Chapter 25: Selling Fruits, Selling Fruits

Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Selling Fruits, Selling Fruits

"O-Ophelia."

"Princess."

Seeing Ophelia appear, Tyler’s first reaction was a bit of panic. He was worried that the Princess might have heard the little female’s words and misunderstood.

"Ophelia, isn’t it enough that you have a Wolf Beast? You still want to string Tyler along. You’re too shameless."

"Jianna, no matter how shameless I am, I could never compare to you. You throw yourself at men, and still, no one wants you."

"Ophelia, you—" Jianna shrieked, her face twisting in rage as she swung a hand toward Ophelia’s breathtakingly beautiful face.

SLAP! A crisp sound rang out. A bright red handprint appeared on Tyler’s rugged cheek, showing just how much force Jianna had put into the strike.

The smile on Ophelia’s face gradually faded into a chilling coldness, her azure eyes brimming with frost. She pulled Tyler behind her and delivered several resounding slaps to that rather plain face.

SLAP! SLAP!

The little female covered her face in disbelief, her eyes rimmed red. "Ophelia, I am the Great Elder’s daughter! How dare you treat me like this!"

The authority of an elder in the Golden Dragon Clan was roughly equivalent to that of a Clan Leader in a low-level tribe; within the clan, they were second only to one and above all others. Although an elder’s daughter could not be called a Princess, her status was virtually the same.

"You dared to raise your hand against me, so why can’t I hit you?

"Tyler is my future mate. If you ever dare to pester him again, I’ll beat you again."

With that, she took the bewildered male by the hand and walked away. Jianna watched their retreating backs, grinding her teeth in pure hatred.

It wasn’t until they walked out of the Golden Dragon Clan that Tyler’s surging emotions finally calmed down. He pressed a hand to his chest, wondering if he had misheard her earlier.

Seeing his dumbfounded look, Ophelia shook her head in fond exasperation. She stopped, pulled him around to face her, then stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on the male’s tense lips.

Tyler’s brown pupils suddenly contracted. Mustering his courage, he placed a large hand on the little female’s fair, slender neck and gently pressed her toward him. If the little female felt even a sliver of displeasure, she could have easily pushed him away. The male’s breath was scorching hot. Unable to hold back any longer, he cupped the back of the little female’s head and deepened the kiss.

A long moment later, Ophelia leaned against the male’s chest, her legs feeling weak. She shot him a coquettish glare and silently gritted her teeth. Sure enough, men were naturally self-taught in this aspect. This was only their second intimate encounter, yet he had already seized the initiative. This made her—someone who had awakened her modern memories and had previous experience taking a mate—lose face.

"Can you still walk?" Tyler gazed at the little female’s delicate, glistening lips, lowering his head to give them a gentle peck.

"I need to go to the trading market. Carry me to the cave to pick up the goods."

Tyler chuckled softly. Lifting Ophelia by her hips as if carrying a child, he let her wrap her arms around his neck and cling to his chest.

Highly motivated after receiving a kiss, Tyler moved quickly. In less than half an hour, they arrived at the secret cave.

Ophelia wriggled down to the ground. "I’ll go check if they’ve delivered the goods."

"Okay." He didn’t care what secrets the Princess had; he only wanted to stay by her side.

After entering the cave, Ophelia checked the system inventory.

[Inventory: Capacity 5000, Currently Stored 1665 (Rice: 295, Wheat: 100, Millet: 200, Prey: 100, Apples: 100, Peaches: 90, Orah Mandarins: 100, Dragon Fruit: 100, Shine Muscat Grapes: 100, Watermelons: 100, Bananas: 100, Lychees: 280)]

The grain was almost sold out, so she decided to pause on that and focus entirely on selling fruit today. She found two vine-woven baskets that had been left in the cave earlier. She placed two watermelons inside, along with twenty pieces of each of the other fruits, filling both baskets to the brim.

As soon as Ophelia and Tyler arrived at the trading market, a middle-aged male walked over.

"You’re finally here."

The male’s familiar tone left Ophelia a bit stunned. Seeing this, the middle-aged male quickly introduced himself.

"I’m Fei Luo from the Leopard Clan. I’ve finished making the pottery you ordered from me before."

Mentioning pottery jogged Ophelia’s memory. She looked a little embarrassed and said, "I was held up by some matters over the past two days and couldn’t come on time. I’m sorry."

Fei Luo waved a hand. "It’s no big deal. Come take a look. Is this what you wanted?"

Fei Luo was still occupying his previous spot. As she drew closer, Ophelia’s eyes lit up. Sitting on the empty patch of ground were six brownish-red ceramic vessels. They all looked like large water vats, each capable of holding roughly a hundred pounds of rice.

Ophelia reached out to feel the thickness of the pottery, finding it almost exactly as she had envisioned. She had already used the clay pots and bowls she bought previously. They worked wonderfully without any leaks, countless times better than the heavy stone pots.

"I’ll take all of these. What’s the price?"

Fei Luo scratched his head, looking a little flustered. No one had ever ordered so much pottery before, and he didn’t quite know how to "charge" her. "Just give me whatever you see fit, little female. I’m fine with anything."

Looking at his honest and good-natured demeanor, Ophelia said, "How about three pieces of prey?" Exchanging two water vats for one piece of prey was not a low price.

"Yes, yes, yes." Fei Luo rubbed his hands together nervously. Three pieces of prey would be enough food to last him ten days.

"I’d like more pottery like this. Could you make another fifty, or even a hundred?" Ophelia asked. She thought of the upcoming rainy season. When the flash floods hit, many animals would drown, and the water would become contaminated, causing sickness to anyone who drank it. With these water vats, she could store water in advance and avoid drinking from unclean sources.

"A hundred?" Fei Luo was shocked.

"Yes, let’s start with that many. If it’s not enough, you can make more later," Ophelia replied. The Golden Dragon Clan had a sizable population, so their demand for water was huge. She wasn’t certain how long the rainy season would last, nor how long a single vat of water would hold out. Either way, pottery wasn’t expensive. It was always better to have too much than too little.

"I can pay you twenty pieces of prey upfront as a deposit. Every time you finish a batch of pottery, deliver it to the Golden Dragon Clan. The sooner, the better."

"Alright, no problem." Fei Luo calculated in his mind. Once he finished these hundred water vats, he would have enough food gathered for the winter and wouldn’t starve.

Having finalized their deal, Ophelia lifted the beast skin blanket covering her woven baskets.

The rich, sweet fragrance of fruit spread through the air, immediately drawing a lot of attention. However, when the surrounding males saw that it was just fruit, the eager light in their eyes dimmed.

They waited for about half an hour, but didn’t manage to sell a single piece of fruit.

"What’s going on? The market for fruit has always been great. Why doesn’t anyone want it?" Ophelia wondered aloud.

Tyler shook his head; he didn’t understand these things.

"Eh? Ophelia, have you stopped trading rice and switched to fruit?" a familiar male voice rang out.

Tyler looked up warily as two males with wheat-colored skin slowly walked over.

"Sail, Lam, you’re back? Did you manage to trade everything?"

Ophelia looked the two of them up and down, noticing that they were both empty-handed.

Lam was smart. Catching the meaning behind her gaze, he smiled. "We traded everything. When we passed by the Crystal Stone Mine, I exchanged all the prey for Crystal Stones." He patted a small Beast Skin Bag tied around his waist, which resembled an ancient pouch.

"That’s good. It must have been an exhausting trip for you both."

"Not at all, not at all! Lam and I were just discussing it, and we’d like to trade for a bit more rice from you. Do you still have any?" Sail grinned, his bright white teeth standing out starkly against his deeply tanned face.