Divine Beast Creator
Chapter 618 - 619: Business of the Aquatic People_1

Chapter 618: Chapter 619: Business of the Aquatic People_1

"Do you often trade with a town in the Nanyu Kingdom?"

Wei Dingwu asked Cheng Yong with some concern and glanced at him, Cheng Yong scratched his head in a bit of confusion and said,

"I remember they said they were citizens of the Nanyu Kingdom, what’s the matter?"

Wei Dingwu quickly explained the recent events in the Nanyu Kingdom to him. Hearing what Wei Dingwu said, Cheng Yong responded with some confusion,

"Those towns should still be there, right? We do not trade with the Nanyu Kingdom directly, so this shouldn’t affect us."

"It’s not as simple as that. The invasion of the Nanyu Kingdom was done by a multi-national army. You can imagine that for a long period to come, none of the towns within what was once Nanyu Kingdom’s borders will have any surplus goods to trade with you."

"It wouldn’t be surprising even if some towns have ceased to exist."

Liu Wenli said calmly, she was well aware of the tactics those people would use after occupying new territories, having been involved in similar affairs herself, she knew full well how damaging a military conquest, especially one by a coalition of nations, could be to the original inhabitants of the land.

Apart from Mo Ling, who found this hard to accept, the others did not find it strange at all. In these times, such things happened far too often. It had nothing to do with justice, it was just a matter of differing perspectives. Everyone needed to expand their own territory for the sake of their countries. Mo Li had previously fought against others from time to time for the sake of Great Yan’s land.

"If that’s the case, we’re in trouble..."

Cheng Yong’s complexion turned sour. Their trades were mostly concentrated in the small towns within the Nanyu Kingdom’s borders, known for providing a relatively fair trading environment. But if what they said was true, they didn’t know where else to find a new trading spot for the time being.

Looking behind him, Xiao An had not returned. Although he wanted to notify the town mayor, he couldn’t do it now. He couldn’t leave Feng Yuan and the others behind—not out of distrust, but because Xia Yu’s old man had asked him to be responsible for showing them around Pearl Town, and now they needed their help with something.

After hesitating for a while, Cheng Yong walked up to the counter and said to the little boy,

"Ping Fu, go find the town mayor for me, tell him there’s something he needs to know."

Ping Fu looked up and said with disdain,

"Uncle Cheng Yong, don’t do this if you don’t have the money. If I dare to abandon this place and my mom finds out when she comes back, I’ll be in big trouble."

"But I have something important to tell them."

Glancing at Feng Yuan and his group, who were still selecting jewelry, Ping Fu stubbornly said,

"No way, you can go yourself, I’ll look after them for you! Ow!"

Clutching his head, Ping Fu looked at Cheng Yong with a wronged expression, not understanding why he’d suddenly hit him on the head. He snuck a peek at Feng Yuan’s group, noticing that they didn’t seem aware of their situation. Cheng Yong stared at Ping Fu, somewhat angrily,

"They are honored guests from the island! You can’t be talking nonsense like that!"

"Dad—what are you doing?"

"Oh—little fatty, you’ve grown bolder, huh—daring to challenge my dad—"

Ping Fu glared at Xiao An, rubbing his head and said discontentedly,

"Who’s challenging your dad! It was your dad who hit me for no reason!"

As he spoke, Ping Fu stepped back, fearing another blow from Cheng Yong. Xiao An said with some confusion,

"Really? My dad isn’t that petty, right?"

He eyed his father warily, only to receive the same treatment as Ping Fu. Clutching his head, Xiao An managed to squeeze out a few tears, looking wronged. Cheng Yong glared at Xiao An and said sternly,

"Come here, there’s something I need you to tell the town mayor right away."

"What is it?"

Xiao An took a few steps back, fearing his dad might hit him again. Cheng Yong gritted his teeth and briefed him on the situation in the Nanyu Kingdom. Although Xiao An didn’t fully grasp the details, he understood that everyone would definitely not be able to quickly find a new town to trade with. He hurriedly said,

"Okay! I’ll go find the town mayor right now."

Watching Xiao An run away like a streak of smoke, Cheng Yong let out a sigh of relief and glanced at Ping Fu. Cheng Yong retreated to one side and shrank his neck as Ping Fu said in a dissatisfied low voice,

"What are you glaring for? If I didn’t keep watch, how would I explain any lost items to the others..."

