Chapter 235: Shang Xin Ci
Translator: ChibiGeneral Editor: ChibiGeneral
The caravan travelled for the whole day, and chose a valley to camp for the night.
The day went pretty good for the caravan as they only came across three small beast groups.
They killed two groups and chased one away. Calculating the losses and the profits they made from killing the beast groups, they had made some profits instead.
The setting sun dyed the clouds with colors; red, orange, grayish red, purple... there were all kinds of colors. The clouds also formed into all kinds of shapes; appearing like a roaring lion one moment, or galloping pegasus the next moment, or a blossoming sea of flowers.
The multicolored sunlight shone upon the valley which resembled a jade-green gem. After the caravan finished all the arrangements for the night, there was a certain area in the caravan that was a cacophony of noises.
"Come, have a look, today’s freshly slaughtered beast meat!"
"Buttermilk, fragrant and sweet buttermilk..."
"Only ten pieces of clothing remaining, stock clearance sale!"
Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing were also among the crowd.
They dragged their handcart and occupied an area; at their left was a stall selling wild herbs and at their right was a stall selling milk.
Bai Ning Bing was rather interested in all this as she looked all around her: "To think there would be a small bazaar in the caravan."
"If there is consumption, there will be transactions, and the consumption will thus stimulate marketplaces." Fang Yuan answered.
Bai Ning Bing’s eyes flashed, these words were truly incisive.
She looked at Fang Yuan: "Are you planning on selling these purple maple leaves?"
Fang Yuan slightly nodded his head: "We have already entered the caravan so we can just conveniently dispose of them now. Keeping them with us will only attract the greed of some scoundrels."
What’s more, it wasn’t easy to preserve purple maple leaves.
They had it for just over a day, and already the purple maple leaves on Fang Yuan’s cart were showing signs of withering. And as time continued to pass, their value will only get lesser and lesser.
Of course, Fang Yuan didn’t care about measly two primeval stones.
However, just throwing them off wouldn’t be in accord to their current identities, and would only serve to raise suspicions.
"The small bazaar in the caravan is divided into two types. The one we are dealing in is only the transactions between mortals and it will be held every day. Another type is the transactions between Gu Masters, which is held once a week." Fang Yuan said.
Bai Ning Bing’s blue eyes - covered by the straw hat - slightly brightened: "It would be helpful to us if we could join the small bazaar held for Gu Masters. Shang Clan City is still a great distance away; if not anything else, we need an investigative Gu to prevent any unforeseen circumstances."
"I have already planned this out but it’s still too early." Fang Yuan confidently smiled as he thought of a certain thing in his tusita flower.
The two were discussing softly, when a male servant walked over while staggering.
He was wearing shabby and torn clothes, his face filled with bloodstains; a clear resemblance to beggars. As he walked to the stall beside Fang Yuan’s, and saw the pots filled with milk, he swallowed his saliva: "Brother, could you give me some milk to drink?"
"Go away. Don’t hinder my business!" The milk seller impatiently waved his hands.
This male servant, helplessly, walked away towards Fang and Bai’s cart: "Two brothers...."
He hadn’t even finished saying his sentence, when Fang Yuan walked to the front and kicked him, shouting with a vicious tone: "Screw off."
The male servant fell down to the ground, his ragged clothes were stained by the black muddy soil. His previous wounds were stimulated by the kick, making him grimace in pain.
He climbed up with great difficulty, and looked at Fang Yuan with hatred: "Good, I will remember this, we are all mortals, everyone has a bad day. Hmph..."
Fang Yuan’s expression turned cold as he raised his feet again.
This servant fell to the ground again.
"Dare to say one more word?" Fang Yuan stared down at this servant fiercely.
The servant gave a vicious glare at Fang Yuan as he crawled up, but he didn’t dare to squeak a word.
However, just as he stood up, he was again met with Fang Yuan’s kick.
"I don’t like your expression." Fang Yuan indifferently spoke with his arms crossed at his chest.
