Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 64: Dark Tide
“Hello, Young Master Li.”
“Hello, Young Master Li.”
“Greetings, Sir Li.”
“Hello, Princess.”
……
Li Xian was holding hands with Xia Qingqing, wandering through the crowd; the temporary exhibition venue was bustling with activity. Not only were there merchants and representatives from the Daxia Kingdom, but also from neighboring countries.
Among them, the most people came from the Cai Kingdom, and many of them knew Li Xian.
“It’s really lively,” Xia Qingqing sighed softly.
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Thinking about Xia Qingqing’s past hardships, Li Xian felt a pang of sympathy and, disregarding her objections, continued to stroll hand in hand with her. “This is lively; there are only a few people here, just around three thousand. You haven’t seen a scene where a million people gather; that would truly be lively.”
“You’re lying. When have you ever seen such a scene? I didn’t know that there were a million people gathered in the Daxia Kingdom!”
“Ha ha… heh heh…” Li Xian chuckled foolishly.
The two of them walked like this until noon, with Xia Qingqing’s complexion rosy and filled with shy happiness. She felt as if she had never been so relaxed and joyful before; everything felt so blissful.
Meanwhile, Guo Youcai, Liu Shuren, and Huang Youquan were also touring together. The types of goods weren’t many but were very detailed.
“Silk varieties. There are three grades: upper, middle, and lower, with plain, patterned, and striped options. There are also more than ten types of silk itself, like silk, satin, gauze, and so on.”
“There are quite a few varieties of hemp and ramie. The best hemp fabric is even more expensive than silk. But the quality is truly excellent!”
“The glass section has high-quality vessels, wine utensils, and more, as well as vases, mirrors, and sunglasses. The medium quality includes equally exquisite glassware and large glass sheets. The lower quality has mixed-color glass and related vessels.”
“There are only two types of colored lanterns: high-end and top-end. That crystal chandelier is truly stunning!”
“Steel ingots, stainless steel ingots, weapons, and armor… This stainless steel weapon is incredibly expensive, almost twenty times the price of regular steel weapons, nearly half the price of silver!”
“Bearings and main shafts are actually distinguished as well. There are ones suitable for making carriages, ones for engines, and others for textile machinery.”
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“What is this? A clock for timing. 24 hours? I see! But isn’t it a bit expensive? The cheapest one costs 50 taels of gold, and the most expensive one costs a staggering 200 taels of gold?!” Next to the big clock, a dozen attendants were busily explaining without a moment’s rest.
“This is sea soul silk? There are four types: A, B, C, and D, each divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. It looks really complicated. Grade D can only be used for colored lanterns, while Grade C and above can be used for formations. Five taels of gold per meter? That’s expensive—unbelievably expensive!”
After walking around, Guo Youcai, Liu Shuren, and Huang Youquan exchanged glances.
Guo Youcai hesitated for a moment and said, “I think we need to change our initial plan. We should focus all our efforts on steel and stainless steel.”
“I disagree!” Liu Shuren’s eyes sparkled. “I believe we should go all out for bearings; they are the real deal! Look at the current situation; it’s said that the new siege crossbows developed by the Kong family use bearings! Nowadays, machinery, carriages, and city defenses can all utilize bearings!”
However, Huang Youquan suddenly sighed, “I’m afraid it might not be our turn! Those representatives from powerful families and those local warlords will directly bid for them themselves.
So, I think we’d better look into fabrics and glass products instead.”
“Hmm? That makes sense!” The three of them discussed for a long time, forgetting to eat lunch.
In the afternoon, the atmosphere grew tense.
Li Xian stepped onto the high platform and looked around. “Thank you all for coming from afar. I won’t waste time on idle talk; the rules should be clear, right? I won’t repeat myself; let’s get straight to the bidding. To save everyone time and trouble, we’ll use sealed bids.”
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Sealed bids! Now that was a ruthless tactic! With stainless steel weapons as bait, Li Xian was confident that these people wouldn’t come to an agreement; everyone would be racking their brains to get as much as they could for themselves. Even if they couldn’t use the good stuff themselves, they wouldn’t want their enemies to have it either, and it could be sold to others.
The sealed bidding went quickly, and just as Li Xian had anticipated, items like fabrics and colored lanterns were generally priced no more than 80% of their suggested prices. However, stainless steel and stainless steel weapons were priced extremely high.
In particular, the bidding price for stainless steel soared to 120%—it had already exceeded the suggested retail price! It’s important to note that stainless steel weapons were already quite expensive, costing nearly half the price of silver! The price of stainless steel weapons was calculated based on “weight”; regardless of the type of weapon, it would be weighed on scales, and then half the weight in silver would be paid.
The smallest big clock was also very popular, selling for almost 90% of its price. Mirrors were also in high demand—don’t underestimate mirrors; they can be applied in military settings, especially in reconnaissance, particularly in situations involving corners.
As for bearings and sea soul silk, the bearings were snatched up at full price—needless to say, they could also be applied in military contexts. Sea soul silk was relatively expensive but still sold for 90% of its price.
That evening, all personnel completed the handover, and a large number of carriages began leaving Qingyun Valley, returning overnight. Both parties agreed to complete transactions every 15 to 20 days, with each transaction being settled in cash.
“An income of 50,000 taels of gold in a day!” Fang Shijing exclaimed, astonished and unable to close his mouth. Although he had anticipated the possible outcome, the reality of 50,000 taels of gold was still surprising. Fifty thousand taels of gold equated to 500,000 taels of silver, which is 5 billion copper coins!
Li Xian watched as Fang Shijing counted over and over, finally unable to suppress a laugh. “Mr. Fang, this is the income for the entire month, not just one day. For the next month, we will be working overtime.”
“I know, I know, but 5 billion copper coins is just too much, far too much.”
“Is 5 billion copper coins too much?” Li Xian shook his head. “Let’s do some math. The population of the Great Xia is over 70 million. Even if we assume that each person has only one tael of silver, that’s still 700 billion copper coins, or 7 million taels of gold.
Mr. Fang, we need to work harder; we cannot be satisfied with the status quo.”
Li Xian hummed a cheerful tune as he left, while Xu Ren also smiled slightly, leaving Fang Shijing to ponder: the bidding had ended, but the Brilliant Star Group must have enough products; the upcoming expansion wouldn’t be an easy task. Clearly, all of this pressure now rested on Fang Shijing.
Moreover, the frenzy of this bidding event made everyone realize that “cheap industries” weren’t truly “cheap,” and more and more people were getting envious. On top of that, someone even used a “crossbow cart” to kill a Golden Core expert, causing quite a stir!
Especially for the Kong family, this time they not only failed to win the bid, but also lost a Golden Core expert and were publicly humiliated by Li Xian, making the Kong family very angry! A small warlord from Nanyang was angry, and the consequences could be severe!
When Kong Yingzhi returned to Nanyang, the Kong family immediately made a decision—one Golden Core expert was not enough, so they would send a large army to pressure the situation.
Nanyang and An Yang were over 5,000 miles apart, and on the surface, the Great Xia seemed relatively peaceful, making it difficult to deploy troops. But that was okay; to the north of An Yang, there was still the country of Cai!