To be honest, Yang Bolin's taste was somewhat unexpected for Gu Junming.

It's important to know that although Taihe Building's menu is in Damo language, each word has been carefully processed by a group of linguists.

Words like 'stinky' have no possibility of semantic misinterpretation; it's as straightforward as seeing 450 and thinking of 12dora.

Considering the indigenous tastes of the Damo Realm, the arrays inscribed by the bunnies on the menu not only have imaging but also include the taste of the final product.

Let's not even talk about dishes like Beggar's Chicken, which requires breaking the clay; at least with stinky tofu, as long as you don't have a stuffy nose, you can definitely smell the real aroma.

Therefore, from both a sensory and textual perspective, Yang Bolin surely understood what the dishes he ordered actually tasted like.

One could only say that Yang Bolin's taste was somewhat akin to that of Chixian City's refugee, Zhao Qianju, quite distinctive indeed.

However, to put it another way, Yang Bolin's choice was accidentally spot on—those familiar with the bunnies' tradition of 'stinky' dishes know very well that they smell bad but taste good, warming the stomach when eaten.

After Yang Bolin finished ordering his full stinky feast, Gu Junming also ordered a few relatively standard regular dishes.

Such as boiled cabbage, blood duck, scallion sea cucumber, and pagoda meat.

It was also a chance to satisfy his craving.

After all, Taihe Building's head chef, Huang Shixian, is a bona fide 'Imperial Chef,' and to be frank, someone of Gu Junming's status rarely gets to enjoy dishes made personally by him.

Like the private room hosting Yang Bolin, the dishes Gu Junming ordered were also pre-prepared by the kitchen.

Thus, it was not long before all the dishes they ordered were served at the table.

How to describe this scene...

Half heaven, half hell—at least for Gu Junming, it was certainly like that.

Those who've tasted stinky tofu know there's a wide variety of ways to make it:

There's deep-fried with batter, black tofu with sauce added after frying, and the fermented lactone tofu.

Given Yang Bolin's personal taste, the kitchen specially prepared a serving of each type of stinky tofu.

With the enhancement of stinky mandarin fish and other 'stinky dishes,' the smell was, well...

Honestly speaking.

Gu Junming would rather face surrender from a hundred Gaul soldiers on the battlefield than stay in this room and eat a bite of food.

However, unlike Gu Junming's dilemma, Yang Bolin was eating happily.

Wolfing down a piece of stinky mandarin fish with rice, this chief shopkeeper of the Purple Treasure Pavilion let out a burp filled with isopropylamine and methionine.

Seeing this, Gu Junming had no choice but to sit obediently by the side, drinking and chatting with Yang Bolin.

There is a rule in Huaxia dining culture: after three rounds of drinking and five tastes of dishes, it signifies it's time to discuss business.

A two-person meal is served faster than ordinary group gatherings, so after about twenty minutes, Gu Junming thought the timing was about right.

He first raised the wine brewed by Master Qin Jiu and said to Yang Bolin:

"Shopkeeper Yang, let me toast to you again. Was this meal to your satisfaction?"

Yang Bolin clinked glasses with him, tipped his head back, and downed it in one go, then squinted his eyes in delight and raised a thumb:

"Shopkeeper Gu, I dare not say too much, but for cooking ingredients below first-rank monster beasts, Taihe Building is unmatched in Ziqiong City!

I'll surely frequent Taihe Building in the future. Please reserve a long-term private room for me, deposits are not a problem!"

It was clear that Yang Bolin was truly satisfied with the meal, and seeing him genuinely ready to take out a deposit, Gu Junming hurriedly stopped him, saying:

"Ah, I'm grateful for Shopkeeper Yang's favor, but there's no need for a deposit. I'll definitely reserve this Spring Breeze Pavilion for you.

Shopkeeper Yang, to be honest, there was a message from the boss a few days ago, and there's something they'd like me to discuss with you."

The boss that Gu Junming mentioned was clearly the Taoshu Commerce Association, so Yang Bolin didn't take out money anymore. He immediately became serious, set down his chopsticks, and used a towel to wipe his mouth, then asked:

"Oh? Since it's something from Shopkeeper Ma, feel free to speak, Shopkeeper Gu, if it's something within my abilities, I certainly won't refuse."

