"Miss Dugu, aren't you a bit full of yourself?" Jun Xie couldn't help but poke at her, continuing his counterattack: "If I were looking, I'd go to the Rouge Pavilion; they have plenty of pretty girls there, and they’re so gentle... Hiss!" Miss Dugu Xiao Yi’s pretty face flushed white with anger, her slender jade hand twisting his arm, her bright, lovely eyes widening roundly. Gritting her teeth, she spat out each word: "What... did... you... say?"

"A gentleman uses his words, not his hands!" Jun Xie declared with stern righteousness, then immediately put on a pained expression: "Big Sister, ease up a little. Don't strain those delicate jade hands of yours."

"Hmph. Speak! What unsavory intentions do you have following me? Spit it out, or I can’t guarantee the safety of your little ears." Dugu Xiao Yi didn't loosen her grip in the slightest, relentlessly pressing him.

Jun Xie knew this girl meant what she said and was never afraid to escalate things. His eyes darted around, and he chuckled slyly, "Doesn't Miss Dugu want to buy iron blocks? How about... I offer to pay for them for you?"

"You?" Dugu Xiao Yi instantly recalled how he hadn't shared a single bit of the great treasures he won last time, and imbalance flared up in her heart. She couldn't help but raise her delicate eyebrows sharply, indignant, "You were supposed to pay for it anyway! You haven't given me my share of the money we won together! If it weren't for my luck last time, you wouldn't have won such fine things! Just use that to cover it." Saying this, she suddenly chuckled twice, gesturing with her hand, her cute little fangs showing slightly: "I want to use it to forge a short dagger—thin like this... the kind you can hide up your sleeve. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Jun Xie felt a bead of sweat trace down his temple. This girl could really twist things around. He had just let her act as a witness, won twenty thousand taels of silver in the 'Flying Red,' and she had snatched away over a hundred thousand taels of his bank notes, and now she was suddenly declaring herself a partner, based on her luck... And for just a small, light dagger, she expected such a huge chunk of meteoric iron? That was the very definition of wasting a treasure; this girl was the textbook example...

That piece of meteoric iron was about the size of two basketballs, emanating a strange luster across its entire body, similar to the special color of aluminum alloy in Jun Xie's previous life, but far purer, etched with irregular, patterned impact marks. Jun Xie instantly recognized that the quality of this meteorite must surpass even Black Iron! At this moment, Jun Xie had firmly decided: whether through deceit or force, he had to get his hands on this piece of iron. Such a fine thing should only be in his hands to be truly utilized!

"Shopkeeper, how many taels for this piece of scrap metal?" Jun Xie, with a careless air, nudged the basketball-sized meteorite in the center of the room with his toe, asking with a wry mouth. This view utterly stunned the middle-aged man who had brought him in! This young master had just displayed the demeanor of an expert, and his words and actions had been quite composed; how, upon seeing this beautiful young lady, did he instantly transform into such a revolting, hapless figure? What play was this?

Could he be utterly bewitched?! A femme fatale! Beauty truly brought ruin!

"Uh, hehe, Young Master, this piece is from beyond the heavens..." The shopkeeper was an old man, slightly stooped.

Before he could finish, Jun Xie impatiently cut him off: "No nonsense. Just tell me the price in silver. This Young Master has plenty of money! Anything I fancy, even if it's scrap, is a treasure! For this piece of junk, just name your price!"

"Yes, yes." The shopkeeper, running a business in the capital, naturally had keen insight. He clearly recognized that this young master was likely one of the capital's notoriously 'infamous' super-dandies. How could he dare slight such a devil-may-care figure? He hastily stated, "This iron has an extraordinary origin. My humble shop values it at eighty thousand taels of silver; furthermore, if the Young Master and the Young Lady intend for my shop to forge it into a specific item, the cost will require an additional five thousand taels of silver..."

"Oh? Eighty thousand taels? That cheap? This Young Master will buy it!" Jun Xie acted as if he had so many bank notes in his pocket he didn't know his own name, then nudged another piece with his toe: "What about this piece of trash?" His demeanor was arrogant and overbearing, but the items he pointed to were certainly not ordinary. It was a large piece of genuine refined steel, much larger than the meteorite, emitting a faint, dark-red hue across its surface.

"This is also a piece of Hundred Refined Steel. While it cannot compare to the previous meteorite, it is still worth two thousand taels of fine silver," the elder replied quickly. It was clear that the formidable young master before him had no patience. Two thousand taels of fine silver was enough to sustain a family of three for a lifetime—the price was certainly not low. As for the previous eighty thousand taels, it was an astronomical figure to ordinary people, but to a super-dandy spendthrift, it was just a drop in the ocean.

"Not expensive, not expensive, quite cheap!" Jun Xie waved his hand: "I'll take them all!" With utmost decisiveness, he pulled out a stack of bank notes—these were naturally his spoils from that day. Clutching them, he spat lightly, dampened his fingers with his saliva, and noisily counted out the ninety thousand taels worth of notes. With a snap, he slapped them down: "Here is ninety thousand taels, no change needed!"

Dugu Xiao Yi watched from the side. Her expression slowly shifted from amusement to disappointment, then turned cold, and finally, a look of disgust surfaced. An indescribable feeling welled up in her heart: Just that day she had thought he had changed, but now it seemed he was still that same profligate youth... Sigh!

Money exchanged hands, goods were delivered. Jun Xie swiftly concluded the transaction for the two valuable pieces of iron. Now, these two pieces of costly iron belonged to Jun Xie.

Dugu Xiao Yi, with a cold face, said icily, "Third Young Master Jun, you paid the money, so the iron should be mine now, right?" She deeply regretted it. If she had known he would still be like this, why had she asked him to pay? It only upset her! If this young lady wanted someone to foot the bill, from princes down to the sons of officials, the line would stretch for miles; when would it ever be Jun Mo Xie's turn? It truly lowered her status. However, meteoric iron was genuinely rare, so she bothered to exchange a few more words with him!

"Fine! That’s only right." Jun Xie smiled: "Miss Dugu, look, you take the bigger iron block, and I'll take the smaller one. How about that? It is truly my honor, Jun Mo Xie, to settle the bill for Miss Dugu, ha ha..."

"What did you say?" Dugu Xiao Yi was just about to take the meteorite and leave when she suddenly sensed something amiss. She couldn't help but widen her lovely eyes, finding it hard to believe her ears: "I take the big one? You take the small one?"

Had he gone mad? The small one was the piece of extraterrestrial meteoric iron. The large one was the refined steel, which, though of decent quality, was worlds apart from the meteorite. Why would this young lady want the ordinary refined steel?

"That's right." Jun Xie stated as a matter of course: "Look, I bought both these pieces of scrap. And I don't need much, the small one is enough for me. Giving the large one to me would be too wasteful, right? As the saying goes, a fine silk gift to a beautiful woman; the large iron block should naturally be gifted to a beauty like Miss Dugu. Uh... of course, if Miss Dugu thinks it's not enough, shall I buy another one? It's only a few thousand taels a piece, very cheap. Since I brought plenty of silver today, why don't I buy a few dozen and hire a carriage to deliver them to your estate?!"

Dugu Xiao Yi’s entire body began to tremble with rage!

She finally understood. Jun Mo Xie's true target was that piece of meteoric iron. He had only offered to pay on her behalf out of fear that she would act first. Now that the money had changed hands, he wanted to gift her the ordinary refined steel?