Free Web NovelChapter 434: Chapter 241: Jade Stone Market Opens!
And so, another fiery round of work-for-relief infrastructure projects began.
Of course, quite a few people still chose to be paid in silver coins. This was hardly a problem for Cheng Zongyang.
Now that he had the Da Yi Commerce Association, he could easily borrow the funds in advance. Their Money Shop business offered loans that could be paid back later.
Chen Kaishan naturally had no objections when he heard this; after all, there would be interest.
Although the merchant branch had not yet been formally established, many of the personnel, necessary supplies, and funds had already been delivered. This was to ensure they were available for temporary use.
With several thousand workers on the job, progress was extremely fast. Cheng Zongyang wanted speed, not a project that would drag on for half a year or a full year. In addition, he had also "sent" over the Jewelry.
Inside a private warehouse, Chen Kaishan’s face was a picture of astonishment when he saw the dozen or so chests of gems and Jewelry.
’There really is this much!’
Some of the professional staff Chen Kaishan had brought with him began to take inventory of the dozen-plus chests of Jewelry.
The nearly 1,400 jin of Jewelry was meticulously categorized, and after appraisal, each piece was recorded one by one.
This inventory process took nearly two full days.
Under the professional appraisal of several expert pawnshop staff, a final figure was reached—136,000 taels!
Chen Kaishan rounded it up and gave him 140,000 taels!
The Jade that the Huangfu Family had hidden away was hardly ordinary. Many were priceless Jade jewelry, Jade Artifacts, Jade Carvings, and more. And this was the price after the Commerce Association took its 30% cut; otherwise, it would have been worth even more.
Cheng Zongyang didn’t take this money immediately. Instead, he left it in the warehouse. First, he wanted to wait a few days until no one was paying attention before moving it into the Wilderness World. Second, it provided a plausible reason for returning it to someone later.
For now, everything in the County Town would be funded by the existing businesses of the Cheng Family and the Celestial Break Gang; he didn’t need to subsidize it with his own money.
With that, the matter of the Commerce Association was more or less concluded.
In the following days, besides occasionally supervising the construction, Cheng Zongyang spent most of his time at home in Cultivation and studying the Array Book.
Chen Kaishan and Zheng Tianhai would occasionally look for Cheng Zongyang to share a few drinks, an invitation he didn’t refuse.
「In the blink of an eye, it was the evening of July 19th.」
That night, Cheng Zongyang returned home after coming back from the Celestial Break Gang’s headquarters. Zhang Zeyu had not yet gone to rest. Cheng Zongyang said to him:
"I’m entering closed-door Cultivation tonight. For the next four or five hours, do not disturb me unless it’s something important."
Hearing this, Zhang Zeyu immediately replied, "Yes, Young Master. A bath has been prepared. Do you need to wash up first?"
Cheng Zongyang walked toward the study, saying, "No need. I’ll wash up tomorrow morning."
"Yes." Zhang Zeyu said no more.
After returning to his study, Cheng Zongyang glanced at the time. It was already past eleven at night.
After twelve, it would be the 20th—the time when the Jade Stone Market and the consignment section would open!
That is, if their calculations were correct.
Appearing in the Wilderness World, Luo Dingran was inside the market hut. Seeing Cheng Zongyang, he immediately cupped his fist and said, "Sir."
Cheng Zongyang nodded slightly. "How are the preparations?"
Luo Dingran replied, "Everything is ready. The fish catch, dried meat, Red Cloud Ore, Red Blood Pills, Five Grains Inner Replenishing Pills, Blood Burst Pills, the Innate Qi Technique, the Divine Weapon Refining Technique, the Corpse Control Gu Worm Cultivation Method, and the Celestial Human Health Cultivation Skill."
I’ve transcribed one hundred copies of each of the last four Secret Techniques, though I’m not sure how many will sell. I wanted to prepare some precious Medicinal Materials, but Zhang Jinquan wouldn’t allow it, saying he needed to save them for Alchemy. Additionally, your subordinate has prepared 10 kilograms of Wilderness Rice to test the waters."
Cheng Zongyang nodded. "It’s fine. He’s in charge of the Medicinal Materials. Since he can maximize their value, we’ll leave him to it. This is our first time operating this way, so we can just treat it as gaining experience. Go ahead and test the rice seeds. If someone actually buys them, we can’t sell too much for now, but we can try selling more later when we have an ample supply."
Luo Dingran nodded. "Your subordinate thought so as well. Everything that could be prepared has been. I hope there will be good things in the Jade Stone Market, but I’m also worried we don’t have enough Points."
Cheng Zongyang said, "Let’s see how lucky we are."
As he spoke, he glanced at his own Points.
--
Points: 169
--
Looking at this amount of Points, he felt a sense of helplessness.
He had put in a purchase request for fifty Low Tier Soul Crystal Stones, which had completely drained his Points.
