Chapter 808

Zhao Cang 【Zhao Chi, come to the Clan Head's house. Grandfather the Clan Head, Uncle, and I are all here. We want to find you and ask about the specifics.】

Zhao Chi 【Alright, wait for me a moment. I have some things I need to deal with urgently.】

Zhao Cang 【No problem.】

Zhao Chi actually had nothing to deal with.

But he hadn't expected to be called to a meeting.

A meeting would inevitably involve questions, and he was bound to say the wrong thing.

He needed time to think through the whole story in advance.

For something like this, naturally he had to discuss it with Gu Qing.

Gu Qing crossed her arms over her chest, lips pressed together.

"Mm… indeed we should think it through in advance. So let's the two of us run a simulation."

"A simulation?"

"Right." Gu Qing nodded. "I'll ask the questions, you answer. If you can't answer, we'll think together about how best to respond."

"Understood."

"If you have any questions, you can ask them too. Through the asking and answering, we can weave the whole thing together."

"Alright, let's begin."

The two went back and forth, asking question after question.

It covered every aspect.

Gu Qing was not a busty-but-empty-headed woman; quite the opposite—her mind was as outstanding as her figure.

In her head, besides that yellow junk… nourishment, there were many different ideas.

In just over ten minutes, the two of them had basically thought of answers for every aspect.

Among them, the fabricated master-level oil refiner was named Chen Dashi.

The name was taken from the surname of oil-refining squad leader Chen Hua.

Easy to remember that way, and the surname Chen is very common—there are plenty of Master Chens out there.

"Not bad, my lord. Our efficiency is pretty decent."

"Thanks to you. You're truly my capable right hand."

"Hehe, of course. You'd better hurry, my lord—don't keep the Clan Head and the others waiting too long. That wouldn't look good."

"Alright, I'm heading over now."

Zhao Chi arrived at the Greater World.

He went straight to the family's public hall.

Along the way, the number of family patrols was still considerable; no one had let down their guard.

After entering the Clan Head's house, Zhao Shizhang and the other two were all inside waiting for Zhao Chi.

"Clan Head, Uncle, Third Brother—sorry I'm late."

Zhao Shizhang laughed: "We only just arrived ourselves. Sit down."

Zhao Chi had just sat down when Uncle Zhao Qizong spoke up: "Zhao Chi, you actually managed to buy 1,800 liters of this Super-Bright Fire Oil? Does that master trust you that much?"

Gu Qing already anticipated this question.

Zhao Chi answered according to the prepared script.

And beyond that question, he went ahead and laid out the whole story as they had edited it.

Although some parts were vague, there was simply no way to verify them.

After Zhao Chi finished speaking, the three were silent for a moment.

Zhao Qizong asked again: "So you're saying this fire oil, besides being used by us, can also be sold? Are you certain?"

Zhao Chi nodded: "Chen Dashi didn't promise anything, but his meaning was—as long as our cooperation goes smoothly, he can't be bothered to find anyone else. After all, it's inconvenient for him to go out right now, so he leaves it to me to handle. We can sell it too, but we must keep it secret."

"Of course, that's a given. Set Chen Dashi's mind at ease." Zhao Qizong nodded repeatedly. "This Super-Bright Fire Oil may not be top-tier in necessity, but it's already quite good. At night it can expand the field of vision several times over—very practical!"

Zhao Shizhang asked: "Then how much does Chen Dashi hope to sell it for?"

"20 silver coins per liter, with adjustments based on the market afterward."

"I see…" Zhao Shizhang frowned. "That price is reasonable, though."

Zhao Cang said: "Clan Head, although the price is reasonable, we probably can't sell it for too much either. After all, ordinary fire oil only costs 1 silver coin per liter—this is a full twenty times the difference."

Zhao Qizong said: "Then can we sell it for 25 silver coins, or 30?"

Zhao Cang nodded: "Not certain yet, but I think 25 silver coins is doable; 30 would be a bit pricey. Unfortunately, things outside are too chaotic right now. We can only use it ourselves for now; selling will have to wait for the right moment."

Zhao Shizhang said: "Right. If things outside weren't so chaotic, Chen Dashi wouldn't have come to Zhao Chi in the first place. No matter—we'll take all 1,800 liters. Whatever he has afterward, we'll take it all."

Zhao Chi asked: "Understood. Then shall I bring the fire oil over now? Deliver it to Third Brother's territory?"

Zhao Shizhang nodded: "Fine, just deliver it to Zhao Cang's place."

Zhao Chi asked again: "With things so chaotic outside, do we still need to pay taxes? That's no small sum."

Zhao Shizhang laughed: "Outside is only chaotic right now, but the nobles haven't fallen. The final outcome of the war is completely unpredictable. If the nobles win in the end, not paying taxes during this period would be like adding insult to injury for them—they'd definitely come back to settle the score."

Zhao Qizong added: "Exactly. Although the tax amount is large, we can still afford it. At least it's much cheaper than the tribute to bandits—think of it as an indirect tribute to the nobles, buying peace in the future."

Zhao Chi nodded: "Understood. I'll go transport the fire oil now."

Zhao Shizhang said: "Good, then you two hurry along. We'll be able to use this Super-Bright Fire Oil tonight."

Zhao Chi and Zhao Cang left one after the other.

Zhao Shizhang asked: "Qizong, what do you think? How much of what Zhao Chi said is credible?"

Zhao Qizong said: "None of it can be verified, but the logic is all sound."

Zhao Shizhang nodded: "Yes. My worry is being used by someone with ulterior motives."

Zhao Qizong said, "What's there to exploit? Money for goods, and the price is fair and reasonable. That Ultra-Bright Fire Oil is actually useful to us right now — not just for patrolling the village, it's useful in our territory too."

Zhao Shizhang said nothing more.

He silently gazed at the courtyard outside the door.

After returning to his territory, Zhao Chi immediately loaded the fire oil for transport.

A full 1,800 liters, packed into two large wooden barrels, placed on two wooden carts, pulled by four female soldiers.

Such a large excess of fire oil — the system would surely levy tax on it according to the rate for improved fire oil.

At the very least, several dozen gold coins in tax.

Just hand over that much money like that?

Pay?

Pay my ass!

Zhao Chi pulled out one Chaos Marker Talisman and scrambled the coordinates of Taoyuan Village.

Let those nobles chase down taxes based on the scrambled coordinates.

This Chaos Marker Talisman really is pretty good.

Then he selected Zhao Cang's territory — Teleport!

Zhao Cang was already waiting.

A simple inspection complete, Zhao Cang initiated the trade.

360 gold coins were placed into Zhao Chi's system space.

This counted as him once again starting to earn money through labor.

"Third Brother, I want to buy some iron armor — give me a list and I'll take a look."

Zhao Cang sent the list.

"There's plenty of iron armor, and it's quite cheap. Those with lower durability are even cheaper."

Zhao Chi navigated to the armor section and found it was indeed cheap.

Quite a few iron armors still had durability above 90%, yet the price was about 20% lower. Each set was between 1.2 and 1.4 gold coins.

But female-style iron armor was relatively scarce and somewhat more expensive.

"Third Brother, I want these 150 sets of 90%-new female armor."

"Alright, I'll have someone deliver them to you."

"No need, I'll transport them myself."

"Fine, that's 198 gold coins total. You've got enough, right? …Oh, I forgot — you're loaded."

The matter of Zhao Chi spending over 1,800 gold coins to buy the Race Expansion Tome had left a deep impression on him.

Now spending only 198 gold coins was far less.