Seeing the anxiety written all over his face, Lin Ke frowned. "What happened?"
He had never seen Zhao Ming this anxious in all their time together.
Zhao Ming hurriedly explained, "After these past few days of construction, we've nearly used up the first batch of materials, so I went to the marketplace today to buy more."
"But when I got there, all the shops that had agreed to supply me suddenly said they had no materials left."
An ominous premonition flashed through Lin Ke's mind. "I remember you telling me that the materials you'd arranged should last until the end of the month?"
"What exactly happened?"
For the construction of the Great Wilderness Palace's marketplace, Lin Ke only needed to provide the site. Zhao Ming supplied all the other materials and labor.
Zhao Ming had his own workers, while the materials were purchased from several shops in the marketplace.
As for the quantities, Zhao Ming had settled everything with those shops on the first day of construction. There should have been more than enough to last until the project was finished.
Yet now this unexpected problem had suddenly cropped up.
Lin Ke could not help wondering whether someone else had interfered.
"Yes, that was exactly what we agreed on at first," Zhao Ming continued.
"I even went to check in person and found that they still had plenty of materials in their shops. When I pressed them, I discovered an even bigger problem."
He paused, then continued, "According to the shopkeepers, someone offered a higher price and bought up all their materials."
"That mysterious buyer has already bought all the materials in the entire marketplace. We'll probably have to wait months for new supplies to arrive."
"A mysterious buyer?" Lin Ke's gaze sharpened.
If things were as Zhao Ming described,