Chapter 457: Scarce Opportunities, Fierce Competition
Translator: SoupHunter Editor: Milkbiscuit
Throughout the banquet, Luo Ping only talked about the scenery and didn’t mention a single thing about business. He believed that Miao Yi should understand his intentions.
Miao Yi could also tell what Qian’Er and Xue’Er were thinking about. Since it was their first time here, he knew that the two ladies were very interested to see the sights of the lavish capital city. As such, Miao Yi immediately announced that they would go exploring the night views of the city after the banquet, and instructed Lin Pingping to ready a ship later on. The last time he was here, he hadn’t been able to enjoy the capital city properly due to a few bumps along the way.
Lin Pingping could tell that the two ladies were very eager to look around, and at the same time, she also felt a little bad to be sitting while they were standing, so she quickly excused herself to make the necessary preparations.
However, right when the banquet was about to end, one person showed up along the narrow stone path just outside the pavilion. Everyone turned to look at this person and noticed it was a handsome young man dressed in the same blue uniform Luo Ping wore. They could tell he was a member of the Celestial Nation’s Chamber of Commerce from a single glance.
Luo Ping was a little surprised at first to see this visitor. However, he soon furrowed his brows and stood up.
The other party was also shocked to see that Luo Ping was here. He cupped his fists from a distance and smiled, “Luo Ping, I didn’t know you’d be here too.”
Luo Ping returned the gesture and asked, “Ren Xuanming, why are you here?”
The young man called Ren Xuanming chuckled lightly but ignored the question. He turned his head to look at the mansion, then shifted his gaze back to the pavilion outside. He scanned the crowd inside and immediately locked eyes with Miao Yi, who was seated higher than the rest. With cupped fists, he smiled and asked, “May I have the courtesy of knowing if this young lord is the tenth place holder of the Sea of Constellations Subjugation Crusade—Miao Yi?”
“It was merely a stroke of luck that I managed to get tenth place.” Miao Yi stood up, then politely cupped his fists and answered, “Yes, I am Miao Yi. Why are you looking for me?”
Ren Xuanming immediately stepped forward with zeal, handing over his name card with both hands as he said, “My name is Ren Xuanming, and like Luo Ping, I am also a teller from the capital city’s Chamber of Commerce. I have long heard tales of Manor Head Miao’s valor, so I came here just to pay you a visit.” He shot Luo Ping a glance as he said, “I never thought that Brother Luo would have been one step ahead of me. It looks like in my haste, I ended up putting a damper on Manor Head Miao’s banquet. As a token of my apology, I will be organizing a banquet in ‘Spring Glory House’ tomorrow. I hope that Manor Head Miao will do me the honor of attending.”
Miao Yi received the name card and looked over it, then cast a sidelong glance at Luo Ping. Noticing the deep frown on the latter’s face, he could vaguely guess the purpose of this Ren Xuanming’s visit; he was most likely here to try and take Luo Ping’s business away. However, Miao Yi couldn’t help but wonder how this Ren Xuanming had caught wind of his arrival. After all, he didn’t have too many acquaintances in the capital city, and Luo Ping had only found out through Lin Pingping, which was understandable.
Miao Yi tucked the name card away but didn’t reply to the invitation for tomorrow’s banquet. He waved his hand and said, “Brother Ren, you are too kind. I wouldn’t dare call myself a Manor Head. I am simply a Mountain Chieftain.”
“Aii! Brother Miao is too humble. Everyone knows that all the vacant Manor Head seats in the entire Fifth Earthly Branch are just waiting to be chosen by you.” Ren Xuanming laughed. He then took out a gift box from his storage ring and presented it to Miao Yi, “I came here in a rush. This is a small gift to commemorate our meeting. Please accept it, Manor Head Miao.”
Things wouldn’t look too good for Luo Ping if Miao Yi accepted this gift. Hence, he could no longer keep quiet and said, “Brother Ren, Brother Miao is my customer.”
Ren Xuanming was undisturbed by his words. He simply smiled and said, “Brother Miao has just arrived today. I’m sure that Brother Luo has only gotten to know him today as well. There is only the difference of a single step between us. I’m sure that Brother Miao wouldn’t mind making another friend.”
Miao Yi pushed the gift box back to Ren Xuanming, smiling as he said, “I don’t mind becoming friends with you, Brother Ren, but the gift isn’t necessary. To be frank, Brother Luo and I are actually old friends. We’ve known each other even before I was sent to the Sea of Constellations. Brother Luo was also the one who waited five kilometers outside the city to receive me today.”
