Chapter 137: Really knows how to play

Wini had learned to read faces; seeing Da Wang unresponsive, it bluntly reached out a paw to catch the roasted sweet potato Xie Yuan handed over. Then several people watched the bear carefully peel the skin...

Although the sweet potato had been poked full of holes, they insisted on eating it peeled.

Lu Xin was so engrossed watching that he forgot to be afraid, saying, "This bear, have you raised it since childhood?"

"Yes, so you don't need to fear our Wini; it's well‑behaved. It's pitiful—I traded jerky for it with a child!" Speaking of this, Da Wang felt proud; seeing how obedient Wini was, he thought this little thing he'd done was especially worthy of pride.

While Wini ate the sweet potato, Xie Yuan unconsciously ate two more, finally easing his hunger. He took the handkerchief Lu Xin passed over, casually wiped his hands, and then asked Da Wang where the inn on this street was.

Upon hearing this, Da Wang realized they were newcomers—no wonder they bought his sweet potato—and enthusiastically recommended his inn to them.

Hearing that they had been robbed of their cart, horses, and money in Yi Prefecture, Da Wang flared with righteous indignation: "Yi Prefecture is nowhere near as safe as our You Prefecture; the mountain bandits there have almost been wiped out. If you ever encounter bandits in You Prefecture later, you can report to the authorities, and our You Prefecture Guard will help you suppress them."

Learning that they had little money left, Da Wang recommended an inn in the inner city, saying it was cheap there.

Too bad the old man loves comfort and insists on staying somewhere nice.

Xie Yuan pulled a jade pendant from his pocket and asked, "Little boss, do you know which pawn shop around here offers fair prices?"

Upon seeing the jade's quality, Da Wang knew this gentleman came from a good background. The pendant's carving looks quite fine—it should fetch a lot of grain at Bai Ge's place.

"How much do you want to pawn? If you're doing a dead pawn, just hand it to me."

Lu Xin wiped his hands and laughed, "Then you'd have to keep your stall open for many days to earn that back…"

Xie Yuan held up eight fingers; Da Wang, seeing the eight, wasn't sure whether it meant eighty or eight hundred, and hoped aloud, "Eighty taels?"

Lu Xin was speechless. "Kid, what are you thinking? This superb mutton‑fat white jade landscape tablet was made by Master Zhou Hui of the previous dynasty; eight hundred taels is already a bargain for someone in You Prefecture who knows their goods."

Upon hearing it was a work by a famous master, Da Wang leaned in and asked, "Does it have a signature?"

Xie Yuan smiled, turned it over to show him, and pointed out a seal the size of Zhou Hui's characters on the back of the landscape tablet, plus a small seal‑script stamp beside it.

Da Wang felt this was certainly worth more than an anonymous piece, but eight hundred taels seemed steep, so he began to haggle.

Lu Xin was utterly baffled: "How could a kid running a little stall afford this, and why are you even bidding up the price? Even you, sir, are going along with it."

Da Wang thought this was just a one‑off deal; he no longer cared about exposing anything, since selling roasted sweet potatoes had no future.

The two went back and forth, each saying a line, until they settled on six hundred sixty taels—a very auspicious number—and closed the deal.

Da Wang patted himself down; aside from a box of rubber candy, he had no cash at all, and the stall held only the box on the ground that had just earned him one tael from the other party.

Da Wang gave a heavy cough, and everyone at the nearby sugar‑fried chestnut stall—who were pretending to be busy—and the sugar‑seller stall across the way turned to look.

Da Wang said, "Pfft‑pfft, can I borrow six hundred sixty taels of silver?"

Then, amid Lu Xin's astonished gaze, the tall man selling fried chestnuts next door rose, pulled a stack of silver notes from his pocket, quickly counted out a few sheets, strode over a few steps, and shoved them into Da Wang's hands without a word before returning to sell chestnuts…

No way—what kind of stall vendors on Vermilion Bird Avenue are this rich?!

