If the sect doesn't accept geniuses, they will become giants once they leave?

Chapter 19: Opening a zoo will lose money!

Soon, Butler Xu brought in a pile of account books, calculating this and that like chanting a mantra. When he heard that Li Yanmo wanted to use spiritual fruit to make a purchase, his expression changed rapidly, with one voice saying it was a good value and the next that he couldn't keep it down. From time to time, he would wipe away a tear and say he wanted to eat. He was a complete price gouger.

Li Yanmo was very satisfied and felt that there would definitely be a huge loss this time.

"Three pounds of spiritual fruit."

Li Yanmo immediately showed an expression that said, "Are you kidding me?"

Butler Xu immediately explained, "Master, you don't know this. Spiritual fruits are only found in the world of immortal cultivation. Ordinary people can't even see them. Each one is priceless! Although our Shen family owns nearly ten thousand acres of land, part of it has been abandoned. A large part is almost abandoned. It can't be considered farmland at all, but only wasteland."

“How much is wasteland worth?”

After Butler Xu said this, Li Yanmo sat back, pinching his temples and began to think, while Butler Xu, following Shen Wansan's eye signal, took advantage of the opportunity to pursue the victory.

"Also, because of the frequent attacks by wild animals, many farmers would rather leave their homes than work on our fields. These fields are like houses where someone has died—they're just rotting away in our hands!"

Shen Wansan folded his arms across his chest and nodded.

As expected of his most trusted steward, he reduced his fields to dog shit.

Li Yanmo was also stunned by what he said, and finally he bought nearly ten thousand acres of land from the Shen family with three kilograms of spiritual fruits.

After submitting the order, Li Yanmo felt something was amiss, but he couldn't put his finger on it. But since he'd already bought it, it was difficult to go back and raise the price.

Seeing Li Yanmo with his arms folded across his chest, a thoughtful expression on his face, Shen Ziqing knew that his father and fellow apprentice might be seeing through his tricks. He immediately changed the subject, "Master, what are your plans?"

"Master has been observing Risheng City for a few days. The Demon Immortal Cult's conspiracy is indeed tricky, but Master has already thought of a way to crack it," Li Yanmo smiled indifferently.

"My disciple is foolish."

"I want to open a zoo outside of Sunrise City!"

The Shen family father and son and housekeeper Xu were stunned and didn't understand what Li Yanmo meant.

"Second brother, prepare an account book and go to the market to buy all the birds and beasts that the vendors have brought in. No matter how many there are or how much they cost, pack them all up and come back to me to get the spirit stones and spirit fruits."

Li Yanmo first glanced at Shen Wansan. He knew that Shen Wansan, who had built his business from scratch, must be good at purchasing. Therefore, he absolutely couldn't entrust such an important and expensive task to Shen Wansan, a veteran in the industry.

Li Yanmo looked at Shen Ziqing again.

He is young and has squinty eyes, but judging by his behavior in the Taoist temple, he is probably not very worldly-wise. He will definitely be ripped off if he goes to purchase goods!

Therefore, the task of purchasing could only be assigned to Shen Ziqing.

Shen Ziqing didn't know what Li Yanmo meant, but since it was a task assigned by Li Yanmo, Shen Ziqing would definitely do his best.

Butler Xu nodded with satisfaction.

Don't be fooled by Shen Wansan's appearance as a veteran, he is actually a fool, and a soft-hearted fool at that. In his early years, he was often cheated when he went out to deal with people. Now he is still in a mess, and still thinks he is very capable.

But as the son of Shen Wansan, Shen Ziqing was different. He looked polite and like a kind-hearted scholar, but when it came to trade, he was like a smiling hungry wolf. When he was about ten years old, he could make the merchants collapse just by chatting and laughing.

The Shen family’s current network of connections is basically due to Shen Ziqing.

If Li Yanmo asked Shen Wansan to do the purchasing, Butler Xu would have spoken out to stop him even at the risk of insubordination.

