But then, unexpectedly, another man placed a bid—a sleazy, half-bald old man with yellow teeth, dressed in Brocade Clothing.
"One hundred and ten silver! You—I'm buying you!" the old man declared, looking down on the girl and Xu Lei with disdain.
The crowd erupted in an uproar.
All eyes turned to Xu Lei.
They wanted to see if he would raise the price again.
"One hundred silver. You, come with me."
But at that moment, Xu Lei simply smiled faintly and spoke, holding out ten silver to the young girl. "This is a deposit of ten silver."
The crowd was stunned once more.
The young girl included.
Xu Lei hadn't raised his price.
Yet his tone was filled with confidence.
The yellow-toothed old man's lips curled into a smirk, and he was just about to scoff aloud.
"I accept."
But the girl had already taken Xu Lei's deposit. She gave a graceful curtsy and said in a delicate voice, "My name is Xiaoai. It is a pleasure to meet you, Young Master."
The crowd was momentarily stunned.
The yellow-toothed old man was left speechless.
His expression turned foul.
Xu Lei, however, just smiled faintly, unsurprised.
He hadn't raised his price, yet he had won the bid.
The reason was simple. While he was no longer a youth, he wasn't old either. He was handsome, and his offer was already quite generous.
Compared to selling herself to a bald, yellow-toothed old man covered in liver spots, it was naturally better to go with someone as handsome, dashing, and clean as Xu Lei.
"One hundred and twenty silver!" Of course, the yellow-toothed old man spoke up again.
But the girl didn't change her mind.
"What a shame, old sir. You can't have her. She... is already mine!"
What's more, Xu Lei turned to the yellow-toothed old man and chuckled. "You let me win."
With that said,
Xu Lei reached out and wrapped his arm around the girl's neck.
He pulled her straight to him.
And planted a kiss on her lips.
A declaration of ownership!
He was provoking his rival on the spot!
And the entire crowd went wild!
After all, in an ancient world like this, such an act was utterly scandalous.
The yellow-toothed old man froze on the spot, his face a mask of fury. But after that, he didn't make another offer.
After all, in this ancient Otherworld, there was no concept of family planning, so every family had many children.
Many families favored sons over daughters.
As a result, there were plenty of girls.
And abundance made them less valuable.
For one hundred and twenty silver, he could easily find another innocent young girl to take as a concubine.
He naturally had no interest in fighting for a girl who had already been kissed by Xu Lei.
All that remained was the potential for his anger toward Xu Lei to fester into hatred.
After all, his male instincts had been challenged.
But Xu Lei was unconcerned that he had provoked the man.
He even pulled the girl into a deep, passionate kiss.
Utterly ignoring the yellow-toothed old man!
His arrogance was on full display!
「That evening.」
The indenture contract had been signed.
The silver coins had been given to Xiaoai's mother and younger brothers.
Xiaoai then accompanied Xu Lei and Hui Ming to an inn to stay for the night.
Hui Ming, of course, took a separate room.
Xu Lei and Xiaoai shared a room.
To Xu Lei's surprise, it seemed Xiaoai wasn't a scammer after all.
She really was just a beautiful girl from an impoverished family.
Her family was so poor they couldn't even afford to pay for her father's funeral.
She also had two younger brothers at home, crying to be fed.
Her mother had no way of earning money.
They couldn't even pay the rent on their land.
That was why she had to sell herself to pay for her father's burial.
She had originally only hoped to get ten silver for herself.
She never expected to get one hundred.
She only kept two silver for herself.
The rest she gave to her mother.
She was a truly miserable girl from the lowest rungs of a feudal society.
Of course, this was just what Xu Lei had gathered so far.
Whether it was the truth remained to be seen.
It was possible that this was just a cover story, concocted by a beautiful young scammer working with others.
'Is she telling the truth? I'll have to test her to find out.'
'Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth, after all!'
"You're my woman now, so I want you to attend to me in bed."
So, after they entered the room, Xu Lei wrapped his arm around Xiaoai and said, "What do you think?"
"Xiaoai... will listen... to whatever Young Master wants."
Xiaoai just blushed and pursed her lips. "It's just... I have no experience. If I don't do well, I beg you not to be angry, Young Master."
"Don't worry."
Xu Lei nodded. "If you truly have no experience, I'll teach you everything. I won't get angry."
'Is Xiaoai really a poor girl from a struggling family?'
'Is she a scammer?'
'I'll know for sure once we're in bed.'
'After all, they don't have the technology to restore a woman's virginity in ancient times.'
'And in a society like this, women place great importance on such things.'
'Almost no one would use it as part of a scam.'
Xu Lei took off his clothes for a bath.
He had Xiaoai come and attend to him.
He then had her take off her clothes and join him.
Xiaoai's face and even her ears turned beet red, but she still shyly and obediently did as she was told.
「The next day.」
After his "practice," Xu Lei discovered that Xiaoai was, in fact, not a scammer.
He was a little surprised.
Stories about selling oneself to pay for a father's funeral were relatively rare.
