“Before our young master left, he didn’t say when he would return. He might return within the time taken for one incense stick to burn, or he may take one or two years, I’m not sure about the exact timing.” Chief Steward He said with a smile, “Even though our young master’s not around, this won’t affect our business transactions with Craftsman Tong. Before young master left, he had specifically instructed me to treat Craftsman Tong well when you came to our pavillion to make a sale or purchase. He had also told me to give Craftsman Tong the best and fairest price that you would be most satisfied with.”
Chief Steward He’s words were extremely pleasing to the ear, so much so that even though Tong Le was not in a good mood right now, he couldn’t help but calm down a little.
He couldn’t lose his temper at this Chief Steward He who always wore a smile on his face.
Wu De said, “Craftsman Tong, the young master had even given Chief Steward He special instructions to take care of you, he must care about you a great deal.”
“Yeah~ The young master only comes here a few times each year and you’re not in urgent need of money anyway, so why not you just sell your equipments first?” Someone else who had followed him along added.
Tong Le’s sharp gaze coldly swept over him, and the man couldn’t help but shrink back.
A lack of money is a problem that many cultivators face. It’s just that, when it’s mentioned so outrightly like this, it still made Tong Le feel like he had lost face. Also, with Lin Xuanzhi around, it made him feel even more embarra.s.sed.
Tong Le said impatiently, “Fine then, let’s go to the room we used last time.”
Big boss He thus brought Tong Le upstairs.
Lin Xuanzhi then heard some cultivators engage in a lively discussion.
“Tong s.h.i.+xiong is really amazing, he must be the only craftsman within our batch of Profound Sky Sect disciples who can go to the fifth floor ba?”
“That’s right, and I heard that when he comes here to sell his equipments, that elusive young master would always receive him in person. And I’ve heard that that young master is the type to pay attention to no one.”
“Then doesn’t that mean…that young master is interested in Craftsman Tong in that way?”
“Ah? Are you serious? But then again, the young master is so rich, young and handsome while Craftsman Tong is extremely talented and has an excellent character…so they do seem like a match made in heaven.”
“Yeah. He’s not like some people who had already been chased out of Profound Sky Sect, but instead of finding some desolate place to end their pitiful life, would still dare to show up here to try and find some sense of purpose in their hopeless lives…The people these days…”
Lin Xuanzhi thought that they were pretty amusing. This is really some stroke of unexpected misfortune; he was just standing here without talking or doing anything yet others would still take the initiative to help him reinforce his sense of presence.
A waiter who looked to be about 15 or 16 years old walked over, looked up at Lin Xuanzhi, then whispered timidly, “Dear guest, are you interested in buying anything, or do you have any questions?”
Lin Xuanzhi had never seen this small waiter before. But he had delicate facial features, clear eyes and was extremely polite, so he did look like a pure and kind-hearted boy.
Lin Xuanzhi thus asked, “I’ve never seen you before, are you new?”
The waiter nodded, then said with a slight blush, “I’ve only been here for three months, but my sales performance hasn’t been very good. You’ve probably never seen me before, you can just call me Xiao Lou.”
As he spoke, the small waiter looked at the row of gold-plated waiter portraits on the wall and couldn’t help but reveal an envious and longing look. Those gold-plate waiters were the top ten in terms of their sales performance, and they could earn up to 10 000 gold every month. The Fang Yu who had ran the fastest just now was ranked first amongst all the waiters here.
However, no matter how much those who were downstairs envied him, they couldn’t fight with Fang Yu’s judgment and eloquence. When major clients came over, these gold-plate waiters would all run over to them one faster than the other, so Xiao Lou didn’t even stand a chance.
Also, most clients had a designated waiter that they would always call upon. Since Xiao Lou was quite a shy and introverted person, he wasn’t very good at talking and flattering clients so it was normal for his sales performance to remain stagnant.
Lin Xuanzhi smiled slightly and said, “I have something I plan to get off my hands, but I need your young master to take a look at it first.”
Xiao Lou revealed am embarra.s.sed look, then said, “But I can’t see our young master.”
Lin Xuanzhi looked upstairs, then said, “I don’t need you to give it directly to your master. You only need to pa.s.s it to Chief Steward He and let him know about my request.”
