Chapter 68: Sorry, I’m Used to This

Li Jing was dragged out of the house quite reluctantly, but he was helpless to resist.

After leaving the community, he flagged down a taxi on the street.

Li Jing, as a gentleman should, opened the car door and stood aside.

Ji Qing, who had transformed into her human form, was a stunning beauty.

If he were accompanied by a beauty like Ji Qing, he should act the part.

Li Jing knew that Ji Qing was a monster, but others didn’t.

When going out, he had to give some face to his female companion.

If he didn’t pay any attention to details, others might have quite some thoughts about his behavior.

Moreover, Li Jing had always treated Ji Qing as a female friend. If she were in her cat form, he didn’t need to pay much attention. But now that she had transformed into a human, he had to mind his manners.

Ji Qing saw him being so chivalrous and letting her get in the car first, so she looked at him strangely.

Although they had been together for nearly half a month, she was experiencing this side of Li Jing for the first time.

Mainly, Li Jing lived under the same roof with Chen Yuran, and he didn’t seem to mind much.

The two of them were very casual in private.

One grazed around the house all day in her nightgown with a bare face, the other only cooked when the former expressed hunger, without showing any particular consideration or care for her.

After getting in the car, Li Jing told the driver.

"Sir, we’re going to the North City Spiritual Market."

"Alright."

Responded the driver, hitting the road. He stole a couple of glances at Ji Qing through the rear-view mirror.

Li Jing noticed the driver sneaking glances at Ji Qing but didn’t overthink it.

Beautiful women were not uncommon in this world.

Any young woman on the street could be eye-catching.

Especially if her cultivation level was high.

Age could be completely disregarded, as they appeared full of magical charm from head to toe, just looking at them was pleasing to the eye.

However, Ji Qing was a bit different.

Not to say that she was more beautiful than anyone else, but rather, she had a unique lazy charm about her, which was highly attractive.

While laziness might not be unique to Ji Qing, it was very difficult to find someone who can carry it off as well as her.

Ji Qing’s laziness was a part of her nature as a cat demon.

Cats are inherently lazy.

It would be truly difficult for a regular person to imitate her.

Given Ji Qing’s uniqueness, it was only natural that she attracted attention.

An extraordinarily charming beauty walking down the street would certainly have drawn more than a few glances from Li Jing himself.

Men, after all, have such hobbies.

Thinking about the presumably long journey ahead of him, Li Jing leaned back in his seat and let out a sigh.

Just as he was about to strike up a conversation with Ji Qing, he felt a tight grip on his arm and a weight on his shoulder.

Huh???

Li Jing turned around in confusion.

What he saw was Ji Qing, leaning on his arm, with her small head resting on his shoulder.

As Li Jing turned, their eyes met.

Li Jing was a bit stunned.

Ji Qing also blinked in surprise.

After a moment of silence, Ji Qing adjusted her position and mumbled an apology.

"Sorry, it’s just a habit."

"..."

Li Jing.

Ji Qing flushed a little under his gaze.

What happened just now was not intentional on her part.

She just thought that since Li Jing had shown gentlemanly behavior, she, as a woman, should give him some face too.

When a man and a woman go out together,

How can a woman make the man look good?

Simple.

Link arms, showing others their close relationship.

There was nothing wrong with it, it was just for show.

It was different from the kind of affection shown between boyfriends and girlfriends.

Originally, Ji Qing wanted to casually link arms to indicate this, but as her hand reached out, she naturally leaned over.

It had to be said.

Habits can be really scary sometimes.

Seeing Ji Qing’s embarrassment, Li Jing understood it.

Over the past week or so, Ji Qing has always acted like a cat.

She often liked to climb on his shoulder and hang around there.

Nodding to indicate his understanding, Li Jing asked.

"Do you want to go inside and look around later?"

Ji Qing was not typically an awkward person, but this situation made her feel a bit uncomfortable.

Seeing that Li Jing understood her and did not misconstrue her intentions brought her demeanor back to normal.

