Red Rose agreed right away and sat down, patting the spot next to her for Xuefeng to sit, saying, "Alright. Young Master, sit down for a second. I will check them out and give you a satisfactory proposal."
Xuefeng was quite surprised that there were only one large sofa and a small table next to it inside the whole room. From his knowledge, there should be at least two chairs, one for a guest and one for the host. Having no other options, he sat next to her leaving a bit of a distance between them.
Red Rose didn't mind that as she was focused more on the sack of pills in her hands. She had a small plate on the table and didn't hesitate to gently spill them out. There were about twelve pills of different colours, sizes and aromas.
Xuefeng looked at them and recalled that he actually didn't ask Xiao Wen about the pills descriptions at all. He only knew that they could be bought for one high tiered Spirit Stone in the Central Region and nothing about their usage.
'Maybe I should call Xiao Wen for help? She knows this stuff.' Xuefeng thought as he watched Red Rose pick up each pill one by one and smell it, before scrapping tiny amounts with a small knife to taste each of them. He didn't know what was going on so he just stood silent and watched her.
Red Rose put down her tools after testing each pill and said, "Excellent pills. All rank 5 of perfect quality. That's quite rare in the Eastern Region," before turning towards Xuefeng, placing one leg onto another and asked, "They didn't come from here, right?"
"No, they didn't," Xuefeng replied with a smile. He wasn't intimidated by her appeal and could look in her eyes without worry.
Red Rose looked at Xuefeng interestedly and asked without mentioning the pills anymore, "May I ask what relations you have with the Tang Family?"
"Miss Rose—" Xuefeng tried to reply by was quickly corrected by Red Rose, "Why so formal. Call me Rose."
"Well, I don't mind. Rose, how about you tell me first as a host? How do you know about the Tang Family?" Xuefeng replied by asking the same question back. He didn't want to say anything about himself but her knowledge made him cautious. He was surprised that she actually knew about the Tang Family this far from the Central Region.
"Oh, I'm a no one. I just happened to visit the Central Region a while ago with my master and met a few Tang Family alchemists. The pills you have here are very similar to the ones I worked on back then." Red Rose explained honestly which made him calm down. If she was from the Tang Family, he wouldn't hesitate to leave.
"I don't have any relations with them. I just happened to have those pills from them for trade." Xuefeng thought of a convenient lie, which made Red Rose smiled and nod, "Mhmm, I understand. I really want to buy those pills. How many do you have?"
"How many you can buy?" Xuefeng replied, while secretly counting the pills in his ring. He had like a few hundred on each type so he decided to sell max one hundred of each while leaving the rest for later.
"We can buy as many as you have. We dont have a shortage of funds." Red Rose replied confidently, moving closer to him as she lifted her butt a bit to fix her dress.
"How about one hundred of each type? What about the price?" Hearing her answer, Xuefeng proposed the maximum amount he assigned for sale. He didn't know any prices here, so it was best if he had more money than he needed compared to lacking it later.
"One hundred of each type is perfect." Red Rose approved the amount before she made a pained expression and said, "As for the price, I know that in the Central Region it's one high tiered Spirit Stone for a pill and I would hate to give you this much when I know you would earn much more for them on today's auction. How about you let me put it up on the auction?"
"Well, I didn't plan to attend the auction at all. I just want to get some money, so we can eat dinner before continuing our travels." Xuefeng explained with an intention to decline kindly. After dinner, they should still have a few hours left before sunset, so he planned to use them to arrive at the border town earlier. If they flew at full speed this time, they would reach their goal momentarily.
"Oh! This is perfect then. We have a restaurant nearby which can also act as a place to stay for the clients of the Auction House. Young Master, please, how about staying for today, while having your meals and accommodation covered by us?" Red Rose exclaimed, trying to convince him to stay.
Xuefeng didn't quite understand her logic. She already knew that he didn't plan to attend the auction, so why didn't she just buy the pills from him at a low price and sell it higher at the auction? Shouldn't she be concerned about the profits?
"Don't worry. I just want to form a friendship with you and that's why I insist on your stay. Look, I will pay you one Spirit Stone per pill now, and if you decide to stay on the auction, I will still pay you the profits from the successful sale. How about it?" Red Rose proposed while giving him a warm smile.
"This proposal sounds too good to be true. Not only you will pay me more, but you will also take care of our food and accommodation. Tell me, where is the catch?" Xuefeng asked, feeling something fishy about the whole situation.
"There is no catch, other than drinking a few glasses of quality wine with me." Red Rose shrugged, admitting her real intentions with a wink.