The Adventures of the Young Master 174 Appraising Competition

"You're going to sell us information?" Jin Rou asked in curiosity, "Then how much would it be?"

"I usually price at two thousand rubies, but for this Youngmaster here, I can give you a 50% discount. One thousand rubies, that is." The bald merchant said, not bothering to hide his expression as if scheming.

"No thanks." Jin Rou immediately answered as he knew that this bald merchant was taking them for a fool. Not because he was just a kid who ran away from home, it already meant that he could not learn the minds of people around the universe. In fact, when he read the books created by Yuna Sierra for him to read regarding the outside world, he understood something. At the very least, he was not that ignorant young boy from the past. He was learning, and he would learn more.

He then continued, "I'm sorry but we are not interested."

He could see the darkness of this bald merchant's inner heart. As if he had done this for a long time now. This merchant was filled with lies and trickery, and just judging by his heartbeat, he was scheming something.

"Huh?" The bald merchant did not believe what Jin Rou said and just stared blankly for a while. After regaining his mind, he said, "That's just a thousand rubies, Youngmaster. For someone as great as you, isn't it just a mere speck in the dust?"

"I said, we are not interested. We can just roam around the street to find anything valuable." Jin Rou would never accept that price just for an exchange of petty information. After all, he only had 10,000 rubies in his pocket. How could he spend a thousand in just a mere merchant? Besides, judging from it, this bald merchant was no good at all. Really.

"Damn it." The bald merchant cussed under his breath as he was looking the walking away duo. He gritted his teeth and gave chase saying, "How about I decreased the price to 700 rubies? Fair enough, already. Right?"

"Still not interested." Jin Rou did not even look at the bald merchant.

While Zin Shi? She was just watching the show with a bit of worry. After all, Jin Rou had already made a grand commotion in the Premium Street. It's just a matter of time before the news spread about him. And she was sure, that there were people trying to find him now. After all, Jin Rou caught everyone's attention by showing his real strength. In fact, for some unknown reason, she could feel someone was tailing them. This was just her feeling, but she always had a deep trust with her feelings. Maybe she would tell Jin Rou about this later on? Or not?

"500 rubies! My last compromise, Youngmaster! If you don't take it, then leave it." The bald man's veins bulged in infuriation as he used his last resort. He did not want to do this, but as someone who loved money more than himself, how could he let this go by? It was already difficult to find new customers here as the La Estance Market was just for people with status. If he let this slip, then he was really a fool! Besides, the real price of the information was just 300 rubies. He still had an income of 200 rubies. Better than nothing, right?

Jin Rou looked at this bald merchant who was desperate enough to compromise, decreasing the price by half he originally stated. Although the price was a scam, he knew that the information was legit. He then asked, "If that shop is very rare that only a few of few people knew about that place, why bother telling me that? I mean, we're just new here. Do we deserve that kind of information?"

"That..." The bald merchant took a deep breath and said, "Truth be told, the owner of that shop wants me to lead newbies to his shop since he wants to play his game every year. But as I am a merchant myself, how could I just grab someone and lead them for free? I mean, merchants love money."

"But the price you gave is too much." Jin Rou said, "I know you have so many information lurking in your head, waiting to be bought. But I also know the information you want to sell did not price that much."

"How..." The bald merchant was stupefied.

"Just calculated with my fingers. Nothing much." Jin Rou smiled, "The owner of the shop wants newbies to play his game, right?"

"Ah, y-yes." The bald merchant answered, "But the owner wants a new customer or two."

"Then I won't mind." Jin Rou smiled and asked Zin Shi, "Would you mind?"

"But of course not!" Zin Shi shook her head, who was silent all the time.

"Okay, lead the way and tell me what's this game about." Jin Rou's curiosity was piqued. He wanted to know what's this game about.

"But money...—"

"We won't run away. We have the golden card here." Zin Shi said and showed the golden card, worried that this bald merchant would annoy Jin Rou.

"The Golden Card!" The bald merchant was surprised. Who would think that there were young possessors of this card? Looks like he just dove into a sea of grass! That shop was actually only exclusive for golden card users! He could feel the 500 rubies flying away just like that. But oh well, he thought, at least, he could bring golden card users and the owner might reward him for this!

The bald merchant led the way and explained what's the game about. It was an appraising competition between customers. As the owner was an expert master appraiser, he held this game every year and the rewards were extravagant as if money was nothing for him. Every year, he would buy thousands of scrap stones to use in the game. These scrap stones contained either black dust or a precious stone. But most of the time, it's only black dust, which was a very worthless thing.

Competitors would fight with each other and compete who would get the better stone out of a scrap stone. But the chances of getting a precious stone, even a silver, would give you 1 out of 1 thousand. The owner would be the judge and always a fair one, so rest assured that cheating would not be welcomed.

And exactly as this day, the game was going to be held.

Chapter end

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