Chapter 423: Bluffing, Keep on Bluffing

Afterward, the Soldier guarding the stall stayed behind, making awkward small talk with the two from the Jiangshui Tribe to stall for time, then began introducing the Salted Fish their tribe had brought, though the people from the Jiangshui Tribe had no interest whatsoever.

The Soldier naturally was unwilling to give up on this big sucker... customer so easily, so he looked around as if he were a thief, then leaned in and whispered, "What is your relationship like with that Wulengge Tribe?"

Unexpectedly, this question almost made the two from the Jiangshui Tribe turn hostile; their expressions turned terrible, and they said with nearly darkened faces, "What do you mean by that, kid? Don't you know we have been at war with those savages from Wulengge all along?"

The Huaxia Soldier was stunned immediately: "This... we are a small tribe and hardly know anything about outside affairs. We can only come to this gathering every few... every few winters, so we aren't very clear on things. I just saw that the Wulengge Tribe is also here, so I thought your relationship wasn't that bad."

After hearing the explanation, the two Soldiers' expressions improved slightly, and they snorted through their noses before saying, "You think we want them to come? It's just that those savages said if they aren't allowed to trade according to the rules here, they won't follow the rules either, and will attack every time the gathering is held, making it impossible for us to host it. That is why we let them come. Even when they come, they don't follow the rules and always threaten other tribes into trading with them."

Upon hearing this, the Huaxia Soldier secretly rejoiced, then pretended to be relieved and sighed deeply: "That is good. I was afraid your relationship with Wulengge was, you know, so I didn't dare tell you. They, the Wulengge Tribe, have already threatened us and forcibly took away our Glass cups. Fortunately, they didn't discover the Wine, otherwise, the Wine wouldn't have been safe either."

The two from the Jiangshui Tribe looked at each other, then asked in confusion, "What Glass cups?"

The Huaxia Soldier was taken aback: "Didn't your Leader tell you? He was using a Glass cup to drink Wine at the time, and he even broke one of the Glass cups. That Glass cup is something the gods specifically use for drinking Wine."

The Jiangshui Tribe Soldiers shook their heads: "No one said anything. If he hadn't said those things in front of the Tribal Chief, the Chief wouldn't even know about the Wine. What do those Glass cups look like? Show us. If they are good things, we will trade for them together."

The Huaxia Soldier felt a surge of joy inside—they had taken the bait—then said mysteriously: "We actually have ten Glass cups in total; these are all the cups. It is a pity that your Leader accidentally broke one, and then the Wulengge Tribe forcibly took five away. We didn't want to trade things used by the gods to such a savage tribe; that is a desecration of the gods. But as you can see, our Huaxia Tribe is so weak that we have no way to resist the Wulengge Tribe, so I lied to them and said there were only five. In reality, I still have four left here."

The two from the Jiangshui Tribe were bad at math; they counted on their fingers for a long time, even counting each other's fingers, but still couldn't figure out how many Glass cups there were. The Huaxia person was speechless and could only say softly: "Anyway, I have four left here, and the rest were all taken by the Wulengge Tribe."

The two from the Jiangshui Tribe stopped counting and asked: "You mean we can get fewer cups than the Wulengge Tribe? That won't do! We cannot lose to the Wulengge Tribe!"

Having said that, the two looked like they were about to go find the Wulengge Tribe to demand an explanation, scaring the Huaxia Soldier into quickly pulling them back: "Hey, you must not go! I lied to them and said there were only five just to save them for you. If you go, won't the Wulengge Tribe know I lied to them? We will be wiped out by the Wulengge Tribe!"

But the two were unconcerned: "That doesn't mean we can let the Wulengge Tribe outdo us. You can rest assured, they wouldn't dare move against you at the gathering. If they break the rules, the Wulengge Tribe won't be able to come to the gathering in the future."

The Huaxia Soldier hadn't expected them to be so serious about this kind of thing. If he messed this up, it would be over, so he hurriedly tried to salvage it: "They wouldn't dare make a move here, but we are on the same path as the Wulengge Tribe. I saw them when we arrived. If we run into them on the road after the gathering ends, wouldn't we be finished anyway? Besides... besides, who says you are worse than them? You actually have five as well, it's just that one cup was broken after your Leader took it back. Look, your tribe can even carelessly break such precious things, while the Wulengge Tribe treasures them so much—doesn't that just mean they are inferior to you? Right?"

The two were taken in by the bluff, and after reacting for a while, they said: "That seems to be the case, huh!"

Afterward, the Huaxia Soldier didn't delay any longer, hurriedly went over, took out the remaining cups from the luggage, acting sneaky, and had his own Soldiers block the view so the Wulengge people wouldn't see.

After the two from the Jiangshui Tribe opened a box, they were immediately amazed by the exquisite Glass cups, praising them repeatedly; they were indeed good treasures.

Then they opened the rest, which all contained identical cups; the size and shape were the same, and there was no difference in color. They almost completely believed that these were indeed cups used by the gods.

So they closed the boxes and made the final decision: "We want these cups too. Just tell us the price."

The Huaxia Soldier still wanted to say he would wait for the Tribal Chief to come and decide, but Xiong immediately appeared before them with long strides.

Seeing the sturdy Xiong, the two from the Jiangshui Tribe couldn't help but take a step back. They hadn't expected that the self-proclaimed weak Huaxia would actually have such a strong Soldier, which made them re-evaluate the Huaxia Tribe.

Xiong had already learned the purpose of these people's visit, and seeing the boxes on the ground, he knew they had already been sold.

Given their current situation in Huaxia, Xiong considered it repeatedly and decided to trade these items for a small portion of dried meat to serve as rations for their return trip, and trade the rest entirely for women.