The servant lowered his head and crawled up silently, not daring to look at Fang Yuan again. He didn’t continue begging anymore and walked far away.
Looking at his departing figure, Bai Ning Bing asked in bewilderment: "Strange, how can there be a beggar in the caravan?"
"This is normal. This servant must have made a mistake or his master is in bad mood today. In short, he was beaten by a Gu Master and also had his meal cancelled." Fang Yuan shrugged his shoulders, his gaze, however, coldly glanced towards a corner.
In a corner, three to four sturdily built servants were catching new faces, bullying the newcomers.
After noticing the situation at Fang Yuan’s, they retrieved their gazes and looked at other targets.
Mortals had cheap lives, their status were extremely low, and their survival was as difficult as walking on steel wire. Inside the caravan, the Gu Masters could easily beat them to death and take their lives like cutting grass. Anyway, mortals like them could be replenished easily in the hamlets along the way.
Every time the caravans came across danger, there would be large numbers of dying mortals.
Besides these, there were also secret and almost desperate struggles between the mortals themselves. Fang Yuan had just arrived at the caravan, but two groups already wanted to find troubles for him.
He, naturally, wasn’t afraid of these trouble, and could easily resolve them, but he would rather resolve them earlier.
Of course, there were some mortals who lived beautiful lives.
Most of them were those with backgrounds or were relatives and friends of Gu Masters; using this identity to do as they liked.
After the beggar walked away, two groups of mortals approached Fang Yuan.
The head of one group was an old man with sharp eyes. After asking Fang Yuan for the price, he immediately lowered the price to a quarter. Fang Yuan reckoned this old geezer’s identity should be the chief supervisor in charge of arranging the tasks for the servants.
The head of another group was a woman. She was actually wearing silk clothings and her eyes gave off seductive glances. Fang Yuan immediately understood she must be a sex tool of a certain or some male Gu Masters.
The two heads were both accompanied by a large number of people, and although they were mortals, their status were extremely evident.
They lowered the price to a very low amount, with the intention of buying low and selling high. They had some wealth and were not like most of the servants who could not even be sure if they could get a meal that day.
While Fang Yuan had no need for this cart of purple maple leaves, in order to match with his current identity and not let the cat out of the bag, he refused the lowered prices of these two people.
The old man left with pleasant countenance but there was threat hidden in his tone. The woman just walked away while cursing and swearing.
"I will sell this cart of rotten leaves to the next person that comes to bid." Just when Fang Yuan was pondering over his next action, the small bazaar suddenly went in an uproar.
Some people excitedly cheered and shouted.
"The kind-hearted lady of Zhang clan has arrived!"
"Lady Zhang is compassionate and kind, she is a fairy incarnate!"
"She is a really good person, I won’t go hungry today..."
"What’s happening?" Bai Ning Bing surveyed the situation and saw a green image appearing through the entrance of the bazaar.
Fang Yuan was also bewildered: What’s up with this ?
"Lady Zhang!""Fairy Zhang!!" A group of servants flocked over to the woman, and instantly, the bazaar entrance was crowded.
These people were mostly the ones who were punished by Gu Masters and didn’t have anything to eat now. The man who Fang Yuan kicked earlier was also among them, extending his neck and arms.
"Don’t be in a hurry everyone, there is plenty of it, slow down." The green clothed girl said.
Her voice was gentle and soft, and was immediately submerged in the shouts of the crowd.
"Keep your mouths shut! Line up and come one by one. Anyone that dares to rush over or shout, will immediately be slashed by me!" Suddenly, a thunderous voice resounded within the little bazaar.
An old but tough Gu Master appeared in everyone’s sights. And as he gazed at everyone with his ferocious gaze, the noisy little bazaar immediately went silent.
This was the authority of a Gu Master!
There was no one who didn’t believe he wouldn’t do what he just said. As a Gu Master, so long as their mood was bad, what was killing off two or three mortals considered?
