Chương 20: Grapes

There were only a few people inside the post station, dressed in various styles.

At the counter in front, a shopkeeper was taking notes with his head down.

Xiao Yao stepped forward and announced his destination: "Boss! To Heping Town!"

"Where did this country bumpkin come from?"

"Ha ha!"

"..."

Xiao Yao hadn't expected that his casual remark would be laughed at, and he was still puzzled.

Only then did the boss speak: "A newbie? You must have enrolled at Canaan Academy. Heh!"

"You didn't even know there was no long-distance inn in Heping Town?" The shopkeeper smiled helplessly and shook his head.

"Consider yourself lucky, there's still one cheap spot left: to Maple City, fifteen days, one thousand gold coins!"

The boss quoted the price very quickly.

"A thousand gold coins?" Xiao Yao frowned. Although he was now very wealthy, he only had a few thousand gold coins in stock. The rest were materials, pills, and cultivation techniques.

This was found in Gui San's storage ring; Elder Jin didn't even find a trace of a gold coin.

Most of it was given to Gou Dan, and with today's meal and a little charity for the little girl, there's basically only about 900 left, which isn't enough.

"Boss, I only have nine hundred gold coins left. How about I pay you one hundred gold coins with something else?"

"This is a post station. If you want to pawn something, go to the auction house. But if you miss this opportunity, you'll have to wait another half a month, and then you'll miss the registration for Canaan Academy." The boss directly refused his request.

"What? I have something here that is worth more than 500 gold coins. Could you do me a favor?" Seeing that he would miss the registration deadline if he delayed any longer, Xiao Yao decided to give it one last try.

As he was pondering which item to take out first, a money bag was thrown onto the counter with a "thud".

"I have money!" A crisp, clear girl's voice rang out beside me.

Xiao Yao was taken aback and looked down, "Why is it you again?"

"I want to follow you!" A thin but not entirely unfamiliar figure stared at him longingly and grabbed his clothes, refusing to let go.

"This won't do! You need to leave right now!"

"No! I want to follow you. Dad said I can follow whoever gives me money and food for free."

"Let go! This is ridiculous! The place I'm going to is dangerous!"

"No, I'm not afraid, I'm going to follow you!"

Faced with the little girl's shameless behavior, Xiao Yao couldn't help but get angry. He hadn't expected that helping someone would lead to such trouble.

"Hey! Are you coming or not? Are you coming or not? If you want to flirt, go home!" the boss interrupted them impatiently.

At this moment, a boy and a girl became the focus of attention.

"At such a young age, instead of learning good habits, she's trying to buy a child bride?"

"He's obviously a bad guy; he'll probably grow up to be a lecherous thief."

"Trying to run away after using me? Getting caught red-handed, men are all the same, haha!"

"........."

Xiao Yao was at his wit's end. Listening to the gossip and looking at the little girl, he gritted his teeth and threw out his only nine hundred gold coins.

"Okay! I'll take you! But you have to listen to me in everything! Understand?"

"Okay! I'll be good!"

"Young man... take your token, number one (yellow), bring your own food, line up over there, and let's go now." After receiving the reply, the boss skillfully took the gold coins and handed Xiao Yao a copper plate engraved with the number one (yellow).

"Sigh..." Xiao Yao sighed after taking the number and walked to the back of the line. The little girl held grapes in one hand and clung tightly to Xiao Yao's clothes with the other, afraid that he would change his mind.

After this little incident, passengers began to board the bird's back one after another.

A room appears at intervals on the bird's back, and they are connected by a wooden suspension bridge.

Xiao Yao looked around and, amidst a group of strange gazes, quickly led the little girl to room number one (yellow).

The room wasn't big, only about ten square meters. There were only two beds and a table and chairs next to each other, and a chamber pot in the corner. That was all.

This is clearly a standard double room.

"You don't have a name yet... My name is Lin Xiaoyao, so you'll take my surname and be called Lin Putao! If anyone asks about it later, just say you're my sister." Xiao Yao glanced at the bag of purple clay grapes in her hand, thought for a moment, and then came up with this name.

He became acquainted with this little girl because of grapes, and this name couldn't be more suitable. He was too lazy to think about what surname to use, so he simply let her take his surname, Lin.

"Grape? I have a name now? And I have a brother! Hehe, that's great!" The little girl's face lit up with joy. She let go of Xiao Yao's sleeves and was no longer afraid of being chased away.

"Once we get to Maple City, find a family to take care of you, and then don't follow me anymore."

"No! I want to go with you!"

"Nonsense! Didn't we agree to listen to me? If you keep acting like this, I'll kick you out!"

"snort..."

Grape stopped making a sound, stopped laughing, walked to the side and sat down angrily, throwing a tantrum.

Seeing this, Xiao Yao felt a little reluctant, but he had to do it; carrying this burden around forever was not a long-term solution.

"Once we get to Fengcheng, we need to sell the goods quickly, or we'll be poor again." After making up his mind about this, Xiao Yao looked at the grapes with some doubt.

"By the way, how did you find me? I couldn't find you at all." Xiao Yao asked. He had wanted to ask back at the post station, but he gave up after Grape's commotion.

"I have my own way of dealing with this, you can't get rid of me, brother! Brother!" Grape said and then ignored him, starting to eat grapes by herself.

Seeing this, Xiao Yao regretted it a little, shook his head helplessly, turned over and got into bed, putting his hands behind his head.

She discovered that Grape's personality was only now emerging; he was just a ten-year-old child, so how mature could his mind be?

Trying to reason with her is like talking to a brick wall. Fortunately, I stopped thinking about this troublesome matter and started to make careful plans for the next step.

"Ten Thousand Bones Poison Ice..." He spread his hands out in front of his eyes, a faint chill swirling around his palms.

"The secret of the 'Burning Scripture' scroll must not be known to anyone..."

"Back then, Xiao Yan left behind a newly born Fallen Heart Flame at Canaan Academy. After thousands of years of accumulation, it should be able to help me counteract some of the coldness of the Ten Thousand Bone Poison Ice. It's worth a try."

"The evolution of the 'Burning Scripture' is a matter of life and death; it's either success or death."

"The Heavenly Flame Battle Qi Tower! Then we need to enter the inner courtyard..."

"................"

Time seemed to pass quickly as Xiao Yao pondered, and he fell asleep, seemingly very tired.

The next day, light shone through the window onto his face.

He was just about to stretch and get out of bed.

But then he found that his arm was being weighed down by something very heavy.

A head of black hair came into view.

"Grapes? How did you end up sleeping in my bed?"