Chapter 165 – Partnership with the Prince

“Master’s wine is the best in the world! This disciple obviously never stood a chance against master’s unrivaled expertise, and the disciple conceives it in heart and admits it in words.” Song Shang’s tone was full of respect.

Even though Song Shang was far more accomplished than his young master, he didn’t feel even the slightest of hesitation in talking to his master with humility since he was nothing in front of his master in terms of wine making abilities; in fact, his voice even harbored a strong sense of excitement and privilege with regard to his new status.

“You can go on and on about my skill and the superiority of my wine, but you’ll always be wrong. You’re mistaken from the start.” Jun Mo Xie stated unceremoniously: “You earlier stated that you fermented this wine almost a decade ago, at the peak of your skills, and it’s the best wine in the world. It sounded like you were very pleased with your work, and that’s the reason which blocked your future progress, and if you continue to believe in that then it will also ruin any chances of progress in the future.”

“The moment you started believing that these two jars of wine were the best in the world, you lost; to yourself. You lost because you started to believe that you couldn’t be beaten!”

Song Shang’s forehead started to sweat the moment he heard this remark. Yes, ah…. Master is right! Ever since I produced this wine a decade ago, I haven’t made any progress, not even the slightest bit. I’ve lived every day believing that that no one can beat me… I got complacent…. I had never anticipated that I would ever lose in this manner……

“It’s almost like martial training; if a person says, ‘I entered into Earth Xuan three years ago, then at this rate I will make it to the Sky Xuan sooner or later’, then this person is unlikely to ever make it to the Sky Xuan realm till the end of his days… let alone any higher!”

“But the family of such people always puts pressure on them to improve their Xuan Qi as fast as possible, which is the reason they rarely ever lax. But if their practice slows down, then even they wouldn’t be able to move forward.”

“Wine making however, is completely different. There’s no pressure on you…. And you simply weren’t persistent enough. Had you been persistent, then even if you had still lost today, you wouldn’t have lost by such a huge margin.” Jun Mo Xie stated in an earnest tone: “So persistence is the key.”

Song Shang had already accepted Jun Mo Xie as his master, and was willing to take his every word as a command. But the Solitary Falcon and the prince were still not convinced of this situation: This guy just gave us some very eloquent examples to prove that persistence and devotion aren’t that important, and he has actually overturned his previous conclusion in the blink of an eye!

He’s turning colors faster than one can turn the page of a book… he’s such a pretentious folk! But then their eyes resettled onto Jun Mo Xie’s two wine jars, and they both swallowed a mouthful of saliva down their throats.

“A wine fermented with the most ordinary of raw products can also be the best wine in the world; in fact…. that’s real wine!” Jun Mo Xie leisurely stated: “Just as in the world of martial arts, the most basic of moves are capable of producing the maximum amount of power, and can take a man to the peak of the world!”

The solitary Falcon suddenly stared at Jun Mo Xie as he stated this sentence.

A low-level martial artist may not have been able to understand the profound meaning behind this sentence, but to man of his excellence…. this sentence was nothing short of …..Enlightening!

Punch…. What is the most powerful kind of punch in the world? It’s the most ordinary one… the tiger fist punch… and it’s able to produce the most powerful effect. Even if one wraps all kinds of fancy flowers around their punch and hits the enemy, then the punch still won’t be able to do the same amount of damage which a properly executed and concentrated basic one can!

This is basic law of martial arts!

In a duel between two experts, the most basic of moves often decide the victor!

The tiger fist undoubtedly focuses on strength, and is considered to be the king of all strokes, but even then it has a prerequisite: you have to hit the other party…… and the simplest of moves is the solution to get away from it… agility…..

It seemed as if the Solitary Eagle had just been freed from his shackles, and would almost jump out at any moment! If he was able to get more clarity on this thought, then he could surely progress further! And progress a lot further! But he was still helpless since he couldn’t really get the idea formulated properly in his head at the moment, and was busy thinking over it which was evident from the frown on his face.

Unintentionally or intentionally, this one sentence of Jun Mo Xie’s had brought a great expert on the fringes of a great breakthrough!

While the Solitary Falcon was absorbed in his thoughts, the Prince was simply unable to wait any longer.

“Little Brother, this wine, ah, how much? It’s…..”

“Well, I already addressed that earlier; it’s like I said, this wine is eleven thousand taels of silver per jar… do you still think that it isn’t worth it?” Jun Mo Xie quietly tossed the bait.

“Not at all!” the prince hadn’t even opened his mouth yet, but Old Song simply couldn’t resist the urge: “This wine is a rarity in this human world! Measuring its value in gold and silver is a profanity to the wine’s quality! Forget about eleven thousand silver, even eleven thousand gold isn’t enough to purchase this wine!”

In his opinion, this wine was no longer just wine; it was an art….a masterpiece! Priceless! A priceless treasure!

“It is indeed worth it in my opinion as well! This wine is indeed a hundred times better than Old Song’s wine!” The prince promptly replied back, looked at Jun Mo Xie and sighed: “Although I’m afraid that I won’t be able to buy too much too much of it…..”