The crowd pushed and shoved each other, and soon lined up in a neat long row.
In front of the queue, the green clothed girl held a basket of steamed buns and distributed them.
The whole little bazaar was absolutely silent.
Countless gazes looked at the green clothed girl with respect, worship and even love.
Bai Ning Bing was curious and asked the stall owner to the side: "Who is she?"
"What, you don’t even know of Lady Zhang Xin Ci? You should be newcomers, right?"
"Zhang Xin Ci?" Fang Yuan asked, his brows tightly locked, "Speak up everything you know!"
The stall owner recalled how ruthlessly Fang Yuan had kicked the servant earlier; he didn’t dare to conceal anything: "Lady Zhang is is also one of the deputy leaders of our caravan. She doesn’t have aptitude towards cultivation and is a mortal like us. However, she has a strong background in her clan, the Gu Master beside her is her bodyguard. I have lived for so long, but truthfully, I have never seen such a kind-hearted person; Lady Zhang brings some food almost every evening for the starved servants. She comes even if the weather is bad... Sigh, heaven is unfair, they prevented such a person from cultivating."
Bai Ning Bing nodded her head and smiled, saying towards Fang Yuan: "Truly, all sorts of people exist in this world."
Fang Yuan didn’t respond.
Bai Ning Bing glanced at Fang Yuan in confusion, and saw something wrong with Fang Yuan’s expression.
The latter was gazing fixedly at the green clothed girl, his brows almost furrowed into a knot.
The green clothed girl had silky jet black hair draping over her shoulders, accentuating her beauty. Her eyebrows were like thin like smoke, her eyes as clear as the moon. Her skin was snow-white, and her lips were pink and tender.
She had no makeup on her face, looking soft and gentle. The slight smile she gave from time to time when distributing the steamed buns, was pure and innocent.
She was wearing green clothing and had a fresh and plain aura. She was elegant like an orchid, graceful like a lotus and gentle like water. In terms of looks, she was on the same level as Bai Ning Bing, but she could be said to be once in a thousand years beauty.
If a woman has fine appearance, they can only be considered to be good-looking, just like common beverages. Only with disposition, can they be called beautiful, like well-aged liquor.
No doubt, this green clothed girl was an absolute beauty.
However, no matter how beautiful you were, how moving your disposition was, they were all pointless in Fang Yuan’s eyes!
Fang Yuan was not looking at her appearance; no matter how beautiful and what disposition one had, if you cut open their skin and flesh, they were all skeletons.
However, he was baffled as he thought of a certain figure: "Isn’t this girl Shang Xin Ci?"
Shang Xin Ci was one of the young masters of the Shang clan.
Within a clan, the clan leader’s sons and daughters were all called ’young masters’. Only the heirs who are able to obtain the elders’ approval, could be called ’young clan leader’.
With her identity as the young master of the Shang clan, Shang Xin Ci was a girl with good fortune.
Everyone knew the Shang clan members were greedy and treacherous, but this Shang Xin Ci was the only exception. She was soft and weak, didn’t like fighting, and was very lenient; she was the worst businessman of the Shang clan.
When she did business, she not only made frequent losses, but was also frequently cheated by others. She easily trusted others, and the crucial point was she didn’t learn after being cheated and would continue to be cheated by others.
As the young master of the Shang clan, she was once taken as a disgrace of the Shang Clan and was someone no one thought highly of. However, considering that she possessed the bloodline of the Shang clan leader, she was not expelled from the clan.
She didn’t discriminate mortals but instead felt strongly sympathetic towards them, giving care and assistance. Several times, she had even bought off all the slaves in auction, and was severely reprimanded by the Shang clan leader.
However, fate was truly wonderful, in the end, she became the head of the Shang Clan!
Translator’s Thoughts
ChibiGeneral ChibiGeneral
There’s good news and bad news. Next month, I’ll be away for around 2 weeks so there’ll be a few days of absence. Good news is, 2 chapters daily from today until end of month, should somewhat make up for it.