The Demonic World I designed-Chapter 752 - 743: Investigating the Southern Sea

"Now that you mention it... there does seem to be something."

Murong Yunji also stood up, gazing ahead inexplicably. As their ship neared the port, she too began to feel it, that peculiar sensation, like when she was a child and saw a spider with a bubble-like rear end crawling before her eyes, making her skin crawl uncontrollably.

Since becoming powerful, Murong Yunji seldom encountered this feeling, that inherent sense of fear.

"What on earth is it?"

"I don’t know... let’s just watch for now," Ao Zhen glanced at Murong Yunji, satisfied with her level of vigilance. Facing this position of fear, she adjusted quite well, remaining calm, even her breathing didn’t falter.

As the ship docked, Wei Gongzhan led the way, while the person in charge of the cargo followed suit, disembarking to unload the goods, with the two of them masquerading as ladies from their boudoirs, remaining unseen in the cabin.

"It’s been a long time since we’ve seen goods from Jiangnan."

A gentle voice sounded. Wei Gongzhan looked over and recognized the person in flashy attire immediately.

Chen Zhuo, the third legitimate son of Chen Baifeng by his first wife. Unfortunately, his mother seemed to have been played a cruel joke by fate. She gave birth to boy after boy, none of whom had a trace of magician talents. The first two sons were somewhat acceptable, with at least a smidgen of talent that could be bolstered with resources to eventually become magicians, like Chen Yun who, lacking as he was, became a semblance of a Dragon Vein Sorcerer after substantial resources were poured into him.

But the man in front of him was different, with absolutely no hint of magical talent. Even the domineering first wife couldn’t justify further wasting resources on this third son, and, following family tradition, he began to handle the Chen Family business.

However, due to his mother’s status and forceful personality, Chen Zhuo’s place was somewhat exceptional, and even in business dealings, no one dared openly slight him.

Wei Gongzhan kept a neutral expression and hastily said with a jovial tone, "Ah, my lord, you don’t know the half of it. Recently, the prices in Jiangnan have soared quite a bit, and many peddlers can’t find satisfactory prices, so they’re holding back."

Recognizing someone didn’t mean they recognized him. Without magical talent, the man’s memory was unlikely to be as sharp as that of a sorcerer. Wei Gongzhan, a relatively minor figure, wouldn’t be on his radar, especially considering that back in Capital City, the two had never interacted with one another, having met only occasionally at the Weichi Residence.

"I’ve heard about that," Chen Zhuo replied with a smile and a nod. "Then your boss is impressive, eh? Now all the merchants in Jiangnan are at a standoff with the locals, and you’ve actually managed to get your hands on cheap goods?"

Wei Gongzhan instantly picked up the probing tone in the other’s voice.

The recent inflation among the locals in Jiangnan was genuine, the main reason being the exorbitant profits peddlers made by selling Jiangnan goods for more than ten times their original cost out of the region. Such profits led to dissatisfaction among the producers.

Because of high demand and prices, yet the purchasing price remained low, most people felt discontent, prompting collective price hikes at the end of the year.

The officials seemed to encourage this situation, causing headaches for many merchant alliances that didn’t want to forfeit such profits, as once this trend started, future producers might continue the same tactic, undermining their foundation.

Hence, all major merchant alliances issued a ban on overpriced purchases, combating the local producers.

Typical merchants also dared not buy in, for a simple reason: as ships improved and became more capable, everyone either relied on merchant alliances’ large vessels by paying a certain commission or partnered to buy ships, all standing together. Naturally, no one dared to break away from the consensus at this time for small profits; otherwise, they risked isolation, which would make many future deals difficult to conduct.

That’s why for two full months, Jiangnan hadn’t been exporting new merchandise.

By asking such a question, Chen Zhuo was clearly scrutinizing the background of Wei Gongzhan’s ship.

Thinking this, Wei Gongzhan chuckled heartily and said, "Our boss helped a lot of folks back in the day. Though most people are profit-minded, our boss still commands some respect. It’s not too hard to collect some goods in the countryside. Of course, we mostly have wine, food, and such. Rural farmers are easier to deal with. High-end goods like Warm Jade are tough, as those produced by academies’ masters aren’t so easily persuaded."

