"Big Boss Shu, we have brought the goods for this week…"
In front of a bustling shop in the City of Immortals, a middle-aged merchant with a plump figure stooped and cupped his hands and looked at the teenager in front of him flatteringly. There were perspiration oozing from his forehead, but he dared not wipe it.
The young man in front of the merchant gave him a faint look, and then turned his eyes to the carriage behind the merchant and could not help but smile.
"Mr. Tan, don"t you think that the amount of weekly supply should be more than that?"
The merchant hastened to say, "Big Boss Shu, you don"t know this, but I have my difficulties too. Recently…"
The teenager waved his hand. "No need to say it, it"s useless. I don"t need to know if you have any difficulties. As merchants, we all have our own difficulties. I just want to ask, what to do when the deeds are different from the words?"
More cold sweat appeared on Mr. Tan"s face, but he was unable to speak.
"In this street, I am only a newcomer, and as a predecessor, Mr. Tan ought to be clearer about this than I am. The most important word in the merchant operation is integrity."
The young teenager, who looked particularly immature, rudely scolded the merchant several times older than him and soon caught the attention of the crowd in the street.
The fat merchant, Mr. Tan"s fat face was red and purple with anger and shame, but he didn"t even have the courage to look at the person in front of him. He could only sigh in his heart that in this City of Immortals, the new generation excelled the previous.
As the teenager said, he was just a new person. Not to mention in this street, in the whole merchant circle, he was also still a newcomer. He had only been in the business for a few months at most, and even three months prior, his shop was still in the remote corner of the City of Immortals. But now, he had firmly established himself in the busy street and had the courage to reprimand him.
The reason was simple: he was stronger than him.
The world of merchants, like the world of immortal cultivation, also paid particular attention to strength. The difference was, the strength of cultivators was embodied in their cultivation, while the strength of merchants was embodied in money. This young man was richer than him, and he controlled his money-making lifeline. Thus, even if he was rude to him, he had to be patient.
How could a merchant who had been in the business for just several months be more powerful than Mr. Tan who had been in the business for decades?
The reason was simple. Because more than a month ago, the merchants in the City of Immortals set up a huge gambling game. In that game, some people won, while others lost. The winner moved from a remote corner to a busy central block, while the losers endured humiliation and rudeness.
The origin of the gambling was the huge divergence between various merchants in the City of Immortals in predicting the future. Some people were bullish on the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, while the others were completely bearish. At that time, it was the most difficult time for the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals in the Grand Compet.i.tion. The powerful people who could call wind and rain such as Daoist He Tu, Daoist Master Non-Phase, and the others remained silent and did not come forward to turn the situation around. On the other hand, there was also the incitement from the Heavenly Book Building and other factions. This made the confidence of many people shake tremendously.
The most sensitive to this change was the merchants from all over Nine Regions. In view of the possible changes in the future, merchants made various predictions in order to take precautions. However, there were different opinions. Some people still have the confidence in the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, while others felt that the compet.i.tion was as good as lost. The largest and strongest merchant group, Mysterious Sky Mansion, maintained a neutral att.i.tude in this debate because of their own upper-level struggle and thus failed to resolve the differences at all… Hence, the differences created contradictions, and contradictions led to war. The wars between merchants would not create rivers of blood like a real war, but it was nonetheless equally fierce.
In short, Mr. Tan, who was a seasoned merchant, chose the bearish side for various reasons and then stuck with it thoroughly with many of his peers. The business that had been established for hundreds of years and worked on hard for decades had all been washed away.
Of course, Mr. Tan was slightly luckier than most of his peers. At least, he could still survive. Many of his peers had gone completely bankrupt and thus brought harm to their families.
"Big Boss Shu, please give me a one week grace. Right now, I really couldn"t provide the goods…"
—
The conversation at the entrance did not last long. Since a big carriage was blocking the entrance, the store"s business could not be done. In the end, Big Boss Shu did not hound Mr. Tan to death. It was just that, after muddying through this difficulty, Mr. Tan, seemed to have shed off several layers of skin. In his heart, however, he scolded the young man for being fiercer than many of his predecessors. After the defeat, he still had a bit of capital left, so it was still possible to make a comeback. However, if this youth exploited him several more times, perhaps in this life, he could not stand up from failure anymore.
On the other side, the teenager went into the backyard after saying a few words to his buddy in the store. As soon as he entered the door, he put down the solemn expression from his face and loudly shouted out to the lonely figure under the shade of the backyard.
"Hahaha, Dead Face, did you see it? Just now, I domineeringly cut that man"s face into pieces…"
Before he could finish his words, a cold voice interrupted, " A monkey wearing a hat, the fox exploits the tiger"s might." (Worthless person in imposing attire, using powerful connections to intimidate people)
"Hahaha, you"re just jealous of my cheerful personality that I can work outside. A gloomy person like you can only stay alone in this room."
"Hmph!"
Dead Face let out a cold humph and the temperature in the entire backyard plummeted. Shu Si immediately trembled and promptly shut his mouth.
