222: You can borrow money, but there are three rules.

This made Old He a bit curious.

What was it that others couldn't do, and only he could accomplish?

Xiao Shen showed a fawning smile and said, "Old man, actually... we want to borrow some money from you..."

Old He:!!!

He never imagined that Xiao Shen's purpose was to borrow money from him.

Fortunately, the fan was in Liu Ling'er's hand at this moment, otherwise, it would have fallen to the ground again.

"No, no money, only my life!" Old He turned his head away from Xiao Shen and grumbled.

Xiao Shen and Liu Ling'er exchanged glances, and Xiao Shen gave her a look.

Liu Ling'er understood, and immediately said to Old He, "Old man, we don't want your life, we just want to borrow some money. Don't worry, we'll definitely pay it back!"

Old He seemed to waver a bit, but still didn't turn his head back: "No!"

How did these two unlucky kids know he had money?

His persona was clearly just an unlucky old man who lost money buying beast crystals!

"Old man, please lend us some spirit stones. We really can't afford rare ores." Xiao Shen sighed, deciding to play the pity card.

"Everyone else has weapons forged from rare ores, but we don't. We fall far behind in battles."

"That's one thing, but what if we encounter a life-or-death struggle? We'd have everything ready, just lacking a good weapon. Wouldn't that be a pity to die like that?"

Old He was a compassionate person; otherwise, he wouldn't have treated the poor for free.

So, hearing what Xiao Shen said, Old He finally turned his head back: "Now that you put it that way, it does make some sense."

"It's just... shouldn't you yourselves find a way to earn money to buy weapons?"

He then raised a question.

Xiao Shen knew he would ask that, so he said, "The way we thought of is to borrow money from you. That's the fastest way to get money."

Old He: "..."

Seeing Old He remain silent, Xiao Shen looked at him with pitiful eyes.

Liu Ling'er also stood up, lining up with Xiao Shen, and likewise looked at Old He with pitiful eyes.

Old He: "..."

Were they trying to act cute with an old man like him??

No, to be precise, it should be acting cute plus playing the pity card.

"Alright, alright, who told me I was so kind-hearted?" Old He finally gave in.

"We knew you were the best, old man!" Liu Ling'er immediately became happy, her eyes filled with joy.

Xiao Shen was also about to say some nice words to praise Old He, but before he could, Old He spoke first:

"It's fine if I lend you money, but we need to agree on three rules."

"Okay!" Both Xiao Shen and Liu Ling'er had no objections. Since they were borrowing Old He's money, they naturally had to follow his instructions.

Old He sat up straight and said seriously, "First, borrow and return, then borrowing again won't be difficult. Let's set a date; how about this, within three years, you return the money you borrowed from me. I won't ask for any interest."

"Second, if you take my money, my finances will become tight. When my finances are tight, I'll be in a bad mood. One of you two must come to see me at least once a week to cheer me up. Can you do that?"

"Third, if you have good wine, remember to bring some to me. If not, a slightly lesser quality wine will also do."

"That's all for now. Discuss it among yourselves. If you can accept it, I'll lend you the money..."

Before Old He could finish, Xiao Shen and Liu Ling'er said in unison, "We can accept it!"

"Old man, we can do all three of those things you mentioned. Thank you so much!" Xiao Shen was very happy and also extremely grateful to Old He.

Old He said it was three rules, but in fact, none of these rules were bad for them. He even waived the interest, only requiring the principal to be returned within three years.

This greatly reduced their pressure to repay the money.

As for collecting good wine and visiting Old He once a week, that went without saying. They often brought wine when they visited Old He's house anyway!

Sometimes, they would even casually pull out two green onions that Old He grew in his yard to use for cooking.

They didn't have good wine, but they could often buy ordinary wine.

"Alright, since you agreed so readily, I won't hide anything anymore. How much do you need to borrow? Tell me." Old He finished speaking and then lay back down.

It was still most comfortable lying down.

Xiao Shen chuckled and said, "We roughly estimated before coming that we need to buy a few catties of rare ore, which would probably be... one hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones."

Old He:???!!!

"How much did you say?" Old He, who had just been lying down, couldn't lie down for even a second after hearing that. Forget sitting, he stood up directly.

He even dug at his ear with his pinky finger, suspecting that he had misheard the number.

Perhaps he heard one hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones instead of one hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones.

Hmm, it must be that way.

"One hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones, old man." Xiao Shen repeated.

"Cough, cough, that much money, I don't have it!" Old He waved his hand and said, "Rare ores are expensive, but not that outrageous. A few tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones should buy a catty or two. What more do you need?"

"A catty or two isn't enough. Anyway, since we're borrowing money, we might as well borrow a bit more..." Xiao Shen felt a little guilty, but this was his plan, and he didn't hide it from Old He with any high-sounding words.

"Old man, please, we don't have any rich friends, just you." Liu Ling'er clasped her hands together, her gaze evoking pity.

Old He: "..." What gave them the illusion that he was very rich?

Uh, but he really did have that much money.

However, if he lent out such a large sum of spirit stones, he might have to rest for a while afterward.

"Alright, alright, I'm truly scared of you two little devils." Old He shook his head and sighed, "Come on, follow me back to get the money."

"Thank you, old man!!"

Xiao Shen and Liu Ling'er were overjoyed. In fact, they had come with the expectation that they wouldn't be able to borrow it. Who knew that Old He actually had that much money and was willing to lend it to them without interest.

Especially Xiao Shen, his feelings were the deepest.

Thinking back, it seemed Old He had helped him a lot along the way. If he hadn't met Old He, he wouldn't know if he could have lived on that street or rented such a cheap and cozy house.

And now he was even willing to lend him such a large sum of money... Privately, Xiao Shen had already come to regard Old He as his own grandfather.

Although he still didn't know what secrets Old He held, that didn't stop him from treating Old He as a true family member. His strength wasn't that great yet, but when he became powerful in the future, he would be responsible for Old He's later years.