Da Wang counted the money in his hand—exactly six hundred sixty, mixed loose and round—and handed it to Xie Yuan. Xie Yuan took it with a smile, gave him the landscape tablet in return without extra words, asked for the inn's direction, and left with Lu Xin.

Lu Xin still felt a bit dazed; on the way he couldn't help asking his master, "That kid—is he a little strange? Is he really just a petty stall vendor?"

Xie Yuan prompted his slow‑witted disciple: "Have you ever seen a street‑side stall keeper who could afford to keep such a big bear?" That bear—an ordinary family could be ruined by its appetite.

Lu Xin suddenly understood: "Oh, right! Isn't it hard just to get a meal in You Prefecture? How could his bear stay so fat? He must be the child of a wealthy merchant—this is just slumming it? He really knows how to have fun!"

Seeing the student still not getting it, Xie Yuan spelled it out: "Just look at the bear—when he stands up, the inner robe he reveals is blue‑green silk, embroidered with fine bamboo patterns. If anyone on this street tried to bully him, thinking him a child with ill intent, the outcome would certainly be interesting. There are at least a dozen men lying in wait beside the Wei Ji stall."

Lu Xin stared in shock for a moment, then asked, "You mean the little vendor next door who brought the money is a guard?"

"Not only that—every stall around his is set up by tall, burly young men. Take a look at the vendors on both sides now."

Lu Xin looked, and indeed the ages varied—old and young—and even a woman was hawking something like potato cakes?

You Prefecture might have kids who play like this, but that robe isn't something just anyone can wear… Hold on, Wei Ji? The answer is almost upon us.

Lu Xin went dumb: "Master! That child…"

"He's the You King."

What a piece of work—his mother's dead, his father never taught him, and Da Wang really knows how to play!

Wei Shen strolled around Vermilion Bird Avenue and came back to see Da Wang, with his two lackeys, gathered around looking at something. He quietly slipped into the crowd and took a look—there was nothing special, just a piece of landscape jade pendant.

As expected of a child, he finds everything fascinating.

"What are you looking at? You're not even greeting customers—is business still okay?"

Da Wang finally tore his eyes away from the jade pendant, turned to his cousin, and bragged, "Business is booming~"

"Oh? That's not easy, after all blind folks generally don't like going out…" Seeing Da Wang get angry and pick up a palm fan to smash him, Wei Shen quickly changed tack: "I mean, great! How much did you make?"

"…Negative six hundred fifty‑nine taels?"

Wei Shen exclaimed, "You three are something—spending that much without even moving! Did Wini trample a passerby?"

Wini gave an unhappy grunt—"No way!"

Da Wang couldn't stay annoyed with him and announced, "I made one tael, then bought a jade pendant for six hundred sixty taels!"

When Wei Shen heard the jade hadn't come from home, he hurried over to have a look, fearing Da Wang had been cheated. Who buys jade that expensive from a stranger on the street?

"Let me see… It looks all right—top‑grade mutton‑fat white jade, the size and carving are fine… Really no cat's‑eye? How did you get it for six hundred taels? This piece of mine, my father said, is worth two thousand taels!"

Da Wang stood tall, hands on hips, and declared, "I haggled the price!"

Wei Shen had to believe it—the goods really were just sitting there, and all he'd run into was a dead mouse.

Da Wang excitedly tied the jade pendant around his chubby waist, didn't mind the weight, and said he'd play with it for two days then take it to Bai Ge to sell for grain.

Bai Ge told him to stock up on things to sell, then later gather a few items and send them together to that spring auction, where prices are high.

Now that Da Wang had two good items, he figured he could easily make up the rest by wandering the streets of another commandery. He planned to find a time to go out to sea again, while Bai Yang complained that since he'd stopped going out to sea, they'd missed a lot of precious marine products.

