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"Are you planning to pay me back only after you return to Persia? Ha ha, you really are amusing!" Ziyan was greatly entertained by this seemingly naive Wang Sichu.
Ziyan continued, "If I just let you go like this, once you return to Persia, you'll probably forget all about me and the matters at hand."
"No, no, miss. I always keep my word. As we say in Nanchu Kingdom, my word is as good as gold. I absolutely will not go back on my promise," Wang Sichu declared earnestly.
"Ha ha! So if I run out of funds to repair this supermarket, does that mean I should just close it down for good?" Ziyan said, her eyes suddenly flashing with cold light. "Someone come!"
"Subordinates are here!" Li Yu and Li Bing responded immediately.
"Take this kid outside and chop him!" Ziyan commanded loudly, slightly raising her chin.
"Yes!" Li Yutong and Li Bing immediately moved to restrain the blue-eyed Wang Sichu.
"Wait, miss, please calm down—" Wang Sichu exclaimed, startled and trembling all over.
"If you have any last words, say them now!" Ziyan said with a cold smile.
"Miss, please don't take my name lightly. My status in Persia is that of a duke; you mustn't do this. Otherwise, my king in Persia will not stand idly by," Wang Sichu stated plainly, revealing his noble identity.
"A duke? Isn't your father from Nanchu Kingdom? How could you possibly hold such a title? Hmph! Are you trying to scare me into not doing anything to you?" Ziyan scoffed dismissively.
"No, no, my father is indeed from Nanchu Kingdom, but my mother is the first princess of Persia. The current emperor of Persia is my maternal grandfather. Do you think if I were to die unexpectedly in Nanchu Kingdom, my grandfather would just sit back and do nothing?" Wang Sichu said proudly, chest puffed out.
"Oh, I didn't expect this mixed-blood person to have such a significant background," Ziyan said sarcastically as she coldly regarded Wang Sichu, secretly analyzing the reliability of his words.
However, she realized that when she called for Li Yu and the others to take him out for execution, it was merely an attempt to intimidate him. Regardless of his noble status, he had indeed damaged his own supermarket.
Not taking his life but making him do some work for her seemed reasonable. What did it matter if he was so far away in Persia? With that thought in mind, Ziyan silently decided: she would not easily let this so-called duke off the hook.
"Li Yu, can you calculate how much loss he has caused our supermarket?" Ziyan squinted at Li Yu.
The clever Li Yu immediately understood and quickly calculated: "This morning, the supermarket manager reported that repairing the roof and walls required hiring craftsmen who demanded three thousand taels of Silver; additionally, due to your fight, a pair of jade bracelets worth one thousand taels was damaged; twelve sets of fine ceramic crafts, valued at Five Thousand Taels Silver... In total, the amount comes to one hundred sixty thousand and Five Thousand Taels Silver."
"Hmph! One hundred sixty thousand and Five Thousand Taels Silver, may I ask, Your Grace, how do you plan to repay this money? As they say, the emperor and the commoners are equally guilty. You don't intend to just brush this off, do you? I have elderly relatives above me and so many brothers waiting to eat below."
Ziyan blinked her large, round eyes at Wang Sichu, then continued, "Even if you are a duke, I ask you not to make things difficult for me. How should I explain this to my brothers?"
"The losses from last night were this significant?" Wang Sichu was momentarily stunned and stared incredulously at Ziyan.
"Well, what else could it be?" Ziyan spread her hands. "But this duke is currently in Chu County and has no spare silver." At this moment, Wang Sichu looked as pitiful as a frostbitten eggplant.
"Are you planning to hand over my life to my brothers? Or will you let them lock you in the basement for life?" Ziyan grinned mischievously and added fuel to the fire, scaring him again.
"Why are the prices in your Nanchu Kingdom so high? Can you consider that I am at least half a citizen of Nanchu Kingdom and reduce it a bit?" Wang Sichu replied with his lips twitching.
"Are you saying that my brothers and I should only eat half full for someone we don't even know?" Ziyan glared fiercely at Wang Sichu.
"Uh? Half full?" Wang Sichu realized just how formidable this young girl was.
"Hmph! Enough nonsense. Let me ask you, how much silver does it take to build a Fire Ship?" Ziyan stared intently at Wang Sichu.
Upon hearing Ziyan suddenly ask about the cost of building a Fire Ship, Wang Sichu, wanting to avoid further angering her, answered without hesitation: "It would probably cost around Five Hundred Taels Silver."
"Oh, so the cost of building that Fire Ship isn't too high," Ziyan thought to herself with a smirk.
