Chapter 16 (1/2)
Obviously, the old man with the white beard had never seen such a child who had so much knowledge like An Zheng. However, his actions were hard to accept. He was thinking that it was stingy of An Zheng to buy a pearl with a few crushed stones. However, An Zeng’s next action, had made the people widened their eyes.
An Zheng picked one of out the crushed silver bars and gave it to the old man:
– “Or sell it to me?”
The old man with the white beard had no time to speak until An Zheng had picked out another bar:
– “So, I will pay a bit more… what shame! This item can only be worth that much, so paying more makes me hurt.”
– “Hmm!”
The old man with the white beard waved his hand once:
– Once The Value a.s.sembly Courtyard fixes its price, it cannot be changed.
An Zheng thought a bit and said:
– “Listen to me! If I can help you to earn the fifteen thousand liang's back, you will give me that pearl. Deal?”
The old man was surprised, and then he spoke in an ironical voice:
– “You child, although you know about the boil of the Water Python, I think this relates somehow to your living conditions. You look absolutely poor, so I am just afraid that you had to live on hunting. Therefore, you are healthy and have some knowledge. You may not have over two hundred liang's with you. I am only afraid that your money was made by someone rewarding you.
– Some dandies may think that you are such an interesting thing, so they keep you as their toy. If you think that you can rely on that dandy to be arrogant in this Value a.s.sembly Courtyard, no matter who your boss is, he will surely fail to protect you. I respect your boss in giving you a chance, go back to your seat!. You help me to earn fifteen thousand liang's back? On you own? If you really used to see what fifteen thousand liang's looked like, I would be your mount.”
The old man with the white beard was always a polite man. He would not have abused such a ragged youth like An Zheng in front of the valued guests. However, An Zheng had revealed and made him lost fifteen thousand liang's. “It’s fifteen thousand liang's! How many lives can it buy?”
– ”Will you keep your word?”
An Zheng smiled and said:
– “People usually say ‘an old hand is a good guide’. If I can help you to earn the fifteen thousand liang's back, then I will mount you home so that you can know where your house is.”
(An old hand is a good guide: An old horse will remember its way)
He came to the stone-striking area where the Jade Melon had just been stroke. This area was still full of the crushed stones which had not been sold yet.
An Zheng moved forward and sought the crushed stone pile. After that, he picked up a piece of the stone and gave it to the old man;
– “If this one cannot be sold for fifteen thousand liang's, I will be your mount. In the case that you can sell this one for more than fifteen thousand liang's, I don’t need to mount you, but you must give me the boil of the Water Python. After that, you must say “An ye, I was wrong.”
The old man was so angry that he started to laugh:
– “What a crazy child!”
An Zheng did not care about his words. He stepped on the stage and raised the stone up:
– “Anyone here knows this? Can you recognize the red line on the edge of this stone?”
All the people stood up and leaned forward to see. They opened their eyes widely. As An Zheng had revealed, they really saw the red line on the edge of the stone. Although there were no professional men of stone among the buyers, they were intellectual people. After a while, someone realized this and changed his look:
– “Spiritual Root? Is it a Spiritual Root?”
An Zheng stared at the old man with the white beard, and then he applauded:
– “This guest is really sharp, but you were wrong at one point. This is not an entire Spiritual Root. It was a Spiritual Root which nearly ran out of its power. Do you know why the former holly germ was small but had scratches like that? Because it was too greedy, it took thousands of years for the Earth in gathering its power to create a low-level holly germ, tens of thousands years for a medium-level one, and thirty thousand years for an elite one.
– The holly germ in that Jade Melon was originally a medium-level one. You have also known that the medium-level holly germs have spirits. When they become elite, they can even evolve into human form with spiritual power. Spiritual Treasure Stone is more dangerous than the greatest wild beasts. The medium-level holly germ in that Jade Melon had its spirit which most likely came from creed. Because it had wanted to reach the elite stage, it forced itself in creating the Spiritual Root so that it could try to consume the perfection of sky and earth in order to have evolved into a human.
– Anyway, it is only medium, so when its power turns into a Spiritual Root, it will have exhausted itself. The Spiritual Root without supporting power will also be exhausted. Anyhow, that nearly-wasted Spiritual Root can be used to refine a Life Extension Pellet if you know how to make use of it. I just ask one question… Isn’t it worthy to use fifteen thousand liang's to buy one life?”
On the second floor, everyone went out from their rooms. They held the balcony and looked at An Zheng. For them, a Life Extension Pellet was not a treasure, An Zheng was.
Chen ShaoBai mostly thought that he had found out a treasure. He was going to pick An Zheng to be his inferior because An Zheng had acted so wicked and absolute, but now he saw that the fellow was really talented.
– “I bet fifteen thousand liang's!”
A strong man raised his hand:
– “Men of the underworld are hard to avoid fighting and killing. With the Life Extension Pellet, a piece of breath is very important. Your father’s life cannot stop at fifteen thousand liang's even if it is at one hundred and fifteen thousand liang's. I will still buy this!”
– “I bet sixteen thousand liang's!”
– “I bet seventeen thousand liang's!”
– “I bet twenty thousand liang's!”
An Zheng heard a familiar voice. He turned back to look. That was the man who had used the twenty thousand liang's to buy the Jade Melon. He came back…
That man was obviously wealthy. From then on, the underworld would call him “Twenty Thousand Bro!”
– “It’s yours now!”
An Zheng stared at that man:
– You lost twenty thousand liang's to buy the holly germ. So, you are likely to be unfavorable, but fifteen thousand liang's for this one is not unfavorable at all.”
The young man was surprised:
– “Fifteen thousand liang's?”
An Zheng said:
– “Of course! I have been told that it cost about fifteen thousand liang's, so it just cost fifteen thousand, no more. This was picked up by me, so it can be seen as my free offer to the Value a.s.sembly Courtyard. So, what? You don’t respect the Value a.s.sembly Courtyard, do you?”
He turned back and looked at the old man with the white beard. He realized that the old man’s face was extremely awkward, sometimes white sometimes blue.
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About this old man, he had been the manager of the Value a.s.sembly Courtyard for decades. No good thing had he never met, so how could he have paid attention to such a wasted item like that? At that time however, the wasted item had cost fifteen thousand liang's. He saw An Zheng looking at him, for a while, he could not know what to say.