The female slave by Ning Cheng's side had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fiery figure. She didn't look like a member of the Wintercrow Clan, but more like a member of the Tanta Clan from the west of the Mysterious Continent.
It wasn't strange for the Wintercrow Clan's slave traders to set foot in the Mysterious Continent. Unlike Cloud Realm Continent, which forbade slave trading, the Mysterious Continent was free to do so. Slaves were different from servants. Slaves were never free, but their masters could use them for free. They could kill as they pleased, and their children would remain slaves forever. Servants, on the other hand, were paid wages and could leave as soon as their contracts were up. Slave trading was a lucrative business.
Supposedly, Ning Cheng understood that the Wintercrow Clan's biggest slave traders weren't from their own clan, but from the Mysterious Continent.
Ning Cheng had headed south after leaving Northern Li to tour Jiangnan. He wanted to visit all of the famous wineries there before picking a good place to open his own.
But who knew!
Long Fei Ye had actually taken control of all of Cloud Realm Continent's biggest wineries. Now he couldn't open a winery, nor find a place to drink good wine.
He knew that Long Fei Ye was forcing him to show himself, but he refused.
If he'd tricked Long Fei Ye with that bet, he was more than willing to bear the infamy of going back on his word and have the Long Fei Ye bear a grudge for the rest of his life!
Without wine to drink, he could only head north and escape Long Fei Ye's sphere of influence to Wintercrow Country. Wintercrow Country's wines were all strong liquors to his liking.
Since he was already in the Wintercrow Clan, he had nothing better to do, so he started to investigate Goldie's background. In just a few months, he got together with the biggest slave merchant in the Wintercrow Clan, Le Zheng.
Le Zheng came from the Mysterious Continent and was a martial arts trash. He couldn't survive there, so he joined the Liubei Trade Consortium in his twenties to engage in slave trading. Now he was in his sixties, but he was still unmarried and had no children.
In recent years, he'd been searching for a successor.
If it was anyone else, they might not be able to win Le Zheng's favor even after years of effort, but Ning Cheng was still the master of Cloud Realm Trade Consortium. He had both money and business acumen, so it wasn't difficult for him to win Le Zheng's favor.
The grassland Ning Cheng was in was within Le Zheng's sphere of influence. At this moment, Le Zheng was sitting across from Ning Cheng, looking at him in a drunken stupor. The dozen or so people around him were Le Zheng's trusted subordinates.
Ning Cheng was not interested in the slave trade. Back then, Ning Cheng had half-jokingly offered to work with him to resell slaves. He had also proposed to expand his business to the Mysterious Continent, but Ning Cheng had not agreed.
Although Le Zheng's slave trade was very profitable and he could use this opportunity to make friends with many influential people on the Mysterious Continent, Ning Cheng was not interested at all. Without the Di Clan's mission, he felt much more at ease. No matter how big a business empire he wanted, he could build it with his own hands. There was no need to take other people's plates.
He found the man who'd sold Jin Zi out of Wintercrow Country, then followed the man's trail and found something suspicious.
If it was Wintercrow Country's slaves, they'd usually come from small slave traders who bought their "goods" from various slave owners. Then they'd be sold to larger slave traders, who would then sell them out of Wintercrow Country to Cloud Realm Continent or the Mysterious Continent.
Most of these slaves were from Wintercrow Country. Wintercrow Country was a nation of slaves. Two-thirds of the population were slaves. Slaves would always be slaves, and so would their descendants. They had no chance to change their fortunes, because they were branded with the mark of a slave as soon as they were born. As long as their masters didn't need them, they'd write out an indenture contract to sell them off as well.
Another group of slaves came from Cloud Realm Continent or the Mysterious Continent. They were either abducted, adopted, or sold off for other reasons. These people would come to Wintercrow Country and sell them to slave owners. Once they were branded with Wintercrow Country's unique slave mark, they'd be sold off for a different price.
Generally speaking, both Wintercrow Country slaves and foreign slaves would only be bought and sold three or four times between Wintercrow Country slave traders and slave traders.
But Ning Cheng discovered that Jin Zi's indenture contracts had been sold between Wintercrow Country slave traders and slave traders a total of ten times. At first, Jin Zi had been sold from one of Yue Zheng's subordinates, Uncle Gong. But Uncle Gong didn't know which slave owner he'd bought Jin Zi from, and which slave owner had opened Jin Zi's indenture contract. Ning Cheng couldn't find any clues.
Now that Uncle Gong had passed away, Ning Cheng had snuck into the Liubei Trade Consortium.
He investigated all of Uncle Gong's slave trades, but didn't find any clues. At the same time, he searched through all of Wintercrow Country, but didn't find a second person who understood the language of beasts. He began to suspect that Jin Zi wasn't a member of Wintercrow Country, but someone from the Mysterious Continent. Uncle Gong's previous records must have been destroyed by someone else. There had to be something fishy going on here.
If he wanted to find out Jin Zi's true identity, he had to figure out how Jin Zi had been sold to Wintercrow Country as a slave.
It was late at night, and everyone was drunk. Ning Cheng seemed to be drunk as well, but he was actually very sober.
Yue Zheng had rewarded everyone with Wintercrow girls as a reward, but he'd given Ning Cheng a girl from another race. Whether it was a special benefit or a test, no one knew.
The blonde beauty seemed to know Ning Cheng's preferences well. She picked up a jar of wine as soon as she arrived and downed it with a tilt of her head.
The people around them looked over and started to jeer.
