The receptionist hesitated before speaking. "Please wait a moment. May I know your name and your purpose here?" she asked Augustus, unsure of his identity. After a brief pause, an elderly man stepped out and greeted Augustus.
"I've been waiting for you, young man. I'm Wang Junjie, but you can call me Old Wang," he said, clasping his hands together in a sign of respect. Augustus bowed in return.
"It's an honor to meet you, sir." Satisfied with Augustus' politeness, Old Wang invited him to a spacious room, where tea and snacks were waiting on the table.
"Please, have a seat and enjoy some refreshments," Old Wang said with a warm smile. As Augustus sat down, he got straight to the point.
"As you know, I have thirty kilos of Venom Weed and twenty kilos of Deadly Lotus," he said.
"Yes, and we proposed a hundred dollars per gram for both of them." Old Wang nodded.
"I would have accepted your offer a few days ago, but circumstances have changed. I'm afraid it's not possible now." Augustus shook his head.
Curious, Old Wang asked, "May I know what you intend to do with those herbs, Mr. Gray?"
"That's not important. The fact is, you need them." Augustus was guarded in his response.
Old Wang's eyebrows raised in surprise when Augustus countered with, "How about two hundred dollars per gram? That's 400% above market price. That's the highest we can offer you."
Augustus had prepared for this moment. "I believe you can go much higher than that. You're making pills with it, right?"
Old Wang's face darkened with suspicion. "How did you know that? Did someone leak the information?"
Augustus was quick to respond. "Old Wang, that's not fair. You keep asking questions, but you haven't answered mine. Are you making pills with those herbs?" he repeated the question with a serious tone.
"This kid is no amateur in negotiation," Old Wang thought to himself. He had not expected someone so young to be so confident in front of him.
He had anticipated nervousness and an easily readable expression, but the young man before him was completely unreadable.
Reluctantly, Old Wang sighed. "Yes, we are. But only one person knows the method of making it. In your hands, those herbs are useless. Now, did someone leak the information to you?" Augustus shook his head.
"No, no one leaked the information. You could say I have supernatural powers, some sort of divination-related power and I just decided to buy Deadly Lotus and Venom Weed out of spite."
Old Wang's narrowed his eyes thinking Augustus was speaking nonsense as if it was real Augustus should have invested in stocks.
He wasn't sure if he could trust the young man's words, but he had to admit that the young man had guts.
Augustus' vagueness during negotiations had caught Old Wang off guard. He had expected the young man to accept his "Fair" price instantly and the business will go smoothly.
Nonetheless, Old Wang was confident he could still make a fortune out of this deal as long as the price was reasonable. "Right... so how much do you want per gram? Give us a price, and if it fits, I'll make a deal with you," he said.
But Augustus had a different plans in mind. "Old Wang, how many granddaughters and grandsons do you have?" he asked abruptly.
Old Wang was taken aback by the sudden question. "Will you answer my question if I answer yours?" he replied hesitantly.
Augustus nodded. "Yes, I will answer your question."
Old Wang sighed before answering, "I have five granddaughters and eight grandsons, all from eight different parents, but I treat them all fairly."
"That's the problem, Old Wang," Augustus responded sternly. "You treat them all fairly when it's obvious that there's one genius among them."
Old Wang was confused. Why would someone care about how he treated his grandchildren? But Augustus had a hidden motive.
This is all because Augustus knew the future of Grace Wang, the alchemy genius of the Wang Family.
Grace Wang was abandoned, treated like a slave, forced to hand over her pill refinement technique, and then thrown away once her knowledge was imparted.
She was simply a factory worker of the Wang Family, treated as an object due to her grandfather's hatred towards Grace's parents.
"I'm here to invest, not in you but in your granddaughter," Augustus declared firmly. "Let me talk to the person who makes the pills."
Old Wang was furious, thinking that Grace had leaked the information to outsiders just for this deal. He went outside and asked his attendants to bring Grace to him.
When Grace arrived, Augustus noticed the bruises on her face and suspected that she was being mistreated. She was wearing long-sleeved clothes, but Augustus could sense that there was more to it than meets the eye.
"I would like to talk to her alone," Augustus said in a low voice. "Please leave, including removing the attendants on guard, or you'll be sorry."
But Old Wang was hesitant, pointing out that Grace was too young and needed a guardian to sign the contract.
"Do not make me repeat it twice, Leave!" Augustus decided to reveal his trump card, pouring out his Qi and aura throughout the room, making them all flabbergasted by his strength.
