"How much for this phonograph? I’ll buy it!"
Li Banfeng took a liking to this phonograph. Setting everything else aside, just the fact that it was steam-driven, such a precise piece of machinery, was something you couldn’t even find in Yuezhou.
If he brought it back to Yuezhou and sold it as a collectible, he would definitely make a big profit. Even if he didn’t sell it, it would be a delightful treasure to keep for himself.
Shopkeeper Feng wiped the phonograph, a reluctant look on his face. "This is handmade in Amikan Country, and there are only two in Puluo State. I really don’t want to sell it."
Li Banfeng understood what this meant—it was code for paying more.
"Shopkeeper Feng, name your price."
Shopkeeper Feng pondered for a moment and then held up two fingers.
Little Fatty widened his eyes. "20,000?"
Shopkeeper Feng shook his head. "Huan Country Banknotes, 200,000!"
"200,000!" Little Fatty’s smile was laced with bewilderment. "Shopkeeper, you must think we’re easy marks."
Shopkeeper Feng replied, "It’s worth what it’s worth, and I really cannot reduce the price!"
Li Banfeng looked at the phonograph again.
An antique rosewood cabinet, with three brass horns on the top, the one on the right still slowly emitting steam.
"The flowers wither, hearts buried deep. When spring swallows return, where will I be~~"
The captivating melody still lingered in his ears, and Li Banfeng wanted the phonograph even more.
But 200,000 was too far out of reach for Li Banfeng.
His tuition and living expenses had been earned by working part-time jobs. Li Banfeng had never had more than 10,000 to his name in his life.
He glanced at Qin Xiaopang, who blurted out with widened eyes, "What are you looking at me for? I’ve never seen so much money in my life. In our village, 200,000 is enough to build a house!"
Of course, the sickle he mentioned was not an ordinary item, and the kind of house Qin Xiaopang was talking about was also unknown.
Li Banfeng’s eyes never left the phonograph. Based on his estimate, in Yuezhou, the phonograph would definitely sell for 500,000. Li Banfeng was full of confidence in what would be the biggest investment of his life. He looked at the shopkeeper, stood up straight and said, "Keep this phonograph for me—I will definitely buy it!"
Shopkeeper Feng looked into Li Banfeng’s eyes and sensed a special weight in those words.
He felt that Li Banfeng would indeed buy the phonograph.
"Alright, I’ll keep it for you," the shopkeeper agreed.
For Li Banfeng, these words indeed carried a special weight.
In the orphanage, seeing other children eat popsicles, he said, I will definitely buy.
In junior high school, seeing a classmate’s basketball shoes, he said, I will definitely buy.
In university, seeing other students’ smartphones, he said, I will definitely buy.
The popsicles were bought, the basketball shoes were bought, and so was the smartphone.
"Brother, let’s hurry! We’re running late!"
Qin Xiaopang dragged Li Banfeng away from Feng’s Grocery Store. The assistant sighed and said, "Shopkeeper, when will this thing sell?"
The shopkeeper thought for a moment and said, "I think that Li fellow just now is really keen on buying it."
"What’s the use of just being keen?" The assistant shook his head repeatedly. "Let alone 200,000, I bet he doesn’t have 20 bucks on him!"
Little Fatty bought an ax at an ironworker’s house.
The handle and axe head were 70 centimeters in length.
Li Banfeng frowned. "You’re taking this thing up the mountain?"
"I heard that those who dare to climb Kuwu Mountain are all tough guys. Carrying this ax might at least scare half of them off," he explained.
Little Fatty, holding the ax, went to the market and bought 20 pounds of dry food, filled two large gourds with water, hired a cart, and set off west with Li Banfeng toward Kuwu Mountain.
After an entire day’s journey, of the 20 pounds of dry food, Li Banfeng ate less than one pound, while Qin Xiaopang consumed nearly half.
Late at night, they arrived near Kuwu Mountain.
Li Banfeng looked into the distance, seeing only the hazy night sky, without a sight of the mountain.
Little Fatty found an inn and rented two beds in a large dormitory room.
He too felt that staying in the dormitory room was a bit shabby and went out of his way to explain to Li Banfeng:
"I wanted a private room too, but this fleabag inn also raised prices—a room is 100, but a bed in the dormitory is only 20. Let’s just squeeze in together, brother."
Li Banfeng wasn’t picky. He spread out on the bed and pretended to fall asleep.
In the dormitory room, a long bed packed with over 20 people, there were all sorts of noises—snoring, teeth grinding, sleep talking.
