Ouchi Taming the Cat, starting with the Ten Tiger Forms!

Chapter 490: Cold Talk

Ever since returning from Qianxing Pavilion, Li Xuan has not stepped out of the house, staying at home all day making ice.

Perhaps it was due to the special Yin-Yang Qi, or perhaps it was because he was truly gifted, but Li Xuan's progress in practicing Xuanhan Jin was like a leap forward.

Li Xuan can now rub his two little paws to make a piece of ice, so that Princess Ankang and Yu'er can have cold drinks every day.

It's just that this season is a little unsuitable. After all, it's already winter. Even if Li Xuan doesn't rub his paws and pours out a basin of water, it won't take long for a large area of ​​water to freeze.

"Ah Xuan, aren't you learning the ice-rubbing technique a little late?"

Princess Ankang was sitting aside reading a book and couldn't help but tease.

Li Xuan rubbed his little paws together and soon he was able to rub out a piece of ice.

At the beginning, the ice was of different shapes and had uneven edges, but Li Xuan's skills are getting better and better. Each one is round and smooth, as if it had been carefully polished.

When Princess Ankang got tired of reading, she would watch the kitten making ice for a while, which was quite interesting.

Li Xuan picked up the ice ball he had rolled out and played with it for a while. Then he threw it forward without a care in the world. With a "plop", it fell into the hot spring in front of him.

This hot spring is naturally the pond where the golden pigs are raised. Because of the presence of the golden pigs, the temperature remains warm even in winter, and wisps of hot air constantly float up from the water surface into the sky.

Apart from the golden pig, there were no other fish in the pond, and there was not a single plant either.

After all, it is difficult for other creatures to withstand the "passion" of the golden pig.

But this pond does not look monotonous. There are many strange rocks in it as decoration, which can be regarded as a big villa built for the golden pig.

This winter, the weather in Jingyang Palace was not difficult at all.

First of all, Jingyang Palace no longer lacked food and clothing, and there was an abundance of supplies.

In the past, they had to depend on a constant supply of charcoal, but now they could burn it however they wanted.

The current Jingyang Palace has a special charcoal room, which is used to store charcoal for burning in winter, and it is piled up like a small hill.

But now the three little ones have all cultivated themselves and will no longer be troubled by the severe winter cold.

At this time last year, the three little ones were still sleeping in one bed, otherwise they would be woken up by the cold in the middle of the night.

At that time, they thought every day that it would be great if they had endless charcoal to burn.

But now that they have the charcoal, they can’t use it.

Princess Ankang was sitting in the pavilion in the backyard of Jingyang Palace reading a book, while Li Xuan was lying on the fence of the pavilion playing ice-skating and throwing golden pigs. It was a harmonious scene.

It is always windy in the capital city in winter, and sometimes the cold wind feels like a knife cutting your face.

Princess Ankang's current physique does not mean she is afraid of the cold wind, but it always blows the book in her hands into disarray.

But for some reason, the pavilion in the backyard is always calm. I don’t know if it’s because the surrounding trees block the wind, or because of the Golden Pig’s hot spring.

But no matter what the reason, Princess Ankang has liked reading here since winter.

She had stayed in her room for too long in the past few years, and now she is not willing to stay in the room anymore.

Even when reading, Princess Ankang prefers to be outdoors.

Li Xuan was practicing martial arts, Princess Ankang was reading a book, and the golden pig was hit on the head with bruises.

“What a wonderful everyday life.”

Li Xuan sighed and smiled happily.

At this time, Yu'er walked in from outside, bringing someone with her.

"I have met His Highness."

Manager Shang followed Yu'er into the pavilion and bowed to Princess Ankang.

"Manager Shang, you are here."

Princess Ankang put down the book and responded with a smile.

Manager Shang smiled and nodded, then looked at Li Xuan standing aside.

Seeing Li Xuan constantly condensing ice to smash the golden pig in the pond, he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.

"Ah Xuan, why do you always pick on Golden Pig?"

Li Xuan turned his head to the side and stopped moving his hands.

Princess Ankang covered her mouth and smiled, then explained to Shang Zongguan:
"Butler Shang, Xuan said this is to help the Golden Pig exercise."

"He said that the golden pig had been lying at the bottom of the pond all day, eating and being lazy. Sooner or later, he would become so fat that the pond would be too big to hold him."

The reason Princess Ankang gave made the three of them laugh.

Only Li Xuan would come up with such a ridiculous reason to bully the golden pig.

Seeing that no one believed him, Li Xuan rolled his eyes at them and silently rubbed a bigger one.

The golden pig was knocked dizzy and felt despair when he saw this scene, and hurried to find shelter.

Seeing Li Xuan holding up an ice block bigger than himself with both hands, Manager Shang's face changed.

He didn't expect that after just a few days of not seeing each other, Li Xuan had become so proficient in the evolution of the ice attribute.

