Chapter 84: Chapter 84: You Get What You Pay For
The few people walked along the road, and from a distance, they saw many stalls set up on both sides, with hawking voices rising one after another.
"Take a look, take a look, old books and newspapers, buy them for fun, and after reading, you can still use them as toilet paper, truly a good deal."
"Anyone need a mirror? Combs, toothbrushes, towels, all selling cheap."
"Skincare products, anyone need skincare products? Also have soaps, shampoos."
"Anyone buying Go sets, chess sets? How about pocket knives?"
In front of most stalls, there were very few people. Occasionally, someone would inquire about the price and then leave shaking their head.
These little knick-knacks, the lowest price was at least one yuan.
One yuan could buy a pound of regular rice, enough to feed a family of three for two days, if rationed.
By comparison, the stalls at the entrance were surrounded by crowds. As Chen Fan got closer, he realized these people were all there to buy meat.
Standing to the side, Liu Yong explained, "These people are from Song Family Castle or nearby villages, setting up stalls to sell meat. The price is much higher than selling directly to those who collect fierce beast materials, but we don’t have that much time."
"Yeah, otherwise, we could exchange for more grains to take back."
Chen Guodong’s tone was filled with regret.
"Everything has its benefits."
Chen Fan smiled. Just then, a voice caught his ear.
"Don’t miss it, top-tier cultivation technique manuals on a big sale! Originally priced at hundreds, even thousands, now all at ten yuan each. Pick and choose, everything for ten yuan. You can’t get wrong for ten yuan, definitely worth the value. Everything for ten yuan!"
They saw a small, thin old man energetically selling to the passersby in front of him.
However, the passersby didn’t even bother giving him a glance.
The old man mumbled a few words, then sat back down in his place.
"It’s him."
Liu Yong pointed at the man and said to Chen Fan.
"Hmm."
Chen Fan’s heart lifted. Actually, he had already spotted him without Liu Yong’s reminder.
"Dad, Uncle Liu, I’m going over to take a look."
Gu Ze, hearing this, showed a puzzled expression.
That old man, isn’t he a scammer? What is Chen Fan doing? Setting himself up to be scammed?
"We’ll go with you."
Chen Guodong was a bit worried.
The few of them walked over.
The old man, noticing someone approaching, raised his head, and his eyes immediately sparkled as he enthusiastically greeted, "Hey there, brothers! What are you looking to buy? I have all kinds of cultivation techniques here, like the Tathagata Divine Palm, Nine Yang Divine Skill, Vajra Indestructible, Seventy-Two Ways of Grappling..."
Chen Fan waved his hand, signaling him to stop, and then asked, "How are you selling these techniques?"
"Ah, it’s you youngsters?"
The old man brightened up with delight.
"All at ten yuan each, every single one. If you buy them all at once, I can give you a twenty percent discount."
The surrounding people, witnessing this, shook their heads quietly.
These newcomers must be new here, believing this old scammer’s words?
A nearby man couldn’t help but speak up, "Brothers, you’d better look elsewhere."
The old man, hearing this, was infuriated, almost wishing he could rush over and take a bite out of the man.
"Thank you for the warning. We’re just having a look." Chen Guodong smiled and thanked the man.
The man shook his head and walked away.
The others, seeing this, didn’t say more since the previous victims all said the same thing.
"Brothers, don’t listen to that guy. He’s slandering me! My goods are worth every penny. If you don’t believe me, buy one and take it home to see for yourself."
The old man widened his eyes as if he was greatly wronged.
Chen Guodong and the others sneered inwardly upon hearing this.
Buy one to take home and see? Buying one means falling into the scam!
But Chen Fan nodded slightly. From a certain point of view, you couldn’t really say the old man was wrong.
The next moment, he tentatively asked, "Can we look at the techniques before buying?"
"Yes, of course!"
The old man didn’t hesitate. "You can look at any of these ten plus techniques, but just a little, not too much."
"Alright."
Chen Fan readily agreed, "That’s what I was waiting for."
He squatted down and picked up the nearest Tathagata Divine Palm. Before he even opened the cover, the old man slapped his thigh excitedly, "Young man, you have good taste! This Tathagata Divine Palm is rumored to be a supreme martial art taught by Buddha himself to save the masses. It has ten styles, each with unique effects, not only powerful but incredibly versatile."
"Is that so?"
Chen Fan responded while opening the first page to read.
His intuition told him that the martial arts manual in his hand, no, actually all the manuals on this stall, were probably nine out of ten fake, if not all fake.
"Exactly."
The old man smiled like a blooming flower, but deep in his eyes, there was a flash of contempt.
This wet-behind-the-ears kid, even if the real Tathagata Divine Palm were in front of you, you wouldn’t recognize it. But if you want to see, go ahead and see.
In fact, as the old man thought, Chen Fan found the words not only ugly but obscure and difficult to recognize.
But it didn’t matter if he couldn’t understand them; what mattered was if the system could record them.
Thinking this, he looked at the skill bar, which showed no change.
"Could it be that I’m not viewing enough pages?"
He scanned the page and turned it over, quickly browsing through the second and third pages.
The skill bar still showed no change.
"Could it be fake?"
Chen Fan speculated.
"Young man, isn’t that enough?"
The old man said with a cheerful smile.
"Just a bit more, the last bit."
Chen Fan pleaded.
"Yes, let us look a bit longer."
"Don’t worry, if we like it, we’ll definitely buy it."
Liu Yong and the others chimed in.
"Alright then."
The old man gritted his teeth, showing a face of loss.
He’d been waiting here not for half a day, but for two or three days, and no one had taken the bait. Now that a group of big spenders had come, he definitely didn’t want to let them go.
Chen Fan quickly looked at two more pages, nearly reaching halfway, but the skill bar in his mind still showed no changes.
He felt this book was mostly fake.
"I can’t quite understand this one, maybe I’ll switch to another."
He put the Tathagata Divine Palm back and grabbed the Nine Yang Divine Skill next to it.
"?"
The old man was stunned. He was about to comfort Chen Fan not to lose hope, suggesting he buy it to study slowly, but the guy switched books directly, deviating from the usual pattern completely.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat and said, "Young man, it’s normal to not understand at first glance. You know who can understand immediately? Martial arts geniuses! Only martial arts geniuses can understand immediately. Ordinary people like us, with average talent, need to read the same sentence over and over, for years, to comprehend. Especially the Nine Yang Divine Skill you’re holding, it’s a supreme martial art. After mastering it, your inner strength regenerates incredibly fast, regular punches and kicks become extremely powerful, it can also defend and rebound external attacks, you won’t catch any disease and are immune to all poisons... Hey, young man, you’re going too far, you’ve flipped through almost half of it."