Chapter 35: Very Expensive

"Go! Go! Go! Take these rice bags to the storeroom. Don't forget about the herbs medicine granny requested."

"You there! Yes, the straw hat guy, take these fruits to Elder Xi's place."

Two days before the fair's start, I was at the market - negotiating the prices of other goods, while the family servants delivered what we brought to the family. Gang Xuan and Gang Wuha, these two husband and wife directed the servants under the watch of two rank 8 cultivators.

Although the servants were laborious, hardly anyone of them was above rank 2. They couldn't ensure the security of more expensive goods, so 4-5 trained guards accompained them until the family's compound.

Inside the tent, I was a little disturbed by their shouts but if they didn't do that much, they wouldn't be able to direct so many labourers.

"So I was asking how much would it cost for those gems?" I placed my hands on the table. I was wearing long dark robes today. I even had tied my long hair to give a good impression.

These merchants came only once a year and Gang family exclusively bought goods from them.

"No no no, we aren't jewellery merchants, we don't sell such things." The man sitting on the opposite side adamantly refused. I moved my left feet over the hot sand and changed my sitting posture.

Gang Zheng had told me that this merchant sold gemstones. So I was more inclined to think that the short man sitting in front of me was lying. I didn't know why Gang Zheng wanted to buy two Ash pearls which costed 300 golds each.

He had given me a thousand golds for this and told me to buy the pearls even if I had to spend all money. A thousand gold kins, this was such a large sum that even a family head would think long and hard before spending it on something.

A typical family such a Gang had at most 8,000-10,000 Golds with them altogether. It was distributed among the hundreds of family members so one person having a 1,000 was rare.

'Unless that person has a prominent position in the family, like Gang Zheng.'

"We, the Orange Flowers group, are a team of honest men that have been selli-"

"320 golds."

"Selling food and furniture for-"

"380 golds."

"Twelve years. We have no-"

"450 golds."

Finally, the man stopped talking bullshit and looked at me with his ebony eyes. I could see greed in them. A triangular face, small head with almost no hair, long nose and a beard which only covered his chin - this middle-aged guy dressed in red had an unremarkable appearance.

"Young man, you seem to have excess money," he laughed. His voice was high-pitched like a woman's.

"None of your damn business," I folded my hands. I knew what these type of people wanted.

"No no, its every bit of my damned business!" as he smiled, I could see his black and yellow teeth. One was gold and another... was a dark gemstone.

"I won't go any higher than this," I leaned on my chair. Huff, it was getting hot suddenly.

I eyed the two rank 5 bulky guards behind this merchant. He himself was only at rank 3 but had managed to order them around with his wits and money.

"It is difficult. Ash pearls are not easy to acquire, you know," he spoke, causing me to frown. I could understand that he wanted to make a profit but this was getting annoying. I had already given him 150 golds more and I was buying two of them, that meant 300 gold kins extra. Was he still not satisfied?

"Yudiiiii!" I loudly shouted and a servant immediately came running. She stood outside the tent and said, "Yes, master."

"Go tell master Lequa that junior brother Fang called for him." I ordered and she ran towards a stall nearby.

Gang Lequa was one of the practioners watching over the delivery of goods. He was a bulky man at rank 8 and would be the best person to intimidate this dishonest merchant.

Of course, the orange flowers group also had a viscera purifying expert with them but that person was busy right now.

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"This was requested by a high ranking guest of our family. Merchant Tianlan, don't be so difficult," I said. It wasn't convincing lie. Still, I couldn't tell that an elder of Gang family was squandering so much money on some pearls.

"How am I difficult? I don't-"

"Alright, Alright. We'll talk about this later. Let's look at the wines you brought," I suddenly changed topics. Tianlan wanted more but I only had a 1000 gold. What if I gave him all yet he was still unsatisfied?

I was a new trader, and he didn't know me until now. Even though he irritated me, I had to be calm while still not losing my ground.

'The most persistent people aren't warriors, heroes or stalkers, but greedy merchants instead,' I sighed internally. I hated this kind of negotiation where the other party knew that I absolutely needed what he had.

After Lequa joined the table, I quickly made an excuse and kept him there until the whole list of things the family required was bought.

After an hour of negotiating, sniffing and checking the goods, we exited the tent. I was a little tired and thirsty. Passing the list to Gang Lequa, I entered a nearby pavillion alone to eat something.

The rank 8 practitioners still had some work, watching over the delivery. My duty was done, however.

I managed to lower the prices of goods but not like how I had expected. Altogether, I'd only saved 539 golds more than last year. Gang Lequa had counted how many trades it was. I had roughly made around 60-70 gold kins.

But, that didn't matter for now because Gang Zheng owed me a bigger favour. Indeed, Tianlan had agreed to sell me the pearls but because Gang Lequa was there, he hadn't sold me yet.

Someone would bring the pearls to me and I just had to give the money after identifying their authenticity.

'This was a really boring yet intense start to a day. Tommorow will be better,' I thought, waiting for the waiter. Just a few tents beside this pavilion, people were crowding a 'medicine shop.' Apparently, some voodoo doctor was showing his tricks.

'It's not easy living,' I sighed, fanning myself with a thin wooden fan I'd bought this morning.

...

The rest of the day went by with me giving a detailed report of what was bought. The rank 8 practitioners and I were required to tell exactly how we had negotiated and what the demands of merchants were.

Other than from Orange Flowers group, I also bought necessary things such as fans, needles, silk, spices etc from Hanai Company. So many things were bought today and Gang family spent about 6,000 golds on them.

They didn't need all of these things. But, Gang family would make profits by selling these goods to travellers who visited Pinchu town. Especially after the fair because the market right now was packed with too many merchants. This was the family's main source of income other than running food stalls in QuangKong street.

"Here, elder Zheng. These are what Tianlan gave me. I rubbed both against my teeth and can confirm that their surface was gritty," I passed the shining silver pouch to him. Even though I kept saying no, Tianlan had forced me to buy it saying expensive items suited only expensive containers.

I sat down with him and curiously looked as he took out the pearls from the pouch. Silently, he also took out a black box from his robe. They had pockets in them. Wow, Gang Zheng was the first person I'd seen who didn't rely on pouches to store everything.

At that moment, he didn't have his energetic demeanor. He hadn't spoken at all. I peered at the box's inside and saw that it was filled with levelled sand.

Gang Zheng dropped the two pearls on it, much to my confusion. What was he doing? He then picked one pearl and swiped its surface with his forefinger.

When he saw speckles of sand grains shining on his skin, a wide smile took over his stoic face.

"I was right, this is the fourteenth."

His words shocked me. Fourteen of them, inside that box? Gang Zheng put the black box in his pocket and faced me.

"Nephew Fang, I am an eccentric man who only collects worthless stones, right?"

I nodded my head and he laughed loudly. When I reached viscera purifying stage, I was going to sew that mouth of his.

"Nephew Fang is very understanding. The family's annual feast is tomorrow. It always happens just a day before the fair's opening, I hope you'll have a good time." He stood up. He had reverted back to his annoying attitude.

I already knew about this feast from Gang Ju, though.. It seemed tommorow was the last day.

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