Their Villain, The Mogul's Beloved

Chapter 223

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Chapter 223

“This?” Zinnia dug it out from the bottom, where it had been buried for weeks. Her master had given it to her, muttering something about how she could take it to some shop if she ever got into trouble.

But she’d been half-asleep, and the details were fuzzy. She hadn’t needed it in Jinston, so she’d just shoved it in her bag-partly because she was still annoyed that her master had left without explanation. The token stayed, forgotten at the bottom.

“Yeah. Can I take a look?” The clerk’s voice buzzed with sudden energy as he stared at the

token in her hand.

“Sure.” Zinnia handed it over without a second thought.

The clerk took the token in both hands, studying it. At first glance, it looked ordinary—just a plain brown piece of wood. But when his fingers touched the bottom-right corner, he recognized the texture. His pulse jumped as the truth hit him-this was the real deal.

“Miss, what herbs are you selling? We’ll take everything you have.” The clerk smiled as he handed back the wooden token, his tone shifting from polite to friendly in a heartbeat.

The higher-ups had been clear: Anyone with this token got whatever they asked for-no questions. He didn’t know why a girl like her had it, but that wasn’t his problem. His job was simple-follow orders.

“I only have five,” Zinnia said, tucking the token away and pulling out a small white tin. She hadn’t planned to sell more—the rest were for something else.

“Will

you buy these?” She opened the box, revealing a messy pile of ginseng roots.

The clerk’s eyes went wide. “This… this is wild ginseng! At least eighty years old!” His hands trembled as he reached toward the roots.

The store handled plenty of ginseng, but specimens like this-wild, with perfectly preserved roots-were extraordinary. It was not quite ancient, but the wild growth made it worth a

fortune.

“Yeah,” Zinnia replied casually. She glanced at the tangled roots, suddenly guilty for stuffing them in carelessly. As she tried to straighten them out, a thin rootlet snapped between her fingers.

“Please, miss, don’t trouble yourself,” he said hurriedly. “We’ll take it all.

worth a small fortune,

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Chapter 223

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snapped it off without a second thought, as if it were worthless. Worse still, she carelessly stuffed the precious roots into a bare metal box before tossing the whole thing into

clerk couldn’t help but wince. He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Does she truly not understand how rare this is?

Zinnia didn’t understand his reaction. To her, it was just ginseng-nothing special. She’d grown up surrounded by it in that small town, where her master had once ground it into bitter pills she’d long

about giving the ginseng as a

day-sending the family scrambling to the hospital while Zinnia stood forgotten in the

By now, she’d made up her mind- the Shaws didn’t deserve it. It was not because of its value, but because

on herself felt infinitely better than handing it over to the

return the favor with frost. Offer kindness,

mutual.

*****

the five wild ginseng

to surprise her. She

best—just enough for her master to put meat on the table for

now she was sitting on a fortune, enough to

smaller roots. Her suitcase still held bigger ones, and more grew untouched in Tareston. Zinnia grinned,

herbs neatly packed, Zinnia left the mall, eager to get home and properly position her treasured

she would never have swallowed all those ginseng pills her master gave her. Each one could have fetched a

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Chapter 223

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them properly for months-no more making do with just

her one root could buy a meat meal, and she’d taken him at his

million dollars now sitting in her account sent a warm thrill through her. For now, she was staying with the Lynns,

coin.