“I’ve already abolished the Demonic Appraisal Association’s branch on Nine Crescent Lake. You should be safe for now but they will surely return in due time.”
Upon hearing Lin Jin’s words, woeful expressions returned to the Qiao family members’ faces.
Prior to this, they had no idea what kind of people they were dealing with.
They didn’t know about the Demonic Appraisal Association and neither did most people in this world. However, if a mere branch office was already this powerful, what were they supposed to do if representatives of their headquarters showed up?
They would be sitting ducks in the water.
And Qiao Feigong knew that. Abruptly rising from his seat, he bowed low and said, “Appraiser Lin, my Qiao family may be the most prominent family in Reed City, but we only have three Rank 3 pet beasts in our clan and they’re all injured. If those thieves were to return, we won’t be able to fend them off. Please save us, Appraiser Lin.”
He wasn’t being pretentious. Qiao Feigong genuinely feared for their safety.
Had the enemy been normal thieves, the Qiao family wouldn’t be fazed at all. The Demonic Appraisal Association, on the other hand, had too many experts and they had witnessed firsthand how hard it was to fight against such elusive attacks. If Appraiser Lin hadn’t been around to help them, their family would have been wiped out by now.
Qiao Feigong knew full well that if the companions of those thieves came over, only Appraiser Lin could defend their family.
As for their other allies?
What happened during the feast demonstrated how unreliable these people were during times of crisis.
Lin Jin smiled. He had no intention of leaving them to their demise or else he wouldn’t have returned to warn them about it. Initially, he thought the favor would be returned after helping them out once. To think there was a continuation to this tale!
In fact, he was by no means obliged to provide his assistance any further since the Demonic Appraisal Association didn’t know of his existence. The same could not be said for the Qiao family, who was firmly rooted here at Reed City.
Since that was the case, he would extend his help until the end.
Thus, Lin Jin nodded. “I’ll make the necessary arrangements later. You don’t have to worry, Lord Qiao.”
This one sentence was more than enough to reassure him.
After a pause, Lin Jin recalled how the Demonic Appraisal Association had their eyes on a Qiao family treasure so, with that in mind, he asked, “Lord Qiao, do you perhaps have any idea why these evildoers are targeting your family?”
Of course he knew. However, their ancestral treasure was a closely guarded secret.
Under normal circumstances, he would never even have admitted that they had such an item.
However, since the Demonic Appraisal Association already knew of it, it didn’t seem like much of a secret anymore. Moreover, Qiao Feigong had no idea what that ancestral treasure could do, and it was bugging his mind this entire time.
Back then, Qiao Feigong’s father, the previous Qiao family patriarch, had called him into his room to tell him about their ancestral treasure.
Many of their family members knew that they had such a forbidden item. It was even thanks to this treasure that the Qiao family was able to build its fortune. However, what it specifically was or how it was used, no one knew.
The other Qiao family members didn’t know, and quite frankly, neither did Qiao Feigong.
Though, he couldn’t talk to anyone about it either. Saying that he didn’t know anything would be incorrect as well. Back then, when his father spoke to him behind closed doors, most of the things he heard sounded like a fantasy dream to Qiao Feigong.
Now that Lin Jin was asking about it, after giving it some thought, Qiao Feigong answered, “Appraiser Lin, when the thief first showed up, he demanded our family treasure on a silver platter. What they’re targeting is most probably an item that has been passed down in our family for generations.”
Qiao Feigong didn’t try to hide it.
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Lin Jin nodded. If Qiao Feigong had tried to conceal this fact, he figured they wouldn’t be worth his time saving.
Suddenly, Qiao Feigong stated, “If Appraiser Lin would like to see it, I can show it to you.”
Those words startled his family.
After all, their Qiao family treasure was a clan secret. Only the core members knew of its existence. What’s more, even they had not seen it before, much less know what it was.
Now, Qiao Feigong offered to show their family treasure to an outsider. Unsurprisingly, this came as a shock to the family.
However, despite their astonishment, no one objected to his proposition.
The reason was simple. If Appraiser Lin hadn’t taken action when the demonic appraisers came looking for trouble, the Qiao family wouldn’t have lived. The fact that he saved their lives was more than enough to justify breaking the rule. Furthermore, their survival depended on Appraiser Lin from now on. For the man to ask about the treasure must mean he needed the information for something. With that being the case, why not be a little generous toward him?
Although they were merchants, the Qiao family were generous folks. Even when they learned that they had lost a priceless Ganoderma during transport, they didn’t pursue the matter.
And to be honest, Lin Jin needed to satiate his curiosity.
However, he didn’t think much of the Qiao family’s treasure. After all, he had seen so many fantastic items at this point that he had grown numb to such forbidden things. Only something like the ‘water reservoir scale’ was considered a treasure to Lin Jin.
For a prominent family like the Qiaos, just how amazing could their treasure be?
Just then, a servant came in to announce the arrival of their city lord. Apparently, he had come here to meet Qiao Feigong.
In most cases, such a meeting would have been incredibly important.
However, Qiao Feigong clearly didn’t seem interested in meeting the city lord, so he said, “Tell the city lord that I’m not around. Second Uncle, please help me keep him company.”
The Qiao family members dared not say anything. Seemingly hesitant, Qiao Feigong’s second uncle spoke up, “Feigong, this doesn’t seem appropriate.”
“Second Uncle, it’s not inappropriate. You know that he has a grudge against us, and I think he’s probably just here to test us. What’s more, Appraiser Lin is still here.” After hearing Qiao Feigong’s answer, his second uncle nodded.
Their city lord had always been cautious of the Qiao family due to the misunderstanding all those years ago. Since that incident, the City Lord Manor had constantly tried to make life hard for them so there was no need to hold the city lord in such high regard.
In contrast, Appraiser Lin was the family’s savior so it didn’t take a genius to figure out who was the one to receive warmer hospitality.
Qiao Feigong’s second uncle was a reasonable man so he nodded without saying a word more. After saluting Lin Jin, he stepped away.
The other Qiao family members had no objections regarding Qiao Feigong’s decision either.
It was Lin Jin’s first time witnessing a situation like this. He thought about speaking up but figured that the Qiao family must have their reasons for this arrangement, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Appraiser Lin, please come with me.” Qiao Feigong stepped forward to lead the way. Lin Jin followed him without another word.
Tagging along was Qiao Xing. Escort Zhang was sensible enough not to follow and the other family members continued chatting with him.
Qiao Feigong headed towards their family’s ancestral house. He had given the family a heads-up on the treasure’s existence and now that the thieves also knew about it, there was no point in keeping their ally in the dark about it.
Since Qiao Feigong didn’t hide it from his family, if Lin Jin was curious about it, he would be generous and show it to him. In fact, Qiao Feigong knew best that this family treasure was merely a treasure in name. To him, there was almost no practical use for it.
At least, he couldn’t tell where the item’s value came from. His father was equally clueless about its use.
At the ancestral house, Qiao Feigong invited Lin Jin, who stood outside studying its architecture, inside. The ancestral house was housed within the Qiao family’s mansion and it was clearly an aged building. Despite the clues indicating that it underwent a recent renovation and general upkeep, the house still stuck out like a sore thumb when one compared it to the surrounding buildings.
Perhaps noticing Lin Jin’s confusion, Qiao Feigong explained, “Back when my ancestors settled down here at Reed City, this was where they stayed. After our family’s fortune started to grow, we gradually bought out the surrounding land and built our mansion, keeping this old house with us.”