While leisurely strolling, Xiaoyao came to a roadside stall displaying some monster beast hides and unique "parts" from monster beasts, along with some medicinal herbs. Such stalls were countless throughout the town.
Martial artists who came here to adventure sold their gains, these very things, while merchants came here to trade for exactly these items. Naturally, they were everywhere. This particular stall was also very ordinary, nothing special about it, though the items on this stall would also sell out quickly.
Ordinary was only relative, but the things on this stall were all from Heavenly Heart Mountain. No matter how ordinary they seemed, there were plenty of people outside who needed them.
But for Xiaoyao to stop here, it definitely wouldn't be for something ordinary, though this was still relatively ordinary.
Common items from Heavenly Heart Mountain were also ordinary to Xiaoyao.
Therefore, since Xiaoyao had taken interest in this stall, it meant the items here were extraordinary even by Heavenly Heart Mountain standards.
"Boss, how much for this flower?" Xiaoyao squatted down, pointing at an ordinary-looking small flower on the stall.
Though called ordinary, it actually wasn't, because this was a rather precious medicinal herb. If it weren't, how could it be displayed here? No one would put useless things on display in this place.
The stall owner also recognized this medicinal herb and knew it was quite precious, so he had picked it. He could sell it for a good price.
"Since you recognize this, you should also know its value. Make an offer yourself, and I'll see if it's suitable," The stall owner was also clever, letting Xiaoyao make the first offer so he could negotiate the price better afterward.
"I'm thinking about this amount..." Xiaoyao smiled and held up three fingers. He wasn't stupid either, instead of stating a price directly, he let the other party guess first.
"Three taels? That's too little. At least ten taels!" The boss said somewhat unhappily, clearly revealing his psychological price range.
"Ten taels is fine!" Xiaoyao nodded, somewhat hesitantly giving the silver to the boss and receiving the small flower. At this moment, his heart was blooming like the flower in his hand.
He had originally intended to say thirty taels of silver, but the other party thought he meant three taels. Even though the final transaction was ten taels, it was still far below his originally expected price.
Of course, this couldn't be discovered by the other party, or they would know they had lost a treasure while he had found one. Such matters, if the other party cared, would be very troublesome.
"Hmph, there are really so many swindlers nowadays. Although this Purple Sun Flower is precious, it's worth five taels of silver at most, yet they're asking for ten taels." An annoying voice appeared. Xiaoyao didn't know why, but though he had never heard this voice or seen this person, he felt disgusted.
Xiaoyao turned toward the source of the voice and saw a young man and woman standing not far behind him, looking his way. The girl was charming and cute with the feeling of a girl next door, while the young man was handsome and elegant. Together, they were a perfect golden couple combination.
But somehow, Xiaoyao found this young man annoying. This was an inexplicable feeling, so Xiaoyao attributed it to a deep inner sensation, perhaps this young man's heart was truly disgusting.
Mm, I'm very accurate at reading people. This young man must definitely be an annoying person!
Since Xiaoyao found this young man annoying, he naturally wouldn't pay attention to him. Even with a beautiful and cute girl beside him, it was the same. Even if he had favorable feelings toward this girl, they would be temporarily suppressed due to his dislike of the young man. Moreover, this girl hadn't reached the level of attracting him.
Of course, appreciating her a bit was fine, but only limited to appreciation.
Seeing Xiaoyao ignore him, the young man's face darkened slightly as he said, "Kid, I'm reminding you, the thing in your hand is only worth five taels. Don't be deceived."
Actually, the young man wasn't being so kind as to remind Xiaoyao. He just wanted to display his knowledg. Of course, this wasn't for Xiaoyao's benefit, but for the girl beside him.
He wanted to establish a perfect image in that girl's heart, but he hadn't expected Xiaoyao to leave so indifferently, completely uncooperative with his plans.
Under normal circumstances, Xiaoyao should now be shouting "swindler," then let the young man explain. Under the young man's performance, Xiaoyao would either smash the stall or the stall owner would settle in advance.
Xiaoyao's lack of cooperation prevented the young man from getting the stage time to show off, which greatly displeased him.
"Thank you for your concern, but we've negotiated and the transaction is complete. Worth it or not, there's no backing out," Xiaoyao glanced at the young man indifferently.
