Dao Companions Help Me Live Forever

Chapter 16: Jade and Gemstone Appreciation

Half a month later.

While the Wang family had yet to take action against the Sun family's medicine business, news of Guangnan County being occupied by rebel forces spread widely.

The public was in an uproar, and discussions about the rebel forces could be heard everywhere in the streets and alleys. Even Yulan, who rarely left the house, became curious and asked what the rebel forces led by Yu Xian looked like.

But overall, the atmosphere was relatively relaxed, with most people taking a spectator mentality.

After all, Guangnan County was separated by a thousand miles from Changning County, and even if the rebel forces were formidable, they couldn't arrive in a short period of time.

Another reason was that no one believed the rebel forces would become a major threat.

Yue Kingdom had thirty-two counties and twelve feudal lords with a formidable army of over a million soldiers. It was hard to imagine that a single Guangnan County could cause much trouble.

The most affected were the merchants who needed to travel south.

At this time, information was mainly spread through carriages, horses, and ships.

The southern waterway was blocked by the authorities, but cargo ships that hadn't received the news continued to gather from various places, only to be trapped in the port.

The two brothers who had previously spoken with Yu Xian were considered lucky. They sold their goods to Baobao Tower at a fair price in advance, avoiding significant losses.

But many other merchants could only leave their goods at the port, and every day they stayed meant more losses. Some perishable goods even dropped in value by the day.

At this point, they either stubbornly resisted and gambled that the court could immediately suppress the rebellion, allowing them to continue their journey south and profit from the urgent need for supplies once the situation in the south stabilized.

Or they could only sell their goods at a low price to salvage whatever they could.

At this point, it was a race to see who could sell faster.

Prices plummeted, and goods that were originally worth ten taels of silver could now be taken away for just one tael. The goal was to clear inventory and leave. As a result, the market continued to decline.

The southern merchants were extremely unlucky, but the various commercial firms in Changning City were thriving. Especially Baobao Tower, which quickly swallowed countless goods at extremely low prices.

Frequent transactions caused the market to heat up, and many small merchants in the surrounding area voluntarily flocked to Changning City, hoping to get a share of the feast.

The entire Changning City became lively as a result.

And in this false prosperity, the Jade and Gemstone Appreciation event, hosted by Baobao Tower, finally began.

On this day, Yu Xian, accompanied by Yulan and carrying five thousand taels of silver, strolled leisurely to Baobao Tower like a wealthy young master out for a leisurely outing.

As for Chen Yi, she continued to practice diligently and refused to go out.

According to her, in another two days, she would be able to cultivate her inner energy. However, she had already said this ten days ago.

Two days later, another two days, and who knows how many more two days to come.

Yu Xian almost couldn't resist giving her a spiritual stone and pushing her forward when he saw her devoutly practicing, but he dismissed the idea when he thought about the dull-witted Yulan by his side. Even with his two spiritual stones, it was uncertain if they would help her successfully sense the spiritual energy.

He was reluctant to give her a spiritual stone, but this time he could choose a few jade stones with more abundant spiritual energy to give to her.

At the entrance of the first floor of the Bai Bao Tower, there was a crowd of people, and at a glance, all you could see were heads packed together, and the noisy voices almost seemed to reach the sky.

"Wow, so many people."

"Sir, should we squeeze in?"

Yulan tightly clung to Yu Xian's arm, her face showing a bit of timidity, but her eyes hidden with a desire to try.

After all, she was just a teenage girl at the end of the day, naturally fond of lively scenes.

"No need, let's take another route."

Yu Xian patted Yulan's hand and walked to another entrance.

There were few people here, and the guards of the Bai Bao Tower were lined up on both sides, each with a burly figure and a strong aura, almost as if they were about to hang a sign saying "strangers not allowed".

Large commercial associations like the Bai Bao Tower naturally had VIP channels that required invitation letters to enter.

Yu Xian didn't have an invitation letter, but he had the Wang Fu token.

The Fu Wang Mansion was the sky of Changning City.

The token in his hand was enough to allow him to move freely in most of the city, which could be considered a hidden benefit.

When Yu Xian presented the token and received the notification inside, a tall female attendant immediately walked out.

The female attendant appeared to be in her early twenties, with an ordinary appearance and a flat figure. She tied her hair up in a high ponytail, exuding a refreshing and capable aura.

"Mr. Yu, hello. Manager Liu couldn't make it today, so he asked me to apologize to you."

"My name is Lan Xiaohe, and I will be serving you from now on."

"There are a few pieces of jade at this exhibition that happen to meet your requirements. Would you like to go and see them now?"

"It's rare that Manager Liu still remembers my requirements. Please thank him for me. Just take me there directly."

Yu Xian had a good first impression of the female attendant. Manager Liu was good at selecting people and didn't send someone to fool him.

