Chapter 855: The Smelly Weeds
Despite Tang Yunxiao remaining unconscious, Xuan Long never neglected him for a single moment.
Su Qinglan looked up as he entered. "How is Father?"
"He is still sleeping," Xuan Long replied calmly. "He hasn’t woken up yet, but his condition remains steady. An Mo checked him earlier and said there’s no cause for concern."
Su Qinglan nodded in relief, then brought up the issue bothering her. "Xuan Long, don’t you find this whole situation strange?"
"What situation?"
"Mo Xiaoli and the little fox have been dumped here every single day for a week! My parents drop them off in the morning and only pick them up at night." She frowned thoughtfully. "I feel like something fishy is going on."
Xuan Long glanced at the two cubs. Mo Xiaoli was currently sitting on the floor, engrossed in his toy, while the little fox hovered behind him like a fluffy little tail.
Xuan Long remained silent for a moment before saying in his usual stoic, calm tone, "Don’t worry. They are likely just exploring the world."
Su Qinglan stared at him deadpan. "You really think so?"
"Yes." He said it with such quiet confidence that she almost believed him. Almost.
Su Qinglan narrowed her eyes, a wry smirk playing on her lips. "I have a completely different theory."
"What theory?"
"I think Mother and Father are enjoying a very passionate honeymoon."
Xuan Long’s dark eyebrow immediately shot up. "Honeymoon?"
Xuan Long fixed her with an intensely serious, curious gaze. "What is a ’honeymoon’?"
Su Qinglan opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. She looked at him, looked at the cubs playing on the floor, and then looked back at his stoic, expectant face.
How on earth was she supposed to explain a modern concept like that to a beastman?!
"It is..." She hesitated awkwardly, scratching her cheek. "...a trip."
Xuan Long nodded slowly. "A trip?"
"Yes."
"Why would they need to go on this trip?"
Su Qinglan’s face grew warm. "Because... they want to spend some quality time together."
Xuan Long frowned in genuine confusion. "But they are already together."
Su Qinglan was rendered speechless. Technically, he wasn’t wrong!
Xuan Long continued in all seriousness, "And why would they leave their cubs behind just to spend time together?"
Su Qinglan stared at him, deeply regretting ever letting that word escape her mouth. After a long, painfully awkward silence, she finally said. "Forget I said anything!"
Xuan Long looked even more bewildered. "Why?"
"Because you won’t understand..."
***
At the east gate of Dragon Beast City.
Su Qinglan sat comfortably behind a massive wooden table flanked by three of her handsome husbands: Shi Feng, Han Jue, and Hu Yan. Stretched out before them was a line of beastmen so long it seemed to disappear into the horizon.
These beastmen had been waiting for this exact day for a very long time.
Salt!
The moment rumors spread that Dragon Beast City was resuming salt sales, beastmen from all over rushed toward the gates. Some had traveled across dangerous territories for days; others had arrived in large merchant convoys from distant cities.
Many had even been camping outside the walls for nearly a week after witnessing the massive East Sea convoy arrive.
And today, their endless patience finally paid off.
Su Qinglan looked at the sea of eager faces, her eyes curling into a blissful, sparkling smile. Soon... oh, very soon, she was going to be a ridiculously rich woman!
The rules were simple: every beastman could exchange goods for one jin of salt.
Su Qinglan had set a remarkably fair price of ten high-quality animal hides per jin or ten particularly large prey.
Outside Dragon Beast City, salt was so ridiculously rare that corrupt sellers charged nearly a hundred hides per jin! It was an astronomical price, so exchanging ten hides here felt like a divine blessing to the travelers.
Su Qinglan watched as another beastman eagerly handed over his bundle of hides and clutched his bag of salt like a precious treasure. Her smile widened.
"Another one," she quietly counted under her breath. "And another one..."
Her eyes were practically gleaming with invisible currency symbols.
Han Jue noticed her glowing expression and chuckled softly. "My female, you look like you’re literally counting gold in your head."
𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
"I am," Su Qinglan replied without a single second of hesitation. "Salt is money!"
Han Jue was instantly speechless, while Shi Feng shook his head, rubbing his temples in amusement. Their female had completely transformed into a shrewd, sharp-minded merchant!
Suddenly, Su Qinglan’s gaze drifted toward several large woven baskets sitting nearby, packed to the brim with fresh, green vegetables. Then she looked back at the massive line of customers. An absolute stroke of genius flashed in her mind!
Leaning close to Han Jue, she whispered, "Do you think they would buy my vegetables too?"
Han Jue glanced at the crisp green leaves, then at the muscle-bound beastmen in line, before shaking his head. "I don’t think so."
Su Qinglan’s smile faltered. "Why not?"
"Because they traveled all this way strictly for salt," Han Jue explained patiently, pointing toward the baskets. "To most beastmen, those green leaves probably look no different from random wild weeds."
Su Qinglan’s cheerful face instantly fell. "Weeds?! My vegetables are crisp, fresh, and delicious!"
Han Jue immediately backtracked. "I know that! But they don’t know that."
Su Qinglan sighed softly. He had a point. Salt was unique because only the Sea tribe and Su Qinglan’s group possessed the secret to producing it.
Vegetables, on the other hand, just grew out of the dirt. To a world full of meat-eating beastmen, trading hard-earned animal hides for "grass" sounded downright insane.
Just as Su Qinglan was racking her brain for a marketing scheme, Hu Yan suddenly spoke up. "Qinglan, I have an idea!"
She whipped her head toward him. "What?"
"They won’t buy vegetables if they’ve never tasted them," Hu Yan pointed out smartly, puffing out his chest. "So... what if we let them taste them first?"