"It's worthy of the Yin-Yang Qi."

Manager Shang thought to himself and took a step forward and pressed on the ice ball raised by Li Xuan.

Before Li Xuan could throw the ice ball, it instantly disintegrated and turned into a ball of water that lost control, soaking Li Xuan through and through, turning him into a pitiful drowned cat.

In response to this, Li Xuan did not get angry, but instead looked at Manager Shang in shock.

"Ice was reversed into water?"

Manager Shang was standing behind Li Xuan, but was not splashed by the water at all.

With Manager Shang's skills, this is not difficult.

Even the water on his head poured all over Li Xuan, and even the fence under his feet was not wet at all, which shows how terrifying Manager Shang's control over his true energy is.

"Ah Xuan, do you understand?"

Manager Shang asked Li Xuan.

Li Xuan maintained the posture of a cat in the water, lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and then used the Yin-Yang Qi to dry the moisture from his body.

"Water can turn ice back into water?"

Li Xuan wrote a puzzling sentence at the end of the text.

In response, Manager Shang nodded seriously: "That's right, but there is a prerequisite. A large amount of water can turn ice back into water."

That’s right, just now, Manager Shang relied on the numerical advantage of water attributes to transform the ice ball condensed by Li Xuan back into a water ball.

According to common sense, ice, as a property derived from the variation of water, has an advantage.

But in the face of numbers, the ice attribute was unconditionally reversed into water attribute.

At that moment just now, Li Xuan actually had a feeling of being suppressed by his attributes.

"Ah Xuan, if you come, you will return."

"The power of the five elements is the same."

"You still have some practice to do."

As soon as Manager Shang arrived, he saw what Li Xuan was doing.

He condensed the ice ball to practice using the Yin-Yang Qi to evolve his ice attribute ability.

Then use the ice ball to hit the golden pig, which is to practice the control of ice attributes.

The pond where the golden pig is located is a hot spring, and the closer you are to it, the higher the temperature.

If Li Xuan wanted to hit the golden pig with an ice ball, he first had to make the temperature of the ice ball he condensed low enough, and secondly, he had to have enough control to track the golden pig.

Although the golden pig is large in size, its movements underwater are not slow at all.

But even so, the Golden Pig, who used to be able to fight back and forth with Li Xuan, can now only be hit unilaterally due to the gap in strength.

Manager Shang saw that Li Xuan's practice had reached a bottleneck and the results would only get worse, so he gave some pointers and provided a new idea for practice.

Li Xuan's comprehension was indeed very high. He understood immediately and grasped what Manager Shang meant.

"Okay, let's talk about training later."

"Ah Xuan, His Majesty has summoned me. Please come with me immediately."

As Manager Shang spoke, he picked up Li Xuan who was still thinking.

Li Xuan was still recalling the feeling when Shang Zongbutan made his move earlier, and did not hear clearly what Shang Zongbutan was saying.

Seeing that Li Xuan was lost in thought, Steward Shang obtained consent from Princess Ankang before taking Li Xuan to Ganlu Palace.

When Li Xuan came back to his senses, he found that the person in front of him had been replaced by Emperor Yongyuan, and the familiar dragon table was under his butt. "What are you thinking about?"

“So serious.”

Emperor Yongyuan was originally reviewing memorials. When he saw Li Xuan come to his senses and put down his brush, he asked with a smile.

"Hey, why am I here?"

Seeing Li Xuan's confused look, Emperor Yongyuan couldn't help but feel a little funny.

What made him laugh even more was that he, the Emperor of Daxing, actually had questions to ask Li Xuan.

"What brought me here?"

"Is something wrong?"

Li Xuan remembered that he had been here with Princess Ankang a few days ago. It had only been a few days and he was summoned again.

Thinking back to his last conversation with Emperor Yongyuan, Li Xuan couldn't help but understand what the issue was about.

"There are some problems with the speculation of antiques, and the prices can't be pushed up." Emperor Yongyuan frowned and stated his problem.

"What's going on? Were the rumors not handled properly?"

Li Xuan asked doubtfully.

He once gave General Manager Shang a brief account of the subsequent operations.

Li Xuan would not underestimate the wisdom of these political masters. They might not have the same vision as him, and their ideas might not be as novel as his.

But as long as they understand the key to the routine, these people will comprehend it faster than anyone else.

After all, politics is about people.

And people happen to be the ones who don't change much.

From ancient times to the present, putting aside the various outer shells, the desires at the core are really too monotonous.

There are only a few at most.

Whether it is the ancients or modern people, what they pursue are common, even exactly the same.

Li Xuan's tactics, in the final analysis, are nothing more than taking advantage of the weaknesses of human nature.

Regarding human nature, Li Xuan believed that Emperor Yongyuan and the chief monk had a much better understanding than he did.

