I Can't Even Afford the Bride Price Anymore

"Well?" Grace asked, her voice playful.

"She was wearing a flesh-colored finger cot on her right pinky. If you weren't paying attention, you'd never notice it."

"A finger cot..." Grace's eyes narrowed. "Alright, got it. Thanks!"

"Why are you looking at that?"

"She's the one who kidnapped my aunt!" Grace declared.

Sam Yuan's eyebrows shot up. "Whoa! That's just next-level shameless!"

"This is just between us, okay? Not a word to anyone else," Grace said, grinning. "I'm heading back."

"Got it!" Sam replied with a thumbs-up.

Grace left the Spirit Alliance and made a beeline for the General's Mansion.

But Evan Xiao was nowhere to be seen. Grace waited ages before he finally showed up.

Grace asked him to help figure out who Sophie Sun was buying Black Ginseng from.

But Evan Xiao said, "No need to ask around. I already know."

"Oh? Who is it? Someone from the Windspire Spirit Alliance?" Grace asked, leaning in.

Black Ginseng seedlings can only be mass-produced in the Breeding Spell Array of the Vermilion Spirit Alliance.

But even the Vermilion Spirit Alliance doesn't have unlimited hands on deck.

They split up the magical herb seedlings that need bulk planting and send them out to the branches.

Then they divvy up the harvest—seventy percent for Vermilion Spirit Alliance, thirty percent for the branches.

The Vermilion Spirit Alliance gets the lion's share; the branches get the rest.

So even if the regional states have leftovers, there's no way they've got seventy thousand seedlings lying around.

So if she managed to snag seventy thousand Black Ginseng seedlings, there's only one place they could've come from—the now-shattered Windspire Spirit Alliance.

Windspire Kingdom suffered a disaster and was destroyed; most of its spirit herb masters were either dead or wounded, with only a few survivors.

The Vermilion Spirit Alliance would probably waive their quota for the year, and reconsider their staffing.

...

Evan Xiao nodded. "That's right, it's the Windspire Spirit Alliance. The contact is named Andrew Hai, the former president of the Windspire Spirit Alliance."

A chill flashed in Grace's eyes.

Andrew Hai was bad news.

In her previous life, after Windspire Kingdom fell, he went to the Vermilion Spirit Alliance.

Later, he became one of Lily Xu's lackeys—her loyal dog—and did plenty of dirty deeds.

"Evan Xiao, can you do me a favor?" Grace asked.

"What kind of favor?"

Grace stood on tiptoe, leaned close to Evan Xiao's ear, and whispered, "...Find someone to approach Sophie Sun, say you have seventy thousand Black Ginseng seedlings and are willing to sell them cheap..."

Evan Xiao looked at her. "Why?"

"There's an eighty percent chance she's the one who kidnapped my aunt!" Grace said. "I want her to cough up the money—double!"

"Oh? Really?"

"Of course!" Grace looked at Evan Xiao gratefully. "Besides, more than half of that money is yours!"

"Mm. If you get it back, make sure you return it to me," Evan Xiao said. "I've already handed over my bride price to your father. If you don't give it back, I can't even afford my own betrothal gift!"

Grace: "..."

...

Later, Grace followed Sophie Sun and met Andrew Hai.

He was in Dawnville, probably there to talk business with Sun Xiangjun.

It was obvious the deal had been struck. Andrew Hai said he'd already sent word to the Windspire Spirit Alliance—they'd deliver seventy thousand Black Ginseng seedlings to Dawnville...

...

Sophie Sun had been in an exceptionally good mood lately.

Honestly, it wasn't that she couldn't afford to buy the Black Ginseng.

Even though the Sun family's land had been reclaimed, most of their wealth remained.

Before her father died, he had already told her where the secret stash was hidden.

But why should she use her own money to clean up this mess?

She kidnapped Maya Summers and extorted a hefty sum from the Zhu family.

Today was delivery day.