Chapter 19: Scaly Crocodile
XinFeng asked, “How much for a Jin?”
The old shopkeeper glanced at the youth before him, he had a slender body and an immature face, but he strangely carried an air of maturity and stability, his faint aura was completely different from a fisherman’s. Unable to help himself, he spoke, “A Jin for a copper ring and ten copper rings for……en, eleven jin, you can also use silver rings for eleven Jins.
XinFeng knew how money was used here, ten copper rings were equivalent to a single silver ring and ten silver rings for a gold ring, but copper rings were mainly used as most people preferred trading with items.
Zhou Xin spoke softly, “Brother Lei, I brought money…..”
XinFeng stopped him from speaking. In Stellar Night Fortress, he had already collected a lot of gold rings, most of which were given to XinYao, he still had a few bags of gold rings kept in his Hidden Lun space that he had originally wanted to give her, but forgot. To him, these gold rings were basically nothing.
Flipping his hand, a leather bag appeared in XinFeng’s hands, its design was extremely intricate and it was made of hazel leather. Pulling open the elastic band at the top, he reached his hand in and grabbed a handful of the things inside, and with a ‘ding dang’ sound, seven gold rings were placed on the counter. And with another flick of his wrist, the leather bag disappeared.
The old shopkeeper’s eyelids fluttered nonstop, he wasn’t a simpleton and knew about this skill of practitioners, looking at XinFeng once again, his eyes were full of admiration. Without anymore pride in his voice, he spoke, shocked, “Gold rings! This…..no problem, a gold ring can buy a hundred and ten Jins of grain.”
Despite being a fisherman, Uncle Zhou was no idiot, he spoke, “Old shopkeeper, you’re selling it too expensively.”
The old shopkeeper’s expression remained the same, he had indeed overcharged them but this was normal too, he had followed the normal rules. However, the value of a gold ring was rather high, in the market, it could be traded for eleven silver rings instead of ten, and perhaps even more as gold rings were easier to carry around, something all big merchants liked about it.
“Alright, how much should I add?”
“Add ten Jins more for each gold ring.”
The old shopkeeper did not speak further and nodded, “Alright, a gold ring for a hundred and twenty Jins of grain, how much are you buying?”
XinFeng spoke, “Just this much.” He pointed to the gold rings on the counter.
The old shopkeeper calculated for a while, “Seven gold rings, eight hundred and forty Jins of grain, right?”
XinFeng nodded, “That’s right.”
Zhou Xin counted on his fingers but couldn’t figure it out, seeing this, Uncle Zhou patted him and laughed, “No need to try, you won’t be able to calculate it anyways.”
XinFeng spoke, “Leave the grain here first, when we’re leaving, we’ll come and get it.”
The old shopkeeper nodded, “Alright, I’ll let my men help you carry it on your boat.”
As they left, Uncle Zhou specially added, “Old shopkeeper, give us fresh grain, I don’t want stale ones, remember, our grain was bought with gold rings.”
The old shopkeeper laughed, “Don’t worry, I’ll give you the best grain!”
Just as they walked through the door, Zhou Xin could not resist the urge anymore and asked, “Brother Lei, where did you put your money pouch, why can’t I see it!”
Uncle Zhou knew more and asked slightly stiffly, “Little Brother Lei, are you a Lun master?”
XinFeng laughed, “Uncle, if I am one, then would you ignore me?” He knew the pressure a practitioner gave to normal humans, he didn’t have a prideful mindset and he was rather okay with normal humans. Especially towards Uncle Zhou and Zhou Xin, who saved his life, giving him more reason to not be prideful.
Uncle Zhou replied, “Of course not. You, you’re really a Lun master?” He still didn’t really believe it.
XinFeng answered, “En, it’s true. However, I’m going to stay here for a while. Uncle, you won’t chase me away?”
Zhou Xin’ mouth widened, after a while, he said excitedly, “Woah, Lun master…..you, you’re really awesome, woah……”
Uncle Zhou pulled on Zhou Xin and spoke, “Little Xin, be quiet, don’t shout so loudly…..hehe, little Brother Lei, just stay as long as you wish, hehe, I’m just worried that we’re too crude and simple and we’ll drag you down.”
Mostly, normal humans interact with little and hundred Lun masters, calling them all Lun masters. As for true masters, it was impossible to meet them, even if they did they wouldn’t know about how powerful they were and what level were they at, as long as one was a Lun Master, it was enough reason to be respected.
XinFeng spoke, “Little Xin, there’s nothing to be shocked about, is there no Lun masters here?”
Zhou Xin replied, “There is, there is, we have a Lun master here, the water camps are being guarded by Lun masters, but they all live I’m the best houses of the water camp with the shopkeepers practically worshipping them, unlike us who have to live downstream.
XinFeng did not want to involve himself in this topic anymore and asked, “Is there anything else you need? Hehe, I’ll treat you this time, buy whatever you want.”
Uncle Zhou spoke, “I’ll sell this dried fish, hehe, you go trade for some salt.”
