Chapter 364 : Green Plum Meets Wine (15)
Shi Sheng watched them coldly from her corner. ‘They’re all just foils to the FL anyway.’
This was the focus of the event. Even if their own children stood no chance, people still wanted to see whose kids could impress the magnate enough for him to make them his final disciple.
The test on basic theory finished quickly. All those who could finish answering were told to stand on the other side.
Shen Jiayin stood towards the end. When it was her turn, she answered calmly and proficiently, cutting a stark contrast to the previous few who stuttered and got their words all jumbled up.
“Whose kid is this? She’s actually this composed…”
“She’s quite a good seedling—her basics are very solid. I just wonder what her judgement is like.” The speaker was probably in this line of business.
Only five people passed the first test. Three boys and two girls.
Shen Jiayin received the most attention.
The final test was on one’s judgement. Basically, you had to pick three stones from a pile of unopened ores. The one who picked the stones with the highest total value would be the winner.
The other children would be able to keep the ores they’d picked.
This was simply giving away money! You could see just how rich this magnate was!
Of course, that was under the condition that you had the judgement and luck to open up an ore worth several tens of millions and strike it rich.
Though, Shi Sheng reckoned, these ores should have been screened beforehand. The only one who stood a chance of getting lucky was the FL.
“If I’d known about this beforehand, then I would’ve gone too.” Shi Sheng muttered. ‘It’s free money! Why wouldn’t I want it?’
“Xiaoxia-meimei, you like these things?” Yu Jiu leaned against a pillar as he asked her with upturned lips.
“No.”
“Then what do you like? Me?”
Shi Sheng gave him the ‘you’re an idiot’ look. “Just how big is your face?”
“Not very big, but it’s handsome.” Yu Jiu laughed as he spoke.
‘Handsome my arse! You’re at most cute!’
While the two were bickering, the selection had already begun.
Shi Sheng was very curious about how Shen Jiayin utilised her cheat, so she moved to a spot closer to her.
Shen Jiayin’s method of selecting ores was different from the rest. She didn’t go up to inspect it up close, merely pointing one out every so often, like how a ruler would view their territory from afar.
“Can she really pick a good one this casually?”
“I think she just has solid theory, but nothing else.”
“If she can pick a good one like this, I’ll write my name backwards!”
Shi Sheng turned to look at the people conversing. They were standing next to her.
They were a pair of balding men with beer bellies, chubby faces and large ears. Their gazes contained some lust when they looked at Shen Jiayin.
Yu Jiu came over, blocking them off from her view as he asked her casually, “You don’t like her?”
Shi Sheng shifted her gaze. “Oh, I like her a lot.”
‘I like her so much, I wanna kill her.’
Yu Jiu found that his understanding of his little green plum grew less and less, though he felt she was more interesting now—like this was the way she should be.
As if the person in his memories was the one that was off.
Yu Jiu reached out to pull Shi Sheng into his embrace, blocking out everyone else.
“Whaddya want, trying to get fresh with me? Do you want to get beaten up?” Shi Sheng gave him a dirty look.
Yu Jiu brought her into his arms fully and tightly held on to her. “Xiaoxia-meimei, you don’t want to lose face in public, do you?”
[Chain Quest 4: Don’t struggle.]
“Fuck!”
“Xiaoxia-meimei, we can discuss this when we get home.” Yu Jiu chuckled.
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘Do you believe that I’ll(lz) take my sword out to hack you to death right now? System, I think you also want to ascend the heavens ah!’
Shen Jiayin had already picked her three choices and was currently just standing there calmly.
Even if she picked poorly, people would respect her for her guts.
‘FL show-offs are pretty effective too.’
Shi Sheng took her phone out and opened up the Taobao app. Yu Jiu’s gaze landed on it for a moment before angling his body to help her block other people’s view.
He watched her tap around on the screen, causing the pictures to change very quickly. It was quite a novelty.
‘If she’s at ease to let me see this, does it mean I’m no longer someone she feels guarded against?’ Thinking of this made Yu Jiu very happy. He didn’t know why he was happy, but he didn’t dislike the feeling.
It was obvious Yu Jiu was thinking too much, though.
The reason Shi Sheng dared to take it out was because she was completely unafraid that people would covet it.
‘Want it? Come take it!’
The first thing Shi Sheng did every time she arrived in a new world was to estimate the average strength of its inhabitants.
She’d use the original plotline, as well as the density of the surrounding spirit energy, to deduce the strength of the most powerful combatant the world could offer. From there, it was a simple matter to determine whether or not it was within her abilities to deal with them.
She’d come to a conclusion that she could deal with anything this world had to offer.
Shi Sheng tapped on the screen for a while, before stopping on a particularly good-looking stone. From the number of zeros, you’d know this ore contained something good.
The three stones the FL had chosen were pretty good too—their values were very high.
Shi Sheng was very close to that high-valued stone, and it just so happened that a boy in the competition was near it as well. His brows were locked in contemplation, as if he couldn’t decide which ore to choose.
Shi Sheng put her phone away and pulled Yu Jiu’s hand off her. Making sure that no one was paying attention, Shi Sheng made her way closer to the boy.
Yu Jiu had been helping her keep watch on the surrounding crowd, so he hadn’t gotten a good look at what was on the phone’s screen. He didn’t know what she wanted to do, but he still followed her.
“Hey.” Shi Sheng beckoned at the boy.
He hadn’t been aware of her presence at first. It was only after Shi Sheng called him a good number of times that he began to notice her.
He looked around him and, seeing that there was no one around, pointed at himself questioningly.
Shi Sheng crooked her finger and mouthed, “Come here.”
Sheng Xia was the type of girl who had a gentle and pretty appearance, so it was easy for one to feel goodwill towards her.
The boy saw that everyone else was focused on Shen Jiayin, so he shuffled over to Shi Sheng.
Shi Sheng didn’t wait for him to waste his breath; she pointed at the stone she’d seen. “See that one? Pick it and I guarantee you the win.”
The boy seemed the shy sort, for his face reddened before he even spoke. “Is this…okay?”
‘She’s not in the competition, so how can she help me choose?’
“Dunno.” Shi Sheng had an honest face. ‘The rules never said you couldn’t get other people to help…’
Yu Jiu suppressed the urge to laugh. ‘My lil green plum is so cute, even when she’s helping people cheat! I seem to be liking her more and more! What do I do ah?’
He looked at the boy. “If you can’t choose, just pick the one my Xiaoxia-meimei told you to. Though if you do win, you can’t agree to become his final disciple; it’ll give you away.”
Though Yu Jiu was always smiling when he talked to others, his tone contained some distance, as well as an authority that made one dare not disobey.
The boy hesitated for a moment, as he checked his surroundings. Noticing no one was paying any attention to him, he nodded and returned to his spot.
He had probably wanted to pick the stones on his own, but since he couldn’t decide, and adding on to the fact that time was ticking down, he got the attendant to pick the stone Shi Sheng had pointed at.
Next was the paring of the stones. Since it would take a long time, the host allowed the others to either pick the the stones too or just rest at the side.
Shi Sheng strolled through the unopened ores as Yu Jiu followed behind, his gaze fixed on her.
“Xiaoxia-meimei, can you lend me that thing from just now?” Yu Jiu picked up the pace so that he was standing next to Shi Sheng.
“Would you understand it?” ‘It’s high-tech by the standards of this time, y’know? Are you sure you’d know what you are looking at with your IQ?’