Can he say it?!
"I only know the approximate location." Huoqian pursed his lips, too embarrassed to tell Shitou the truth. He could only subtly suggest, "I think your pet will know."
"Yeah! Baozi!" Wasn't it this brat who said he'd take me to find some kind of ring in the first place? He even told me that the ring was a divine artifact!
Amazing! She was even excitedly believing that the ring might be the legendary spatial ring!
And the result? She finally understood the meaning of "the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment" today. That damn dumpling! If it had told her earlier that it was a damn rip-off engagement ring, she wouldn't have made this trip!
"Um, I have to remind you." Huoqian was sweating bullets as he watched Shitou yell, kick, and shove at Baozi. How come he never knew this girl was so fierce, besides her awful personality? "You seem to have cursed it so it couldn't speak."
Stone was dumbfounded; it really looked real!
Bending down to pick up the steamed bun from the ground, Stone, ignoring the large black footprint still on the bun, grinned obsequiously and said, "Steamed bun, you can talk now. Hehe, tell me, where's the ring?"
Baozi was filled with indignation! It felt that its master was becoming more and more unreliable, but being a bully who always preyed on the weak, it didn't have the courage to challenge the stone's bottom line. So it quickly and obediently said, "Hehe, master's ring is perfectly compatible with master, so it will come out as soon as master calls!"
Waaaaah, it's definitely the most pitiful steamed bun ever since! Good heavens, what sins did it commit to have such an irresponsible owner?
o(>﹏<)o
"A summons?!" Stone exclaimed, realizing that since arriving in this other world, her worldview had been constantly shattering and rebuilding. Well, since Baozi (a steamed bun) can talk, it's not a big deal that a ring would obey her summons, right?
"Ahem." Stone cleared her throat. She had absolutely no idea how to summon a ring, but it was obvious that these two were no longer going to give her any good advice, so now she could only rely on herself.
"Alabala Boom! Ring! Ring, come out quickly!" Stone finished chanting the incantation with a straight face, but unfortunately, there was absolutely no response from the surroundings. "Ahem, that doesn't seem to be it. Let me think. Open Sesame, ring, come out!"
Still no movement. Stone felt even more embarrassed. He freed one hand to scratch his head and continued chanting, "Omani Mani Bebe Bhuon! Ring, come out quickly!"
There was still no movement. Stone cautiously glanced at Huoqian, who was standing in front of him. Huoqian's once calm face was now contorted, as if he had a toothache. His whole face was twisted into a knot, like a big steamed bun in his arms.
Swallowing hard, Stone continued chanting the incantation: "Ring, ring, come out quickly! By the command of the Supreme Lord Laozi!"
There was no sound, not even the slightest sound.
Stone dared not look at Huoqian's expression anymore, and could only look down at the steamed bun in his arms. The steamed bun was completely dumbfounded, looking like a medieval fossil.
What should I do? Don't I know how to chant a spell?!
"That's right!" Stone slapped his forehead, almost dropping Baozi again. He quickly hugged Baozi tighter and continued chanting: "Open the Arahu Cave! The dragon emerges from its cave! The fireflies flash! Dispel your weapon! Avada Kedavra!"
After reciting every incantation he had ever seen, heard, or known before, Stone was utterly dejected. Head bowed, Stone sighed helplessly, "Sigh, that ring won't listen to me. Looks like it's not meant to be. Oh well, I think I'll just go back!"
Hurry up and get out of here, or you might not be able to escape once the fire tongs realize what's happening!
"etc!"
But Stone was a step too slow, or rather, the fire tongs reacted quite quickly. He'd clearly seen Stone in a state of mental shutdown just moments before; how could he have restarted so quickly?
"Stone, what kind of nonsense are you spouting?" Huoqian looked at Stone with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. He had long known that Stone's head was different from others, but he hadn't expected that after being reincarnated again, Stone would be even more outrageous than before.
If Shi Tou was a genius before, then now she can only be described as a prodigy.
Stone looked pitifully at the fire tongs, as if to say, "Are you planning to back out?"
Seeing tears slowly welling up in Shi Tou's big eyes, Huo Qian froze for a moment and asked cautiously, "Um, I don't think I scolded you, did I?"
Stone looked at him with teary eyes: "I really don't know how to summon the ring..."
Huoqian, sweating profusely and looking exasperated, said, "Although I can't summon your ring, I think I should call it by its name, right?"
Do rings have names?
Shi Tou looked up at the sky, thought for a while, and decided to give it another try. No matter if the ring was a spatial ring or an engagement ring, it was definitely worth a lot of money, so why not give it a try?
"Heart of the Ocean, come out!" The most memorable thing from my past life was that beautiful necklace in Titanic. Although rings and necklaces are not the same thing, the names should be interchangeable, right?
