"I can’t sell it, can I? This is the only property and reliance of our family."
Ding Huan asked with some uncertainty, his voice very soft, showing a sense of fear.
Tou Jie obviously heard Ding Huan’s words and snorted coldly.
Without speaking, the murderous intent was felt by everyone present.
Ding Huan frowned, speaking in an unquestionable tone,
"This spaceship is my family’s hope... How much will you pay?"
Halfway through his sentence, he seemed to realize that something in his tone was off, or perhaps he sensed Tou Jie’s cold murderous intent, so Ding Huan changed his words on the fly.
"Ten thousand purple gold coins."
Tou Jie’s voice was ice cold.
Even the spaceship spot manager at the plaza was somewhat surprised—not that Tou Jie’s offer was low, but it seemed a bit high.
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When did Tou Jie ever offer such high prices in business?
Under normal circumstances, getting five hundred purple gold coins would already be quite remarkable.
Ding Huan didn’t know how much ten thousand purple gold coins really was, but he could tell that this was probably the highest price Tou Jie was willing to pay.
He hesitated for a full ten seconds before he gritted his teeth,
"I’ll sell, but I need everything I’ve just said written into the contract."
"Not bad, you can write whatever you want."
Tou Jie let out a smirk, revealing a mouthful of big brown teeth.
Ding Huan gave a fist salute to the manager,
"May I ask this official, what are the steps for conducting a transaction here?"
The manager looked as though he had swallowed a fly, not wanting to answer Ding Huan’s question.
But as an official, he had to respond—and respond correctly.
"Both parties go to the Interstellar Square at the Four-direction Interstellar Station Trading Center, sign the contract, exchange money and goods, and pay the commission."
After saying this, the manager quickly left.
There were too many people like Ding Huan who came here for the first time and got fleeced. It’s a good thing when you’re only fleeced of possessions, but it’s worrisome when you might end up losing your life.
"If you insist, then let’s go to the trading center."
Ding Huan looked at Tou Jie.
Tou Jie glanced at Ding Huan and chuckled,
"Let’s go."
"Xinyue, bring down my pot, let’s go." Ding Huan called out to Qi Xinyue.
Without Ding Huan needing to instruct her, Qi Xinyue came down carrying Ding Huan’s pot and a bag on her back, with Lao Liu in tow.
"Even bringing a pot, huh," Tou Jie let out another chuckle.
Ding Huan slung his bag over his shoulder, carrying the pot and ignoring Tou Jie’s comment as he followed her to the trading hall.
The trading hall was located at the Four-direction Interstellar Square’s station.
It was a circular building, and Ding Huan could see the words ’Four-direction Interstellar Station’ from the outside upon arrival.
Upon entering the Four-direction Interstellar Station, Ding Huan saw the trading hall.
The trading hall occupied a large corner of the station.
Although it was just a corner, one had to admit that the trading hall was quite impressive, boasting various trading counters.
The spaceship trading counter was the largest.
Tou Jie was clearly a regular here; as soon as she arrived, the officials would go out of their way to greet her.
"Tou Jie, did you find something good again?"
The trader was a young man with a half-foot long horn on his forehead, belonging to some tribe Ding Huan wasn’t familiar with.
"Heh, just a broken one."
Tou Jie sure loved to chuckle. Ding Huan had been in contact with this woman for less than half an hour and had already heard her chuckle several times.
The trader grinned knowingly; he knew what Tou Jie’s chuckle meant.
Most of the time when Tou Jie came to trade it was to purchase spaceships, and those she bought were almost always broken.
The fact was, they had to sell to Tou Jie.
"How much was the trade for?" the trader asked casually.
"Ten thousand purple gold coins."
Ding Huan responded.
The trader lifted his head in surprise and glanced at Tou Jie—ten thousand purple gold coins? He hadn’t misheard, had he?
Tou Jie swept a glance at Ding Huan and said indifferently,
"Correct, it is ten thousand purple gold coins."
"Let’s get the contract signed, and there’s a hundred purple gold coin handling fee."
The trader handed a contract to Ding Huan.
However, Ding Huan didn’t take it; his Divine Will had already scanned what was written on the contract, and it didn’t meet his requirements.
He looked at the trader, his tone calm,
"Hello, please indicate on the contract that the spaceship is broken, and that both parties choose to trade under the clear understanding of this precondition."
The trader looked confusedly at Tou Jie.
Tou Jie just chuckled again,
"Just do as he says, and additionally, make it clear that anyone who dares to go back on their word will pay a tenfold penalty."
"Alright." The trader quickly wrote down the two clauses.
Ding Huan only wanted to complete the transaction quickly and move on to this Jiuyuan Star Land. Every time Tou Jie chuckled, he felt a twinge of disgust.
Fortunately, the trader handled things quickly. Both parties signed and pressed their hand seals, and the trading hall stamped its seal, marking the transaction as complete.
Tou Jie tossed a leather pouch to Ding Huan:
"Here’s ten thousand purple gold coins. Have a count. If there’s no mistake, take me to go through the authority transfer."
Ding Huan’s Divine Will swept through the pouch. Inside, there were ninety-eight purple gold coins, each about the size of half an identity card and marked with the figure "one hundred" on them.
