After haggling for quite some time, they finally settled on a price both sides found relatively satisfactory.

The vendor kept his eyes fixed on Xiao Yuanzhi.

When he saw her hand reach toward her money pouch, his eyes immediately gleamed. He was practically drooling.

But before Xiao Yuanzhi could pull out the silver, his wealthy customer was forcibly dragged away by the woman standing behind her.

The vendor anxiously waved after Xiao Yuanzhi.

“Hey, hey, hey! Miss, you haven’t bought them yet!”

“Miss! Miss!”

Xiao Yuanzhi was utterly confused and struggled with all her might.

Unfortunately, Wei Zisu’s hand seemed to have grown directly into her clothes. No matter what Xiao Yuanzhi did, she refused to let go.

Stopping her from buying those things was the same as cutting off her path to wealth and obstructing her journey toward prosperity!

The vendor shouted after Xiao Yuanzhi again, “If the price isn’t right, we can keep negotiating! We can lower it some more!”

Did that mean he could reduce the price even further?

Xiao Yuanzhi became wildly excited.

“Eldest Senior Sister, what are you doing? Let go of me! He said he can lower the price again. Wait until I finish buying them before we leave!”

With that, she tried to move back toward the vendor.

She had barely taken one or two steps when Wei Zisu dragged her away again.

“Buy them? How much silver do you have left?”

Xiao Yuanzhi assumed Wei Zisu was worried that she did not have enough money.

“I have enough, I have enough. I’ll still have a few copper coins left afterward.”

Judging by her tone, had Xiao Yuanzhi brought more money, she probably would have bought everything in the entire marketplace.

“Enough?”

Wei Zisu let out a soft laugh.

“Hah. If you spend all your silver, what will you use to distribute alms? Are a few copper coins enough to buy all the supplies you need?”

Xiao Yuanzhi truly did not want to give up like this.

How much time and breath had she wasted haggling before finally forcing the price down this far?

Once she dug these things up in the future, their value would increase tens of thousands—perhaps even hundreds of millions—of times!

“Then I’ll distribute alms tomorrow. Let me buy these things first today.”

“No.”

Wei Zisu’s tone was firm and left no room for negotiation.

“Eldest Senior Sister, please let me buy them. I was wrong before. I shouldn’t have opposed you, and I definitely shouldn’t have made you angry. Please forgive me and stop holding it against me. Just let me buy them.”

Xiao Yuanzhi’s uncharacteristic pleading failed to inspire the slightest pity in Wei Zisu.

She forcibly dragged Xiao Yuanzhi away.

Although Xiao Yuanzhi was being hauled along, she stretched one arm desperately toward the stall, her face filled with reluctance.

The farther they moved from the vendor, the more frantic she became.

She nearly burst into tears, and her voice inevitably took on a sobbing tone.

“Eldest Senior Sister, please! I’ll buy fewer things. Just a little! I promise I’ll leave enough money for the alms. Let me buy a little—really, only a little!”

Wei Zisu had never known how to treat a delicate beauty tenderly.

She ignored Xiao Yuanzhi and dragged her all the way to a rice shop.

Xiao Yuanzhi looked profoundly unwilling, but she was forced to purchase the rice.

Afterward, almost none of her money remained.

She stomped her feet in fury.

Damn you, Wei Zisu!

It was bad enough that she had refused to take Xiao Yuanzhi’s bait and had stood by while she suffered.

Now she was even destroying Xiao Yuanzhi’s path to wealth.

She was infuriating!

While Xiao Yuanzhi considered how she might get revenge, Wei Zisu led her to several more shops.

At every shop, a few of the things Xiao Yuanzhi had bought earlier disappeared.

By the end, every single item Xiao Yuanzhi had purchased was gone, while all the supplies needed for the charity distribution had been gathered.

Tears immediately welled in Xiao Yuanzhi’s eyes.

Sharp pain twisted through her chest.

Her luxury villa!

Her expensive sports car!

