Reluctantly Loving You

Grace guessed that Sophie Sun wouldn't be able to find Andrew Hai, nor the Black Ginseng that had vanished into thin air. She'd probably go looking for the person Evan Xiao had arranged.

That guy—who knows where Evan Xiao found him—looked every bit the shifty merchant, reeking of money.

He introduced himself to Sophie Sun as: Mr. Quinn.

Sure enough, Sophie Sun came looking for him herself.

But Mr. Quinn immediately raised the price—he wanted sixty million Silver Notes before he'd sell her the Black Ginseng.

"Didn't you say it was just one million?" Sophie Sun's voice was shaking.

"Times change!" Mr. Quinn said. "Ten million was the price five days ago. Today, it's sixty million. Tomorrow? It'll be seventy million!"

"You can't do business like this!" Sophie Sun gritted her teeth.

"You don't have to buy from me," Mr. Quinn said with a sly smile. "I can sell the Black Ginseng in bits and pieces to pharmacies in different countries. It'll be gone in no time."

Sophie Sun felt like she was about to cough up blood. "Mr. Quinn, can't you make it cheaper?"

Mr. Quinn wagged his finger. "I never haggle in business! If you want it, take it. If not, I'll find another buyer!"

Sophie Sun was hardly willing to hand over sixty million Silver Notes without a fight.

But if she got another major demerit, she'd have two.

If she made another mistake in the future, she'd have to leave the Spirit Alliance...

So Sophie Sun gritted her teeth and agreed.

But this time, she played it smart.

First, she counted the Black Ginseng, had her people take it away, and put it somewhere safe.

Then she paid.

Mr. Quinn, at least, was easygoing about this—he let her take the Black Ginseng first, then got his sixty million Silver Notes.

Sophie Sun finally felt at ease.

From another perspective, out of that sixty million, forty million belonged to the Zhuo family; only twenty million was from her own Sun family.

Thinking this way made her feel a lot better.

...

When Grace returned the twenty-five million Silver Notes to Evan Xiao, he asked, "You just handed over the Black Ginseng so easily?"

Grace chuckled. "I sprinkled a little water on it."

"Water?"

"It's a juice called Spiritbane Grass," Grace said. "Once the Black Ginseng gets to Vermilion Bird Country, they'll realize it's fake—no medicinal value at all, not even as good as a radish!"

Evan Xiao chuckled. "So, she lost over two hundred pounds of Spirit Jade and more than twenty million Silver Notes, and she still got a major demerit?"

Grace batted her big eyes and asked nervously, "Do you think... I'm a little bad?"

"Want the truth?"

"Of course!"

"A little bad."

"A little?"

"Mhm."

"So... would you stop liking me?"

Evan Xiao: "What if I stopped liking you?"

"Then maybe I'd get even worse..."

"So... I guess I'll just have to keep liking you," Evan Xiao mused, "Otherwise, you'd end up tormenting someone else..."

...

The day Sophie Sun’s major demerit notice arrived at Blue Moon Spirit Alliance, the whole Alliance could hear her meltdown and the clatter of things crashing to the floor.

Seeing everyone go to watch the drama, Grace snuck over too.

Sophie Sun was smashing everything in sight like a madwoman.

The two vice presidents, hearts aching for the destroyed items, rushed over to stop her, saying, "The Black Ginseng was clearly sent, but you still got a major demerit, and every branch was notified. Is there some mistake?"