The tax should certainly have only taken one coin, but now two were deducted, clearly expecting Ding Huan to raise an objection.
Ding Huan took the pouch and buckled it to his waist without any objection:
"No need, I trust you wouldn’t lose your reputation over such a small sum."
Those around him almost burst into laughter upon hearing Ding Huan’s words.
Tou Jie have a reputation? Wasn’t this an insult to the very word?
Even Tou Jie herself looked at Ding Huan with disdain. If she had known Ding Huan wouldn’t count the purple gold coins, she might have thrown in some rocks instead.
Once the authority of the spaceship was transferred, what would it matter if Ding Huan found out she had given him rocks?
Reputation? Hah, what even is that? Is it edible?
She was waiting for Ding Huan to object, then she would have taken the chance to fine him even more under the pretext of accusation.
But little did she know, this man clung to the spaceship transaction as if his life depended on it. Once the actual trade was complete, he didn’t even bother to confirm the amount of gold coins received.
What a misjudgment.
If it hadn’t been for Ding Huan’s previous pretense of the spaceship being a family hope and his extreme reluctance to sell, she wouldn’t have wanted to fork out so much gold.
The transfer of the spaceship’s authority was also accomplished very quickly; the Blue Star had a malfunction in the propulsion system, not in the transfer system.
After Ding Huan and others left, Tou Jie’s subordinates finally had the chance to ask:
"Tou Jie, why did you let that kid off so cheap? Giving him ten thousand purple gold coins? That much money could buy more than a dozen spaceships. And look at that vessel; the damage on the outside looks severe."
Tou Jie glanced at her subordinates:
"You know nothing, don’t be fooled by the severe exterior damage of the spaceship. Do you even know whose product this is?"
"Could it possibly have some significant origin?" A subordinate asked in surprise.
Tou Jie let out her signature heh-heh:
"Do you know what a spaceship that can traverse Cosmic Vortices is? This is one.
It’s a Jiuyuan Star Land product, capable of traversing Cosmic Vortices, to another dimension."
"Ah..." Several of Tou Jie’s men were stunned by this revelation.
They had seen spaceships capable of traversing Cosmic Vortices.
At one auction, such a spaceship was sold for sixty billion purple gold coins.
Ten thousand compared to sixty billion was practically nothing.
"But it’s broken," the subordinate still didn’t quite understand.
Tou Jie was quite smug:
"Do you really think this spaceship is broken? If I’m not mistaken, it simply ran out of energy."
"That kid is really stupid, not even knowing it’s out of energy," said a subordinate with dark tattoos on his face, starting to flatter.
Tou Jie snorted:
"You are the stupid ones. Do you think that kid really didn’t know? He just didn’t want to sell the warship to us, so he purposely downplayed it.
Just by thinking about it for a moment, how could a broken warship manage to arrive here safely? If it can get here, even if it’s broken, the issue must be very minor."
"Tou Jie is wise."
A group of bullies who only knew how to push outsiders around had no mind to ponder such complex matters.
There was another thing that Tou Jie didn’t mention, and that was the energy source this spaceship used was definitely not ordinary.
It had to be gone from Ding Huan’s possession; otherwise, he wouldn’t have allowed the warship to be powerlessly docked at the Four-direction Interstellar Square.
But Ding Huan must have had access to such energy sources in the past. Once Ding Huan and his group settled in the Four-direction Star Land, when she came to take back the ten thousand purple gold coins, she would also press him on the origins of these energy sources.
That’s right, Tou Jie never intended to give the ten thousand purple gold coins to Ding Huan from the start.
She wanted the warship, and the purple gold coins were hers as well.
The reason she readily offered ten thousand purple gold coins was first, knowing Ding Huan was reluctant to sell, so he wouldn’t want to make a scene in the interstellar square. Better to have the spaceship safely in her possession.
Second, she planned to take those purple gold coins back.
...
"Xiao Tu, I feel like that woman is quite dangerous, could she cause us trouble again?"
As they headed towards the Four-direction Interstellar Station with Ding Huan, Qi Xinyue said with some concern.
She just had this intuition that the woman would come looking for trouble, without any reason.
Ding Huan chuckled:
"I also reckon she will cause me trouble, but she only has one chance."
"Didn’t you draw up a contract? If she comes looking for trouble, with the contract in place, can’t we argue our case here?"
Qi Xinyue was puzzled.
Ding Huan shook his head:
"The contract isn’t there to argue with her, it’s merely a backup, or perhaps it won’t be needed at all.
If we plan to use the contract to reason with her, then I would rather not have a contract at all."
Ding Huan was certain that if it came to the authorities, even if he produced the contract, it probably wouldn’t help.
Just by looking at the Trading Official’s demeanor towards Tou Jie, one could tell that the local officials were probably not very optimistic, or rather, Tou Jie had significant backing.
Otherwise, with Tou Jie’s limited capabilities, would she dare to bully and force sales in the interstellar square?
To make use of this contract, Ding Huan would need his own support, and that backing would have to be no lesser than Tou Jie’s.
Now, what worried Ding Huan was that he did not know what the Cultivation System of the Four-direction Star Land was like, or to what extent the local powerhouses could reach.
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