78. Shopping trouble with Xia

The Green Zone appeared significantly cleaner and more lively than the filth of the Yellow Zone. The houses looked well-maintained, unlike the shabby ones in the Yellow Zone. Man separated both zones and made canals, which were crossed by an unimaginable amount of bridges that led from every street that was connected to the Green Zone all around the city. The street which was right before them looked at first sight much cleaner and better kept, devoid of the trash and foul odors that permeated the area around the tea house.

As they stood before the bridge, Mei Lin noticed many people venturing into the Green zone, but no one went out. Curiosity piqued both of them, so they followed them for a while until they arrived at the large square with the market. The market was vast, sprawling across the entire square, bustling with activity. Rows of small tents were set up all over the place, ready to sell everything imaginable. Each tent and hut offered a different assortment of goods, creating a colorful and lively scene.

"Mei Lin, what are we looking for?"

"I want to buy some red silk to replace the white one I am wearing. Also, It will be best if we buy you new clothes. These are not the best sizes for you. You can pick whatever you want. Just don't get scammed."

"Deal. Now let's go eat. I am starving."

Mei Lin and Xia start wandering through the market, searching for clothes and the red silk, which will be the closest to Mei Lin's red robe. It took them a long time to search and even more stops for the food, they found a particularly shabby tent filled with an array of robes and other materials. Both Mei Lin and Xia entered the open tent, where a young girl in a blue cultivation robe greeted them warmly. She looked sixteen to eighteen years old Mei Lin was curious about the materials as well, as she wanted a red veil instead of her usual white one.

"Welcome into the market. My name is Seol Han. I and my mother are the owners of the best weaving shop in this market. Are you here for the first time? Both of you look somehow… Strange."

Mei Lin ignored Seol Han and was only looking for a red fabric, which was the most similar to her red robe.

"We don't look strange, we just arrived in the city, so we have no more clothes than this," said Xia and both of them started to converse with each other, so Mei Lin let them talk and started looking through the fabrics.

After browsing for a while, Mei Lin decided to spend more than twenty low-grade spirit stones for the veil and Xia's robe. She purchased a blue cultivation robe for Xia and asked the woman to replace her white veil with a red one she bought. The new veil matched the red robe almost perfectly, though a discerning eye could tell that the materials were different upon closer inspection.

Before nightfall, they found a small wine house to rent a room for the night. The cost surprised Mei Lin, who was unfamiliar with the currency, as it was more expensive than in the yellow zone. It cost them two low-grade spirit stones for one night, which Mei Lin paid without hesitation. Xia, beginning to understand the currency, informed Mei Lin that to buy a house, they would need to find an official representative in charge of real estate transactions in the main hall of the green zone.

Upon entering their room, it looked almost the same as the one in Xin Ming's tea house, albeit a bit shadier. The room had a large bed, a table with four chairs, and one window. Overall, the room was small, ugly, and unclean.

"I don't like it here, Lin. It smells bad and looks worse," said Xia, sitting on a chair and looking at Mei Lin. "Why did we stay here? I don't like the room. It's not even clean."

Mei Lin pulled out a cultivation mat and sat on it. Xia looked at Mei Lin angrily, wanting to sit on something clean as well. The only clean items available were the chairs.

"We will move as soon as possible early tomorrow. We can't move through the night because there are no lights in the yellow zones."

"All right, I am already very exhausted, so it will be best to stay here for the night."

Finally, both settled in their positions. Mei Lin cultivated all night, while Xia, despite the discomfort, fell asleep in the wooden chair. Xia managed to sleep, and Mei Lin continued her cultivation without stopping throughout the night.

*****

Early next morning.

Both of them left the wine house very early and went to find the main hall in the green zone to find as much information as possible. After walking around Mei Lin and Xia arrived at the largest house they had ever seen, which also had a sign above the main doors. Both of them looked at a beautiful many-story tall building with green windows and walls matching the meaning of the green zone.

As they entered the auction house, they saw a lot of cultivators fighting about different kinds of things to buy, and sell, or fighting with city representatives to buy something from the city. It took them half a day before it was their turn. The auction house was more like a betting house and only a few people were able to navigate through this maze. A lot of citizens could bid on the houses they are for sale and the one with the highest bid will get the house.

Cultivators could bid whatever is valuable like pills, weapons, spirit stones, cultivation techniques, etc. As they looked at different kinds of homes, Mei Lin found out that she didn't like any of the houses and all of them cost too large sum of spirit stones. Xia on the other hand didn't know how much was appropriate for the houses and mansions, so she found a few beautiful houses and went to find Mei Lin to show her which she liked.

After they started to look at different houses for sale, Mei Lin found out, that she didn't have money for any of them. A lot of houses with some special trials were bid by three major powerhouses; Bei Jin, Feng Shu, and Shi Ming Lian, who were controlling most of the power in the East part of the Green Zone and most of the houses in the auction house for sale were bedded by them. As Mei Lin saw the name Feng Shu which was under a few of the houses for sale, discussing memory appeared in her mind.