The meaning implied behind his words were clear— ‘If I’m going to do business, then I’m definitely going to help an old friend out.’
Beside him, Luo Ping felt greatly relieved deep down. He smiled at the colleague in front of him, and there was even a slight sense of schadenfreude in his gaze.
With an awkward expression, Ren Xuanming forced a smile and said, “I see. Then it looks like I really was imprudent by barging in like this. But no matter, even if we can’t do business, we can still be friends. I’d still like you to accept this small gift of mine,” he replied as he handed out the gift box again.
It wouldn’t look good to accept someone’s gift right after rejecting them. Miao Yi refused to accept the gift box and pushed it back to Ren Xuanming again.
Ren Xuanming was simply being courteous in the first place, so he didn’t continue to argue. Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to get this customer, he politely excused himself, saying that he wouldn’t get in the way of everyone’s fun. He also made no further mention of the banquet he was going to organize the next day. Deep down, everyone already knew how that was going to turn out.
As he watched the other party depart, Miao Yi asked curiously, “It’s not like he knows me personally. How did he know I arrived?” He was wondering if Lin Pingping had leaked the news of his arrival somehow. If she really was going around revealing such information, then he had to reconsider whether or not he could still use Lin Pingping.
Luo Ping scoffed, “It’s simple. He must have heard something from the people managing this place.”
After some thought, Miao Yi agreed with Luo Ping’s answer. Even though this mansion was already reserved prior to his arrival, the residents still needed to register using their actual names. After all, this was still the Overlord’s territory. No one could simply ignore the rules and do as they pleased. That said, Miao Yi still frowned, “Are you saying that the people here will just casually reveal their customers’ information?”
“Brother Miao, don’t think too much about it. This place is also one of the businesses owned by the Chamber of Commerce. If anything, the information will only be available to its internal members alone. It won’t be casually revealed to the public,” Luo Ping explained. He then advised Miao Yi, “That said, I would still like to give you a fair warning. Ren Xuanming is a person who likes using underhanded methods to conduct his business. It’s best that you don’t get too close to him.”
Miao Yi thought that Luo Ping was telling him this because he was afraid Ren Xuanming would try to take his business away. He teased playfully, “Brother Luo, you don’t seem to be too fond of this Ren Xuanming.”
Luo Ping was taken aback. He then shook his head and smiled, “It looks like Brother Miao has some misconception about me. But it’s fine. You can just think of it as there being no room for agreement between two of the same trade.”
Everyone smiled at Luo Ping’s words. They’d originally thought that it was easy being a member of the Chamber of Commerce, but it seemed the internal competition was quite fierce indeed.
“Brother Luo, there’s something I have to tell you. Actually, one of your Chamber of Commerce employees has already come to me before you did.” As he faced the surprised look on Luo Ping’s face, Miao Yi gently nodded and continued, “As I’m quite close to the other person, I promised her that she would be the first one I’d look for if I ever have anything to trade. Brother Luo, there will still be a chance for us to work together in the future.”
It wasn’t hard to understand what he was trying to say! As he recovered from his initial shock, Luo Ping let out a bitter smile. It turned out he was still too careless in the end. He should have rushed to Mount Calming Sea right from the start—it’s just that there was too much of a distance between here and there. And without first confirming if there would be a trade, it wouldn’t be too good to trouble a Red Lotus expert to send him there either. Not to mention, Luo Ping figured that Miao Yi would be coming to the capital city soon anyway, which was why he chose to wait here. He never thought that someone else would still be one step ahead of him.
Unexpectedly, Miao Yi then asked, “Brother Luo, are you familiar with Gu Sanzheng, Tan Lao, and Ye Xin?”
Luo Ping nodded, “You mean the ones who took seventh to ninth place in the Subjugation Crusade?”
Miao Yi smiled, “Those three have an even higher ranking than me, and they’ve also amassed quite the fortune from the Sea of Constellations as well. Why don’t you give them a try, Brother Luo?”
Luo Ping sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but there are simply too many people from the Chamber of Commerce eyeing you all. The opportunities are scarce, and the competition is fierce! Will you believe me if I tell you that the others will come looking for you soon enough? And as for those three, they belong to the three major sects, which naturally have some relation to our Chamber of Commerce. Hence, it’s even possible for them to bypass the low-ranking tellers and make their trades with the higher-ups directly. How could one such as myself have a chance with them then? Even if I were to go look for them, I doubt they would deign to meet with me. I was only able to seize the initiative with you since we were old acquaintances. I never thought that in the end, someone had got to you first. Aii!” He let out a deep sigh, feeling rather dejected. He could only blame himself for not being careful enough.
