Chapter 217

The shop's layout is divided into two sections: one is a traditional drawer-style medicine cabinet, the other is a relatively modern shop counter.

Ye Cheng walked to the counter and took a look; the glass counter mainly held ginseng, American ginseng, deer antler and such, some sliced, some whole, with a bit of bird's nest in the corner.

"Hello, sir, what would you like to buy? Everything in our Hall of Shared Virtue is genuine and fairly priced." A young girl greeted him.

Ye Cheng pointed at the bird's nest and said, "Do you buy bird's nest here?"

The girl was momentarily stumped by Ye Cheng's question, but quickly replied, "You want to sell bird's nest, right?"

"Yes, I have some; let's see if you'll take them."

"Please wait a moment, I'll get our master to have a look; I'm not too familiar with this."

The girl said and went into the back room, soon returning with an elderly man dressed in a scholarly manner.

"This is our Shopkeeper Hu," the girl introduced.

Ye Cheng nodded; the shopkeeper's manner was like something from the Qing dynasty.

Shopkeeper Hu clasped his hands toward Ye Cheng and said, "Little brother, do you have bird's nest to sell?"

"Hmm, I have some; take a look."

Ye Cheng took a piece of bird's nest from his bag; upon seeing it, Shopkeeper Hu's eyes narrowed briefly, then returned to calm.

He took it, glanced at it casually, placed it on the counter, and began to nitpick,

"This bird's nest has a lot of impurities—see, there are bird feathers, the color isn't very white, and the shape is poor, uneven thickness."

Ye Cheng stood silently, watching his performance.

Doing business is like dating; if they don't take a liking to you, they won't give you an extra word.

After saying all that, the old man actually meant one thing: he had already taken a liking to it.

After he finished, Ye Cheng calmly replied, "Then give me a price."

Shopkeeper Hu's eyes flickered with delight; this youngster had been cowed by his words and would surely accept a low price today.

"Like this, you see our bird's nest sells for 2000 per jin; I'll give you 500 per jin."

The old man said while pointing to a few boxed bird's nest gifts on his counter, priced at 2000 per jin.

It must be said, this bird's nest is snow‑white and lustrous, giving an impression of high quality at first glance.

However, anyone who often buys vegetables knows not to pick overly green ones, because of excessive pesticide.

Natural things naturally have natural flaws.

His two boxes of bird's nest being this white can only mean two possibilities: either they've been bleached, or they're fake.

Of course, whether it's genuine or fake is their concern; Ye Cheng doesn't care, he only wants to mind his own business.

The old man actually quoted a price of 500 per jin without blushing, which Ye Cheng also admired.

He lightly tapped the glass twice, making the old man's eyebrows twitch twice, wondering if he had set the price too low.

"Let me offer a price, see if it works," Ye Cheng said calmly.

"Sure, doing business means everything is negotiable," Shopkeeper Hu said with a smile, indicating that by naming a price the youngster had basically accepted the 500 offer.

After that, the price would be negotiated based on 500; no matter how they talked, he would still profit.

Ye Cheng silently held up two fingers.

Shopkeeper Hu shook his head: "Little fellow, I offered 500, you're asking 2000—that's too much, we can't talk."

"No," Ye Cheng said firmly, "I'm offering 20,000."

"What?! How much?!"

Shopkeeper Hu jumped, his mouth wide open, staring at Ye Cheng in disbelief, his glasses almost falling off.

The professional smile of the girl standing aside froze, her face stiff as she looked at Ye Cheng, wondering if he was an idiot.

"Our boss offered 500, you're offering 20,000—that's too exaggerated," the girl said directly.

"Just 20,000—take it or leave it," Ye Cheng said very definitely.

Their voices weren't low, instantly drawing many gazes over.

Especially the figure 20,000 was eye‑catching, and a few onlookers gathered to watch the fun.

"Yo, what's worth 20,000?"

"This bird's nest is 20,000; the kid's got a bit of a black heart."

"Exactly, you see this white bird's nest sells for only 2000, and you're asking 20,000—tsk tsk, that's a bit over the top."

Seeing that the crowd supported him, Shopkeeper Hu also tried to persuade Ye Cheng,

"Like this, little brother, I see you harvested it yourself, which is hard work. You're also pretty honest, so I'll make an exception today and give you a flat rate of 999—how about that?"

As soon as Shopkeeper Hu finished speaking, the girl beside him exclaimed exaggeratedly, grabbing him: "No way, boss, this price is too high; the owner will scold you when he returns."

Shopkeeper Hu sighed, speaking earnestly to the girl: "I know the boss will scold me, but we can't let the working people suffer loss; the price is set at 999! Young man, come on, bring out however much you have!"

"If you're late, it'll be too late!!!"

The old man's passionate speech instantly earned a round of applause.

"Nowadays there are few merchants like this who still know how to give a discount."

"Doing business is about being a person; Shopkeeper Hu is too righteous."

"Better to be scolded than abandon one's principles—good person!"

"That's why I've always gotten my medicine at the Hall of Shared Virtue."

"Young man, 999 per jin—double the 500—you're really lucky to meet such a good person as Shopkeeper Hu; hurry up and sell."

"Exactly, one should be grateful."

Watching the two perform with animated brows, Ye Cheng felt a bit dazed, wondering if he hadn't been reborn.

He truly hadn't expected to see such future‑era live‑stream sales tactics as early as 2002.

This set of lines is so familiar that many jokes are used to mock live‑stream selling.

【Family, today we don't want 999, we don't want 99, just 9.9, and we'll also throw in two extra packs!】

【What? The manufacturer disagrees? Don't worry about the manufacturer, today I'm going to give everyone benefits: 9.9 for three boxes with free shipping, come on, 123, give me the link!】

Damn, you two couldn't also be reborn, could you? You even know how to play the 999 routine.

And here comes a boss who'll scold.

Fuck!

Looking at the people around, it's obvious they haven't seen this routine before.

They're eating shit and loving it.

Running into this kind of person, Ye Cheng couldn't be bothered to talk, just chalking it up to bad luck.

Let's hurry and leave.

Just as Ye Cheng was about to take his things, suddenly, an annoying voice came from behind,

"Yo, isn't this Ye Lao Er?"

Ye Cheng turned his head and saw a young man and woman push out of the crowd, dressed to impress, clearly doing well for themselves.

The speaker was that guy, now standing there with a smug look, apparently waiting for Ye Cheng to recognize him so he could rush over and suck up.