Chapter 3981 — The Price of a Trade
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Then... ten pieces of spirit jade. Surely that's no small sum!" Kang Jingming said hastily.
"Not enough." Wei Zhao lifted his eyelids faintly.
"Twenty pieces of spirit jade, and not one piece more. Otherwise go find someone else—I'd rather like to see how much they'd be willing to give you!" Kang Jingming said, grinding his teeth.
Fine as Peak No. 1 cave dwelling was, more than half of the one-year term the Welcome Pavilion granted newcomers had already elapsed. In other words, Kang Jingming's terms amounted to trading twenty pieces of spirit jade for half a year's right to use Peak No. 1 cave dwelling—a better deal than which it would be all but impossible to find under heaven.
Of course, Kang Jingming was never the sort to take a loss for nothing. He dared set such a price because he had counted on the rumors that had been circulating about Wei Zhao—the rumors that Wei Zhao could not tell good jade from worthless, and had been tricked again and again by Meng Zhou and his like into trading good jade for scraps.
Twenty pieces of fine jade would have pained him to death. But twenty pieces of worthless jade—that was no problem at all. He could lay hands on them in a matter of minutes.
Wei Zhao knew this perfectly well. He scoffed inwardly, but his tone remained mild. "Grand Steward Kang is indeed a personage of consequence—generous the moment he opens his mouth. A pity I don't think much of your twenty pieces of spirit jade at all."
Aiya! Kang Jingming nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood. He stared at Wei Zhao in utter disbelief. Damn it, is there a hole in this thing's brain? He doesn't think much of twenty pieces of spirit jade? Who the hell does he think he is?
Could it be that this creature had already seen through his ill intentions? Kang Jingming's heart gave a thump. His face ugly, he said, "Wei Zhao, one should never push things to the extreme. I advise you not to bully others too far!"
"Never push things to the extreme? I hadn't realized Grand Steward Kang was so understanding of reason. A pity you don't seem to have grasped that yourself." Wei Zhao curled his lip mockingly, making Kang Jingming flush green and purple by turns, and only then continued, "I may as well be plain with you. I don't want spirit jade. What I want is spirit herb seeds."
At these words, not only Kang Jingming but even Xu Lingchong was struck dumb. Set twenty pieces of spirit jade beside spirit herb seeds, and any normal person would know which to choose. Spirit herb seeds held the hope of being cultivated to viability, yes—but unless one were in a proper place like a spirit herb garden, the odds of survival were vanishingly small. To the vast majority of people, they were little more than chicken ribs.
And yet, back in the spirit herb assessment, Wei Zhao had once pulled off the mad feat of cultivating thirty-nine out of forty spirit herb seeds to viability. Whatever means he had used, in his hands spirit herb seeds might truly become a money-printing machine.
"How many spirit herb seeds do you want?" Kang Jingming asked in a low voice.
That Wei Zhao wanted no spirit jade and had instead asked for spirit herb seeds was not, to his mind, bad news. Thanks to Xu Lingchong's patronage, he had recently established connections with no few persons of real power in the Pill Hall. Even if that Steward Linghua of the spirit herb garden had been somewhat cool toward him since the business of slandering Wei Zhao, obtaining a few spirit herb seeds was still no trouble at all.
Spirit herb seeds were goods the Pill Hall cultivated in bulk. Though by regulation they could neither be bought nor found outside, everyone knew their value was not high—otherwise the Hall would never have handed them out in such quantities, knowingly wasting them, to the newcomers for assessment purposes. R1152