Chapter 29
Primordial Blood Throne: Book 1 Chapter 29 - A Scam
Edited by Owner – (18/39) until 50.
Regardless of Tang Zhen's approval, the matter regarding Su Chen going into Deep Red Mountain Range was already set in stone, therefore, he had no choice but to accept it.
The only thing that Tang Zhen could do, was to do his best to teach everything he knew to Su Chen.
To prevent the others from noticing that Su Chen had recovered his sight, Tang Zhen personally went around the Truth Jade Pavilion and brought the various herbs and plants to Su Chen, instructing him on how to a.n.a.lyse and identify, teaching him how to differentiate them and how to use them.
The Head Shopkeeper did not hold back anything, teaching everything he knew. To him, the more that Su Chen absorbed, the higher were his chances of survival.
While one seriously taught, the other invested his efforts to learn. Time flew by quickly, and the day went by just like that.
The beast-shaped eight treasure golden clock within the pavilion chimed as it announced the next hour. It also meant that the work day has come to an end.
Tang Zhen spoke up, "Okay, we’ll stop here today. Come early tomorrow, and we will continue then. You should stay to revise the stuff I have taught you. I will leave first."
Tang Zhen's daily work and rest schedule had always been punctual, on top of that, as the Head Shopkeeper, he could also end work earlier that the rest.
Tang Zhen went down and made sure to brief the workers before he left.
Su Chen was alone on the upper levels, constantly looking through the various precious treasures in front of him.
This was the homework that Tang Zhen left for him.
Just as the shop was about to close for the day, the voice of a shop a.s.sistant suddenly came from outside the room. "Young master, there's a business dealing happening downstairs, Third Shopkeeper has invited you to join him and a.s.sist with the decision making."
"What deal? If Third Shopkeeper was unable to make a decision, why did he call for me? Where's Second Shopkeeper?" Su Chen got slightly surprised.
"It's a Beast Repelling Potion. The other party is asking for a rather high price. Second Shopkeeper went to collect some new goods while the Head Shopkeeper just left. Third Shopkeeper could not make the decision himself and seeks Young Master's view on this," the a.s.sistant replied.
Beast Repelling Potion?
Su Chen was surprised.
This was good stuff.
Beast Repelling Potion was a very precious type of potion that could release a unique scent. This scent possessed a light scent when taken a whiff by humans, but would be potent for Fiend Beasts, even to the point of making them nauseous and vomit.This was something that could make them want to avoid the area and leave as far as possible. If the potion was applied on the body, no Fiend Beast would be willing to go near a person for three days.
Although Su Chen's purpose of entering the Deep Red Mountain Range was to hunt Fiend Beasts, but he was after all not looking to die in there. With this potion on hand, he can apply it on himself when facing danger and most Fiend Beasts would give up on chasing him. If there wasn't any deep hatred involved, the potion could be considered as a life-saving miracle medicine.
However, producing a Beast Repelling Potion was extremely difficult. A normal apothecarist would not be able to make it, only a specialised one could. Even with that, it would still require large amounts of time and resources. What's more, not everyone knew the recipe. This led to a shortage within the market despite the high pricing and demand.
Unexpectedly, someone came to sell one today.
Su Chen naturally got excited. "Invite them up."
Beast Repelling Potion was a very precious item and should not be discussed at the lower levels but on the third level's Elegance Chamber.
Su Chen was waiting within when footsteps could be heard after a moment. Lou Yi was the first to enter. Following after him was a rather skinny middle-aged man with a slippery expression. He looked around upon entering the room.
Su Chen began to feel unhappy in his heart, without changing his expression, he smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Lou and the guest must have arrived, please take a seat. This Su Chen is a blind man, and am
Lou Yi immediately said, "Young Master, there's no need. Let me attend to the guest instead."
Just as the serving girl called Xiang Sui brought the teapot over, Lou Yi took it and sent off the serving girl, leaving Su Chen, Lou Yi and the skinny man within the room.
As Lou Yi and the skinny man settled down, the man curiously waved his hands in front of Su Chen seemingly trying to test his sight, but was pushed away by Lou Yi and glared viciously by him. It was evident that he was reprimanding the skinny man for being disrespectful to the Young Master. The man simply shrugged him off without saying a word, but from the twitching of his mouth, it could be seen that he was displeased.
The exchange between the two men began to rouse Su Chen's suspicions.
It looked like Lou Yi and this man knew each other?
As the man sat down, he immediately asked Su Chen, "This must be Young Master Su? My name is Zhao Si, I am the one selling the Beast Repelling Potion. I am a straightforward person. For 800 crimson gold, you can have it. I also have the 'Resting Person Within Bamboo Forest' painting by Li Chun Yuan, and a colored gla.s.s bowl from the era of the Bright Light Divine Dynasty, which I want to sell together."
