BXBX NOVEL Chapter 68: I better get used to these kinds of numbers!
"A million?" I asked after making sure the doors were closed properly. "Don't treat it as me doubting your choices, but don't you think that's a little bit too much?"
I was hardly in a place to say so after we spent pretty much around a hundred thousand Esecs on the random stuff on our way to this place.
And if a single instance of shopping could add up so quickly, then…
"Oh, it's not just a million," Claire raised her head and smiled cheekily. "This one million is just the initial investment. By tomorrow, I will wire the next two million over. This way, once you decide what you need, we will have up to fifty mils in total with the in-house credit."
Claire spoke exactly the same way she would when we talked about silly nothings. I, on the other hand, had to pay extremely close attention to each word she said, just in case I missed a single number.
Yet, I didn't miss even one of them.
One million, two million, up to fifty million.
If not for the fact that the numbers were relatively consistent, I would simply assume I misheard, especially with the absolutely still expression on Claire's face.
But on the other hand…
'I guess I have to get used to these kinds of numbers,' I thought, taking a deep breath to calm down…
Only for Claire to climb right back up into my lap after she grabbed the cards left behind by the accounting clerk of the merchant's house.
"This is going to take a while to read through it all," she muttered as she scanned the content of the hardened piece of paper. "Would you like to listen to the whole list or should I pick stuff that I myself find interesting?"
Leaning her head out to the side, Claire looked up, clearly waiting for my reaction.
'That list… Isn't it the warehouse manifest of this place?' I thought as I glanced over at the neatly arranged database printed out on the hard piece of laminated paper.
"Once again, don't take it for me distrusting your ideas… but what do we need this for?" I asked instead of giving out an answer. And while I hated the idea of answering a question with a question of my own… I couldn't really give a proper answer if I didn't really understand what Claire was asking about!
"Ah, I never brought it up, my bad," Claire nodded her head a little only to then quickly rest it back against my shoulder. "Seeing how you've gained a lot of inspiration from just going around my store and leading the labels, I thought this would be the best way to get you whatever tools, parts, and resources you might need.
And while this place definitely doesn't deal with the more exotic and hyper-expensive stuff…" Claire reached out with her other hand before tapping her knuckles against the laminated card in her other hand, "as long as it something common, they are going to have it in stock."
'As one would expect from the wholesaler,' I thought, taking a moment to process it all before adding it to the mosaic of my understanding of the cultivation world.
"Then, your explanation is for…"
"A stand-in for the labels," Claire answered before I could even finish my inquiry. "It won't be any helpful if I just read out the names that you've never heard about before," she explained only to then drive her fingers up the card…
Only for the text to follow the movement of her finger, scrolling up and revealing more and more verses of the spreadsheet.
"That's…" My eyes widened as I realized that rather than just a piece of laminated paper, this card was actually a tablet of sorts.
"Oh, that," Claire twitched on my lap only to then wiggle around as she found the perfect way to nestle her ass atop my thighs. "It's a liquid crystal technology. Apparently, it's only set to commercially release to the public in a year or two, but…"
Claire then dragged her eyes all over the room, hanging her stare on each part of it that looked even remotely more expensive than the others.
"But this place isn't exactly a part of the public, huh?" I muttered, getting the point Claire was trying to make.
"Yeah," she nodded her head with a happy smile and turned her eyes back to the device in her hand. "Just renting this place can cost upwards of twenty thousand for a single visit, so yeah, this definitely isn't technology that your average Joe will have access to.
Nevertheless," Claire's smile turned into a grin as she leaned her head to the back, stretching her chin as far up as she could while brushing the top of her head against my chest as she stretched her head to flash her lovely grin at me, "it's quite convenient."
Looking down, I had a tough choice of where exactly to look.
Down into Claire's eyes? Or a bit further down and into the chest that she puffed out as she stretched her head or the back?
"Damn, girl, stop temping me like that," I whimpered, acting as if I was about to cry. "We can have all the fun that we want once we go back, so shouldn't we focus on the job for now?"
Claire first straightened her back before suddenly standing up and turning on her heel, all in a bid to look me directly in the face.
"Why not both?" she asked as her grin grew into a lascivious, hungry smile. "You know, now that you made me all excited… I don't think I can get myself in the mood to not only read through it all but also explain what each specific item is for…"
Claire explained in a suggestive voice… Only to turn her back to me before taking a step back and voluntarily falling right back into my lap. Then, using her free right hand, she grabbed my wrist before pulling my hand all the way over to her stomach.
"So, while I will go back to working hard, how about you go back to what you were about to do before we were so rudely interrupted?"