Chapter 322: Nothing Is More Important Than You

Xiao Moting stepped forward, "Young Master Li, these two vacant rooms are of no use to you. Could you please yield them? We are willing to pay three times the silver."

He wanted the vacant rooms primarily to let Bai Wei rest.

If it were Xiao Moting himself, having lived a military life since childhood, he was long accustomed to sleeping in the open and did not care at all about which inn he stayed in.

Master Li looked Xiao Moting up and down, a sneer appearing in his eyes.

"According to your Boss Bai just now, you are Manager Xiao of the firm? If you want the rooms, I can indeed yield them to you."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the General Manager Liu beside him panicked and hurriedly tried to stop him.

"Young Master, you cannot yield the rooms to them! They gave me a hard time at the city gate, and the firm they run has snatched quite a bit of our business."

"Didn't we rush to book all the rooms just now because we saw them coming to book rooms and didn't want to let them stay, so they would have to sleep on the streets tonight?"

Once General Manager Liu finished speaking, Bai Wei finally understood.

So, they had booked ten rooms in one go specifically to make things difficult for Xiao Moting and his group.

Young Master Li raised a hand, stopping General Manager Liu.

"It's fine, it's just two rooms, yielding them is fine."

As he spoke, his tone shifted, and he stared at Xiao Moting with a sinister smile.

"Since you want these two rooms, I wonder if you can afford the price."

Xiao Moting said in a deep voice, "How much silver do you want?"

Young Master Li affected an air of refinement by shaking his folding fan, his expression arrogant.

"Not much, five hundred taels per room. If you want to book the rooms, bring the silver."

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd all around gasped.

"Five hundred taels a room, this is simply extortion."

"I think he just doesn't want to yield the rooms and is making an exorbitant demand."

"They don't want to yield the rooms at all; they are just playing the Bai's Grocery Store for fools."

Upon hearing this, Qin Zhan widened his eyes.

"What, you want five hundred taels a room? Why don't you go rob someone on the road? The room rate here is only fifteen taels a night!"

Young Master Li shook his fan, his expression arrogant.

"What, you can't afford it? Then I'm sorry, it's not that I won't yield the rooms, it's that you don't have the capability."

After finishing, he clicked his tongue twice.

"I heard your Bai's Grocery Store has strong resources, but I didn't expect it to be nothing more than this, unable to even produce five hundred taels of silver..."

Suddenly, Xiao Moting interrupted in a deep voice.

"Five hundred taels per room? Fine, I'll buy them."

He turned his head and instructed Qin Zhan.

"Take out a one-thousand-tael silver note and give it to Young Master Li."

Seeing that Xiao Moting was actually going to spend one thousand taels to book two rooms, the surrounding crowd was even more shocked.

What kind of sucker is this?

To actually be willing to spend so much money to book rooms.

Someone muttered in a low voice.

"Is this Manager Xiao stupid? How is he not shrewd at all?"

"Exactly, spending one thousand taels of silver just to book two rooms, this is too much of a loss."

"Spending money so recklessly, can a person like this be a firm manager?"

Young Master Li was also stunned for a moment, "You, think carefully. Once the silver note is given, I will not refund it."

Bai Wei was also anxious; she had not expected Xiao Moting to agree so readily.

Usually, when Xiao Moting did business, he was extremely shrewd; why was he acting foolish today?

She pulled Xiao Moting over and lowered her voice.

"Xiao Moting, what is wrong with you today? This Young Master Li asking for five hundred taels a room is clearly an exorbitant demand, and you actually agreed."

Xiao Moting looked down at her, his gaze gentle.

"Bai, you have been very tired from the journey these past few days. I want you to rest better; silver is not an issue."

Bai Wei shook her head, "No, no, five hundred taels a room is too expensive."

Although she was already a little wealthy woman, she still felt pained by the silver.

Xiao Moting spoke earnestly, "Silver is an external possession and is not important; letting you rest well is the most important thing. To me, nothing is more important than you."

His voice, as always, carried a hint of coldness.

But Bai Wei felt a sweetness in her heart.

Xiao Moting did not usually talk much, nor was he good at sweet talk, but he would always use actions to show it.

However, she still could not bear to spend the money and held onto Xiao Moting, shaking her head continuously.

"No need, we won't stay in these two rooms."

"But..."

Bai Wei leaned close to his ear and lowered her voice, "You forgot, I have a space; we have a place to stay."

She did not want to be this sucker, delivering cold, hard silver to their competitor.

Bai Wei leaned in too close, her lips almost touching Xiao Moting's earlobe.

The warm breath she exhaled sprinkled onto Xiao Moting's neck; the man could not help but shudder all over, blood rushed rapidly to his brain, and goosebumps rose on his back.

Xiao Moting suppressed the inner agitation and nodded steadily.

"Fine, I'll listen to you."

Bai Wei smiled at him, "Rest assured."

After saying this, she turned her head and said to Qin Zhan, "Quickly put the silver notes away; we are not staying here."

Xiao Moting stood beside Bai Wei, gazing at her without blinking.

His usually cold and dark eyes had a flicker of fervor deep within their pupils, and his heart was thumping with waves of agitation.

Yet, no matter how excited he was inside, his handsome face remained completely calm, showing not the slightest hint of it.

Qin Zhan was stunned, "Not staying? Then where will you sleep tonight, Bai? All the other inns in the city are fully booked, and the only ones left are dirty, messy, and poor."

"I have a way," Bai Wei smiled, looking up to scan the inn, "Let's have a quick meal here first, then go find a place to stay."

Hearing Bai Wei say this, Qin Zhan had no choice but to drop the matter.

The second floor of this inn was for guest rooms, while the first floor was a tavern for merchants to eat.

It was already evening, and the first floor was filled with merchants, the air fragrant with the scent of food.

Young Master Li stood to the side, his expression looking rather ugly as he watched the one thousand taels of silver he had almost secured vanish.

Even though he was the young proprietor of a trading firm, one thousand taels of silver was not a small sum.

The best Refined Rice in An City only cost one hundred wen per jin.

At this moment, Steward Liu puffed out his belly and sidled over.

"Young Master, I think they are just puffing themselves up to look impressive! With so much as one thousand taels of silver, they simply cannot afford to pay it, but they are afraid of losing face, so one pretends to book a room while the other stops them."

"That makes sense," Young Master Li nodded as well, his expression disdainful, "If they could produce that much money, would they need to put on such a show here?"

"Exactly," Steward Liu chimed in, "In my opinion, the strength of that Bai's Grocery Store is not that great at all. How could a small grocery store grow its business so big and strong in less than half a year? Their reputation is all blown out of proportion. How could they compare to our Fuji Trading Firm? Our firm has operated for decades to establish a firm foundation, and now we even supply the palace."

These words of his struck a chord with Young Master Li.

Young Master Li also sneered, "You speak reasonably. A tiny grocery store just has a bit of a reputation; when it comes to family assets, our Fuji Trading Firm is still the one."

Having said this, he waved his hand.

"Let's go. Since they can't afford to stay at the inn, we shall let them have their eyes opened by our food."