NOVEL WEB Chapter 5: All Gold
"Just don't embarrass this ancestor." Ao Shen muttered, and with a playful nod, he chuckled, "Let's see what fun is hiding here."
Xiao Jun smiled proudly, and both stepped inside the building, being greeted by the guards standing at the entrance. They reached inside the enormous lobby full of people.
There was the smell of sandalwood and jasmine as they entered inside, a cool atmosphere and a spacious environment. But as they entered inside, their presence caught the attention of other customers dressed in high-end luxury clothing present in the lobby.
"Are they lost?"
"Must be beggars looking for work."
"Tch, how shameless, walking in here with that outfit."
Their whispers filled the whole lobby, with all gazes arrogantly scanning Xiao Jun and Ao Shen's clothing and appearance.
Xiao Jun's face reddened for a moment hearing all those remarks; his confidence, which he came here with, seemed to shake. "A-Ancestor, I think we should get some clothes before--"
"What?" Ao Shen's expressions darkened. "You need to change clothes to buy things these days?" He scoffed, and his glowing pupils scanned the whole lobby.
His mere presence seemed to shift the whole mood in the lobby; all those who had been arrogantly mocking diverted their gazes to the floor, and cold sweats filled their foreheads with unshakeable fear they felt from those eyes.
"Do you realise how absurd it is, a dragon trying to impress ants?" Ao Shen's voice resonated across the whole lobby; his words were clear, yet not one person dared to even lift his gaze, despite the mockery.
A strange silence enveloped the room, and in a daze an employee was lost over Ao Shen's commanding presence; suddenly Ao Shen's gaze fell over her.
"You," he said as if he was commanding, the female employee instinctively reacted, "I am Qian Ling, the senior sales consultant here. How can I help you!?"
"I want to buy a residence; can someone assist us with available listings?" Ao Shen questioned, her gaze seeming to come out of initial surprise, and quietly observed Ao Shen and Xiao Jun.
'A hoodie and another one in a cheap shirt...' an awkward expression seems to emerge on her face, "Our properties start at 10 million spirit coins, sir. Perhaps you'd prefer our affiliate company next door? They offer more affordable prices." She seemed polite, but the expressions looked exhausted.
"10 million spirit stones?" Ao Shen muttered a bit confused, turning to look at Xiao Jun; suddenly his voice rang directly inside Xiao Jun's head.
'What's the most expensive price of a house you have heard?'
"A--!" Xiao Jun almost shouted out loud, but he felt his composure on time, 'Is that you, A-Ancestor?! How can you be inside my head?!'
'I can be anywhere I want; just tell me your answer; you are making it awkward.' Ao Shen scoffed.
Xiao Jun looked flustered, but running around in his mind in panic, he came up with something from the back of his mind: '250 million!'
"My budget is about 500 million Spirit Coins," Ao Shen suddenly announced; the whole lobby was taken aback in shock, those sitting rose back up like ghosts in a daze with saliva leaking out from their faces in shock.
Someone dropped papers all over the floor in shock; the whole atmosphere was full of daze before Ao Shen broke it. "Just show us what you can afford."
His scoffing remark could be felt across the room; the employee somehow snapped out of her daze and immediately pointed at the upper floor.
"T—then let's discuss it in the private hall. You must be tired; let's get you something cold up there," she said, and nearly tripping over her heels, she immediately pointed towards the path leading upstairs.
Ao Shen sniggered, watching her shocked, and quietly followed with Xiao Jun behind him.
His narrowed, cold eyes observed the shocked faces across the lobby, and he couldn't help but chuckle, 'This is so much fun~.'
They reached a private hall; it was full of luxury furniture and silence. Both Ao Shen and Xiao Jun sat down on the sofa as quickly as an employee brought them some ice-cube drinks, and Qing King took a seat in front of them with a list of available luxury villas on the device in her hand.
"Take a look at this, sir; these are the greatest estates we have. All these villas come with cultivation chambers, herb gardens, and various kinds of arrays to ease your life," she explained.
"I recommend this one; it's called 'Blue Pearl Tears,' worth 340 million Spirit Coins. It's the one that is in most demand these days. It's 25,000 square feet of land area and comes with all the facilities you can think of."
"Hmm..." Ao Shen nodded along but didn't seem much interested; scrolling down, there were various other villas at similar prices, but nothing seemed to catch his interest.