"Alright, please follow me this way."

Lan Xiaohe was respectful in her attitude and maintained a standard posture, slightly bowing along the way, demonstrating good professional qualities.

Soon, the three of them arrived at the second-floor exhibition hall.

Compared to the noisy and crowded first floor, this place is obviously much more spacious.

The lobby is divided into booths, filled with various colors and shapes of jade and large stones, with people occasionally stepping forward to negotiate prices.

The way they negotiate prices is also interesting. Two people put their hands into their sleeves to make bids, so outsiders cannot hear or see their prices.

There are also people gathered in groups, and occasional cheers can be heard from the middle, which pushes the atmosphere to a climax.

"What are they doing? It looks lively," Yu Xian asked.

Lan Xiaohe glanced and explained, "They are gambling on stones. Gambling on stones means using raw jade as a bet, and people bid on the spot to open the stones. If good jade appears, the price can skyrocket, but if there is no jade, they will lose everything. So gambling on stones has a reputation for being either a heaven or a hell."

Gambling on stones? Isn't this the first choice for the protagonist of ancient urban supernatural novels to get rich?

Yu Xian became interested. His spiritual consciousness should be able to see through the stones.

But at the moment, his own magical tool was more important.

Soon, Lan Xiaohe led Yu Xian to a jade exhibition booth.

"Sir, I don't know if this whole piece of jade meets your requirements?"

Lan Xiaohe pointed to a large irregular pale green jade stone displayed in the middle of the booth, roughly estimating that it was about three feet in size, which is a whole jade about one meter in length, width, and height.

There are many cotton-like impurities in it, but such a large piece is already rare.

Yu Xian didn't know much about jade, but he thought that such a large piece of jade would be enough for him to refine an embryo.

So he asked, "How much is this jade?"

The owner of the booth was a burly man with a beard. When he heard this, he walked up and extended his wide sleeve, indicating to negotiate the price.

Yu Xian waved his hand and said, "I don't know about this. Just give me a direct price."

The burly man was first stunned, then looked at Lan Xiaohe beside him.

If this person wasn't brought by Baobao Tower, he would have already driven him away.

Lan Xiaohe stepped forward and said, "Sir, this is the rule in this industry. They don't want others to hear their bottom price, as it would cause them losses. Let me translate for you."

"That works," Yu Xian said indifferently.

So Lan Xiaohe voluntarily reached out her hand into the burly man's sleeve, and the two of them began to negotiate the price.

After a while, Lan Xiaohe withdrew her hand and whispered in Yu Xian's ear,

"Sir, he said that the minimum price for this jade is 98,888 taels of silver, which is a lucky number."

Yu Xian trembled on the spot, his face turned pale.

"Damn it! So expensive!"

He had only spent less than 3,000 taels of silver in the mortal world for nearly half a year. 100,000 taels would be enough for him to go against his principles and take a risk.

With this thought, a hint of fierceness appeared in his eyes.

Damn it!

"Sir, this is Baobao Tower."

Lan Xiaohe immediately panicked, seemingly realizing Yu Xian's thoughts.

"Let it go, let it go. Give you face."

Yu Xian waved his hand. He was just thinking about it. He even wanted to sleep with the princess.

Overall, he was a law-abiding good child. He usually accepted small bribes, but he couldn't have the bad intention of killing for treasures.

Walking on the dark path for too long is easy to encounter ghosts.

Wanting to snatch good things and developing such a simple and rude bad habit, if he encounters an old cunning person one day, he would end up dead.

Most people who possess treasures, except for a few lucky ones, have considerable strength.

He doesn't have to worry about food and drink now, his status is high, and he even has a path to cultivate to the heavens. It would be disrespectful to the golden finger to take even a little risk.

Yu Xian was thinking about asking if Baobao Tower had a lending service. They were all working under the prince, so they could be considered colleagues. The interest should be cheaper.

"Damn it! Pretending to be someone you're not, wasting my time."

The burly man had long been dissatisfied with this rich young master who didn't understand the rules and pretended to be someone he's not.

Now seeing that he was scared by 100,000 taels, he felt that he was just a decorative pillow. He couldn't help but spit out a curse, then turned and returned to his position.

"He spat at me?"

Yu Xian looked astonished, as if saying, "Doesn't he know that I can get angry?"

Seeing this, Lan Xiaohe almost couldn't catch her breath. She knew that something big was about to happen and was so anxious that she almost cried.

"Sir, please don't be impulsive. Otherwise, I won't be able to spare myself. Let me apologize to you on his behalf. Besides this piece, there are other places to look at. Let me take you there."

"Why do you want to apologize on his behalf?"

Yu Xian looked at the burly man and shouted, "Hey, big beard, are you selling those stones next to you or not?"

(End of this chapter)