Chapter236

The middle-aged man who had been speaking loudly suddenly lowered his voice. "It's that male heir from the Carnation Kingdom whose body is different from normal men! The old princess really wants to try, so she used the excuse of a political marriage to have us send him over. The ruler of Salvia Kingdom promised to introduce us to its suzerain state!"

Elara, who was quietly eating with her eyes down, slightly raised her brows. Ever since she started training in martial arts, her senses had become sharper. She heard every word the man said without missing anything.

A male heir from the Carnation Kingdom who's different from them? ...Wasn't that Leif?

Logically, as the heir of Sargassum, someone of such a high status shouldn't be spoken of lightly. But these people—besides lowering their voices a little, there wasn't the slightest restraint in their expressions or words.

"Ha! So the old princess is interested in him, huh? Perfect, then just hurry up and send him over. Even our Sargassum emperor said it in court. He doesn't count as one of us. He's just the son of a slave. He was a slave as a child. How could someone like that become our heir? Ugh."

"Exactly. Every time I see those men from the Carnation Kingdom with flower tattoos on their heads, I feel completely disgusted. Tsk! What a disgrace to men!"

"That one isn't even the child of any current Sargassum prince, right? So how did he become the heir? Tsk. But since His Majesty already said he's not one of us, and the old princess of Salvia Kingdom is interested in his body... heh, then letting him go might be a way for him to be useful one last time?"

"Ugh! Enough about him. What's the point of talking about all that old, rotten nonsense again? No matter how much you all dislike him, he's still the high and mighty heir! So what if the emperor doesn't like him? So what if he's not from our country? He'll still live better in one day than you could in ten lifetimes!"

"...It's not that I want to talk about this, but just thinking of the way those Carnation Kingdom men look makes me sick... Tsk, absolutely shameless!"

"Let's talk about the new batch of exquisite daily items brought back by Zhaiyun Pavilion. Tsk, have you all gone to see them yet? After last time's amazing recipe using spices, this time they brought back another batch of items I've never even seen before! Every single one is delicate and unbelievably beautiful!"

"I saw them! My wife at home is pushing me to buy some! This batch supposedly came from a country in the west. No one knows who the genius behind them is, but to be able to make such pretty and practical things—once those items appear in Zhaiyun Pavilion, they sell out instantly. It's hard to buy them at all!"

"Yeah! But what I'm more curious about is which court official owns Zhaiyun Pavilion. It's been growing in our Sargassum for years, and I've never heard anything about who runs it!"

"I've always been curious and full of admiration. Who could it be, managing Zhaiyun Pavilion so discreetly yet so competently for so many years? Now it's leading over ten surrounding countries! Truly the pride of our Sargassum!"

Elara sat in place, eating while sorting through and filtering all the surrounding information, her brows rising and falling as she listened.

Leaving aside the goods sold by the Bai Family's Business, what she heard about Leif left her even more puzzled.

First, the methods to treat saline-alkali land like black alum and gypsum—weren't those things she had given to Leif? Why were they now being credited as a divine gift from that unrelated Leif Prince? And being praised like some holy savior, while Leif's name wasn't mentioned at all. On the contrary, his current troubles seemed deeply entangled with that foreign prince.

Second, it seemed that most of the public in Sargassum didn't know that Leif was the owner of Zhaiyun Pavilion. As the heir of Sargassum, his situation there... didn't seem to match what Elara had imagined.

Leif's background also appeared to be extremely complicated. And... the son of a slave? He had actually been a slave when he was young?

After finishing the meal, Elara sat in the restaurant a while longer, planning to gather more information.

But aside from what had already been mentioned, most of the discussions in the restaurant had shifted to recent new arrivals at the Zhaiyun Pavilion, which country's merchants brought good products, and which national specialties were popular.

Elara and her group didn't rush to leave. These kinds of topics were also considered important commercial news. Mr. Gong had already pulled out his little notebook and started jotting things down quickly.

When there was nothing new to hear, Elara led the other three out of the restaurant and headed to the markets in the northeastern districts. As they browsed the various trade stalls, they also tried to learn more about what was happening in Sargassum's court.

Sargassum, being the origin of Zhaiyun Pavilion, had an especially developed commercial sector.

On the streets of the northeastern districts, shops under Zhaiyun Pavilion accounted for more than seventy percent.

Their merchandise was dazzling, and specialties from over a dozen different countries were gathered here. Buyers and merchants passed through in such large numbers that the doorsteps were nearly worn down. It was even livelier than the Lianyi Building of Sargassum on the same street.

Walking through this bustling, prosperous commercial street, Elara and her group almost felt overwhelmed by the sheer variety.

Although these items could also be bought in Plumera through Zhaiyun Pavilion's channels, they could only see the products they actually purchased. If they didn't buy it, they couldn't see it.

There was nowhere in Plumera with such towering piles of merchandise on display. The number and variety of goods here far exceeded anything Elara had seen back home, making her feel dazzled.

To create such a magnificent commercial scene, Leif truly was a commercial genius.

Elara looked at the bustling shopping areas on both sides and finally experienced the kind of ancient market streets she had once seen in television dramas.

The four of them walked along the lively street, observing while also asking about business and court affairs.

Mr. Gong never put his notebook away. His handsome face remained serious, but his hand moved steadily, recording notes with a charcoal pencil. From time to time, he would even buy samples to take back for closer inspection.

With such a responsible and capable business manager, Elara was greatly relieved and didn't need to worry about anything.

Having Mr. Gong by her side staying focused meant she only needed to get a general understanding of the various goods, and after forming an idea in her mind, she could relax and shop as she pleased.

Since it was a rare visit, she definitely planned to buy whatever she liked.

Elara took out her pouch and began buying all sorts of appealing snacks and foreign specialties on a whim.

With Uno and Emory following behind, Elara wasn't worried about carrying everything.

She led the group from one end of the street to the other, eating all along the way, and then continued buying from the east side to the north.

During this, she saw many foreign merchants had also set up shops here.

She also noticed many items from Bai Family's Business being sold through Zhaiyun Pavilion, and they were doing extremely well in its stores.

Looking at the shops with booming sales, Elara thought about how, once Damon and the others established a solid commercial foundation in Plumera, they could open a trade route using the same path she had taken to bring Bai Family's shops here.