The target he had chosen was a young man in black standing further back in the queue.
The young man in black cut an imposing figure — straight-backed, dignified, clearly no ordinary person. What struck him as oddly out of place was the small pushcart sitting at the young man's feet, utterly at odds with his bearing.
"Friend, looking for a book? Just bought it from Wanwen Bookhouse — guaranteed genuine."
He sidled up in front of the young man, cast a careful glance around to make sure no Millelith were nearby, then flipped open his coat and flashed the copy of 5 Centimeters Per Second hidden underneath, speaking in a furtive, conspiratorial tone.
"Oh?"
Zhongli's brow lifted ever so slightly.
"What do you say? Two hundred Mora a copy."
The skinny man watched the young man's expression and felt a flicker of interest there. The corner of his mouth curved upward.
This young man was dressed in expensive, finely tailored clothes, carrying himself with an air that screamed old money. A man who clearly had no shortage of it.
The list price was eighty Mora. But this young man had "rich fool" written all over him — so the skinny man gritted his teeth, steeled his nerve, and quoted two hundred.
If you're not ruthless, you'll never hold your ground.
As for the final price — he'd open high, the other party would refuse, and then he'd offer a "compromise" of one hundred and fifty. Nine times out of ten, that would seal the deal.
"Two hundred Mora?" Zhongli considered for a moment, then glanced toward the fatty standing further off. "That man over there is your partner, I take it," he said evenly. "Aside from the copy you have tucked under your coat, I'll take every copy of 5 Centimeters Per Second the two of you have between you."
"A— all of them?"
The skinny man had already been startled that Zhongli hadn't haggled — but when he heard Zhongli say he'd buy the lot, his eyes went wide. "You're not going to ask how many copies I have?"
"No need."
Zhongli said calmly, "Bring the books over."
"Right away! My lord, I could tell the moment I laid eyes on you that you were a man of exceptional bearing — and sure enough, you spend like one. Just a moment, I'll go fetch the books right now."
The skinny man immediately turned and dashed, thrumming with excitement, toward the fatty who stood not far off with a burlap sack slung over his shoulder.
Between the two of them, they had a hundred copies of 5 Centimeters Per Second in total.
Cost: two thousand Mora. And that fool was willing to pay two hundred Mora a copy.
Minus the one copy he had on him, that was still ninety-nine books — one copy was a rounding error. They were looking at a clean profit of eighteen thousand Mora.
This is practically robbery.
He reached the fatty and quickly recounted what had just happened.
The fatty stood there, thunderstruck.
"Holy hell — Big Bro, you're incredible. One shot and you've cleared the whole stock."
But as they lugged the burlap sack over toward Zhongli, they noticed that a young woman had appeared behind him — someone who looked oddly familiar.
She was petite, with reddish-brown gradient hair braided into two long twin tails that reached her waist. She wore a patterned Chinese-style outfit with a long rear hem, and a hat adorned with a plum blossom.
Hmm...
Something about her...
The skinny man furrowed his brow, but the memory refused to surface.
Still — the way she looked, could she be that rich fool's daughter?
Watching the skinny man approach with the fatty in tow, Hu Tao also felt a flicker of puzzlement. That skinny man at the front looked familiar — she had the nagging sense she'd seen him somewhere before.
She furrowed her brow, racking her memory, and said to Zhongli at the same time: "Did you catch all of that? Leave the talking to me when they get here."
"The transaction is not yet complete, and no contract has been signed," Zhongli said with a nod. "I'll defer to the Director's judgment, then."
"I step away to buy breakfast for five minutes, and you nearly spend twenty thousand Mora. If Fang Qiu ever found out we blew twenty thousand just to buy a hundred copies of her book, she'd lose her mind over it."
Hu Tao shot Zhongli a look, then turned her attention forward as the two men drew near.
"Let's set aside what was just discussed and talk price again, shall we?" Hu Tao smiled pleasantly at the two of them.
"Talk price again?"
The skinny man's brow furrowed. "And how much are you offering?"
"Here's what I'll do — I'll buy your books at the original list price. But in exchange, I can reserve a prime plot of feng shui real estate for the two of you up on Wuwang Hill. Two of you, but I'll only charge one person's Mora. How does that sound? You're getting a great deal."
Hu Tao wore the expression of someone offering a tremendous favor.
"Original price?"
The skinny man's face darkened, and he was just opening his mouth to retort — when he heard Hu Tao mention "Wuwang Hill." Something clicked. His face drained of color in an instant, turning ashen white. He raised a trembling finger at her, his voice cracking with horror: "...It's you!"
"What do you mean, 'it's me'? You know me?" Hu Tao blinked, then studied the skinny man carefully. The realization hit. A slow, deeply unsettling smile crept onto her face. "Oh — it's you. No wonder you looked familiar. Well then — what do you say? Wuwang Hill duo special: buy one, get one free. The more you buy, the more you save."
Gulp.
At Hu Tao's words, the skinny man shuddered from head to toe. He swallowed reflexively, his eyes darting in every direction, face white as a sheet. "N— no need. Keep your money too. Consider these books a gift. We've got somewhere to be — we'll be on our way."
With that, he shot a meaningful look at the fatty, spun around, and bolted — gone in the blink of an eye.
Not only did Hu Tao and Zhongli stand rooted to the spot, but the fatty himself stared blankly for a long moment before his brain caught up. He dropped the burlap sack where it stood and sprinted off after his boss.
"So... Director, you know that man?"
Zhongli asked.
"More or less. He's with the Treasure Hoarders. I ran into him and someone else once when I was conducting a funeral service late at night up at Wuwang Hill — we had a minor run-in." Hu Tao thought for a moment. "Though I really don't know why he ran off like that. I was actually hoping to pitch him one of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's service packages. Treasure Hoarders and Adventurers' Guild members alike — they all go poking around in dangerous places hunting for treasure — so in my books, they're all Peach-tier clients. Whatever they got up to in life, they're equals once they come to me. Because death is fair, after all. Everyone dies eventually. Isn't that right, Zhongli?"
"Profound words, Director."
Zhongli said no more, simply smiled.
"Still — that pair really do have the nerve of field mice. Abandoned the books and everything."
Hu Tao shook her head.
"Probably afraid of drawing the Millelith over," Zhongli said.
"That'd be my guess too."
Hu Tao nodded in agreement, then glanced down at the burlap sack sitting at her feet. Her eyes glimmered with a little gleam of inspiration. "Well — since they said they were giving the books to us, then the books are ours. Can't let their generosity go to waste. How about this: we take half and distribute them to the novel fans standing in line here, and bring the other half back to the funeral parlor?"
"These books were a gift to the Director. The Director may dispose of them as she sees fit."
Zhongli said evenly.
"Then here's the plan — you load half onto the pushcart and bring it back. I'll personally hand out the other half to everyone here."
A smile played at the corner of Hu Tao's mouth.
"I'll leave it to the Director, then."
Zhongli gave a nod.
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