I Can See Through Everything

With Lu Qing's abilities activated, the books on the shelves began to emit their respective auras.

Most of the books glowed with a faint white light.

Occasionally, when the light was more intense, Lu Qing would take the book down and flip through a few pages to see if it was something he needed.

If he found something suitable, he would take it, planning to buy it later for a thorough study.

After a round of browsing, Lu Qing already had a thick stack of books in his hands.

Most of them were about the local customs and culture of this world, which could help him understand it better.

At the innermost part of one shelf, Lu Qing took down another book with intense white light. As he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed a flash of red light out of the corner of his eye and stopped.

Following that red light, he moved aside a pile of disorganized books at the bottom of the shelf.

He revealed a book emitting a faint red glow.

He picked up the dusty book and wiped it clean, only to find that the cover had no title or author’s name.

But it didn’t matter, as his ability quickly revealed information about the book.

"Wanderer's Notes: Written by a pitiful person attempting to uncover the truth about the disappearance of the Cultivation Era."

"This book contains some information about the Cultivation Era."

"It has some interesting guesses about the truth of the Cultivation Era’s disappearance."

"Would you like to download and learn?"

It was a book related to the Cultivation Era!

Lu Qing was pleasantly surprised.

He opened the book and, after flipping through a few pages, his smile grew wider.

Thinking for a moment, he took the book and approached the bookstore owner.

"Boss, where did this book come from? Do you have any others like it?"

The bookstore owner, already smiling broadly at the sight of Lu Qing’s large stack of books, took the book and examined it.

However, after flipping through the notes, his brows furrowed.

"Young master, forgive my ignorance, but I do not know the origin of this book."

"Even you don’t know?" Lu Qing was surprised.

He had thought the owner was very knowledgeable about the bookstore.

"To be honest, young master, our family has been running this bookstore for three generations. Many books were collected starting from my grandfather’s time. So, even I cannot identify every book’s origin. Moreover, this book has no name, making it even harder to trace. May I ask where you found this book?"

"It was at the bottom of the innermost shelf."

"That explains it. Most of the books there have unknown authors and origins, rarely read by anyone. I don't even know where my grandfather collected them from. Some have been sitting there for decades, nearly a hundred years. If I didn't occasionally air them out and revise them, they would have rotted long ago. It will be difficult to find the source of this book."

After hearing the bookstore owner's explanation, Lu Qing understood that it was unlikely to find other works by the Wanderer.

He felt a bit disappointed but knew there was no way around it, so he placed all the books he had chosen on the counter.

"Then forget it, boss. I’ll take all these books. Xiao Yan, Xiao Li, have you picked out the books you want?"

"Yes, brother!" Xiao Yan ran over with a small stack of books in her arms, "These are the ones Xiao Li and I want to buy."

"Alright, boss, please add these up."

"Certainly, young master. Please wait a moment."

The bookstore owner’s smile grew even brighter.

He immediately began to tally the books, his abacus clicking away.

Before long, he looked up, "It’s all tallied, young master, a total of..."

Hearing the amount, Lu Qing nodded without surprise.

Books in this world were generally expensive. Some richly detailed and beautifully bound books could cost over ten taels of silver each.

Compared to that, the price the owner gave was quite reasonable.

"I don’t have that much silver with me. Do you accept gold?"

"Yes, yes!" The owner quickly replied.

Gold was not as easy to circulate as silver, but it was always more valuable.

"Alright then, boss, here you go."

Lu Qing took out two small gold ingots from the purse given by Mrs. Wei and handed them over.

The bookstore owner carefully inspected the gold ingots. Seeing the small "Wei" mark on the bottom, he was startled.

He realized that these gold ingots came from the Wei family, indicating that these people were guests of the Wei household.

His demeanor became even more respectful as he weighed the gold ingots and then handed a few taels of silver back to Lu Qing.

"Young master, here is your change. I’ll pack up the books for you right away."

"Alright, do as you see fit. We’re not in a hurry."

After Lu Qing left the bookstore, he found it was still early, so he decided to stroll around a bit more before returning.

This time, he wandered more casually.

Accompanied by Xiao Yan and Xiao Li, they went wherever it was lively, satisfying the curiosity of the two little ones.

The people in the market, seeing Lu Qing and Xiao Yan's attire and the strange little beast on their shoulders, instinctively stepped aside, not daring to crowd them.

Those dressed like this were either wealthy or noble, not people the common folk could afford to offend.

So, despite the crowded market, Lu Qing and Xiao Yan enjoyed their stroll comfortably.

Wandering around, they eventually came upon a crowd, with sounds of a quarrel coming from within.

Having nothing else to do, Lu Qing carried Xiao Yan over to have a look.

After squeezing through the crowd with his strong physique, he saw a thin man with a monkey face and a mustache grabbing an old man's arm, loudly accusing him of something.

"Old man, you broke my antique vase. If you don't pay up today, you’re not leaving!"

The old man, dressed in patched clothes, looked terrified, his dark face full of anxiety.

"I didn’t touch it. It fell on its own," he murmured.

"Nonsense! My vase was perfectly fine. How could it fall on its own? You must have knocked it over!"

The mustached man held on to the old man's arm, yelling fiercely.

"I really didn’t touch it. When I passed by, I was several feet away from your stall. How could I have knocked it over?" the old man argued weakly.

"I don’t care. I saw you walk past my stall, and then my vase fell. It had to be you. Either pay up or we go to the County Magistrate!"

Hearing about going to the authorities, the old man panicked even more. He had heard that common folk entering the Magistrate’s office often faced harsh treatment regardless of their innocence.

He looked around for help, hoping someone would testify that he hadn't touched the vase, that it had just fallen on its own. But he saw only amused onlookers, no one willing to speak up.

Seeing the mustached man’s fierce demeanor and the two burly assistants behind him, the old man knew he had no choice but to pay.

"Fine, I’ll pay. How much is the vase?" the old man resignedly asked.

"It’s an antique vase. Even at a discount, it’s twenty taels of silver."

The mustached man smirked.

"How… how much?" the old man stuttered in disbelief.

"Not a tael more or less, twenty taels!" the mustached man insisted. "What, you don’t want to pay? Then we go to the Magistrate!"

His two assistants stepped forward menacingly.

The old man trembled, "But I don’t have that much money."

"How much do you have?"

The old man began to search his pockets.

After a while, he pulled out a worn purse, "I only have three taels of silver."

Lu Qing had been watching quietly and had figured out that the old man was being scammed.

But not knowing the full context and seeing everyone else treating it as a spectacle, he hadn’t stepped in immediately.

Instead, he activated his ability to assess the situation.

First, he looked at the broken vase on the ground.

A faint gray light appeared.

"Broken Vase: A newly made ceramic vase that has been shattered."

As expected.

Lu Qing's eyes showed understanding. He then turned his gaze to the mustached man.

A faint white light appeared.

"Chen Songqing: Nicknamed 'Jackal', notorious in the market for being a swindler."

"Sharp-eyed and skilled at identifying people, he loves extorting farmers and foreign merchants."

By now, Lu Qing understood the situation completely.

Just as he was about to retract his ability, his gaze fell on the old man’s purse.

Suddenly, he was shocked, his eyes widening in surprise.

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