Chen Zhuo burst out laughing at this. "Being able to bring in some wine and tea is already great. We’re just worrying about not having fine things to serve at the family festival banquet. How much do you have on this ship? I’ll take it all!"

"My goodness, the young master is so generous! This really saves us a lot of time, hehe. Please wait a moment, young master; we’ll unload the goods for you right away."

"Mm... make it quick," Chen Zhuo said with a smile. "We’ll unload the goods early, rest a bit, and grab a bite to eat before it gets dark. Then, we can consider heading back for another shipment. I’m putting the word out now, whether it’s tea, liquor, or Jiangnan’s special produce, we’ll take as much as there is!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Gongzhan felt a sinking feeling in his heart. Was the other party genuinely interested in the goods, or was this a veiled way of rushing them off?

"Alright, young master!" Wei Gongzhan replied with a laugh. "Rest assured, this is the finest merchant ship in Jiangnan at the moment. We’ll set off back home first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll write a letter to send back to the boss instructing him to bring all the goods we have to you!"

"Oh?" The other party looked at Wei Gongzhan, saying indifferently, "By the looks of it, your steward here is not planning on going back anytime soon?"

"Hehe..." Wei Gongzhan replied with a chuckle upon hearing this: "I’m accompanying the two young misses from our house to visit relatives in the province."

"Is that so?" Chen Zhuo nodded. "There aren’t many who come all the way from Jiangnan to visit relatives here. Most use visiting relatives as an excuse to go to Jiangnan instead."

"Hahaha, young master, you jest," Wei Gongzhan responded modestly, though his face showed a touch of pride. It seemed that the other party’s praise of Jiangnan pleased him, a man from Jiangnan.

Chen Zhuo glanced at him. Nowadays, most Jiangnan people displayed this sort of demeanor when outside their home region, but he had become accustomed to it.

He nodded: "Well then, I won’t keep you any longer. Send the goods over as soon as possible. After the goods arrive, take this..." the other party produced a jade pendant, "and go directly to the Chen Residence to find Butler Lee. He will handle the subsequent matters."

"The Chen Family?" Wei Gongzhan looked initially stunned, then delightedly said, "So it’s the young master of the Chen Family, wonderful, wonderful. Rest assured, once the goods arrive, I will notify you immediately."

After Chen Zhuo left, Wei Gongzhan did not take it lightly. He made sure to follow the workers diligently until the cargo was fully unloaded before returning to his cabin.

"Who was that person you were speaking with just now?" Ao Zhen was the first to ask.

"The eldest legitimate son of the Chen Family’s main line: Chen Zhuo."

"There is something wrong with him!" Ao Zhen stated outright.

That peculiar feeling just now, if his sense wasn’t mistaken, it probably came from that man.

"Really?" Wei Gongzhan inhaled sharply at this. He, too, had felt that the young master seemed particularly sensitive to their staying here.

"Senior, did he notice you paying attention to him just now?"

"He shouldn’t have..." Ao Zhen shook his head. "Once I roughly sensed that aura, I concealed my own. Even if the Nanhai Dragon King were there, it would be impossible for him to detect me under those circumstances."

"I see..." Wei Gongzhan sighed in relief, comforted by the other’s assurance.

"But the other side seems very sensitive. What if he gets overly cautious and sends someone to investigate our claim of visiting relatives?"

"That’s not an issue," Wei Gongzhan said with a smile. "From the moment you decided to pose as peddlers, your cover identities were all set. This ship belongs to the Zhou Family, who have a distant relative in the Southern Sea. The visit was originally indeed for family matters, but it was us who replaced them last-minute. He won’t find any issues no matter how much he checks, and once we arrive at our destination, we just need to show Patriarch Zhou’s token and ask him to help cover for us."

"You’ve thought of everything..." Ao Zhen nodded, recognizing that Wei Gongcheng was right to bring him along, as his understanding of worldly rules was also better for concealing their identities.

"Senior..." Wei Gongzhan asked in a low voice. "Is there a problem not with the Nanhai Dragon Palace but with the Chen Family?"

Broaching this subject, Ao Zhen also furrowed his brows deeply. "The situation here is probably more complicated than we anticipated, and I have a premonition... that something major is about to happen here, and very soon!"

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l