Just as Li Youran was about to accept the jade, a fan blocked her way.

"May I ask what brings you here, young master?"

This action made Li Youran feel very unhappy.

Putting aside the fact that no normal person would carry a fan in winter, simply interrupting someone is extremely disrespectful.

"Brother Zhu, this woman is so fierce."

A woman dressed in a bright red silk cotton robe leaned against the young man holding a fan and spoke in a sweet, coquettish voice.

"I'm scared~"

"Don't be afraid, I, Zhu Youcai, am here~"

As Zhu Youcai spoke, he lightly lifted the woman's chin with his fan, then looked up at Li Youran.

Upon seeing Li Youran's face clearly, Zhu Youcai's expression instantly changed, and he looked at Li Youran with lustful eyes.

"Brother Zhu, I want that piece of jade!"

A soft, melodious female voice came from behind him, and Zhu Youcai remembered what he needed to do.

"Greetings, young lady. My name is Zhu Youcai, and I wish to purchase this piece of jade at a high price. Would you be willing to pay?"

As Zhu Youcai spoke, he held the fan in his hand with a practiced air and bowed to Li Youran.

"Shopkeeper, how much is this piece of jade worth?"

"Less than two qian of silver."

That's what the shopkeeper said.

Mingyu is man-made. Although it looks transparent and shiny, it has no collectible value.

"Two hundred taels of silver, are you willing?"

Li Youran spoke without batting an eye, as if she were the only one who had heard the price the shopkeeper had just mentioned.

"You're asking for an exorbitant price! You're trying to scam me!"

Upon hearing Li Youran's words, the woman in Zhu Youcai's arms twitched her lips and said with disdain.

"You are mistaken, young lady."

Xia Xiao placed one hand behind his back and pointed to the piece of bright jade with the other.

“The price of Mingyu is not high, but there are ancient tales of people spending a fortune to win a smile from a beautiful woman. I think two hundred taels is too low, two thousand taels would be more appropriate.”

“Young Master Zhu, you agree, don’t you? Since you’ve already said it’s a high price, it would be too embarrassing to only spend two hundred taels.”

Zhu Youcai had intended to flaunt his wealth in front of the women, but he hadn't expected the price to be so outrageously high. He couldn't even afford twenty taels, let alone two hundred.

“What this young master says is quite right. With my status as Zhu, a mere two thousand taels of silver is nothing more than a drop in the ocean.”

Zhu Youcai, putting on a brave face, was unwilling to lose face in front of a woman, so he could only say with a forced smile.

"Young Master Zhu is truly my lucky charm. Thank you so much, Young Master Zhu."

As Li Youran spoke, she took the piece of jade from the shopkeeper's hand, wiped it on her sleeve, and presented it to Zhu Youcai with both hands as if offering a treasure.

Zhu Youcai was so embarrassed that he wished he could dig a three-bedroom apartment out of his toes. He only had two taels of silver in his pocket, and he couldn't possibly come up with two hundred taels of silver even if he were beaten to death.

“Honey, I don’t think this piece of jade is good enough for you. Let’s go look somewhere else and I’ll buy you something better.”

Zhu Youcai chuckled awkwardly as he spoke, then forcibly pulled the woman in his arms away.

Li Youran felt that she had become increasingly narrow-minded these past few days. Watching Zhu Youcai leave in a disheveled state, she actually felt a sense of satisfaction at having successfully slapped him in the face.

She turned to look at Xia Xiao and realized how embarrassing she had been.

"I'm sorry to have made a fool of myself in front of Young Master Xia. I just couldn't stand his pretentious and disrespectful attitude, which is why I asked for such a high price."

Although she had only met Xia Xiao by chance, Li Youran didn't want people to mistakenly think she was a cunning businesswoman.

"Miss Li, you don't know this, but that's the principle of doing business. It's just that Zhu Youcai really doesn't have any money in his pocket. If he did, you would have really made two hundred taels of silver today."

As Xia Xiao spoke, he recalled some of the things he had experienced to Li Youran.

"Years ago, I went with some people to the outer region and picked up a truckload of glass products. The quality wasn't particularly good; it couldn't compare to the quality of the glass products here. However, the shapes were unique and the quantity was limited, making each glass product one-of-a-kind."

"My elders were furious when they found out that I had brought a truckload of goods from afar, and that the quality was not even as good as the local glass products. It looked like the whole truckload of goods was going to be a waste of their money."

As Xia Xiao finished speaking, Li Youran blinked her curious eyes and stared intently at Xia Xiao. In fact, she just wanted to know how Xia Xiao had resolved this crisis, so she could learn from his experience and perhaps find a way to apply it in the future.

Xia Xiao, however, believed that Li Youran had developed enough curiosity about him and wanted to understand him, so she straightened her back and began to explain what was to come in more detail.

"After thinking it over, I picked out three of the most unique glass pieces from the car, and then dumped the rest of the glass pieces on the ground and smashed them to pieces."

"Just when my whole family thought I was crazy, I placed those three items in the most conspicuous place in the shop and used the most high-end packaging to highlight them."

Xia Xiao kept everyone in suspense, leaving the story unfinished, but Li Youran could roughly guess what was going to happen next.

"So how did Young Master Xia eventually sell them, and at what price?"

However, since he was listening to someone tell a story, he still had to maintain the proper attitude, so Li Youran pressed for more information.

"Whenever a customer asks about the price of these three glass artifacts, I tell them that they are the store's prized possessions and are not for sale."

Xia Xiao smiled sheepishly and continued.

“I also made up a story for them to make the guests feel that these three glass products were even more unique.”

"Finally, there was a very wealthy man who refused to leave and insisted on buying them. I let him name his price, and he quoted two thousand taels of silver. I didn't haggle; I just pretended to be helpless and packed the items up for him to take away."

Although Li Youran had already guessed the ending, she did not expect there to be so many little schemes at the end.

She guessed that Xia Xiao was probably not from this town, because when he mentioned two thousand taels of silver, his expression was the same as when he joked about two thousand taels of silver earlier—completely calm, as if he were just stating a meaningless number.

Moreover, most of the people who can go to the side stories at a young age are from families with businesses; small merchants who live alone generally do not have this ability.

"I admire you. I thought Young Master Xia was just joking, but I didn't expect that Young Master Xia would actually sell this two-qian silver item for two thousand taels."

Li Youran praised him sincerely.

"Excuse me for asking, but is Young Master Xia not a local?"

Li Youran didn't really think much of it; she just asked casually. Little did she expect that Xia Xiao would think that Li Youran had developed a strong interest in him and start asking where he lived.