Starting With 1 Trillion Spirit Stones, I Power Up by Raising Empresses - Chapter 21:

Chapter 21: What to Do When They Think You’re Just Showing Off for a Girl

“Uh…” Li Er, being new and inexperienced, didn’t know how to handle the situation. He pulled over a more senior attendant and asked, “This guest says he doesn’t want anything else and insists on buying the Crown Prince’s non-sale item. If I report this to the supervisor, will I get scolded?”

The older attendant glanced at Xiao Jing.

“Forget it, Li Er. Let him browse around the shop freely. We can’t sell that chariot. If we could, we’d have sold it long ago. This guy doesn’t know anything. Just let him go. You head to the entrance and wait for real customers. Don’t bother the supervisor with this nonsense.”

Several other attendants nearby noticed and came over as well.

One of them, with naturally beady eyes, slung his arm around Li Er’s shoulder and patted him.

“Li Er, let this guest go. Learn from us veterans—when you see people like this just wandering around, don’t waste your time.”

“Never seen this guest before. He’s not from Changtian City, is he?”

“Exactly. Just look at him—pretending like he knows everything, saying he wants the most expensive item? Doesn’t even know where he is!”

“Guys like this always bring a pretty female cultivator with them and pretend they’re loaded. They talk big to impress her so she’ll look up to them. Just trying to win her over.”

“We just play along and say the expensive stuff isn’t available. Let him wander around and feel important.”

“We’re not looking down on anyone. Every visitor is a guest. We don’t kick people out. Just remember: focus on the ones who actually want to buy something, understand?”

“Real customers always have a specific request. They don’t just strut in asking for the priciest item like some big shot!”

The attendants went on and on, practically giving a lecture, using Xiao Jing as a live teaching example.

Li Er stood silently in the middle, nodding.

He had been working here for nearly a month, diligently serving customers every day, but never managing to make a sale. He didn’t understand what he was doing wrong.

He had thought he finally had a chance today—that this customer would buy something and earn him recognition from the supervisor. But this man asked for the most expensive item without inquiring about anything else. He really didn’t seem like he was serious.

As Xiao Jing listened, he sensed something was off.

He couldn’t help but let out a cold chuckle.

He had only wanted to ask about the price and have Li Er check with the shopkeeper.

But where had all these seasoned attendants suddenly come from?

They weren’t wrong—their assumptions made sense.

But he truly had Spirit Stones. He genuinely wanted to buy!

Why couldn’t they do proper business?

And they claimed they were good at judging customers?

Xiao Jing hadn’t even said he was disappointed in their cheap stock, yet they were already crowding around and mocking him?

His face turned cold, and he stared sharply at the attendants.

Before he could speak, the beady-eyed one who’d been patting Li Er’s shoulder sneered first and barked, “What are you glaring at? Still pretending to be some big shot? I’m talking about you!”

“Embarrassed now that you’ve been exposed in front of your little lady?”

“Li Er is a new apprentice here. Young and honest. You led him around and wasted his time, and now you can’t even take a few words of criticism?”

Those words completely infuriated Xiao Jing.

The fire in his chest exploded.

He had only casually asked Li Er to go inquire with the shopkeeper. If it worked, great. If not, that was fine too.

If he could drop 30 million at once, that would be ideal.

If the shop genuinely had difficulties, he wouldn’t force it.

Changtian City was vast. There were shops all over Chongyang Market. Where couldn’t he spend his Spirit Stones?

But now that the attendants showed such ugly faces and spoke so rudely—

That was a different matter entirely!

He raised his arm and pointed at the purple-gold war chariot on the high platform. “I’ll say it one last time. I want that chariot today. Name your price.”

“Are you kidding me? Can’t you see the sign in front of it?”

“I saw it. ‘Not for Sale’,” Xiao Jing said coldly.

The attendants once again looked him over, and this time they burst into mocking laughter.

“No one in all of Changtian City has dared take that thing, and today someone actually asks for the price? Haha!”

“I’ve worked in this shop for twenty years, and I’ve never seen a customer as broke and fake as you.”

“That chariot, rotting in our shop thanks to the Crown Prince—buy it, and aren’t you afraid the Crown Prince will kill you?”

Another attendant smirked, “What’s the point of talking? He asked for a price. Just quote him one.”

“Exactly. Once he can’t cough up the Spirit Stones, we’ll see how long he keeps up the act.”

The beady-eyed leader held up three fingers. “That chariot, plus the war beast that pulls it, cost at least 35 million Spirit Stones. You, dare to buy it?”

…

The commotion drew the attention of other customers in the shop. One after another, they gathered around to watch.

Even passersby on the street stopped to peer inside at the scene.

Among them were a few people who had seen Xiao Jing earlier at the Immortal Spirit Restaurant.

Before lunch, they saw him beat up Sixth Prince Bi Rui.

After lunch, while strolling the streets, they now witnessed the Third Prince of the Liang Empire being mocked by attendants at Windborne Workshop.

These bystanders quickly called out to the shop attendants, “Do you know who these two are? This is the Fifth Princess, and that’s Third Prince Xiao Jing of the Liang Empire! How dare you speak to them like this?”

“Yeah! Even if they were ordinary guests, you shouldn’t be so rude!”

“Hurry up and apologize to the Fifth Princess and Prince Consort Xiao!”

The shop attendants were stunned. Then one of them laughed.

“The Fifth Princess? The Liang Empire’s hostage son-in-law? The couple who just got married yesterday?”

“Isn’t the Fifth Princess a cripple?”

“Apologize to them? What a joke! That so-called Fifth Princess isn’t even at a higher Realm than a floor sweeper like me!”

At that point, the attendants were still unaware of what had happened at the Immortal Spirit Restaurant.

The news hadn’t reached them yet.

So they looked at Xiao Jing and Mu Lanchu with even more disdain.

Seeing this, the bystanders were utterly shocked.

“Do you even know what you’re saying?”

“The Fifth Princess is no longer who she used to be!”

They quickly explained the restoration of her Gold Crow Bloodline.

More and more customers nearby began to learn about it.

“What? The Fifth Princess’s bloodline was restored? She’s no longer a cripple?”

“And she awakened a top-tier Gold Bloodline?! Protected by the ancestral emperors of the Yan Empire?!”

The shop attendants froze in disbelief. Cold sweat instantly drenched their backs.

“This… this can’t be…”

“Wasn’t she supposed to be dying? How can her bloodline be restored?!”

“You bunch of idiots!” came a furious roar.

A burly man pushed through the crowd.

It was Dong Qu, the supervisor of Windborne Workshop.

He had just heard from a neighboring shop that the Fifth Princess’s bloodline had been restored.

Then he turned and saw his own attendants surrounding and mocking the Fifth Princess and Prince Consort.

His heart skipped a beat, and he rushed over immediately.

SLAP! He struck the lead attendant square in the face.

The blow spun the man in place. Blood covered his face as he fell to the ground, then Dong Qu kicked him hard again.

Only then did Dong Qu bow and say respectfully, “Prince Consort Xiao, Fifth Princess, I am Dong Qu, the supervisor of Windborne Workshop. These apprentices were blind and offensive. I sincerely beg your forgiveness!”