Chi Yan kept his polite smile on. “Mister Qing, please wait here for a moment.” Then he turned and walked a short distance to say a few things to someone else before coming back along with a lady in a staff uniform.
“Mister Qing, when you see anything you like, you can just pass it to this shop assistant here. Once you’re done looking around, you can make your purchases all at once,” Chi Yan explained.
Qingcheng politely clasped her hands towards the female shop assistant. “I’ll have to trouble you then.”
The shop assistant was shocked by this politeness towards her. “Oh no, no, Mister Qing, you’re too kind. I am only doing what I am supposed to.” She had already noticed these three gentlemen when they walked in earlier. Even though this young man in white was wearing a mask over his face, the mask couldn’t cover his upper-class elegance. She hadn’t expected him to be such a polite man.
After that, they continued walking around the second story. Qingcheng bought a few low-grade materials for refining equipment, which was one of her aims in coming out tonight.
Once they were more or less done with the second story, she asked Chi Yan, “Where are the storage rings displayed? I’ve already made one full lap around, and I haven’t seen a single one.” She remembered that both Feng Qingling and Feng Qingyan had one each, so she didn’t think that they were rare items. The first story didn’t have any, but why weren’t they on the second story either?
A look of surprise flashed through Chi Yan’s eyes. “Mister Qing, perhaps you don’t know, but storage rings are a very rare item in Star Continent. In order to refine and create a ring, you need an Equipment Refiner, a Formation Master, and a special sort of spatial rock. You must have all three. There are extremely few spatial rocks on Star Continent, as well.” He paused before continuing, saying, “Treasure Trove Court does have some storage rings for sale, but not a lot. Also, the price depends on how much space the ring itself has, and we go by a rate of 10,000 gold coins per square meter.” Chi Yan explained all this very patiently.
Yan Xuan and Tealwood were shocked. Tealwood immediately exclaimed, “Wow, that’s really expensive. Little Xuan’s sword is only 100,000, but a tiny little storage ring costs 10,000 per square meter?” He wondered how many things one square meter could hold. It could only fit a few jars of fruit juice…
Qingcheng couldn’t help but gasp as well. They were that expensive? Then wouldn’t that mean the one she was wearing cost an astronomical amount? Or perhaps it was priceless? Besides… if it was such a rare and super expensive item, where did Feng Qiming get the money to buy them? Each family member had one, too. Even if the space inside the rings weren’t very big, it was still suspicious. Where did they get these rings from, and where did they get so much money to buy them?
Chi Yan noticed that Qingcheng was wearing a ring as well, but it looked different from those that Treasure Trove Court sold.
Qingcheng was now thinking about something else. She was currently unable to make any herself now, but she could buy them first. Then, when she could make them herself, she could make some to sell. If she could do that, she wouldn’t suffer a loss at all.
“If it’s not on the second story, does that mean they’re upstairs?” Qingcheng’s expression became calm again.
Chi Yan replied, “That’s right, they’re on the third story. The third story contains items at a higher grade, and the items’ prices are several times the prices of the items on the second story. But there’s a limit on the third story. Customers who wish to go upstairs need to possess at least a Gold Crystal Card from Ruifeng Bank in order to pass through. Also, the cardholder can only bring one guest. The fourth story requires a Purple Crystal Card to enter. We also have special rooms for Black Crystal Card customers to take a rest in, and they also have priority on reserving our items.”
“Looks like I can’t go up today,” Qingcheng said a little regretfully.
Chi Yan quickly asked, “Mister Qing, why is that so? Is it because of the cards?”
“I’ve never applied for a card with Ruifeng Bank before,” she told him honestly.
Chi Yan smiled. “No problem. If Mister Qing wishes to take a look at the third story, I have a Gold Crystal Card with me. If you don’t mind, you can go in with me. Your two servants could go to the rest area on the second story to take a seat for the time being.”
Qingcheng figured that this would work too, so she let the shop assistant take Tealwood and Yan Xuan to the rest area.
She then went with Chi Yan to the staircase that led to the second story and saw that there was a barrier that looked like a piece of glass. Chi Yan took out a gold-colored card made from crystals, touched the barrier, and it dissolved.
Chi Yan looked at Qingcheng and said, “Mister Qing, this way, please.” The two of them went upstairs, and the barrier restored itself. Qingcheng wasn’t too surprised by this. It resembled those automatic glass doors in her previous life that required a card to open.
Once she reached the third story, she could feel the difference. The area was half the size of the second story, but the prices of the items here were several times the prices of those downstairs. The uniforms of the shop assistants were different, too.
There were very few customers on the third floor. Perhaps it was because of the card restrictions, or maybe because it was getting late at night, but there just wasn’t very many people around.
A man who looked like the manager came to them. He looked like he was around forty years old, and he smiled when he saw both of them. A tinge of surprise flashed in his eyes when he looked at Qingcheng, but he regained composure very quickly. He smiled and nodded at Qingcheng, then bowed towards Chi Yan. “Mister Chi Yan.” His eyes were filled with respect.
Chi Yan nodded. “I’ll bring Mister Qing around to take a look. You can go ahead and continue what you were doing. I’ll call you if I need anything.” He then started showing Qingcheng around the third floor.
“This is the display area of the third floor. The weapons and equipment here are of a higher grade than the previous two stories, and all the weapons here are at Spirit level. We also have high-grade pills that are hard to find anywhere else. The storage rings are on the other side. Please come with me.” Chi Yan turned in a different direction as he spoke.
They came to an exquisite looking shelf, and the light from the nearby luminous pearl shone on the storage rings to make them gleam brightly. They were all silvery-white, of simple design, and not too complicated. There were faint special engravings on the surface of the ring. The carvings had to be each ring’s Teleportation Formation.
Each ring had an information tag with its space and price written on it. Four of them could hold one square meter, three of them could hold five square meters, and two could hold ten square meters. Only one of them could hold twenty square meters, and it was priced at 1.99 million gold coins.
Qingcheng looked at the rings and said to Chi Yan, “I’ll take them all.”
It was Chi Yan’s turn to be shocked. However, he had seen many different things in his life and didn’t react too badly.
“AHEM… er… Mister Qing, did you say you’d take them all?” He had to confirm this with her again, in case he had heard her wrong.
“That’s right. I’ll take them all. I’ll settle the bill for these and the items I picked downstairs. Please tell me how much everything costs in total,” she replied.
Chi Yan didn’t ask her again. He was sure he hadn’t heard her wrong this time. He immediately replied, “Mister Qing, please come with me.”
He knew that she was not an ordinary person, but he hadn’t expected her to be this extraordinary.
“Wait a minute. I believe this shop is connected to Ruifeng Bank, right?” Qingcheng figured that since both the shop as well as the auction followed the card status of Ruifeng Bank customers, the two businesses must be closely connected or, more accurately, that the shop owned the bank.
Chi Yan replied, “That’s right. I’ll be honest with you – Ruifeng Bank is one of Treasure Trove Court’s businesses.”
Qing Cheng raised an eyebrow. “So, if I want to apply for a Savings Crystal Card with Ruifeng Bank right now, it’s possible?”
“Yes, you can. Given your total spent today, you’d definitely meet the requirements for a Purple Crystal Card,” Chi Yan replied.
“No… what if I want to apply for a Black Crystal Card?” Qingcheng asked flatly.