Chapter 17 – What a Tragedy (1/2)
Chapter 17 – What a Tragedy
It was a sunny day. The cloudless sky looked spacious, as if had no boundaries.
Grey City was crowded with people, some were walking, while others were sitting in their carriages.
Cattle-fence Street was one of the most famous streets in this city, mainly due to its geographical location. It was in the center of Grey City, connecting the northern- and southern parts of the city. The former was for nobles, while the latter was for commoners. In this street, people would find various shops, which were dealing in exotic items. This was a place favored by both the rich and the poor – shopping on this street was like a treasure-hunting adventure, as you would never know what kind of treasure you would encounter next.
It was high noon; a pitiful bargaining was going on in one of the shops that dealt in magic crystals.
At this time of the day, most people were having their lunch or taking a nap, thus the number of visitors had somewhat decreased. However, there was still a teenager, roughly fifteen years old, who had stepped into a magic crystal shop.
This teenager was in plain clothing and scrawny, yet he was rather good-looking. He had directly went to the counter that displayed the lowest-grade magic crystals. Picking up five first-grade magic crystals, he scrutinized it meticulously before he inquired, “Excuse me, boss, what’s the price for five of these first-grade magic crystals?”
The boss of this shop was a middle-aged man, a fat dwarf. Seeing a customer entering his shop, he automatically forced a big smile onto his face. Ironically, when he realized that this teenager was only interested in the lowest grade magic crystals, his fake smile immediately disappeared. “80 crystal coins per piece, for five pieces, it is a total of 400 crystal coins.”
“What? 80 per piece? This is robbery!” The teenager shouted in defiance.
The dumpy shopkeeper curled his lips carelessly; he was quite used to this kind of bargaining, “This is the market price. Buy it or leave.”
“Market price? As far as I know, there is a shop nearby that sells them for 70 crystal coins per piece.” The teenager replied.
“Alright, 70 crystal coins, deal!” The shopkeeper decided to slightly compromise.
“Hehe, you know, I didn’t buy from that shop for 70 crystal coins, hoping there would be more favorable prices somewhere else… Please, lower the price a bit more.” The teenager kept on bargaining.
“Oh, God... 65 crystal coins. No less.” The middle-aged boss sighed.
“Hey, boss, I find that your business is quite lucrative. Look, I know you purchase the magic crystals from the southern Wild Mountain Range, whom you roughly pay 10 crystal coins per piece. Yet, when you sell it here in Grey City, the unit price suddenly spirals to 65 crystal coins, or even higher. What a profit! Shame on you and all of the other unscrupulous and greedy merchants!” Unexpectedly, the teenager intensified his negotiations.
Looking at the angry teenager, who was verbally attacking him, the shopkeeper went into a fury, “Shut up, little kid! Do you even known how far it is from the Wild Mountain Range to Grey City? We have to spend money hiring security guards to escort our team to transport the purchased goods along the way. Plus, the annual rent for this shop is also high. Ok, I won’t waste my time explaining to you why we set this kind of price. If you cannot afford this price, just leave my shop.”
Interestingly, the teenager didn’t seem to have any intention to stop bargaining, “We’re about 230,000 meters away from the Wild Mountain Range. To my knowledge, the payments for security guards are quite low. Besides, the quantity is large for each transport. On average, it would probably cost you one or two crystal coins for each item you bring. Well, as for the rent, as far as I know, it only costs you 50 purple crystal coins each year, which is equivalent to 5,000 crystal coins. Is that right, boss? Ok… Honestly, I didn’t intend to embarrass you. All I really need is a lower price.”
“Er… How do you know so much? You are such a ‘professional’ bargainer… Well, well, 50 crystal coins per piece, and that’s final.” The shopkeeper was shocked by the teenager’s knowledge with regards to his business.
“Oh, nice…” The teenager finally smiled with a sense of achievement.
When the teenager rummaged through his pockets for money, a brilliant idea flashed through his mind. He didn’t take out the money, instead, he secretly whispered in the ear of the shopkeeper, “Boss, I’ve heard that by showing the golden token of the Ye Family I’ll get a 50% discount, is that true?”
“Y… Yeah. Why are you asking this? Do you have one?” The dumpy shopkeeper replied in suspicion. He was curious why this plain-clothed young man mentioned the golden token, as it was a symbol of high social status. After all, only lineal descendants were allowed to use it. And the lineal descendants of the Ye Family were never anxious about money. Therefore, seldom did they show this golden token for a preferable price.
“Haha!” The teenager embarrassingly touched his head, giving out a hollow laughter. Soon, he took out a golden token, on which the word “Ye” was visibly sculptured.
“I am a distant relative of young lord Qingkuang of the Ye Family. So… I borrowed this golden token from him. Ok, let’s settle our account, boss.” The teenager explained.
“Ok, 125 crystal coins in total.” The shopkeeper reluctantly replied. Actually, he felt fortunate that this customer was only interested in first-grade magic crystals. If the teenager bought higher-grade ones, like the fifth-grade or the sixth-grade, the deal would be even less profitable.
“Alright, take the money. Bye! I will patronage your shop whenever I have time.” The teenager held the five magic crystals in his hands, as he triumphantly strode out of the shop.
A girl in a white dress was waiting outside the shop, “Brother, have you bought the magic crystals?”
Obviously, the brother and sister were Qinghan and Qingyu.
Qinghan nodded hastily as he looked around like an attempted thief, “Let’s go home first.”