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Chapter 26 – Breakthrough
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Having listened to Lin Ming’s words and seeing this exceedingly long list, the storekeeper flushed red. Did this country bumpkin think that the Hundred Treasure Hall was somewhere that he could just play around in? Such a large order would cost several thousand taels of gold at the bare minimum! It was as if this young little boy was buying bok choy at the market! Spending a few thousand gold taels, not even the sons of those aristocratic families would be able to afford so much!
He waved the list impatiently and placed it on the counter, then said, “I’m going to give you two a warning, for anyone that intentionally causes trouble in the Hundred Treasure Halls, there will be severe consequences!”
“I’ll warn your mom!” Lin Xiaodong slapped his hand against the storekeeper’s hand. The storekeeper had only ever done business and did not have the talent to practice martial arts, and with a loud pat from Lin Xiaodong, he pitifully screamed.
“You!” The storekeeper could not believe this hooligan would dare to cause a scene in the Hundred Treasures Hall!
“Look you snobby little son of a bitch, us young masters have money!” As Lin Xiaodong said this, he reached into Lin Ming’s robes and took the golden bank notes near his chest. He slammed them on the counter with 100 jins of strength, and the counter shook. With gold notes in hand, Lin Xiaodong’s confidence shot through the roof. This storekeeper was already a sore in his eyes; how could he miss this opportunity to teach the rude man a lesson?
The storekeeper froze when he saw the golden bank notes. His eyes flashed as he fiercely calculated the total amount in that stack of bills. They were banknotes worth 1000 gold taels each! With that the total amount had to be at least several thousand taels! He immediately realized that the golden banknotes were the real deal. As long as he went to a bank that was part of the chamber of commerce, he could exchange them for gold taels.
The storekeeper was thoroughly shocked. He sized up Lin Ming and also Lin Xiaodong. These two little guys were by no means the children of an aristocratic family. Just a few days ago that Lin Ming was just a poor boy that was door-to-door selling symbol papers. Where did he suddenly come into so many riches? Did he actually sell those symbol papers?
It was impossible; an apprentice inscriptionist’s inscriptions would be inconceivable to sell for that much money
Two upstart nouveau rich boys; he did not realize that they were suddenly high class characters and had been acting arrogant in front of them….in the storekeepers heart was only melancholy. But money was god, and this was a temple.
He rubbed his hand which had swelled like a grapefruit and put on a smile. Taking the list, he quickly scanned it. On it were listed materials that weren’t cheap! In addition to those items that Lin Ming had wanted, he quickly calculated that this business transaction would almost be 6000 taels of gold!
This was equal to the price of two rare treasures! And with the commission he could earn 120 gold taels for himself!
This was not a small number! Although his heart was still a little resentful, it wasn’t worth it with the amount of money on the line. So the storekeeper groveled and bowed and said, “My foolish self did not recognize such esteemed guests of honor had appeared. Please wait, I shall prepare everything immediately.”
The storekeeper’s keeper body was bloated like a pig with too much gas and yet he moved like the wind. Lin Ming wanted a variety of materials that were all in different sections of the store, but the storekeeper was quick on his feet and fast with his hands and soon gathered everything together. The storekeeper had a radiant smile as he said, “Two esteemed guests, please examine the authenticity of the goods. The total is 5800 gold taels.”
Seeing the stacks of goods, Lin Xiaodong asked Lin Ming, “Is this everything, brother Lin?”
Lin Ming said, “Yes, it looks like this is it.”
By now, Lin Xiaodong’s mouth twitched and he slyly smiled and said, “I’m sorry, this is embarrassing but I would like to see a different storekeeper to pay.”
The storekeeper’s happy face instantly stiffened.
In such a high class store like the Hundred Treasure Halls, it was only natural that a storekeeper’s worth was dependent on his ability to sell. Therefore, all the storekeepers here took commission on all items they sold themselves.
Lin Xiaodong understood this, and decided to give the slimy man a hard time. “Please move a bit faster, we’d like to finish this as soon as possible.”
The storekeeper realized that Lin Xiaodong was messing with him intentionally, and his heart ignited with fury. If a junior of an aristocratic house had decided to play a joke on him then he would bear with it, but these two were only some newly minted hicks that came into some wealth. They didn’t have the right yet to be so