These few together, one Big Yellow Fish.
Old Meng just glanced at them twice, gave an appraisal result, and even quoted a price.
But when he looked at those two small gold grains, each about the size of a millet grain, he held them in his hand and felt them for a good while before speaking a little uncertainly.
"Highly condensed Divine Gathering, seems like it’s been refined, the essence extracted and impurities removed—eh, is that even possible?"
Old Meng muttered to himself, then snapped back to attention, his eyes lighting up.
"I’m not trying to screw you over, honestly I’ve never seen this thing before. Twenty Big Yellow Fish. If that’s overpriced, I’ll take the hit—consider it tuition money for learning something new."
Wen Yan took back the small gold grains and put them back into the evidence bag.
"Didn’t you see what’s written on this bag? This isn’t for sale."
Wen Yan didn’t plan on selling anything else either, just wanted a free appraisal.
Old Meng got a little anxious.
"Don’t worry, my dealings only take gold. If you sell me something, you can store it here for now.
Later if you need anything, want any intel, just give me a call.
I’ll deduct it straight from your account, no need to trade face to face.
Super convenient.
If you think the price is too low, thirty Big Yellow Fish, one grain!"
Wen Yan quietly switched his Temporary Ability to Precision Appraisal.
Then he glanced at what he was handing over.
The ghost bone and the green-haired zombie’s fingernails, Old Meng’s offer was pretty close to the real value—seems like Old Meng just wanted to keep a bit of profit.
But when he saw the small gold grains, his eyelid twitched.
The smaller one, valued at eighty Big Yellow Fish.
The slightly bigger one, valued at a hundred Big Yellow Fish.
Wen Yan thought, what a sly dealer, no wonder Old Meng isn’t worried about contract issues, letting Wen Yan name his own price. According to his plan, even if Wen Yan went wild, he’d probably only ask for a max of eighty Big Yellow Fish.
Old Meng took all the items except for the small gold grains, but his mind was still on the two gold grains in Wen Yan’s hand.
"I’ll add twenty more, that’s my final offer."
"Forget it."
"Then say your price, you tell me."
Wen Yan didn’t name a price either—the thing just wasn’t for sale.
"Got anything else? I’ll identify it for free." Old Meng still wouldn’t give up, clearly still hung up on that one-of-a-kind treasure.
The small gold grains Wen Yan took out, while incredibly precious, clearly aren’t unique.
"Nope, that’s all I’ve got."
Old Meng looked a bit disappointed—either Wen Yan didn’t have the stuff, or... it didn’t need appraisal.
After all the effort, even if he couldn’t buy it, just seeing it would’ve been worth it.
Too bad, didn’t even get to see it.
Wen Yan went back inside the wall, waved the fire poker, and chanted the spell written on the newly opened path.
The little path disappeared, turning back into lawn, and the walls on either side closed up again, back to normal.
"Gotta admit, their stuff is pretty handy."
"Don’t rush off, leave me your number. If you need anything appraised, just call me—I’ll do it for free. And if you’re willing to sell, I’ll buy at a high price."
After sharing numbers, Wen Yan waved goodbye.
"I’m off, going home to sleep. Gotta work tomorrow. Old Meng, I’m not keeping you. Wan Jun, you heading home?"
"I’ll leave in a bit, I’m fine, don’t worry about me."
Wen Yan waved and left, carrying his things.
After Wen Yan left, Old Meng pulled out another fire poker, pointed it at the wall, and opened another path.
"Wan Jun, it’s been a while. Want to talk?"
Wan Jun looked at the fire poker in Old Meng’s hand, smiled, and walked out through the wall. Old Meng closed the wall back up.
"Uncle Meng, how many of those have you given away over the years? Still not out?"
"Nope. The foreigners really got me. Back then, not knowing any foreign languages messed me up. That foreigner gave me a pile of enchanted magic wands as payment—I didn’t understand a word, and every single one was enchanted with the same thing."
"Ha..." Zhuge Wanjun couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
"But I didn’t really lose out. He gave me a bunch of junk thinking I couldn’t understand, so I took one Resurrection Cross off him—he didn’t know what it was worth."
Old Meng sighed at the memory—really took a loss that time, learned a hard lesson, wasted a Resurrection Cross.
That thing, he seriously only had one.
But, whatever. Since Wen Yan has shown him things even he hasn’t seen before, there’ll be plenty more chances in the future. It’s a long road ahead.
Late at night, Old Meng rode his tricycle on the street, Zhuge Wanjun walked on the sidewalk, the two of them chatting off and on, talking about recent events.
This is really just casual talk, swapping intel without calling it business.
If everything’s about business, there’s no room for friendship.
"Honestly, I didn’t want to come to Nanwu County, but this time it was out of my control—just ended up here.
Try not to get involved in too much right now.
Especially anything concerning Changfeng Group, don’t go poking your nose in."
"I’m just a lawyer."
"As long as you know."
Old Meng paused, thinking about how Zhuge Wanjun helped out this time, so he gave her one more piece of intel.
"Also, stay away from any river, any water in the West River Water System for the time being.
There’s a piece of intel—I’m not sure, but my guess is, this year’s Nanwu County Martial Showcase might not go smoothly.
And I just got word, there’s been something strange at one of Nanwu County’s Dragon Temples.
These last couple of years, some professionals have been advancing their abilities just way too fast.
The influence has already quietly spread out. There’s apparently trouble brewing inside the Scorching Sun Department, too."
"Huh?" Zhuge Wanjun was momentarily stunned.
"You leveled up, didn’t you?"
"Yeah, just recently."
"Me too. Honestly, there’s no way I could’ve managed this before—traveling thousands of miles, from the far northeast corner to Nanwu County."
Zhuge Wanjun’s expression changed slightly.
Old Meng chuckled, picking up on what Zhuge Wanjun was thinking.
"You’re probably thinking you leveled up because you worked hard, one step at a time?
That’s not wrong, but honestly, there are loads of people just as hard working as you.
Even more people working harder, risking more than you.
So why did you level up? But they didn’t?
Because it also takes opportunity."