Nefarious Deal

"Selling your granddaughter's marriage and future for only five gemstones and jade pieces? What an irresponsible grandparent."

Xi Chen scoffed, and planted his palms on top of the briefcase's clasps. He cast a warding glance towards the elderly man seated besides him, yet Mu Yun was far too occupied humming himself an old-fashioned, cheery war tune.

"Young lad, you're far too inexperienced – how can this offer be irresponsible? Don't you know that the stones you sold to me last time, our designers managed to score at least twenty times their market value in profit?" the elder slapped his knee and chuckled.

"2 million in liquid cash and eight more in profit-based shares, and we managed to make do with over eighty million RMB in sales, and now – you come to me with more precious, fully intact riches. How could this not be a sensible business transaction, securing my family such a powerful golden hen? You're bound to produce more valuable treasures from your twelve affairs in Tianguang Plaza, and if you're married to Yu-er, naturally the lion's share will go to my Mu Family."

"Are you not afraid that after blabbering this to my face, I won't just back off and never touch another rough stone for the rest of my life?"

The youth scoffed and folded his arms, not bothering with Mu Yun's antics on his phone. Xi Chen rolled a Xuan Yuan Sword between his fingers when his heart abruptly stung with a bad premonition. He made no change of his expression, but from the wording of the old man's last few sentences…

It was easy to assume that he had taken another dive at the riches-infested hell that was Tianguang Plaza since he had just sent pictures of several precious spheres of jade, but how did he know the exact number? Perhaps…

"Well, you could make do and attempt to sabotage your way out – there's nobody who stops you there, ah. But have you never thought that Xuan Hong, the owner of the Tianguang Plaza, wouldn't notice your actions? He is a well-connected individual – I'm certain you know the rest, ah?"

If he didn't comply with Mu Yun and sought Tianming's preferential shelter, then… his future days would be uncertain? Certainly, the elderly man was amiable and easy to conduct transactions with, but the same couldn't be stated about every elderly figure sporting a smiling countenance.

Business meshing with politics never produced good results.

Xi Chen suppressed the minute shiver as a certain sequence of memories threatened to overflow his vision. The youth tapped his fingers on the outer cover of the briefcase as he pretended to ponder accepting the deal, while attempting to worm his way out. He knew that the elderly man wouldn't leave without an answer, and rejection wasn't an answer he could choose for a question of this level of magnitude.

Mu Yun's protection would ensure him a celestial foothold in Suzhou, and he could better assist his mother who lived in a village just twenty kilometers to the west… but his ambitions weren't small.

He had a deity in the form of a wooden bowl!

"If I remember, you – old man, didn't you make me an employee of your company? You better start protecting your employees from harm."

"Just a mere Xuan Hong won't garner that much of a problem," Mu Yun nodded, and placed his index fingertip against the rim of his jaw.

"Xuan Hong and Tianguang Plaza are just one entity, but there are others who are paying attention to you after your sixth consecutive harvest. Young man, I'm being sincere here – don't you like Yu-er as well?"

"I'm a student. I'm from a village. I'm not going to waste my time with her fiancé Young Master."

"See, you didn't say you didn't like her. A fiancé problem? You're a dragon youth with a brilliant future – I'm sure you can settle a few minor obstacles!"

"I also didn't say that I liked your granddaughter. And Young Masters call for help from their fathers, the Masters cry to their Patriarchs, and the Patriarchs rope in the state. No thanks."

"Hey, if you marry my Yu-er, you can do the same thing – oh, its time now," Mu Yun stroked his thinning beard and clapped his hands.

"Didn't you want to enter the quarterly convention? Just your luck, it's tonight."

The elderly man staggered towards an obfuscated corridor just beyond the receptionist's desk, and gestured for Xi Chen to follow. As the youth walked across the spectacular marble flooring and passed through the door restricting access to the general public and employees, he felt several stares stab into his back with jealousy. The receptionist's silent wails of envy were ignored as the young and elderly pair took a short detour through a mind-warping maze of hallways, corridors, and passageways cluttered with scattered papers, crushed fragments of gemstone and jade, and sleeping employees.

"Don't worry about them – they're the true geniuses of mine. Never sleep until they finish their work, and every finished product as been a grand success!"