"If you don’t mind accompanying me to the shop, I won’t object. I’ve been eating the home-cooked meals you make for awhile now and I’m starting to crave my usual hot pot. We can go get it after I return," she proposed.

...

The drive, which lasted over an hour, quickly went by.

Arriving at the North City Spiritual Market, Li Jing glanced at the taxi meter with a painful expression before reluctantly handing over nearly two hundred yuan.

Of course, he could afford to spend these two hundred yuan.

The issue was that it felt incredibly wasteful to spend so much money on such an ordinary trip.

Having struggled for more than three months since he transmigrated, being frugal had become a "good habit" ingrained in his character.

After paying the fare, Li Jing and Ji Qing entered the Spiritual Market.

The night-time market was extremely crowded.

Of course, it was just as crowded during daytime as well.

The Spiritual Market could be compared to a large shopping mall, except that it traded in all sorts of spiritual objects.

Due to the unique nature of spiritual objects, strict management was required and usually the markets were set up by designated City Management Bureaus of the respective provinces and cities.

Only merchants who held operating permits and related qualifications were allowed to set up their stalls here.

After entering the market, Li Jing did not wander aimlessly.

This place was literally a gold dig.

No matter how cheap the items were, they were priced in the tens of thousands.

Spiritual objects and materials costing hundreds and thousands of millions were common.

Some unusually rare items could not be valued by money and had to be bartered with items of equal value.

To cultivators, money was just a universal currency used in daily life.

Li Jing and Ji Qing entered a shop with a material quality appraisal qualification, after finding it on the first floor of the market. But as soon as they walked in, Li Jing’s eyebrows furrowed.

In the whole shop, there was only one female shopkeeper.

That wasn’t the issue.

The issue was that she was someone he had just seen yesterday morning.

Small in both sense of the word, face and stature, it was Xu Jiayi.

Inside the shop, Xu Jiayi was slightly surprised to see Li Jing entering.

"It’s you?" she asked.

"..."

Li Jing was dumbfounded, thinking he wanted to ask the same thing.

Meanwhile, Ji Qing blinked, looking puzzled.

"You know the shopkeeper?" she asked.

"Yes, she’s my colleague’s cousin," Li Jing replied and walked over to the counter.

Seeing Xu Jiayi in the Spiritual Market gave him the feeling that the world was incredibly small.

However, he didn’t think much of it.

He wasn’t that familiar with Xu Jiayi; they had only met once before.

Seeing there weren’t any other people in the shop, Li Jing looked at Xu Jiayi, who was also scrutinizing him.

"You’re the only one in the shop?" he asked.

"Yes, everyone else is not here. If you need something, you can ask me," Xu Jiayi responded.

"Also, don’t misunderstand, I don’t work here, this shop belongs to my family," she added, looking at Ji Qing standing by Li Jing. After pausing on Ji Qing’s chest for a moment, she asked, "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No, she’s just a friend," Li Jing replied, taking out the snake monster’s body from his storage space.

"This is a Three Realm serpent monster, I came to have it appraised," he said.

"A Three Realm serpent monster?" Xu Jiayi raised her eyebrows, studying the two-meter long serpent creature before carefully taking it.

"Wait a moment, I’ll appraise it for you," she said.

Li Jing was surprised. "You know how to appraise?" he asked.

"Don’t compare me to Lu Yangcheng, I am supposed to inherit my family business," Xu Jiayi scowled.

"I studied appraisal at Immortal Learning College and received my Junior Appraiser Certificate last year," she said, pointing at the several certificates hanging behind the counter.

Li Jing followed her gaze, and indeed found Xu Jiayi’s Junior Appraiser Certificate among them.

Before he could say anything, Xu Jiayi took the snake monster and walked towards a side door at the back of the shop, saying, "Look after the shop for me, the appraisal will take some time, I will give you a complete data appraisal later."

"..."

Li Jing was taken aback.

Isn’t he a customer? Why was he being asked to look after the shop?