Chapter 1578: Contact

"I've come to visit uninvited, I hope Brother He will forgive me!" He turned back to introduce Tian Yun. "This is the president of the Zhengxin Chamber of Commerce I mentioned, Mr. Tian Yun." He Lingchuan looked at Tian Yun, and their eyes met, both evaluating each other.

On the surface, both were very polite.

Although He Lingchuan was a popular figure in the Yao Court and the entire Heaven Water City, his status here was that of a big merchant, and he wasn't arrogant toward his peers.

He Lingchuan laughed as soon as he heard. "Good, good, Mr. Tian has come at a good time, but you'll have to wait a moment now; I have something to do at Apricot Terrace."

Tian Yun had good manners. "No rush, Mr. He, please proceed."

Fan Shuang was curious. "What are you doing here?"

Two months ago, this place was a sea of gold with layers of forest dyed in color, a good place to enjoy the scenery; but now the fallen leaves were rustling and the cold wind was biting, what was there to play with?

He Lingchuan waved his hand. "Come over."

Before the two had taken a step, over twenty people walked out from behind Apricot Terrace, all carrying shovels.

He Lingchuan pointed at Tian Yun, who felt a slight shock in his heart and subconsciously became alert. The few beetles that had been following behind felt their master's tension and flew over, flapping their wings.

But He Lingchuan's next sentence was: "Sorry to trouble you to move aside."

Tian Yun stepped back, and the group walked to the position where he had originally stood, directly shoveling the soil.

He Lingchuan laughed. "I just heard that the owner before the last buried a batch of apricot wine under the old apricot tree ten years ago. If we really dig it out, I'll give you two a jar each."

"So elegant?" Fan Shuang clapped his hands. "Good, good!"

Tian Yun also touched his nose, using this action to wave away the small insects flying toward him. But one of the beetles retreated too slowly, and a guard behind He Lingchuan flicked his finger, shooting it down with a 'swish'.

Water couldn't even splash in, and not even an insect could touch him; the personal security of the man surnamed He was indeed tight. Tian Yun's expression remained normal, and he didn't even look at the beetle on the ground.

Over a dozen farmers dug for over a dozen shovels, about three feet deep into the ground, when someone shouted, "Got it, got it."

With this digging, they really dug out over twenty dark jars. He Lingchuan grabbed a jar casually, smashed the mud seal, and a rich aroma of wine rushed to his nose.

"There really is treasure!" He laughed loudly. "Come, take two jars of wine and send them to the two guests' carriage!"

Someone on the side immediately responded, "Yes."

Having dug out the aged apricot wine, He Lingchuan ignored the big pit on the ground and turned back to walk into Apricot Terrace. "Come."

He didn't look back; Tian Yun followed less than five feet behind, his index finger unable to stop twitching a few times.

If he were to launch a sudden attack now, what would be the probability of success? But there were too many guards here; he only had one chance, and if the first strike failed, he could only flee. Moreover, that Wei Yishan wasn't here either.

Tian Yun thought it over and gave up this tempting idea.

Just at this moment, He Lingchuan looked back at him. "Where is Mr. Tian from?"

"Peng River."

"Oh? Mr. Tian is not from the Yao Nation?" Peng River was a large river west of the Yao Nation.

"No." Tian Yun smiled, and the mole on the corner of his eyebrow seemed to jump up. "In the commercial firms mixed in Heaven Water City, at least five out of ten are not opened by Yao people themselves."

"That's true." He Lingchuan himself was a foreign merchant. "Then what business does Mr. Tian's commercial firm focus on?"

"Medicinal materials, fine pets."

"Fine pets?" He Lingchuan was hearing this category for the first time.

"Yes, that is, pets kept by wealthy families, such as monkeys, parrots, cats, dogs, and the like. The rarer the breed, the higher the price." Tian Yun introduced. "But this is a niche business, and not many people handle it."

"Oh, live animals?" He Lingchuan understood. "Are there any large, rare, fierce pets?"

"Yes, white tigers, white elephants, seven-star vipers. If Island Master He is interested, shall I give you one to play with?"

"Forget it, forget it, I'm busy from morning till night, where would I have time to walk animals?" He Lingchuan waved his hand. "Besides, if I were to keep one, I'd keep a spirit pet; at least it would have to be a three-legged, three-eyed golden toad."

Both laughed, and Tian Yun said, "Island Master He is humorous."

Walking into the viewing terrace and up to the second floor, He Lingchuan said to Tian Yun, "Let me broaden my horizons."

Tian Yun looked at the several guards around.

He Lingchuan didn't wave the guards away, only saying, "It doesn't matter, they are all my family."

Tian Yun pressed the storage ring on his hand and slapped it onto the table—

Clatter, clatter, a small pile of Profound Crystals poured out of the ring, directly piling up into a point on the tabletop.

It was morning, and the sunlight shone through the window, just hitting these Profound Crystals, exploding into a riot of colors that almost blinded people.

That kind of crystal clarity was as if the whole table was full of crystals.

But everyone present knew that its value was more than a hundred times that of crystals. Fan Shuang subconsciously held his breath; the number of Profound Crystals was even more than what Tian Yun had poured out last night! He Lingchuan leaned closer. "Let me take a look?"

"Island Master He, please feel free."

So He Lingchuan put on gloves and flipped through the Profound Crystals on the table.

The lowest-grade Profound Crystals here were dark green, as large as an unpeeled coconut; the best were chicken-blood red, which were truly as bright as the evening glow, without a trace of impurity.