XinFeng nodded, “Alright, we’ll go together.” Then, the three of them walked forward on the wooden platform, quickly reaching a fish store, the dried fish were purchased for a very low price, a single copper ring for four Jins of fish, an estimated four hundred Jins of fish couldn’t be changed for even a hundred copper coins, which was almost equivalent to a gold ring, they directly traded for ten Jins of course salt and three Jins of fins salt, spending most of their money.
After trading for a few more seasonings and a few earthen jars which XinFeng took the initiative to buy after they had spent all their money.
After buying a huge pile of items including underwear, bedding and a fish net, something Uncle Zhou always wanted but it had always been too expensive, but this time XinFeng had bought it. With a fish net then the amount of rewards each day would be different, they had always used thick fish line in the past with a lot of hooks on it, the fishes they could catch was not much, most of their fishes were caught by Zhou Xin who went into the waters.
He had also bought spirits (alcohol) in the market, which most fisherman wanted, the only thing was that it was extremely expensive and that they could normally only drink rice wine they brewed themselves. Only under celebratory circumstances could they trade for a bit of it, but this time XinFeng had bought two big jugs of spirits, that weighed twenty Jin and costs 2 gold rings each.
These two jugs of spirits had made Uncle Zhou smile ear to ear, normally to be able to trade for a Jin of spirits would have been an elating thing, not only could it be used to take care of guests, he could drink it himself, it could ward off the coldness and also made into medicinal alcohol, it could be said to be the precious thing of fishermen.
According to XinFeng’s personality, he even wanted to buy a new boat for Uncle Zhou, only Uncle Zhou refused to allow him to do so, just with these things, he had already felt as though he had gone overboard.
Only at night did the three of them return to the boat, they had spent their entire day buying items. Uncle Zhou who had returned started to cook dinner.
The small boat was parked on the wooden pier outside of the market, groups of fishermen that parked their small boats there all retired at this time too, the entire pier seemed to be very lively with small traders selling all sorts of snacks, shouting. There was also quite a few children running around on the pier playing, frequently surrounding the traders while biting their nails, looking hungrily at the snacks, of course, they didn’t have money to buy anything.
Amongst the traders, the most popular one was of course the sweets store, every child had revealed an expression of longing, but sweets were extremely expensive, a copper coin could only trade for a small pack of sweets with only a few pieces of candy, not many fishermen were willing to spend this money.
But the children of the fishermen always had their ways, for example, one child used the Bright fish he had caught to trade for a small bag, causing the surrounding children to drool.
XinFeng sat at the front of the boat, watching the bustling atmosphere of the pier, his heart incomparably calm at this moment.
A large wooden bucket of rice, a crock of white water boiled fish, a plate of salted white prawns, a small saucer filled with salted, dried carrots and another three bowls of spirits.
The scent of spirits rose and immediately attracted an old fogey of the neighboring boat, he laughed happily, “Boss Zhou, you’re drinking?……” The aforementioned word ‘boss’ was used to call the leader of a boat, it was a crowned term used as a sign of respect, meaning that the “boss” was a man that could control a boat.
Uncle Zhou spoke, “Boss Zhang, you’re greedy huh? Haha, come here and drink with us!” Relations among fishermen were not bad and they were all easygoing men, there would rarely be any coyness among them.
Boss Zhang brought a crock with him and spoke, “I hunted a mallard, it should be done now, the temperature is just right.” He placed his crock down and took up a wooden bowl, drinking a mouthful of spirit, he sighed and praised, “Good wine, hehe, Boss Zhou, have you struck gold, you’re actually drinking such a good wine.”
The two of them were very close. Uncle Zhou replied, “Boss Zhang, has there been any news recently? I just came back.”
Boss Zhang laughed, “There’s one piece of news, you know the Tian family’s fourth child went to hunt a scaly crocodile, I heard they even hired a Lun master. No one knows if they succeeded yet.”
(Puttty: 鳄蛟鱼 = crocodile scaly fish.)
Uncle Zhou asked shocked, “A scaly crocodile? They’re too daring, that thing is brutal after all, if they aren’t careful, their boat will shatter.”
XinFeng asked curiously, “What scaly crocodile?”
Uncle Zhou replied, “A sort of cruel fish, it eats humans!”
Boss Zhang spoke, “This fellow looks unfamiliar, Boss Zhou, is he your relative?”
Uncle Zhou vaguely confirmed it, XinFeng had already asked him to keep the secret about his status as a Lun master, therefore he didn’t dare to speak rashly. Boss Zhang laughed, “Little brother doesn’t seem to be from here, the scaly crocodile is extremely famous.” He then continued to brag about the strength of the scaly crocodile.
The scaly crocodile was similar to crocodiles, but its hind legs were replaced by fins with sharp claws on its forelimbs, it also had a long mouth that contained teeth as sharp as knives, its body was a meter on length. A mature scaly crocodile could easily crush a small wooden boat, normal fishermen never dared to irk a scaly crocodile and upon seeing them, they would immediately flee.