Chapter 30 Potential Business Partner

Ren Ye used his navigating skill and drove himself to Charm Shop; selling different types of rocks. It was located quite in the central part of the city, approximately 30 minutes from his company.

These kinds of shops existed for many centuries since ancient times. Although with the rapid growth of technology and access to medicine, people nowadays don't believe in superstitions as they had before in the past.

Often these businesses had to operate silently and remain low-key due to many people believing that selling these things was considered a business fraud and fake.

Even Ren Ye was surprised when they continue to do these businesses, with high risk.

The store appeared rather ordinary-looking and resembled every other store near them, almost too normal that they would be mistaken as a normal business.

Ren Ye entered through the front door and heard the bell ring above him, there weren't many people in the store as only a few shopkeepers were there sweeping the door of their items on the shelf.

The items on the shelf weren't shards but rather old grandfather clocks and ancient-looking artifacts, Ren Ye thought he had entered the wrong place.

They appeared slightly astounded as this young man entered their store, a youthful-looking girl hopped down from the ladder and greeted Ren Ye with a graceful smile.

The youth-looking girl was wearing her school uniform, and on the side of her face were two noticeable dimples. She tied her soft hair into a ponytail and donned a red ribbon on them.

She was extremely professional for her age as she bowed elegantly and said with a smile, "Good day, sir. What brings you to our humble store?"

"I am looking for any empty shards if you have any," Ren Ye replied indifferently.

"Shards?" The young lady's smiling face was gradually replaced with a dumbfounded expression before shooting a glance at the other shopkeepers with complicated faces.

"We don't have any, sir."

"Mm?" Ren Ye lifted his eyebrows inquisitively.

"You should seek my grandfather if you're looking for these kinds of things," The young lady smiled awkwardly at him and continued to speak with a respectful voice, "We stopped selling those many years ago."

Ren Ye didn't speak and thought inside his head, 'Why did the manual guide me to come here then?'

After all, this place in the manual was the only store that sold empty shards with no spirituality.

Ren Ye nodded his head and his calm eyes focused on the girl's face, "Where can I meet your grandfather?"

"He's not here today. I can get you to arrange a meeting with him if you want, sir."

As the young lady finished talking, the bell on the door rang loudly.

He turned his head to glance at the person entering the door, it was an elderly man whose hair was gray and he had an extremely long beard. His face and physique were frail as well as they were wrinkled, he appeared even older than Old Yi.

He was dressed in a brown robe, like a monk's robe. He carried a tiny bag on his shoulder and the pouch was on his left hip.

The elder's eyes appeared slanted and he turned to glance at Ren Ye with a cane in his right hand, he rubbed his beard and smiled calmly, "I heard someone is looking for me."

"Grandpa! Why are you here early?" The young lady's awkward face became excited as she went up and gradually assisted him with his walking.

"Brat, I was looking for that young man who came to me for help but I couldn't find him. I chose to come back and stumbled upon another young man seeking to see me," The elder's aged mouth chuckled hoarsely as he sat down with difficulty.

"And you are?"

The elder cast his eyes on the cold-looking man in front of him, the elder placed extra attention on this young man. Under his beard, he smiled strangely and nodded his head with approval.

"Ren Ye, and I am looking to purchase empty shards."

Ren Ye frowned at him and replied calmly.

"Are you buying them to make charms?"

The elder blurted out all of a sudden and gave him a genuine smile, his eyes held interesting emotions and caused Ren Ye to be a bit shocked but his exterior appearance remained tranquil.

"Yes."

Ren Ye replied frankly and nodded his head, 'There was no need to hide since the old man already knows about my intentions.'

"Ah, you are lucky today because that young lad too was looking to buy empty shards from me and left too early when I hadn't arrived yet."

"I guess I have to sell the shards that I was supposed to sell to him to you, I didn't bring any spare ones here," The elder laughed wholeheartedly and placed his hand into the pouch on his left side.

"You can call me Gong Fan."

He spoke calmly with his aged hoarse voice as he took out his hand and stretched his palm.

In his palm were five black-looking stones, resembling glossy obsidians as the light in the store reflected on them. They appeared extremely casual and were nothing eye-catching at first glance.

"No worries, they aren't fakes. This old man doesn't sell fake things or else our business would have been sued since ancient times," Gong Fan said with a half-smile and diverted his attention onto Ren Ye.

Ren Ye was gawking at the stones and asked Gong Fan, "How much are they?"

"100 RMB per shard," Gong Fan replied with a deadpan expression.

"..."

'Isn't that too much for one shard or am I getting scammed by this old geezer?' Ren Ye wanted to curse at himself but stopped and stared at Gong Fan with determination hidden in his eyes.

"50 RMB per stone and I will take them all," Ren Ye was determined to win this bargain with this old man.

"Don't use this outdated trick on me, I have seen too many from customers like you throughout my years as a merchant," Gong Fan's smile faded and was replaced with a blank expression, "100 for each shard, leave if you don't want to buy them."

"There are many customers vying to buy my things, I won't lose anything if you decide not to buy them," Gong Fan snorted with unconcealed disappointment.

"..."

Ren Ye gritted his teeth and sighed gloomily, "I will buy two stones then."

"Give me a discount and I will come back to buy more."

Ren Ye didn't back down and continued to bargain for a discount.

"No."

Gong Fan had been a merchant for many years and inherited this business with thousands of years of operation from his father, he has seen and heard many tricks from certain customers throughout his life. He was knowledgeable and resolute with his way of doing business.

Ren Ye couldn't attempt any more tricks as he gave up and bought the empty shards. He held the shards with astonishment and commented inside his head,

'They look like normal-looking rocks…'

He tossed them upwards and caught them. With the help of the system, he was able to confirm the legitimacy of these shards.

This old man has definitely seen cultivators but he doesn't seem to be one himself since the system didn't alert him of any encounter. No wonder, he had seen through his tricks and intention from the beginning.

Through him, Ren Ye may be able to contact different cultivators and also exchange artifacts with them as well. But then again, this old man was extremely stubborn and wouldn't disclose any of his customers' names.

Ren Ye thought deeply and exited the place.

After he exited the place, the youthful-looking girl couldn't help but scold this young man for his attempt to play tricks on her experienced grandfather,

"That man was the most stingy customer I have ever seen in my life. The previous customer before him offered to buy your shards for five million RMB."

She snorted and scolded him in her grandfather's stead, Gong Fan didn't speak and appeared to be deep in thoughts.

"The next time you meet him, make sure to do a lot of business with him."

"He is our potential business partner with our other customer."

Gong Fan caressed his beard gently and said strangely with a scheming smile on his face