'340 million spirit coins? How many lifetimes can I live in luxury with that amount?' Xiao Jun, on the other hand, was totally in a daze, sitting there with a blank face, drinking some soda drink with a straw.
Qing Ling's expressions became more and more nervous as she watched Ao Shen casually scrolling the options without even a hint of interest in any of the luxury, which made even the richest ones in the city go crazy.
'Am I really going to lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!? No! No! No! Please! Please heavens!!!' There was a smile on her face, but inside her mind she was worshipping every god she could think of in that moment.
Ao Shen's eyes suddenly lit up, as with a chuckle he stared at her smiling face in amusement.
"Is there some issue, sir?" She questioned Ao Shen; on the other hand, he just shook his head. "Nothing, I was just amused..."
He remarked as he placed the device on the desk in front of him, and without batting an eye, he announced, "I'm buying the most expensive one."
"Huh?" Qing Ling's mind suddenly went blank the moment she heard it, "Most what?" Xiao Jun's reaction was also somewhat the same, as all the drink in his mouth leaked out from his widened mouth.
"Let's proceed with the payment and ownership transfers." Ao Shen seemed to be having a lot of fun watching those reactions, and as he was about to stand, Qing Ling suddenly snapped out of her daze.
"The most expensive one?! Sir?! That villa is almost 800 million Spirit Coins?! It isn't really even expected to be sold in the first place!?"
"Who cares? It's up for sale, isn't it?" Ao Shen scoffed and questioned, "You can take payment in gold, right?"
"T-this is beyond my ca-capabilities?!" Qing Ling said in shock and in rush immediately grabbed her phone while making a plea, "Please just wait one minute sir! Let me confirm the details with the chairman!"
"Granted." Ao Shen chuckled as Qing Ling rushed out of the hall while Ao Shen quietly grabbed his glass of juice while making a calm remark.
"You don't need clothes to be rich; you have to be rich to be rich."
"I learnt a lot! Ancestor!" Xiao Jun replied with a serious nod, "Good boy." Ao Shen smiled, and just then, suddenly, the doors opened in a rush as someone around his middle ages stepped inside along with Qing Ling.
"Are you the one planning to buy 'Celestial Dragon Manor'?" he questioned with disbelief
"Why?" Ao Shen muttered, "You don't want to sell it?"
"How dare I?! Please buy whatever you like; I'm Zhan Tianyi! The chairman of 'Jade Dragon Heights,' pleased to meet you."
"Same." Ao Shen stood up and lazily questioned, "You can afford the payment in gold taels, right?"
"Whatever pleases you!" Zhan Tianyi replied almost instantly; Ao Shen chuckled, seeing this middle-aged man losing all his composure like that.
"Hmm..." Ao Shen stood up with a smile, and with his arms stretched out in the direction of the corner of the huge hall, he stated, "Indeed... Whatever pleases me."
He chuckled as an enormous pile of golden taels emerged over that corner, filling up that huge space under the weight of several hundreds of kilograms worth of gold.
Zhan Tianyi and everyone else present in the room all felt shook from very corners of their hearts; their mouths were wide open and their eyes shaking in disbelief.
"Unbelievable..." Zhan Tianyi muttered, feeling his knees getting weaker. His steps unconsciously moved over to that pile of gold, and grabbing the golden taels, shivers ran down his whole spine experiencing the weight of that wealth.
"Our Jade Dragon Heights Estate will always be at your service, sir! Please contact us if you require anything!" his voice of gratitude was so shaken it felt like he was screaming to keep his mind sane
But sanity? After Ao Shen has finished a deal with them? That wasn't something Ao Shen would be pleased with.
"Very well then, first request: give me 5 more villas like this." Ao Shen chuckled, but his mere demand on a whim shook Zhan Tianyi to the deep corners of near insanity.
"We—we don't have such estates, sir; making villas like this requires a lot of capital; we don't have such capability to keep several of them like this..."
"Huh?" Ao Shen finally sneered with satisfaction as he watched Zhan Tianyi's whole demeanour change to that of a peasant standing in front of the emperor, "Then I will just take what you have," Ao Shen commanded.
"Payment?" Ao Shen stretched out his arm, creating another pile of gold over another corner of the hall, one which was ever grander than the last one, "All gold!"