Chapter 416: The Unscrupulous Merchant
"Old men and young men, all the bosses! The "Martial Arts Competition for Invitations" at the foot of Huashan Mountain has closed down. Now, if you want to get an invitation to the martial arts conference, I am the only one. Therefore, don't miss it if you pass by. Although the invitation to the martial arts conference is not a rare treasure, it is definitely a priceless and popular commodity before the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. As the saying goes, 'Opportunities are rare and time will never come again'. Every invitation sold is one less. If you want to witness the heroes of the martial arts conference with your own eyes, please pay for the invitation quickly to avoid regrets."

Qin Ku was born with the face of a profiteer, and his words and actions fully revealed his slick, greedy nature.

He spoke so eloquently and logically in just a few words that the people who had originally been dismissive gradually became shaken.

Seeing everyone whispering and hesitant, Qin Ku urged them again, "Everyone, the Wulin Conference is a once-in-a-century event. How many centuries do people have to live in this world? We are lucky to catch up with it once in our lifetime. Maybe after this one, we have to wait for another hundred or more decades. As a person in the martial arts world, if you can't participate in the Wulin Conference, you will die with regrets. A mere one thousand taels is not a piece of cake for everyone here. Money is just a thing, but you only have one chance..."

"You are such a smooth talker, you are so exaggerated, but who knows whether the invitation in your hand is real or fake?"

As soon as these words were spoken, they were immediately echoed by everyone.

"Isn't it easy to verify the authenticity?" Qin Ku said with a playful smile, "Among the people present, there must be those who are good at 'fighting to win the invitation'. Let them take out the invitation and compare it with the one in my hand. It will be clear at a glance whether it is real or fake."

"What if your invitation is real or fake?"

"As long as someone buys it, I can let you check it one by one."

"But……"

"Brother, I'm telling you." Without waiting for the man to ask again, Qin Ku suddenly put the invitation into his arms and said jokingly, "Look at your shifty eyes and your natural poor look. I can tell at a glance that you are penniless. I beg you, if you don't have money, don't ask so many nonsense questions. I don't have time to chat with you."

"Ha ha……"

Qin Ku's teasing immediately caused a burst of laughter.

Seeing this, Liu Xunyi, who was sitting in the crowd, couldn't help but sigh secretly: "Brother Qin is still the same as before, liking to make jokes. Can't tell which one is true and which one is false?"

"boom!"

The man was ridiculed by Qin Ku in public, and he became angry and slammed the table, shouting: "Fatty, stop looking down on others!"

"That's right! I was born with a pair of dog eyes, and I just like to look down on others. Can you bite me?" Qin Ku pretended to be provocative and teased, "If you have the guts, take out real gold and silver to show everyone. Who can't brag?"

Forced by the current situation, the man didn't want to be known as a petty person, so his face darkened and he asked, "I can give you one thousand taels, but what if your invitation is fake?"

"If it's fake, I'll compensate you 10,000 taels!" Qin Ku promised solemnly.

"It's more than ten thousand taels. You have to apologize to me!"

After that, the man took out a stack of silver bills from his arms, waved his hand and threw them at Qin Ku, saying contemptuously: "Each bill is one hundred taels, open your dog eyes and count them clearly."

Qin Ku was blinded by money. After receiving the banknote, he no longer cared about the humiliation of the man. He carefully checked it, and then put on a fawning look, stuffed the banknote into his arms, and responded repeatedly: "One thousand taels, not a penny less. Sir, you are generous, I admire you."

Seeing Qin Ku's cunning look of "money makes the boss", Ling Qing muttered in a low voice: "This person is born with a dog face, he changes at any time, and has no self-respect."

In response, Liu Xunyi just smiled and didn't say anything.

"Stop talking nonsense! Bring me the invitation!"

"Easy to say! Easy to say!"

At this moment, Qin Ku didn't care about the man's arrogant attitude at all. He handed an invitation to the man with a smile on his face and said, "Sir, please check it carefully. Business requires 'payment and goods are clear'. The goods have been sold and cannot be returned after the time limit."

Hearing this, everyone cast their curious eyes towards the invitation in that person's hand.

"Which friend is willing to take out his invitation card and compare it with mine?"

"Use mine!"

A tall and sturdy man agreed, quickly took out the invitation, and walked up to the man in two or three steps. At the same time, a group of curious people rushed over and surrounded them.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the two invitations were placed side by side, and pairs of eyes carefully compared every detail of the two.

However, after looking at it carefully, there is no difference between the two invitations.

"How is it?" Qin Ku said confidently, "What is real cannot be fake, and what is fake cannot be real. The invitation is from the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest chamber of commerce in the world. Even the tens of thousands of silver bills are made unique. How could anyone forge this invitation?"

"That makes sense!" Seeing that the invitation was real, everyone's uneasy hearts gradually relaxed.

Although they were curious about why Qin Ku had so many invitations, they all knew some rules in the martial arts world and would not ask any questions that they shouldn't ask.

