Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The most popular item in the northern kingdom which had stolen the limelight for the past year was none other than the Colored Glass of the Heavenly Palace.
What was the Colored Glass of Heavenly Palace?
To put it plainly, it was just glass, or rather, glass with impurities that appeared opaque and slightly iridescent.
Because of the grand backstory Gu Xin had made up for the glass, claiming that glass had descended to earth alongside a golden phoenix, and that each piece was beautiful, glass was given the fancy name Colored Glass of Heavenly Palace, implying that it was a treasure from the Heavenly Palace.
The first lady to buy jewelry made from the Colored Glass of Heavenly Palace was under the limelight for a while in the social circle of the noblewomen of the northern kingdom. Wherever she went, the sight of countless others followed her, fascinated by the bodkin in her hair, with dragon and phoenix motifs adorning it. She also invited the jealousy of many noble ladies. They kept sending their slaves to visit the treasure house to inquire about the items and insisted on getting the exact same or even better glass bodkins.
The bodkin was completely transparent and consisted of a dragon and a phoenix intertwined together. The dragon’s scales and the phoenix’s feathers were finely carved, looking lifelike. The phoenix spread its wings as if it was going to fly away at any moment while the handsome dragon appeared to be soaring in the nine skies. The phoenix and the dragon each held a tassel of transparent beads strung together in their mouths. The tassels sparkled brilliantly under the light.
It was the hardest for women to resist such beautiful and shining things. Moreover, no news came from the treasure house regarding the arrival of similar items. Being gazed upon by so many pairs of envious and jealous eyes pleased the lady immensely. Thanks to the free publicity she provided, the Colored Glass of Heavenly Palace quickly became hot and popular among the noblewomen of the northern kingdom.
As a businessman, Gu Xin deliberately left everyone hanging, then found an opportunity to launch new glass products. Glass tea ware sold very well, but jewelry was still the most sought-after, with each item being sold at a very high price. In the past year, Gu Xin’s treasure house had sold hundreds of pieces of it, and the profits were enough to turn anyone green with jealousy.
The merchants in the northern kingdom also wanted to make money from it, but with nowhere to source it from, they had no way of obtaining such good products. They could only look on as Gu Xin continued to make money.
It could be said that in the past year, glass had already become the symbol of wealth of the aristocrats in the northern kingdom. No one could be considered rich if they didn’t have at least one set of the glass collection at home. For the noble ladies, they would feel too ashamed to go out or to entertain guests if they were not wearing at least one or two pieces of glass jewelry.
The noblewoman most generous with her money remained the wife of Wu Liba. Her family ran a commercial firm, and her husband was the “wise man” whom the king of the northern kingdom relied heavily upon. She was always the first to get wind of it whenever a new item arrived at the treasure house and she contributed a lot in terms of consumption. She was the only one to collect several sets of glass jewelry among all the noble ladies of the northern kingdom. Every time she hosted guests, she attracted the attention of most people.
Wealthy indeed!
People tend to mimic their superiors, not only was the theory applicable in Dongqing, but in the northern kingdom as well.
Wu Liba’s wife had a very high social standing amid the noble ladies. As the ladies held the Colored Glass of the Heavenly Kingdom in high esteem, the nobles slightly lower in status naturally yearned for the glass as well. However, as they were relatively poorer, with fewer assets in their families, when they received news of the treasure house stocking up, the items had long been sold out. Items that could not even be bought even though one had money could better reflect one’s high status.
In order to meet the needs of the ladies, Gu Xin smiled resignedly and promised to help source more items for them, and they finally gave up, albeit reluctantly. And so they waited, waited, waited, and waited until they were almost dying from desperation, and word from the treasure house finally came.
This time round, the treasure house had stocked up with the largest scale ever in history. A full 20 sets of relatively well-preserved jewelry made of the Colored Glass of the Heavenly Palace were being sold. The news rippled through the social circle of the noblewomen in the northern kingdom. Carriages and servants of the various noble families gathered before the treasure house.
