Big Data Cultivation - Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: The Heavy Backpack (Five

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That noon, Feifei placed her little brother Huan Huan in a carrying basket and went to cook for Feng Jun and the others. The village chief dared not lay a finger on her—the four guys were at least related to the Xiong Feng Escort Bureau, a force the villagers couldn’t afford to provoke.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, but after the first person sold jade, that very afternoon, four more groups visited Feng Jun to sell their stones.

These people, having heard about Feifei, were very proactive in offering their prices, and without exception, they were all quite high.

But how could Feng Jun agree? He determined his prices according to Lang Zhen’s suggestions, combined with his own judgment, and offered a reasonable amount.

If the other party didn’t accept, he would simply wave his hand-Please leave, you can sell it wherever you like for that price, I can’t afford it.

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It was especially laughable that one fellow brought a rough stone that had only been worked on one side. He pointed at that side and swore up and down, “If I finish polishing this stone, it’ll be worth at least five silver dollars, but I’m only selling it to you for one. You’re making a huge profit.”

Feng Jun couldn’t help but find it both sad and funny. Such schemes existed in this realm too?

Of course, he wouldn’t agree. For the people of this realm, stone carving was entirely manual labor and very energy intensive. Keeping the stone partly uncarved actually made the seller’s job easier.

So he straightforwardly stated, I only want finished stones. Your stone, to say nothing of one silver dollar, I wouldn’t want it even for a hundred copper coms -that’s right, I don’t buy half-finished goods here.

The man was so embarrassed that he almost became violent. Lang Zhen simply lifted his hand and smashed a millstone-sized rock into four or five pieces, then picked out a sharp shard and began picking his teeth, mouth wide open. Seeing this, the man, without another word, picked up his stone and left dejectedly, without even saying goodbye.

Out of these four groups, only one person left his stone. He brought a green piece of jade that looked like a stone stool, quite smooth on the top-it seemed this fellow had been using it as a seat.

Lang Zhen suggested a price of eight hundred copper coins for that stone. He believed that at Xiyin City, at best, it could fetch nine hundred copper coins and would definitely not exceed one silver dollar-didn’t this fellow have to spend time and travel costs to get the stone to Xiyin City?

That’s right, it was sizable, but the quality was poor.

Feng Jun, however, didn’t follow his advice and offered a purchase price of one silver dollar plus one copper coin.

This was his little mischief. Back on Earth Realm, he had seen plenty of goods priced at $99, $199, or $9-99, always one unit short of the next numerical level to make people feel they were getting a bargain.

So he used 1001 copper coins for the purchase. When people talked about it, they would say the stone was worth more than a silver dollar. Compared to 999 copper coins, the difference was only two coins, yet it gave people a sense of generosity.

The man who brought the stone stool didn’t want to sell, asking for a high price of five silver dollars, with a bottom line of two silver dollars in mind.

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So he intended to carry the stone stool back home, but damn… it weighed nearly two hundred pounds. It was really heavy.

Then it was Lang Zhen who spoke up, “Alright, even if you take this stone to the prefectural city, you won’t be able to sell it for one silver dollar. The Divine Doctor has already offered you more than that, which is quite generous…Do you really have to have two silver dollars to sell it?”

The man thought it over and felt it made sense-one plus silver dollars wasn’t much less than two.

So he sold it, juggling the silver dollar and its copper companion in hand, walking home with a lighter step.

No sooner had he left than Lang Zhen started complaining to Feng Jun, “Divine Doctor, you don’t have that much money. If you keep buying so casually, you really won’t end up with much.”

Feng Jun laughed, “Alright, next time I’ll be more cautious. Anyway, I can t lose.”

This jade stone, if taken to Earth Realm, would definitely fetch millions. How could he not profit?

As news of the two stone purchases spread, Feng Jun’s business finally got underway. The nearby two villages tried to interfere, but Mount Zhige was so vast, encompassing more than just these two villages, right?

Three days later, the thatched cottage was filled with stones of all sizes. The silver dollars Feng Jun had brought with him were long spent, and the Deng Family Brothers took ten gold leaves, making a special trip to Zhige City to exchange them for silver dollars and copper coins.

After taking his second Meridian Opening Pill, Lang Zhen’s cultivation level had almost fully recovered. He planned to rest for about three days before taking the third pill to completely stabilize his realm.

From the fourth day on, the number of people coming to sell jade increased even more. Feng Jun’s pricing might have been firm, but generally speaking, his offer was a bit higher, about ten to twenty percent more than the purchase prices of the merchants from Xiyin City.

However, the more well-known he became, the more troubles arose. Many people with mediocre jade also came seeking a purchase.

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The quality of jade is a subjective matter. The sellers were mostly aware of this, and apart from a few who took their chances, most of them hoped the buyer would take their less appealing stones for a relatively fair price.