After hearing this, Gu Junming contemplated for a moment and explained:

"Here's the thing, Shopkeeper Yang.

Recently, while transporting goods to Linyuan City, our boss encountered several Demon Realm passages, and during this, we had to expend some resources to repel monster beasts—Shopkeeper Ma specifically instructed me to clarify that we absolutely do not intend to ask for compensation or raise prices from you because of this.

We just want to discuss with you whether we could modify our previous agreement of delivering a batch of goods every three Damo Days, to every four Damo Days instead?

Of course.

With the delivery cycle extended, the quantity of goods delivered at that time will certainly increase, so you don't have to worry about that.

We merely want to reduce the delivery frequency slightly, which would decrease the likelihood of our caravan encountering monster tides."

Upon hearing Gu Junming's words, Yang Bolin's expression suddenly became serious.

After a while, he finally spoke:

"Shopkeeper Gu, the matter of the delivery cycle can be discussed separately, but is what you said about Demon Realm passages also appearing near Chixian City true?"

"Certainly true, you can have people... hmm?"

Gu Junming, with an earnest expression, was about to promise when he 'suddenly realized' and widened his eyes, asking:

"You mean... also? Could it be that here in Ziqiong City..."

Yang Bolin took a sip from his wine glass, then slowly nodded, saying:

"Correct, according to the recent intelligence gathered by Purple Treasure Pavilion, the frequency of Demon Realm passages appearing in the southern region has increased significantly—this is highly unusual, as the region recently suffered a monster tide, so there shouldn't be such large-scale appearances of Demon Realm passages."

The southern region mentioned by Yang Bolin includes Ziqiong City, Anhua City, Frost Snow City, and two other mega-cities each with a million residents.

The whole southern region spans approximately 5,000 kilometers, equivalent to 10,000 li.

That's roughly equal to the native span from north to south, from Mo River to Zengmu Ansha.

The southern region is vast, and while the times of monster tide occurrences in each area may not sync perfectly, they can at least be categorized within a single time frame.

For example, Ziqiong City faced the monster tide fifteen Damo Days ago, while Anhua City encountered the Demon Realm passage thirty Damo Days ago, both falling under the time frame of 'Damo Realm Year xxx.'

Theoretically, if a major region experiences a monster tide within a particular time frame, it shouldn't see large-scale Demon Realm passages for another four to five years.

Thus, the current situation in the southern region is highly unusual and abnormal.

The reason why Yang Bolin shared this information so candidly with Gu Junming is very simple:

Firstly, with the arrival of the second batch of resources, he already regards the Taoshu Commerce Association as an equal partner.

Given they are visitors from 'across the mountain', with limited information reach in the southern region, he's quite willing to sell them a favor, like Ma Ning and the others.

As for the second reason...

It's because various well-informed cities in the southern region have already begun to take action, stockpiling various supplies.

Not only did the prices of monster materials rise, but war-ready materials like talismans also became increasingly scarce.

In this scenario, the demand for Joy Sticks is bound to rise.

In fact, before Yang Bolin came to Taihe Building, there were other cities' commerce associations contacting him, hoping to absorb another batch of Type 67 Joy Sticks.

Conversely, there's not much inquiry about the Type 56 Automatic Collection Charms and the 7.62mm Joy Pills for now, given that the real battles haven't broken out yet, and the power and allure of firearms have no opportunity to fully manifest.

But for Yang Bolin, whether it's the 67-type Joy Sticks or the 56-type Automatic Collection Charms, he lacks the production capacity for either, so he honestly acts as the middleman.

Under these circumstances, the only thing he can do is increase his procurement from the Taoshu Commerce Association.

Judging by the Taoshu Commerce Association's ability to notice the price rise of monster materials, it's only a matter of time before they become aware of the Demon Realm passages.

Therefore, instead of hiding it, it would be better to be open and honest about the situation, gaining goodwill from the Taoshu Commerce Association.

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