What Feng Yuan and his companions didn’t guess was that this jewelry store didn’t purchase its goods from other people but rather helped others to trade on their behalf. The jewelry was all consigned for sale by the Aquatic People living on the Island Jellyfish of Pearl Town and other islands. As the leading figure of this group of Island Jellyfish, all trade was concentrated in Pearl Town, and when encountering other Aquatic People, transactions would also take place here.

As a result, many shops were actually conducting consignment businesses to facilitate everyone in trading items they didn’t need any more.

After observing Feng Yuan’s group for a while, Ping Fu felt puzzled. Those people didn’t look like the Aquatic People at all, but that Divine Lord wrapped in a water bubble was clearly one of the deities from above their seas. It was hard for land dwellers to gain the approval of the sea’s deities. Added to the fact that Cheng Yong said the other party was an honored guest, this made Ping Fu very curious about Feng Yuan and his companions’ identities.

"That’ll do."

Feng Yuan placed the large seashell and Xiao Ji on the counter without understanding why Xiao Ji insisted on wearing the pendant and refused to part with it. Ping Fu quickly tallied up the group’s purchase of jewelry and gave the price directly. At that moment, Cheng Yong came over, placed the bag on the table, and said,

"Count it yourself, don’t take any extra!"

"A bag from the Shell Coin Bureau? Uncle Cheng Yong, you wouldn’t have secretly taken the old master’s money, would you?"

Although Ping Fu spoke like that, he quickly took out the exact amount of Shell Coins from the bag that matched the price. He was just saying it for the sake of it, after all, when people went to the Shell Coin Bureau to exchange their money, they would never receive the bag.

Leaving the jewelry store, Feng Yuan looked at the gradually setting sun and said,

"I wonder where we can find something to eat around here..."

"Today is not the Sea Gather Day, so there’s no helping it. If you don’t mind, you can have dinner at my place."

Cheng Yong didn’t have a solution to this either, as Pearl Town was usually just locals who all had homes here—it wasn’t feasible to not cook and eat out. Therefore, except for the Sea Gather Day, there were no places selling food in Pearl Town.

Feng Yuan asked curiously,

"What’s the Sea Gather Day? Is it a set time for trading?"

"Pretty much, but it’s not just us in Pearl Town. Usually, three or four towns set a time to meet, and then conduct the Sea Gather Day at their respective towns."

"We do it at Pearl Square. There will be people setting up stalls to sell food at that time, and the other towns do the same."

"Why not at one location?"

Guo Huai was somewhat puzzled. According to Cheng Yong, on the day of Sea Gather Day, three or four towns would serve as venues. To browse through them all would indeed be troublesome. Feng Yuan glanced at Guo Huai and said,

"You need to prepare goods, right? And it has to be fair. It can’t always be hosted in turns, right? They can’t be sure that it’ll always be the same towns participating each time."

Cheng Yong nodded and said,

"That’s how it is. But actually, it doesn’t have much of an impact. We just need to bring Shell Coins to other towns to buy what we need. If we have items to sell, we consign them in shops like Ping Fu’s ahead of time, so it won’t affect our purchasing."

"Plus, everyone essentially has the same items available, so there’s no need to visit every town’s Sea Gather Day each time."

"That shop was actually a consignment store?"

Feng Yuan was somewhat surprised. Seeing that everything was so neatly arranged, he had thought the items were purchased from villagers and then sold at a markup. Cheng Yong nodded and said,

"Yes, most of the shops on Pearl Square operate like this. We don’t have so much time on ordinary days to sell our own items, so we have to ask them to sell on our behalf at Pearl Square."

"But if that’s the case, why did he earlier..."

Remembering Ping Fu’s attitude, Wei Dingwu felt puzzled. That take-it-or-leave-it demeanor seemed a bit like ripping people off. Cheng Yong gave Wei Dingwu a strange look and said,

"What? Did Ping Fu do something inappropriate just now?"

Although he was intent on favoring Feng Yuan and his group, he wouldn’t bully his own people because of that. If Wei Dingwu was talking nonsense, he wouldn’t be polite to her.