178: Chapter 178 Do you really know Qin Lie?

Earlier, they had passed by Qin Lie's Blacksmith shop.

In the queue, the person at the front moved forward.

The two of them followed, moving forward a few steps.

Chen Yiming looked at the line of nearly ten people in front of her and the long queue that continued to grow behind them.

After pondering for a good while, she finally reached a conclusion:

It seemed she had been... hoodwinked by Gu Changming.

“...”

She opened her mouth, but the words caught in her throat.

Finally, she couldn't hold back anymore.

“Don't you know Qin Lie?” she couldn't help but ask Gu Changming, who was standing in front of her.

“Yeah,” Gu Changming nodded without turning his head.

“By ‘know’... you don't mean the kind where you know him, but he doesn't know you, do you?” Chen Yiming's voice carried a hint of suspicion.

“No,” Gu Changming said, finally turning his head slightly. “He knows me too. We're quite well-acquainted.”

“...”

There was a brief silence for half a second.

Chen Yiming spoke again, “Then why are we standing in line right now?”

This wasn't what she had imagined.

Shouldn't they have just walked straight up to Qin Lie, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then had him start refining things for her?

Why did they have to wait in line with all these people now?

Gu Changming turned his head around. “What else?”

“Go straight in!” Chen Yiming pointed toward the shop entrance ahead.

Gu Changming looked in the direction she was pointing and then said calmly:

“But the workers in his shop don't know me.”

“Are we supposed to just barge in?”

“And then tell his staff blocking the way: ‘I know your boss, get out of the way!’”

Gu Changming complained, “That's so low-rent, like some villain in a novel who's about to get slapped in the face.”

After hearing this, Chen Yiming was stunned for a few seconds, and then her shoulders slumped.

“You have a point.”

She helplessly accepted this harsh reality and moved forward a few more steps with the queue.

It was quiet for a moment.

Chen Yiming's meager patience ran out again, and she couldn't help but speak up once more: “Then... can't you just send him a message?”

Gu Changming shook his head. “When I knew him, there was no message panel feature yet. I haven't added him as a friend.”

“Sigh...” Chen Yiming sighed helplessly.

The silence didn't last long.

Chen Yiming began to doubt again. “Are you... making up stories to trick me because I'm young?”

Otherwise, why would there be so many excuses!

“Shut up.” Gu Changming also grew impatient. He turned around and gave her a light rap on the forehead with his fist.

“If you hadn't sold all your tools, would I need to be standing in line here with you now?”

He had originally thought that if it was convenient, he'd see Qin Lie; if not, they'd just leave. But because of this girl, he had to wait in line to see Qin Lie.

“Oh.” Chen Yiming's momentum instantly deflated.

After all, she was the one in the wrong.

She finally didn't dare to argue back and became completely quiet.

...

Time passed bit by bit.

The queue moved forward slowly, and finally, they reached the shop entrance.

After waiting a few more minutes, the two of them finally stepped inside.

Qin Lie himself was not in the hall.

This place was more like a front desk reception, responsible for registering the customers' forging requirements and then passing them up for Qin Lie to review.

If Qin Lie wasn't interested, or if the required forging level wasn't high, he would recommend them to other Blacksmiths in the Stronghold.

This was one of the reasons others came to wait in line; if they went themselves, those Blacksmiths might not necessarily accept the job, but if Qin Lie recommended them, it would be much easier to talk to them.

The two had just walked in and hadn't even settled yet.

A clerk poked his head out from the inner room and shouted to the outside, “Master Qin is tired. Today's quota for orders ends here. Customers behind this point, please return and come back tomorrow!”

“Eh?”

Hearing this, Gu Changming and Chen Yiming couldn't help but look at each other.

This couldn't be happening; they had only just reached the front.

Someone as impatient as Chen Yiming certainly wouldn't accept this. She immediately stepped forward, grabbed the arm of a nearby clerk, and spoke hurriedly, “We and Master Qin are actually...”

She intended to use their connection; regardless of whether Gu Changming had lied to her, seeing Qin Lie was the most important thing!

However, before she could finish, a louder voice from beside her drowned her out.

“Qin Lie and I are old classmates! Best buddies!” a young adventurer in his early twenties shouted while pulling on another clerk, sounding very emotional.

“Sir, calm down, please calm down!” The clerk made a downward pressing gesture with his hands.

“Really, I even have a graduation photo with him!” the man shouted, continuing to squeeze inside. “Let me see him, I'll talk to him!”

The commotion didn't last more than a few seconds. Soon, two guards responsible for maintaining order, who were clearly not weak, quickly approached.

Subsequently, the young man who claimed to be an “old classmate” was hoisted up and “invited” out the door as cleanly as if he were a sandbag being tossed.

“...”

The rest of Chen Yiming's words got stuck in her throat, and she silently released her grip on the clerk's arm.

Then, she turned her head to look at Gu Changming.

“I really know him,” Gu Changming nodded helplessly.

Having received confirmation again, Chen Yiming mustered a bit more courage, turned to the clerk from before, and cleared her throat:

“Um, let me tell you...”

Once again, before she could finish, another louder and more excited voice exploded from the side:

“Don't give me that! I've been in line for nearly three hours!” a burly man shouted while slapping the counter. “Qin Lie and I were old friends back at Starfall Camp; my stall was even right next to his!”

“I'm going in right now, just try and stop me!”

Before he could even finish his threat, the two guards had already skillfully surrounded him. They grabbed him from both sides and, amidst the burly man's shouting, smoothly and quickly “escorted” him out the door.

“...”

Seeing this, Chen Yiming instantly regressed into her cowardly state and silently moved back to Gu Changming's side.

“Do you really know him?” she whispered.

Getting thrown out like that would be truly embarrassing!

“Sigh.”

Gu Changming also sighed helplessly at this moment.

He said no more and walked straight forward.

“Could you do me a favor?” Gu Changming said to the clerk.

“Sir, it's really not possible. Rules are rules,” the clerk said immediately.

“I understand, but it's nothing difficult,” Gu Changming said, reaching into his robe to pull out the nightwalker gloves and handing them over.

“Show him this. He forged it himself. When he sees it, he should let us in.”

The clerk pursed his lips, looked down at the well-crafted gloves, and then looked up at Gu Changming.

Seeing Gu Changming's calm and composed demeanor, he felt that the man didn't seem to be bluffing.

He hesitated for a moment and took the gloves.

“Alright, I'll go inside and ask for you.”

“Thanks,” Gu Changming said, transferring fifty points to the other party.

“You're too kind,” the clerk said with a grin.

Gu Changming nodded with a smile and then glanced at Chen Yiming, who was acting like an ostrich beside him.

Fifty points wasn't even enough for this girl to squander in half a second.