Chapter 2: It's Business Time

"40 silver kins is too low," I calmly said, not forgetting to dramatically shake my head a few times.

Sitting on the straw mat on one side of the low table on which our clothes were placed, I gulped down the water provided to me.

On my side was Chunu, sulking because I was selling her dress. It seemed she actually was attached to her clothes.

To tell you how much she was upset, she hadn't drunk a drop of water from her porcelain cup. Hmph, and earlier she was complaining about being thirsty, putting on that mute attitude.

Although I put a helpless smile on the outside, I was secretly glad that that was the case. My worries about her not playing the part vanished like soap bubbles.

For once, things were going my way. Now, I just had to raise the price.

This Tuo Bao, brother of that weird tailor, seemed well-versed in speaking. However, he hadn't yet mastered the art of spouting nonsense.

For a master of trade like me, I could easily see through the flaws in his techniques. He gave me the final price of 40 sk (silver kins), but I knew that was just the base price. He was definitely going to sell our flashy clothes at a higher price. All that bullshit about being interested in the material was secondary focus.

'Hehe, what will I do if someone has demands for my things?' I mischievously asked myself.

"Brother Bao, this Fan won't try to play games with you. To tell you the truth, I had bought these pair of dresses at a high cost of 3 gold kins."

"Cough! cough!! cough!!!"

Of course, Tuo Bao started violently coughing the moment I finished speakingー his half-filled cup nearly falling on our clothes. Such a shame, he controlled himself quickly and prevented that from happening.

"That was a nice joke coming from brother Fan. It had been a while since I laughed that hard. However, I must say little brother, that price is a bit too much even for me."

"Of course of course, I just wanted to tell you how expensive it is to buy first-hand. Brother Bao is giving us the price of 'just' 40 silver kins... does brother think this Fan is inexperienced?" The first step was being humble. The next step was to show one's attitude.

I knew that in a business deal, I had to assert a fair bit of my own dominance or the other party would think of me as easy to convince.

Basically, the reasoning here was 'I gave you face, now it's your turn.' [1]

'Let's press on.'

"Brother Bao, just this gold embroidery on our clothes might cost more than 50 silver kins. Adding the fact that these were made by a renowned tailor back in my hometown, it's price easily goes up to 1 gold 30 sliver kins. Now, if brother knew these clothes were made of the 'illusory mist spider silk', that was brought by faraway merchants, you'd know that it's price goes even beyond 3 gold kins."

Words flowing out like water from a broken dam, I started going into the 'details' of the 'products', about which, a few minutes agoー I knew nothing, other than the fact that they were taken from a random mortal world. I myself was surprised how easily I'd come up with a random name such as 'illusory mist spider silk.'

"Honestly, now that I think about it, I might have gotten a nice bargain while buying it. It was a birthday present for my little sister here. At least for her sake, I ask brother Bao to not make things too difficult." I pulled the silent Chunu closer and started caressing her hair, causing her to secretly roll her dark-green eyes at me.

"Don't worry little Nu, big brother here will buy you a nice present when we get home." I adjusted my whispers just so that Tuo Bao could also hear. That would get me some pity points.

"Hais~ Now you're making me seem like a dishonest person. How much would it cost then? I'll let brother Fan decide," sighed Tuo Bao.

"Not too much. Considering brother Bao has given us such hospitality, I'll lower the price to only 1 gold and 90 silver kins."

Now it was confirmed that I'd get a gold kin at least. 'Let's see how much he'll try to lower the price one last time...'

"Err... 190 is an inauspicious number here in Shang Desert. Let's go with 180 silver coins."

My eyebrows twitched. It was such a shameless reason that got me thinking for right words to reply.

"Deal," I said, not saying anything after that. I knew I wouldn't get a price higher than 180 silvers.

Tuo Bao then carefully shoved our clothes away, his movements showing that he wasn't new to such deals, and started counting the coins in his pouch.

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"110... 111... 112... eh? Brother Fan, I'll be right back." He hurriedly stood up and went inside the room in front of us.

The sound of boxes being shuffled and coins clicking on eachother reached our ears as we waited.

In the meantime, I glanced at Chunu who was examining her new clothes. Light yellow and loose - they were not as flashy as the previous ones, and even the fabric was lacking in quality. However, we would have to do with such clothes for now. The previous ones attracted too much attention.

After more than three minutes passed, Tuo Bao finally fumbled out of his room and handed me a pouch full of silver coins.

"I have deducted 20 slivers from the clothes you bought, Brother Fan. You can count all 160 coins," he said.

"No need. Are these also made by Tuo Yiwu?" I asked as I tied the pouch on my waist.

"Yes. All clothes here are made by my elder brother. I only manage his shop. Why, does brother Fan want to buy another set?" even after getting an unfair deal, he didn't fail to grasp an opportunity...

"Ahaha, I was just asking. I do want to ask brother's help in a small matter though. Does brother Bao know some good inns to spend the night?" Getting tired of the useless flattery, I wanted nothing more than to leave this shop now.

"This oasis lies in the route between Fída kingdom and Rong sât Nation. The merchants frequently stop by this town to resupply, so there are many inns here. However, if brother wants to find a nice inn which doesn't charge too much, then I recommend going to amtalg 8mali street. You just have to go straight from here and turn left at the fourth junction."

After that, Chunu and I left the shop, and following Tuo Bao's directions, reached the said street.

"Wow, it's beautiful," my sister commented the moment she saw those red lanterns hanging above the windows of the inns.

Here, the houses weren't made of clay but rather of wooden planks. At the top of each establishment, there was a certain name written.

I picked one of the inns here named "hebi to su-pu" and went inside with Chunu following me. She expressed her dislike at the weird name but I didn't care. Too tired of the hours long journey and negotiating with Bao, I just wanted to eat and sleep.

Ting!

A soft bell rang from the doors as soon as we entered and the warm atmosphere healed our cold bodies. The night had already deepened by that time, so there were only a few people still eating at the dining hall.

"How may I help you?" an attendant wearing a loose robe hurriedly asked us when we were checking out the place. She had just descended down the stairs.

Before I could answer her though, my sister rushed ahead of me and said,

"We would like to eat some noodles!"

'Hey hey, at least ask if they even serve noodles. Honestly, does she think all mortal worlds are alike?'

Forcing myself not to faceplam, I was about to correct her when I heard the attendant's voice.

"Alright. feel free to sit on any one of the unoccupied chairs." her voice seemed hoarse but I didn't care. Instead, I was more inclined to think about the food.

'Oh, so they do serve it. It has been a while since I ate noodles. I wonder what the taste will be like...'

Chunu had already sat on a nearby chair when the attendant asked, again in a hurry. "Will you be spending the night as well?"

"Yes, how many rooms are available?" I asked back.

As much as the attendant wanted to be done with this conversation, I wanted the same as well.

Yet, the next word I heard immediately told me that it wasn't going to end so fast.

"One."

The attendant sounded impatient.

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