Nothing much happened for a while, as Liu Zhu cultivated diligently and got an elder who used the spear to teach him the basics of using a polearm. Of course it would be more helpful to have a teacher who used the same weapon, but since Liu Zhu was just a beginner, he still had plenty to learn regardless of the teacher.

It had been over a week since Liu Zhu made his breakthrough when Dai He visited him. Liu Zhu greeted him and the two of him immediately headed up to his room, where the plants grown with Liu Zhu's blood and the data on them was kept. Dai He silently looked through the information after entering the room, interested, and after a while began drawing graphs on a piece of paper. After the better part of an hour he stood up, a smile on his face.

"I think I've figured it out." Dai He paused for a moment before hesitantly continuing. "I can't be sure, but it seems like the rate of growth decreases as the age and price of the plants increase. This is just a rough trend, and varies with each plant. Of course this isn't because some law of nature can figure out how much these herbs cost, but because the older they get the more they cost, and the more they cost the better the effects they tend to have. It must take more energy to grow plants like that, or something similar." After Dai He laid out his findings, Liu Zhu interjected. "So it doesn't matter that much what I grow? They'll probably yield about the same for what I spend?"

Dai He quickly rejected this idea. "It may seem like that on the surface, but no. Your profit is the difference between the value of each plant at the starting age and the final age. The change in age isn't important in the end as it just determines the change in cost. To maximize your profits, you want to find the plants that have the greatest change in cost over the shortest amount of time. This would change depending on how often you wanted to sell the plants, but given that it's rather suspicious to constantly sell older versions of plants you bought here... let's say two months. It's not unreasonable to take a trip somewhere else to sell plants every two months, right?"

Dai He finished his explanation, looking proud of himself. Meanwhile Liu Zhu stared at him, a bit confused. He had studied the basics of mathematics and business, but couldn't compare to Dai He's knowledge. "Every two months sounds fine. I can trust that you'll help me figure out what the best plants to buy and when to sell them should be from now on, alright? I may have gained this ability, but I honestly can't use it to the fullest without someone to help me." Dai He patted Liu Zhu on the shoulder, chuckling. "Of course I will, I can't let my best friend lose out when I could help him. Of course I'll take a cut, but..."

Liu Zhu chuckled upon hearing this. He figured that he should give Dai He a cut, but didn't expect him to bring it up like that. "Alright, what do you want? Is 15% fair?" Dai He looked surprised, and then just nodded in response. "To be honest I was going to ask for 8%, so you can pay me less if you want. I'm not going to rip you off." Liu Zhu kept it at 15%, telling Dai He that he didn't want to take advantage of him. Dai He left shortly after their meeting finished, telling Liu Zhu that he'd write up a list of plants for the first batch and give them to Liu Zhu within the next few days.

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Liu Zhu returned to training after Dai He left, but was interrupted that evening by a knock on the door. After throwing on a shirt and opening the door, Liu Zhu saw a servant standing there. "Young Master Liu, Grand Elder Zhu Chao requests that you visit him when you're free." The servant hurried off upon delivering his message, leaving Liu Zhu alone. He wasn't sure why Zhu Chao wanted to see him but hurried over, curious about what was going on.

Liu Zhu arrived at Zhu Chao's lodgings within seconds as they were directly above his training room. He knocked on the door and heard a muffled "Come in." Liu Zhu opened the door before bowing lightly and greeting Zhu Chao, who was closing a book. "Show me a few strikes with your weapon, I heard you'd been practicing." Liu Zhu nodded before making a few moves, allowing his guandao to slash through the air without restraint. He would have worried about breaking things in the small room, but Zhu Chao was standing only feet away from him. Liu Zhu doubted he could cause any damage before Zhu Chao reacted even if he tried.

Luckily Zhu Chao's intervention wasn't needed, and Liu Zhu finished his demonstration without incident. Zhu Chao grunted as Liu Zhu finished. "Good, but based on what I know there's still a lot left to be desired. Variety, momentum, the waste in the moves, things like that. While I can point out some errors like this, I'm not someone who can fix them." After a moment of silence Zhu Chao continued. "Would you like to meet someone who can help you? I asked around and there happens to be a similarly sized family where the patriarch uses a guandao. We spoke a bit and they expressed interest in exchanging disciples. I'll teach one of theirs for a few months, and you learn there for a few months. Of course you won't be as respected there, but that's to be expected. How does that sound? If the deal falls through it doesn't matter, but it sounded like a good opportunity."

Liu Zhu was worried about his brother causing trouble while he was gone, but knew that this would be a good opportunity to get acquainted with his new weapon. He might even make some friends in another family in the process. "Grand Elder Zhu, I'd love to participate in an exchange of knowledge, although I do have a few things to take care of here first." Zhu Chao grabbed the four treasures of the study from a nearby desk as he responded, preparing to draft a letter. "That's fine, it will take about five days to inform them anyways. I'll send an elder to escort you, and then you'll spend a few months there. I hope you gain from your time there."

Liu Zhu smiled as he responded. "I'll do my best. I'll see you later then." "See you later Young Master Liu." The door shut and Liu Zhu walked off while thinking about what he needed to do before leaving. He obviously needed to get the plants from Dai He first, and besides that he needed to do a few things to prevent his brother from causing trouble while he was gone. Unfortunately he couldn't send someone to babysit him no matter how much he wanted to, but if he talked to a few bartenders and other shopkeepers to make sure he didn't go overboard, things should be fine while he was gone.