"Why can't you back out? This isn't worth that much," The young man was displeased. Xiaoyao's glance made him even more uncomfortable because Xiaoyao seemed to think he was meddling. Most importantly, this behavior didn't show that he was being unnecessarily helpful. How could he establish his perfect image in front of the girl beside him?
"If everyone wanted to back out after completing a transaction because they felt they lost money, the entire market would become a battlefield. Not clarifying a commodity's value before trading is your own mistake, you can't blame others," Xiaoyao looked at the young man and spoke slowly.
"You're really despicable. Being swindled and still defending the swindler, truly senseless," The young man became somewhat angry, speaking to Xiaoyao.
"First, I must clarify that I wasn't swindled. I understood this Purple Sun Flower's value when I took interest in it. Ten taels, I think it's very worth it, so I bought it. This is the basic rule of trading. If you think it's worth it, that's fine. As for whether you want to negotiate the price, that's your business. I don't want to because I think this price is already very worthwhile," Xiaoyao said indifferently.
"That's because you don't know the goods. This Purple Sun Flower is worth five taels of silver at most. There are plenty of people selling them here, just go look around and you'll know," The young man continued angrily. His anger was because the girl beside him was looking at Xiaoyao with some curiosity, seeming to think Xiaoyao's words made sense.
"I said I think it's worth it. So what if those others are worth five taels? They're not this particular one," Xiaoyao said indifferently. He had actually very subtly indicated that his flower was different, though it was also a Purple Sun Flower, its value wasn't that of an ordinary Purple Sun Flower.
However, others didn't understand Xiaoyao's meaning and instead thought he was reluctantly making excuses for himself because he didn't want to be called a fool. Such things were common, and such people were numerous.
Some people, even when swindled, would pretend they weren't fooled, that the item's value was different, that they liked it, beautifully calling it "a thousand gold can't buy what the heart desires!"
At this moment, the young man thought exactly this, that Xiaoyao was just putting on a brave face.
"Hmph, some people just care too much about their face and won't admit they were swindled. Such people are most disgusting, it's because of them that there are so many swindlers," The young man harshly criticized Xiaoyao, elevating the matter to a moral level while positioning himself on the moral high ground.
Xiaoyao now understood why his feeling of disgust had appeared, and he was certain he wasn't just a little disgusted, but very disgusted.
For people he disliked, Xiaoyao felt it was better to just leave directly. No matter what the other party said, he would treat him as air, nonexistent.
Xiaoyao treated the young man as transparent and went directly to browse the next stall. No matter what else the young man said, he didn't hear it. This made the young man feel very uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do.
If the girl weren't beside him, he might have caused trouble, but he couldn't do that now. It would make the girl think he was too petty. The girl wasn't stupid, she would easily figure out he wanted revenge.
So he could only abandon this idea. If he could see Xiaoyao again, if there was an opportunity, he would definitely get his revenge.
At this point, he wouldn't follow Xiaoyao either, though Xiaoyao happened to be on their path, and they couldn't change routes because of him.
Afterward, Xiaoyao bought some things from other stalls, some ordinary, some rare treasures. Whatever they were, they were things he needed. Therefore, regarding prices, he was relatively generous, but generally, he could always find ways to purchase at rock-bottom prices. Being generous didn't mean spending unnecessarily.
If others didn't know the value, he would purchase at prices far below worth. If they did know, he would bargain. Xiaoyao had been training this ability since childhood, it was a basic skill for being a servant. Therefore, he could bargain stall owners down to depressing results.
This point seemed to be noticed by the young man and woman. The young man only thought Xiaoyao was shameful, bargaining with others over small amounts of money that were just small change in his eyes.
At this moment, the young man seemed to overlook one point, since Xiaoyao had this ability to bargain and could even put aside his pride to do so, why didn't he do it before?
This point was noticed by the girl. Looking at Xiaoyao, she suspected that the Purple Sun Flower Xiaoyao had bought earlier might not be ordinary. Given Xiaoyao's current demonstrated ability, he was absolutely someone who wouldn't spend money carelessly. His straightforward payment earlier must have had a reason.
At this moment, the girl suddenly remembered a book she had read that recorded a variant of the Purple Sun Flower, a very minute variation almost indistinguishable in appearance, only recognizable by alchemists with extremely strong identification abilities.
(End of Chapter)