Chapter 277: Chapter 155: A Great Slaughter
When you lend money to someone, the biggest fear is that they won’t pay you back, or that they’ll pretend it’s no big deal and keep putting it off.
Shen Qingyao was so direct, choosing to repay him at the first opportunity. This immediately gave Chen Cheng a favorable impression of her. ’The young mistress of the Shen Family really is a person of good character,’ he thought.
He took the silver notes, tucked them carefully into his robes, and smiled. "Repay your debts, and you can borrow again. In that case, I won’t stand on ceremony."
"Of course, of course." Shen Qingyao chuckled as well.
Seeing that Chen Cheng didn’t ask, as if he’d known all along she had more silver notes, she couldn’t help but ask curiously, "How did you know I was carrying over eight thousand taels in silver notes?"
It was no wonder Shen Qingyao was curious. As far as she was concerned, she had haggled with the Shopkeeper at Hundred Treasures Studio, pretended to have pulled out all her silver notes, and successfully bought the Snow Silkworm at a low price. She was sure she hadn’t revealed any flaws in her act.
Otherwise, given Shopkeeper Bi Ziqian’s cunning and calculating nature, he probably wouldn’t have lowered the price so easily.
If even Bi Ziqian couldn’t see through her, how could Chen Cheng?
Chen Cheng shook his head and answered truthfully, "I didn’t actually know how many silver notes you were carrying. I just took a guess."
"You just took a guess?" Shen Qingyao’s delicate brows furrowed. She was getting more and more curious.
Chen Cheng said, "I know who you are. If you were going to the Black Market to buy Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, you’d naturally bring plenty of silver coins.
"Besides, your sudden request to borrow four thousand taels of silver notes might have seemed normal to Bi Ziqian, but to me, it was completely out of the ordinary.
"After all, I was just a Chief Constable before. With my limited salary, where would I get that much silver?
"So I guessed that you were asking to borrow money as a bargaining tactic. I just played along with you and put on an act for Bi Ziqian."
"Whoa!" Shen Qingyao’s eyes widened. She clicked her tongue in admiration. "Brother Chen, I never would have thought you were so clever!"
Chen Cheng waved his hand humbly. "It’s not about being clever. I served in the City Guard Department for two years, so I’ve seen all sorts of people and my fair share of tricks and deception. I’ve just picked up some experience.
"Any veteran Official from the City Guard Department could probably have figured it out."
"Mm, not bad." Shen Qingyao nodded, a smile playing on her lips. "Now I finally understand why that girl, Qingshuang, thinks so highly of you.
"It’s certainly a relief to have a subordinate as clever and resourceful as you. Never mind anything else, just a moment ago you guessed my intentions without any prompting and cooperated with me perfectly. That’s truly a rare quality.
"Come on, let’s toast to our successful collaboration."
Shen Qingyao enthusiastically raised her teacup.
Chen Cheng couldn’t help but laugh. He also raised his teacup, clinked it against hers, and they both drained their cups.
Shen Qingyao took out the Cold Jade Box and opened it. Gazing at the Snow Silkworm inside, she said with delight:
"This Snow Silkworm is over eight hundred years old! It’s an incredibly rare treasure. My family’s Ancestor once said that a Snow Silkworm over five hundred years old could fetch ten thousand taels of silver at an auction house in Su State City."
"The market price for this one has to be at least fifteen thousand taels of silver. I really got a huge bargain this time."
Chen Cheng asked, puzzled, "Why would Hundred Treasures Studio sell it so cheaply?"
Shen Qingyao explained, "It’s because of the Snow Lotus Seeds, of course. Without Snow Lotus Seeds to eat, a Snow Silkworm can’t survive for long.
"And Snow Lotus Seeds only grow in the most frigid lands. They’re incredibly expensive—a single seed costs five hundred taels of silver, and that’s only enough to feed a Snow Silkworm for one month.
"Hundred Treasures Studio obviously isn’t willing to raise it long-term, so they’d definitely choose to sell it off quickly.
"They might get a higher price by taking it to an auction house in the State City, but those auctions are only held every few months, and they charge a commission.
"When you do the math, selling it to me for nine thousand taels was actually a reasonable choice for them."
"Brother Shen, you certainly are a shrewd calculator!" Chen Cheng praised, lightly tapping his chin.
Shen Qingyao chuckled, then turned her attention back to the Snow Silkworm, her expression one of utter adoration as she examined it.
Chen Cheng, for his part, began flipping through the Sleeve Universe Skill Secret Manual he had bought.
This Sleeve Universe Skill wasn’t an ordinary Cultivation Technique, but a type of Secret Technique known as "Concealment."
The principle was to hide various items within one’s sleeves and then retrieve them in an instant.
It might seem useless, but it was actually quite profound and had a wide range of applications. The most common use was in tandem with various Hidden Weapons, like the Sleeve Sword or Sleeve Flying Saber.
However, what Chen Cheng truly valued was an incantation within the Secret Manual:
"One thought to touch the profound, a mustard seed to hold the cosmos... Sumeru enters the infinitesimal, the universe conceals itself... The heart embraces all things, Qi transforms the ten directions... Being and non-being are born of each other, such is the eternal Dao... One is all, and all is one. This is the Concealment Secret Skill."
The incantation was profound and obscure, and for the most part, Chen Cheng didn’t understand it.
But the annotations stated that if the Concealment Secret Skill was cultivated to the Perfection realm, one could shrink a world into a dust mote and store all of creation within. The claim was truly astounding.
The most crucial point was that back at Hundred Treasures Studio, just from trying to comprehend the incantation a few times, he had already gained something.
The Concealment Secret Skill had been registered by his panel, and it even showed progress!
[Skills: Secret Skill: Concealment (Incompleteness 1/100) (Uninitiated 1/10).
(Note: Incomplete Skills can be cultivated. The Cultivation Technique will be automatically corrected during Cultivation, and progress will be gained.)]
Selling this kind of Secret Manual for a Cultivation Technique to anyone else would be nothing short of a scam, because it was fundamentally impossible to cultivate.
Even if someone managed to make some headway with it, it would be no different from mastering a simple parlor trick.
But Chen Cheng was different. With his panel’s correction feature, he might just be able to fix this Secret Manual completely and successfully cultivate the Concealment Secret Skill.
’Shrinking a world into a dust mote, storing all of creation... isn’t that the same as carrying around one of those legendary storage artifacts?’
"Brother Chen, let me see the Secret Manual you bought."