When Little Fatty fell asleep, Li Banfeng quietly slipped out of the inn. He hid the key in the little woods outside the inn and entered his Portable Residence.
From the orphanage to graduating from university, Li Banfeng had never had his own room, but now even sleeping on the cold ground, he found comfort.
This time he didn’t oversleep. As soon as Li Banfeng left the Portable Residence, dawn was breaking.
Little Fatty was up early, looking around for Li Banfeng. "Brother Li, where did you go?"
Li Banfeng brushed it off with, "Went to take a leak. Chubby Brother, shall we sleep some more?"
Little Fatty grew anxious. "Sleep what? Let’s hurry up the mountain."
Li Banfeng followed Little Fatty westward. After an hour’s walk, thick fog enveloped the distance, still concealing the mountain.
There were quite a few people on the road too. Little Fatty, carrying his ax and rations, watched the surroundings warily.
A bald man around 30 years old, with a scar near his left eye, hurried on his way, bumping right into Little Fatty.
Little Fatty stumbled, nearly falling, and looked up at the bald man.
The bald man’s eyes flashed with menace as he looked back at Qin Xiaopang. "Are you blind? Didn’t you know you were in the way?"
Little Fatty flared up on the spot. "You bumped into me and you have the nerve to cuss at me?"
The bald man stepped forward. "What about it? Isn’t it true that I haven’t beaten you yet, or are you itching for a fight?"
Little Fatty brandished his axe, waving it in front of Baldy.
Baldy spat out a wad of saliva and pulled a machete over a foot long from his waist.
Li Banfeng stood by quietly, his right hand surreptitiously gripping the handle of a small sickle.
The small sickle was in his pocket, unnoticed by both Baldy and Little Fatty.
A man in his early 30s, with a parted hairstyle, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a gray plaid suit, came up close to Little Fatty and Baldy.
"Gentlemen, if you have strength to spare, take it to the mountain. Why show off here?"
The truth was, Little Fatty didn’t want to fight. He was in a hurry to go up the mountain to pick flowers, but he just couldn’t let go of his pride.
Baldy glanced at Gold-rimmed Glasses and put his knife away. Both finding an excuse to back down, that matter was considered settled.
Baldy continued on his way, and Little Fatty also put away his axe.
The man with the gold-rimmed glasses whispered to Little Fatty, "Brother, is this your first time up the mountain?"
Qin Xiaopang snorted. "I’ve been through this Kuwu Mountain who knows how many times. How could it be my first time!"
It was his first time, but he couldn’t show weakness in front of others.
Gold-rimmed Glasses laughed. "Whether it’s your first time or not, let me give you a piece of advice: that Baldy is no easy target, and he will definitely find a way to get back at you on the mountain."
Little Fatty scoffed. "Am I supposed to be scared of him or what?"
Gold-rimmed Glasses raised his eyebrows. "Obvious threats are easy to dodge, but hidden attacks are hard to guard against. Not to mention you, even I, because of an extra word just now, might suffer on the mountain."
"I’m definitely not afraid," Little Fatty said, clutching his axe tightly.
Gold-rimmed Glasses then glanced at Li Banfeng, who hung his head silently, looking like an honest man.
The three of them walked together for a while and faintly saw several flags ahead.
There were yellow ones, green ones, and even purple ones.
Li Banfeng asked, "Whose flags are those?"
Little Fatty glared at Li Banfeng, reminding him not to show his inexperience.
He himself didn’t know where those flags came from, but Li Banfeng’s asking made it apparent to others that it was their first time on the mountain.
The truth was, Gold-rimmed Glasses had long realized it was their first time on the mountain. Observing the flags, he murmured, "Bai Family, Huang Family, Lu Family, Liu Family, all the major Medicine Shops have arrived."
Though Little Fatty had heard of these Medicine Shops, he didn’t understand why people from these shops would come here.
Gold-rimmed Glasses knew the reason but did not say it outright. "My friends, let’s not go any further. Let’s wait here for news."
"Wait for news?" Little Fatty frowned. "What are we waiting for here? The Snake-Patterned Chrysanthemums only bloom for a day. Every moment we wait, we miss a chance to pick a flower."
Gold-rimmed Glasses shook his head and took out a Folding Fan from around his waist. "Do you know when the Snake-Patterned Chrysanthemums bloom?"
Little Fatty said loudly, "They bloom today!"
