Transcending Dreams - D2 - Chapter 37

William wanted to lead her into admitting that he owned part of the company, but he didn’t think she would admit it outright without any prodding.

“How can I help?” He asked eagerly. “You did the hard work to build it to a point where you could enter the annual auction, but I’m not a complete dead weight. I can be of more use than just providing the start-up funding. I’m friendly with some of the administration in the sect.”

Wang Xiaoling’s strained smile suddenly reverted to normal, eyes glimmering at the prospect of growing her new business.

William’s offer wasn’t a lie. He might not have had any interest in Wang Xiaoling’s venture when she had taken ten thousand Gold from him, but now that he could see the success she was experiencing, he would definitely help. It was in his interest to do so.

Lessening Wang Xiaoling’s anger before he inevitably asked for thousands of Spirit Stones was a very happy side effect.

“This might be just what our Rising Merchant House needs!” Wang Xiaoling almost vibrated in excitement. “Most of the things I have in mind are useful far into the future, but one way you could help immediately is to help reduce the fees we’re paying to the auction hall.”

He wanted to slap himself. Of course, the auction had fees. “How much do they take?”

“Forty percent,” Wang Xiaoling said with a grimace. “It’s the cost we have to pay as someone new. If I knew you were already promoted, I would have looked for you before listing in the auction. I imagine that clawing back the fees is much harder than having it waived from the start.”

William nodded, noticing that all the lightheartedness had disappeared from her tone. Being around Wang Xiaoling and knowing her personality made it difficult for him to fathom how she was a successful merchant, but then she showed flashes of what she was capable of.

As for the auction fees… that hurt. The auction hall was getting a thousand four hundred from the sale of [Heavenly Thunder Scripture].

He hadn’t been lying to Wang Xiaoling about knowing people in the sect’s administration, but the only elder he knew that would likely help him was Elder Yu. There was the Grand Elder, but he would require far more convincing, and William had a shallow relationship with him at best. It would be preferable not to take that route.

But this was an issue for another time. The priority right now was to make sure Lan Yang was no longer angry.

“I might have an idea, Sister Xiaoling,” William said slowly, thinking of the best way to say it without raising suspicion. “I’m close to Elder Yu, who seems to have the ear of the Sect Master. Instead of dealing with the overseers of the auction hall, it might be best to go that route.”

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“The Sect Master?” Wang Xiaoling repeated in disbelief. “How much does this sect value you? Are you playing with me? I’m warning you, Wei Liang, it won’t be pretty if you are.”

“I’m not!” William insisted, which was true. “Though it might be necessary to offer something on my side to not seem too greedy—” He cut himself off, pretending he got an idea. “Sister Xiaoling, how much of the merchant house do I own?”

“Er, I can’t really say for sure,” Wang Xiaoling immediately started to deflect. “It’s more complex than saying a number, you know. I must consider the effort I put in and the favors I cashed in. And I don’t think I slept much the past few months! It’s been really hard on me!”

William nodded in understanding. He didn’t question her claims, except for not knowing the percentage. There was no doubt she knew the exact number, and her hesitation to tell him was a good sign.

He was coming to recognize that while Wang Xiaoling might seem flighty and unreliable, with matters that involved money, she could be trusted… as long as you hadn’t agreed to an already bad deal.

There were multiple situations in the past where she could have easily cheated people of money, but whatever was promised had always been delivered. Even if the original agreement itself came from suspect negotiations.

“We should figure out that number,” William pretended he didn’t see her falling mood. “Elder Yu would probably be more willing to help if she knew how large my part was. Unless… it’s really small?” He ended unsurely.

Wang Xiaoling sighed, “No, it’s not. This isn’t exact, and I’ll have to confirm it later, but my guess would be around thirty-five percent.”

“Oh,” William blinked, not having to act like he was shocked… since he actually was. A little more reevaluation was needed. It looked like ‘trusted’ would be understating when describing her honesty with business matters.

He wasn’t some investing guru or anything close in his old world. Nor did he know a lick about business, but even to him, owning such a large percentage would have been the key to fixing the drought of Spirit Stones he was made hyperaware of during the auction.

It was unfortunate that he would likely have to give his shares up in return for immediate Spirit Stones. Not ideal, but neither was getting killed by Lan Yang if he didn’t do this.

Seemed like getting those Spirit Stones to Lan Yang would be far more straightforward than he realized.

“That’s amazing!” William cheered, acting like his physical age. “It means I’m rich!”

“Ha!” Wang Xiaoling snorted. “I’ve been living on the bare necessities, and that won’t change for years. This is the building phase, brat. Every Spirit Stone has to be accounted for and spent in a way that will help grow the merchant house.”

His heart sank, and it must have been obvious since she noticed it.

“Why do you care so much?”

William had a few choices in front of him. He could come clean, revealing that he was the buyer of the martial skill she put in the auction, or continue the lie and try to get the Spirit Stones under a false pretense.

He could think of a way that would be believable. A large amount of Spirit Stones for greasing the hands of key people in the sect, lobbying for Rising Merchant House. However, that would start a cycle of lies that could end up destroying the dream Wang Xiaoling had.

Even if she had ‘swindled’ him for true all those months ago, which she didn’t, he couldn’t go that far. No matter how easily it could solve William’s self-made problem with Lan Yang, he couldn’t ruin this for her.

He would have to deal with the consequences of his idiocy like an adult, no matter how preferable it was to act like a child and pretend he didn’t know better.

“I bought the Heavenly Thunder Scripture.”