Moreover, his one‑year term was up, his free NPC had to be recalled, and Da Wang still had to personally take charge for a trip…

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Xie Yuan originally thought that six hundred sixty taels would be more than enough for him and his disciple to live comfortably in a place like You Prefecture for a year and a half, with plenty left over for travel expenses when they set out in spring to return to Chen Commandery.

Just one day, and he already felt it might be a bit difficult.

Youzhou has quite a lot of good things—no, it's too much.

He even regretted a bit selling the Shan Shui plaque cheaply to the You King yesterday.

They first rented a room for a month at the inn, the master and disciple sharing one room, a price they could accept. The shock to their worldview began when the inn attendant recommended them a place to eat.

That Pinhai Lou, with its dazzling variety of seafood, you could finish a meal for as little as 666 (units) if you wanted.

On their first visit, they cautiously asked the proprietor to recommend two servings of the signature dishes. The proprietor asked about their dietary restrictions, then recommended shad dumplings, spicy roasted flatfish, stir-fried alfalfa, candied sweet potato, and a radish shred fish ball soup.

Upon learning that Xie Yuan loves alcohol, the proprietor strongly recommended the new beverage—Youzhou White.

Six dishes plus a pot of wine cost twenty-seven taels; the Youzhou White alone is twenty taels per pot.

Specifically, the shad dumplings are two taels, expensive due to labor and dumpling flour; the spicy roasted flatfish is three taels, the fish itself not counting but with plenty of oil and chili added; the alfalfa is a rare green vegetable for this season, five hundred wen, quite conscientious; the candied sweet potato is one tael, both sweet potato and sugar oil being rare commodities in the Great Jin; the radish shred fish ball soup is five hundred wen, the fish balls at cost, a welfare dish. These dishes total seven taels, which is not expensive for a restaurant; judging by the restaurant's decor, it can be said to be cheap, the expense lying solely in that wine.

Xie Yuan and Lu Xin were both eager to try this Youzhou White—what kind of wine dares sell for twenty taels a pot? They ordered just a pot, not a barrel!

The proprietor saw through them, telling them the restaurant deals fairly with young and old, all the menu and prices personally arranged by the head steward, absolutely a great value.

Dishes need to be made fresh; the quickest to arrive is the stir-fried alfalfa cut from the pasture—tender alfalfa cooks quickly in the pot, so the staff first served this dish and a pot of wine.

The master and disciple from a great clan could be said to have opened the door to a new world.

In this freezing northern land, the restaurant actually has fresh green vegetables!

Indeed, the king's pasture is miraculous—alfalfa stays green in winter, cattle and sheep eat one batch and grow another. Once the king knew people could eat that alfalfa, the restaurant and the palace gained a year-round green vegetable dish.

Aside from the alfalfa, the master and disciple were amazed that the pot holding the Youzhou White was actually made of white porcelain!

This Youzhou White is the Baiyang Supermarket's largest barrel of '52-degree double-distilled baijiu', a five-liter plastic big barrel; the king sells it outward, replacing it with the small white porcelain jars finally fired in Youzhou, which sell for twenty-eight taels per jar in Chang'an; here at Pinhai Lou, the reusable small wine pots are already at a discounted price.

Xie Yuan had always thought he only loved fine wine, but after finishing a meal at Pinhai Lou, he not only loved wine but also developed a liking for spice.

He felt the name Youzhou White wasn't accurate—this liquor is so clear and transparent, where is the 'white' in it?

The brewing standards of Great Jin are still at the level of low-alcohol, cloudy grain-fermented wine; for wine lovers, the high-proof Youzhou White is enough to astonish them as heavenly beings.

Then that spicy roasted fish, in Great Jin where steaming and boiling dominate the diet, is enough to let diners open a new world.

Xie Yuan and his disciple could hardly break away from Pinhai Lou; the variety of seafood here also opened the eyes of inland people, the two of them reporting for three meals a day on schedule, unable to get enough, their wallets gradually thinning.