Suddenly, a handsome young man in brocade clothes asked in a loud voice: "Excuse me, sir, how many invitations do you have in your hand?"

"Not many, just twenty or thirty." Qin Ku raised his eyebrows and asked, "What do you think?"

"I'll assume you have thirty." The fair-faced young man gently closed the paper fan in his hand and said proudly, "One is one thousand taels, ten is ten thousand taels, and thirty is thirty thousand taels."

Before he finished speaking, he had already taken out a thick stack of banknotes from his pocket and said with a faint smile: "These banknotes are more than enough. I want all the invitations in your hand!"

"hiss!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone gasped and looked surprised. They were not surprised at the handsome man's lavish spending, but were dissatisfied with his arrogance.

After all, the invitation to the martial arts conference is a rare treasure for everyone in the martial arts world. This person took advantage of his wealth to do whatever he wanted and monopolized the invitations. How could he not attract criticism?
"This friend is really generous." Qin Ku did not flatter or get excited when facing the handsome young man who spent money like water. He just kept shaking his head and said, "But you calculated the account wrong."

"Oh?" the fair-faced young man asked with interest, "What's wrong with clearly marking the price?"

"It's true that the price is clearly marked, but it's only for one ticket." Qin Ku said jokingly, "One ticket is one thousand, but the second ticket is not one thousand, not to mention that you want thirty tickets at once?"

"What do you mean?" The fair-faced young man was a little confused and hesitated, "How much is the second one? How much is the thirtieth one?"

"The first one is one thousand, and the second one..." Qin Ku smiled and stretched out a carrot-like thick finger, and said with a silly smile, "I want ten thousand taels."

"What?" When these words were spoken, everyone was amazed.

"The second one is ten thousand, the third one is a hundred thousand, the fourth one is a million..." Qin Ku said self-deprecatingly while counting on his fingers, "Don't worry about your laughter, I'm not good at math and I really can't figure out the price of the thirty pieces. Hehe... But no matter what the price is, I'm afraid this friend can't afford it."

After saying that, Qin Ku's face changed, and he hurriedly explained: "Don't get me wrong, what I mean is that even Shen Dongshan, the richest man in Song Dynasty, can't afford the price, so you probably can't afford it either."

"How can this be possible!" the white-faced young man said angrily, "How can you do business like this in the world?"

"If the price is not like this, you spend 30,000 taels to buy all the invitations, and then resell them for 100,000 taels each. Wouldn't that be a huge profit?" Qin Ku pouted and said, "I only like to take advantage of others, but I don't like others to take advantage of me."

Although Qin Ku's explanation was very far-fetched, everyone was not stupid and they all understood his "good intentions" and smiled knowingly.

"If you really want to attend the martial arts conference, one invitation is enough, you don't need thirty." Qin smiled bitterly, "If you are interested, just take the one thousand taels."

Seeing that Qin Kusui was actually a kind person with a good heart, everyone gradually let down their guard and started bargaining with him.

"Can it be cheaper?"

"How dare you bargain for a few cents' profit?
"I don't have that much cash on me, can I owe you money first?"

"Sorry, sorry! It's a small business, no credit."

"I want one!"

"okay!"

"I want one too!"

"no problem!"

……

Qin Ku is very good at dealing with people. He can handle the chatter of dozens of people at the same time with just one mouth.

In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, all the invitations in Qin Ku's hand had been snatched away. Instead, there were bulging banknotes in his arms, as if he had made a fortune.

"No more! No more!"

Amidst the complaints, Qin Ku kept waving his hands and yelled, "Don't worry, everyone. Although today's thirty invitations are sold out, there will be more tomorrow. Everyone go back and collect enough money and come back tomorrow!"

"it is good!"

Qin Ku gave everyone a reassurance, which immediately caused cheers.

"This fat guy is smart. He knows how to take things slow and steady."

Looking at Qin Ku, who was surrounded by people like a star, Ling Qing said jokingly: "If word spreads from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred, I wonder how many people will flock to the Seven Stars Building tomorrow. Maybe the price of the invitation will double."

Qin Ku, who was making a fortune every day, was grinning from ear to ear. He squeezed out of the crowd with a satisfied look on his face, holding his arms full of banknotes and silver ingots, and walked upstairs leisurely, humming a little tune.

Because the Seven Star Tower was crowded with people and noisy, Qin Ku didn't notice Liu Xunyi's presence at all.

It was not until the enthusiastic Qin Ku walked past Liu Xunyi that a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar reached his ears.

"Brother Qin, I treated you to a drink when you were poor. Now that you are rich tonight, can you treat me to a drink?"

Hearing this, Qin Ku was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously held the gold and silver in his arms tighter. At the same time, his pair of green bean eyes quickly glanced to the side.

But seeing Liu Xunyi's cheerful face and happy smile, Qin Ku's eyes changed slightly. Then, a touch of excitement of reunion after a long separation quickly filled his huge face.

"Liu Xunyi, I finally found you!"

……

(End of this chapter)