The exotic beast trading hub in northern Bei Du was not only the biggest in Bei Du City itself, but also the largest hub in the entire circle of Bei Du’s satellite cities.
The stalls and shops in this area, which covered a radius of over a dozen kilometers, all dealt with exotic beast materials. Those larger shops were still fine, as they had to uphold their reputation. The smaller stalls, however, were different. You’d never know if they were an honest business or not. Some of them traded day to day, hoping to scam whoever they could.
Perhaps you could buy some very useful materials in these stalls, or you might get cheated out of your money. It all depended on your insight.
The car slowly drove into this area and found a place to park. Zhang Che brought Huang Tielan and started slowly wandering around.
They weren’t in a hurry to buy what they wanted. They decided to let the crowded atmosphere sink in first. Zhang Che had never seen such a huge trading hub, no matter if it was his previous or current life.
Not long after they started walking around, Huang Juyun gave them a call, praising Zhang Che for his actions earlier, saying that he performed excellently today. Not only that, he also told Zhang Che not to worry. He would settle what came after.
Zhang Che couldn’t help but think to himself, -Seems like future father-in-law has suffered quite a bit from Zhen Manting. Does it count as me helping him get back at her today?-
It was possible, thinking about it. They were from the same generation, after all, and their statuses weren’t low. Some things weren’t convenient for them to do, unless they really planned on falling out publicly. Zhang Che, as a junior, was different. No one would say anything if he let his emotions run wild after suffering some injustice.
Influenced by the demons and gods in his mind, Zhang Che suddenly turned to look at Huang Tielan and asked, “Tienan, was that Zhen Manting your mother’s competitor in the past?”
“What?” Huang Tielan was caught by surprise while looking around by his words, and startled for a moment. Afterwards, she raised her hands and rubbed her temples, saying, “Ah, ah, Zhang Xiaoche, do you have to be so nosy!?”
Zhang Che immediately understood. It seemed like his guess was spot on!
After taking another two steps, for some unknown reason, Zhang Che suddenly sighed, “Actually, I think Zhen Manting is quite alright from the looks of it. The reason why she picks on Uncle Huang so much is probably because of her hatred for him born from love. Why not ask your dad to keep her as his mistress? Wouldn’t that solve all the conflicts?”
“Hurhur…” a chuckle containing unknown meaning suddenly rang in his ear. Zhang Che felt his whole body shivering. He hurriedly jumped two steps away to the side, then pleaded, “Aiya, my brain isn’t working properly just now. I was speaking without thinking. Please don’t mind me.”
Surprisingly, Miss Tienan didn’t make a move on him. Instead, she directly took out her personal terminal and gave Huang Juyun a call.
“Dad, Zhang Xiaoche said he has a very-”
Zhang Che almost wanted to kneel down. In his desperation, he jumped into Huang Tielan’s embrace and rubbed his face on her chest. At the same time, his hands were placed on an unspeakable location.
“Ah! Zhang Xiaoche, you’re looking to die!” Huang Tielan shrieked. As she struggled, she explained to Huang Juyun, “Nothing, nothing. I was just messing around with Zhang Xiaoche. That’s all; I’m hanging up, dad!”
Hearing Huang Tielan ending the call, Zhang Che immediately let go of her, showing a fawning look.
“Zhang Xiaoche, you’re looking to die…” Huang Tielan’s face blushed bright red, glaring at him.
The crisis was finally averted. Zhang Che didn’t dare to continue provoking Miss Tienan and started looking for material for his custom bow with her.
If he wanted good materials, of course it’d be easier to find what he wanted in the larger shops. Their reputation for business was guaranteed, too.
However, looking around in the stalls had its advantages, too. If your luck was good, perhaps you might even find something very worthwhile. It might not have to be high-grade, but the key was that it had to be suitable for application.
For example, Zhang Che saw a pretty good material at the stall he was at right now.
It was the ribs of an exotic beast. They were white and translucent as jade, with a high density. It should be suitable to be used as a bow piece, but its level and quality was still unknown.
“Here, here, little bro, have a look at my goods.” The stall owner’s eyes were sharp. He immediately noticed Zhang Che’s gaze had lingered on those rib bones for a bit longer. He hurriedly picked one up and tried hawking it, “This is the rib bone of a five-star dark gold-quality exotic beast. It’s a first-rate item, no matter if you’re using it to sharpen your blades, or to use it to forge other weapons. I see that we’re pretty fated; I’ll sell it to you for cheap, only a million dollars a piece. If you take them all, I can even go lower.”
Well, just hearing this you’d know it was no good.
Zhang Che shook his head lightly with a smile, ready to leave.
However, the stall owner actually came up and blocked his path. He continued trying to sell Zhang Che the rib bones, talking as if the rib bones were some materials rarely seen in this world.
Miss Tienan went straight to the point, directly saying, “I think this rib bone is only ordinary at best. Are you trying to cheat us?”
The stall owner immediately grew displeasured. His eyes widened, saying, “This little miss here looks prim and proper, but why are your words so distasteful? What do you mean by cheating you? Everyone here knows about my, Zhou Ansan’s, reputation. Try asking around if you don’t believe me. If you’re not buying, just walk away. Why do you have to smear my name?”
These words were a little too much. Just as Huang Tielan was about to go argue with him, she was pulled back by Zhang Che.
The latter took two steps forward and took the rib bone from the stall owner’s hand. His brow raised a little. Judging from the touch, Zhang Che knew that this was the bone of a low-tier exotic beast. Its quality was similarly trash. Its outer appearance was but a hoax.
“How is it? Like I said, my wares are good stuff. Don’t you think so? Here, if you buy them all, I’ll give you a further discount, at nine hundred thousand dollars a piece. There are eight of them here. I’ll round it down for you; just seven million dollars will do.”
As the stall owner spoke, he started packing up the remaining rib bones and forcibly stuffed them into Zhang Che’s hands.
Zhang Che was taken aback. -Are you trying to force me to buy since you saw that I’m young?-
He extended an arm and applied light force, stopping the stall owner’s actions. His lips curled up into a faint smile, asking, “Since you said these are the bones of a five-star dark gold-quality exotic beast, then, according to their density, no one should be able to break it with bare hands, am I right?”
The stall owner was stunned for a moment. He said angrily, “But of course! These are the rib bones of a real five-star dark gold-quality beast! Who could break it barehanded? Are you joking? Are you here to waste my time?”
“What if I break it?” Zhang Che asked, his head inclined, his eyes narrowed.
“If you break it barehanded?” The stall owner had no way out of this. However, he thought that although the quality of the bones weren’t very good, it shouldn’t be something a human can break apart.
As such, he said very generously, “Put it on my tab if you break it! But, I’ll put this out in advance. If you can’t break it, you have to buy all the rib bones from me!”
Zhang Che’s lips widened, and he smiled…