Unexpectedly, Li Yanmo had a keen eye and saw Shen Ziqing's talent at a glance.

"Well, Master, I think I can also..."

Shen Wansan had just raised his hand halfway when Shen Ziqing smiled and pressed it down.

"Dad, you don't want to."

Li Yanmo looked at Shen Wansan, then at Shen Ziqing, and nodded with satisfaction.

The old man, who thought his son would mess up, was eager to show off his son.

It's settled! "Third brother, I have something else for you. Help me contact a group of people to fence off the abandoned fields as quickly as possible. The stronger the material, the better, and the height must not be too low. All the animals that the second brother buys will be placed inside. By the way, help me find some craftsmen, I need to make some custom things."

"Master, just leave it to me!" Shen Wansan immediately patted his chest and promised.

Shen Ziqing hesitated for a moment and raised his hand, "Master, I can do this too..."

"Second brother, you must focus on what you do and not be distracted."

Li Yanmo also wanted to let the young Shen Ziqing take full responsibility and mess things up. But what if Shen Ziqing was unable to recover and devoted himself to cultivation?
"This...I understand."

Shen Ziqing glanced worriedly at Shen Wansan, who was rubbing his hands in anticipation, and winked at Butler Xu. Butler Xu nodded in understanding, stepped forward and held Shen Wansan's arm, "Master, let's go find someone first."

"Okay, okay -"

After Shen Wansan and Butler Xu left, Shen Ziqing also bowed and left.

After finding a few reliable servants, Shen Ziqing went to the market. The first person to become Shen Ziqing's target was a bald man.

This man occupied the largest piece of land, and the other vendors kept their distance from him.

It’s simple, this guy is selling a veritable beast!
In the cage under his feet was an adult white tiger!

Although the white tiger looked listless, its expression was fierce and it would growl at the surroundings from time to time.

There were two male lions and five female lions in the cage behind him.

"These things you're selling are quite interesting. I'll buy them. Name your price."

Shen Ziqing opened his folding fan and said with a smile.

Although the bald man was an outsider merchant, he had heard of the Shen family, one of the wealthiest families in Risheng City. Seeing the jade pendant with the Chinese character "Shen" inscribed on it around Shen Ziqing's waist, he immediately jumped down from the cage, rubbing his hands and laughing ingratiatingly.

"This must be Mr. Shen, right? No problem, no problem. Look at this white tiger! It's a rare treasure, rarely seen! My price isn't high, just eight thousand taels!"

Shen Ziqing closed his folding fan, nodded thoughtfully, and replied with a smile, "Okay, then four hundred taels."

"Okay! Ah? Shen, Mr. Shen, you are kidding me."

The bald man nodded with a smile at first, but he soon reacted and his face turned grim.

"Three of my men died trying to catch this white tiger, and four hundred taels isn't even enough to pay the compensation!"

Shen Ziqing shook his head, leaned close to the bald man's ear, and slightly opened his squinting eyes.

"Your dyeing technique is quite good, but do you think the smell of feces can overpower the smell of the dye?"

The bald man swallowed hard, his expression stiff, "Four, four thousand taels is fine too."

"If I report this to the government, all your goods will be taken away. The people in the government don't want to waste time looking after these ferocious beasts. Coincidentally, I know someone in the government who can take away all your things for only 500 taels. As for whether you will get that 500 taels..."

Shen Ziqing raised his hand and patted the bald man's shoulder lightly.

"That's hard to say."

"But the food in the Sunrise City prison is pretty good."

"Four hundred taels, deal!" The bald man, sweating profusely, shook Shen Ziqing's right hand.

"Then let's talk about the price of your other goods."

Shen Ziqing clenched the bald man's hand, with a harmless expression on his face again, but the bald man started shaking his legs.

The person behind Shen Ziqing stared at the bald man's appearance, as if he wanted to imprint the bald man's appearance completely in his mind.

(End of this chapter)