Usually, even if they needed silver coins, a girl would just marry into a family as a concubine.
He had heard of girls setting up stalls on the street to sell themselves, but they were usually plain-looking.
He hadn't expected that this beautiful girl, Xiaoai, selling herself for her father's burial, would actually be a virgin.
It was a fresh experience for Xu Lei.
Because of this, Xu Lei started treating Xiaoai a little better.
He bought her a new set of clothes.
Then he took her back to her home, as she still needed to arrange her father's funeral.
「A day later.」
Night fell, and Xiaoai's family had all gone to rest.
Only Xiaoai was left, holding a wake for her father.
"I want you to serve me. Now," Xu Lei suddenly whispered in her ear.
"What?" Xiaoai's face flushed crimson, but she still replied in a whisper as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "Yes, Young Master. It's just... it's not convenient for me to undress right now..."
"That's fine," Xu Lei chuckled.
"Mm... then, Young Master, I..." Xiaoai bit her lip and knelt.
'This is the depravity of feudal society,' Xu Lei thought, watching Xiaoai kneel before him. He couldn't help but sigh internally. 'But in a world like this, being rich is truly like heaven.'
In the end, of course, Xu Lei didn't actually make Xiaoai serve him there. It would have been disrespectful to her father.
Xu Lei was only testing her attitude.
And her attitude had left him very satisfied.
It didn't matter why she was so obedient and well-behaved.
All that mattered was that she listened to him, was docile, and was enchanting.
What Xu Lei wanted was for her to serve him well and bear his child.
Having another child would give him another layer of security.
As for whether she truly loved him...
Xu Lei didn't care.
He had bought her with money, after all.
「Three days later.」
Xiaoai's father's funeral was over.
She tearfully bid farewell to her mother and two younger brothers.
Her two younger brothers were still a bit dazed and confused.
"Young Master, I beg you, please treat our Xiaoai well. She's a good girl. Please be kind to her," Xiaoai's mother pleaded, kneeling.
"Ah Mi..." Xu Lei had been a Monk for over a decade, and he was still not used to posing as the son of a merchant. He had almost blurted out "Amitabha Buddha."
"Rest assured," he quickly corrected himself. "I will."
「Three more days passed.」
During the day, Xu Lei took Xiaoai and Hui Ming around the city to eat, drink, and spend money freely.
At night, they would return to the inn, where he would continue to dote on Xiaoai, whose body had recovered.
The reason they hadn't left was that Xu Lei was waiting for the people he had provoked when he'd won Xiaoai—especially the yellow-toothed, bald old man—to come for revenge.
He wanted to use the opportunity to test Hui Ming's true capabilities.
But to his surprise, three full days passed and no one came for revenge.
Xu Lei was disappointed.
He had no choice but to leave the city.
「Another day passed.」
Xu Lei left the city in a horse-drawn carriage with his beautiful maid, Xiaoai, and Hui Ming.
Hui Ming volunteered to be the driver.
This was because Xu Lei was constantly holding the petite and docile Zhang Xiaomai, engaging in intimate acts from time to time.
The sight left Hui Ming's mouth dry.
However, he was adamant about abstaining from the company of women.
So, deciding that out of sight was out of mind, he took on the role of driver.
This saved them the cost of hiring a driver.
That day, inside the carriage,
Xu Lei was enjoying a massage from Zhang Xiaomai. His hand would occasionally caress her smooth, tender skin; he would occasionally steal a taste of her soft lips; and he would occasionally sample the fresh fruit she proactively offered him.
Eating fruit while holding a beautiful woman—life was good.
'Now this is how a man should live,' Xu Lei sighed to himself.
Back at the temple, even though he'd had young, married female Devotees offer him "Charitable Giving" at night...
...he'd never had a beautiful maidservant attending to his every need.
This was a new feeling for Xu Lei, one he had only been experiencing for a short time.
He thought it was fantastic.
Leaving the mountain was the right decision!
Of course, to Xu Lei's renewed disappointment, even after leaving the city, no one came after them for revenge.
His deliberate attempt to stir up trouble and draw someone out to test Hui Ming had failed.
Still, he had gained a genuinely obedient, beautiful, and docile maid who had sold herself to bury her father.
Xu Lei was still quite pleased with that.
"Young Master, where are we headed?" Xiaoai asked in her delicate voice, but only after picking up a grape with her lips and feeding it to Xu Lei.
"To the Prefecture City," Xu Lei said, patting her hip. "To earn some money and visit two old acquaintances."
After all, Zhao Xiaocha and Liang Fangying were in the Prefecture City, and by now, they should have each borne him another child.
Xu Lei wanted to go see them and the children, even if only secretly and from a distance.
There was also the fact that the money he'd taken from the temple would eventually run out, given his lavish spending habits.
Xu Lei naturally needed to come up with some ideas from Earth to accumulate more wealth.
And those methods would be most effective in a place like the Prefecture City.
As for Hui Ming, he would just have to find another opportunity to test him.