The man was also stunned, but he quickly calmed down. "What is the matter, Miss?"
Bai Jiu didn’t hide anything. "I’m offloading goods. A massive amount. I’m giving your boss a chance. Let’s see if he can swallow it. If not, I’ll find another buyer."
Although there were many black markets in the county town, the factions within them were anything but simple. She was merely taking a gamble.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, the leader immediately turned serious. "Miss, please come with me."
Bai Jiu covertly glanced behind her, then quickly retracted her gaze. The leader also noticed her subtle movement and glanced in the direction she had looked, but he found nothing.
At this moment, Bai Jiu spoke up. "Lead the way."
She acted as arrogantly as she possibly could, not daring to let anyone look down on her in the slightest.
The leader secretly made a few hand signals. As they walked away, two of the men beside him stayed behind, heading straight toward the spot Bai Jiu had been looking at.
Bai Jiu caught their actions and scoffed disdainfully. "You’ve got quite a few little tricks up your sleeve," she said with a mocking expression.
The leader wasn’t embarrassed; he simply led the way in silence the entire time.
After twisting and turning through several alleys, Bai Jiu arrived at their base. It was a large courtyard, bustling with quite a few men both inside and out. The sight of their leader bringing a stranger over—and such a beautiful woman at that—startled the surrounding men.
"Wait here for a moment," the leader said, stopping in his tracks and turning to Bai Jiu.
Bai Jiu looked completely indifferent, her eyes filled with disgust as she surveyed the surroundings. "Hurry up. I’m in a rush to leave."
The implication in her words was that offloading goods here was merely a passing convenience; she still had another stop to make.
"Alright." The leader entered the inner courtyard. Before long, a man in his early thirties walked out.
"Miss, thank you for gracing us with your presence. Forgive me for not coming out to welcome you." The newcomer was a Smiling Tiger. Although he was smiling and appeared amiable on the surface, his eyes betrayed him. He was clearly not someone to be trifled with.
"Save it. In short, I have goods. Can you take them?" Bai Jiu checked the watch on her wrist. She had accidentally stored this watch in her spatial dimension and only recently dug it back out. Because of its novel design, even the Smiling Tiger couldn’t help but look surprised.
"Could you tell me what exactly you have?" The Smiling Tiger turned serious, taking a seat at the head of the room.
Bai Jiu straightforwardly listed the items she wanted to sell. "That’s about it. It’s mostly grain, but you have to act fast because we need to leave this afternoon." After saying this, she stood up.
The Smiling Tiger was astonished upon hearing those numbers. "Are you joking, Miss?"
"Do I look like I’m joking with you?" Bai Jiu rolled her eyes at him. "If it weren’t for..." She put on a look of impatience but quickly caught herself as if she had misspoken, abruptly stopping mid-sentence. "Alright, I’ve told you the price and the quantity. Do you want it or not? If not, I’ll go find the next buyer."
Bai Jiu acted as though she was deeply annoyed. Naturally, her face also carried a hint of disdain for the goods themselves, as if she didn’t care about the merchandise she was selling at all.
The Smiling Tiger knew that he had truly struck it lucky this time. "I want it, and the price is fair. But I wonder if there will be a next time." With such a massive quantity and such a cheap price, he would be a fool to refuse.
"It’s a one-time deal. Next time? I don’t know. If we head this way again, maybe." Bai Jiu offered no guarantees, but her tone subtly implied that she wasn’t the one calling the shots.
"Where should we pick up the goods?" Even though the Smiling Tiger was a bit disappointed, such a huge stash of supplies was enough to make his position in the county town invincible.
"Come with me." Bai Jiu, of course, was well-prepared. The place where she had previously taken shelter happened to have an empty courtyard. It was dilapidated and quite a distance from the town. However, walking there wouldn’t take too long. She had already stored the goods inside. Her feigned urgency to leave was simply to make it seem like she feared the items would be discovered by someone else.
"Bring the money." Bai Jiu stepped outside, making sure not to forget about the payment. "If you have national food coupons or something similar, that would be even better. Of course, any kind of coupon will do. I imagine you have quite a few of those lying around here."
She didn’t have many coupons in her dimension; she’d feel like she was operating at a loss if she didn’t score a windfall of them this time.
"No problem." The Smiling Tiger didn’t want to miss this opportunity. "But I’ll need a moment to prepare the money. After all, it’s a large sum." He was willing to gamble on it. He didn’t believe anyone around here would dare try to double-cross him. And even if they did, they would pay dearly for it.
"Fine. Ten minutes." For the sake of the money, Bai Jiu halted her steps.
The Smiling Tiger moved quickly. A short while later, someone brought in several large bags.
"Do you want to count it first?" Staring at that much cash, the Smiling Tiger actually felt a pang of heartache, but exchanging it for those goods was definitely not a loss.
Bai Jiu nodded and flipped through the bags one by one. They were all bundles of ten-yuan notes. Four large bags in total. The total payment was exactly one hundred thousand yuan. This was exactly what she had calculated beforehand.
"Let’s go."
She didn’t take the money, letting the Smiling Tiger’s men carry it while she simply led the way. The route she took wound through remote, desolate areas. Because they had a large group, even if bystanders saw them, no one dared to make a sound.
As they ventured further into seclusion, the Smiling Tiger’s heart leaped into his throat.
An hour later, they finally arrived.
Seeing the dilapidated spot, the Smiling Tiger looked speechless. He noted that she certainly knew how to pick a location; this was the dividing line between his territory and Mao Tou’s, a place where they had fought plenty of times in the past.
"Go in. The goods are in the room on the left." Bai Jiu didn’t follow them inside. She merely pointed out the location of the goods. After speaking, she swiveled her head, looking around as if she were waiting for someone or a signal.
Seeing her act like this, the Smiling Tiger didn’t dare delay. He sent his trusted aide inside to inspect the items.
About ten minutes later, the aide came back out. Just by looking at his expression, one could tell the goods were definitely satisfactory. After the man whispered a few words into the Smiling Tiger’s ear, the Smiling Tiger had his subordinates hand the money over to Bai Jiu.
"I hope we have the chance to cooperate again next time," the Smiling Tiger said.
"So long-winded. If you want a next time, it depends on your luck. Do you think you’re our only buyer?" Bai Jiu said, dripping with disdain. Moreover, she didn’t even spare a glance at the money resting on the ground. In her eyes, the one hundred thousand yuan lying there was treated like a mere ten yuan.
Four large bags of cash were quite heavy. Fortunately, the original owner of her body had a fair amount of strength on a daily basis, so she could still lift this bit of weight.
"This is so heavy. I really don’t know why they sent me here to do this." Bai Jiu’s tone was entirely filled with disgust.
"Would you like my men to give you a hand, Miss?" the Smiling Tiger asked.
Bai Jiu had just managed to hoist the four bags up. "I don’t mind, but whether he can make it back alive will depend on how tough his luck is." After saying that, Bai Jiu pulled back her coat, revealing a corner of what was strapped inside.
The Smiling Tiger never expected that this person would actually...
"Take care on your way back, Miss." The Smiling Tiger was genuinely shocked, and his attitude swiftly shifted.
Bai Jiu indeed left, cursing as she walked, her profanities incredibly harsh.
"Sir, should we follow her?" the leader who had previously guided the way asked, watching Bai Jiu’s retreating figure.
As men who made their living on the edge of life and death, they naturally possessed their own ruthlessness.