Hao Xuan sat in front of the fireplace with little Qiye in his arms as he chatted with the old lady. Time passed really quickly and before they knew an hour had passed.
First came in with some plates and started setting up the table.
"Xiao Ming, its time for dinner!" yelled Anya from the kitchen talking to someone else.
Everyone moved on to the table once it was set and started eating. It was very casual but there were a lot of dishes, with even a whole roasted duck.
Halfway through the meal the door of the dining room opened and a panda walked in while rubbing its eyes.
Hao Xuan was caught by surprise until he realized it was a little girl in a panda onesie. Still half asleep, she stumbled over to the table and with some trouble, pushed back a chair and sat in it and then started eating.
First was smiling looking at her, trying to hold his laughter in. Only after 5mins or so did she realize that there were a couple of extra people on the table and she looked up and saw First. Her eyes suddenly lit up and she stood up on her chair and screamed "Brother!" loudly.
"Hahaha, you finally noticed. It feels pretty bad when my own sister forgets about me so quickly," he said fake crying.
"No no, Mingi was just sleepy, she didn't notice," she shook her head quickly.
"Xiao Ming, don't be rude, greet Brother Hao," Anya said as she fed Qiye a mashed potato.
"Eh? Guest?" Ming said as she looked around the table but couldn't see any new faces. Until she realized there was someone sitting right next to her. She slowly turned her head and saw a pair of beautiful green eyes staring back at her. For a few seconds, she could only see those eyes, as if nothing else existed in the world.
"Hello," said the owner of the green eyes which woke her up from her stupor. Her face suddenly turned bright red and she looked at the person's face and was even more surprised.
It was a handsome man with long black hair that was smiling at her a bit awkwardly.
"H-hello, nice to meet you, I'm Han Ming," she said robotically while standing up on her chair and bowing with a red face.
"I'm Hao Xuan," he replied smiling back at her. She was only six years old, even younger than the Khan twins. She had black hair and white skin which made her look like a porcelain doll.
"Ninth brother, this is little twerp is my younger sister," First explained from the other side of the table.
After the initial awkwardness, everything was back to its casual tone. Following the dinner, First made some tea for everyone as it was quite cold outside and they sat around the fireplace talking to each other.
It was mostly First that told different stories to them while Han Ming peeked at Hao Xuan from time to time and then turned away blushing.
An hour or so later Anya put down some sheets on the ground and told Hao Xuan to sit while she cut her hair.
But everyone thought the long hair suited him, especially Han Ming, so he decided not to shorten it but just make it look more neat and tidy.
They stayed up late that night and Hao Xuan enjoyed himself quite a lot too.
Just after dinner Zhurong who was fast asleep on Hao Xuan's shoulder also woke up and played with Han Ming and Qiye until they all tired themselves out and fell asleep.
Hao Xuan slept in the guest room and for the first time in a long while had a very fulfilling sleep.
They woke up at around 10 the next day and after having breakfast, left for the auction houses. Han Ming was really sad to see Zhurong and Hao Xuan leave as she had grown quite attached to them. Even little Qiye who was barely a year old liked Zhurong a lot and cried when they left.
There was a carriage waiting for them outside the town which they took and went to the inner city.
The inner city was absolutely huge and it would take weeks to check every single place, but there was one street that was a must-see for everyone.
The trade market was a long stretch of road with hundreds of different shops and other establishments there. There were many auction houses as well, both privately owned and the ones under the military's control.
First took Hao Xuan to a military auction house and asked for the best place to sell the remaining Flood dragon parts. They were kind enough to buy everything off of Hao Xuan for an exorbitant price of 5,000 low-grade spirit crystals.
The only thing that was left was the beast core which Hao Xuan wanted to trade for a lightning elemental one.. For that, they had to go to the most expensive private auction house which was simply called 'The Den' by the locals.