But they were only the size of a duck egg.

Overall, although there were many Profound Crystals, their sizes were generally not large; some were only the size of a pinky finger, and it would take a long time to look at them one by one.

But for something with such a high unit price, who wouldn't identify them one by one? He Lingchuan checked carefully while flipping through them. Tian Yun stood by with his hands behind his back, looking very patient, but actually wishing he would look as slowly as possible.

The insects Tian Yun had released were flying around the villa at this time.

The villa was too large, and there were too many corners that needed exploring, so he had to buy a little more time.

The control range of the insects was limited; once he left the villa, this kind of exploration would be unsustainable.

According to the feedback from the insects, there were many people in the villa, and guards were everywhere. Everyone else lived inside the main buildings, which was convenient for serving the villa owner, because the trees in this season had basically shed their leaves, and the ripe fruit had been picked and sent to the cold cellar.

The insects hadn't found the person Tian Yun wanted to see.

When He Lingchuan checked the Profound Crystals, he also secretly praised them. It had to be said that the quality of these Profound Crystals was truly good, and the total price would be a very astonishing number.

In fact, the Soul-Absorbing Mirror in his arms was identifying them faster than he was: "Hmm, this light purple one still has patterns, not bad! Pick up the orange-red one and take a look, it feels a bit fake... oh no, it's the original color. And that dark yellow one—"

He Lingchuan picked it up and waited for what it had to say next.

As a result, the mirror's voice was full of flattery: "—Can you give this one to me?"

"..."

In short, it was already a quarter of an hour later after verifying all the Profound Crystals.

"They are indeed all genuine." He Lingchuan put down the last Profound Crystal. "President Tian is truly amazing. Even President Feng of the Deyou Chamber of Commerce, I estimate he wouldn't be able to take out so many Profound Crystals!"

Profound Crystals were small in volume but high in unit price; just these on the table couldn't be bought for less than 500,000 taels of silver.

Tian Yun knew he was fishing for information, so he laughed. "It was a coincidence before. The Long Mountain tribe in the northeast of the Flash Gold Plain wanted to go to war but had no money, so they dumped their collection to me. There is a Profound Crystal vein in their territory, which is the root cause of their perennial wars, and these Profound Crystals—"

He pointed to the pile of shiny things on the table. "—are the collection they gathered over many years, and the quality is very high."

"President Tian has truly caught a stroke of heaven-sent luck." He Lingchuan picked up the duck-egg-sized blood-red Profound Crystal and played with it. "Please name your price."

"I don't want much." Tian Yun held up two fingers. "One million taels!"

Fan Shuang, on the side, gasped.

His family earned tens of thousands of taels by reselling properties, and they were as happy as the New Year. Look at Island Master He and this President surnamed Tian; what level of transactions were they handling!

He Lingchuan gently put down the Profound Crystal in his hand. "President Tian, the quality of these Profound Crystals is indeed solid, but your asking price is indeed high."

Tian Yun smiled. "Good goods aren't cheap; we both know that."

He Lingchuan walked to the side of the terrace and overlooked the entire apricot forest. "With such a huge sum converted from so many Profound Crystals, how does President Tian plan to use it?"

Seeing this batch of Profound Crystals, he was indeed tempted. He still had a bit of spare cash that hadn't been converted into supplies, but time was very tight; if he could take in this batch of Profound Crystals on the table, it would be the perfect ending for his acquisition of supplies in the Yao Nation.

He Lingchuan didn't mind using his own principal to acquire Profound Crystals. This thing was hard currency everywhere; even if the Emperor's Dew occurred frequently later, the price of Profound Crystals would only fluctuate, and even if it fell sharply now, it would rise sooner or later.

But Tian Yun's opening price was a bit of a lion's roar.

He Lingchuan couldn't feel his sincerity.

Tian Yun let out a long sigh. "There are so many mouths to feed under my command, and the business is at a bottleneck, needing a lot of money to turn around. Also, I have my eye on properties in the Upper Lake District, the East District, and the Lan River, and I want to buy them all."

Fan Shuang reminded him, "There is a limit on the sale of land plots in the New City, limited to three plots per person."

Tian Yun shook his head. "I'm buying from others' hands, so I'm not subject to this restriction; for example, I bought from Magistrate Fan's family."

Fan Shuang felt embarrassed.

He Lingchuan laughed. "Since President Tian is sincere about selling, let's negotiate properly. I'll offer 300,000 taels."

When Fan Shuang heard this, good heavens, he cut 70% right off the bat.

Tian Yun's face changed. "Island Master He offering this price shows you aren't very sincere."

He Lingchuan changed the subject and suddenly asked, "When did President Tian come to Heaven Water City?"

Tian Yun didn't expect him to change so quickly; he was stunned for a moment before saying, "Oh, I just arrived less than five days ago."

"How long had it been since you were here before?"

"About half a year."

"That's no wonder." He Lingchuan laughed. "In fact, the current market price of Profound Crystals in Heaven Water City no longer supports President Tian's expectations."

Recently, Profound Crystals had fallen across the board, and the price was only 85% of what it used to be.

Tian Yun shook his head. "Forgive me for being blunt, but for such rare treasures as Profound Crystals, the more there are, the higher the price; this is what's called 'large quantity means luxury'. Island Master He, you couldn't purchase so many high-quality Profound Crystals at once anywhere else in Heaven Water City—no, anywhere in the Flash Gold Plain."

The two sides bargained, spending over a quarter of an hour, and the price was ground down from one million to about 700,000. ===== CHAPTER 1579 =====