The Prodigal Son

Xi Ya took the paper and saw that it was covered with dense writing.

Xi Ya only glanced at it briefly before her pupils suddenly dilated.

Grain: 30 million shi (a unit of dry measure).

Thirty million taels of silver.

Three million bolts of cloth...

The cession of Gongzhou, the reduction of tariffs, the opening of new ports, and the construction of an official market outside Yuwang Pass...

Xi Ya knew the rules of negotiation.

Asking for an exorbitant price, then haggling on the spot!

Both sides are playing their respective games, striving to gain more benefits for themselves.

Even so, his blood pressure still soared when he saw the conditions Qin Yu proposed.

This is no longer just asking for an exorbitant price!

This is clearly an attempt to completely hollow out the State of Chu!

Why didn't Qin Yu just have the entire state of Chu surrender to Ning?

Even if they only agreed to 10% of the supplies Qin Yu demanded, it still exceeded their bottom line.

But Qin Yu certainly wouldn't only get them to agree to 10%!

Xi Ya handed the paper to the others for review, his expression grim as he asked, "Lord Song, isn't your country showing far too little sincerity?"

All the supplies start with the number "three"!

These conditions were clearly written without any careful consideration and were just scribbled down randomly!

There is absolutely no sincerity involved!

You could even say they were playing a trick on them!

Song Xian shook his head and smiled, "If we weren't sincere, we wouldn't have come all this way to sit down and negotiate with you all."

"But I see no sincerity whatsoever in the conditions you have proposed!"

Xi Ya suddenly raised his voice, "I have no intention of even negotiating the conditions proposed by your country! I hope that all of Lord Qin's conditions will be null and void, and that we can renegotiate the terms right here!"

"I can't make that decision!" Song Xian said helplessly. "As you know, Lord Qin is the mastermind, and we two are just his deputies."

Xi Ya stood up abruptly. "Since neither of you can make the decision, let's wait until Lord Qin returns before discussing it further!"

"Alright!"

Song Xian remained calm and said with a smile, "Lord Qin wrote that if the Junior Tutor wants to wait until he returns to discuss this further, we can take you all for a stroll in the city first, so you won't get too bored while waiting."

"good!"

Xi Ya agreed, "We've come all this way, let's rest first, and we'll explore tomorrow!"

He knew Qin Yu wanted to wear them down, but he wasn't afraid.

Of course, they must not show any fear!

Otherwise, they would inevitably be at a complete disadvantage in negotiations.

Although they are currently the ones demanding negotiations from Ningguo, they cannot afford to be too disadvantaged.

Otherwise, they will inevitably have to pay a price far exceeding their bottom line.

"It will be all right."

Song Xian smiled nonchalantly, "We've already arranged a courtyard for you. I'll take you there!"

As he spoke, Song Xian also stood up.

Led by Song Xian, they soon arrived at a side courtyard in the mansion.

The moment Xi Ya stepped into the courtyard, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.

This is on the territory of the State of Chu!

Now, they still need Ningren to arrange a courtyard for them.

Isn't this a kind of irony?

As soon as Song Xian and the others left, a group of people gathered around Xi Ya.

"Grand Tutor, this Qin Yu is simply insane!"

"How could someone who isn't insane offer such conditions?"

"I think Qin Yu is just asking for an exorbitant price, waiting for us to haggle!"

"I reckon Qin Yu is most likely in Yuechi, deliberately avoiding the negotiations to put pressure on us..."

The crowd chattered amongst themselves, each face contorted with anger.

The conditions Qin Yu offered were simply outrageous!

Judging from these conditions alone, it seems that Qin Yu has no intention of having a proper talk with them.

"Alright, that's enough!"

Xi Ya raised his hand to stop everyone. "No matter what conditions Qin Yu offers, we'll only negotiate according to our conditions! Our reinforcements have been arriving at Mengtang Pass one after another, and I believe Qin Yu will receive the news soon. If he wants to stall, let him stall! The longer he stalls, the more reinforcements we'll receive!"

He believed that the Empress of Ning Kingdom must also want to reach an agreement with them as soon as possible.

In this way, Ningguo could free up its resources to clean up the mess left by Minguo and drive out the Yan army that had occupied Guanzhou.

Now, it remains to be seen who will succumb to the pressure first.

Baili Yunshan thought for a moment, then frowned and said, "Qin Yu is cunning and treacherous; we still need to be wary! I have a feeling that Qin Yu might take advantage of our negotiations to launch a surprise attack on the garrison in northern Gongzhou!"

"Um."

Xi Ya nodded in agreement. "This Qin Yu is definitely not a rule-abiding person. Shi Hong will be wary of him!"

"Let's all adjust our mindset first, and talk things out as we should, without letting Qin Yu's tactics affect us!"

"Also, when you have free time, you can chat with Song Xian and Lü Si to try and find out Qin Yu's bottom line."

"You should especially talk to Lü Si more!"

They have their bottom line in negotiations, and Qin Yu certainly has his own corresponding bottom line as well.

If they could find out Qin Yu's bottom line, it would be of great help to their subsequent negotiations.

The crowd nodded slightly, but couldn't help cursing Qin Yu in their hearts.

The next morning, Song Xian and his group took Xi Ya and her entourage to stroll around the city.

Since Song Xian and his group were not familiar with Yuechi, Xue Lie assigned Yuan Dingguo to lead a group of people to act as their guides.

They didn't have a specific destination; they just took Xi Ya and the others around at their leisure.

However, as Xi Ya strolled around, she noticed something was amiss.

The people of Yuechi not only did not hate these Ning people, but were actually very friendly to them.

At first, they thought that these people were just afraid of Ning Jun's tyranny and dared not speak ill of them or even show any hatred.

But the longer they wandered around, the more they felt something was off.

"General Yuan!"

As they were strolling around, they suddenly heard a voice calling out to them.

Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw a vendor not far away running up to Yuan Dingguo with a few pieces of osmanthus cake in his arms, and enthusiastically offering them to him.

"What are you doing?"

Yuan Dingguo looked at the vendor with a puzzled expression.

The vendor, beaming, said, "Thank you, General Yuan, for upholding justice for me. This is just a small token of my appreciation; please don't find it offensive."

"Oh, I remember now!"

Yuan Dingguo suddenly realized, "You're Liu Fu, the one whose old house was forcibly taken over by the bully Tian Laosi, right?"

"Yes, yes!"

Liu Fu bowed and scraped, looking at Yuan Dingguo with gratitude. "If it weren't for General Yuan upholding justice for me, my old house would still be occupied by Tian Laosi. I don't have anything worthwhile to offer, so please, General Yuan..."

"Okay! I'll take it!"

Yuan Dingguo readily accepted the osmanthus cake, but then took out a piece of silver from his pocket and handed it over.

"No, no!"

Liu Fu waved his hands repeatedly, saying with trepidation, "I absolutely cannot..."

"Take it!"

Yuan Dingguo stuffed the loose silver into Liu Fu's hand, saying, "Now that you've brought your old house back, it's time to get married! Meeting you is fate, consider this my wedding gift!"

"this……"

Liu Fu stood there, tears welling up in his eyes, unsure of what to say.

Yuan Dingguo patted him on the shoulder, and amidst Liu Fu's profuse thanks, he led his group away...