Her glorious future!

Her status as a self-made billionaire!

Her capital!

Wei Zisu had forcibly traded all of it away!

Xiao Yuanzhi clenched her teeth and glared at Wei Zisu.

With all the resentment on her face, she looked exactly like a bitter, neglected wife.

She could practically feel her fists hardening.

Xiao Yuanzhi’s gaze darted from side to side as she searched for something nearby that she could conveniently use.

She knew confronting Wei Zisu directly would be asking for death.

It would be better to find a sack, pull it over Wei Zisu’s head, or find a stick and knock her unconscious with one blow.

Then…

Hehehe.

She could go and retrieve all her things!

Wei Zisu swept Xiao Yuanzhi a faint glance.

She had noticed her wandering gaze long ago.

Although she did not know exactly what Xiao Yuanzhi was planning, Wei Zisu was certain it was nothing good.

While Xiao Yuanzhi was still searching, a man suddenly blocked their path.

He called out excitedly to Xiao Yuanzhi.

“Benefactor! Benefactor!”

Xiao Yuanzhi stared blankly at the man, who appeared to be in his twenties.

Who was this fellow?

Even in the modern world, Xiao Yuanzhi had not been as old as him.

Why was he randomly addressing her like that?

Xiao Yuanzhi asked, “You are…?”

“Benefactor, it’s me! I’m Second Liu from Liu Family Village. You come to our village every month to distribute alms. We met only last month, and you gave me quite a lot of silver again.”

“Ohhh.”

Xiao Yuanzhi pretended to think for a moment before suddenly acting as though she remembered.

She smiled.

“So it’s Second Liu.”

Second Liu’s complexion was not only rosy but shiny with oil.

Judging by his clothes, he did not look especially poor either.

“How have you been recently?”

“Ah, don’t even mention it. That damned gambling house—”

Before he could finish, Second Liu realized he had misspoken.

It was all his rotten mouth’s fault.

Why had he revealed that he had gone gambling again?

What if the fool before him heard and stopped giving his family silver?

“The crops haven’t matured yet, and that woman at home couldn’t endure it anymore, so she ran away with someone else. Now several children have been left at home under the care of my elderly parents.”

Second Liu sighed and continued with a sorrowful expression.

“Alas, it’s difficult even to find work these days. I’ve searched for nearly a month and still haven’t found anything. If not for the silver Benefactor gave us, my entire family probably wouldn’t have survived until today.”

Earlier that day, when Eldest Senior Brother had asked Wei Zisu to buy something, she happened to see Second Liu.

At the time, he had been entering a gambling house with several gambling companions.

As he passed Wei Zisu, she personally heard him say that even if he lost all his money, someone would give him more.

That fool was Xiao Yuanzhi, who frequently came to distribute alms.

A trace of mockery flashed across Wei Zisu’s lips.

She felt Xiao Yuanzhi’s kindness was truly cheap.

Yet those senior and junior brothers constantly praised her for it.

As the saying went, giving a man a fish was not as good as teaching him how to fish.

If one directly gave silver to someone who knew gratitude, that person might remember the kindness forever.

But if the recipient lacked gratitude, they would begin to consider the money their rightful due.

The day the silver stopped coming, they would curse and spit upon their former benefactor.

A gambler did not even care whether his parents, wife, or children lived or died.

Could anyone really expect him to change?

Giving him silver would only help a tyrant commit evil.

“Do you still have any of the silver I gave you?”

Xiao Yuanzhi was already making calculations in her mind.

Since she had given him quite a lot of silver, and she needed it now, taking some back should not be a problem, right?

Besides, Second Liu looked richer than she did.

She was now completely penniless and poor as a dog.

Second Liu was about to immediately say no, but then he remembered that his clothing was not shabby.

Had he known he would encounter this fool today, he would not have dressed so well.

Then he might have obtained even more money.

“I still have some left. Work is difficult to find, and my ordinary clothes were too ragged. I was afraid others would laugh at me, so I bought cleaner clothes to preserve my dignity.”

