It's the cyber age now, and you're still playing traditional villains?

Xu Shi raised his eyebrows and greeted him in a familiar manner.

"Oh."

Of course Pan Ling didn't object, and she ran over to show her courtesy to her master.

Some things will happen countless times after the first time. She felt shy at first, but now she doesn’t feel shy at all... She even likes doing it very much. What’s wrong with being close to the master?

……

On the other hand, although the master is kind and the students are filial here, some people's life is not so good.

"Grand Duke Gu Jian, I heard that the common people have been trading the Sea God Stone recently. What is going on?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 252 I'm a good boy too, am I not?

Inside the palace, the young empress Dongfang Xiao curiously mentioned this question to Cheng Gujian whom she met with every day.

To be honest, she has lived in the deep palace for a long time, and her real power may not be that great under the suspicion of the young ministers. In this case, except for occasionally showing up as a mascot, she doesn't take many things to heart.

Now that he has taken the initiative to ask this question, one can imagine how widely the issue regarding the Poseidon Stone has spread.

"…How did your Majesty know about this?"

Cheng Gujian's reaction was the same. He did not explain at first, but asked this instead.

"It was the female officials around me who were talking, and I overheard it..."

Dongfang Xiao curled his lips and urged, "Hurry up and tell me what's going on."

"Yes."

Only then did Cheng Gujian nod and tell the story of the Sea God Stone one by one.

"...The first one to propose purchasing the Sea God Stone was the trading station opened by Xu Shi, and other trading stations followed suit."

He concluded, "Nowadays, basically the entire main city is very active in this."

"That's it."

The little queen nodded thoughtfully. "From what you said, it was Envoy Xu who started it... Why did he do that? Can you imagine?"

"Um……"

Duke Gu Jian paused.

As the actual ruler of the royal family in a certain sense, he certainly has a deeper understanding of this, but after all these days, he still hasn't been able to fully understand Xu Shi's intention.

After conquering the Sea God and obtaining a large amount of Sea God Stone, he naturally sent people to study it as soon as possible.

But the results are not that good. As I said, this thing is somewhat useful, but not that useful.

It is possible to directly shatter the "divine breath" in it, but to do so would require time-consuming and laborious removal of impurities in the Seagod Stone, as well as the residual energy of the Seagod himself. The result would not be ideal, and would be worse than the "divine breath" veins they already possessed.

So in the end he did not deepen it, only keeping a part of it for storage, and distributed the rest as rewards as mentioned before.

He knew that Xu Shi was no simple man. Could it be that they had some better means of dealing with the Seagod Stone and making use of it?

Anyway, in his opinion, this Brother Xu is definitely not someone who does things without a purpose, especially with such a high-price acquisition in such a high-profile manner... It is impossible to say that there is no trick there.

But after observing it for these days, he didn't find any other clues. If he had to say something, it was that they seemed to be making it into a handicraft?

The trading post did display many items made of Poseidon Stone, and Cheng Gujian also discovered that the trend of Poseidon Stone jewelry was beginning to become popular in the aristocratic circle.

The earliest saying was that "Poseidon Stone can nourish the abilities of the "Chosen One" and prolong life", which was enough to make everyone excited. In addition, Poseidon Stone is indeed beautiful. As a result, regardless of whether this thing really has such an effect, people began to flock to it.

No matter it is a larger ornament or a smaller necklace, bracelet, ring or something like that, according to the servants, now in the aristocratic circle, if you don’t have Poseidon’s Stone on you or at home, you would be embarrassed to see anyone... and gradually, this trend has begun to emerge in the civilian circle.

There are different grades of Poseidon Stone. The high-quality species with azure blue color are indeed unaffordable for ordinary people, but the lower-quality ones can still be purchased with a little effort - although the standard measurement of Poseidon Stone in the market today is 100 grams, most of the handicrafts made from it do not use this amount.

For example, a ring or necklace inlaid with three to five grams of the lowest quality Poseidon stone would only be sold for a dozen or dozens of copper coins. How could one not afford it?

Even though everyone says they are dissatisfied with the nobles, their bodies are honestly learning their hobbies and trying hard to emulate them... Everyone has vanity, as if as long as they wear the Poseidon Stone, they will also be nobles.

This should be Xu Shi’s purpose?

Cheng Gujian could easily understand the concept of "luxury goods"... From this point of view, he should be using this thing to make a profit. The selling price of the refined Poseidon Stone must be higher than the purchase price.

Is this also his way of making up for the losses in the expedition against Poseidon? To be honest, in order to conquer Poseidon, the efforts of all three parties were not small, in terms of manpower and material resources... As for the operation of purchasing Poseidon Stone, it seemed normal to Cheng Gujian. He knew that Xu Shi was in deep crisis at the time, and they had no time to collect spoils. The stocks on hand were definitely not as much as his or the Church's. Now that they were going to do this, they would naturally spend money to purchase more.

So he told Dongfang Xiao his analysis, "From what I see, this is probably the case."

"Oh."

The little queen blinked her eyes and murmured, "This is really interesting..."

Cheng Gujian agreed. He also admitted that Xu Shi's method was indeed good, because this was the best way to maximize the benefits of the Sea God Stone so far. Not to mention that it could create such a trend in such a short time. It was obvious that he would make a fortune.

