Volume 3, Chapter 166 – What I Need Is Life-Saving Money

Chi Xiyan.

Fairy Xiyan, exceptional in both alchemy and sword.

The Chi family’s eldest young lady who would undoubtedly control both the Chi family and Lingbao Commerce Association in the future.

Did she really need to use such underhanded schemes against this ignorant country girl, methods she had always looked down upon, just to secure her future position in the Chi family?

If she did that, what would be the difference between her and those inner-court poisonous women she usually despised most?

At this moment, it appeared she didn’t need to do anything or manage anything.

But in reality, she had already done everything.

The moment she stood here, she had already faced a choice.

And now, she was watching her cousin walk straight into a pit of fire.

“Heh…” Chi Xiyan let out a soft laugh. “Ridiculous. I haven’t fallen so low as to need such methods.”

She turned back around and stepped into the restaurant before her.

As she entered the main hall of the establishment, she removed the talisman from her body.

Five Immortals House was equipped with cultivators serving as guards.

The connected buildings, pavilions, and the pleasure boats behind them were all covered under the protection of a formation.

Using an aura-concealing talisman on the main street was one thing, but if she continued sneaking around in this kind of place, she would be taken for a suspicious person.

Chi Xiyan knew that some formations could see through the disguise of aura-concealing talismans.

Chi Xiyan had come to find someone, not to cause trouble at Five Immortals House.

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When Chi Xiyan walked into Five Immortals House, a shop attendant immediately approached her.

“Miss, may I ask what you need…”

Chi Xiyan interrupted the attendant. “I’m looking for someone. Did you just see a black-haired girl, about a bit shorter than me, wearing a white jade hairpin?”

The attendant listened for a moment. “Oh, you mean that young lady from earlier? She went inside.”

With that, the attendant raised his hand and pointed ahead.

Chi Xiyan’s gaze followed the direction he indicated. Her eyes darkened slightly.

The direction that girl had gone was toward the gambling house inside Five Immortals House.

“That girl… she doesn’t have anything valuable on her.”

Chi Xiyan furrowed her brow as she quickly walked inside.

Inside the gambling house, heads bobbed everywhere in a chaotic, boiling atmosphere.

Chi Xiyan’s beautiful eyebrows drew high together as she lightly covered her nose with her sleeve.

She didn’t like the atmosphere here. She felt that this room was filled with an odor she found unbearable.

Normally, she would never come to a place like this.

“Where did that girl go?”

Chi Xiyan forced herself to endure the discomfort as her gaze searched through the murky environment for the young girl’s figure.

The gambling house inside Five Immortals House was also divided into different tiers.

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And the gambling house Chi Xiyan was currently in was the lowest kind.

The scene here was simply unbearable to Chi Xiyan’s eyes.

However, that impoverished country girl didn’t have the means to enter a higher-tier gambling house.

The higher-tier gambling houses were places frequented by the upper class and wouldn’t be this smoky and chaotic.

Chi Xiyan covered her nose, furrowed her brow, and forced herself to endure the physical discomfort as she slowly searched for the familiar figure.

She felt like she was about to suffocate from the stench.

Suddenly, she caught a hint of fresh fragrance amidst the foul odors.

Though that wisp of fresh scent was very faint, in this kind of environment, for Chi Xiyan it was like finding an oasis in the desert, like a drowning person grasping at a straw.

That wisp of fresh breath was like bamboo after rain, a light bamboo fragrance mixed with hints of earth and dew.

Chi Xiyan really liked this scent, especially in such a smoky environment, which made it even more precious.

That wisp of fragrance smoothed the irritation in her heart, and the physical discomfort was gradually being relieved.

She unconsciously moved closer toward the direction from which that fresh scent came.

Then, very quickly, she saw a familiar figure.

“There she is.”

Chi Xiyan had found the “Chi family’s legitimate daughter” she was searching for.

At this moment, the black-haired young girl was holding a pouch of loose silver in her hands.

Chi Xiyan estimated that the money pouch contained at least twenty taels of silver.

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The white jade hairpin, the girl’s most valuable possession, was still stuck in her hair, so she must have pawned something else to get this much money.

At this moment, the black-haired girl was tightly clutching the money pouch in her hands, her eyes full of crazed determination. She saw an empty spot at a gambling table ahead and gritted her teeth as she walked forward.

Seeing this, Chi Xiyan’s brow furrowed even deeper.

She was all too familiar with the expression on the girl’s face. It was the expression of someone who had reached the end of their rope, staking everything on one desperate gamble.

This girl had already taken one step into the pit of fire.

“Wait… where did you get this money?” Chi Xiyan hurried forward to stop her.

The black-haired girl was startled by Chi Xiyan’s sudden appearance. She clutched her money pouch tightly, looking at Chi Xiyan with a wary expression.

The black-haired girl wearing the white jade hairpin said, “Who are you? Do I know you?”

“I’m your si…” Chi Xiyan wanted to say that, but after hesitating for a moment, she didn’t say it. Instead, she advised, “I’m just a sister you happened to meet. I don’t want to see an innocent sister fall into the wrong path because of an illusion of getting rich quick.”

“The money pouch in your hand is from the gambling house, right? What did you pawn to them?” Chi Xiyan earnestly explained to the black-haired girl before her. “You can’t take money from the gambling house. The waters run deep here. They’ll gradually lead you into a pit of fire.”

“An illusion of getting rich quick?” The black-haired girl bit her teeth. She said, “I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. Why would you think I’m doing this for so-called riches?”

“What I need is life-saving money!” The black-haired girl’s eyes reddened. “I sold myself to fight for a chance at life for my mother!”

“I don’t know where you’re from, young lady.” The black-haired girl looked Chi Xiyan up and down. “…Someone like you, a pampered young lady who wants for nothing, probably could never understand.”

“If you don’t know another’s suffering, please don’t point fingers at others from your high position!”

With that, the black-haired girl shook off Chi Xiyan before her.

Chi Xiyan’s brow furrowed deeply. She could see the madness in the black-haired girl’s eyes.

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She knew all too well that when a gambler went mad, they wouldn’t listen to any words of advice.

And that black-haired girl was currently in exactly that state.

Blocking and advising would be completely useless.

“Hehe…”

Chi Xiyan heard a mocking laugh. She turned to look and saw a middle-aged man chuckling at her.

In the middle-aged man’s hand, he held a contract with ink still wet.

The middle-aged man noticed Chi Xiyan’s gaze and provocatively waved the contract paper at her, then tucked it into a wooden box.

As the Chi family’s eldest young lady, Chi Xiyan was all too familiar with these people’s schemes. This was a trap, and that girl had already fallen into it.

“Wait…” Chi Xiyan turned around, wanting to call out to her “cousin.”

However, the black-haired girl had already sat down at a big-small dice table.

“Miss, what would you like to bet?”

The black-haired girl violently pushed the money pouch in her hand onto the table surface and shouted through gritted teeth, “All of this, everything, on small!”

Behind her, Chi Xiyan’s brow furrowed.

This girl really didn’t understand anything!

How could she dare?!

Wasn’t this blatantly offering herself up to be slaughtered?!