Chapter 540  : Too Temperamental

To think that he was already over 50 years old, but a boy had left him in such a quandary. “Young man, just what did you come here for?” he couldn’t help but ask angrily. “I, for one, came here in good faith. I only wish to walk away from this transaction with both of us satisfied with the results. I’m telling you, my conditions are very reasonable.”

Yao Tang leaned over and rapped her knuckles against the table. “I, too, think that my condition is perfectly reasonable.”

The man’s hands clenched into fists.

His family had no success in the field of weaponry, though they had been making a lot of research throughout the past few years. It was exactly because of this that he needed to acquire those blueprints.

If he didn’t get his hands on new ideas or a reliable source material, then his family would have no hope of developing any further in the area.

The art of designing and creating weapons took a great deal of talent, after all.

Some large families possessed blueprints, hidden deep inside their vaults of riches, while others had prodigies among their ranks whose skills they could nurture and improve over time. No amount of money could buy these things.

Many patriarchs of powerful clans coveted these resources, but they couldn’t do anything if they didn’t have a blueprint to start with, even as a reference. This naturally meant that they were also incapable of training a decent weapon designer.

The man was no different. At the moment, they only one apprentice who was about to enter the C-rank, while the rest remained at D-rank and F-rank levels.

As for that lone aspirant, he had unfortunately been struggling for several years now, but his output only ever came close to C-rank instead of being fully qualified.

The man was planning to give those blueprints to the apprentice, if only to get the ball rolling and advance his level a little.

Once the apprentice finally reached the C-rank, it would contribute a lot to furthering the status of the entire family.

The man gritted his teeth at the thought. Taking a deep breath, he said, “If you insist on refusing my terms, then there’s no need to drag this meeting any longer. Our business is done here. If fate permits, we may have another trade in the future, hopefully a successful one.”

He collected the parchment and made to place it back inside the box.

Yao Tang, on the other hand, sat calm and unbothered as she watched him. Then, with a wave of her hand, she gestured toward the door and flashed him a smile. “I won’t be seeing you off, then. Please take care.”

The man paused for a brief moment, but soon recovered himself.

His movements significantly slowed, however, as if he was waiting for something.

He snapped the box shut ad got to his feet. He turned on his heel. Yao Tangstill said nothing.

The man’s expression turned grim as he slowly made his way to the door.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Yao Tang stand up as well.

His heart leaped in joy.

He had known it!

The young master did, in fact, need the parchment. He had purposely dallied to give the boy some time to reconsider his decision, and he was glad that his hunch was correct!

The man sighed derisively to himself. The youth these days were too temperamental for a proper business deal.

He opened his mouth and was just about to speak when he saw the young master turn in the opposite direction and walk toward the other door.

And unlike his slow, hesitating steps, the boy’s were quick and precise.

For the second time that night, the man was frozen to the spot, shocked and bewildered.

Under his mask, her brows were furrowed tightly as his expression quickly turned into one of panic.

He followed the boy for a few steps and called out, “Young Master, please wait. May I ask what you mean by doing this?”

“What? What are you talking about?” Yao Tangsounded surprised as she slowly whirled around to face the man.

“I’m leaving, of course. As you said, the meeting is over, and the transaction has been canceled. What’s the matter now?”

The man’s head buzzed at the boy’s calm tone. He didn’t seem to be bluffing; he really was leaving!

This was not according to plan at all. The man clenched his fists.

“All right. Since the Young Master will not be swayed, I will cut my losses and take my victory in making a friend in you. A C-grade blueprint it is, then. Do we have a deal?”