They knew nothing!
Chen Xiaobei had already told them that! But they were had looked at Chen Xiaobei as if he was mad!
They kept insisting that they were antiquarians, reminding him that they were far more experienced than him!
They would never, in a million years, thought that Chen Xiaobei would be able to present a woodcarving ten times bigger and better than Umekawa Shichijiro’s!
Fortunately, Chen Xiaobei had shown up with the Hundred Birds Worship Phoenix. It was superior in size, age, built, craftmanship—everything!
To say that it was a hundred time better than Umekawa Shichijiro would not have been ridiculous!
In the end, Chen Xiaobei managed to prove everyone wrong by presenting a better wood sculpture! That was a big slap on their faces! The title, frog in the well was given to every single one of them. The group of so-called experts had been very confident, but now they were sheepish with shame, their face reddened, too humiliated to look at Chen Xiaobei.
Of course, the person who was most dismayed was Umekawa Shichijiro!
He had broken his back to find a woodcarving to please Amasa Hito.
Initially, it had nothing to with Chen Xiaobei. But Umekawa Shichijiro had jumped at the chance to act tough then cause Amasa Hito to distrust Chen Xiaobei. After that, he had wanted to use the bet to get rid of Chen Xiaobei.
He had harbored evil intentions, how could Chen Xiaobei possibly forgive him?
At the appearance of the ‘Hundred Birds Worship Phoenix’, Umekawa Shichijiro’s woodcarving was eclipsed! Amasa Hito merely stared at the Hundred Birds Worship Phoenix, not even sparing a glance at Umekawa Shichijiro’s woodcarving!
His hope of using the gift to gratify the idealist Amasa Hito went up in smoke.
Not only was he humiliated, but he had also lost the chance to win Amasa Hito’s favor!
This is a classic case of being slapped for acting tough.
“I didn’t think that Mr. Chen was telling the truth. I was wrong…”
Asama Yuki dropped her head and gritted her teeth, guilt flooding him.
She had not believed Chen Xiaobei and even said that he did not know what he was doing. Only now did she realize that it was not Chen Xiaobei who was clueless, but that she had misunderstood Chen Xiaobei.
She suddenly felt apologetic.
“Everybody! Look at your faces! Do you admit defeat?” Chen Xiaobei gave them an innocent smile and said, “Then, hand over the Spiritual Stones as we have agreed. There are eighteen people here. Is Mr. Amasa going to pay for everyone?”
Everyone else was petrified.
One Spiritual Stone was equivalent to 1 billion RMB which amounts to 160 billion Japanese Yen.
To Amasa Hito, that was nothing. But to the others, it was a cutthroat amount!
This was especially true for the idiot Umekawa Shichijiro! He would have to cut off an arm and leg to be able to come up with a sum that big!
The Umekawa Family’s heir was actually Umekawa Neiku. Umekawa Shichijiro was only had just replaced him; the resources and power available to him were limited. There was no way his family would help him pay it off. He would have to do it himself. He would have to sacrifice everything he had!
“Alright! I lost the bet!” Amasa Hito said solemnly, “I will pay the 18 Spiritual Stones first! You can all pay me back later.”
Umekawa Shichijiro was troubled. If he had owed Chen Xiaobei money, he could have reneged on the debt. But now it was Amasa Hito he owed. He would not dare double-cross this man! Soon, the butler took out a little box containing Spiritual Stones and placed them in Chen Xiaobei’s hands.
“Alright! We’re settled! We’ll meet again indefinitely!”
Chen Xiaobei accepted the stones contentedly, and turned to leave.
“Mr Chen, please stay!” Amasa Hito called out to Chen Xiaobei hastily, his tone respectful. “There are two favors I’d like to ask of you.”
“Hmm, let me guess. The first is to help cure your granddaughter, right?” Chen Xiaobei asked.
“Wow! Mr. Chen is wise and farsighted!” Amasa Hito complimented sincerely. “I was blinded! I had mistakenly taken you for a regular man! I hereby formally apologize to you, Mr. Chen. I hope that you can help Yuki!”
“I’m not that petty. I’ve accepted your stones so I won’t be angry at you.”
Chen Xiaobei gestured towards the box and smiled, “However, I’ve already laid out the condition for healing her very clearly. The decision is entirely up to you!”
“There’s no need to think about it. Yuki is our only child. Her health is everything!” Amasa Hito quickly said, “Mr. Chen can take the Sui Generis Dragon artifact as long as my granddaughter doesn’t fall sick again.”
“Alright! That’s a deal!” Chen Xiaboe nodded then instructed, “Cang Jingu, go and move the Sui Generis Dragon artifact!”
“What? Why is the Sui Generis Dragon artifact here?”
Cang Jingu looked puzzlingly at Chen Xiaobei as he followed the butler into the house.
They were at the Museum earlier today to retrieve the Sui Generis Dragon artifact.
Who would have thought that it was actually in the Amasa Family’s mansion?
It was no wonder Chen Xiaobei had gotten involved; he was there for the genuine Sui Generis Dragon artifact, not to pick up chicks! Seeing Chen Xiaobei achieve their first target without shedding blood, Cang Jingu regarded Chen Xiaobei highly and gave him 320 likes in his heart!
“I’m guessing the second thing you’d like to ask is if I’m willing to sell this Hundred Birds Worship Phoenix woodcarving, right?” Chen Xiaobei turned his attention back to Amasa Hito.
“You are so insightful and wise! There really is nothing I could I hide from you, Mr. Chen!” said Amasa Hito, nodding. “To tell you the truth, I am an avid collector! If I am don’t have this godly item in my collection, I’m afraid I will regret it forever!”
“Okay. How much are you willing to pay for it? If it is reasonable then I will leave the carving to you!” Chen Xiaobei smiled and continued, “Oh, and uh, I only accept Spiritual Stones. No cash!”
“If that’s the case, I’m willing to pay 100 Spiritual Stones. What does Mr. Chen think?” asked Amasa Hito.
“100 stones?” it was Chen Xiaobei’s turn to be surprised.
While it does not sound like much, Chen Xiaobei did not actually do any work to get this ‘Hundred Birds Worship Phoenix’! It was in the Zhuang family’s vault. It was merely one of the thousands in their collection! If he could get 100 Spiritual Stones just like that, he could earn a ton if he sold all of the others!
Chen Xiaobei thought about it and was very happy with the price Amasa Hito had proposed. But his silence was mistaken as dissent. So Amasa Hito panicked and offered, “If that’s not enough, I can increase it to 300 Spiritual Stones!”
Pfft…
Chen Xiaobei nearly burst out in laughter. He could not help but think to himself—fools are rich!
