"Mother!" A girl called in a loud voice with excitement as she rushed inside a beautiful courtyard.
The courtyard was filled with ornamental flowers, an artificial mountain, and a small pond filled with spirit fish, along with a small bridge over the pond.
Inside a small pavilion beside the pond was a mature, beautiful woman with a book in her hand, listening to the high-pitched excitement of her daughter.
A smile crept up on her beautiful face. She turned her head, looking at the small girl rushing toward her with a face full of excitement.
"Take it easy. Don't fall down," she said, with her voice dripping with motherly care.
She was Xiao Guiyin, the wife of the Xiao patriarch.
The Xiao clan was a powerful clan in the core city. They were extremely low-key and rarely meddled in the troubling waters of the city.
They were the only neutral clan in the core city, and only the elite clans knew of their existence.
Xiao Chunhua rushed into the small pavilion with beads of sweat on her face.
"Why are you running? Is there anyone who attacked you?" Xiao Guiyin asked with a slight frown on her face.
"No. No." She shook her head. "Mother, I found something exciting."
She shouted, showing her mother the ordinary ring on her right finger.
Her mother looked at the ordinary-looking ring and couldn't understand what was different about this ring that made her cute little daughter like this.
"Did you perhaps go to the outer city once again and gamble and win this ring?" She asked her daughter, looking directly into her daughter's eyes.
She shook her head and responded. "Mother, although I went to the outer city, I didn't gamble this time around. But I found something important."
"Really? What is it?" She asked and put her daughter on her lap, ready to listen to her rambling about naughty behavior in the outer city.
However, as she listened to her daughter, she changed her expression.
There were many times she wanted to interrupt her daughter but controlled her impulse.
The more her daughter spoke about the strange ring called the Spirit Comms, the more puzzled and skeptical she became.
Finally, she couldn't bear it any longer and cut in. "Are you telling the truth?"
"Yes, mother. I know you won't believe me; that's why I will show you one of its functions and call Bi." She said confidently and sent her consciousness into the ring and called her maid.
"Yes." The girl responded.
"Why do we need to pay when we've bought the Spirit Comms?" She asked.
"Madam, you only buy the ring, not what is inside the ring. Giving out free talk time and free Spirit Network access was the benevolent attitude of our store."
"Madam, do you know how many communication talismans you have to carry if you want to talk with your family and friends? That is, if there are any. Besides, it's a one-time thing," the girl said calmly.
Xiao Guiyin knew that what she was asking was naive. Still, she asked.
It's better to ask than assume.
"How many can I buy for my clan?" She inquired.
"You're our first customer, therefore you have the privilege of buying one thousand.
However, they must come here for registration within a week; after that, the Spirit Comms would be useless. To buy another one, they will have to pay one thousand spirit stones each." The girl responded.
One thousand spirit stones!
Xiao Guiyin widened her eyes slightly, while Xiao Chunhua and her maid gasped, filling the quiet store.
Xiao Guiyin looked at the women behind the long curvy counter and could see a deep pride in their eyes.
Even though they were being respectful toward her, she didn't detect the aura from those who needed commissions to survive.
'These people are not ordinary,' she came to a conclusion in her mind.
She bought one thousand and completed her registration. Though she was baffled by the registration, she went ahead to do it.
Back in the Xiao clan estate, Xiao Guiyin went straight to meet her husband.
She only spent a couple of minutes in her husband's office and left.
But the atmosphere in the Xiao estate was no longer peaceful as various elders walked to the clan main hall.
******
[AN: Please, don't forget to support this book with your golden tickets and power stones.
Have a thing or two to say about the book. Leave a comment. ]