Power Up, Artist Yang!

Yujia was back to tossing her considerably lighter satchel of coins up and down while her other hand held a fabric bag carrying the art supplies she just bought. Surprisingly, the vendor she bought from earlier had materials on him, and all he had to do was to drill a few holes into the premade brush molds. It only took an hour or so for him to finish, and Yujia could wait that long. She didn't have anything else to do.

Now, the pencil molds were inside the bag of supplies with all the other materials she bought, but the graphite Yujia needed would not be here until tomorrow, where Yujia planned to go and pick them up immediately. For now, all she could do was to either browse a little more to find anything she wanted to do with her silver or to return home.

"It's late in the afternoon, isn't it, Hui'er?" Absentmindedly, Yujia spoke while continuously tossing the satchel and walking forward at a leisurely pace.

"Yes, Miss. In fact, it's nearing the evening."

Yujia couldn't believe that only a little more than half a day has passed since she transmigrated into this world. She was already getting so much things accomplished! She was proud of herself and her productive talent that she didn't seem to have back in her world.

Thinking about it, Yujia suddenly straightened herself, turning sharply to look at Hui'er while stopping in her steps. "Hui'er!"

The younger girl looked bewildered. "Miss, is something wrong?"

"We haven't had lunch!" Yujia bit her bottom lip. All she had this morning was hangover soup, and she was very, very hungry. "I was so caught up with making my pencils and everything that I forgot about it. We must go to eat lunch, Hui'er. Do you know any good places?"

"It's a little late for lunch, Miss." Hui'er laughed awkwardly. "But don't you remember Auntie's pastries you liked to go to? It's just down the street. We can buy some of those."

Without a moment of hesitation, Yujia agrees. "Sounds good." The two continued to walk and she resumed to tossing the bag of coins.

Yujia's guard was down, not the slightest bit defensive. Everything was perfect today. Her success in all the tasks she chose to take on put her in a good mood.

Yet something— a flurry of movement— catches Yujia's eyes. Her reflexes take over, and in the next moment, she swiftly snatches the bag of taels she had just tossed up into of the air, holding it close to her while her head whipped backward to look at who had caused the rapid movement. It was a young man wearing an extremely suspicious hat that shaded half of his face. His clothes were messy and torn, and his entire appearance was very disheveled.

Instantly, one word appears in Yujia's thoughts.

Thief.

The eyes of the thief met with hers for a brief moment, except in the next, he was gone into the crowd, just a shadow of a blur.

Exhaling deeply, Yujia held the satchel of silver out, feeling the secure weight of it in her hands. Good thing she caught it quickly; otherwise, someone else would be enjoying her hard-earned eighteen taels today.

"See, Hui'er?" With a pleased look on her face, Yujia waved the sack of coins. "I told you that you didn't have to worry about thieves and whatnot. Who am I? Yang Yujia. Why would I let a mere thief steal from me? I would have to be a fool for them to do so."

Yujia expected Hui'er to nod agreeingly. She didn't expect to see a look of shock— or was it fear?— to cross Hui'er's paling face while she stared blankly at her Fourth Miss.

"Hui'er, what's wrong?"

Did Yujia scare the girl with her terrific reflexes and responsive skills? Was she actually that impressive that her maid would be reduced to such a state? No way, right?

With a shaking finger, Hui'er pointed at Yujia's left hand. "M-miss…!"

"What?" Yujia looked down at her empty hand. "Is there something wrong?"

Then, realization came to her.

In her moment of triumph and victory of saving her silver taels, she entirely forgot about the bag of art supplies she bought from the vendor. Her precious bag that was worth a whole seventeen silver taels, filled with her hope and desire to bring pencils to the world…

… gone! All of it!

The thief must've taken it from her hand while she was preoccupied with saving her satchel of coins. Why were these thieves so creative? How could they think of such a ridiculous— yet effective— method?

Her cherished, beloved paintbrushes! And ink! And paper! And most of all, her pencil molds!

Yujia thought she was so intelligent, so talented… but all along, all she was being was an arrogant fool! She should've heeded Hui'er's warnings. If only she was better at taking advice, at taking criticism, at just simply being a more cautious person…

Yujia wanted to cry.

Instead, she chose to do the more sensible way of exerting her frustration and anger. Raising her voice, Yujia yelled loudly into the crowd of people.

"THIEF!" She pointed at the direction the thief headed, shouting, "Catch that thief!"

Yujia didn't wait for Hui'er to respond or for own mind to formulate a more logical response. Quickly she patted her maid's shoulders, giving an assuring smile. "Hui'er, I'll be back soon."

And then, she ran after the imbecile who dared to steal her art supplies.