Chapter 78 - The Herb Market Of Jin Empire

The crowd once again started murmuring. Most of them were trying to find out any noble family with the surname Li but everyone came out empty-handed. There was no family in the entire Capital City with the surname Li.

Li Ming was in no hurry to explain to the crowd about her identity or that she was not from the Han Empire. After all the story that she had cooked up about her real identity sometimes sounded too lame even to her, but the deed was already done. Now there's no going back.

"An invisibility array has been placed around the shop. I'll be rebuilding this place and I don't want to cause you all any kind of problem. That's why the barrier will make sure that the daily life of the market continues. I'll be taking my leave now. Have a nice day." Li Ming politely informed the crowd before leaving the area with the Three Young Masters.

"This Young Lady is so humble." An old lady who had come to the market to buy groceries, said to the gathered people as she looked at the departing back of Li Ming.

"You are absolutely right. She's so rich and definitely belongs to a noble family but did you all saw how she bowed to all of us?" Another man who was the owner of a weapon shop that was on the opposite side of the street added his agreement and praised Li Ming even more.

"Yes yes. You are right!" The others also agreed with the man and the old woman.

For the next few minutes, the crowd continued to praise Li Ming before they all went back to their works.

Maybe it was all planned and maybe it was not but that day, Li Ming left a very good first impression in the eyes of the gathered crowd which only spread more and more in the future as everyone shared their experience of coming across such a humble and sweet Young Miss.

But where some people were praising Li Ming, there was a certain person who was gritting her teeth as she glared at the girl in the light blue dress and face covered with a veil.

The moment she saw that girl with Master Rong, she wanted to crush her bones and dump her in a deep pit.

She continued glaring at the silhouette of the girl until it completely disappeared from her sight, before leaving the inn with her maids.

**********

Li Ming entered an inn along with Wei Rong, Yan Jhong, and Jing Lin.

The manager of the inn immediately led them to a private room on the second floor.

When Li Ming entered the room she was surprised to see the rest of the Young Masters were already there, sitting around the large table, enjoying snacks and tea. Yeah, surprisingly no one was drinking wine.

"It's a very beautiful surprise. It's been a while since we all last had eaten together and I'm too hungry right now." Li Ming said with a cute pout as she settled down between the Wei brothers.

If it was some other noble family's Young Miss, she would never have said the same in front of a dozen males even if they were friends. She would rather kill herself then go around telling people that she's hungry.

But of course, it was not any other girl but our female lead, Li Ming. She felt no shame or embarrassment in speaking out the truth. Most importantly when everyone sitting around the table considered themselves as her friends and brothers. If they were going to judge her on something like that then none of them were worthy of her friendship.

"Tell me, Ming Ming, what you wanna eat. Your brother Min will get everything for you." Wei Min said beaming at her.

Everyone around the table chuckled and started ordering food. Though the servants who were assigned to them were looking baffled to see an alone girl with thirteen boys, who all were the Young Masters of the Noble families, laughing and eating together but they kept quiet and didn't say anything.

Of course, Li Ming could read their thoughts but she never cared about such things before and she wasn't planning to start now.

After an hour all of them were drinking tea and chatting about random things when Li Ming took out a bunch of A4 size photos of different flowers and plants.

By now the Young Masters were used to see her take random but unique things out of her spatial ring.

"Brother Feng, you are the only son of the Imperial Physician Xu and in these past few months, I have heard a lot about your vast knowledge of medicines and spiritual herbs. Can you please help me with something?" She asked while making puppy eyes.

"Haha....! No need to praise me. I'll help you as long as I can, tell me what you want help with." Xu Feng said with a chuckle.

"You are the best, brother Feng. By the way, look at these pictures. These are either some flowers, spices, or herbs. Can you tell me if there's any place, market, or a shop where I can find them?" Li Ming asked as she passed the sheets to Xu Feng.

These could easily be found back in her world at any normal nursery. But looking at the fact that nothing about this world was normal, she wasn't sure if these things could be found here or not.

"Are you looking for their seeds or plants?" Xu Feng asked as he was going through the pictures one at a time.

"Either will do." Li Ming replied instantly. Her next plan was completely based on these flowers and herbs. Though there's also a plan B in case she couldn't find these plants but she was hoping for the best.

"Hmm. These are very normal herbs and spices. But all of these grow in different parts of the Empire. It will take you a long time to get all of these." Xu Feng said after a few minutes.

"Are you sure there's no place on the mainland where I could find all of these together?" Li Ming asked as she collected the scrambled photos.

"Actually there is a place like that. The Herb market of the Jin Empire." Wei Rong suddenly said.

"Yes. That's right. The Herb market of the Jin Empire is famous for the shops which sell all kind of herbs, plants, spices, vegetables, fruits, flowers and any other plant that existed on the mainland. It's the only place where you can find all these plants in a single place. But the price wouldn't be cheap and it will take you at least seven days to reach the Jin Empire." Xu Feng explained to Li Ming.

Li Ming nodded her head before finally speaking, "Alright then. The money isn't really a big problem. I'll find a way to deal with it but give me some time to think about the long journey. Thank you for all the help."

"It's not a big deal Ming Ming. We are more than happy to accompany you to the Jin Empire. And as far as I think you won't really need too much money since these are just some normal plants. The price would a little higher than normal but for someone who has just bought a jewelry shop in 200,000 silver taels without even blinking twice, I don't think it will be any problem for you." Wei Rong said and everyone broke out into chuckles, enjoying the last few minutes before leaving the inn.

*******

"I'm seriously thankful to all of you for your help. And as far as it goes about me selling my special gadgets then no I'm not going to do anything like that. Who knows if the person purchasing it will become my enemy in the future and use my own gadgets against me. I'm not gonna take that big of a risk. Moreover, I have a very limited stock, so no selling out my precious gems." Li Ming told her three friends as they finally reached in front of the Black Jade Inn.

The others had left to their own work and again Wei Rong, Yan Jhong and Jing Lin accompanied her to the black market.

"Do as you want to do and don't listen to these idiots." Wei Rong said as he lightly patted her head.

"Hey!!" Both Jing Lin and Yan Jhong shouted, looking angrily at Wei Rong for calling them idiots.

Li Ming wished the three Young Masters goodbye and entered into the inn. It was a few hours after lunchtime and there were only a few people sitting around the tables in the main room.

"Miss Li, you are back." Madam Fu said a little too loudly as she saw Li Ming standing in the middle of the main room.

Before Li Ming could reply she heard two pairs of footsteps hurriedly coming down the stairs. The next moment both Zhang Yong and Ruoshan were in the room, glaring at her. Oops!