After walking through the streets for a while, Zhao Yunxiao's group finally halted their steps as they arrived at the gate of a rather unimpressive looking building.
It was just a single-storey building that probably occupied only around one hundred square metres in terms of total area.
Compared to the other buildings around, it was definitely much smaller in size.
"Redaxe Hall," Zhao Yunxiao read the sign on the door. "It looks like this is the place."
"This place?" Lu Zhiying could not help but reveal a look of disappointment.
Zhao Yunxiao had already briefed them on the mission details earlier.
They were supposed to renew an existing contract that was about to expire – one that stipulated the provision of lumber to the Black Tortoise Sect. The other party was a lumber company called Redaxe Hall, which was headquartered here in Moonrise City.
Since it was a company that had managed to contract with the powerful Black Tortoise Sect, Lu Zhiying had expected to be visiting the huge organisation.
That was the reason why after seeing the company's headquarters, Lu Zhiying immediately began to doubt if they were at the right place.
"The storefront might not be representative of the scale of the actual business," Zhao Yunxiao reminded. "Let's go in."
Zhao Yunxiao knocked on the door twice before pushing it open.
Perhaps because of the small size of the building, the interior was designed in quite a cosy manner.
The door opened up to a small room with a reception desk facing the door, accompanied by several stools that were neatly lined up in front.
There were landscape paintings covering the walls, fitting nicely into the theme of the company with the depiction of trees in each of them.
"Welcome," the old receptionist said monotonously upon noting their arrival. "Are you here to inquire about a new arrangement or an existing one?"
He looked to be in his seventies, with balding white hair and a slightly hunched back.
"An existing arrangement," Zhao Yunxiao casually sat on one of the stools. "We are from the Black Tortoise Sect, and are here to talk about our existing contract with the Redaxe Hall."
He decided to cut to the chase, even placing his disciple token on the desk to show the old receptionist as proof.
As expected, the old receptionist immediately revealed a look of surprise.
"Ah! Distinguished guests from the Black Tortoise Sect! Forgive me for not recognising you!" the old receptionist exclaimed. "Please wait a minute as I inform my boss of your arrival!"
The old receptionist hurriedly made his way into the back room after finishing his sentence.
Then again, he had to support himself with a walking stick to prevent his trembling legs from giving way, so his movements were still considered rather slow despite him trying his best to hurry.
Watching him like that, Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi even felt a little bad for him.
Thankfully, the person who came out with him had no such problems.
It was a slightly plump man who looked to be in his forties, with his hair tied up neatly in a topknot.
The moment he saw the group, the man immediately broke out into a huge smile.
"Greetings, distinguished young heroes! I am Hong Zi, the owner of Redaxe Hall," the man quickly introduced himself. "May I know how to address you?"
"Zhao Yunxiao."
"Gu Qiansi."
"Lu Zhiying."
"What wonderful names, fitting for such wonderful people!" Hong Zi praised. "Let's not keep standing here. Come, follow me into the back room."
Under Hong Zi's lead, the trio entered the back room that seemed to be Hong Zi's office.
As compared to the cosy environment in front, the back room was much more elaborate in design.
Animal fur rugs covered the ground, and numerous ornamental swords hung on the wall as decoration. The table was made of solid oak and polished to a shine, an obvious upgrade from the flimsy looking reception desk.
There were also long benches with seats covered with cotton, acting as a cushion of sorts.
"Please take a seat," Hong Zi led the group to the benches. "Would you like to have some tea?"
"No, we are good," Zhao Yunxiao declined while sitting down on one of the benches. "I'm not sure if your employee has already told you, but we are here to talk about the existing contract."
Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying silently sat down beside him as well.
"Ah! Yes, the contract..." Hong Zi sat on a bench facing them while letting out an awkward smile. "About that, there's something I would like to say."
"Is there something wrong?" Zhao Yunxiao asked.
"It's not that there's something terribly wrong," Hong Zi began. "How do I say this? I'm not sure if Young Hero Zhao is aware, but our business has been suffering recently due to bandit attacks in the region. This has severely disrupted the transporation of our lumber stock, causing us to incur huge losses..."
Even though the Redaxe Hall was headquartered in Moonrise City, they were still a private business by nature. And as a private business, they did not possess the authority to harvest the trees in the direct vicinity of the city.
For that reason, they had to harvest trees from regions that were slightly further away, process the trees into lumber, and then transport the finished product to their customers.
Since a large part of their operations were conducted outside of the city, this naturally made them more susceptible to bandit attacks.
"What's your point?" Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying that you no longer have sufficient stock to fulfil our contractual requirements?"