Thinking of this, he unconsciously smiled, why didn't he consider this?It's just that the waste was distributed to the subordinates, and many people complained behind their backs... old.

"What does the Grand Duke think of this?"

Dongfang Xiao also smiled, looked at him and asked again.

"In my opinion, this is not a bad thing."

Cheng Gujian thought for a moment and said seriously, "What Xu Shi did did gain profits for their city-state, but in the final analysis, the empire as a whole also gained more gold and silver for circulation."

"I am thinking, if this is the case, why don't we follow suit and purchase and process the Sea God Stone in the name of the royal family? This way, we can truly fill the national treasury."

This is the truth. No matter how much money Xu Shi invests to acquire the Poseidon Stone, he is essentially seeking profits for himself. This is definitely not appropriate in the long run. It would be better for them to do it themselves so that the benefits do not flow to outsiders.

As for how to make it, if I can't figure it out, I can't learn it? The empire is not without craftsmen, and the ornaments they make may be even better. Moreover, for the people of the Hualan Empire, no matter what, the existence of the royal family will always make them feel more at ease than outsiders.

“Do we still need acquisitions?”

The little queen tilted her head, "Didn't you tell me, Grand Duke, that you brought back a lot of Sea God Stones from this voyage?"

"This one……"

Cheng Gujian touched his nose. He brought back a lot, but he also sent out a lot before. Otherwise, where would so many goods come from on the market?

Now we can only recover it bit by bit, but it is not too late to mend the situation.

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

He cupped his hands.

"It's okay, I forgive you!"

Dongfang Xiao pursed her lips, and waved her hands indifferently, "You just have to do it quickly, pass on my decree, and you immediately arrange people to take charge of this matter... By the way, I forgot to ask, is the Holy See responsible for this matter?" What's your attitude?"

"Your Majesty, they don't seem to be paying much attention to it, but given the current situation, I think the Holy See will definitely not miss it."

Having dealt with the Holy See for so many years, Cheng Gujian was quite certain about this. The facts were out in the open, and you could imagine that they could... Maybe the Holy See had an even greater advantage. They didn't release as many Poseidon Stones as he did, and they had even more in stock.

If they also get involved, maybe the things will sell better - the Vatican itself has many totem symbols with symbolic meanings. Then they can make a version of the Poseidon Stone, put it in the church, and tell the believers that it is blessed by the Lord.

According to their nature, they will definitely say "it's just a token of appreciation", but as for the believers, they are willing to pay several times more... Over the years, the Holy See has been making money in this way, and it has worked every time.

From this perspective, their advantage is indeed greater, so they must seize the opportunity.

"Then I will take my leave first."

Cheng Gujian did not dare to be negligent and stood up to leave - he had the privilege of sitting there, and he had been sitting there talking with Dongfang Xiao, which was a treatment that no one else could enjoy.

"Well, I'm relieved that you can do it."

The young queen did not want to keep him, but after thinking about it, she still asked, "Speaking of which, where is Xu Shiren? After all, he is the hero who conquered the sea god, so we should thank him."

Although there was not much publicity on the surface, there were only two of them here, and Dongfang Xiao spoke frankly. If they were to cooperate again in the future, they couldn't just leave them out in the cold.

"He should be recovering on Silver Pine Island."

Cheng Gujian replied, "They have always had a good relationship with Yinsong Island, as you know, Your Majesty."

"Oh."

Dongfang Xiao nodded slightly, "Then tell him what I want to do. Let him recover first. When he comes back, he should come to the palace first. I will meet him in person. Is this considered considerate?"

"Yes."

Cheng Gujian responded that although it would not be a big deal for him to go and "comfort" Xu Shi, since Dongfang Xiao had this intention, he could not stop her - not to mention that she was the empress after all, and if she came forward, it would show more importance.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Your Excellency."

Dongfang Xiao smiled, and then ordered, "And there's more. I keep talking about Poseidon Stone, Poseidon Stone. I still don't have a decent piece of jewelry. Can you help me get one?"

As she spoke, she called the servants and got a few pieces of top-quality Poseidon stones. "Here, can you perform that? That... you know it, right?"

"As ordered."

Cheng Gujian understood what he meant, and with a flick of his finger, he carved it into a lifelike bird in an instant. "Your Majesty, please accept it."

"Okay."

Dongfang Xiao smiled happily and clapped his hands repeatedly, "You have been kind to me since I was a child. You always do what I say."

"Your Majesty, this is my duty as a minister."

Cheng Gujian smiled and said, "Then I will take my leave first."

"go Go."

The little queen held the bird in her hands and couldn't let it go, she said nonchalantly.

But soon after Cheng Gujian left, the joy in her eyes disappeared.

What replaced it was extreme cruelty.

Looking at the bird sculpture again, Dongfang Xiao just sneered, then squeezed it hard, and with a bang, fragments flew everywhere.

"His Majesty!"

The female official behind him exclaimed, and hurried forward to say, "What happened to you...ah, you are injured, your hands are covered in blood..."

"It doesn't matter."

The little queen's face remained calm and gloomy, and she seemed to feel no pain at all.

Instead, she looked at the female official with interest.

"You won't tell anyone...right?"