"Yes, yes! Although I am a duke, building one Fire Ship would still consume half a year's salary," Wang Sichu said awkwardly.
At that moment, Ziyan almost spat out the sip of tea she had just taken. A duke's half-year salary was only 500 taels of Silver. It seemed that Persia wasn't doing so well after all.
"Tch, does that mean the 160,500 Silver you owe me will take over 160 years to pay off?" After calculating this in her mind, Ziyan felt a bit worried for Wang Sichu.
"If I were to repay it with my salary, it would indeed be impossible. However, my father is a businessman who almost monopolizes all the most profitable industries in Persia. So—"
"No need for 'so.' I'm just waiting for the money to feed my brothers. If I have to wait for your father to send the Silver, it will take over a year for him to come and go. By then, my brothers and I will have starved to death." Ziyan interrupted him as he became more animated.
"What does the lady mean?" Wang Sichu felt a moment of despair, fearing she might really have someone behead him.
"How about this? I'm quite interested in your Fire Ships. Why don't you help me build 20,000 Fire Ships? Then we can consider this debt settled." Ziyan finally stated her demand.
"Uh? Twenty thousand?" Wang Sichu was once again dumbfounded.
"What? You don't want to do it?" Ziyan's eyes glinted with menace.
"This—" Wang Sichu immediately shivered all over.
"You have three options: one, I'll give you a quick end; two, you'll rot in my dungeon until you die; three, you build Fire Ships for me." Ziyan's gaze was very aggressive.
Looking at the duke below who was already too frightened to even breathe, Ziyan continued, "Let me tell you, in Chu County, every citizen will keep their mouth shut for me. Even if you return and claim otherwise, if all of us from Chu County say we know nothing about it, what can your people from Persia do?"
Having said that, Ziyan paused again and stared intently at Wang Sichu for a while before asking, "Have you thought it through?"
"..." Wang Sichu fell into boundless despair and remained silent.
"I'll give you ten more seconds to think. I'm counting: ten."
"Nine."
"Eight."
"Seven."
"Six."
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"Stop counting. This Duke agrees, you don't need to count anymore," Wang Sichu finally relented.
"If you had agreed earlier, we wouldn't have had to go through this. Since you've agreed to help me, you should stay at the back mountain of Xuan Wang Fu from now on. I won't treat you poorly in terms of food, clothing, and shelter."
Seeing that Wang Sichu had agreed, Ziyan smiled kindly at him below and continued, "As for the materials needed to make the Fire Ship, just let the leader of the back mountain know what you need. I only have one requirement: quality. If the quality is poor, I will make sure you regret it."
"Uh? Alright!" In the end, Wang Sichu reluctantly replied with a low voice, but little did anyone know that his heart was already filled with despair.
Next, Ziyan had someone escort Wang Sichu to the back mountain.
She then led a group of people back to the supermarket. As soon as they got off the carriage, they saw that the front of the supermarket was still packed with people shopping, just like the day before.
She led everyone to leap over the wall into the supermarket's backyard from Jishitang, then entered the supermarket through the back door and ascended to the central Watchtower.
Standing atop the high Watchtower, she slowly turned around, surveying the entire supermarket. Everything was just as it had been before; the walls showed no signs of the damage inflicted last night, and the shelves were still neatly organized.
Ziyan looked up at the hole in the roof from last night, which had now been completely repaired. In an instant, Ziyan's face relaxed, filled with a bright smile.
Returning to the backyard of Jishitang, Ziyan flopped down onto a recliner belonging to Old Man Mo.
"What’s wrong? What’s up with my disciple?" Old Man Mo asked curiously, looking at Ziyan but directing his question towards Xuan Wang Ye and Ling Yuxuan.
"Looks like your disciple has come up with a new idea," Ling Yuxuan said, her gaze towards Ziyan filled with warmth.
"Oh, I see. So the issue must be related to that foreign thief you caught last night?" Old Man Mo had already guessed most of it.
"Yes! Mo Old Man, it seems you have a match coming up. Are you willing to participate now?" Ling Yuxuan suddenly shifted her question towards Old Man Mo.
Old Man Mo stroked his long white beard with his right hand, nodding and smiling as he replied, "Sure, let’s do it. How about we play three rounds with Elder today?"
"Master, you all have something to do. I suddenly feel so bored!" Although Ziyan appeared to be daydreaming, her response was still sharp.
"..." To her surprise, there was silence around her. Old Man Mo and Prince Xuan sat quietly at the table, neither willing to acknowledge Ziyan, as they focused on arranging their chessboard and pieces.
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