Su Wei looked at him without saying a word.
He let Old Jack roar and rant.
Su Wei knew perfectly well that Old Jack was trying to use psychological warfare to drive down the price.
"Eight thousand?"
Su Wei chuckled. "Are you trying to fob off a beggar?"
He strode over to the metal cabinet and casually picked up the thickest devil's club root.
The gnarled root looked full of vitality under the dim yellow light.
"As long as this stuff makes it into those private clubs in Alaska, or gets flown straight to the wealthy on the East Coast..."
Su Wei gently stroked the root's rough surface.
"It'll sell for more than ten times that."
"And what I have here is enough to give you something to boast about to those old fellows for more than half a year."
He looked at Old Jack.
"Don't think I don't know."
"This stuff is hard currency among those big shots."
Su Wei's words left Old Jack speechless.
His old face, with its big red nose, went pale and flushed by turns.
He had indeed planned to resell the goods to those upper-class circles for a massive profit.
After all, that was where the stuff was most popular.
"Hmph!"
Old Jack let out a cold snort.
"So what? Can you sell it to those people? Can you get this stuff out of here?!"
"Can you avoid the others in the business who've caught the scent of blood?!"
He pointed at Su Wei, his voice rising.
"What can you do besides dig in the dirt and hunt a little?"
"You have no buyers, no channels. You can only let this junk rot in your hands!"
He advanced on Su Wei, one step at a time.
"Fifteen thousand? You're dreaming!"
"Tell you what, I'll add another two thousand. Ten thousand dollars."
"That's my bottom line!"
Old Jack held up a finger and pointed it at Su Wei.
His finger trembled constantly as he spoke so vehemently.
"If you still won't agree, I'm leaving! When that happens, you won't even have a place to cry!"
Su Wei's gaze swept over Old Jack's agitated gestures.
He knew Old Jack's bottom line was nowhere near that low.
The thing about this stuff was how scarce it was.
He raised his hand and put the devil's claw back in the cabinet.
Thump.
A dull sound.
"Fourteen thousand dollars."
Su Wei named his price, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.
"Not another word."
"Either you walk away with fourteen thousand dollars now."
"Or you can forget about getting a single cent."
He paused.
"I don't have time to waste on you."
Old Jack's eyes widened. He had never expected Su Wei, that debt-ridden kid, to be so tough.
He had thought that, with his gift of the gab and experience, he could keep Su Wei firmly in the palm of his hand.
He wanted to argue again, to keep pushing the price down, but Su Wei's gaze sent a chill through him.
His gaze was firm. This was not a momentary impulse, but a decision made after careful consideration.
Old Jack met Su Wei's gaze and finally backed down.
He gritted his teeth.
"Deal!"
His voice was full of reluctance.
"Kid! You've really made me bleed this time!"
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a thick wad of American bills, and counted them carefully.
He counted out exactly $14,000, then handed it to Su Wei with a pang.
Su Wei took it and checked it carefully.
Fourteen thousand dollars.
That was right.
It was much more than Su Wei had expected.
He had originally estimated that eight to ten thousand dollars was the most this batch of devil's club would fetch.
After all, according to the original owner's memories, that was about what it was worth.
He hadn't expected Old Jack's greed to earn him extra money instead.
He had only been certain that Old Jack needed it badly and wanted it very much.
So he had taken a gamble.
Now, his gamble had paid off.
Even so, Su Wei still hadn't expected the devil's claw to sell for so much.
He could only say that he really couldn't fathom how rich people thought.
"There's also the deer."
Su Wei put away his phone, his tone calm.
The reluctance Old Jack had just suppressed returned with another pang at those words.
"All right, all right, the deer, right?"
Su Wei then took Old Jack to look at the venison and deerskin he had processed.
Old Jack pulled another thick wad of cash from his wallet.
"You did a decent job processing it."
"Twelve hundred dollars. Cash deal."
He counted out twelve hundred-dollar bills and handed them to Su Wei.
Su Wei took the money and quickly counted it with his fingers.
The price wasn't far off.
It was a black-tailed doe, with no antlers, so there was only the venison and the hide.
The hide couldn't actually fetch much; nearly all the money came from the venison.
And this price was actually a little more than he should have been paid.
Whether the price of venison had risen because it was the fall and winter season,
or Old Jack's conscience had awakened,
Su Wei didn't care. He folded the money and stuffed it into his pocket.
As long as he got the money, that was enough.
"You kid, you're really looking more and more the part."
Watching Su Wei's swift, efficient movements, Old Jack forced a complicated expression onto his face, a mix of puzzlement and a touch of wonder.
"That coward who used to hole up in his cabin, afraid even to go outside, has now become... become a tough nut."
He muttered it under his breath, but Su Wei heard him anyway.