After returning to the capital, the Fifth Prince Xiahou Yi will immediately ascend the throne and become the master of the country. It sounds glorious, but in reality, he will inherit a mess.
After several years of natural disasters and internal turmoil, the Tianwu Dynasty has an empty treasury, a severe loss of population, and a large amount of farmland abandoned. Apart from its fiefdom and the imperial city, there is no place that is not in chaos.
Whether it's resettling displaced people and disaster victims, building water conservancy projects in the south, replanting fields in the north, or sending troops to the border to expel foreign tribes and stabilize the people's hearts, all of these require money and food.
With so many unfamiliar items here, whether sold to domestic noble families, wealthy merchants, and landlords, or exported to other countries, one could earn astronomical sums of gold and silver.
If the shop owner hadn't displayed such extraordinary abilities, he would have wanted to rob the shop himself.
Food is the most important thing for the people, so he planned to inquire about the grain supply first. If he had a large amount of grain, he could quickly stabilize the government and win over the people after ascending the throne.
So he approached Lin Qianqian and said he wanted to buy grain, lots and lots of grain. Lin Qianqian left Wen Mingyue at the first-floor cashier to watch over the mall, while she and Luo Zexuan took the Fifth Prince to the fifth-floor reception room.
"How much food do you need? We didn't bring much this time. If we piled up all the grains, it would be the size of 20 shopping malls. We also have enough meat, eggs, vegetables, and fruits for 20 shopping malls, as well as seafood and freshwater products. Do you have enough money?"
The Fifth Prince's heart pounded. He asked, "So many? Where are the goods? When will they arrive?"
Lin Qianqian suddenly laughed: "It's right here, do you want to see?"
The fifth prince was stunned. He looked around and suddenly thought of something, his eyes brightening.
Lin Qianqian took out an empty bead and handed it to him: "Concentrate and look inside the bead."
The Fifth Prince did as she was told with some skepticism. Lin Qianqian then separated a wisp of her divine sense and guided his spiritual power into a space that was shimmering with a faint light.
The space was filled with neatly stacked, translucent bags, each grain of grain plump and glistening. The mountain of grain made him look like an ant.
After his mind left the physical space, he was completely dazed, but his hand was tightly gripping the beads.
When Lin Qianqian held out her hand to him, gesturing for him to return the beads, he instinctively gripped them even tighter, showing no intention of giving them back.
Lin Qianqian's face darkened, and she gave a cold laugh.
What, trying to rob me? That's incredibly audacious!
Just as Lin Qianqian was hesitating whether to whip him, the Fifth Prince finally calmed down, handed the empty pearl back to Lin Qianqian, and bowed to apologize.
Lin Qianqian was too lazy to argue. She was there to do business, and making money peacefully was the best outcome. But anyone who wanted to take something from her would have to see if they had the ability!
The Fifth Prince asked directly, "Fairy Lin, is this bead for sale?"
"This can also be traded, but not with gold or silver. It must be traded with treasures of equal value. However, I think you probably can't afford it."
The Fifth Prince sighed. Such treasures could not be bought with gold or silver.
After that, everything was left to Luo Zexuan to handle. Lin Qianqian couldn't get a word in edgewise and was bored, so she wanted to play on her phone and watch videos.
However, before discussing grain prices, Luo Zexuan inquired about the main currencies circulating in the Tianwu Dynasty. Ordinary people primarily used large copper coins of low purity, while gold and silver were mostly used by merchant families, officials, and the imperial family.
One tael of gold equals ten taels of silver equals 1000 large coins. One tael here is 50 grams. The mall's copper coins are useless; what can be done?
Luo Zexuan turned to the side and whispered to Lin Qianqian. The Fifth Prince was very nervous watching them whispering, fearing that the business deal would fall through.
Seeing the Fifth Prince looking anxious and nervous as he awaited the results, Lin Qianqian and Luo Zexuan exchanged a glance.
At this moment, the newly appointed cunning boss and shrewd employee began to tacitly unite, preparing to fleece the Fifth Prince Xiahou Yi, this fat sheep.
Luo Zexuan turned to the Fifth Prince and asked, "You are about to ascend the throne. Do you want your country to be peaceful and your people to have plenty of food and clothing?"
"Of course," the Fifth Prince replied immediately, though he didn't understand what the question meant.
"Do you want high-yield grain varieties? Do you want salt-making methods? Do you want sugar-refining methods? Do you want cement formulas? Do you want smallpox prevention methods?" As he spoke, he took out a bag of salt, opened it, and handed it to the Fifth Prince.
Looking at the snow-white, fine sand-like salt, the Fifth Prince became even more agitated. "How much does this cost?"
"We discussed it and decided that we would only accept gold as payment."
"There might not be that many..." Before the Fifth Prince could finish speaking, Luo Zexuan interrupted.
“We understand your difficulties and know you don’t have that much gold right now. But you can exchange it for martial arts manuals you’ve collected, as long as they’re not the kind that’s common. We’ll accept them too. We also accept prescriptions or particularly valuable jewelry and jade, but we don’t accept antiques or calligraphy and paintings.”
The Fifth Prince thought about it and agreed. To be honest, he didn't have much gold, but he did have quite a few secret manuals and such, which should be enough to exchange for a lot of things.
But Luo Zexuan wasn't finished: "Of course, we'll sell our stuff to ordinary people in the future, but they might not be able to afford gold. There's a win-win-win solution. I wonder if you'd be willing to cooperate?"
"What method?"
Seeing that the Fifth Prince had taken the bait, Luo Zexuan leaned closer and explained the details to him. After they had roughly reached an agreement, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
The fifth prince asked if the mall could be moved to the capital.
Lin Qianqian also remembered this problem. The system still had a task to trade with 10,000 people. This was the middle of nowhere, and no one would come here. She hurriedly went to ask the system.
"The system can shrink the store so the host can take it with them, but there will be a charge."
Then, the familiar payment window popped up: 10 points per transaction.
Sure enough, this system was deliberately trying to cheat her out of her points!
I reluctantly paid 10 points. The points I get from one trip are only enough to shop around in the store a few times. It's too expensive!
She glared at Xiahou Yi, determined to get her revenge. Since she had reached an agreement with the Fifth Prince, she might as well go all the way and see them off.
Lin Qianqian took out a flying car from the supernatural world and placed it at the entrance of the mall. This flying car was medium-sized and could seat fifty people.
Luo Zexuan was driving. Actually, all three of them had received emergency training and knew how to drive, but in this situation, the men were given priority.
After everyone else got on the bus, Lin Qianqian stood alone in front of the mall, calling out to the system in her mind: "System, let's begin."
"Yes, host."
With a "bang," the huge mall in front of us vanished, leaving only a miniature model the size of a fist on the ground.
Lin Qianqian stepped forward, picked up the miniature model, and shook it in her hand.
She knew that the mini-shop could be enlarged or shrunk, but it was the first time Luo Zexuan and Wen Mingyue had ever seen it. They even borrowed the mini-shop to study it for a while.
"It's incredible! It was so big, but after shrinking it, it can be held in one hand and it's almost weightless." Luo Zexuan exclaimed as he looked at the mini shopping mall.
Seeing this miraculous display of skill, everyone was finally completely convinced.
Meanwhile, the old Taoist priest in the group stared at Lin Qianqian's retreating figure, his eyes gleaming with golden light...
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