Gu Yue Chi Lan’s trade with Jia Fu

The merchant caravan would usually stay in the Gu Yue village for three days and three nights.

During the first day Chi Yan took this chance to browse around by himself and enjoy the atmosphere.

The goods sold in the tents and at the stalls were all common ones, so he didn't buy anything apart from a few sets of training clothes. Any necessary Gu worms, Gu materials and Gu food were all bought by the Chi family's servants, so Chi Yan didn't need to worry about it.

If Chi Yan needed a common Gu, then he could simply get it from the Chi family's warehouse or stores, as many were kept as refinement materials. He could also buy them from the clan's Gu room, though they would be slightly more expensive than found at the caravan stands.

When the evening of the second day came, Chi Yan visited the caravan not alone, but with his three female friends: Kong Lian, Wei Yanyu and Shen Guang.

The four of them browsed through the caravan together deep into the next. They tasted various exotic snacks at the food stalls, visited a tea house to drink special tea and to taste delicious pastries originating from outside the Gu Yue village. Briefly, they also visited the wine shop with mushroom chairs and tables, and other places.

Chi Yan, however, made it clear that he would not buy the girls anything, and he only paid for the food, which the girls seemed to not mind at all.

Thanks to receiving such incredible social proof all this time and having an abundance of options, Chi Yan felt incredibly confident and at ease in this life. Although nothing special happened, the entire evening of this 'festival' in the Gu world was amazing.

Chi Yan loved this world and loved his new life. After these few hours of hanging around with the trio of beauties that were deeply infatuated with him, Chi Yan felt filled with lots of energy to keep pushing in his training.

Chi Yan also took this chance to consciously observe the behavior of the three girls and other people, sort-of treating everyone as test subjects to help him understand the human psyche better.

Looking back, the most important thing that Chi Yan wished he mastered during his life on Earth before being transmigrated was not something like martial arts, chemistry, modern inventions or trade. It was social skills and 'game'.

Chi Yan didn't interact with people much in the first life, so by observing people all around him and by being more social from time to time, he hoped to fix this weakness of his. Thanks to his high status and value, he had little social anxiety.

After the second day of the caravan, came the third.

When the Academy lectures ended, Chi Yan came along with Gu Yue Chi Lian to visit the merchant caravan leader's tent for special business.

"Greetings, Sir Jia Fu." Gu Yue Chi Lian cupped his fists respectfully, bowing.

"Chi Yan greets sir Jia Fu." Chi Yan cupped his fist toward Jia Fu as well.

Despite the difference in status, Jia Fu stood up from his desk and also cupped his fists, a smile on his face. "Brother Chi, it's good to see you again. This handsome young man must be your grandson, is that right?"

Jia Fu looked at Chi Yan with eyes as narrow as slits as he smiled.

"That's right, sir Jia Fu. He's my pride." Gu Yue Chi Lian smiled, patting Chi Yan's shoulders.

"I heard about you, little brother, winning a Clearing Heat Gu from ten gambling rocks, your luck is quite amazing!" Jia Fu laughed.

Chi Yan laughed. "Yeah, I was lucky."

Jia Fu nodded.

"When I was young I also opened a Green Bamboo Gentlemen by luck. Unfortunately this Gu is very difficult to feed, so it remained in hibernation, the rock half-unopened..." Jia Fu reminisced, seeming to be in a good mood as he did that. He then sat down and turned to Chi Lian. "Brother Chi, I heard that you have business with me? Please, sit down."

"Yes, sir Jia Fu. I have a large business that I wish to do with you," Chi Lian said as he sat down on a chair in front of the desk.

With Jia Fu's encouragement, Chi Yan picked up a chair from the side and sat down beside his grandfather of this world.

After some small talk and the introduction of Chi Lian's offer and circumstances, Chi Yan was asked to leave and let Gu Yue Chi Lian negotiate by himself.

Chi Yan stood up, feeling slightly complicated emotions in his heart as he thought of what Chi Lian was doing for him.

A while back, the Chi family head's study room.

Chi Yan couldn't help but be surprised. Gu Yue Chi Lian had just told him that to prepare for Chi Yan's journey to the Central Continent's great sects planned in two years he decided to sell off all of the Chi family's assets. In addition, Chi Lian would join him along for the trip.

Gu Yue Chi Lian was willing to sell everything. He was basically abandoning the Chi faction and the Gu Yue village completely for him, sacrificing decades and perhaps centuries of accumulation!

Seeing Chi Yan's surprised expression, Chi Lian sighed heavily as he smiled at Chi Yan at the same time. "Sigh, grandson, all of my close family is gone. You are the only one I have left. Even if the Chi faction falls into ruin in our absence, what's the most important is the two of us. Since you have an extreme physique, it cannot be helped. We must do whatever we can."

"-To me, the two of us are the Chi family."

Gu Yue Chi Lian's words resounded in Chi Yan's ears as he was walking out of Jia Fu's tent. The old man's resolve left a deep impression on him.

In this world loyalty to the clan was deeply ingrained in everyone's blood, yet Chi Lian was willing to leave and 'betray' his Chi faction and the Gu Yue village, using them as tools, for whom he considered his true family.

Chi Yan respected this kind of people the most.

