Chapter 152: Five Hundred Wounded Horses

"What?"

Not only the clerk in blue was stunned, but Xu Jie and the others also wore looks of utter astonishment.

"Master?" Xu Jie blurted out anxiously.

Buying a single Shadow-Chaser horse for five strings of cash was not something Xu Jie cared about; he could simply consider it money well spent to keep his young master happy. However, for Motun to directly purchase such a massive number of injured horses would consume an astronomical sum of money.

Just as Xu Jie eagerly prepared to dissuade Motun, he suddenly felt someone gently tugging at his hem. Turning his head, he saw Mo Er signaling to him covertly with a series of subtle winks.

Xu Jie paused for a moment and noticed that both Mo Er and Tie An were completely calm, showing no intention whatsoever of stopping Motun.

"You guys...?" Xu Jie felt a surge of frustration, but suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him.

*Could it be...?* Xu Jie had long heard of the miraculous reputation of the young master of the Mo clan. If Motun had some deeper meaning behind this action, then the gains for the Mo Family Village might be unimaginably massive.

"Really?" the clerk in blue asked, pleasantly surprised.

His original plan had been to sell just one Shadow-Chaser, but now it seemed the surprise had arrived far too suddenly. This nouveau-riche-like young master actually wanted to buy all of the injured horses!

Everyone knew that these injured horses no longer had much practical use and consumed vast amounts of fodder every day. However, slaughtering them directly to sell horse meat would yield a terrible return. To the stables, they were nothing more than a tasteless burden.

If he could genuinely offload these injured horses at a low price, it would be a monumental achievement for him! He would undoubtedly look exceptionally good in front of the store manager.

Just as Motun was about to reply, he saw Xu Jie step forward and say, "Since the young master wants to buy them, let's buy them all. However, the price is still open for negotiation!"

Under Xu Jie's formidable commercial acumen, the clerk in blue retreated step by step, lowering the price again and again.

"No way! Four strings of cash per injured horse is the absolute minimum! That is the limit of my authority!" the clerk in blue said, feeling quite reluctant. He had never expected this unassuming fellow to be so skilled at bargaining, pushing him right down to his bottom line.

"Very well. For one so young to pull off such a large business transaction, your future is bound to be boundless!" Seeing the deal finalized, Xu Jie patted the clerk on the shoulder and smiled.

The clerk in blue wiped the sweat from his brow and revealed a faint smile. Although he would not make much commission on this transaction, being able to clear out these horses and save the stables a massive amount of upkeep expenses was still a significant achievement.

Since one side was eager to buy and the other eager to sell, an agreement was quickly reached, and the stables invited a broker from the West Market to act as witness.

"Is this patron certain he doesn't want to reconsider?" The broker was a white-haired old man in his fifties surnamed Zhou, who was a veteran figure in the West Market.

Seeing that Motun and his companions were unfamiliar faces, he couldn't help offering a word of warning. He had served as a broker in the West Market for many years, yet this was the very first time he had ever witnessed such a bizarre transaction.

"No need to reconsider! Let's sign the contract and press our fingerprints!" Motun said firmly.

Hearing Motun's resolute tone, Xu Jie instantly understood, while Mo Er and Tie An immediately wore expressions that clearly said, *Just as expected.*

"Old man, are you going to make this trade or not?" the clerk in blue asked impatiently.

"Fine. Since both parties agree, I shall affix my seal. Once this is done, neither side can go back on their word!" Elder Zhou said, shaking his head. Since that was the case, he had nothing more to blame himself for. A broker received a commission on every completed transaction, so facilitating this deal would also benefit Elder Zhou himself.

"A total of one hundred and thirty-one horses," Elder Zhou said after finishing the inventory of the injured horses.

Xu Jie immediately presented five hundred and twenty-four strings of cash! Both parties signed and pressed their fingerprints, and Elder Zhou affixed his official seal. The strangest transaction in the West Market was thus firmly cemented with the utmost speed, making it impossible for either party to regret it.

"Congratulations, Manager Xu! Once these injured horses recover, you are bound to make a massive profit!" Seeing the deal successfully concluded, the clerk in blue said with a beaming smile. Of course, the signing and fingerprinting were handled by Xu Jie, and the clerk caught sight of Xu Jie's name in the process.

