Chapter 323: The Black Market
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Before they left, Yan Ruo invited Bai Lin to his house to attend a banquet.
Originally, Bai Lin wanted to refuse. She did not really like to attend such events.
However, when Yan Ruo said things like it was his grandmother’s birthday and her two brothers always said that he was alone and his grandmother worried about him, Bai Lin’s heart softened.
The implication of his words was that he was being bullied at home and wanted Bai Lin to go over and help him.
She treated Yan Ruo as a friend. Since he was a friend and an important boss, she really did not want him to be bullied at home.
In the end, she still agreed.
The party was to be held two weeks later.
Bai Lin had to prepare a birthday gift in these two weeks.
Since Yan Ruo had brought a gift for Granny, she would return the favor with a gift. She liked to take advantage of others, but there was no reason for her to not bring a gift to a birthday banquet. Moreover, she was there to support Yan Ruo. Not only did this gift have to be expensive, but it also had to be exquisite. It had to be able to help Yan Ruo gain face the moment it was presented!
As Bai Lin pondered, she did not realize how much she cared about Yan Ruo.
Bai Lin did some calculations in her heart. After deducting the money for the welfare home from the 500,000 Yuan that Yan Ruo had given her, there was only about 30,000 Yuan left.
30,000 Yuan was not enough to buy a suitable gift to match the affluent Yan family.
However, this was City A. There was a place where she could definitely find what she wanted.
After Granny fell asleep, Bai Lin slipped into the night in her black clothes. She crossed a few streets and came to a small wooden door at the corner that could only allow one person to pass through.
She knocked on the second wooden plank from the left then the first wooden plank from the right. The door opened from the inside.
“You’re alone?” The doorman was a little surprised. It was rare to see someone come here alone.
“Yes,” Bai Lin replied and extended her hand to the doorman.
The doorman saw that she was so familiar with the procedure and knew that it was not her first time here. He immediately handed her a small wooden plate with a red string. On it was written the word “fifth” and “three”, indicating her code name here. If she did not hand over the wooden plate when she left, she would be regarded as a suspicious person.
After passing through the porch, Bai Lin arrived at a bar.
She went to the wine rack in the southeast corner, opened a secret door, and entered.
The space cleared up.
No one would have thought that such a large space was hidden under such a small bar.
The entire street was nearly 800 meters long, with small houses on both sides. The street was paved with blue bricks, and many small vendors spread out a piece of cloth on the ground to sell all kinds of goods.
This was the underground black market of City A.
Antiques, famous calligraphies and paintings, gold and jade items… There were only things one could not think of, but nothing one could not buy here.
Even if something was unavailable for purchase, one could put up a treasure hunt reward on the notice board at the end of the street.
Bai Lin had been here before, but she had never bought anything from this place. This was because this place was not under the control of any law up there, and people who sold things here would demand exorbitant prices.
“Young lady, what do you want to buy?” An old man with white hair, white beard, and a wrinkled face stopped Bai Lin.
Bai Lin glanced at his stall. He was selling a few antique items, but they were all small in size.
These things should be good for birthday celebrations.
“My ex-husband passed away, so I’m choosing something for him to be buried with,” Bai Lin began to spout nonsense as she squatted down and looked at the antiques.
In the past, she had never shown her true face when she was on a mission. Now that she wanted to have her own life, she no longer used the art of disguise.
The old man looked at Bai Lin’s face and raised his head to look at a teenager diagonally across from him.
“Is this from an official kiln?” Bai Lin looked at a small azure porcelain jar. The glaze was smooth and transparent, and the ice crack pattern on the surface were clean. It was obvious that it had been carefully preserved.
“Aiya, young lady, you really know what’s good! This small ice crack cup is passed down from my ancestors. To be honest, there were porcelain craftsmen working in the official kiln among my ancestors who secretly hid this one.” The old man did not look like an old man when he sold things. He looked like a live streamer on the internet who sold things live.
“It’s not from the kiln which is the most famous for producing ice crack patterns, but the porcelains there are expensive without any demand. Even if someone says their goods are from that kiln, it’s hard to tell whether it’s real or fake. It’s not as practical as this one from the official kiln.”
Bai Lin looked around and carefully sized up the old man who was trying to sell his goods.
“Are you selling this for 500 Yuan?”