In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

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Xu Shi raised an eyebrow and greeted them with practiced ease.

"Oh."

Pan Ling, of course, did not object and ran over eagerly to fawn over her master.

Some things, once done the first time, can be done countless times. At first, she felt shy, but now she doesn't feel that way at all... In fact, she enjoys doing it. What's wrong with getting closer to her master?

……

On the other hand, while things are peaceful and harmonious between teacher and student, some people are having a much harder time.

"Lord Gujian, I've heard that the people have been trading that Sea God Stone lately. What's going on?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 252 I'm very well-behaved, aren't I?

Inside the palace, facing Cheng Gujian, who received her daily audience, the young Empress Dongfang Xiao curiously raised this question.

To be fair, having lived in the deep palace for so long, with a young emperor and suspicious ministers, her real power was probably not that great. Under such circumstances, apart from occasionally appearing as a mascot, she didn't care about many things.

Now that people are asking this question proactively, it's easy to see how widespread the issue of the Poseidon Stone has become.

"...How did Your Majesty find out about this?"

Cheng Gujian reacted the same way, not offering an explanation immediately, but instead asking this question.

"It was the ladies-in-waiting around me talking, and I overheard it by accident..."

Dongfang Xiao pouted and urged, muttering, "Hurry up and tell me what happened."

"Yes."

Cheng Gujian nodded and recounted the story of the Sea God Stone.

"...The first to propose acquiring the Sea God Stone was the trading post opened by Xu Shi, and other trading posts followed suit later."

He summarized it this way: "Nowadays, the entire main city is basically very active in this regard."

"That's it."

The young empress nodded thoughtfully. "From what you're saying, it was that Envoy Xu who started it... Why would he do that? Can you guess?"

"Um……"

Grand Duke Gu Jian paused for a moment.

As the de facto ruler of the royal family in a certain sense, he certainly had a deeper understanding of this matter, but after these days, he still couldn't fully figure out Xu Shi's intentions.

After defeating the sea god and obtaining a large number of sea god stones, he naturally sent people to study them as soon as possible.

However, the results were not good. As I said before, this thing is somewhat useful, but not very useful.

It's possible to directly shatter the "divine energy" inside, but doing so would require spending time and effort to remove impurities from the sea god stone and the residual energy of the sea god itself. The results would not be ideal, and it would be better than the "divine energy" veins they already possessed.

Therefore, in the end, he did not further develop it, but only kept a portion for storage, and distributed the rest as rewards, as mentioned before.

He knew that Xu Shi was no ordinary person. Could it be that they had some better way to deal with the Sea God Stone?

In his opinion, this Brother Xu was definitely not making baseless accusations, especially with such a high-profile and expensive acquisition... It's impossible to say there wasn't something fishy going on.

But after observing it for the past few days, he hasn't found any other clues. If he had to say something, it seems like they are turning it into a work of art.

The trading post did indeed display many items made from sea god stone, and Cheng Gujian also noticed that a trend of sea god stone ornaments had begun to become popular among the noble circles.

The earliest claim was that "the Poseidon Stone can nourish the abilities of the 'Chosen Ones' and prolong their lives," which was enough to excite everyone. In addition, the Poseidon Stone is indeed beautiful. Over time, regardless of whether this thing really has such effects, people began to flock to it.

Whether it's a large decorative piece or a small necklace, bracelet, or ring, according to the servants, in aristocratic circles these days, if you don't have a sea god stone on your person or in your home, you'd be embarrassed to show your face... And gradually, this trend has also begun to emerge in the common people's circles.

Sea pebbles are graded into different levels. The top-grade variety with its deep blue color is indeed unaffordable for the general public, but the lower-grade ones can still be acquired by gritting one's teeth and purchasing one or two pieces. Although the current market standard for sea pebbles is based on 100 grams, most handicrafts made from them do not require that number.

For example, a ring or necklace set with three to five grams of the lowest quality Neptune stone would only cost a dozen or a few dozen copper coins. What's so unaffordable about that?

Despite their verbal complaints about the noblemen, their actions betrayed their true intentions: they imitated their hobbies and tried to emulate them... People are vain, after all; it seemed that simply wearing the Poseidon Stone made them nobles too.

This must be Xu Shi's purpose?

Cheng Gujian could easily understand the concept of "luxury goods"... It seems that he was using this to make a profit from the price difference. The price of a finely processed Poseidon Stone would definitely be higher than the purchase price.

Is this his way of making up for the losses from the war against the Sea God? To be fair, all three sides made considerable sacrifices in the war against the Sea God, in terms of manpower and resources... As for the acquisition of the Sea God Stones, Cheng Gujian thought it was quite normal. He knew that when Xu Shi was in deep crisis, they had no time to collect spoils of war, and their inventory was far less than his or the Holy See's. Now that they were going to do this, they would naturally spend money to acquire more.

So he shared his analysis with Dongfang Xiaoting, saying, "In my opinion, that's roughly the case."

"Oh."

The little queen blinked and murmured, "This is actually quite interesting..."

