Wei Chen spent the first day calculating.
He sat in his room with parchment borrowed from Elder Shen, writing out numbers. Income rates. Success probabilities. Timeline comparisons.
Safe path: three and a half months. Investment path: two months if successful, twelve months if failure.
Expected value: positive. But expected value assumed multiple attempts. Wei Chen only had one.
The numbers didn't lie. But they didn't tell the whole truth either.
The second day, Wei Chen went to Merchant Liu with questions.
"What items specifically?" Wei Chen asked, standing at Liu's stall during a quiet afternoon.
Liu pulled out his ledger, flipping to a marked section. "Estate sale next week. Minor noble family, recently deceased patriarch. Three items I'm interested in."
He pointed. "Shadow-attuned ring. Minor enchantment, helps with darkness manipulation. Market value: thirty silver. Liu's estimate: we could acquire for twenty, sell for thirty-five."
"Five silver profit on one item?"
"If we're lucky. If we're not, we acquire for twenty-five and sell for thirty. Still profit, but smaller."
"What if we can't sell it?"
"Then we hold it until we find a buyer. Might take months. Capital tied up, no immediate return." Liu's tone was matter-of-fact. "That's the break-even scenario."
Wei Chen absorbed this. "The other items?"
"Alchemical tools. Low-grade but functional. Easier to sell, smaller profit margin. And a set of beast cores. Risky—authentication is difficult, fakes are common."
"So we could buy fakes."
"Yes. That's the loss scenario." Liu closed the ledger. "I'm experienced. My authentication success rate is high. But not perfect. Nothing's perfect."
Wei Chen nodded slowly. "If we proceed, what's my role?"
"You attend the sale with me. Learn how auctions work. Watch me negotiate. Understand item evaluation." Liu smiled. "Consider it education. Whether we profit or not, you'll learn the business."
Education, Wei Chen thought. That had value too, separate from silver.
"I'll give you my answer tomorrow."
"Fair enough."
That evening, Wei Chen did something he rarely did.
He asked his parents for advice.
They sat at the small kitchen table after dinner. His father worked clay absently, hands never truly still. His mother mended clothing, needle moving with practiced efficiency.
"I need to make a decision," Wei Chen said. "And I want your counsel."
Both parents looked up, surprised. Wei Chen usually kept his plans private.
He explained Liu's proposition. The investment opportunity. The risks and potential rewards. The mathematics and the uncertainties.
His father listened silently, shaping clay into a simple bowl. His mother's needle paused halfway through a stitch.
When Wei Chen finished, Chen Bo spoke first.
"You're asking if you should risk our gold."
"Yes."
"It's not our gold anymore. It's yours." His father's voice was calm. "We gave it freely. What you do with it is your choice."
"But you have an opinion."
Chen Bo set down the clay, wiping his hands. "I do. But I'm a potter, not a merchant. My opinion might not be useful."
"I want to hear it anyway."
His father considered for a long moment. "Clay breaks sometimes. Even when you do everything right. The kiln temperature shifts. The clay has a hidden flaw. Things happen."
He gestured at the bowl he'd been shaping. "When that happens, you have two choices. Stop making pottery because you might fail. Or accept that failure is part of the craft and keep working."
"You're saying I should take the risk."
"I'm saying fear of failure is guaranteed stagnation. Actual failure is just... feedback." Chen Bo smiled slightly. "You'll learn either way. The question is whether you can afford the tuition."
Wei Chen looked at his mother. "And you?"
Lin Mei set down her sewing. "I'm more cautious than your father. Always have been."
"So you think I shouldn't invest?"
"I think you should ask yourself: if you lose everything, can you recover?" His mother's gaze was steady. "Not financially. Emotionally. Will failure break you, or teach you?"
Wei Chen thought about that. If he lost forty silver, he'd be angry. Frustrated. Disappointed.
But broken?
No.
He'd survived being feared and isolated. He'd survived working for copper coins while watching Yun Hao receive everything freely. He'd survived losing five sparring rounds in one afternoon.
Losing money would hurt. But it wouldn't destroy him.
"I can recover," Wei Chen said.
"Then you have your answer." His mother picked up her sewing again. "Just remember—we gave you that gold because we believe in you. Not because we expect returns. Whatever happens, that doesn't change."
Wei Chen felt something tighten in his chest. His parents couldn't give him advantages like Yun Hao's family could. Couldn't hire tutors or buy his way into prestigious academies.
But they gave what they could. Support. Trust. Belief.
That mattered too.
"Thank you," Wei Chen said quietly.
His father returned to his clay. His mother to her stitching. The conversation ended, but the weight of it remained.
The next morning, Wei Chen found Merchant Liu at his stall.
"I'm in."
Liu's smile was approving. "Good. Estate sale is in four days. We'll need to scout beforehand, verify item authenticity, plan our bidding strategy."
"How much are we investing total?"
"Your forty silver, my sixty silver. One hundred silver capital." Liu pulled out documents. "I'll handle the actual bidding. You observe, learn, ask questions afterward."