Having been with the Dead Face for several months, he had figured out his temper. Despite his gloomy face, it actually didn"t matter if Shu Si occasionally made fun of him. However, once he let out a cold snort, it meant that he was already impatient and Shu Si must stop.
Moreover, from the bottom of his heart, Shu Si actually respected him very much. In just a few months, he had changed from being a penniless street urchin to a cultivator who had formally set foot on the path of cultivation as well as a mighty big boss in the City of Immortals. Of course, he did not rely on his own ability to achieve all of these.
More than a month ago, the big gambling in the City of Immortals reversed the fate of many people. However, actually, at that time, Shu Si was not qualified to partic.i.p.ate in the gambling. His small shop was prosperous, but it was still not allowed to partic.i.p.ate.
It was all because of Dead Face who, inexplicably, took out a pile of real estate deeds and several sealed mustard seed bags. He wanted Shu Si to join the gambling game and bet heavily on the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals turning the table around.
At that time, Shu Si wanted to say that only with a few pieces of broken paper and bags, the wealthy local boss and rich merchants would not pay attention to him. Moreover, this gambling game was very meticulous—there were ranks and other things that they would consider, so how could he join in with just a few words?
However, when he really brought those things and found a person, he was immediately treated seriously. Not only did he meet a large circle of high-ranking people, but someone also enthusiastically sent a large stack of doc.u.ments, all related to gambling. Shu Si muddled through all the doc.u.ments with his signatures and then found out that with the pa.s.sage of time, more and more properties under his name were sent to him. Moreover, occasionally, some ashen-faced merchants came to his knees to beg for mercy.
Up to now, Shu Si was not sure how the gambling game was carried out. When he was still a street rat, the so-called gambling game was nothing more than dice rolling and card game. How could it now be so complicated and high-end? However, Shu Si was a clever youth; if he didn"t understand the problem, he wouldn"t think much about it. In any case, the things were done by Dead Face, so if he really faced a problem, he could just let him sort it out, while he could just let the nature take its course.
With cultivation and richness, what more could he want in life?
"Speaking of this, Dead Face, there"s something that I don"t understand. Not long ago, we just made a lot of money betting on that Luo Xiao. Why did we suddenly change our request and withdraw all the projects related to him? This change is too abrupt. That Mr. Tan was almost killed by you."
Dead Face replied without turning his head, "Just do it and that"s that."
"Of course I will certainly do it. But could you explain to me the reason behind it? I am your disciple now after all right?"
Dead Face coldly let out "hehe."
Shu Si knew that this was the other party"s clear and concise respond: your IQ is not enough to understand too complex of a problem. Shu Si immediately felt helpless. Although he now learned under the tutelage of Dead Face, the name of his sect was unknown. Dead Face was very attentive when he guided him in his cultivation. However, he totally neglected everything else… Moreover, the cultivation method was rather strange. It seemed to be concentrating on the use of concealment, seemingly sneaky and secretive.
Of course, Shu Si, who lived almost his entire life on the street, did not care much about those. Although he had a dream of flying on a flying sword like Daoist Master w.a.n.g Lu who bestowed immortal fate on him, he always knew that he had to know the reality.
Just as Shu Si was fantasizing, Dead Face opened his mouth once again.
"The value of Luo Xiao"s utilization has ended, so it"s not worth continuing to invest on him."
It was rare for Dead Face to explain to him with more than one sentence. Thus, Shu Si immediately strike while the iron was still hot and asked, "Even if you are already pessimistic about him, at least give him a buffer time. Right now, other than that fellow surnamed Tan, several other merchants were also complaining to me…"
Dead Face replied, "It would be too late if we don"t dump him now. Right now, there are already many people who have used up the value of Luo Xiao. It"s just that it"s really hard to dump him at the moment. Moreover, there are still some who had wishful thinking about him, hoping that he could preserve for a while. But when they realized that the status quo is irreversible, they would have to let him go even if it would cost him their fortune. At that time, you will face a situation that is not only as simple as listening to complaints."
After listening to this, Shu Si immediately showed excitement. "Dead Face, did you change your s.e.x today that you become so talkative? What happened to that Luo Xiao? Didn"t Daoist Master w.a.n.g Lu personally host a celebration for him the other day? I"ve heard a lot of people say that Luo Xiao would have a promising future."
Dead Face sneered. "Without w.a.n.g Lu"s celebration, I dare not conclude that the value of Luo Xiao"s utilization has been exhausted. After all, although he somewhat overestimated his abilities, his strength is still quite good, and could be used as a useful chess piece. But now, it seems that w.a.n.g Lu doesn"t value this chess piece anymore, and has no patience to play with him."
Although this explanation just went pa.s.s through his ears, Shu Si accurately grasped the key point, "You think w.a.n.g Lu doesn"t like Luo Xiao?"
Dead Face didn"t answer him but merely said, "Tell your men to pay close attention to Luo Xiao"s trend and then promptly inform me."
Shu Si curiously asked, "Didn"t you say that all the projects related to Luo Xiao must be terminated?"
However, this time, Dead Face turned his back and looked at the book in his hand with great concentration. He no longer paid attention to Shu Si.