Xiao Lou hesitated for a short moment, then gritted his teeth and nodded, “Ok, I’ll try.”
He had never gone directly to Chief Steward He before. And whenever Chief Steward Ho saw him, he always looked like he wanted to sigh.
Lin Xuanzhi took the wine bottle he crafted out of his storage bag and pa.s.sed it to Xiao Lou.
Since the wine bottle was crafted purely by hand and didn’t have any added buffs from a forged engraving pen, its appearance leaves a lot to be desired. It thus looked much more dull than most of the magic tools in this shop.
But Xiao Lou looked like he was reporting a treasure as he carefully hugged the wine bottle in his arms. When he pa.s.sed by a few gold-plate waiters who had gathered around with the intention of watching a show, he heard them ridicule him.
“Xiao Lou, you managed to get another piece of trash.”
“Why can’t you ever learn how to distinguish treasures from trash? And to think you’re Chief Steward He’s relative. Or else, with how clumsy and stupid you are, you would’ve been chased out of here a long time ago.”
“Ai, our Hidden Tools Pavillion is really becoming more and more like a charity organization.”
Xiao Lou’s face alternated between white and red as he ran upstairs with a lot of pent-up frustrations.
When Yan Tianhen saw Lin Xuanzhi, he said, “Dage, isn’t that young master not around today?”
Lin Xuanzhi gave Yan Tianhen a look that said ‘don’t worry’, then said, “When the young master wants to be around, he’ll be around. When he doesn’t want to be around, naturally he wouldn’t be.”
Yan Tianhen experienced an epiphany, then nodded and said, “Looks like he doesn’t want to see that guy just now who was dressed like a peac.o.c.k.”
Dressed like a peac.o.c.k?
Lin Xuanzhi recalled Tong Le’s colourful craftsman’s robe that was embroidered with the feathers of flying demonic beasts, and couldn’t help but laugh.
Now that Yan Tianhen mentioned it, he really did seem like a peac.o.c.k who was ever ready to display its tail feathers.
Lin Xuanzhi said, “Why not Ah Hen take another look to see if there’s anything you want?”
Yan Tianhen looked longingly at the forged engraving pen that he had taken a fancy to from the start, then said, “Dage, I want to give this to you. I thought it suited you really well the moment I saw it. But just one look at it and I can tell that it’s really expensive, so I probably won’t be able to afford it.”
Lin Xuanzhi felt his heart melt, then he rubbed Yan Tianhen’s head and said, “Just knowing that Ah Hen has that thought is enough for me. Since Ah Hen likes it, let’s buy it later then.”
“Okay!!!” Yan Tianhen smiled and nodded his head forcefully.
Xiao Lou carried the wine bottle that Lin Xuanzhi had pa.s.sed to him to the fifth floor and waited outside Chief Steward He’s room.
There were a few of Tong Le’s lackeys and the gold-plate waiter Fang Yu who were also waiting in front of Chief Steward He’s room.
When he saw that Xiao Lou was carrying a rather nondescript wine bottle, Fang Yu s.n.a.t.c.hed it from him.
“What kind of trash is this? And you even dare to let Chief Steward He soil his eyes with this?” Fang Yu tossed the wine bottle around in his hands and only thought that it looked way too ordinary — it didn’t have anything special about it at all.
Xiao Lou blushed and s.n.a.t.c.hed the wine bottle back, then hugged it and glared at Fang Yu, “Don’t touch my guest’s things.”
“Haha, what kind of lousy guest is that?” Fang Yu said with disdain, “It can’t be a wine bottle that belongs to Lin Xuanzhi ba?” Xiao Lou only glared at him and didn’t reply.
Wu De said, “It actually does belong to him? Don’t tell me Lin Xuanzhi is so poor to the point that he needs to rely on selling this kind of trash to make a living?”
“Whenever this Lin Xuanzhi came to our Hidden Tools Pavillion in the past, he would always a.s.sume this haughty demeanour like he was looking down on everyone else. But the tables have turned, and now he’s only worthy of being attended to by this dumb newbie.” As Fang Yu spoke, he broke out into proud and disdainful laugh.