"You're too kind, you're too kind!" Although Xu Jie felt deeply uncertain in his heart, at this moment, he chose to trust Motun.

"Sigh!" Elder Zhou shook his head and let out a long sigh. This transaction was the most bizarre deal he had ever handled; even though he profited from it, he still felt a lingering sense of regret.

"Please wait a moment, Broker Zhou!" Just as Elder Zhou was about to leave, Xu Jie's voice sounded once again.

"Manager Xu? The contract has already been signed and sealed; there's no backing out now!" Elder Zhou shook his head like a rattling drum.

Xu Jie smiled and said, "Broker Zhou, you jest. Commerce relies on credibility. Since the contract has already been signed and sealed, naturally we have no intention of backing out."

"Then what does Manager Xu want with this old man?" Elder Zhou asked, puzzled.

"There are a few more transactions ahead, and I'm afraid I'll have to trouble Broker Zhou once more." Seeing Xu Jie's smiling face, Elder Zhou's mouth dropped open in astonishment!

*Ah? Could it be they are buying even more?!*

Merchants were the people with the fastest access to information, and sometimes information was synonymous with business opportunities.

On this day, every merchant in the West Market was sent into a frenzy by a single piece of news: a foolish young master had just purchased over a hundred injured horses in one go.

"No, not just a hundred plus! Word is it's over two hundred!"

"By now, it's already over four hundred!"

"Master, this is the last batch!" A sweating Xu Jie, accompanied by a numb-looking Elder Zhou, arrived before Motun.

Looking at the more than five hundred injured horses before him, Elder Zhou felt his entire worldview collapse. These transactions had all passed through his hands, and he felt as though his professional career would now bear an indelible stain. Heaven and earth as witness, he truly had not colluded with unscrupulous horse dealers to scam this foolish young master, but if he were to say that aloud, probably not a single person would believe him.

"Thank you for your hard work, Broker Zhou!" Motun said, giving a slight nod of acknowledgment. Xu Jie immediately understood, stepping forward to hand a pouch of silver coins to Elder Zhou as a service fee.

"As long as you are happy!"

Elder Zhou said blankly, while firmly refusing to accept Xu Jie's silver. He figured that this foolish young master had already suffered enough of a devastating loss today; if he were to take a service fee on top of that, his conscience would never let him rest.

Over five hundred injured horses gathered outside the stables made for a remarkably spectacular sight.

"This is probably the largest horse-trading deal since the establishment of the West Market!" a merchant who had rushed over upon hearing the news looked at the grand herd of horses and said with a sarcastic tone. Purchasing over five hundred horses all at once—such a transaction was rarely seen even at the borderlands!

"They really are injured horses!"

Many people looked at the limping horses before them, noticing that almost every single horse had shocking, lacerated wounds on its hooves, with some injured on all four hooves alike.

"What a clueless young master. If his family finds out, they're bound to fly into a rage."

"I don't know about the young master, but the manager who signed and sealed the papers is named Xu Jie!" said someone well-informed.

"Xu Jie? The God of Wealth Xu?" someone exclaimed, instantly sparking an uproar.

"That's impossible! Hasn't the God of Wealth Xu gone bankrupt? Right now, he'd probably struggle to even scrape together a single string of cash. How could he possibly pull out such a vast amount of wealth?"

Over five hundred injured horses, even at four strings of cash per horse, totaled more than two thousand strings of cash—an amount utterly beyond the reach of a fallen aristocrat like the former God of Wealth Xu.

"Oh, isn't this the God of Wealth Xu? Back in the day, the God of Wealth Xu throwing away thousands of gold pieces was something that made someone like me filled with admiration!" an arrogant voice rang out, sending a tremor through the entire crowd.

"The God of Wealth Xu? I never expected it to truly be the God of Wealth Xu." The crowd in the West Market erupted into a commotion. None of them had imagined that the God of Wealth Xu, who had already fallen into the dust, would make a comeback, and his very first move would be to buy five hundred injured horses in a way they simply could not comprehend.