Xiao Hu had been watching this side, and seeing Ling Luo Yi pick up a gray shard from the porcelain he had collected, he was somewhat confused. As far as he knew, porcelain was only valuable when it was complete, and such shards were worthless, but she had said she had been looking for a long time. Why was that?
Mu An Ning also saw Ling Luo Yi pick up the ordinary shard and was very puzzled. She hadn't studied pupil techniques, so she couldn't discern the key.
Ling Luo Yi ignored them, picked up the shard, and walked to Xiao Hu. She handed him the medicine bottle and said with a smile, "Little brother, I'll trade this pill for this shard. Is that okay?"
Xiao Hu looked at the medicine bottle in Ling Luo Yi's hand, but didn't take it. After hesitating for a while, he said, "Big sister, I know pills are very precious things, and this shard is far inferior. If we trade like this, aren't you at too much of a disadvantage?"
Mu An Ning was stunned when she heard this. She had thought that Xiao Hu's willingness to trade something was the extent of what he could do, but she didn't expect him to care whether Ling Luo Yi's trade was worth it.
Ling Luo Yi chuckled and said, "Little brother, value has never been consistent. For example, in your eyes, this shard is worthless, but in my eyes, it's worth ten thousand taels of gold. And you think this pill is worth a thousand gold, but for me, this pill is just for filling warehouses. Nothing is absolute, as long as you and I both feel it's worth it."
Xiao Hu understood what Ling Luo Yi meant. Since she felt it was worth it, he had nothing more to say. Although he felt he was getting a good deal, he thought it would be pretentious to say more if she didn't think so. So he agreed, but...
Seeing Xiao Hu looking at the medicine bottle with hesitation after taking it, Ling Luo Yi understood and said, "Little brother, if you don't believe this pill can save your grandmother, go and give it to her now. We'll wait outside and won't leave. Besides, there are some things I'm unclear about that I'd like to ask you."
Hearing this, Xiao Hu was still hesitant.
Seeing this, Ling Luo Yi added, "Little brother, if I wanted to harm you, I would have just killed you and your grandmother. There would be no need for such complications. Besides, you have nothing that would warrant me going to such trouble, do you?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Hu slowly walked back into the room and fed the pill to his grandmother.
Mu An Ning, who was watching, said with some dissatisfaction, "He's too vigilant."
"After all, she is his only relative, and we are just two strangers. Being vigilant is a good thing when you can find a decent place to stay in a place like this."
As they had walked along, Ling Luo Yi had seen the chaos in this area. In several even more dilapidated huts near this small courtyard lived many fierce and menacing individuals who were coveting the grandmother and grandson. If they weren't vigilant, the grandmother and grandson would have likely died long ago. Ling Luo Yi had also noticed this strange point, which was why she had looked over and discovered this item.
"Your Highness, speaking of which, this grandmother and grandson are completely defenseless against those guys outside. How do they live here? It seems they have been living here for quite some time. Why haven't those people outside come to rob this small courtyard?"
Mu An Ning couldn't understand this point at all. Those guys outside, even dozens of them crammed into a broken and small house, how could they leave such a clean and tidy small courtyard? Especially since the owner of this small courtyard was an old man and a child who were absolutely unable to fight back. With their nature, they shouldn't have any rules against robbing the elderly and children, right?
Hearing this, Ling Luo Yi raised the broken porcelain shard in her hand and said, "Because of this."
"This?" Recalling Ling Luo Yi's actions, Mu An Ning had a guess in her heart, "Could it be..."
Just then, the door that had just closed opened again, and Xiao Hu walked over. Seeing Xiao Hu approach, Mu An Ning stopped talking.
Xiao Hu walked happily to Ling Luo Yi, suddenly knelt down, and kowtowed heavily, thanking her solemnly, "Thank you, big sister, for the pill. My grandmother is already better!"
Xiao Hu was both excited and ashamed. He had given the pill to his grandmother with a gamble, but he never expected his grandmother's condition to improve so quickly after taking it. His grandmother, who had been lying down all along, could now sit up, and her entire state looked twenty years younger. Seeing his grandmother's current appearance, Xiao Hu realized that he had judged a noble person with a petty mind.
"Big sister, I'm sorry. I thought you were bad people just now," Xiao Hu said with great guilt.
"Little brother, you don't need to apologize. Vigilance is a good thing in this world."
"I understand, big sister." Xiao Hu kowtowed to her again, then stood up and asked, "Big sister, you said you had something to ask me just now. Can you ask quickly? I still need to go back and take care of my grandmother."
"Okay, then I won't delay you." Ling Luo Yi dangled the broken porcelain shard in her hand and asked, "First question, when and where did you find this thing?"
Xiao Hu looked at the broken porcelain shard and thought hard for a while before finally remembering. He replied, "Big sister, I found this shard about a year ago at the foot of a cliff outside the city. I thought the pattern on it was quite beautiful, so I brought it back."
Ling Luo Yi believed this reason, as the patterns on the pile of broken porcelain shards in the kitchen were all beautiful.
"Second question, can you tell me exactly where that cliff is?"
Xiao Hu pointed to the southeast and said, "It's over there. Go out the east city gate, and then walk about ten li southeast. You'll see a very large banyan tree. About a li south of the banyan tree is a cliff, and I found it at the bottom of the cliff."
Hearing this, Ling Luo Yi also remembered. They had passed that cliff when they came, but there was no secret realm at the bottom of the cliff. Instead, there was a very small secret realm five li away, which they had entered and looked at. Inside the secret realm, there were only rows of forests. The trees were tall, but such trees existed in all realms, making it impossible to tell if they were from the Ancient Xuan Continent.
"Third question, little brother, how long have you and your grandmother lived here?"
Hearing this question, Xiao Hu became a little nervous, but since Ling Luo Yi had given him a pill to cure his grandmother, Xiao Hu still told her the truth.
"My grandmother and I are not originally from this city. We came here as refugees and have been living here for over a year."
After listening, Ling Luo Yi understood and said, "Alright, I've finished my questions. You go back and take good care of your grandmother."
"Okay." Xiao Hu didn't move, looking at them nervously.
Ling Luo Yi understood and said to Mu An Ning, "Commander Mu, let's go."
After speaking, Ling Luo Yi walked towards the courtyard gate, and Mu An Ning followed. As they exited the courtyard gate, Mu An Ning glanced at Ling Luo Yi with confusion, but it wasn't the time to talk, so Mu An Ning waited.
Seeing that the two of them left the small courtyard without doing anything and closed the door properly, Xiao Hu finally breathed a sigh of relief and went back to the room to take care of his grandmother.
From the moment he saw the two of them enter, Xiao Hu had been very nervous, not only because he was worried they would snatch this small courtyard from him like the people who had broken in before, but also because this small courtyard was not his in the first place. He was afraid that the original owner would return and drive him and his grandmother out. With his grandmother's previous condition, if they had to endure hardship again, she probably wouldn't survive the summer.
Now that they had left without saying anything, Xiao Hu was relieved.