Time ticked by, second by second.
When the clock on the wall passed midnight, both Cheng Zongyang and Luo Dingran looked toward the original item list and the consignment section behind the counter.
Instantly, a notification message appeared for each of them:
--
The Jade Stone Market is now open. You have nine item slots. Each refresh will display nine new items. Items are not limited by category and are not sorted by Point value. You can spend 5 Points to refresh the market items.
Market closing in: 7:59:19
--
--
The consignment section is now open. You have four item slots. You can list four types of items at a time. Once an item is sold, the slot can be used again. The commission fee for sold goods is 14% of the selling price.
Consignment section closing in: 7:59:03
--
After they both finished reading, without needing a word from Cheng Zongyang, Luo Dingran listed one thousand kilograms of the most abundant item, Red Cloud Ore, to test the waters.
The consignment price was set at: 40 Points / 100 kilograms.
This price was ten Points higher than before. Previously, the price could only be set at thirty Points; anything over that wouldn’t sell.
This time, connecting to the Jade Stone Market was an experiment, so it was impossible to stick to the old prices.
And listing only one thousand kilograms was also a way to probe the price, to avoid selling it too cheaply.
Next came the dried meat, the fish catch, and the Red Blood Pills.
For these as well, he listed only a small portion to test the prices so that they could be adjusted at any time.
While Luo Dingran was listing the items, Cheng Zongyang had already turned his attention to the Jade Stone Market.
Nine items were displayed one by one.
--
[High Tier Martial Skill: Acupoint-Sealing Hand / 2,000 Points] [First Grade Cyan Wood Technique / 18,000 Points] [First-grade Grain Avoidance Pill x100 / 500 Points]
[First Grade Qi Condensing Pill x50 / 500 Points] [First Grade Magical Artifact Flying Cloud Shuttle / 13,000 Points] [First Grade Blood Spirit Grass x30 / 5,000 Points]
[High Grade Gatling Gun + 50,000 rounds / 1,000 Points] [First Grade Fire Essence Stone x1000 units / 10,000 Points] [Three-star Exotic Beast Red Wood Carved Egg x5 / 1,500 Points]
--
Looking through them one by one, Cheng Zongyang couldn’t help but swallow several times.
From the detailed descriptions, he also learned about the worlds of the hosts on the other side of the Jade Stone Market. Some were High Martial Worlds, some were Cultivation Immortality Worlds, and there was even a Science and Technology World!
This was easy enough to tell from the items being sold.
He coveted all of these items, but his lack of Points forced him to stop in his tracks!
The Cultivation Immortality Techniques cost five figures at a minimum, while he only had three!
The Gatling Gun, in particular, was a real eyesore. Tucked among high-end items from fantasy and cultivation worlds, this low-end gadget from a technological plane seemed completely out of place.
Although the price was decent, he wasn’t very interested. That thing was almost useless against highly mobile Martial Artists. It was only suitable for warfare.
"Sir!! It sold!"
Just then, Luo Dingran’s excited voice pulled Cheng Zongyang’s reluctant gaze away from the items.
"What sold?" Cheng Zongyang asked.
"All 1,000 kilograms of Red Cloud Ore sold! After the commission fee, we earned 344 Points. And all the Red Blood Pills, priced at 200 Points each, sold too! A total of 30 pills, earning us 5,160 Points!"
"Then keep going!" Cheng Zongyang said, suppressing his own excitement.
Although he didn’t understand why Red Cloud Ore was more valuable than Fire Spirit Stone, he couldn’t be bothered to figure it out. Right now, the goal was to earn more Points and buy good things!
There was still time, so Luo Dingran listed another 1,000 kilograms of Red Cloud Ore, continuing to test a higher price.
As for the Red Blood Pills, he didn’t increase the price. Instead, he kept it the same and listed all the Red Blood Pills that Zhang Jinquan had been refining day and night. After the 30 that had already sold, there were 470 left.
Luo Dingran had a feeling that this was the maximum price.
Even if he raised it, the difference wouldn’t be much. Since the quantity wasn’t huge, it was better to sell them all and free up a slot for something else.
This was still limited by the quantity of Red Jade Ganoderma.
Otherwise, with this opportunity, they could have made a huge profit from the Red Blood Pills!
Neither of them had ever imagined that the Red Blood Pills would actually be so valuable!
But when they thought about its dual effect of granting intelligence to animals and increasing their strength, such a high value seemed only natural.
The formula Zhang Jinquan researched had certainly earned him a lot of Points.
As a result, once this large quantity was listed, sales slowed down considerably.
They were now selling just a few pills at a time.
That’s right, they could be sold individually. If someone had enough Points, they could also buy the entire stock at once.
This confirmed Luo Dingran’s suspicion: 200 Points was the ceiling.