But for Feng Jun, he really couldn’t take in all the goods. Zhige Mountain was an entire massive mountain, and Zhige County got its name for it-how could he possibly make unlimited purchases with just a few dozen taels of gold in hand?

He knew the importance of stockpiling goods, but not just anyone could play that game.

Without massive capital, what would he use to stockpile goods? It was essential

to prioritize the purchase of quality jade stones.

Yet this attitude had sparked local discontent. Some openly incited others, claiming that all the good stones from Mount Zhige had been scooped up, leaving only the less desirable ones, which might discourage the people from Xiyin from coming to collect stones anymore.

Such rumors were ridiculous. After all, Mount Zhige was so vast and underdeveloped, how could it possibly run out of good stones?

However, rumors spread precisely because, though not entirely reasonable, they appealed to some people’s sentiments, and once they gained traction, any illogic was deliberately ignored amidst collective agitation.

Even if some noticed something fishy about the whole thing, not all of them dared to speak up.

The little girl Feifei was not only a chef but also moonlighted as a junior spy. She quickly relayed the village’s rumors, “Everyone’s saying that you’re going to buy up all the exquisite stones from Mount Zhige and destroy it.” Upon hearing this, Feng Jun sighed; he had no choice but to return to the modern era.

When he entered the villa again, Lusu Shui’er’s fragrance still lingered, but his hair had grown down to his shoulders-he had been in the mobile phone space for over four months.

However, this return trip was not without its rewards. He brought back about a dozen jade stones, some of excellent quality and some average. The smallest among them was the size of two fists.

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The jade stones together weighed over a thousand pounds, and Feng Jun didn’t really want to leave them in the villa because, although large, it wasn’t very secure; distant relatives of the main family could sneak in when he was away.

But for now, he had no better option than to hide the jade stones in the storeroom among various other items. He himself prepared to head out with a chunk of green jade, a mutton-fat jade pillow, and a pair of jade balls.

He stuffed the jade chunk into an exceptionally sturdy backpack, slung it on his back, and carried another bag holding the jade pillow. The jade balls, meanwhile, were placed in his messenger bag.

He hailed a taxi at the road junction. When he placed the backpack on the back seat, the taxi driver gave him an odd look, “Say, what’s in those two bags of yours? My car’s backend just sank.”

Feng Jun smiled in response, “Oh, nothing much, just some books. They aren’t that heavy.”

“That’s impossible,” the driver shook his head, decidedly stating, “Definitely not books. I can feel it—it’s almost like three hundred pounds. Since when are books that heavy?”

Feng Jun ran a hand through his hair and flashed a grin, ”Big brother, come on, take a look at me. Do I look like someone who can easily lift three hundred pounds?”

He was about 5’10” tall and weighed around 130 pounds or so. If he was dressed in light clothing, one could see his muscles, but now it was late autumn. With trousers and a vest on, one could only see his slender figure.

The driver glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, “Youngsters these days really aren’t as robust. Twenty years ago, when I was your age, three hundred pounds was nothing-I’d just heave it onto my back and go.”

“That’s true. I definitely can’t lift it,” Feng Jun nodded with a laugh, “Besides, even if I could, I certainly wouldn’t be able to do it with ease.’ The driver thought about it and realized that made sense. Nevertheless, he couldn’t resist muttering, “But why do I feel like there’s about three hundred pounds in there? Books are that heavy these days?”

“That’s right, they’re that heavy. It’s because they’re printed on copperplate paper” Feng Jun nodded seriously, then bluffed, “That’s why students are all talking about reducing their burdens, right? Can’t help it-the books are just too heavy.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” the driver nodded and finally shifted his focus away from the bags…

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Half an hour later, the taxi stopped at the Penglai Grand Hotel, a four-star establishment where Feng Jun had just booked a room using his mobile phone.

He paid the fare and got out, picking up his backpack. The driver’s brow furrowed again-the weight had felt nearly three hundred pounds, pressing down hard. Could it be that his tire was flat?

Just then, a bellhop strolled by and smiled, reaching out to help Feng Jun with the bag. Suddenly, he stumbled and nearly fell to the ground.

Watching this scene from the rearview mirror, the taxi driver shook his head and sighed again, “Ah, the physical condition of young people these days really is deteriorating…”

Feng Jun checked into the hotel for convenience and also to get a haircut and take a bath.

Back in the mobile phone space, his short hair had been quite inconvenient, but now, in the real world, he found his shoulder-length hair to be rather unseemly.

Some artsy men liked to flaunt long hair tied into a ponytail or even wear dirty braids, but Feng Jun felt that was a bit too effeminate for his taste.

As for it being a way to express individuality? If a person needs a weird hairstyle to show off their personality, that just shows how pitiful they are, with no real substance to themselves, needing to resort to their hair and beard to make a statement.

So, he planned to get a haircut. Should any trouble arise after entering the mobile space, he would just have to deal with it as it came.