Xiao Lou bit down on his lower lip harshly with an awful look on his face. He doesn’t want to start a dispute with this kind of person who always flatters the strong and steps on the weak. Also, it was only because of his slight bit of relation with Chief Steward Ho that he managed to become one of Hidden Tools Pavillion’s waiters. The money he earns here is much more than at his previous jobs, so much so that he had quite a bit of surplus even after he paid for his mother’s treatment expenses. Thus, he really cherishes this job, and he doesn’t want to make things difficult for Chief Steward Ho because of a dispute with his seniors which could even cause him to lose his job.
So despite how these people with malicious intentions were ridiculing him, he remained silent.
After a short while, the door opened, and the Tong Le and Chief Steward He who had just completed their transaction walked out together. From the expression on Tong Le’s face, everyone could tell that Chief Steward He must have quoted him a price that he was very satisfied with.
“I’m really sorry that my young master’s isn’t around today.” Chief Steward He said apologetically.
“He’s not around today, but I hope he will be the next time.” Tong Le shot Chief Steward He a profound look, then said, “After all, I have always admired the young master’s grace and charm.”
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell what kind of intentions Tong Le had towards Hidden Tools Pavillion’s young master. But on the other hand, the young master’s att.i.tude was very unfathomable.
When Chief Steward He heard that, he only laughed and said, “Then that’s really the honour of our Hidden Tools Pavillion.”
Tong Le smiled, and when he was about to walk downstairs and leave, he heard Wu De say loudly, “Chief Steward He, why not you take a look at the wine bottle this small waiter is holding? It’s actually an item pa.s.sed to him by the ex-leader of our Profound Sky’s Four Swords — Lin Xuanzhi!”
Fang Yu added with a face full of disdain, “I really don’t know where his confidence comes from, he actually dared to let this idiot come and look for Chief Steward He. He’s really too full of himself.”
Chief Steward He’s eyes swept over the item in Xiao Lou’s arms and his instincts told him that it wasn’t anything good, so his eyebrows furrowed as he said, “Xiao Lou, didn’t I say before that you shouldn’t show me just any random item you get. You need to learn how to differentiate between the good and the bad.”
“I know.” Xiao Lou bit down on his lower lip and walked over to stand in front of Chief Steward He with a blush that reached his ears. Then, he said apprehensively, “Chief Steward He, I can’t tell you what’s good about this, but when I held it, I felt like it was different from the other magic tools. It’s definitely a good item, why not you take a look?”
Chief Steward He furrowed his eyebrows. He understands this Xiao Lou kid; he’s timid and not smart enough, and ever since he arranged for him to enter this shop half a year ago, he had never brought an equipment over to look for him before. He didn’t have any fixed clients that he could speak of either.
Every time Chief Steward He saw Xiao Lou, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
But, Chief Steward He is somewhat soft-hearted about the child that he had watched grow up.
Chief Steward He looked at Xiao Lou’s expectant eyes, then reluctantly nodded and said, “Let me take a look.”
Xiao Lou’s eyes immediately lit up, then he quickly pa.s.sed the wine bottle to Chief Steward He.
Chief Steward He squinted his eyes and had only intended to casually a.s.sess the wine bottle, but when he used his Qi to examine the insides of the bottle, he immediately stopped playing around with it.
Chief Steward He’s expression turned grave.
“So how is it? It’s trash isn’t it?” Fang Yu casted a smug glance at Xiao Lou, then scoffed harshly, “Just one look at this kind of goods and you’ll know that it can’t even compare to a random magic treasure crafted by Craftsman Tong. When you see someone like Lin Xuanzhi next time, just chase him out straight away.”
“You won’t die if you talk less.” Chief Steward He suddenly said and glared at Fang Yu. He couldn’t be bothered with Fang Yu’s shocked and dumbfounded look when he said to Xiao Lou, “Go down first and take good care of Lin Xuanzhi Shaoxia, you must not slight him. Give me a moment.”
After he finished speaking, Chief Steward He made his way upstairs. Before he left, he even casted a cold glance at Fang Yu and said, “Watch your mouth.”
Fang Yu was stunned —- Chief Steward He has always showered him with praises, why did his att.i.tude suddenly change so much?
Don’t tell him…it’s because of that tacky wine bottle?