"Oh, a Secret Martial Arts Manual? A Cultivation Technique or Martial Arts?" Fang Rui’s eyes lit up.

"Whoa, Lord Fang, you sure have big dreams! When are Martial Arts inheritances ever easy to come by?"

Gao Yao shook his head. "It’s just an unorthodox minor art."

"That’s true."

Fang Rui calmed down, realizing he’d gotten carried away.

Take his family’s heirloom, the *Nourishing Body Skill*, for example. Even though it was only a Low Grade Cultivation Technique, the Fang Family had guarded it with extreme strictness for generations. It was a well-kept secret, passed down to sons but not daughters, never written down, and only transmitted orally. The technique even included a large number of coded phrases that required interpretation.

It had taken Fang Rui a month or two just to learn it.

Take Er Gouzi, a former assistant at Caozhi Hall. The Fang Family had treated him well, but that kindness only extended to his food and pay. He couldn’t hope for anything more. Forget the *Nourishing Body Skill*—Fang Baicao hadn’t even taught him the first thing about their Medical Skill.

Of course, that was partly because Er Gouzi was just an assistant, not a formal apprentice. But then again, even an apprentice would have had to study the rules for eight to ten years before they could be taught any real skills.

This wasn’t unique to the Fang Family; it was the prevailing attitude of the whole society.

It was a small glimpse that revealed how deeply entrenched clannish views were in this era.

So what about the unorthodox minor art Gao Yao mentioned?

That category was broad, covering all sorts of crafts: sugar blowing, tofu grinding, animal performances, magic tricks, Feng Shui and Geomancy, thieving and lock-picking, well-digging, construction... the list went on.

"So what kind of unorthodox minor art did you get?" Fang Rui asked.

"A performance art. More specifically, beast taming. The man’s ancestors were in that line of work. I heard they were once quite wealthy before the family fell on hard times. And with the way things are this year, as you know, Lord Fang... his family simply couldn’t survive any longer. If it weren’t for that, I’m not sure I could’ve sealed the deal."

After he finished, the joyful look on Gao Yao’s face faded slightly. "It’s a good find, but I’m afraid it won’t be easy to sell. The people who want it can’t afford it, and the people who can afford it probably look down on it."

He wasn’t wrong.

The truly poor were desperate to learn a trade to feed themselves, but they couldn’t afford it.

Slightly better-off, middle-class families like Fang Rui’s usually had their own trade. Mastering that was enough to make a living, so they had little use for another family’s legacy.

As for the wealthy and powerful, they wouldn’t give it a second glance.

’Still, even if it’s hard to sell, it sounds like Gao Yao didn’t pay much for it. As long as he can sell it, he’s guaranteed to make a profit.’

’Worst case, he could just hold onto it. When times get better, he might get lucky and sell it for a decent price!’

"Are you sure it’s authentic?" Fang Rui asked suddenly, his eyes glinting.

"Of course. I got him to dictate it to me, filling in all the missing parts. It even has annotations for the coded phrases. And most importantly..."

As Gao Yao spoke, a hint of menacing Evil Qi unconsciously leaked from him. "I know who the man is and where he lives. If he dared to cheat me, I have my ways of dealing with him. I’d make his entire family regret they were ever born!"

’This guy had never been a good person.’

’It made sense. A man who’d sold fake secret manuals for years without getting into trouble couldn’t be some simpleton.’

"What’s this, Lord Fang? Are you interested?" Gao Yao quickly caught on.

"I am."

Fang Rui nodded. "I’d like to take a look. You can never have too many skills. Besides, even if I can’t master it, I could leave it for future generations. It would be a fine heirloom to pass down..."

’Of course, these were all just excuses!’

’He couldn’t very well mention his own status panel.’

"So, how about it? Sell me a copy."

"Well now, Lord Fang,"

Gao Yao’s eyes darted about. "Normally, given our friendship, giving you a copy would be no big deal, Lord Fang..."

’Those were just empty words.’ Fang Rui cut him off. "Business is business, and friendship is friendship. Just name your price. Let’s hear it."

’Expecting Gao Yao to be generous? To remember the favor of bringing him into the medicine business and just give him a copy for free?’

’That was pure wishful thinking!’

’When Fang Rui first proposed their partnership, Gao Yao might have felt a flicker of gratitude. But the human heart is fickle, and any such feelings had long since faded.’

’To a street hustler like Gao Yao, what was a ’favor’? Something you could weigh and sell?’

’Sure, men like him had a smooth, measured way of dealing with people.’

’But the other side of the coin?’

’Because they’d seen and experienced so much, they were all jaded veterans. They trusted money, not people, and they certainly didn’t believe in favors.’

’Fang Rui saw this with perfect clarity.’

’By the same token, he never considered bringing Gao Yao into the medicine business as doing him a favor. It had been a partnership from the start. Neither of them owed the other anything.’

’Their previous business had been clear-cut, so this business with the *Beast Taming Technique* had to be just as straightforward.’

"Lord Fang, you’re a straightforward man!"

Gao Yao gave him a thumbs-up. "In that case, I’ll name my price: two taels of silver!"

’In a normal year, that price wouldn’t have been too expensive. But considering the times...’

’This was a year of great disaster!’

’Against that backdrop, the price was relatively steep. It was nothing short of extortion.’

Fang Rui was no sucker.

"Fifty large coins."

He countered, "At that price, you should be able to break even. Besides, this isn’t a physical item; you can sell it over and over again."

’Fang Rui estimated that Gao Yao had probably spent no more than a few dozen pounds of wheat bran to get the technique—maybe even less. It was nowhere near the value of fifty large coins.’

"Whoa now, Lord Fang, that’s not how you do the math."

Gao Yao feigned indignation. "I put a ton of effort into this! I spent ages wearing that family down... How about this, Lord Fang? I’ll take a step back. One tael and nine maces of silver!"

"Sixty large coins."

"One tael and eight maces."

...

After some haggling, they finally settled on a price: one tael of silver.