'Just for a chance to save his grandson's life Gu Yue Chi Lian is willing to give up on the entire Chi faction and his ruling position in the Gu Yue clan. He probably isn't even sure if his plan would succeed, yet he's still going all out. It's a bit sad that his grandson is already dead…' Chi Yan sighed, feeling a little sorry for Chi Lian, yet not feeling any regret or pity for taking over the original Chi Yan's body.

'I really am lucky. I wish I could repay Gu Yue Chi Lian just a little bit, at least letting him see that I'm doing fine as he dies of old age. Unfortunately it seems like helping him to avoid the disaster of the Gu Yue village would be quite a lot of trouble…' Chi Yan's heart thought.

Having left Jia Fu's room, Chi Yan sat down and cultivated as he waited for his grandfather's return.

About an hour later Chi Yan found out that the negotiations with Jia Fu ended on a positive note. Suffering a small loss, Chi Lian offered to sell various Gu worms, Gu food and Gu materials accumulated by the Chi family, while he bought and also ordered various rare goods himself.

The majority of the trade would happen during the second and third merchant caravan visit, but because of the trade agreement, Jia Fu agreed to sell Chi Lian a couple of rare Gu that he kept in his secret stash for special occasions.

These rare Gu worms included a Rank 1 Bookworm, a Liquor Worm, Whirlwind Gu, Jade Skin Gu and others. Some of these Gu were for Chi Yan, while others were bought on occasion purely for the sake of selling them off to the clan's people at a higher price later. Hearing that Chi Lian managed to acquire all these Gu today caused Chi Yan to feel quite happy.

When Chi Lian and Chi Yan began to leave the tent together it was already night-time.

…

Not far away from Jia Fu's tent.

In the night, the moonlight shone brightly but was overpowered by the numerous street lights in the merchant shops.

The merchant shop tonight was swarming with business. Fang Yuan was squeezed left and right as he entered, hearing all sorts of conversations inadvertently.

"Did you guys hear? Last night, a young man opened a Mudskin Toad and earned a profit of five hundred primeval stones!"

"Haha, this is nothing. Just after that the Chi family's young master, Gu Yue Chi Yan, opened Clearing Heat Gu. A Clearing Heat Gu!"

Fang Yuan listened attentively, feeling disappointment in his heart as he did not hear anything about the Liquor worm that he revealed yesterday in the tavern during the Academy's lunch break.

'The Liquor worm is only a Rank 1 Gu worm. It is extremely meaningful to a Rank 1 Gu Masters, but it's useless to a Rank 2 or Rank 3 Gu Master. Thus it is normal that no one paid attention to this. In comparison, a Clearing Heat Gu is far more attractive. Clearing Heat Gu specializes in removing poison, having a unique niche and being valued for it, but it's still one of the better healing Gu at Rank 2, and it's also extremely easy to feed, as it feeds on the Gu Master's body's internal heat. Chi Yan's luck is even better in this life.' Fang Yuan thought as he walked.

At this point, there was a hustle in front of him and he heard someone shout, "Quickly come and see, there's a dishonest merchant here selling fake Gu to our clansmen!"

Anger stirred among the crowd.

It turned out that Jia Jin Sheng had scammed a young Gu Master of the Gu Yue clan's, selling him a regular worm as Black Boar Gu.

In turn, Jia Jin Sheng used Jia Fu's name to intimidate the young Gu Master.

Fang Yuan couldn't help but snicker within his heart. Being tricked into buying a regular worm thinking that it was a Gu was the peak of stupidity if one was a Gu Master.

"What happened here exactly?" At one moment, a loud voice spoke out.

"Jia Fu is here!"

"The leader is here to settle the dispute, everyone, give way."

The discussion came to a halt as everyone separated and formed a narrow path between them.

A middle-aged Gu Master having a muscular short body coupled with a giant belly, walked in. He wore a long-sleeved yellow robe, being the leader of the merchant caravan, Jia Fu.

Next to Jia Fu stood a red-haired elderly man along with a red-haired young man, seeming to have arrived around the same time. Fang Yuan naturally immediately recognized Gu Yue Chi Yan and Chi Lian, and it only confirmed his thought that the Chi family was doing some special business with Jia Fu.

In the matter of the fake Black Boar Gu, Jia Fu quickly settled the dispute, offering the scammed Gu Master a compensation of double of what he spent.

"Hmph!" Jia Jin Sheng's expression was ugly as he stomped on the ground and walked into the tent. Next he walked out from the back of the tent.

Fang Yuan observed Jia Jin Sheng silently.

Meanwhile Chi Yan also had already found Fang Yuan in the crowd. He excused himself from Chi Lian and went to grab a drink in the mushroom tavern.

At that time the tavern was incredibly crowded and people even drank outside.

Jia Jin Sheng was already sitting at one of the tables, shouting loudly as he drank. Because he was so angry and depressed, and the tavern was so crowded, he didn't even notice Chi Yan.

Inside the tavern Chi Yan did nothing but drink by himself, while Fang Yuan approached Jia Jin Sheng and the two talked together. 

When Chi Yan noticed that Jia Jin Sheng and Fang Yuan left together, Chi Yan left soon after. However, he did not follow them, but after checking in which directions they were leaving in, he went straight back home.