Chapter Thirty-One: Awakening

  Su Tang glanced at Long Qi and called himself "Mr." while calling Long Qi "Big Brother", apparently Mo Xiaobai already knew that Long Qi was going to quit, so he changed his way of addressing him.

  "Let's see," said Long Qi.

  "The client's name is Wu Dawei, from Kaiyuan County. He wants to collect one hundred Xuanbing pearls at a high price."

  "What's the high price?" Longqi asked.

  "Thirty gold coins for one."

  "Has he gone mad?" Long Qi frowned and said: "The most valuable Xuanbing Pearl on the market is only worth three or four gold coins, why would he entrust us at such a high price?"

  "More than two months ago, someone cleaned out all the Xuanbing beads in Changshan County." Mo Xiaobai said: "I had someone go to the Four Seas Building in Kaiyuan County and investigate Wu Dawei's background. He is indeed from Kaiyuan County, his family has been merchants for generations, they are very wealthy, he has two daughters but no sons, his eldest daughter is already married, his second daughter is 22 years old and still unmarried. Wu Dawei wants to find a son-in-law."

  "Xuán Bīng Zhū can only be used by cultivators who have practiced some special combat techniques. Does his family have a cultivator?"

  "The Sima Building has been searched, but he is very close to the Zhu family of Kaiyuan County. The Zhu family and our Mushi family in Changshan County are related by marriage."

  "What's he buying so many Xuanbing beads for?" Long Qi asked.

  "I don't know." Mo Xiaobai replied: "I asked him, but he was evasive and seemed to have something difficult to say. Moreover, according to the rules, I couldn't ask further questions."

  "At this time, the ice clams in the Black Forest are still hibernating and can't be caught. We can only go to the Ice Cave once." Tong Fei said in a dry and hard voice.

  Su Tang's gaze didn't fall on Wen Xiang, but Wen Xiang gave Su Tang a white eye and said with a pout: "What are you looking at me for? I'm not going to the ice cave!" From Wen Xiang's tone, it seemed like she was complaining that Su Tang wanted to assign her an unpleasant task.

  Su Tang felt a bit helpless, okay, wronged feelings aside, because Long Qi had said before that any task with good pay and less effort should be given to Wen Xiang first, this was an unspoken rule, Wen Xiang's strength was the strongest, Xiao Bu and Tong Fei both had to give in to her.

  "Is the Ice Cave dangerous?" Su Tang asked.

  "For the three of them, there's no danger." Long Qi smiled and said: "However, the Ice Cave is hidden beneath the Wasp Pond, and now it's late summer. That place is probably infested with tens of millions of blood-sucking wasps flying everywhere. And inside the Ice Cave, it's extremely cold, with water dripping into ice. If she goes there to smell the fragrance, I'm afraid her head full of black hair won't be left with much."

  Su Tang suddenly realized, entering the Wasp Pond would definitely get her clothes wet, and then entering the Ice Cave would be unbearable even with the fragrance's protection from the cold air. But that long hair of hers was impossible to protect no matter what, a slight touch would cause the frozen hair to break off. Moreover, Xiang also disliked those small insects, so she didn't want to go.

  Su Tang looked at Xiao Bu again, and Xiao Bu smiled wryly and shook his head: "Let Tong Fei go instead, I'm afraid of the cold..."

  "Alright, I'll go." Tong Fei readily agreed.

  "Wait a minute." Long Qi suddenly spoke up, his face stern as he looked at Su Tang: "Su Tang, to become a qualified host, first you must learn to think. Think about the dangers, benefits, and whether there are any traps in each commission, find all the places that don't quite make sense, carefully consider them, and then make a decision."

  Although Su Tang had drunk a lot of wine, his mind was very clear. Just now, he didn't think too much because he mistakenly thought it was part of the standard procedure. After being reminded by Long Qi, Su Tang immediately realized that he hadn't fully entered the role and would have to accept or decline the commission himself from then on.

  Su Tang's expression turned serious, and Mo Xiaobai hastily placed a stack of documents in front of Su Tang, who slowly flipped through them.

  The information in the material is very detailed, including the function and price of Xuanbing Pearl, the fluctuation of prices in recent years, Wu Dawei's personal experience, friends he has interacted with, even the physical characteristics and occupation of Wu Dawei's eldest daughter-in-law are all written clearly.

  Su Tang was thinking while watching, and Long Qi and others were waiting quietly.

  After a long while, Su Tang finally put down the materials and said slowly after a moment of contemplation: "Don't you think the acquisition price is a bit too high?"

  Xiang, Xiao Bu Hui and Tong Fei's faces were calm, but their eyes showed a hint of disappointment. They knew the price was indeed a bit too high, but what could they do? It was good that someone was willing to pay a high price for it.

  But Su Tang's next few words made Wen Xiang and others tremble all over, and even had a feeling of being awakened by a single word.

  "If it were me entrusting you, a Xuanbing bead for 15 gold coins, would you accept?"

  Mo Xiaobai said with a hint of effort: "Of course I'll accept it, this is already four or five times higher than the market price."

  "With fifteen gold coins, the deal could have been settled, but he offered thirty... He's worried that we'll refuse his commission! His ancestors were merchants, so haggling should be second nature to him. Even if there was a huge problem, even if he wanted to stall for time as much as possible, he would still try to lower the price as much as possible." Su Tang asked: "Mo Xiaobai, what did you and he discuss at that time?"

  "Mr. Su didn't say much at the time, but the price he gave scared me, I was worried that he would regret it and take back his offer." Mo Xiaobai said.

  Longqi's eyes were bright and spirited, he vaguely felt that there was something unusual inside, so he reminded Su Tang, but what exactly was unusual, what needed attention, he couldn't say for the time being. However, Su Tang's way of replacing thoughts and reversing reasoning made his eyes light up.

  "In other words, you were so scared that you forgot to haggle with him?" Su Tang said.

  "Mr. Su, it's already thirty gold coins, how much more are you going to haggle?" Mo Xiaobai said with a bitter smile.

  Su Tang fell silent again, and after a long time, he raised his head: "Dragon Brother, do you think there are these possibilities? Is he trying to find out about Tong Fei and the others? Or... is he setting up an ambush on the other side of the Wasp Pond?"

  "Are you saying through hair?" Longqi's reaction was extremely quick. According to common sense, the Miao Dao Pavilion would definitely assign this lucrative commission to their own people. As soon as they accepted the commission, that person would definitely lay down a net near the city gate. The warriors returning from the Black Forest with incomplete hair might be the ones who entered the Ice Cave, and thus find Tong Fei and his companions.

  "Hmm." Su Tang paused for a moment, then said: "Actually, getting verification is very simple, just let Mo Xiaobai run an errand and it's done."

  "How?" Longqi asked.

  "Let Mo Xiaobai go find Wu Dawei and tell him that at this time, the ice clams in the forest are all in summer hibernation, can't be caught, and entering the ice cave is very dangerous, so the price is a bit low. If we raise the price to 35 gold coins, we'll accept his commission immediately." Su Tang said slowly: "If it's raised to 40, they might become suspicious and guess that we're probing, adding five more... It's not too high or too low, they'll think we have someone who has a greedy idea, wanting to take another bite, but not daring to bite too hard, fearing that Wu Dawei will withdraw the commission, so we only added five gold coins."