"Kill me? Of course you can. Such things have happened before, and there has never been a shortage of them. But please rest assured, even if you, Village Chief, kill me, my king will not avenge me. We are in the business of doing business, so we naturally have to bear our own risks."
"However, if you kill me, my king will no longer conduct trade with your village from this day forward. You understand trade, don't you? We are merchants—merchants who come to your door to do business. We can bring you all kinds of information you urgently need to know, purchase all kinds of materials in your possession, and sometimes even serve as your mercenaries. This is not a one-time transaction."
"I believe that with the wisdom of the Village Chief, you should understand how important merchants like us are to the development of a village."
The Black Fox spoke eloquently, and everything it said sounded quite reasonable.
Zhang Yang seemed to have been persuaded. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Your asking price is too high, and you refuse to bargain. In that case, this trade can't continue. However, as you said, a merchant is indeed very useful to our tribe. How about this? I'll let you go. So long as I don't discover you helping those orcs during the coming war, I can promise that we'll continue doing business with you in the future. Go!"
"Village Chief, that is an extremely wise choice."
The Black Fox elegantly stood upright, performed a human courtesy, then turned and walked backward three steps before turning around and leaving. Zhang Yang kept watching until the Black Fox walked out through the tavern courtyard's gate. Only then did a mocking smile suddenly appear at the corner of his mouth.
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