Young Master Has a Daughter

There were various toys in the store such as stuffed toys of cute looking lesser beasts, dolls, board games, etc. Snow Fang came across a life-sized wolf stuffed toy and snorted in disdain. Humans sure were strange for coming up with weird toys like these. Portraying these dangerous lesser beasts as cute-looking and harmless through toys would only make some people think that they were harmless when in fact it was the opposite. If some clueless kid were to see actual lesser beasts that resembled their toy and tried to approach it, they would become easy prey for those beasts.

The Lion King Cub however was excited when it saw the life-sized wolf stuffed toy. It hopped down from the wolf’s back as it started play biting the toy wolf’s feet. Snow Fang could only stare dully at his son.

Yue Dongmei was as stoic as ever as she followed Yun Ling and Yun Xia dutifully.

“Do you like anything Xiaxia?” Yun Ling asked his daughter who was running around the store. She was sitting on Yun Ling’s shoulder before but Yun Ling let her down so she could browse freely.

“Yun Xia likes everything Papa!” Yun Xia said cheerfully. As someone who loved lesser beasts, seeing all kinds of lesser beasts as stuffed toys here made her really happy. She had never told her father this but she actually didn’t have toys back at their home. All she had was the picture book of lesser beasts her mama gave her so she was just too glad to see many toys here.

“Then is there something you want me to buy here?”

Yun Xia thought for a moment. There were many things she liked. She had a hard time choosing just one of them for her father to buy. After thinking it over some more, she shook her head and said, “Yun Xia can’t choose. Yun Xia likes everything!”

Yun Ling let out a smile as he saw Yun Xia looking at the various toys joyously. He didn’t know why but he felt great seeing his daughter happy like this. So this was part of being a father, huh? While he was distracted in his thoughts, Yun Xia called out to him.

“Papa!”

“Yes, Xiaxia?”

With a wide smile on her face, Yun Xia said, “Choose one for Yun Xia!”

Yun Ling was surprised. What did she say?

“Huh?”

“Yun Xia said, choose a toy for Yun Xia!” Yun Xia repeated herself as she dragged Yun Ling by the edge of his hanfu at his hands.

“Me? Why? Won’t it be better if Xiaxia chooses one she likes for herself? What if I choose something you won’t like?” Yun Ling asked, a little bit puzzled at his daughter. If it was up to him, he would choose one himself to make sure he would get the one he liked. If he let other people chose it, he might not like their decision.

Yun Xia simply giggled at him as if he made a stupid question.

“Silly papa! Yun Xia will love whatever papa chooses,” she said it seriously as if it was a matter of fact.

Yun Ling’s mouth went open a bit as he stopped walking altogether. He stared at his daughter speechlessly, her words ringing in his ears. Mists seemed to cover his eyes but he quickly wiped them off with his sleeve.

What did he do to deserve such a daughter like her? Throughout his life, he had never done anything good. He was an asshole both past and present. A lot of people hated him for many reasons. He had ruined many lives whether they were well-deserved or not. It was only thanks to his family’s influence that nothing worse happened to him yet. Had he been born in an ordinary family and acted the way he did, he would have gotten not only himself, but his family killed too.

So why was it that such a bad person like him got a good daughter like Yun Xia? What did he do to receive such grace from heaven? Why was he so lucky?

“Papa?” Yun Xia looked back at Yun Ling when she noticed him stop. She couldn’t drag him anymore since her father had stopped walking.

Yun Ling had a bright smile on his face as he said, “It’s nothing Xiaxia. Leave it to your papa! Papa will choose the best toy here! You won’t get disappointed!”

Yun Xia giggled at him.

“I won’t!”

With great determination, Yun Ling gave the storekeeper a sharp look, making him jump out of his position in fright.

“W-What do you want?” he asked with a shaky voice.

“Are these all you’ve got? Do you still have something hidden here? If so, show me everything,” Yun Ling demanded.

“N-No, not really. Though we still have many toys back at the storage since there is no longer any space for it here it's just more or less the same as the ones we have here,” the storekeeper answered fearfully. His courage when Yun Ling first entered had all but disappeared.

Yun Ling frowned. Yun Xia said she liked everything so he could just choose any toys in the place for Yun Xia but he didn’t really want to do that. He wanted to give something special to Yun Xia. He wanted a toy that would stand out from the rest. His daughter only deserved the best.

He continued looking around the store. He had already looked through everything a few times already but he kept looking around just in case he missed something. When he was finally sure he checked everything, he was disappointed. Nothing really stood out. Even those life-sized stuffed toys that most kids loved didn’t get his approval.

It was then that he noticed an obscurely placed box on top of the counter. It was a circular wooden box adorned with gold. There were beautiful dragon carvings on the wood and with just a glance, Yun Ling could tell that the woodcarver must have been extremely skilled. He was suddenly curious about the box.

“Yun Xia, stay here with Yue Dongmei for a bit,” Yun Ling instructed.

“Okay!”

After leaving his daughter to Yue Dongmei, Yun Ling went towards the storekeeper once again and asked as he pointed at the box, “What is this?”

“Oh, this? It’s a necklace. It was dropped off by an acquaintance of my friend just minutes before you came in, telling me to sell it to others for a high price. Well, he said if it won’t sell, he’d pay me anyway so it was a good deal,” the storekeeper answered as he sweated a bit. This box was pretty expensive. He had totally forgotten to keep it in a safe place because it slipped his mind. He was actually about to hide the box earlier but Yun Ling and his companion came, making him forget about the box.

“And he asked you to sell it? A toy storekeeper?” Yun Ling frowned at him, finding his words a bit unbelievable. The box alone had gold inlaid to it while the craftsmanship was pretty good. This thing seemed out of place for a toy store.

“Hey, I might not look like it but I also own a jewelry store. My son is currently running it.” The storekeeper had a bitter look on his face when he spoke about his son. The guy in front of him was the one who beat his son up but he couldn’t do anything to him.

Yun Ling raised a brow.

“Can I take a look?”

The storekeeper nodded, “Go ahead.”

Yun Ling didn’t shy away. He took the box and opened it. Inside, he saw a necklace with round jadeite. The jadeite was almost transparent with a vibrant emerald-green color ornamented by a black diamond. The necklace chain was also made of celestial gold. When Yun Ling took a look at it, he knew he had to get it.

“How much is this?” he asked, looking at the storekeeper intently.

“Five hundred spirit stones,” the storekeeper answered.

Yun Ling brows furrowed.

“Only five hundred spirit stones? Didn’t you say you were asked to sell it for a high price?” Yun Ling expected the necklace to be sold for more than five thousand spirit stones. He didn’t expect it to be merely five hundred spirit stones.

The storekeeper sweated a bit. As expected of this young master. Even five hundred spirit stones weren’t much in his eyes. One had to keep in mind that for just ten spirit stones, a mortal could have built a normal house with that amount. With five hundred spirit stones, that was fifty houses! Not even the most expensive toy in his store would cost half a spirit stone.

“Young Master, everyone is not as wealthy as you are…”