“Don’t joke around, Qiu young master.”, he replies perfunctorily.

I smile, “We haven’t been friends for long, but I consider us to be kindred spirits.”

I pause, looking up and glancing at a courtesan flirtatiously.

He smiles, as he eyes the lady as well. It’s the famed cover lady for this establishment, Lady Yue. It’s been told that there was once a young scholar who spent all his assets just to have dinner with her. He came out of the affair with a face giddy with happiness, saying, “I regret nothing.”

She’s known for only selling her skills and nothing else. Our young master Beelze here has been trying to change that with his family’s assets for quite a while however.

After we smile at each other, my face turns serious as I stare into his eyes.

He gets my meaning, saying, “I won’t tell anyone, I swear on my family name.”

“I trust you, but…”

He beckons his servant away.

“I’ll get straight to the point. Our family needs capital for something urgently, so we’re looking to sell our recently opened shop chain.”

With a face of shock, he asks, “This… you mean Supreme Pavillion?”

I nod.

“I’ll need to discuss carefully with father on this… is it just the shops?”, he says as he hints.

I let out a sigh, answering, “Everything.”

“Everyt-”, he gasps, quickly covering his own mouth.

“You should understand the value of this. We are selling everything, including the information on the sources of our goods.”

It’s been widely known that our shop sells certain items at 20 percent below the market price. Anyone with a brain could guess that we were getting them for much lower, since a profit needed to be made. While many owners are trying to find out our sources so they could attempt to poach them etcetera, none have obtained any information regarding the matter.

Of course they haven’t, it’s all done discreetly by the Bao family previously anyway. If he doesn’t want to lose all his face in front of other merchants, he would do his best to hide this.

He tries to make a serious face, but seems unaccustomed to it, whispering to me, “Do you have authority to decide this?”

“I can’t say the reason, but father has entrusted to me the task. I can show preference to your family, but I must show results for this!”, I whisper with a face of determination.

He ponders slightly, before having a face of understanding.

“I understand. Since you’ve said this much, I must show some action here. I’ll talk to my father tonight, please visit my residence tomorrow.”

I nod seriously.

He suddenly reaches out to hold my hands, “Thank you for this chance. I can never repay this opportunity.”

I simply pat his hands with my left hand in solemness.

After we drink and chat some more, I quickly leave the place.

That went well, I like dealing with self proclaimed intellectuals. Just give them a bit to guess, and they’ll think they’ve got it all figured out. He probably thinks that this task was given to me from the Duke so he has a reason to promote me as the successor. Too bad this is simply not the case.

His father might suspect something, but people are always blinded by greed afterall. This should have at least an 80 percent chance of succeeding.

I skipped school today, it’s easier to find the Beelze young master during those hours anyway. I haven’t talked to Xun Zhou since that incident. If this were a story with me as the main character, if I ignored him, he’ll eventually disappear from the story.

Too bad that isn’t the case. I don’t want to leave any loose ends. I intend to declare my intentions properly to him. I’ll apologise for the incident.

I don’t intend to recruit him or his friends now. A practical person would most likely keep to his original investment and try again, but my pride won’t allow for that. It’s too bad that I chose to associate with his group, so it’ll be hard for me to join any other influential social group.

I’m not out of options though. Once I obtain my funds, I’ll have a good chip to gain some foothold in the class.

As I finish thinking to myself, I ask Leticia, “Did you find out more about ‘her’?”

“Yes, young master. As you’ve ordered, I’ve asked around about the female classmate who talked to you.”

“Her name’s Ming Que, and she’s the only daughter of an old minister under the chamber of finance. Her mother passed away when she was 3, leaving her to live alone with her father. Her father holds some clout in the finance ministry, but is known for being neutral.

“She entered the magic academy at the same time as you, but not much has been heard about her since she’s relatively inconspicuous and tends to not stand out. Her magic talent is seemingly average, as she remains an early 3rd rank apprentice since the last exam.”

“Hmm... Does she have any friends?”

“She seems to get along well with everyone in the class, greeting them at times. However, she doesn't associate much with any of them."

“Interesting.”, I smile to myself.