288: Shopping after a long time

"An invitation?"

Ji Yun read the invitation three times, confirming that the name on it was indeed correct and the logo was also right, so this really was an invitation for her.

It wasn't receiving an invitation from the Card Maker Guild that surprised Ji Yun—after all, she had attended a few times before—but back then, the logo on the invitation indicated a branch of the Card Maker Guild, whereas this was the logo of the Card Maker Guild headquarters.

She didn't think she was impressive enough to attract the attention of the Card Maker Guild headquarters, nor did she think the Card Maker Guild would treat her differently just because she was from the Ji Family.

In that case, they must be inviting 90% of the Card Makers in the guild; was the Card Maker Guild planning to do something major?

As someone from the Ji Family, Ji Yun could at least sense something from this.

However, these were matters for the adults. For small fries like them, the conference was ostensibly an academic one, and they could learn a lot from it, make many new Card Maker friends, and advance themselves further.

...

The same scene was playing out in many places across the Tianlong Republic.

Some people realized that something big was going to happen, while others didn't and were just very happy to have received an invitation from the Card Maker Guild.

Regardless, almost everyone who received an invitation chose to come and attend this academic conference held to deal with exotic beasts.

They didn't know that by attending, they were actually witnessing history.

A history belonging to Card Makers.

...

November 23rd.

The Card Maker Guild academic conference was scheduled to start at 6:00 AM tomorrow. Since that was a bit too early and the Research Institute where Xu Bai and the others were located was quite far away, it would be too late if they left the next morning. Thus, they took a car over this afternoon and checked into a nearby hotel.

"Knock, knock, knock."

There was a knock at the door. Xu Bai got up to answer it, and upon opening the door, he found Wu Zijin, Liu Mengyan, and Liu Mengyun all standing there.

All four had received invitations, though Xu Bai and Bai Shan's invitations had been handed over to the Government, while the other three's invitations had been sent directly to the Bai Xiaobai Research Institute, arriving at their current Research Institute a day later after making the rounds.

"Is something the matter?"

Liu Mengyan smiled and stated their purpose.

"We've been staying at the Research Institute for so long; how about we go stroll through the night market outside together?"

Xu Bai readily agreed, but there were 5 people who had come to attend the conference, and one person was missing.

"Does Teacher Bai want to come out with us?"

Wu Zijin waved his hand.

"I went to ask, and Teacher Bai's assistant said he was too tired and had already fallen asleep."

"Alright then, let's go for a stroll."

Seeing that Xu Bai agreed, Liu Mengyun jumped up in excitement.

"Yay! Let's go."

...

A gust of cold wind blew by, carrying something with it that landed on Xu Bai's hair.

Xu Bai felt something fall onto his head and immediately shook it. As he shook his head, a leaf drifted down. Only then did he see what had landed on his head: a yellow and black leaf.

He still remembered that when he first arrived, most of the leaves were tender green; now, more than half a year had passed, and it was winter.

Before Xu Bai could get sentimental, words from beside him brought him back to his senses.

"Hurry, hurry! There's such a long line over there; there must be something delicious!"

Liu Mengyun tugged on Wu Zijin's clothes, wanting to run forward, but Wu Zijin didn't want to run and continued to walk slowly.

Unfortunately, Liu Mengyun was too light and Wu Zijin was too heavy; even though Liu Mengyun used all her might, she couldn't budge him.

Liu Mengyun had no choice but to give up, pouting as she said, "You've gotten so fat, why aren't you in a rush when you know there's good food?"

Wu Zijin: "There's plenty of time; I'll get to eat the good food eventually. We can go ahead and check if it's something we want to eat, look at a few more stalls, pick out what we want, and then queue up. Also, you need to use your brain—one person can queue for this line, and another person can queue for a different line. That way, we can buy all the food we want at once and then find a table to sit down and eat together."

Sure enough, not a single pound of flesh on Wu Zijin was gained in vain; only a foodie could come up with such a method.

Once these words were out, although Liu Mengyun felt he made a lot of sense, she was a bit angry at being called stupid.

Xu Bai shook his head helplessly. Perhaps after resolving Wu Zijin's biggest trouble during their last trip to the Luo Lan Empire, he had become more relaxed and started eating even more. Now that he was developing horizontally, Xu Bai didn't say anything, seeing how happy he was.

In this life, being happy yourself is what matters most.

Xu Bai also looked at the stalls on both sides while walking.

Many of the stalls on both sides were selling food. Perhaps because the weather was a bit cold, when people saw the steaming hot vapor, even those who weren't hungry would want to eat something hot.

Suddenly, Xu Bai saw a roasted chestnut stall. The chestnuts were all split open, and through the openings, one could see the golden chestnuts inside. Just looking at them made them seem sweet, fragrant, and powdery, tugging at one's heartstrings.

"I want to eat some chestnuts. Do you want some?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Liu Mengyun was the first to agree; she felt like she wanted everything she saw outside.

"Alright, then I'll queue up and buy a bit more. You guys go buy something else, and we'll sit at the small table under the tree over there. If there are no seats, just look around nearby."

"Okay."

Thus, the others went off to choose the food they wanted to eat and queued up to buy it.

Xu Bai then walked towards the back of the roasted chestnut queue.

The line moved quite quickly, and soon it was Xu Bai's turn.

"Hello, do you want the 20-per-jin ones here or the 25-per-jin ones here? How much do you want?"

Xu Bai looked at the 20-per-jin chestnuts on the left, then at the 25-per-jin chestnuts on the right, unable to tell the difference.

"Which one tastes better?"

The boss was speechless: "Of course the expensive one tastes better."

Xu Bai realized he had asked a stupid question and could only change the subject.

"Give me a jin of each."

Hearing this, the boss smiled, agreed, and nimbly packed them up for Xu Bai.

Xu Bai carried the hot chestnuts toward the spot they had agreed upon, unable to resist eating them on the way.

The split chestnuts were very easy to peel; he could do it with one hand. Xu Bai first ate a chestnut that cost 20 yuan per jin, then ate one that cost 25 yuan per jin.

Sure enough, there was a reason for the higher price; the latter was clearly sweeter.