But Zhao Ya’s focus wasn’t on that. He noticed that Senior Sister Meng Shiwen had arrived, sitting right at the table with the woman.
Not only that, beside her sat a tall woman, and the two seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.
This woman was quite beautiful, especially being very tall.
However, Zhao Ya couldn’t shake the feeling that something about her presence was unsettling, and thus he slightly furrowed his brows.
At this moment, Shang Luoluo also noticed Zhao Ya’s gaze and smiled after following it.
"I have a good relationship with Senior Sister Meng, and she often attends my banquets."
"Oh, who is the woman speaking with my Senior Sister?"
"Her? She’s Han Suyun, also a martial artist, and she’s quite skilled. Why? Is Senior Brother Zhao interested?" Shang Luoluo teased.
After hearing Shang Luoluo’s introduction, Zhao Ya felt a bit puzzled in his heart. Was it just his imagination?
"No, just asking casually."
Shang Luoluo, hearing this, looked at him with a soft smile but said nothing.
At the same time, many people noticed Shang Luoluo and Zhao Ya, particularly seeing them seemingly engrossed in conversation, which made many secretly clench their teeth.
This Zhao Ya had indeed been in the limelight recently.
Even Miss Shang seemed to view him differently.
How could that not make others jealous?
Fortunately, at this moment, Shang Luoluo excused herself to Zhao Ya and then turned to leave.
After she left, Xu De, who had been hiding nearby, came out and cheerfully asked, "Junior Brother Zhao, Miss Shang seems to regard you highly."
"Does she?"
"Of course! Do you know that she rarely talks to someone for so long?"
"Oh." Zhao Ya remained unmoved.
In his view, whether she regarded him highly or not made no difference to him.
Right now, he just wanted to know the background of Han Suyun, who was chatting with Meng Shiwen.
And whether there were any surprising treasures from the major businesses this time.
Just then, Shang Luoluo gently clapped her hands and walked to the front of the stage to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today, seven businesses are present here. They have each listed their needs and offers. If interested, you can contact them yourselves."
Indeed.
At a nearby table sat seven individuals, each with a wooden plaque in front of them, detailing the tasks they needed commissioned and the rewards post-completion.
People could choose based on their abilities and needs.
This approach was quite novel.
Zhao Ya temporarily suppressed his curiosity about Han Suyun and watched with interest.
[Yunji Tea House has a batch of valuable goods to be delivered to a fortified town three hundred li away, needing at least three martial artists of the third realm for escort. A reward of five hundred taels upon completion.]
Zhao Ya was all too familiar with this task, wasn’t it just escorting goods?
Unfortunately, the round trip would take too much time, and the five hundred taels would have to be shared among three, which didn’t seem worthwhile.
Zhao Ya continued to look down and found that it was either escorting goods or resolving disputes.
The offered rewards weren’t high, so Zhao Ya dismissed them one by one.
Until he stopped before the last person.
[Yongsheng Cloth Shop’s stock of over a thousand bolts of precious fabric disappeared overnight. We sincerely seek someone skilled to find the missing fabric. A family heirloom armor will be rewarded upon completion.]
Family heirloom armor.
These four words firmly grasped Zhao Ya’s attention.
For years, Zhao Ya had wanted to obtain a set of protective armor, but it was never fulfilled.
In these times, armor was extremely precious, and those of superior quality were even more expensive than gold of equal weight.
The Black Armor worn by the Song Family’s Black Armor Army was so cumbersome, yet still extremely valuable, let alone a treasure armor that could be worn under clothes.
And now, this cloth shop was willing to offer family heirloom armor as a reward, naturally sparking Zhao Ya’s interest.
He looked at the person issuing the task and was surprised to find it was a woman.
The woman was young, around twenty years old, and fairly pretty, but her face was gloomy, and her eyes dull, clearly bearing a heavy burden in her heart.
Ning Shan was indeed burning with anxiety at this moment.
It had been a whole seven days since the theft at the family warehouse, and now Yongsheng Cloth Shop was in a semi-paralyzed state. Her father had also fallen ill from anxiety.
This large batch of goods had been ordered by one of the very few Noble Clans in the city, the Zhu Family.
Now that it was suddenly stolen, how could they explain it to them?
Seeing that the agreed delivery date was in three or four days, if they couldn’t produce the goods by then, the compensation alone would be enough to bring the Ning Family to ruin.
With no other options, Ning Shan had to rack her brain to seek help.
Initially, they posted a reward, and indeed, martial artists came.
However, this was different from other escort or combat tasks. Those who came couldn’t make sense of it after looking for a while and eventually gave up.
Just when Ning Shan was in despair, someone suggested she try her luck at the Shang Mansion banquet.
Because those who could attend this banquet were all promising individuals, perhaps they might find a solution, but only if she was willing to pay the price.
Holding on to the attitude of trying anything, Ning Shan mustered her courage and approached Shang Luoluo. After paying a fee, she finally arrived at the banquet.
At this point, Yongsheng Cloth Shop barely had any liquid funds left. Hence, Ning Shan gritted her teeth and wrote the family heirloom armor in the offer.
Even though this armor was an ancestral heirloom, at this moment, she couldn’t care about that. She had to overcome the current crisis first.