Huo Tongs froze again, realizing he had truly underestimated the stone's erratic nature.
"Emerald Night, emerge! Heart of Rose, emerge! Pearl of Azure, emerge!"
"Stop! Stone, stop right there!" Huoqian had to speak up to stop him. He suspected that if he didn't stop him, Stone might keep talking nonsense.
"I don't remember." Stone pouted, looking quite aggrieved. She finally understood. For some reason, Baozi and Huoqian both thought she was a different person—well, to be precise, the person she was wearing? No matter what unreliable things she did, they never doubted her. So what was there to worry about? Just keep making things up!
Huoqian sighed, truly helpless: "That ring is called Kagaral's Pursuit."
(～ o ～)Y, so that's what it's called!
Stone suddenly realized, and at the same time, a bad feeling arose in his heart. His eyes darted around, and he pretended to be stupid, saying, "Kagall's pursuit, come out!"
With a loud bang, one wall of the mine suddenly collapsed.
Shi Tou broke out in a cold sweat: "Ahhh! A cave-in! A blowout! Help!"
Unbeknownst to the screaming stone, a small object darted out from behind the collapsed wall. It was initially heading straight for the stone, but upon hearing the stone's piercing scream, the ring fell from mid-air with a "plop."
Huoqian stared speechlessly at the ring, then bent down to pick it up, letting out a soft sigh: "Old friend, even you were startled? Sigh..."
"Here's the stone." Huoqian felt that he should hurry up and send the stone away, otherwise, who knew what kind of trouble she would cause.
Landslides and blowouts—thank goodness she came up with those ideas.
O(╯□╰)o
"This is the ring? How can it be so ugly!" Stone exclaimed for a while, then slowly stopped when she felt no more dizziness. However, when she saw the ring shoved into her hand with the fire tongs, she was still surprised: "It's absolutely hideous! It's even uglier than rice noodles!"
Huoqian felt that if he stayed with Shitou any longer, he would definitely get a stroke. Taking a deep breath, Huoqian gritted his teeth and said, "Shitou, I'll send you out!"
Huh? You're leaving already?
Stone looked up in confusion, then suddenly said resolutely, "No, I can't leave now!"
-----
It's time for the second watch!
Chapter 86: A Girl Who's Gone Mad with Money
Huoqian looked at Shitou with a bewildered expression. "Girl, who was it that was crying and shouting that they wanted to leave just now?!"
Stone looked down at the big steamed bun: "Steamed bun, are you hungry now?"
"Hehe, Baozi isn't hungry. Baozi isn't that glutton, Mifen'er!" Baozi rolled over in Shitou's arms with disdain.
Stone, who originally wanted to send Baozi to Elder Chishi’s library for a big meal, suddenly remembered that there was a certain ugly, stupid, lazy and greedy rice noodle waiting up there!
"Seventh Brother, we need to hurry! Rice Noodles doesn't have much patience!" Stone, carrying a steamed bun and clutching the ring, ran back the way he came.
Huoqianmo, Stone, Stone, what are you trying to do with this fickle behavior?!
O(╯□╰)o
Stone had no idea what Fire Pliers was thinking; all she wanted to do was rush to the surface. She had no choice! She was about to reach the human kingdom, but she didn't have a single penny, no gold or silver treasures whatsoever, and the ring on her hand was clearly a cheap bargain from a street stall. In other words, her only hope was Rice Noodles!
One million purple gold coins! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water~~~$_$
"Baozi, you said before that rice noodles are worth a million purple gold coins, but do you know where to sell them?" Because she was relieved, Shitou was in a pretty good mood, at least she could still chat with Baozi while jogging.
Baozi felt completely lost, unable to follow its owner's bizarre train of thought. Wasn't its owner just worried about Mifen'er's safety? How come in the blink of an eye, its owner is now thinking of selling Mifen'er?
The innocent and kind-hearted Baozi would never have imagined that Shitou had never cared about the rice noodles; all she cared about was how much money the rice noodles could make…
"Giggle! Master, Baozi doesn't know!" Baozi was an honest and good child, and it told the stone the truth without hesitation: "Baozi has never sold any elves!"
Stone sighed in disappointment, "Oh, you don't know either! What are we going to do? Where am I going to sell the rice noodles?"
Huoqian, who had been walking briskly behind Stone, stumbled upon hearing this and nearly fell to the ground. What...what did he just hear? Stone was going to sell the elves?!
"Stone, what did you just say you were selling? Little fairies?!" Fire Pliers felt her voice was practically trembling. Damn it, could someone tell her when Stone had become so ferocious?!
Stone abruptly stopped in her tracks. Huoqian, who had been following closely behind, nearly bumped into her: "Seventh Brother! Do you want to buy a little elf? I can sell it to you cheap!"
