Chapter 792: What Material Can Compare with Muyun Sha?

When Ye Qianning finished speaking and received no immediate response, she looked up to find Gu Shuo poring over the contract she had written, a look of shock on his face.

Seeing this, she lowered her head and resumed drafting the contract with Loulan.

Nanyuan’s seafood was currently all the rage, so it was only natural that others would want a piece of the pie. However, Xiliu Yuan’s attitude was hard for her to gauge.

The seagulls she had watching them hadn’t picked up any news. Xiliu Yuan rarely left the inn and seemed to have an aversion to the sea.

He usually just drank tea and read, barely saying a few words all day.

Even at the port today, Xiliu Yuan had hardly spoken. Getting any information out of him would be difficult.

"You want to trade with the Barbarian Clan and Beijiang?" Gu Shuo was utterly shocked after finishing the contract.

"And Loulan."

"Loulan? Those three are notoriously difficult to do business with. They’re all self-sufficient; I’ve never heard of them cooperating with merchants from the four great nations." As Gu Shuo spoke, he began to study the contract again.

Beijiang was famous for its spices, the Barbarian Clan for its animal pelts, and Loulan for its silks. These goods were well-known in the four great nations and fetched a high price.

’The contract mentions a fabric even more precious than Muyun Silk,’ he wondered. ’What could it be?’

"They haven’t cooperated before because no one has offered them anything enticing enough. Beijiang is famous for its spices, and their Yun Hui Fragrance is nearly impossible to buy. If I offer something that surpasses it, they’ll naturally give it serious thought. The same logic applies to the Barbarian Clan and Loulan. If their top-tier reputations are threatened, they stand to lose a great deal. If I teach them the production methods and we supply the raw materials, why would they refuse?"

They get to protect their reputation while creating something even more valuable.

Their fame would grow, and the new products would be worth an incalculable amount.

"Raw materials? What fabric could possibly compare to Muyun Silk?" Gu Shuo wasn’t as curious about the spices.

"Lotus silk."

"Lotus silk?"

"It’s made by extracting fibers from within lotus stems and weaving them into cloth and silk."

Gu Shuo was baffled. ’Fibers from a lotus stem? How could you even extract them?’

’And even if you could, how would you weave them into cloth?’

"In any case, it involves special techniques and trade secrets. You just need to know it’s something precious, Father Gu." Ye Qianning explained, thinking, ’It’s probably hard for him to understand without seeing it for himself.’

Gu Shuo thought for a moment, still unconvinced. "You said the lotus silk comes from the fibers of lotus stems. Lotuses are common throughout the four great nations. If you teach them the method, couldn’t they just gather the stems from elsewhere?"

"They could use ordinary lotuses," Ye Qianning said. "But if they want to create a silk more precious than Muyun Silk, they’ll have to buy the raw materials from me." Her lotuses were grown in the Spiritual Spring.

At the moment, she had just enough lotus stems on hand to produce ten bolts of lotus silk. Rarity, after all, created value.

’Once I get to Changqing Mountain and add its water to the Spiritual Spring to cultivate the seeds, the resulting lotuses will be beyond anything ordinary.’

Gu Shuo seemed to only half-understand. "And the Barbarian Clan?"

"The Barbarian Clan is famous for its animal pelts, but production has dwindled in recent years. If they don’t find a new trade, they won’t last another ten years."

The Barbarian Clan lived by hunting, but when she had visited them a while back, she saw that years of overhunting had driven the local wildlife nearly to extinction.

"A new trade? The Barbarian Clan has survived by hunting since ancient times. Their crop yields are extremely low; they can’t survive on farming alone." Gu Shuo couldn’t imagine what other industry could possibly thrive in their territory.

Ye Qianning retrieved several red, round fruits and some oval ones from her dimensional space. "Father Gu, do you recognize either of these?"