"What's our target profit?"
"Conservative estimate: twenty silver. Optimistic: forty silver. We split seventy-thirty, so you'd earn six to twelve silver."
Six to twelve silver. Not enough to reach Feng's price immediately, but significant progress.
"Understood."
"Meet me here tomorrow at dawn. We'll visit the estate, examine the items before the official sale." Liu's expression turned serious. "And Wei Chen? Once we commit our capital, there's no backing out. The money's spent regardless of outcome. Clear?"
"Clear."
The next four days blurred together.
Wei Chen accompanied Liu to the estate—a modest manor on the town's outskirts, now empty except for an elderly steward managing the sale. They examined items carefully. Liu taught Wei Chen to spot enchantment traces, evaluate craftsmanship, identify common forgeries.
"This ring," Liu said, holding the shadow-attuned piece, "is genuine. See the mana resonance? Consistent, no fluctuations. Fakes pulse irregularly."
Wei Chen studied it, memorizing the pattern.
They planned bidding strategies. Set maximum prices. Identified competition—other merchants who'd attend the sale.
By the fourth day, Wei Chen felt prepared. Nervous but prepared.
The estate sale drew thirty attendees. Merchants mostly, with a few wealthy collectors. The steward conducted the auction efficiently, item by item.
Wei Chen sat beside Liu, watching his mentor work.
Liu bid on the shadow ring. The opening price was fifteen silver. Liu offered seventeen. Another merchant countered with nineteen. Liu went to twenty-two.
The other merchant hesitated, then withdrew.
"Sold. Twenty-two silver."
First item acquired. Eight silver under market value. Good start.
The alchemical tools went smoothly too. Liu secured them for twelve silver, within the planned budget.
But the beast cores...
"Lot seventeen: Five beast cores, low-grade earth affinity."
Liu examined them carefully during the viewing period. Frowned. Leaned close to Wei Chen and whispered, "These might be fake. The mana density is inconsistent."
"Should we skip them?"
"We're here to learn. Sometimes learning means taking calculated risks." Liu bid cautiously.
The cores sold for eighteen silver. Liu didn't push higher.
Another merchant won them.
"Why didn't we go higher?" Wei Chen asked quietly.
"Because my confidence level was sixty percent authentic, forty percent fake. At those odds, passing was smarter." Liu marked his ledger. "We spent thirty-four silver total. Sixty-six remaining in reserve."
They bid on two more items—a minor illusion amulet and a set of enchanted quills. Acquired both within budget.
Total spent: fifty-eight silver. Forty-two reserved.
The resale process took two weeks.
Liu sold the shadow ring for twenty-eight silver. Six silver profit.
The alchemical tools sold for thirteen silver. One silver profit.
The illusion amulet sold for nine silver. They'd paid ten. One silver loss.
The enchanted quills didn't sell. Liu held them in inventory.
Wei Chen did the math.
Total investment: fifty-eight silver (Wei Chen's forty + Liu's eighteen from his share).
Total returns: fifty silver (twenty-eight + thirteen + nine).
Net result: eight silver loss, plus unsold quills worth maybe six silver if they eventually sold.
Break-even. Maybe slight loss depending on the quills.
Liu split the returns according to their agreement. Wei Chen received fifteen silver back from his forty silver investment.
Twenty-five silver loss on paper. But Liu compensated partially from his own share, bringing Wei Chen's total to thirty-two silver recovered.
"You lost eight silver," Liu said bluntly. "Could've been worse. Could've been better. Questions?"
Wei Chen had many. "Why didn't the amulet sell for more?"
"Market timing. No buyers wanted illusion items that week. Bad luck." Liu shrugged. "Sometimes the market doesn't cooperate."
"The quills?"
"Specialized item. Need the right buyer. They'll sell eventually, but might take months."
"Was this venture a success?"
Liu considered. "Financially? No. We lost money. Educationally? Yes. You learned item authentication, bidding strategy, market timing, risk assessment." He tapped the ledger. "That knowledge is worth more than eight silver."
Wei Chen thought about his parents' words. Failure is feedback.
He'd failed to profit. But he'd learned.
And he still had thirty-two silver. Not enough for Feng yet, but not back to zero either.
That evening, Wei Chen reviewed the experience.
Lessons learned:
Market timing matters as much as item quality Authentication isn't perfect Patience required—some items take time to sell Risk management: don't overbid on uncertain items Knowledge has value separate from profit
Current status:
Savings: one gold thirty-two silver (down from one gold forty silver)
Needed: forty-eight silver for Feng
Timeline: four months at standard work rate
He'd lost ground. Eight silver and two weeks of time.
But he'd gained something else. Understanding. Experience. The foundation of becoming a real merchant, not just a worker.
Was it worth it?
Wei Chen looked at his notes, at the lessons documented in careful script.
Yes. It was worth it.
Because someday, these lessons would matter more than eight silver ever could.