"We were the ones who spread the rumor in the first place. This aspect is easy to resolve."

"More and more people are participating in the market, and more and more money is being gathered."

"But now it seems that there is a competitor entering the market."

Emperor Yongyuan closed his eyes and gently tapped his eyebrows.

"Many of our imitation products have appeared on the market, which has begun to disrupt transactions and has caused the recent price increases to decrease and even reverse."

"Under this circumstance, if I continue to guide the rise, it seems that the gains do not outweigh the losses."

Li Xuan couldn't help but show a speechless expression after hearing this.

“Is someone copying my replica antiques?”

Emperor Yongyuan nodded and smiled bitterly.

He had a similar expression when he first heard about it.

Li Xuan thought he was shameless enough, but he didn't expect that there was actually a master.

The batch of imitation antiques they had previously asked someone to make only cost a few taels of silver each. Later, as the trade became more popular, they gradually increased the cost to twenty taels of silver.

Now, the transaction price of imitation antiques is almost back to three thousand taels.

With such huge profits at stake, the emergence of imitations is not surprising.

"Are these imitations real?" Li Xuan asked curiously.

Manager Shang immediately presented two antiques that looked exactly the same.

Emperor Yongyuan introduced: "It is almost difficult to distinguish the ones on the market, and the workmanship is even better than ours."

Li Xuan took a look and found that it was true.

“Although their costs will inevitably be higher than ours, perhaps several times higher, there will be enough benefits,” Emperor Yongyuan commented.

Emperor Yongyuan was not wrong.

The group of people Li Xuan found at that time were just casually making antiques, while the other party took the trouble to imitate them.

And judging from the workmanship, the other party must be an expert in this field.

When it comes to imitating antiques, Li Xuan is a complete layman, and he can't tell which of the two antiques in front of him was made by them.

"If we continue to push up prices, we may just be doing the dirty work for others."

After Emperor Yongyuan finished speaking, he looked at Li Xuan, waiting for him to give him some advice.

Just a few days ago, Li Xuan reminded Emperor Yongyuan that someone would soon learn the rules of the game, and unexpectedly it came true.

Emperor Yongyuan's hype this time was carried out behind the scenes, and many of the means could not be brought to the surface, so he had to keep a low profile.

This means that he is unable to use all his skills.

But since we have Li Xuan as the person who proposed the plan, it doesn't have to be so troublesome.

“How many fakes are there?”

Li Xuan needed to grasp the situation first, but when he said this, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. After all, they themselves were authentic counterfeits.

Emperor Yongyuan signaled with his eyes, and Manager Shang immediately introduced the current market situation to Li Xuan.

Emperor Yongyuan's plan originally went smoothly, pushing the price all the way up to around three thousand taels.

Logically speaking, the price would have broken through the three thousand taels mark in the next few days, but due to the appearance of a large number of fakes on the market, the momentum of the price increase was absorbed.

According to a rough estimate by Manager Shang, no less than two hundred counterfeit goods enter the market for trading every day.

"Oh?"

“It’s actually quite large.”

Li Xuan immediately became interested.

"Ah Xuan, what do you think we should do next?"

Emperor Yongyuan asked for advice humbly. After all, he still relied on Li Xuan to give him advice and make money.

Li Xuan immediately spread his paws and gave Emperor Yongyuan four big words:
"Let it go."

Emperor Yongyuan and the chief monk twitched their faces at Li Xuan's answer.

Chief Steward Shang glanced at Emperor Yongyuan's expression with a hint of worry.

Obviously, Emperor Yongyuan's face was not looking good.

"Then all the money I've invested so far will be wasted, right?"

Li Xuan said seriously: "It's not much anyway."

Emperor Yongyuan's face immediately turned black.

"Well, anyway, Ankang made so much money for you before, so if you lose a little, there will be some left."

Li Xuan comforted her as if it had nothing to do with him.

Emperor Yongyuan turned around and ordered Shang Zongguan:

"Pass on my order, all male cats in the palace must be captured and cleansed!"

Li Xuan immediately stood up and raised his paw to block the impulsive Emperor Yongyuan. His expression was serious and earnest, his eyes revealed a rock-like determination, and he swung his tail and wrote at a speed that was emitting sparks:
"But I am only testing the other party. If the price does not drop rapidly, it means that the other party has a big appetite."

"You can use this as bait to lure the other party into the game."

"Then we will catch them all in one fell swoop, and not a single one will be left alive."

Li Xuan confidently clenched his claws and handed a small bunch of black bamboo to Emperor Yongyuan.

Emperor Yongyuan glanced with disdain at Li Xuan, who was completely different from before, and then reluctantly withdrew his order.

"We'll talk about the castration of the cat later."

"Follow the Holy Order!"

Manager Shang replied loudly and respectfully.

(End of this chapter)