Cheng Gujian agreed, acknowledging that Xu Shi's methods were indeed effective, as this was the most efficient way to maximize the benefits of the Sea God Stone so far. Not to mention, the fact that it could create such a trend in such a short time made it obvious that Xu Shi would make a fortune.

Thinking about it, he couldn't help but smile. How could he have overlooked this point? He simply reused the waste and distributed it to his subordinates, yet he still received a lot of complaints behind his back... Getting old.

"What is the Grand Duke's opinion on this?"

Dongfang Xiao smiled and looked at him, then asked again.

"In my opinion, this is not a bad thing."

After a moment's thought, Cheng Gujian said seriously, "Xu Shi's actions did indeed bring profits to their city-states, but in the end, the empire as a whole also gained more gold and silver for circulation."

"I am thinking that since this is the case, we might as well follow suit and purchase and process the sea god stone in the name of the royal family. Only in this way can we truly enrich the national treasury."

That's the logic. No matter how much money Xu Shi invests in acquiring Poseidon Stone, it's essentially for his own profit. This is definitely not a good thing in the long run. It would be better for them to do it themselves and keep the profits within the family.

As for how to do it, if I can't figure it out, I can learn. The empire isn't without artisans; they might even create better ornaments. Besides, for the people of the Hualan Empire, the existence of the royal family is always more reassuring than that of outsiders.

"Do we still need to make acquisitions?"

The young empress tilted her head. "Duke, didn't you tell me that you brought back a lot of sea god stones from this voyage?"

"This one……"

Cheng Gujian rubbed his nose. He had brought back a lot, but he had also sent out quite a few before. Otherwise, where would so many goods come from on the market?

Now we can only try to recover little by little, but it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost.

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

He cupped his hands in greeting.

"It's alright, I forgive you!"

Dongfang Xiao pursed his lips and waved his hand indifferently, "Just go and do it. Issue my decree that you immediately arrange for people to be in charge of this matter... Oh, right, I forgot to ask what the Holy See's attitude is towards this matter?"

"Your Majesty, they don't seem to be paying much attention either, but given the current situation, I imagine the Holy See will certainly not miss out."

Having dealt with the Vatican for so many years, Cheng Gujian was quite certain of this. The matter was already out in the open, and if you could imagine it, they could also... Maybe the Vatican had an even greater advantage. They hadn't released as many Sea God Stones as he had, and they had even more in stock.

If they were to participate, the items might sell even better—the Vatican itself has many symbolic totems and symbols; they could simply create a version with the Neptune Stone, place it in the church, and tell the believers that it was blessed by God.

Given their nature, they'll probably just say "give whatever you feel is good," but for believers, they'd be happy to pay several times the price... The Vatican has been making money this way for years, and it's always worked.

Looking at it this way, their advantages are indeed greater, so we need to seize the opportunity even more.

"Then I will take my leave first."

Cheng Gujian dared not delay and got up to leave—he had the privilege of being given a seat, and he had been sitting and talking with Dongfang Xiao the whole time, a treatment that others could not enjoy.

"Yes, I trust you to handle it."

The young empress didn't try to keep him, but after thinking for a moment, she still asked, "Speaking of which, where is Xu Shiren? He was a hero in the fight against the sea god, so we should thank him."

Although there wasn't much publicity on the surface, it was just the two of them here. Dongfang Xiao also spoke frankly: if they were to cooperate again in the future, they couldn't just keep leaving the other person hanging.

"He should be recuperating on Silver Pine Island."

Cheng Gujian replied, "Your Majesty, they have always had a good relationship with Silver Pine Island."

"Oh."

Dongfang Xiao nodded slightly. "Then convey my message: let him recover from his injuries first. Whenever he returns, he should come to the palace, where I will personally receive him. Isn't that sufficient courtesy?"

"Yes."

Cheng Gujian replied that although it wouldn't matter if he went to "comfort" Xu Shi himself, since Dongfang Xiao had this intention, he couldn't stop her—not to mention that she was the Empress after all, and if she came forward, it would better show that she valued it.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Your Excellency."

Dongfang Xiao smiled, then instructed, "And another thing, you keep talking about the Sea God Stone, but I don't have a decent piece of jewelry yet. Can you get me one?"

As she spoke, she beckoned to her servants, who brought over several pieces of top-quality Poseidon Stone. "Here, can you perform that? You know, that one... right?"

"As ordered."

Cheng Gujian understood immediately. With a flick of his finger, he sculpted it into a lifelike little bird in an instant. "Please accept this, Your Majesty."

"Okay."

Dongfang Xiao smiled happily and clapped her hands repeatedly, saying, "You've been good to me since I was little, and you do whatever I say."

"Your Majesty flatters me; this is the duty of a subject."

Cheng Gujian smiled and said, "Then I shall take my leave."

"go Go."

The little queen held the bird with obvious affection, and said casually.

But shortly after Cheng Gujian left, the joy in her eyes vanished.

Instead, it was replaced by extreme malice.

Looking at the bird sculpture again, Dongfang Xiao just sneered, then squeezed it hard, and with a bang, fragments flew everywhere.

"His Majesty!"

The female official behind him exclaimed in surprise and rushed forward, saying, "You're injured... Oh dear, your hands are covered in blood..."

"It doesn't matter."