Chapter 10: A Small Profit
Chapter 10: A Small Profit
Offending the Zhu Residence!
For ordinary mortals, this was undoubtedly a great disaster that could destroy their families!
Even though Lin Baogui was arrogant, he knew that his half-baked cultivator apprentice brother alone could not save him. In the eyes of the Zhu Residence, a cultivator apprentice was just an ant, a slightly stronger ant…
The five servants sat on the ground, their faces pale and their minds in chaos. They cried uncontrollably.
This matter did not need to reach the Zhu Residence. Even if the cultivators behind their masters found out, whether it was intentional or not, they would not hesitate to kill them to appease the Zhu Residence’s anger.
“We’re finished!”
“I’m going to die.”
“Wah… I don’t want to die.”
One servant started crying, and the other four joined in, crying helplessly in despair.
The reversal of the situation was too fast. Da Niu was still stuck in the mindset of “Hangzhi, run quickly!” when, in the blink of an eye, the five opponents were kneeling on the ground, crying like children. He stood there, confused and unsure of what to do.
Lu Hangzhi felt a headache coming on and thought to himself:
These troublemakers, can’t they see that my goal is to pressure them into paying hush money?
On the other hand,
Lin Baogui, relying on his brother who was a cultivator apprentice, had often cheated the servants in the marketplace. Da Niu had been forced to sell his spirit fruits at low prices to Lin Baogui multiple times when he couldn’t sell them.
Thinking of the children who had been driven to their deaths by Lin Baogui, Lu Hangzhi’s heart hardened. He spoke coldly in a condescending tone:
“If you want to die, keep crying.”
It was as if a mute button had been pressed. The five servants instantly stopped crying, afraid to make a sound. They looked at him timidly.
“This Snow Rabbit was originally worth one hundred spirit coins. But after your fall, its value has dropped by at least half. If you want to live, it’s simple: make up fifty spirit coins.”
The five of them immediately showed expressions of hope and quickly pooled their money. One straightforward servant tried to argue about the Snow Rabbit’s price, but before he could finish speaking, Lin Baogui slapped him, causing blood to spill.
“Fifty spirit coins, Brother Hangzhi. Please count them.”
“Hmm.”
It had to be said, these kids had quite a bit of savings. They managed to gather fifty spirit coins easily. Lu Hangzhi was deeply impressed.
Lin Baogui handed over the fifty spirit coins with a flattering smile. “Brother Hangzhi, we’ve paid the spirit coins. Can we…”
“Want to leave?”
Lu Hangzhi took the spirit coins and laughed coldly, pointing at Da Niu nearby. “Did you think you could beat up my brother, Lu Hangzhi, for free? This isn’t just an insult to me, it’s an insult to the Zhu Residence!”
The five of them were immediately intimidated.
Lin Baogui finally understood. Gritting his teeth, he took out five more spirit coins from his pocket…
Lu Hangzhi didn’t take them.
“Is my brother worth less than a rabbit?”
Nonsense! Of course he is!
Lin Baogui’s expression clearly showed that thought, but he wisely swallowed his words. Miserably, he searched his pockets and pulled out two boxes of spirit fruits and fifteen spirit coins, crying, “This is all I have.”
Lu Hangzhi weighed the money bag with satisfaction.
Not bad!
He had gained twenty spirit fruits and seventy spirit coins, which added up to half a low-grade spirit stone.
“Get lost.”
Lin Baogui and the other four felt as if they had been granted amnesty. They immediately ran away.
“Hey, wait for me!”
“Wah…”
They cried as they ran.
Da Niu had stood there the whole time without moving, as if watching a play. He watched Lin Baogui, who was usually arrogant and domineering, surrender his spirit fruits and spirit coins, even almost taking off his pants to prove his innocence. Da Niu had been holding back his laughter, but now he finally couldn’t contain it.
“Haha…”
“I’m dying of laughter!”
“Look at them… haha… so satisfying!”
However, Lu Hangzhi had no intention of drawing more attention. He picked up the Snow Rabbit and left.
What luck!
On the way back to Violet Cloud Town, a kind-hearted female cultivator took a liking to the half-conscious Snow Rabbit in his arms. She paid fifty spirit coins and took the rabbit. Lu Hangzhi’s spirit coins increased to one hundred twenty-three, and with the twenty spirit fruits, the total value was close to one low-grade spirit stone.
But…
When he thought about the cost of taking care of the spirit fruit tree, Lu Hangzhi’s good mood was instantly overshadowed by a faint gloom.
Money was not enough, far from enough!
“I need to think of other ways to make money.”
Lu Hangzhi fell into deep thought.
Unconsciously, he returned to the most familiar marketplace.
Lin Baogui and the other four were scared out of their wits and had already gone back to their rooms to cry. The marketplace was unusually peaceful and quiet…
Just then, a group of people hurried past him. The leader looked familiar and was muttering to himself:
“Spirit wine, spirit fruit, spiritual grain, spirit spring—we can’t miss any of them.”
“Huh?”
Lu Hangzhi stopped and recognized the man as Feng Ru, the steward of Violet Cloud Town’s town chief. He was responsible for all procurement matters and had been a major customer in the past.
It was said that the town chief of Violet Cloud Town was a figure second only to the three great families and the four elders. Although he didn’t stand out, he still held some influence over ordinary cultivators and cultivator families. However, this town chief was usually very stingy and reluctant to buy spirit fruits and spirit springs from outside. He only made purchases when he needed to send gifts to the four elders, and he haggled over every penny.
Lu Hangzhi’s eyes lit up as he suddenly understood.
