Chapter 2: Money Is Hard to Spend—Wow, Xiaowu!

Stealing? Tang Nian stopped in her tracks.

She noticed all eyes turning toward her.

She looked back at the waiter who had spoken up. “Are you talking about me?”

The waiter pointed at her. “Yes! You!”

The security guards outside quickly entered and surrounded Tang Nian. The lead guard spoke coldly, “Hand over the stolen items, or we’ll have to frisk you!”

Hand over? Frisk? Tang Nian frowned. “I just came in. What would I be stealing?”

Such blatant prejudice.

“Our staff are thoroughly trained. They have good character and wouldn’t accuse you without reason,” the lead guard said coldly.

Tang Nian looked at him silently and called upon the system in her mind.

“Does using money to deal with people count as spending money?”

“Of course! As long as the money is spent, it counts!”

“Alright, then I understand.”

Tang Nian put her hands in her pockets and felt around inside.

The cool, smooth touch was delightful.

With the confidence granted by the system, Tang Nian didn’t hesitate. “I don’t lack money. There’s no need for me to steal from you.”

“Just because you say you don’t lack money doesn’t mean it’s true! You don’t look like someone who’s well-off,” the waiter shot back.

Everyone looked at Tang Nian and naturally believed the waiter.

A ragged little kid claiming to be rich?

How ridiculous.

“I advise you to…”

Before the waiter could finish, a flash of golden light suddenly appeared before her eyes.

Golden Soul Coins?!

Tang Nian pulled out a pouch of golden soul coins from her pocket, opened it, and showed it to the lead guard. “Is this enough to buy clothes?”

Then she threw several coins at the waiter. The feeling was exhilarating.

The guard was taken aback and blinked. “That’s… that’s enough!”

More than enough, in fact—they could buy out the whole store!

That pouch was packed with golden soul coins, worth at least ten thousand. No ordinary family could compare.

The guard immediately bowed his head in apology. “We’re very sorry, miss. This was our staff’s mistake and caused you trouble.”

He pressed the waiter down and both bowed. “We will handle this properly and give you a satisfactory explanation.”

Tang Nian glanced at them and waved her hand, uninterested in their words.

Seeing Tang Nian’s wealth, the other staff eagerly approached to flatter and please her, their enthusiasm overflowing.

Tang Nian asked the price of the clothes and bought the most expensive items in large quantities. After a round of shopping, she only spent a little over three thousand golden soul coins.

Not only that, but she bought so many things she couldn’t carry them all herself and had to hire several laborers.

After leaving the clothing store, Tang Nian asked the laborers if there was an auction house in Notting City.

One laborer replied, “There is, but you need to register as a member to enter.”

“How do I register? Take me there.”

The fastest way to spend money was, of course, the auction house.

Notting City couldn’t compare to Tiandou City; the highest auction prices here rarely exceeded fifty thousand. But if she could bid on storage soul conduits, that would be perfect.

“Alright, miss, please follow me. Membership registration for the Notting City auction house requires a deposit. This deposit serves as a guarantee for the auctioneer. If the auctioneer lacks sufficient funds after the sale, the difference will be deducted from the deposit. The minimum deposit is ten golden soul coins.”

Along the way, the laborers explained the auction house rules clearly.

When Tang Nian heard the membership fee was just ten golden soul coins, she paused.

That was so little.

She sneered inwardly.

Well, putting in more money still counted as spending.

She still needed to spend over 960,000 golden soul coins to complete her task.

Upon arriving at the Notting City auction house, Tang Nian immediately tossed a pouch of golden soul coins to the registration clerk.

The clerk’s eyes widened like copper bells upon seeing the contents, and she hurried backstage to fetch the manager.

When the manager heard a fortune had arrived, he eagerly came out to greet Tang Nian.

After depositing ten thousand golden soul coins, Tang Nian was escorted into the backstage lounge.

The manager smiled politely. “Miss, may I ask what items you’re interested in? I can inform you of their availability in advance and do my best to secure them for you so you may obtain them promptly.”

At this time, soul bones and soul conduits were rather rare. Tang Nian’s targets were precisely these two.

“Soul bones and soul conduits.”

“Whatever they are, if they’re at the auction house, I want to buy them.”

She confidently placed nine pouches of golden soul coins on the table.

“A total of one hundred thousand golden soul coins as my deposit. No matter the seller’s asking price, as long as it’s within a reasonable range, I will buy it.”

The manager was stunned.

Regaining his composure, he opened the pouches one by one in disbelief.

Wow, this person is so rich?

“Preferably today. Your auction house should have stock, right?” Tang Nian asked, her tone far from that of a five-year-old.

The manager swallowed hard. He had never seen so much money in his life. “O-of course. Our stock currently consists of one soul bone and one soul conduit. The soul bone is a ten-thousand-year-old head bone; the soul conduit is an ordinary storage soul conduit. Together they’re valued at about thirty thousand golden soul coins. Miss, do you accept that?”

“Yes. Just give them to me.” Tang Nian was eager to save every second. She didn’t want to waste time.

Buying them outright meant paying the highest estimated price. It was expensive, yes, but she had the money and didn’t mind spending it.

The manager didn’t expect Tang Nian to be so generous. He packed the items and respectfully handed them over, then escorted her out.

“So rich!” he sighed.

She still had 860,000 left to go.

Tang Nian felt a bit overwhelmed.

Money was too valuable now. If this were the era of the Peerless Tang Sect, a million would have been trivial.

Tang Nian hadn’t awakened her Martial Soul, so she had no soul power, and even with the soul conduit, she couldn’t use it.

It was said that soul power injection was necessary.

So, she could only keep hiring laborers.

Thinking she might need to live in Notting City for a while, Tang Nian bought a fully furnished house for three hundred thousand golden soul coins.

That left her with 560,000 to spend.

The entire morning passed like this, and for the first time, Tang Nian found spending money to be a painful experience.

As she walked listlessly down the street, pondering where else she could spend money, she suddenly saw a familiar figure—

A girl dressed in pink, with black scorpion braids that reached her waist. Her braids swayed with her movements, looking lively and agile.

“Wow, Xiao Wu.”