The statement was accompanied with a healthy prod to a sleeping male employee's backside, just in between the twin mounds. The elderly man harrumphed at the fluid and eyewatering response and frowned in displeasure, and couldn't resist a third prod before he resumed his duty leading Xi Chen through the corridors.

"Do you not have any fashion sense? This place is as boring as a prison cell – all white everywhere without distinction to distinguish between departments."

"Nonsense! I had to redo the painting to this design simply to motivate my genius designers. If I had followed the standard corporate model, then Tianming would never have achieved its current glory and reign!"

The two quipped back and forth until Mu Yun clawed at an oblique handle, and pushed the door open. As he walked in, Xi Chen noticed that he had been led through the back entrance to small meeting hall – and he and Mu Yun were the last to enter.

It wasn't particularly spectacular, and the sole decoration was a massive hexagonal table with a numerous assortment of chairs encircling its periphery. A total of twelve men and women dressed in plainclothes and decorative hats sat in the prepared chairs, leaving one vacant for Mu Yun. The elderly man smirked at Xi Chen before extravagantly planting his body into the uncomfortable chair, before his expression immediately soured as his back pains resumed.

"Alright, alright, I'm here now. Let's get this show over with – my back is killing me!"

"Heh. Old Mu is truly racking up the years before anyone else. By the way, who is this splendid young man?"

A middle-aged woman chuckled and waved a folded fan towards the groaning Mu Yun, before throwing a glance towards Xi Chen. The youth twitched his lips and cursed the elderly man several times in his heart, and made no word as he withdrew his gaze to inspect the table before his eyes. The base was constructed from acacia and layered with sandalwood, before an orchid top as a finish with a thick layer of maple varnish –

"Oh. He's going to be displaying several treasures. Old Su, you're going to love them."

Xi Chen's eyebrows immediately shot towards the ceiling, and he threw a baleful glare towards the withered head of the elderly man.

"Treasures? Treasures that can move our eyes?" the woman rolled her eyes and snorted in disdain.

"You daft old man – you always said those words, and disappointed us for so many years! Come, boy, show us what you got."

"Young man, don't be shy! If Old Mu had the courage to bring you here, surely you've got something interesting on your person."

The senior men and women chuckled and tipped their hats towards Xi Chen, who directed much of his disappointment towards the elderly man. Mu Yun pretended that the back of his scalp wasn't plastered by a mixture of boiling flames and piercing chills, and waved his hands with a grandiose posh.

"I awarded the opportunity to you in great faith. Young man, you can do it!"

The youth multiplied his curses by another fold, and eventually, withdrew his hand into the folds of the opened briefcase. Before the mixture of contemptuous, expectant, and jovial gazes, Xi Chen carefully unwrapped the paper cover, and placed an azure sphere at the middle of the hexagonal table.

"This… this looks rather odd."

Under the dim lighting that couldn't compare to a single candle hanging from overhead, the dense sphere revealed an uncanny brilliance. The scattered lights reflecting from the microscopic shards of metal trapped within the viscous azure layer formed a gentle sea of stars on the sphere's surface. As an elderly figure approached the stone and gently rotated the body, the shimmering figure of a golden snake could be witnessed at the depths of the gem.

"Five-clawed dragon core, golden stars of Heaven's providence, and a pure, rich sea… this… this is a Dragon Mirage Jade of the highest quality!"

"No way!? Imperial quality – and intact at such a size!?"

The middle-aged woman addressed by the surname of Su leapt from her seat and lurched towards the azure sphere. When her eyes had firmly captured the illusion of a swimming dragon trapped within the azure abyss of the jade sphere the size of an adult male's fist, she sank into her seat, unable to look at Mu Yun in the eyes.

"Nobody in our corporations possess the courage and skill to shape and carve into such a perfectly intact stone. Crack into the grain with more strength than necessary, and the entire sphere falls apart," an elderly man appraised with an awestruck smile.

"No matter what, the illusory core of the jade remains in every chunk it is cut into – that is its prized legacy, and forms its value. Only, handling must be done with care and shaping must be exceptional, only those legendary Clans can accomplish such a masterpiece!"

"Old Mu, you've truly brought something good for once! Young man, for how much are you selling this Dragon Mirage Jade?��

Xi Chen spent exactly three seconds pondering on the matter. All three seconds were invested in cursing the elderly man dozens of times in his heart.

"Not selling!"

F*ck, Mu Yun was pushing him into a fire! This dirty, dishonest old man!