Ning Cheng sat on the ground and leaned back. He arched an eyebrow as he watched the beauty drink with great interest.
Even if he was blind in one eye and wore a blindfold, it didn't make him look handsome or noble at all. That eye alone could easily captivate people's souls when he was bewitching. His evil smile mesmerized all of the female slaves present.
The blonde beauty finished the wine and smashed the jar to pieces.
She rested one hand on Ning Cheng's shoulder while the other picked up a jug of wine. Slowly, she drew closer to Ning Cheng's body, her enchanting figure and seductive movements drawing whistles from the crowd.
Ning Cheng glanced at the jeering crowd and smiled even more brilliantly. He yelled, "Drink!"
As soon as he raised his head and opened his mouth, the blonde beauty straddled him and poured the wine into his mouth.
Ning Cheng drank in large mouthfuls, letting the overflowing wine wet his face, hair, and clothes. He was carefree and unrestrained.
Soon, the jar was empty. The blonde beauty had just tossed the jar away when Ning Cheng, who had been leaning back, suddenly leaned forward and pushed the blonde beauty to the ground.
The screams and whistles around them grew even louder.
The drunk Le Zheng also laughed out loud. "Good alcohol tolerance!"
Ning Cheng looked over and casually grabbed a jar of wine and threw it over. Even if the other people present were too drunk, they wouldn't dare to be so rude to Le Zheng.
But, Ning Cheng dared!
Le Zheng caught the wine and happily drank it in large mouthfuls.
Ning Cheng's attention returned to the blonde beauty. The corner of his mouth hooked up into a devilish arc. He grabbed the wine and poured it into the beauty's mouth.
His action catered to the wicked taste of the people present. The jeering became louder and louder.
After the blonde beauty was poured a jar of wine, she was completely drunk. Like an octopus, she clung onto Ning Cheng and didn't let go. Her hand reached into Ning Cheng's clothes as if she wanted to undress him.
Ning Cheng purposely pried her hand away and gave a drunken burp. "Beauty, there's no rush. Heheh, this gentleman will definitely serve you well tonight!" he said drunkenly.
As he spoke, he got up and held the blonde beauty's waist with one hand and lifted a jar of wine with the other. He waved at Le Zheng and turned to walk towards the tent not far away.
Le Zheng laughed and hugged a female slave, letting his brothers continue to drink.
After a while, everyone returned with beauties in their arms and dispersed.
At this time, a tall and slender young woman quietly walked into the tent where Le Zheng was staying.
Le Zheng wasn't drunk. The female slave he brought in kneeled behind him and massaged him.
Under the light, this young woman was dressed in black. She had a pretty face and a pair of iconic red phoenix eyes. She was very beautiful.
She was none other than Le Zheng's most beloved goddaughter, the eldest miss of Liubei Chamber of Commerce, Le Le. Many people who didn't know the situation thought that Le Le was Le Zheng's biological daughter.
She let the female slave leave and personally massaged her godfather.
"Father, the female slave I arranged for Ah Cheng is pretty good, right?" Le Le asked. Ning Cheng entered Liubei Chamber of Commerce as an orphan. He didn't have a surname, only a given name. Everyone called him Ah Cheng.
"Whether she's good or not, we'll know after he uses her. Haha!" Le Zheng laughed.
Le Le laughed, "Don't all men like that? I guarantee that Ning Cheng will keep her. I'll sell one to Father. If it's not good, I'll pay you three times the price. If it's good, I'll sell Father some tonics so that Father and Grandfather won't tire themselves out and hurt their bodies. "
"You little girl, you might as well be a brothel keeper." Le Zheng pulled Le Le in front of him and scolded her with a frown, "If you continue to be so mischievous, be careful that you won't be able to get married!"
Le Zheng trusted Ning Cheng completely, but Le Le was still on guard against him. Thus, he arranged for someone to stay by his side and keep an eye on him.
In order to guarantee that Ning Cheng would keep the female slave, Le Le specially found the blonde beauty, Shaqiu. Shaqiu was not only beautiful, but also good in bed.
"It's good that I can't get married. Father can give Liubei Chamber of Commerce to me. Father can enjoy life. I promise to show filial piety to Father every year!" Le Le said happily.
One had to know that in Liubei Chamber of Commerce, there were countless people who wanted to control this business, but they didn't dare to show it. Le Le, however, never avoided it.
Perhaps, it was because she dared to think, speak, and act that Le Zheng loved her dearly.
Le Zheng pulled Le Le's hand and patted it gently. He said earnestly, "Daughter, Father wants to ask you seriously. How is Ah Cheng?"
"Everything is good except that he's blind in one eye. His background is unknown." Le Le answered without thinking.
"If we find out his background and prove that he has no disloyalty to Liubei Chamber of Commerce, are you willing to marry him?" Le Zheng asked again.
Le Zheng wanted to pass the business to Le Le, but Le Le was a woman. Those in the slave trade were mostly men. Le Le would more or less be at a disadvantage if she dealt with those men. If she could marry Ah Cheng, the two of them could take over Liubei Chamber of Commerce. Then, he could rest assured and return to his original family.
After leaving home for decades, he would eventually return to his roots.
Le Zheng hadn't taken a wife for so many years because his family had extremely high requirements for bloodline. Even if he was a good-for-nothing, he couldn't marry a woman from the Mysterious Continent.
Le Le thought for a moment and said with a grin, "Sure, I'll ask Shaqiu later. If Ah Cheng is a good man, I'll consider it!"
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