Chapter 3740 — Sorry About That
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Sir, what do you say?" The shopkeeper turned to Yu Jiang.
The meaning was plain: if he could not bid higher, then this one-of-a-kind Star Ink Stone would go to Wei Zhao.
Yu Jiang fell silent for a moment, then shot Wei Zhao a venomous glare. He was determined to have the Star Ink Stone; he would not suffer anyone else to lay a finger on it!
Yet Wei Zhao never once looked his way. In a place like this, spirit jades did the talking—whoever held the most held the right to speak. Glaring at him now was of no use to Yu Jiang at all.
"I bid twelve hundred spirit jades!" Yu Jiang finally ground out through clenched teeth. "The Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pills are worth four hundred spirit jades—but that is the selling price. I imagine the buyback price is not so high, is it?"
Twelve hundred spirit jades—that was the limit of what he could scrape together. Not one jade more was possible.
Even usurers who lent at exorbitant interest had to size up their man. If a borrower was plainly beyond his capacity to repay, they simply would not lend—otherwise the money was as good as thrown into the water, and killing the man would not recover the debt.
And though Yu Jiang was an inner disciple of the Skyward Pavilion, his background was nowhere near as deep as that of a young lord like Xu Lingchong. Ordinarily he could scrape together a thousand spirit jades at most; two hundred more was already a favor granted out of personal regard. To ask for anything beyond that was utterly out of the question.
Still, though he could bid no more than twelve hundred spirit jades, Yu Jiang remained confident he could seize the Star Ink Stone.
For although Wei Zhao's four hundred spirit jades plus two Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pills were in theory likewise worth twelve hundred spirit jades, one must not forget: four hundred spirit jades apiece was the Hong Clan Trading Company's own selling price.
That is to say, to the Hong Clan Trading Company, a single Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill cost far less than four hundred spirit jades to make. In their eyes, three hundred would already be the absolute ceiling of its worth.
So the two pills Wei Zhao had produced were worth six hundred spirit jades at most in a setting like this. Add the four hundred spirit jades, and his bid amounted to only a thousand—naturally no match for his own solid twelve hundred!
In truth, by that reasoning, Yu Jiang reckoned a bid of eleven hundred spirit jades would already have been enough to outstrip Wei Zhao. But he chose to name his limit outright in one breath. To make certain of the Star Ink Stone, he was staking everything.
Sure enough, the shopkeeper nodded and said to Wei Zhao, "That is correct. The selling price of the Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill is four hundred spirit jades, but if you wish to use it to settle the account, it must be reckoned at the buyback price—three hundred spirit jades each. Two pills plus four hundred spirit jades comes to a credited value of one thousand spirit jades."
After a pause, the shopkeeper added, "Of course, if another party were also bidding only a thousand spirit jades, we would still favor your two Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pills—it would save us some trouble in restocking. But as it stands, this gentleman bids twelve hundred spirit jades, so I am very sorry." (To be continued...)
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