As he spoke, he retrieved a painting and a colored gla.s.s bowl from his and placed it on the table.
It might be because Su Chen couldn't see, therefore he was too lazy to open or describe the items.
"Third Shopkeeper, what are your views?" Su Chen turned towards Lou Yi.
Lou Yi replied,` "I have checked the items earlier on while we were downstairs, the painting and bowl were both authentic. However, I have yet to check the potion but the guest had already agreed to have it examined, therefore, it shouldn't be fake. However, the price he's asking was rather high, requiring 2000 crimson gold pieces for all three items, moreover, he wasn't willing to sell them individually.
Zhao Si smiled: "It's very easy if you want to examine it. The weather is gradually getting warm and there's an increase in mosquitoes and bugs. Let me show you the power of the Beast Repelling Potion."
As he opened a bottle while speaking, the surrounding flying bugs immediately scattered and left the room, and in an instant, there were no longer any bugs within the room.
Zhao Si spoke proudly,: "Although Young Master Su couldn't see it, but you must have noticed that the noise created by mosquitos and bugs have disappeared, right?"
"Indeed." Su Chen smiled and replied but his heart sank slightly.
He did not know about antiques, and although he had spent some time learning from Tang Zhen, but he hasn't reach the level of differentiating the real stuff from the fake. Therefore, he wasn't able to determine the authenticity of the painting or bowl, yet Luo Yi's tone and words just now had obviously positioned himself as though he did not know the goods as a seller.
As for the Beast Repelling Potion, it seemed authentic from the live demonstration, but Su Chen also clearly knew in this world that there was also an item called the Mosquito Repelling Potion, which could create the same effect being demonstrated now, only, its price was hundreds of times cheaper. However, the most important thing of all was that the potion that was opened by the man was not the vial currently in his hand.
That meant the item that he planned to sell Su Chen wasn't even the Mosquito Repelling Potion.
This was a scam!
Su Chen immediately understood the situation.
Frankly speaking, this scam wasn't anywhere near brilliant. It was just someone trying to scam the shop and to be in this business, how could such cases not happen a few times every year? But when the scammer was working with a staff of the shop, the nature of the situation had become totally different.
However, due to them treating Su Chen as a blind man, they could not be bothered to even feign their expressions. This resulted in the scam being seen through by Su Chen the very second it was attempted.
Indeed, being a blind man could allow one to see even more.
Su Chen laughed coldly in his heart but said, "It's indeed a Beast Repelling Potion. This is great. As for the other two antiques, I trust Shopkeeper Lou's a.n.a.lysis. However, regarding the price…"
Su Chen deliberately hesitated for a moment.
Zhao Si reacted: "I can see that Fourth Young Master is a frank person. If you really are interested, how about 1800 crimson gold?"
Su Chen shook his head. "Although I truly like it, but Jade Truth Pavilion does not have so much cash now. May I ask this esteemed guest to come tomorrow? I will prepare the money for the purchase by then."
Zhao Si immediate shook his head. "That's not possible, I have an urgent matter and am in dire need of the money. If not for this reason, I would not have brought my family heirloom here to sell. I cannot wait for tomorrow."
As expected, you were unwilling to wait? The other party chose to come at a time when the Head Shopkeeper had left; the Second Shopkeeper wasn't around, and the Third Shopkeeper was alone to make the decision, with the servants having been sent away, to cheat him.
That's to say that this incident didn't involve anyone else, only Lou Yi?
Then it was good.
Su Chen had already made the general decision in his mind and said, "However the shop really does not have so much money now. Can I just buy one instead?"
"No, you must buy all three items as a set. If you lack cash, I am willing to accept resources to subst.i.tute since the purpose for the money was to purchase resources in the first place." the middle-age man replied.
So, the script had been prepared. If there wasn't enough money then they would request for resources as a subst.i.tute; adding on how they used the Beast Repelling Potion as bait.
If I want to obtain the potion, I will have to buy the two fake goods. This wouldl result in a larger loss.
Right, so Yan Wu Shuang must be behind this. She knew that he was entering the Deep Red Mountain Range this morning. Therefore she prepared a fake Beast Repelling potion tonight, hoping to use his self-preservation mentality against him. Plus, with the use of Shopkeeper Lou collaborating from the inside, this would have become a perfect scam.
Frankly speaking, they had already fulfilled the two most basic characteristics needed to be successful. One, targeting the requirement of the target. Two, a person from the inside helping.
Their only reason for their failure was the slip up in their execution of the plan, not knowing that Su Chen's sight had long recovered had caused their scam to be easily exposed.
As he thought to this point, Su Chen sighed. "Lou Yi, you were personally recommended by the Head Shopkeeper, I trust his judgement. Doing this is not in your character. That would also mean…that your disappointing son must have brought you some troubles, right?"