Wu Liba’s wife was still the first to take action. She generously paid what was worth 670,000 strings of 1000 coins each to purchase two sets of the most gorgeous and beautiful jewelry. Other ladies wanted to compete against her for it, but after they estimated the value of their own assets, they realized that they could never surpass the wealth of her family’s commercial firm.
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Thus, they could only go for the second best option and purchase other sets of jewelry.
The owner of the treasure house was also discerning of the circumstances, sending one set to the imperial harem of the northern kingdom and presenting it to the most distinguished woman in the kingdom.
The queen was also an interesting person. After receiving it, she dressed up and hosted a banquet, enjoying the limelight. For a while, from the upper to the relatively lower classes, the aristocrats of the northern kingdom all held the Colored Glass of the Heavenly Kingdom in high esteem. The only fly in the ointment was that the glass was fragile and hard to maintain.
But in the aristocrats’ mind, jade would also shatter if it fell onto the ground. The Colored Glass of the Heavenly Kingdom was probably a valuable stone from heaven, thus it was normal for it to fall and shatter when one handled it carelessly. Under such an atmosphere, many businessmen desperately yearned to lay their hands on the glass, and they would like nothing better than to replace the treasure house.
The Colored Glass of the Heavenly Palace was even more difficult to buy in the black market of the northern kingdom, even if one had sufficient money. Who wouldn’t envy a business that brought about profits worth millions of coins?!
Soon, they had an opportunity.
They had tried to bribe the servants and manager of the treasure house, and the process dragged on for almost a year. After being offered both money and beautiful women, the employees at the treasure house finally let some news slip.
“What?” The head of a commercial firm in the northern kingdom trembled, and the wine in his hand almost spilled. He said in shock, “The pieces of the Colored Glass of the Heavenly Palace unearthed in Mei Country is not just two hundred something, but actually… two thousand something? And most of them are in the hands of Gu Xin, that cunning old fox?”
The manager of the treasure house that had been “persuaded to defect” nodded, and immediately put on an expression of resentment.
“Gu Xin has made enough money but he is very greedy. He only cares about filling his pockets and completely ignores the welfare of his old employees! This time, if not for your kindness, I’m afraid that my family would become broken —” the manager of the treasure house sighed, looking worried and sad.
The head of the commercial firm secretly laughed. Had he not plotted to frame the family member of the manager, causing him to owe huge debts, the manager probably wouldn’t have bitten the hook so easily and the head of the bank wouldn’t have known such shocking news… Gu Xin is truly a cunning old fox
The head of the commercial firm deliberately asked in surprise, “Since he has so many goods available, why does he always claim that he is out of stock?”
The manager of the treasure housed smiled resignedly and asked back, “You are also a businessman, how can you not know that rarer items are more valuable? The fewer items available, the more people want it, and the higher the price they offer. Then can the Colored Glass of the Heavenly Palace be sold for high prices. If you display all of it at once, how would it have sold so well? Gu Xin has used this trick so many times, but so many people still rushed to give him their money, ugh —”
As the manager of the treasure house sighed, the head of the commercial firm smiled, stroking his beard. “Business is business. I must say that as a businessman, I admire Gu Xin. As a merchant from Dongqing, he managed to stand firm in the northern kingdom and run a business for so many years. His peers should indeed learn from him.”
Simply put, peers were competitors, who wouldn’t be jealous as they watched Gu Xin earn a lot of money?
The head of the commercial firm thought about it. If I had so many pieces of the Colored Glass of the Heavenly Kingdom, I would probably sell them as soon as possible, how could I have thought of the idea to operate patiently like Gu Xin causing its value to peak? True, Gu Xin did not manage to sell much of it, but he did earn a lot of money.
However, it is a pity that Gu Xin is doing a good job in running his business and disciplining his subordinates, but as for his ability to guard his fortune against moles…
Tsk tsk.
No one in the world could stay loyal forever. If they do, it simply means that the bribes are not enough.