Chapter 244

At dawn, as the market is dismantled, Xiao Die reports to Shang Xin Ci that Fang Yuan has traded away nearly every borrowed good, and that among what he now holds are three cartloads of Jinzan grass, a plant Xiao Die, Zhang Zhu and Shang Xin Ci each call worthless to sell. Zhang Zhu backs her, urging Shang Xin Ci to cut their losses now that Fang Yuan has shown what he can do. Shang Xin Ci hesitates, unsettled at how much of a loss so much unsellable grass represents. ^{ch. 244}

A sweating rank two Gu Master arrives as the Jin clan leader’s personal guard. He explains, politely but firmly, that the clan leader’s own son secretly dug up and sold his father’s prized Jinzan grass, that the son now sits confined for it, and that the clan leader wishes to buy the grass back. Shang Xin Ci agrees at once to return every stem and calls Fang Yuan over to handle it. ^{ch. 244}

The guard opens at three thousand primeval stones; Fang Yuan refuses, calling it insincere. The guard raises the offer to five thousand and then, growing angry, threatens to accuse Fang Yuan of stealing the grass outright. Zhang Zhu urges Fang Yuan to just sell, but Fang Yuan holds his ground, pointing out that other buyers hold shares of the grass too, so Jin clan cannot reclaim it all from him alone. ^{ch. 244}

The guard raises the offer again, to seven thousand, and demands Fang Yuan hand over every cart. Under pressure from Shang Xin Ci, who cannot bear the tension any longer, Fang Yuan appears to yield, then instead raises his own price to eight thousand primeval stones, offering to take the matter to the clan leader directly if the guard cannot decide. Humiliated, the guard accepts rather than escalate further; in one night, grass Fang Yuan spent less than five hundred primeval stones to buy changes hands for eight thousand. ^{ch. 244}

Zhang Zhu warns Fang Yuan never to provoke Jin clan like this again, though Fang Yuan only asks Shang Xin Ci to hold his agreed half of the profit. Watching the caravan leave from a hill, the Jin clan leader waves off an elder’s worry that Zhang clan already knew the grass’s true value, reasoning that a real threat would have demanded all of it rather than settle for eight thousand primeval stones. He orders Gu Masters to trail the caravan out of Jin clan’s territory and kill on sight anyone who tries to reach Huang clan. ^{ch. 244}