Huo Qian broke out in a cold sweat. Before he could even wipe it away, he quickly said, "No, no, no, I won't buy Pokémon! I absolutely won't buy Pokémon!"
"Why?" Stone was disappointed again, but she wasn't completely hopeless. Hmm, it must be that Seventh Brother doesn't know the benefits of elves, that's why he didn't buy them!
"Seventh Brother, let me tell you! Elves are wonderful! Think about it. Elves only eat vegetables, which can save you a lot of money! And elves are incredibly beautiful, and when they grow up, they can be your wives! You know how to warm your bed? Elves can warm your bed. They can also give you a litter of adorable little elves, and they'll help you with housework and take care of the children. Oh, and another thing, they can help you take care of your parents!"
Seeing Huoqian's eyes start to glaze over, Shi Tou suddenly felt that there was a chance! Recalling the overwhelming TV shopping in his previous life, Shi Tou decided to learn from his predecessors!
"Seventh Brother! This is a little sprite! A multi-functional little sprite! You can see it, touch it, warm the bed, give birth to babies, do housework, take care of children, and be filial to your parents! Think about it, now you only need to buy one little sprite, and all these functions come with it!"
Shi Tou became more and more excited as he talked, not even noticing that the steamed bun in his arms had fallen to the ground sometime earlier. The steamed bun was also acting strangely; it usually cried and made a fuss, but this time it was eerily quiet and lay on the ground without making a sound.
"Seventh Brother, since you're my brother, I'll give you a discount! The little sprite that was originally worth 10 million purple gold coins is now only 9 million purple gold coins! And since you're my first customer, I'll give you a special member price, a VIP member price! Only 6 million purple gold coins, and the multi-functional sprite is yours!"
Stone was talking animatedly, Huoqian was listening with a nervous frenzy, and Baozi continued to lie on the ground pretending to be dead.
"How about it? Tempted? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! If you're interested, act now! The Multi-functional Sprite is only 6 million Purple Gold Coins!"
Seeing that the fire tongs were still not moving, Stone decided to try harder.
"Feeling tempted but short on cash? No worries! You can enjoy an even better price right now! Remember, it's an even better price! On top of the 6 million Purple Gold Coin member price, get an additional 40% off, making it only 3.6 million Purple Gold Coins! What are you waiting for with this amazing value multi-functional sprite?!"
Huoqian's lips trembled slightly, but before he could speak, Shitou continued his rambling: "Don't refuse, absolutely don't refuse, you'll regret it for the rest of your life if you do! If the member price still doesn't appeal to you, then no problem, listen to our newly released family-friendly price!"
Huoqian stared wide-eyed, completely losing his previous maturity and wisdom, looking utterly dumbfounded.
"Family price! Family price! Spirits have a price, but family is priceless! Seventh Brother, don't worry, I definitely won't rip you off! Family price, half price! On top of the 3.6 million purple gold coins, I'll give you another 50% off, making it 1.8 million purple gold coins. How about that? Tempted now?"
Stone stared intently at Huoqian, startling Huoqian so much that he plopped down on the ground. "Seventh Brother, don't get excited! 1.8 million purple gold coins! That's auspicious! What are you waiting for? Let's get started!"
Huoqian sat on the ground, stunned for a long time, before finally speaking in a trembling voice, "Stone, Stone, are you... are you done?"
Stone nodded, but his little eyes were shining as he stared at the fire tongs.
Huoqian shuddered again, swallowed hard, and managed to say, "Could you listen to me for a few words?"
"Speak!" Perhaps because she had talked too much just now, Stone felt a little thirsty, so this time she didn't ramble on.
Huoqian took a deep breath, thought through what he wanted to say, then closed his eyes and said in a tone of heroic defiance: "First, elves are not beautiful at all. Not only are they not beautiful, they are ugly as hell. If you think elves are beautiful, I suggest you go to the human empire and find a priest to have your eyes checked."
With his eyes closed, Huoqian didn't dare to look at Shitou's expression and continued, "Secondly, elves are not easy to raise at all. Although they don't eat meat, they need to eat fresh fruit, and they have a huge appetite. An elf can eat about 10 to 20 tons of fruit a year."
"Third, elves can't be used to warm the bed because they are cold-blooded animals. They can be used to cool down in the summer, though."
"Fourth, elves can't have a litter of elves, because they can only have one at a time, and at most twice in their lifetime. Besides, if she were to be my wife, she simply couldn't have children. Although there are mixed-race elves in the world, they are all born from male elves mating with females of other races. Female elves can't give birth to half-elves."
"Fifth, elves don't do housework! Because elves are products of nature, they revere nature and would never do anything against nature. Tidying up a room would be the death of them!"