As Old Wang stared in shock, he couldn't believe that such a young child had already reached the pinnacle of the Foundation Establishment Realm. "Whose child is this?" he muttered under his breath.
After losing his cultivation during the war, Old Wang decided to hire a bodyguard of the Golden Core Realm, just in case. But even the bodyguard's expression revealed that there was no way he could match up to the child's strength.
"That child is not only at the Pinnacle of the Foundation Establishment Realm, but he's also a one-star aura user. How is this even possible at such a young age?" the bodyguard exclaimed, his eyes bulging in disbelief.
The bodyguard knew that even though he was at the Golden Core Realm, there was no way for him to win against the child. Augustus's qi felt far more profound than his own, and the killing intent emanating from him told him that this kid was not someone to be trifled with.
Old Wang was equally stunned. "That gangster child must be a real Chen," he thought to himself. "I should have researched properly. I let down my guard, thinking that my business partner is just some youngster."
He couldn't help but wonder how Grace had managed to approach someone from the Chen Family, and moreover, such a young prodigy. But he shook off the thought, reminding himself that he was still in control of everything as Grace's guardian.
As he left the room with the bodyguard, Old Wang patted Grace and gave her a stern look. "Please have a chat with my granddaughter, Grace. Treat him respectfully and listen to his request, okay?" he said sarcastically, leaving Grace alone in the room with Augustus.
Augustus waved to her, gesturing for her to take a seat. "Let's have a talk," he said calmly.
But Grace was not convinced. "I'm sorry, but I believe my grandfather is much smarter, so it's better for you to talk to him," she said firmly, hoping to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Old Wang, who had promised to stay away and let them talk peacefully, was secretly listening in on their conversation from the other side of the room.
'Good girl, continue to act like that, and I won't punish you for today's mess,' he thought to himself.
Augustus, undeterred, spoke up once again. "I still want to talk to you because I want to invest in you."
Grace remained expressionless. "Invest in me? But my brothers and sisters are more talented than me in terms of being an alchemist," she said, unsure of why he would want to invest in her.
Augustus smiled gently. "But aren't you the one who invented the Grade 3 Pills that require cheap ingredients? Venom Weed and Deadly Lotus?"
"My big brother contributed to it too. He used it on me, and I figured out its properties by chance," she explained.
"As expected, it's not from experiments, but a live one," Augustus said sympathetically, his heart aching for Grace as he observed her dead expression and slight trembling from fear.
It was as if she was nothing but an empty doll, devoid of any emotions. He knew that whatever life she had lived in this place must have been hellish.
Determined to connect with her on a personal level, Augustus decided to forgo his usual business persona and speak to her like a normal person. "How's your day?" he asked gently.
"Good," Grace replied with emptiness in her voice.
Augustus didn't like the short response, so he prodded, "What specifically is good? Maybe you can tell me about it?"
"Making pills, trying out things..." Grace trailed off, her voice devoid of any enthusiasm.
If only Augustus knew what 'things' meant. He would be enraged.
Old Wang had been trying to feed her various poisons, hoping to discover other combinations that could create a new pill recipe after the discovery of Venom Weed and Deadly Lotus harmonious combinations.
"So, you like making pills?" Augustus asked with a sad look, remembering the time he met Grace on the battlefield during the war.
She had volunteered herself and contributed to the war effort as a doctor, mainly treating wounds and making pills for the soldiers.
"Yes," Grace replied expressionlessly.
'Liar. This is not what you said to me in your previous life,' Augustus thought to himself, slightly irritated by her response.
As Augustus contemplated his next move, he thought with the idea of forcefully taking her out of there by killing everyone.
However, he quickly dismissed the idea as it would only land him in jail. In the end, He needed Grace's cooperation to help her.
"Please, have a seat, or I will tell your grandfather that you're not listening to my words," Augustus said, using a threat to get her to comply. He knew it was the only way to get through to her since it was how she had lived her life.
Grace immediately sat down, fearing the consequences of disobeying Old Wang. Augustus breathed a sigh of relief, glad that his plan was working so far.
Meanwhile, Old Wang was gritting his teeth in anger, watching the scene unfold before him. "That bastard. Why is he using me to threaten my own granddaughter?" he seethed.
Now that Grace was seated, Augustus could finally have a "normal chat" with her.
"We will just have a normal chat while sitting. You can answer whatever you like, and I just want to get to know you better," he said, using a device that displayed messages on the table, visible only to him and Grace. Old Wang wouldn't be able to see the messages even if he tried to peek.