Becoming wealthy by raising furry animals

Chapter 96 Ling'an Red Sparrow
After the Flower Festival, the capital city returned to its usual peace and tranquility. Banyou's life continued as usual: seeing doctors, feeding animals, and going out for walks.

Of course, besides that, she is also researching new ways to make money.

After all, Atan's estate costs 60,000 taels, and she is far from having enough money.

As the saying goes, a pillow will help you when you're sleepy. Early this morning, as Banyou opened the shop door to prepare for business, she saw a masked man standing at the door.

"Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Boss, do you take in animals?"

"What?" Ban You was taken aback by the masked man's words. She looked at his hands curiously, but saw nothing.

The masked man seemed to know what she was thinking, and he slipped into the room. Seeing this, Banyou quickly led the others to the inner room.

Upon entering the inner room, the masked man took out a small bird with fiery red feathers from his robes. However, the bird was in poor condition, its eyes squinting, and it appeared to be barely clinging to life.

"What kind of bird is this?" Ban You asked, looking at the bird in the masked man's hand with some confusion.

"Ling'an Red Sparrow".

"Ling'an Red Sparrow" Ban You thought about it carefully, then shook her head. "I don't know, so is it very expensive?"

The masked man, upon hearing Ban You's blunt words, showed no further expression and simply explained the origin of the bird in his palm.

“Its name is Chi Zhao. I found it on the mountain. I have an urgent matter to attend to and cannot take it with me. I would like to ask if the owner can take it in. I will bring the money to redeem it in half a month.”

"You mean you want me to take care of it for you, and you'll pay me for taking care of it when you come back, right?"

The masked man nodded.

Banyou was still hesitating about whether to agree to the masked man's request when she heard the system's voice.

"Host! This is no ordinary red sparrow; it's a red sparrow with phoenix blood! It's priceless!"

"A phoenix? Such a tiny thing, yet it has phoenix blood? There are actually phoenixes in this place?!" Ban You suddenly realized and exclaimed in surprise.

"I'll have to look into the specifics, but there's definitely no harm in accepting this red sparrow."

Banyou nodded, then looked at the masked man.

"I can agree to that, but if you don't return in half a month, I will have to deal with this red finch. Do you agree?"

After hearing Ban You's words, the masked man thought for a long time and finally nodded.

After seeing the masked man off, Banyou hurriedly returned to the inner room. Looking at Hongque lying on the small bed, she couldn't help but sigh.

"I have some experience in treating cats and dogs, but what about treating birds?" Banyou said, shaking her head.

Just then, the system's cheerful voice appeared.

"Host, host, I've found it! There's a thousand-year-old phoenix tree growing on Mount Lingti in the Northern Territory. A hundred years ago, a phoenix did indeed perch on that tree, but for some reason, it underwent rebirth and disappeared. And this red sparrow suddenly appeared on that phoenix tree some time ago. Presumably, the masked man must have discovered this red sparrow by chance."

"Wow, where did you find all this information?"

"Dynasty... This is..." The system paused abruptly, and after a long while, it finally spoke shakily, "I can't say the specific origin, but anyway, host, you know that this red cardinal is very expensive!"

"Alright, then you come with me to check if there's anything wrong with it. It's been keeping its eyes closed the whole time, and it looks like it's about to die."

Banyou examined it carefully and finally determined that the cardinal was just asleep and there was nothing wrong with it.

Wow, she can really sleep!

After settling the redbird in the bedroom, Banyou specifically instructed Laicai to take care of it, and also reminded the other little ones to be careful not to hurt the redbird while playing.

In the days that followed, Qing Su Tang remained bustling with customers coming and going in an endless stream.

The weather has been nice these past few days, so Banyou decided to decorate the yard. With that in mind, Banyou went out early this morning to buy a lot of flowers and even had a flower stand custom-made.