Difficult to buy too much? It’s practically impossible….although the prince made sure that he didn’t say it like it really was……

“If that’s the case….. then I guess I shouldn’t be selling it directly, and I should rather go in for only auctioning it instead! Perhaps I could even fetch a higher price!” Jun Mo Xie smiled as he tacitly put forth his idea.

The three men went silent for a while as they pondered over his idea, and understood his intention soon enough. They could clearly understand the potential behind his idea!

“If you do auction it… when will you auction it? And where will you auction it?” The prince simply couldn’t wait to ask this question. Where can I taste a wine like this one once more? And when can I buy it? The price is secondary!

“Song Shang will convey that to you since he will be involved in this auction as well.” Jun Mo Xie was a bit worried about trusting Old Song in other matters, but when it came to wine, he was a hundred percent sure about the man.

Song Shang could betray anyone, but he could never betray wine! Jun Mo Xie was confident about this!

“That’s great!” the prince clapped his hands in excitement. “In fact, if you face any difficulty then this old man can even help you as long as you’re conducting the auction within the city…. but if you conduct the auction outside the city then I won’t be able to help you out much.” If he auctions it here then I could somehow buy some of it, or at least curry a favor with the winner and drink some!

“I’ll make the official introductions; master… this man is the Emperor’s brother, Yang Huai Nong. He is the Emperor’s only sibling!” although Old Song’s tone was very respectful, he still mentioned this fact right after the prince mentioned that he may not be able to afford this wine too often, which was obviously rather embarrassing considering that he was a prince.

“The Emperor’s Brother…..” Even though Jun Mo Xie had already guessed long back that this man was quite influential, but he still wasn’t expecting him to be the Tian Xiang Empire’s Emperor’s only brother. Even though he was slightly surprised, he immediately regained his composure: “uh, apologizes for any disrespect.”

Everyone was expecting him to be shocked, and even lower his head in worship, after all he was no more than a mere commoner in the eyes of these three men; a proud and talented youngster at best. How’s such a lowly man able to keep his composure in front of a prince? He didn’t even lower his head in submission like the common people usually do…..

In fact, this kid’s eyes didn’t even flinch for one second! The prince obviously wanted to express his thoughts but decided to keep his mouth shut instead….. he could tell that this kid may not be the most respectful of people around….

They were all completely unaware that the boy in front didn’t care about any ‘prince’ or ‘royalty’ owing to previous life’s adventures…. Moreover, they were also unaware of the immoral behavior he had exhibited in front of the second prince just a few days ago.

If the prince hadn’t already taken a shine to Jun Mo Xie’s personality, then he would certainly have felt insulted by his conduct, and wouldn’t have stayed to drink his wine either, and could have even……

“If necessary, then I will be very happy to co-operate with the prince.” Jun Mo Xie flashed a faint smile as he stated his words in a polite manner. It was very, very evident from his tone and choice of words that he would only co-operate with the prince if it was deemed “necessary”, else he…..

“Whichever suits you best!” The prince wasn’t interested in pestering him about it, and laughed as he squinted his eyes: “Although I can’t afford this wine at the moment, but I certainly cannot allow this wine to get buried either.” Jun Mo Xie’s obvious rejection had added more oil to the flame of his interest.

“I don’t know if the old man would be interested… but I’m willing to sell one share in this wine for every two million silver taels. Even if the old man wishes to pass these shares onto his next of kin, this little brother would be willing to agree.” This remark came as a bit of a surprise to everyone since Jun Mo Xie referred to the Prince as ‘Old Man’, despite being well aware of his true identity. Moreover, the offer to sell the rights to his wine at two million silver taels per share was an obvious indication of his optimistic calculation about his wine’s prospects.

“This old man is almost fifty years old now, and I only have one daughter and one son.” His Royal Highness smiled: “My daughter is old enough to be married, and I hope that I can find a suitable family for her, and relieve the burden of her future from my shoulders. As for my son… he doesn’t wish to follow in his father’s footsteps, and therefore I’ve already started making the preparation for the rainy days ahead….. and I hope that he isn’t as helpless as his old man someday.”

…….pin-drop silence…….

The previous Emperor had two sons: Crown prince, Yang Haui Yu and the second prince, Yang Huai Nong.

Yang Huai Yu had always been ambitious, tactical, military oriented, political minded and had always taken a very keen interest in the overall governing on the Empire. Yang Huai Nong had never participated in any of it, and had always maintained a low-key profile…. Because he knew that no matter how hard to strived, he’d never be able to surpass his elder brother’s skills; he obviously had no intention of destroying himself by competing in vain.

So basically, the second prince had gradually withdrawn himself from the power-chase right from the start. His lack of enthusiasm for power coupled with his long lasting distance from the Empire’s affairs had brought him to the point where he didn’t even care about its future.

But now the Emperor was looking for his next successor, and the prince who had always been indifferent had started thinking about the future of his children, and was even willing to seek assistance from outside the royalty! This can mean only one thing….. he is competing against his own three nephews… and he feels that the Empire might split….. leaving him with nothing?

Why else would a prince plot against the monarchy in order to secure the future of his children?