After speaking, he pulled out several strings of coins and showed them to Xiao Yuanzhi as proof that he truly remained poor.

All of Xiao Yuanzhi’s earlier frustration disappeared.

This was wonderful!

He still had money.

Her luxury mansion and expensive sports car were coming back!

Second Liu’s greedy gaze repeatedly swept over Xiao Yuanzhi.

He assumed the money for this month’s gambling was finally secured.

Once he won back everything he had lost, he would properly deal with those bastards who looked down on him!

When Xiao Yuanzhi extended her hand before him, his heart itched unbearably.

Why was she moving so slowly?

It was truly irritating.

He wanted nothing more than to punch Xiao Yuanzhi, snatch the silver directly, and immediately rush back to the gambling house.

But when Xiao Yuanzhi opened her palm, he froze.

It was empty.

What she said next left even Wei Zisu slightly stunned.

Xiao Yuanzhi smiled.

“Since you still have some, why don’t you return a little to me? Money has been rather tight lately.”

Second Liu never imagined Xiao Yuanzhi would ask him to return the silver.

He was speechless for a moment.

But he had obtained that money through his own ability to beg.

How could there be any reason to give it back?

“This… My children still haven’t eaten today. I should return home now. Benefactor, farewell!”

Second Liu ran away incredibly quickly.

Xiao Yuanzhi furiously pointed at his retreating back.

“How could I ever have given money to someone like that? Now that I need help, he refuses to help me at all! He ran faster than a dog. What kind of person is he? He has absolutely no sense of loyalty!”

Now Wei Zisu understood.

So Xiao Yuanzhi had merely been pretending earlier.

However, with someone like Second Liu, getting him to return silver that had already been given away would be more difficult than ascending to heaven.

The more Xiao Yuanzhi thought about it, the angrier she became.

She complained for quite a while.

Unfortunately, she was essentially talking to herself.

Perhaps she eventually found it boring, and Wei Zisu continued ignoring her, so she obediently closed her mouth.

Under pressure from Wei Zisu’s martial strength, she followed behind her and carried out the charity distribution exactly as instructed, performing the task “perfectly.”

As evening approached, Xiao Yuanzhi collapsed into a chair.

They were finally finished.

She had never expected distributing alms to be such physically demanding work.

Had Wei Zisu lived in modern times, she would have been the kind of heartless, exploitative superior who squeezed every last drop of value from her employees.

One moment, she ordered Xiao Yuanzhi to fetch water.

The next, she told her to boil it.

Then she ordered her to chop firewood.

After that, she made her carry rice.

In short, Xiao Yuanzhi had handled almost every large and small task.

Fortunately, the shelter had already been constructed.

Otherwise, Wei Zisu might have ordered her to build one on the spot.

And what had Wei Zisu been doing?

That shameless woman had the nerve to do absolutely nothing.

She merely stood beside Xiao Yuanzhi.

She dignified this by calling it—

“Supervision.”

Xiao Yuanzhi was so furious that she wanted to smash the basins, break the bowls, and challenge Wei Zisu to a fight on the spot.

Unfortunately, she did not know martial arts.

After accidentally injuring Wei Zisu last time, she had asked Yan’er about it.

Apparently, what she had used was called internal energy.

Later, she borrowed a book about internal energy from Gao Yan and secretly attempted to practice it many times.

For some unknown reason, however, she could not bring it out at all.

All her earlier excitement had been for nothing.

Xiao Yuanzhi was so exhausted that she did not even want to speak, much less engage in another verbal battle with Wei Zisu.

In any case, she had recorded everything Wei Zisu had done in her mental ledger.

There would be plenty of opportunities for revenge later.

After taking a few items with them, the two began their journey back to Cangfeng Manor.

Unexpectedly, the moment they reached a bend in the road, a group of mountain bandits suddenly appeared.

Each held a saber in hand as they surrounded the two women completely…