“Have the three of them arrived?” Miao Yi asked.
Luo Ping shook his head. “Not yet.”
Miao Yi immediately took out three jade archives and wrote down three recommendation letters. He imprinted them with his transcendence seal, then handed them to Luo Ping and said, “Then you’ll have to work hard and keep an eye out. Once the three of them have arrived, you must pay them a visit immediately. I have a bit of a grievance with the three major sects, so when you go look for them, don’t mention my name. You just need to hand these letters to the three of them privately.”
Luo Ping read the letters, which stated that he was an employee of the Chamber of Commerce, and also a friend of Miao Yi’s. It also asked that Gu Sanzheng, Tan Lao, and Ye Xin help him out if it was convenient for them.
Since Miao Yi was able to write such a recommendation letter, it was obvious that it would have some use. Else, he wouldn’t write such a thing just to embarrass himself. Luo Ping was a little beside himself with joy. Since Miao Yi had told him to handle this matter discreetly, he figured he shouldn’t inquire too much about it and just cupped his fists in gratitude. He was truly thankful to Miao Yi. At least with this, it seemed his efforts had not been in vain.
After the banquet was over, Luo Ping took the opportunity to play the host once again, insisting on joining Miao Yi and the others on their nightly excursion of the capital city. He even offered to pay all their expenses for the night.
As they all left Jade Capital Peak and boarded the ship that had been reserved for them, Luo Ping finally realized that he had been too rash in making his decision tonight.
At night, the capital city was as extravagant as ever, and even more beautiful than it was during the day. There was a different atmosphere that could not be found while the sun hung in the sky. Amidst the splendor of the city, however, Luo Ping was dismayed when he discovered that Miao Yi’s two handmaidens were complete and utter spendthrifts. They were intrigued by every single thing in the capital city, buying all sorts of random junk and stuffing them into their storage rings and storage bangles. He asked them once— ‘Why do you even need to buy two stone lion statues?’ And from the way they replied, it seemed they were planning to place it in front of Miao Yi’s new Manor.
As he paid for the purchase, Luo Ping was a little lost for words. ‘Do you think that no one would send any good presents to an esteemed Manor Head? Do you really need to place this piece of junk at your doorstep? Do you really need to spend money so frivolously?’
Luo Ping turned to Miao Yi, thinking, ‘My brother, are you not going to stop them?’
After spending over five hundred thousand gold crystals, Luo Ping was starting to feel weak in the knees. If this were to keep up, how much money would he have to spend?
Had Miao Yi not secretly transmitted his voice over to Qian’Er and Xue’Er and told them to stop, Luo Ping would have definitely ended the night in shame.
When they returned late at night, Qian’Er and Xue’Er still seemed like they had yet to reach their fill of fun.
The next day, Miao Yi had Lin Pingping take the two ladies out to enjoy themselves once again. As for Yan Xiu, he stood guard by Miao Yi’s door to help him block all the guests.
The reason for this was due to the incessant flow of Chamber of Commerce employees coming to visit Miao Yi, just as Luo Ping had told him. Yan Xiu heeded Miao Yi’s instructions and used Luo Ping as an excuse to send all these guests on their way.
A few days later, despite being situated in two different areas, Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei met up with one another along the way to the capital city. They then rode to Jade Capital Peak together, and the moment they arrived, they naturally went looking for Miao Yi.
The two of them had brought along a few of their trusted subordinates, as well as their personal handmaidens. Because their masters had such a close relationship between them, the moment Qian’Er and Xue’Er met up with the other handmaidens, it was like a spark had been lit between them as well. These six women clearly didn’t plan on letting the capital city off so easily. Lin Pingping could only resign herself to her fate.
After sending the women on their way, the men sat down together and talked about important matters. Miao Yi asked the other two about how they fared after returning to their territories.
Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei got upset the moment this matter was brought up. They too experienced something similar to what Miao Yi did with Mount Calming Sea. However, at the end of the day, the two of them were still Blue Lotus Ninth Grade cultivators. The chances of them surviving the Sea of Constellations Subjugation Crusade were not small. Hence, their subordinates didn’t dare to act too out of turn, and therefore, the situation did not develop to be as bad as the one at Mount Calming Sea. That said, the only difference was that it wasn’t too difficult for Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei to clean things up.
