Chapter 369: Black market, Yunxi’s brilliant scheme (1/2)
Chapter 369: Black market, Yunxi’s brilliant scheme
Han Yunxi was given a fright as soon as the old man raised his head. One of his eyes was completely blind, and his face was covered in wrinkles. His ferocious expression made him look absolutely hideous!
Long Feiye remained silent, but dropped a gold ingot into the man’s hands instead of speaking. Despite being half-blind, the old man still was deft enough to catch the gold. He bit into it to make sure it was authentic before changing his attitude 180 degrees. Even his voice grew a few shades warmer.
“Sir, please come in!”
Han Yunxi glanced at the gold, feeling pained for His Highness Duke of Qin’s sake! Just how much wealth did he have? He was always so liberal with his money. Despite his collection of properties, he shouldn’t be making wild profits left and right. Outsiders couldn’t even begin to guess the full extent of his riches, and she herself only knew he had a limitless gold card and a bracelet worth the value of an entire nation.
Did he dig up some treasure somewhere?
The old man led the way inside, where they began a steady descent. Soon enough, a lively underground world revealed itself to Han Yunxi’s eyes. This place was a literal subterranean city. Aside from its location, it had no differences with cities found aboveground. There were streets full of shops and magnificent buildings. Everything one expected to find in a town were all present. Lanterns lit the way in its everbright domain. Different from the long-standing Three-Way Black Market, the Sky Domain Black Market only came into existence after the creation of Tianning Country. The powers controlling it were unknown.
However, the so-called Sky Domain Association was in charge of all affairs here. Its members were comprised of powerful figures in all sorts of professions and industries. They held loose rein over matters in the black market, only taking care to collect their protection fees from the various dealers who did business here. There were no limits on who could access the black market, either. Anyone was welcome to come and leave as they pleased. Of course, such loose rein only hinted towards the true strength of the black market owners. They were powerful enough to even ignore government officials who wanted to slip in and inspect the place.
Nonetheless, black markets had always existed in Cloud Realm Continent’s history. The imperial courts would only crack down and ban the smaller ones, but never did much against the larger markets. That was because the powers behind such markets had complicated connections. It was extremely possible that the palace would end up smashing its own foot if it investigated them too deeply. In truth, Long Feiye was putting himself in great danger by personally investigating the imperial uncle here. The Sky Domain Association would be sure to protect all transactions done in the market. He was standingopposite of the entire Association, which meant he’d become their enemy as soon as he made a fuss. There was even the possibility that he’d be the enemy of all black markets across the entire continent.
Han Yunxi followed Long Feiye past a few streets, looking at the wealth of items up for sale. She lowered her voice and said, “Your Highness, this is a big risk.”
“The imperial uncle’s estate is even more detestable than Tianhui. He has to be eliminated!” Long Feiye was determined.
After taking Han Yunxi to stroll around for a bit, they finally came to the grain exchange district. Unlike the lively, bustling scene of the other streets, it was very quiet here. Only a few stores were open for business, but even those had scant customers inside. Though some of these store owners were selling their own grain, the majority of merchants here were middlemen in charge of the money.
All they cared about was the cash, not the details of buying and selling.
If anyone wanted to buy grain, they could contact such middlemen, who would find them an appropriate seller. The same worked in reverse, where sellers could find them to seek out proper buyers. Some middlemen were only in charge of matching up sellers and buyers. Some would perform the transaction on behalf of both parties while keeping their respective identities anonymous. Naturally, middlemen received differing amounts of payment for different types of transactions. Confidential deals like this were commonplace aboveground too, but the middlemen of Sky Domain Black Market were far more professional and dealt with much more money.
Han Yunxi didn’t understand much about this, so Long Feiye explained it all to her while holding her hand during their stroll. She was smart enough to understand the rest with just a hint, leaving Long Feiye quite pleased. The two of them pretended to be sellers and scoped out deals from various stores. The situation nearly left Han Yunxi laughing out loud. Everyone mentioned that there were 100,000 dan of grain for sale, but nobody bothered to speak of the imperial uncle’s 50,000 dan. The 100,000 dan for sale was obviously Long Feiye’s idea, which had already caused a stir in the black market before they’d even arrived. Originally, everyone had been talking about the imperial uncle’s 50,000 dan, but now nobody was interested in the sale.
“Shopkeeper, we can’t afford to buy 100,000 dan of grain. Do you have 50,000 dan for sale?” Han Yunxi asked modestly.
“Patron, grain isn’t very pricey right now. Moreover, 100,000 dan isn’t that much more expensive. If you can come here, why would you be lacking in money?” the shopkeeper asked with a smile. The more he could sell, the higher commission fees they’d earn. Of course they’d try to make the better deal.
“Then, which one has the lower starting price, 100,000 dan or 50,000 dan?” Han Yunxi asked next.
“100,000 dan, 100,000 dan! Patron, you might not know, but the seller of 100,000 dan is anxious to get the grain off their hands and change it into real cash! Apparently they’re selling it at a low price. If you want to know more details, I can help you scope them out.”
See how eagerly he was promoting the 100,000 dan of grain! All Long Feiye did was spread news that 100,000 dan of grain was up for sale. He didn’t release any details about the price, but these middlemen would simply make things up out of thin air. That was the nature of the market. If there was a chance for profit, they’d even call dead people, living and rename black as white. One person could spread the lie to ten, then ten to 100, until everyone believed it was the truth. Some items would skyrocket in price as a result, while others would come crashing down.
Since the shopkeeper was offering to look into the rumors, he’d likely want to be paid for his services. Long Feiye and Han Yunxi naturally refused his services. Stores like these were just made to take their money. When deals were as big as this, the most they’d do was find you another middleman instead of the actual seller himself. Judging from the current situation, the imperial uncle’s 50,000 dan was due to be wholly reduced in price. Long Feiye was quite satisfied with the results, and took Han Yunxi over to a small grain shop.
After exchanging a secret code word, the shopkeeper led them to the back courtyard, where Chu Xifeng and a middle-aged merchant were waiting for them. Han Yunxi immediately understood that this was Long Feiye’s hideout in the Sky Domain Black Market!
“Master, they’ll be meeting at the Lin Clan’s grain shop tonight at Zi hour–between 11PM and 1AM. Only three major merchants will be attending: the Lin Clan from Yucheng, the Wang Clan from Yuzhou, and the Ouyang Clan from Luocheng,” Chu Xifeng reported honestly. He had been investigating the black market ever since the conclusion of the charity auction. If His Highness’s injury hadn’t delayed him, they might have uncovered the imperial uncle’s spokesperson long ago.