The carpenter worked quickly and delivered the flower stand in less than half a day, arriving at the shop around the same time as the flowers Banyou had bought. "Shopkeeper, why did you buy so many flowers?" Wang Miao asked curiously, standing by the door watching Banyou bustling around.

“This courtyard looks a bit empty. I plan to decorate it and make it more beautiful so that we can enjoy the moon and drink wine in the courtyard during the summer. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!” Banyou said as she placed a pot of peonies on the flower stand.

"Miaomiao, a customer has arrived." Cui Liu was doing accounts at the counter when she saw a customer arrive, so she quickly called Wang Miao over to serve him.

The three people in the shop were busy with their own things, and before they knew it, it was sunset.

Banyou is always a skilled worker, and in just half a day, she had made the yard look absolutely beautiful.

"If you're not in a hurry today, why don't you all go to the courtyard, enjoy the breeze, have some wine, and admire the moon?"

"Then I'll go buy some wine!"

"I'm going to buy groceries!"

Wang Miao and Cui Liu happily ran out with the money Ban You gave them.

Ban You watched their cheerful figures disappear into the distance and breathed a sigh of relief. She went back inside to tidy up, changed her clothes, arranged the cups and saucers, and sat down to wait for the two to return.

Just then, Zhou Heng, whom we hadn't seen for several days, jumped down from some wall and sat down on a chair as if no one was around.

"Hey, Ninth Prince, how about you use the main gate occasionally? Are you always climbing over the wall because you think my Qing Su Hall is your Ninth Prince's backyard?"

“This way I can check if anyone is on the wall, isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?” Zhou Heng poured himself a glass of wine and took a sip.

The cool liquor flowed down my throat and into my stomach, leaving a lingering fragrance of osmanthus that I couldn't help but savor.

Ban You looked at him, then laughed angrily, "So I should thank you."

"You're welcome. This wine is good, have another pot." Zhou Heng said, pouring a cup for Ban You as well.

Ban You took a deep breath. A smirk played on her lips as she gritted her teeth and said, "Okay, please wait a moment."

She had just brought the wine out of the house when she saw Wang Miao and Cui Liu sitting nervously in their chairs, looking extremely reserved.

Upon seeing Ban You emerge, the two quickly stood up and greeted, "Manager."

"Sit down." Ban You said, glancing at Zhou Heng before looking up at the two of them reassuringly. "It's alright, just pretend he's here to freeload."

Upon hearing Ban You's assessment of him, Zhou Heng suddenly smiled, raised his glass, and said, "Thank you, Boss Ban, for allowing me to mooch a drink today."

Ban You also lightly touched his glass without ceremony, then tilted his head back and downed it in one gulp.

At first, there was an awkward atmosphere among the four of them, but as they drank more and more, Wang Miao and Cui Liu gradually relaxed and toasted each other.

Banyou leaned back in her chair, swirling a wine glass in her hand. Her face was flushed from the wine, and the pale moonlight cast dappled shadows on her face through the branches.

For some reason, Banyou suddenly became melancholic, recalling the series of events that had occurred since arriving in the capital. The wine she drank also tasted bitter.

"What are you thinking about?" Zhou Heng noticed something was off about Ban You's expression out of the corner of his eye. Upon closer inspection, he saw tears welling up in Ban You's eyes.

Banyou shook her head: "It's nothing, but when you drink too much, you start to reminisce about the hardships."

Zhou Heng noticed that Ban You was unwilling to say more, so he lowered his eyes for a moment, and then took a wine pot from his waist.

"In that case, why not drink some more? If you drink too much, you'll forget everything."

First, I want to apologize to everyone who has been following this book. Because of many things that have happened in real life, my own emotions have been affected, and I've lost sight of the original direction of the book, which is why I haven't been able to update it. However, things have improved somewhat now, so I really hope to finish the book.

I am also very grateful to the friends who have been waiting for this book to be updated.

Currently, due to the long hiatus, this book is only updating one chapter per day, but more chapters will be added gradually.

Finally, thank you everyone!