"Welcome, honored guests. My surname is Liu, and in this circle, everyone likes to call me Sister Liu." The middle-aged woman was a smooth talker, skilled at ingratiating herself and bridging the distance between strangers. "Judging by your distinguished bearing, you must be no ordinary people. May I have the honor of knowing your names?"
However, Jiang Chen had no interest in forging connections. He was here for one thing only — a deal.
He replied mildly, "My surname is Shao. I have a rather large transaction in mind, and I'm wondering if Sister Liu might be interested."
"Hehe, so it's Young Master Shao. We're in the business of doing business — as long as there's a deal to be had, we're always interested." Sister Liu smiled. "The question is, just how large a transaction are we talking about?"
Jiang Chen produced the Storage Ring containing the Desolate Jade he had collected and opened it directly, laying out every piece of ancient jade for display.
Seeing the mountainous pile of ancient jade, Sister Liu drew in a sharp breath.
Many of these pieces were of exceptional quality, and the sheer volume left her visibly stunned. Even for their shop, this kind of quantity was exceedingly rare.
Large-scale mining operations of this nature were virtually impossible nowadays.
Moreover, there had been no major mining campaigns in the Blue Smoke Island Domain in recent years. Where on earth had this enormous haul of ancient jade come from?
A flicker of shock crossed Sister Liu's face, but she quickly composed herself.
"Can you handle it?" Jiang Chen fixed his gaze on her face and asked.
Sister Liu took a deep breath and nodded. "The amount is enormous. You'll need to give us a few days to assemble enough Ling Shi. Coming up with that much all at once is… considerable."
"A few days?" Jiang Chen frowned. "Then forget it. Take however much you can manage. If it's not enough, I'll just split it up and sell across multiple shops."
Sister Liu hurriedly said, "Honored guest, please don't. With an amount this large, splitting it across several shops eliminates any volume advantage, and we won't be able to negotiate a good price."
"If you can't handle it all, I'll naturally have to sell elsewhere."
"Give me two days — how about that?" Sister Liu looked at Jiang Chen with earnest sincerity.
"Two days is too long. I can't wait. If you can raise the funds by this time tomorrow, I'll sell to you. If not, then it's off the table." Jiang Chen was nothing if not decisive.
One day. That was all the time he would give.
Sister Liu stared at the ancient jade, a feverish glint flickering in her eyes. The staggering quantity had clearly set her heart racing.
Though raising the necessary funds in a single day was nearly impossible, she answered without hesitation, "One day. Just one day! Same time tomorrow — we exchange payment for goods."
"Hehe, no need to rush into that just yet. We haven't even settled on a price," Jiang Chen said with a faint smile.
"We have strict pricing standards. We can go by grade and quantity — clearly listed prices, no ambiguity. I guarantee you won't lose out." Sister Liu smiled confidently. "Our shop has grown to this scale and become an industry benchmark in the City of Miracles. We would never cheat our customers on something like this."
"Fine. I'll give you one day." Jiang Chen saw no point in wasting words.
He put the ancient jade away and left the shop with Huang'er.
Sister Liu escorted them all the way to the door, watching as Jiang Chen and Huang'er walked down the bustling street and vanished around the corner. Her expression was complicated, to say the least.
In all her years in this trade, she had made several major jade acquisitions before, but none had ever come remotely close to this.
Previously, cultivators who brought ancient jade in typically peddled only a handful of pieces at a time.
Yet this young couple had produced an astonishing mountain of ancient jade. It defied everything she thought she knew. Could it be that they were scions of the Blue Smoke Island Domain's imperial family?