Most likely, Steward Feng was out shopping for gifts like spirit fruits and spirit springs on the town chief’s orders to present to one of the elders.
In the past, he wouldn’t have known the details. But just yesterday, the three elders had finalized the selection of the fourth elder. Yesterday must have been the elders’ meeting and banquet, and today, the elder would go to the Guard Camp to take over and meet. If nothing went wrong, tomorrow would be the day for ordinary cultivators to send gifts.
An idea struck him. Lu Hangzhi secretly pulled Da Niu into a corner of the alley and whispered a few words to him. Then, he handed him a money bag and asked him to buy all the spirit fruits he could see in the marketplace.
Since it was almost noon, there were very few stalls in the marketplace. The remaining spirit fruits were not many, and most were not of the best quality. Da Niu spent only fifty-six spirit coins to buy three boxes of spirit fruits.
In addition, Da Niu asked those people to go back and report to their masters, contacting them for a batch of stored goods. He spent all the spirit coins he had, accumulating a total of nine boxes of spirit fruits.
Poor Steward Feng, after walking around the market, found that there were fewer and fewer servants in the marketplace, and not a single spirit fruit was left. He broke out in a cold sweat.
“This is terrible!”
“The town chief decided to visit the newly appointed Guard Camp Elder tonight. How can we go without spirit fruits?”
For a moment, he was so anxious that he paced around in circles.
Just then, he saw a servant running over with a package, vaguely shouting the words “spirit fruits.” His face lit up with joy.
But before that person could reach him, he saw a young man stop him:
“How many spirit fruits do you have?”
“Nine boxes.”
“So few?”
“Of course. Yesterday, the Zhu Residence hosted a banquet and bought up many of the spirit fruits in the marketplace at high prices. My master said this year’s stock is all here, and that’s it. The price is much higher than usual…”
Da Niu carefully extended a finger.
“What? That expensive?!”
Wasn’t the one asking the price none other than Lu Hangzhi?
“Shh! A little insider info,” Da Niu said mysteriously, leaning in and lowering his voice. “I heard many cultivators planned to send gifts to Guard Camp Elder’s house today. There wasn’t a single Spirit Fruit left in the Marketplace, and even when people contacted the houses, everyone was preparing gifts and stopped selling! This is the last batch. If you don’t buy now, the price might double by tomorrow.”
Feng Ru finally spotted someone selling Spirit Fruits and rushed over anxiously. Just then, he overheard the conversation and broke out in a cold sweat immediately.
This was serious.
No wonder there were no Spirit Fruits in the Marketplace—they had all been bought up.
Gritting his teeth, Feng Ru squeezed between the two and declared firmly,
“I’ll take all these Spirit Fruits!”
“Three Spirit Coins each, right? Here.”
He tossed out one Low-Grade Spirit Stone and a small pouch containing seventy Spirit Coins. The two attendants behind him cooperated seamlessly, quickly snatching up the nine boxes of Spirit Fruits before the other two could react, then turned around and left.
“Hmph!”
Feng Ru was smug. “Good thing I acted decisively, or I wouldn’t have had tonight’s gifts ready in time.”
Even though he overpaid by ninety Spirit Coins, as a town guard, he didn’t care at all.
After closing the deal, Lu Hangzhi wasn’t ready to call it a day.
Even though the earlier transaction had involved some trickery, every time an Elder took office, a flood of gift-givers showed up. Notably, one essential trendy gift was Spirit Fruits!
Spirit Wine and Spirit Tea were too expensive!
Spirit Spring had no flavor!
Spiritual Grain was too common!
Spirit Fruits were the best—pleasing to the eye, sweet and tasty, reasonably priced, and suitable for all ages.
“Da Niu, contact those suppliers right away. Buy Spirit Fruits at the usual price and spend all the Spirit Coins.”
Though Da Niu didn’t quite understand how reselling Spirit Fruits made so much profit, he trusted Lu Hangzhi completely and always obeyed without question. Without inquiring further, he focused on the task.
Not long after, he reached several suppliers and exchanged the Spirit Coins and Spirit Stones for fifteen boxes of Spirit Fruits.
Moreover, Da Niu managed to get another fifteen boxes from his main supplier—almost their entire stock.
Both of them were thrilled!
They began lying in wait.
Soon after they deliberately spread the insider rumors, more and more cultivators indeed began appearing in the Marketplace.
They were all searching for Spirit Fruits as gifts.
Da Niu could no longer handle the situation, especially when trying to raise prices in front of real cultivators—that would be asking for trouble.
That’s where background came into play.
Lu Hangzhi set up the stall himself.
The small seal script characters on his lapel stood out sharply.
Passing cultivators who stopped by all paused for a moment to glance at the emblem on Lu Hangzhi’s lapel, then asked for the price.
“One box of Spirit Fruits costs forty Spirit Coins. Minimum purchase of two boxes.”
Now that he was a First Grade Cultivator, Lu Hangzhi faced the probing gazes of these cultivators calmly, keeping a straight face.
“That’s pricey.”
“Fine, I’ll take two boxes.”
Although annoyed, none of them intended to get angry over a few dozen Spirit Coins with a servant backed by the Zhu Residence—at least not within Violet Cloud Town.
Once one person bit the bullet, others felt justified accepting the price of four Spirit Coins per Spirit Fruit. The thirty boxes of Spirit Fruits quickly dwindled.
Interestingly, as the Spirit Fruits were about to run out, the last five boxes were snapped up at a high price of six Spirit Coins each.
Holding the heavy 1300 Spirit Coins he made, Lu Hangzhi fought back the urge to laugh hysterically, dusted himself off, and left.