Chapter 39: Aunt Fang
For Wu Yuan, the most pressing matter at hand was neither developing his territory nor recruiting more people, it was finding the right location to place the branch of the Interrealm Trading Shop.
He already had a place in mind, but he lacked a suitable person to handle the task.
Chen Yong could have been a candidate, but he was occupied with training five hundred archers.
Huang Tie, Huang You, and others were passable but lacked experience.
Wu Yuan feared that sending them out might backfire and ruin the operation.
After much deliberation, it seed there was no one around he could truly rely on.
This gave him a real headache.
The Interrealm Trading Shop was a trendous opportunity—the sooner he could conduct cross-region trade, the better. But now, he was constrained by the lack of capable personnel, leaving him frustrated.
Just then, a visitor arrived.
It was none other than Aunt Fang, who had previously accompanied him in exploring the cave mine.
She and her mistress, Lady Cheng, had been trying to discuss sothing with him for a while. However, fearing they might ask to leave, Wu Yuan had avoided them, refusing to give a direct response.
Now, she had co straight to his doorstep.
After so thought, he realized avoidance wasn’t a solution. He turned to the female treasurer temporarily serving as a maid in the backyard and said,
“Take her to the side room in the rear courtyard. I’ll et her there.”
Apart from Wu Yuan and his doppelgänger, no one else was allowed inside the Spirit Suppression Tower.
Since the new side rooms had been built in the backyard, they now served as office spaces, complete with resting quarters—far more formal and convenient than before the courier station’s upgrade.
Shortly after Wu Yuan entered the side room, Aunt Fang was brought in.
She looked the sa as always, dressed in form-fitting attire, though now with an additional cloak resembling a raincoat.
As the female treasurer withdrew, Wu Yuan gestured for Aunt Fang to sit, but she remained standing, slightly bowing her head as she hesitantly said,
“I’d like to retrieve so personal belongings.”
Ignoring her request for the mont, Wu Yuan noted that she didn’t address him with any respectful title—neither “Master” nor “Boss.” It was clear she didn’t consider herself his subordinate or slave.
Seeing that Wu Yuan remained silent, rely studying her with a thoughtful gaze, Aunt Fang assud he was reluctant. She quickly added,
“I’m not asking for anything valuable—just a few… won’s… undergarnts.”
“Undergarnts?” Wu Yuan snapped out of his thoughts. “Why would they be with ?”
He found it strange, but then it struck him—was Lady Cheng also seeking an audience to reclaim her intimate clothing?
He nearly laughed at the absurdity, but upon further reflection, he realized Aunt Fang might not have co to the wrong person.
When they had been captured, all their luggage and belongings had been confiscated, transported back along with the possessions of the deceased warriors and the won who had been killed by the venomous insects in the carriages. These items were likely piled up in so storage room.
He rembered giving Cai Yu an order—since so of the captives might be of use later, their belongings were to remain untouched until they pledged allegiance to him.
There were quite a few bundles and chests—so thirty or forty large boxes in total. If Aunt Fang hadn’t ntioned it, even Cai Yu might have forgotten about them, leaving these potential treasures to gather dust in so forgotten storeroom.
When did I start overlooking such gains?
Have I beco so spoiled by recent windfalls that I’ve forgotten to be frugal?
And Cai Yu deserves a spanking too—as the de facto steward, how could she overlook this?
Seeing that Wu Yuan seed to have realized sothing, Aunt Fang didn’t know what to say.
They had been imprisoned for many days before being released to establish the Rain-Soaked Tower. While they weren’t lacking in supplies, their clothing was limited to coarse linen, which was inconvenient for the won—especially those accustod to finer living.
This was why she had resorted to wearing her only set of form-fitting clothes, as they were the most comfortable.
But wearing the sa outfit repeatedly wasn’t ideal. Though she had tried asking Wu Yuan before, he had brushed her off. Today, she had mustered the courage to co directly, prepared to face his anger.
Fortunately, Wu Yuan didn’t seem bothered by such matters, and she began to feel hopeful.
Wu Yuan first had soone locate the storeroom where the luggage was kept. Then, using his private treasury, he extended his spiritual sense to gather all the items into a dedicated room within his storage space. With a thought, all the bundles and chests reappeared on the ground without a speck of dust, neatly stacked where the chests were concerned.
He took pride in this skill, his control over spatial storage had reached a high level of precision, a testant to both the courier station’s upgrade and his own cultivation progress. It also reflected how much stronger he had beco.
Aunt Fang was equally astonished by this display. Having never seen Wu Yuan manipulate spatial storage before, she found it incredibly mystical.
A flicker of hesitation crossed her face, as if she wanted to say sothing more, but in the end, she suppressed it with a quiet sigh and approached the small mountains of luggage.
After circling them a few tis, she located five brocade bundles embroidered with flowing patterns—hers and Lady Cheng’s.
Among the stacked chests, she also found four spiritwood chests carved with cloud and crane motifs, also belonging to them.
Since Wu Yuan didn’t offer assistance, Aunt Fang struggled a bit to extract the four chests from the pile before finally placing them alongside the five brocade bundles in front of Wu Yuan.
Obediently, she opened all the bundles and chests, even exposing the won’s private garnts without hesitation, as if afraid Wu Yuan might suspect her of hiding sothing and refuse to return her belongings.
Wu Yuan didn’t pretend to be magnanimous and let her take the luggage imdiately. Instead, he inspected the contents closely.
Most of it was indeed won’s clothing, shoes, socks, costics, hairpins, and jewelry—so exquisitely crafted, others rich in spiritual energy, suggesting considerable value. However, a few items stood out.
Noticing where Wu Yuan’s gaze lingered, Aunt Fang knew there was no avoiding it. She quickly singled out several objects and placed them before him.
There were two pill bottles and four jade boxes.
The pill bottles contained a low-grade Gentle Water Pill and a mid-grade Flower Nectar Pill.
The forr was an auxiliary cultivation pill for won, mainly to prevent the body from hardening and becoming overly muscular during physical training, preserving feminine traits.
The latter was a healing pill, its primary ingredient being the sap of a flesh-devouring flower tree.
Neither pill was of particular importance to Wu Yuan, so he waved for her to take them back.
When the four jade boxes were opened one by one, their contents surprised him.
Two of the boxes held won’s jewelry—single pieces, but shimring with spiritual light, clearly spirit artifacts.
Even if they were only low-grade spirit artifacts, the fact that they were made into delicate accessories ant the materials were refined, each worth at least a dozen gold coins.
But Wu Yuan had no interest in jewelry. Even if he wanted to gift soone, he had the ans to buy better—no need to openly seize what his subordinates cherished.
The real surprises lay in the remaining two jade boxes.
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