The remaining time was spent either touring the aquatic world or just idling that way. Fish tanks costing several hundred taels and koi costing over a hundred taels each left the master and disciple only able to look.

How to deal with such pain? Naturally, send a letter home asking for money!

Whether you are a refined scholar or a wealthy clan merchant, if you have money in Youzhou, spend it—the king will make sure you return home with empty hands.

The king wasn't idle either; his pasture is a huge bug—grass grows in batch after batch, impossible to eat all, and the number of small animals that can be raised there far exceeds his imagination.

After failing to find cattle and horses in both Youzhou and the grasslands, the king turned his attention to Qiao Wing and Baiyang.

He wants to use cattle for meat, milk, and plowing; as for horses, needless to say, even with eight thousand troops the king couldn't equip everyone with a horse, and future army expansion will only widen the shortfall.

You say Mengmeng's mall? The price of those horses is something the king dares not look at!

Qiao Wing also has ordinary horse breeds; what he can buy in bulk is a tall horse called the Fengling Black Wind Horse. The king saw that its shoulder height is almost as high as his little red horse, and with those long legs it will surely run reliably.

Upon inquiring the price, converted to ingots it's still not cheap—needing thirty, which is three hundred taels of silver—but compared to the mall's extortionate pricing, it suddenly offers great value.

「Don't look down on this black wind horse just because it's not much of a spirit beast; it's not cheap either. In our land, we use them to transport goods on the ground—this horse has great stamina, so Fengling has dedicated horse wranglers; I can buy several hundred at once, other horses can't be bought in large numbers. It's said that Fengling used to produce galloping thunder horses in abundance. Do you know what a galloping thunder horse is? No? A galloping thunder horse is a sixth‑rank spirit horse famed for speed; when it runs it has the momentum of a thunderbolt. Later a small secret realm entrance was discovered in Fengling; after the realm‑stabilizing treasure inside was taken, the secret realm collapsed, Fengling lost its spirit vein, and the galloping thunder horses began to degenerate bit by bit. After a few hundred years their descendants came to be called black wind horses—anyway, the ability to leap several zhang in a single step is gone. 」

The king heard it and was overjoyed.

Spirit Beast Mengmeng will charge extra; buying things that exceed the civilization of its realm is hard for him, but this black wind horse is fine—just needs good stamina. He has a ranch foundation, guaranteeing the livestock will be in great shape.

The king calculated his savings: "Let's start with a thousand; I'll raise them myself on the ranch to breed first."

Qiao Wing promised to find him a horse wrangler to make a reservation.

The king had just sold a boatload of fish; the hot little ingot expenses in his hand immediately amounted to thirty thousand, and the remainder soon found a use.

Bai Yang specially made a trip abroad for him, ordering dairy and beef cattle in America, which were then stored in the warehouse; after returning home he went to the Northeast, but the old yellow oxen suitable for farming that the king wanted were not yet available abroad, as they had already been mechanized there……

Thus he went around the breeding farms in the Northeast and managed to gather over two hundred old yellow oxen for the king.

The king's ingot expenses went out another forty‑seven thousand, buying 1,300 head of cattle. Later prices were not much different from those in Qiao Wing's place, often four or five hundred taels per head.

The king held his daily thinning ingot card, checked the balance: 2,380.

"Ah! My chest hurts~"

His steward said: "Heart disease; it's advisable to set aside some medical expenses."

The king: "……Back then, I should have added more to that EQ column! Let you also add to your looks, now it's fine……"

Zhu Ti hearing that, immediately changed the diagnosis: "My lord, if you go count the grain in the warehouse, it won't hurt. Mr. Bai also transferred another five tons; now your latest grain storage is enough to feed 100,000 people for six months."

The king immediately brightened up: "Right, his biggest asset is grain; go count the grain, counting ingots is bad for the heart."