"No, no, that's not it!" Hong Zi quickly shook his head. "Even if I have to cancel other orders, I will still try my best to fulfil the requests from the Black Tortoise Sect. The only problem is that, due to the bandit activity, our costs have been skyrocketing as of late. At this rate, our Redaxe Hall might even have to operate at a loss! Because of all that, I am just wondering if the Black Tortoise Sect is open to accepting a slightly higher price...?"
"How much higher are we talking about?" Zhao Yunxiao furrowed his brows.
As part of the mission, Zhao Yunxiao had been given a maximum budget within which he could sign the new contract.
Therefore, it was not like he could accept just any amount asked of him either.
"If we want to operate on a sustainable basis, we might have to raise the price by around ten percent..." Hong Zi answered hesitantly. "Of course, if the Black Tortoise Sect is only willing to accept the same price as before, then our Redaxe Hall will still happily agree to provide lumber for the Black Tortoise Sect even if it is at a loss. After all, it is our honour to be able to serve the Black Tortoise Sect!"
Hong Zi looked visibly helpless and uncomfortable as he said that, to the point that most people would have felt bad for him upon seeing him in this state.
Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying turned to look at Zhao Yunxiao, wondering what he would do.
In the end, he was the one in charge of the mission, so he had the final call.
"I see," Zhao Yunxiao leaned back into the bench and said. "The Black Tortoise Sect is not unreasonable as well. We will not take advantage of your Redaxe Hall. However, ten percent is a little much. If it is as much as a five percent increase to the previous price, then we are still willing to make an exception and accept it out of goodwill."
In fact, a ten percent increase in price was still within the budget that had been given to him. However, Zhao Yunxiao did not want to be treated like a fool either.
While it was probably true that the Redaxe Hall's operational costs had increased due to the bandit activity in the region, who knew if they had truly increased by this much?
That was why he had directly cut the increase by half.
If the other party still looked visibly uncomfortable while accepting the offer, then he might consider increasing the price further out of sympathy.
However, the result was the complete opposite.
"Five percent higher than the previous price? That's great! We have a deal!" Hong Zi's eyes lit up in excitement. "I will get my guys to prepare the new contract immediately. It should be ready by tomorrow morning, together with the first batch of lumber!"
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
Hong Zi actually accepted it so readily?
Had he just gotten fleeced?
Should he have suggested a smaller increase in price, after all?
Unfortunately, the words had escaped his mouth, and there was no longer any room for regrets.
"S-Sure..." Zhao Yunxiao agreed reluctantly. "We will be back tomorrow morning to sign the new contract and collect the first batch of goods."
"Of course! See you again in the morning!" Hong Zi nodded happily. "Would you like to stay for some tea?"
"There's no need for that," Zhao Yunxiao declined and stood up from his seat. "We still have other things to attend to."
"Is that so? Then I will see you out," Hong Zi offered.
With that, Zhao Yunxiao's group of three promptly left the small headquarters of the Redaxe Hall.
"That was quick and easy!" Lu Zhiying remarked once they were back on the streets of Moonrise City.
"Yeah..." Zhao Yunxiao agreed.
"Are you all right?" Gu Qiansi asked with a smile. "You don't look too happy."
"Hmm?" Lu Zhiying turned to look at Zhao Yunxiao upon hearing Gu Qiansi's words. "What's wrong, Senior Martial Brother Zhao? Haven't we just completed our mission? That should be good news, shouldn't it?"
"Don't listen to Gu Qiansi. I'm not unhappy at all," Zhao Yunxiao answered before revealing an excited smile. "Anyway, we have until tomorrow before we can sign the new contract and truly complete the mission, so let's take this chance to explore the city a little!"
"All right, let's go!" Lu Zhiying cheered.
Gu Qiansi merely chuckled to herself before following along.
In fact, Gu Qiansi was right – Zhao Yunxiao was truly not in the best mood right now, and was just trying to hide it.
Even though he did not have any numbers as proof, as well as the fact that he was not even using his own money for this transaction, Zhao Yunxiao still could not help but feel that he had just been taken advantage of by the Redaxe Hall!
Having grown up with Zhao Yunxiao since they were young, Gu Qiansi naturally knew this as well.
Even though Zhao Yunxiao denied feeling that way, there was no chance that Gu Qiansi would believe him.
She knew that someone as thrifty as Zhao Yunxiao hated it whenever he lost out in any negotiation, even in this case where he did not suffer any material loss since he was not using his own money.
So, from the moment Hong Zi agreed so readily to Zhao Yunxiao's counteroffer, Gu Qiansi had expected such a reaction from him and had been trying to hold in her laughter since!