Chapter 77 - "Don't Jinx-"

Li Ming shook her head at Jing Lin's dumbfounded reaction. The boy looked like he had lost his soul.

She took out a box from her mansion and placed it on the wooden table. She tapped it and looked at Jing Lin, signaling him to open it.

He opened the box which was full of silver taels and a small vial of green liquid. He looked at Li Ming with questioning eyes as he showed her the vial.

"It's a healing potion. As long as the damaged part isn't the heart, drinking this liquid will heal any wound. No matter how deep and vital it would be. It's a gem, use it wisely. And there are 200,000 silver taels in the box." Li Ming explained.

"Woah, Ming. Where did you get such a powerful elixir from? Which poor soul are you looting like this?" Yan Jhong asked as he inspected the vial like he was trying to find some clue engraved on the bottle itself.

Li Ming rolled her eyes at his idiotic questions but didn't answer.

Jing Lin asked his guard to bring the papers of the shop. It barely took five minutes before Li Ming was looking through the legal documents of the shop, stating her as it's new owner.

"Perfect!" Li Ming said happily as she put the papers inside her mansion along with the papers of Black Jade Inn and the Orphanage.

"Ming Ming, are you really sure that this place is exactly what you are looking for? I mean it's really in a very bad state." Wei Rong asked as he once again looked at the shop.

"Brother Rong isn't it too late for that now? But still don't worry. I'm two hundred percent sure that this shop is exactly what I was looking for. Now just wait and watch me perform my magic on this place but it will take a couple of days." Li Ming reassured Wei Rong.

"What are you planning to do with this place, Ming Ming?" Jing Lin asked curiously.

"Nope. No spoiler. You have to wait before I will reveal the surprise." Li Ming said with a small smile playing on her lips. She was feeling really delighted.

"But Brother Lin, why this shop is such in a poor condition? Didn't you take good care of it?" She asked Jing Lin.

"This shop was built more than a century ago by my great grandfather when he first came here to live in the Capital City. Moreover, most part of the shop is built of wood. We wanted to renovate it for nearly a decade but I'm not sure exactly why the work never started and here we are today, it's completely at the point where it's needed to be rebuilt from the scratch. So, my father just decided to sell it." Jing Lin told all his three friends the story of the jewelry shop.

"It's actually clear why no one was eager to buy it. Not only the price itself was high but whoever would have bought it, needed to spend a lot on getting this place back in shape." Wei Rong said and the others nodded in agreement.

"Doesn't it mean that our Ming Ming will become poor? She had already lost 200,000 silver taels today and now she will spend on rebuilding this place too!" Yan Jhong said with half baffled and half sad tone. He didn't want his little sister to become poor!

"Don't jinx me! And no I'm not going to become poor." Li Ming said as she took out at least a dozen one feet tall very thin sticks.

All the sticks had different writings on them. Two specific sticks had a beautiful design engraved on them which actually didn't look like any normal design.

Li Ming passed two sticks to each of the boys and kept two with her along with the sticks with the special design.

"Go and bury these sticks in the ground about half of their size around the fence of the shop. Each stick is needed to be placed at an equal distance from each other." She explained to them.

Then she handed one with the special design to Wei Rong and said, "Bury this one exactly in the center of the front gate. Now go on and complete the work."

"Let's send the guards to do the work. They will complete it more quickly." Yan Jhong was about to call the guards when he noticed Li Ming glaring at him. His words stopped in his mouth and refused to come out.

"Why? Is this too much of a work for you? Don't act like a spoiled brat and start with the work on your. Moreover, I trust you guys, not your guards. Hurry up!" Li Ming said in a strict voice and gave all the three of them a hard glare before walking inside the shop.

She didn't see how the surprised look on the three of the Young Master's face suddenly transformed into a happy and proud expression.

She trusted them and that's all they had ever wanted from the day they swore to be her big brothers and her hidden protectors.

It took the boys barely any time to complete the task and at the same time, Li Ming had made three holes in the middle of the wooden floor of the reception area of the shop.

She placed her own sticks in the holes. The stick with the special design in the middle hole and two normal sticks on either side of it.

When she came out of the shop, the boys had also returned. "Were the sticks enough or do you need more?" She asked.

"No. They were enough. We didn't know that there are more sticks, so we just adjusted with what we have. What now?" Jing Lin asked curiously.

"Do you know brother Lin that curiosity isn't a good trait. It can lead you to your doom." Li Ming said with a small smirk.

She didn't wait for Jing Lin's reply and turned towards the front of the shop. She connected the index and middle finger of both her hands, making a cross and closed her eyes.

The spell that she was chanting was barely audible and the three Young Masters looked around to see what would happen next.

To their disappointment not even a fallen leaf moved during the entire time. Li Ming started laughing as she looked at their accusing glares.

She took out a palm-size ball made of iron and placed it on the ground.

"Isn't that heavy?" Yan Jhong asked.

"It's completely empty from inside. So no, it's not heavy at all. This is a special gadget...umm, let's say a very special and unique tool. It can consume everything in its surroundings according to its range. With the help of this gadget, we will get rid of this old shop within a day. That will save us a lot of time, money, and labor." Li Ming explained to the three Young Masters as she channeled her spiritual energy to the ball.

"Wow, that's such a cool thing. You know what Ming Ming, you should sell some of these special artifacts of yours. You will become the richest person in the entire Han Empire within a night." Jing Lin said as they all followed Li Ming out of the Jewelry shop.

Li Ming pressed her palm on the main door and sealed it. The next second the entire shop vanished from there. Instead of the Jing family's jewelry shop, there was a huge empty land in the middle of the market street.

"What-?" Wei Rong stared at the empty space in shock. The other two Young Masters and their guards had the same expression.

Soon a crowd formed around the area. Those who had seen the shop disappearing were whispering about the miracle that had happened and those who had just appeared after seeing the crowd were curiously asking questions about what was going on.

Li Ming rubbed her forehead as she heard the crowd going crazy behind her. How could she have not thought about this? It's so unprofessional and stupid of her. But now there's no use in regretting her actions.

She turned towards the crowd with a large smile but soon realized that they couldn't see it because of her veil. Well, their loss!

She clasped her hands in front of her and bowed in greetings.

The crowd had people mostly from poor families, workers from the nearby shops, or those who could be considered as middle-class families.

The Jing family was the richest family in the Han Empire because of their huge and years old business establishments. Everyone in the Capital City was familiar with the Jewelry shop and the three Young Masters of the top Noble families who were currently standing in front of them.

But when the girl who looked just as high profile and noble as the three Young Masters, suddenly bowed to them, the crowd was left shocked.

Everyone hurriedly bowed to the Young Miss, not wanted to offend the nobles.

Li Ming strengthened and looked at the crowd. "I'm Li Ming and you all can call me Miss Li. I have bought this jewelry shop today from Young Master Jing and I'm the new owner of this piece of land."