Chapter 793: A Mountain of Wealth

Gu Shuo picked it up, but for a moment, he couldn’t recall where he had seen it before. He examined it over and over, and only after a long while did it hit him. "Isn’t this the wild fruit that grows on the hills of the Barbarian Clan’s lands? What is this thing good for?"

"Oh, they’re quite the treasure. You can make food out of them."

"Eat? I seem to remember they aren’t edible." As he spoke, Gu Shuo skeptically placed the fruit in his mouth. An intensely bitter taste immediately spread through his mouth. He frowned, and even after taking a few sips of tea, his tongue still tingled with bitterness.

"It’s too bitter. Truly inedible."

Hiding a smile, Ye Qianning took an item from her storage space and handed it to him. "Here, try this instead."

Gu Shuo took it, hesitating as he looked at the dark-colored thing in his hand. He took a tentative bite. There was no bitterness. On the contrary, his mouth filled with a smooth, fragrant sweetness.

It melted the moment it touched his tongue.

"Wh... What is this?"

Ye Qianning didn’t answer. She simply stood, walked over to the table, and poured a packet of brown powder into a cup, then added boiling water. She knew Gu Shuo had a bit of a sweet tooth.

So she added a lump of sugar before bringing it over. "Father Gu, have a taste."

Watching her, Gu Shuo grew even more puzzled. He accepted the cup. The liquid was hot, and a faint aroma reached his nose, carrying what seemed to be a slightly burnt scent.

He frowned slightly as he stared at the dark, murky liquid in the cup.

"Father, rest assured, I wouldn’t harm you." Ye Qianning laughed at his wary expression.

"Qian Ning, why does this drink smell burnt?"

"It is a bit, but the flavor is quite good. It’ll help wake you up."

Gu Shuo blew on it to cool it down, took a small sip, and savored the taste. It was slightly bitter at first, but the aftertaste was quite fragrant. After a few more sips, he started to get used to it.

"What kind of tea is this?" he asked, amazed.

"It’s called coffee, and it’s made from grinding these fruits. Drinking a cup when you’re sleepy is very invigorating." Ye Qianning then picked up the other fruit. "This one is called a cocoa pod. The chocolate you just ate was made from it."

"Coffee?" Gu Shuo had never imagined that the wild fruit from the Barbarian Clan’s territory could be made into a beverage.

Though it had tasted bitter at first, his mouth now held a mellow, fragrant aftertaste. It wasn’t bad at all when he took the time to savor it.

"All in all, they’re treasures. You can make many other things from cocoa pods, and they grow all over the mountains in the Barbarian lands. It’s a ready-made fortune just waiting to be claimed."

The Barbarian Clan’s territory is vast, and their untamed mountains are covered with cocoa and coffee trees. If developed, this business would be even more profitable than selling animal hides.

While Gu Shuo didn’t fully understand the intricacies of cocoa pods and the like, the two things he had just sampled were undeniably excellent. An entire mountain covered in fruit...

He finally understood!

"The Nanyuan Prince has rallied the merchant associations to boycott the Gu family’s industries. But if we offer something novel enough, that boycott becomes nothing but words on paper. It won’t affect our sales at all."

’A boycott... Heh. Novelty is always king. If they want to boycott us, they’ll have to offer something even better.’

Gu Shuo glanced at the contract again. "You intend to purchase cocoa pods and co... coffee beans for four copper coins per pound?"

The word ’coffee’ felt a little awkward on his tongue.

"I’ve run the numbers. The price is several times what they make hunting for hides. Besides, for them, the cocoa trees have no overhead right now—they’re all wild. The Barbarian Clan won’t turn down such a great deal when it guarantees a huge annual income."

Gu Shuo nodded, then a thought suddenly struck him. "You’ve been back for less than two months. How do you know so much about the Barbarian Clan?"