Gold-rimmed Glasses twirled his Folding Fan and said deliberately, "Indeed, they bloom today, but the exact time of blooming is uncertain. Morning counts as today, noon is also today, and dusk is still today. If you go up the mountain now, and they don’t bloom until dusk, won’t you have endured the poisonous fog for nothing?"
Little Fatty sneered with disdain. "I have cultivation level, I’m not afraid of the poison fog."
"I know you have cultivation level, but even with that, you shouldn’t waste it recklessly," Gold-rimmed Glasses said, gazing into the dense fog in the distance. "The fog on Kuwu Mountain, if inhaled continuously for three hours by ordinary people, I’m afraid they would lose their lives. A newcomer without any levels of cultivation could perhaps endure for seven or eight hours at most. Looking at your robust body, you must be a Food Cultivator, right?"
Little Fatty remained silent, as a cultivator’s Taoist Sect and cultivation level were not supposed to be revealed to others.
Gold-rimmed Glasses chuckled. "If you’re a Food Cultivator, well fed and hydrated, you can hold out for a dozen hours. Once the flowers bloom and you go up the mountain, as long as you find the right place, picking 70 or 80 blossoms wouldn’t be difficult."
Seventy or eighty blossoms, at 85 a piece, would amount to earning more than 6,000.
Hearing this, Little Fatty hurriedly began walking forward, but Gold-rimmed Glasses closed his Folding Fan and blocked Little Fatty’s way, frowning. "Didn’t I tell you, now is not the time. Wait until the blossoms open before climbing the mountain. Reckless people like you, there’s no telling how many die on the mountain each year."
Little Fatty huffed. "Do you know when they will bloom?"
Gold-rimmed Glasses pointed with his fan at a flag in the distance. "I don’t know, but they do. The Medicine Shops hire scouts to go up the mountain every year. As soon as they find out the flowers have bloomed, they’ll signal, and the Medicine Shops will send people up. We just need to follow them when the time comes."
Little Fatty was surprised. "The Medicine Shops send people up the mountain as well?"
Gold-rimmed Glasses smiled. "If they don’t send people up, how can they buy Snake-Patterned Chrysanthemums? What would they use to refine Snake-Patterned Pills? A Great Medicine Shop that can’t even provide Snake-Patterned Pills would be ruining its own reputation, wouldn’t it?"
Little Fatty looked around. "With so many people going up the mountain and picking flowers to sell to the Medicine Shops, are they still worried about not getting enough?"
Gold-rimmed Glasses swayed his Folding Fan. "If it’s just one Medicine Shop buying, of course they don’t have to worry, they can set the price. But several Medicine Shops in Medicine King Valley want to buy them. If there’s a dispute, then the price is up to the sellers."
Little Fatty still didn’t understand. "But wasn’t it agreed, 85 per plant?"
Gold-rimmed Glasses shook his head. "That’s the price released before going up the mountain. But after coming down, it’s another story. If you run a Medicine Shop and you don’t have a single Snake-Patterned Blossom, and the pickers ask for a high price, would you buy it or not? If you send people up and they come back with 300 to 500 blossoms, you’d have a clearer picture in mind. Even if you must refine fewer Elixirs, you won’t be at the mercy of the sellers."
This Gold-rimmed Glasses truly knew his business. His knowledge about the dealings of Kuwu Mountain was very clear from his words.
During the conversation, a few people gathered around to listen quietly. None of them had been to Kuwu Mountain before, and they all wanted to learn from Gold-rimmed Glasses’ experience.
Gold-rimmed Glasses was not stingy either, and he shared quite a bit of knowledge, focusing particularly on the characteristics of the Snake-Patterned Blossoms.
As he was speaking, he suddenly stopped, staring continuously at the Medicine Shop’s flag in the distance.
Under the Medicine Shop’s flag, several men headed towards the thick fog. Gold-rimmed Glasses said to the crowd, "The Medicine Shop’s people are going up the mountain. It’s time for us to move as well."
Little Fatty was excited to proceed, but Gold-rimmed Glasses reminded him, "Don’t follow too closely. Down here, these people will behave because of the Medicine Shop’s reputation. But once they’re on the mountain, they’re capable of anything. Gathering blossoms is a hard task, and doing it yourself is definitely not as fast as stealing them."
Upon hearing this, Little Fatty clenched his ax tighter, and the few people nearby also became tense.
Gold-rimmed Glasses suggested, "If you trust me, let’s form a team. It’ll be good to have each other’s back."