“Now I present to you the Root Blossoming Tea—we believe it to have been abundant two thousand years ago, a time when many ordinary mortals chased after the path of cultivation.” the Shopkeeper said and placed two items on the counter.

“We’ve gathered from our treasurer-hunter that they’ve unearthed from a long-ascended cultivator master’s cave that took in disciples. Of course, this shop has already tested its efficacy, and can verify that it acts as a potent energy source for one’s spiritual roots. ”

The first item was a white porcelain canister, decorated with blue clouds, and beside it was a scroll that looked slightly worn for tear.

The shopkeeper unfurled the scroll and motioned to the script, “The parchment contains the dosage for mortals and cultivators. While powerful enough to open weak spiritual roots, it’s also effective in nourishing already opened spiritual roots.”

Li Yang assessed the tea canister with the System and found the man’s words to be accurate. And the System showed it despite its own Charm Point Shop having a similar item. He glanced at the man, “How much for it?” If it was effective, then he would purchase it. He still had to get to his office on time..

“Let’s see, considering that you’re new to this society—I’ve never seen you before. Although from your get-go, it’s easy to assume that you have some clout in the normal human world.” the shopkeeper rubbed his chin. “One billion dollars—US Dollars would be enough.”

“Oi! That’s too expensive!” Hua Zhao spoke up behind him.

Li Yang only frowned. The shopkeeper just threw that number in the air, but he didn’t think that its actual worth was that. Even the System recognized it, but similar to how the Shopkeeper remarked it as an available thing in the past—the System didn’t see it as anything miraculous. Except this might be the only available one they had in stock.

“Are you sure that this is the only shop with this product?”

The Shopkeeper raised a brow at the CEO, “I might be the only one willing to sell such a valuable object.”

“And yet there are probably several other shops that have this, even if there’s only one other store who has the same item as you—if I were to pay a fraction of that cost they would surely still accept it.” He said. Li Yang weighed in the cost of procuring this item versus purchasing the one in the System’s Shop.

But he could still haggle here.

“The money in your world isn’t as important as you might think for a cultivator. Much less for a shop that caters to cultivators and other related individuals.” the shopkeeper said. “It’s a shame, because we might be the only shop who still accepts human currency. Others only accept jade slips and other valuable items for a cultivator.”

Shen An Na appeared beside the CEO and placed her hands on the counter, she leaned up to the man. “You do know that you’re not the one who’s supposed to price these things—I want to talk to your boss. Surely that snake is still here.”

The shopkeeper’s gaze flickered momentarily to the young woman, a grin momentarily crossing his lips. “Are you sure that you don’t want to talk to a manager?”

“What?”

The shopkeeper waved a hand, “I assure you, it’s something that I’ve already discussed with our boss. What kind of boss would turn down a profit? Also, he’d be hurt to hear that you called him a snake.”

“What? Did you want us to call him a devil? With that price you’re saying, one’s better off making a deal with a devil.” Hua Zhao grumbled.

“And yet we haven’t exactly heard CEO Li complain, didn’t we?”

“Didn’t I just recall you saying that you haven’t seen him before?”

“Haven’t seen him in the flesh—but surely, you’re the one who hasn’t been in the know. It’s important to know prospective clients.” the shopkeeper shrugged, he turned back to him. “You’re in the covers of those top billionaire magazines, along with your paternal family.”

Li Yang grimaced, remembering the photoshoot he had attended sometime ago, but nodded. “I did not expect you to read such things when you’ve claimed not to be interested in the ordinary man’s dealings.” He felt more like an observer now than the one actually buying—but at least it gave him details regarding how these people have already interacted before.

Despite all the inconsistencies in the shopkeeper’s words, the man only bowed. “There is a reason for us to still accept human currency, I’m not some ascetic monk and neither is my boss.” He looked up and gave a friendly grin.

“Then you know how questionable it will be if I were to withdraw that amount.”

“We’ll accept non-liquid assets as well. How about shares to your company? I mean we could do installments of payment too. Yuan’s shop offers wonderful payment options for our customers—and all you need is to sign a contract.”

“You know what, we’re leaving—we’ll find some other shop for this tea.” Shen An Na frowned. “I would have thought that he would be more willing to help, but greed has once again made you people like this.”

“He wouldn’t be the lord of this market if he did things out of charity. Besides, doesn’t this seem like an urgent matter? Let him stick with his qi condition too long and some damage might be irreversible to his meridians and body.”

“I have something that could match the value of this Root Blossoming Tea.” Li Yang suddenly spoke up. After weighing things, this was a feasible solution to his problem. He smiled at Shen An Na, “Thank you for your concern, but I cannot waste my time to look for another shop when the product is right in front of me.”

“The value of the item that you have on hand—I think it’s only fair that I would assess it.” The shopkeeper’s face turned serious for a moment. “Although I’m not sure how you would procure an item of value.”

“It’s how I ended up in this situation in the first place.”

The Panda creature’s eyes bulged for a moment, finally paying attention from the Dragon Lantern that it was lounging in from. It noticed the confidence in the man’s tone and then the profound look in the man’s eyes. “Oi, are you going to—”

[ Thank You For Your Purchase! ]

A notification ding erupted in the room, but only Li Yang and the Panda heard it. To the eyes of the three people besides them, something magically appeared in the man’s hands. It was faster than what any spatial ring could have brought out, and even then, there was no such thing on the CEO’s person.

“Assess its worth, I’ll cover the rest with cash or credit. But I have reason to believe that this is a valuable item, possibly even worth more than the Root Blossoming Tea. Except, it can’t solve my problems, but it might prove useful for someone else.”

—-—-

Author Note: Guess the product that he purchased from the System’s Shop?

Also, to address some questions on Li Yang’s psyche. Let us turn to the all-human weakness called cognitive dissonance. Now what the heck is that? It’s the disconnect, where one’s values, beliefs, or ideas are in conflict with one’s actions and behaviors. It’s like me promising to sleep at 10pm in the evening but then I’m still awake at 3am scrolling through memes at 9gag or reddit. So despite him being a CEO, where in most Romance Stories, the man is the epitome of all things good and is possibly the perfect man for a ravishing Power Fantasy in Male Lead Stories. He’s susceptible to flaws and errors in judgement.

There’s also the fact that it’s difficult to write a protagonist smarter than the author. How does one write a genius if you yourself aren’t a genius? I can’t make the other characters dumb just to make the MC shine. I won’t make the others weak, just to make him look strong. So if you do have any suggestions on the course of his actions, what’s a reasonable course of his thinking if you were in his shoes and had grown up as a “spare” for his family, leave a comment. It’ll be good feedback. Thank you!

PS. But yes, I’m also outlining scenes where he does have sex. This story is a recipe for disaster lol x.x I still question why I wrote it, but it’s probably because I’m not a CEO with unlimited money and I wanted to win the uh, Amazon Gift Card prize last December. I’m semi-afraid that HB_Keze’s prediction in his review might be accurate, except for me writing 1500 Chapters pfft. (Also dang, now you understand why I try not to write Author’s Notes previously… they get absurdly long)