Chapter 115: Preparation

Places to spend silver...

After Seeing Pei Ye finished talking with Chang Zhiyuan and sent the old man away, he looked at the paper where Master Huang was keeping accounts, and this sentence came to mind again.

Selling the old house back then for twelve taels of silver was a huge sum he had never seen before; now with twenty taels in hand, Seeing Pei Ye felt he was in a time of being wealthy. If he said it wasn't enough to treat the children to a trip to the prefecture city, he wouldn't believe it.

"Just take ox carts or donkey carts for hauling goods; they're all young children, they can stay on a board. Probably need five carts; borrow from people you know, some children have them at home. If not, give some money; one tael of silver in total should be enough."

"The main expense for this trip is having to stay one night on the road," Master Huang said, "They're all children, wild camping isn't safe, so we have to stay at an inn in Anxin Town. When we stayed there three years ago, the inn was fifty copper coins a night; if we squeeze, four rooms can sleep everyone, that's two hundred copper coins, add some tea and horse feed, two hundred and fifty copper coins should be about right."

"What about food?"

"Food can be brought by ourselves; the weather is cool, it won't spoil in a day or two," Master Huang noted on the paper, "The main expense is after arriving in the city."

"From now until the end of the martial competition, about twenty-four or twenty-five days, how much will it cost?" Seeing Pei Ye leaned on the table and watched.

"What are you talking about?" Master Huang raised his head and looked at him inexplicably, "Only you are leaving tomorrow; we will go over before the martial competition starts."

"Oh, is that so."

"Nonsense! Twenty-some people staying in the prefecture city for a month, selling you wouldn't be enough."

"... Selling me might still be enough."

"The martial competition lasts four days," Master Huang ignored him, "Then we might have to stay in the city for four nights, the lodging expenses in the city..."

"Why four nights? At least five nights, right?"

Master Huang glanced at him: "We'll go back together once you're eliminated; who wins the championship has nothing to do with us."

"... Add it, six nights. Even if I'm eliminated, let the children finish watching; the later it gets, the more exciting it is."

"Fine, six nights, lodging will probably be... a little over two taels of silver."

"Hiss, so expensive."

"It's the cheapest; we'll bargain with them then, but I guess there's no chance. Guest rooms are tight during the martial competition; it'll be good if they don't raise the price too much." Master Huang noted down another large line of text.

"Then there's food; I'll see if I can find a few local commoners then, give them some money to buy rice, flour, vegetables, and meat, and cook together. If we eat at the inn for six days, the expense will be too high. But even so, I guess it will take... one tael of silver."

"That's still okay, not even five taels," Seeing Pei Ye said.

"There's still a big item not counted."

"What?"

"A large group of people entering the city, the officials will definitely make things difficult; this bribe will start at two taels."

"... What's there to make difficult for a group of children?"

"Being able to bring a group of children to watch the martial competition means you have spare money in your pocket."

"..."

"You think everywhere is under Lord Chang's rule?" Master Huang picked up his brush, "Count this item as two taels."

"Fine, then that's seven taels, nothing else, right?"

"You really have never been out," Master Huang sighed, "Whenever you go out, how can you only spend on food and lodging, let alone so many people staying in the prefecture city for six days."

"Then what else is there?"

"Various miscellaneous things—do the horses need to be fed? Does someone need medicine if they get sick? The city is a place where money is spent everywhere, unlike here where everything can be made do."

"Fine, how much is this?"

"No count, at least one or two taels, at most five or six taels," Master Huang said, "Let's count it as three taels."

"Then that's ten taels in total."

"For now, it's ten taels."

"Fine." Seeing Pei Ye nodded, "I'll bring the money to you tomorrow."

"You just bring five taels; I'll pay the remaining five."

"You don't have to! You have a whole family."

"Then I'll pay three taels," Master Huang looked up at him, "That's it."

"... Fine."

Master Huang dipped his brush in ink: "Then go back, pack what needs to be packed, and set off early tomorrow."

"Okay."

Out of the room, Seeing Pei Ye retrieved the glaze that had been mingling with the children, waved goodbye amidst a gaze of reluctance, and left the courtyard.

Back to the little courtyard.

He said he was going to pack his luggage, but after Seeing Pei Ye went around his little courtyard, he really couldn't find anything to bring.

Spreading out a bundle, he first folded two sets of clean clothes inside. A brown shirt and a grayish-white shirt; although they were a bit old, the fabric was still in good condition. He also put in a pair of cloth shoes and a few ribbons for tying hair.

Then Seeing Pei Ye stood blankly in front of the bundle, not knowing what to do.

He felt as if he hadn't started packing yet, but he was already done.

Standing blankly like this for a while, he really couldn't think of anything else to bring, so he simply packed it up directly.

Afterward, he went to the courtyard to sharpen and wipe the sword, placing it next to the bundle.

Then Seeing Pei Ye took out the jade pendant gifted to him by Zhu Gaoyang and held it in front of his eyes.

This pendant was deep black in color, with a texture as soft as fat, about the size of a date; it was a jade ring in the shape of a dragon biting its own head, just right to be worn on the hand as a ring.

Actually, this ring was originally a bit larger, but after Seeing Pei Ye fed it dragon-head blood and Qi under Zhu Gaoyang's guidance, when he put it on his finger, the little dragon seemed to come alive, slowly hugging his finger amidst the flowing jade texture.

But Seeing Pei Ye still took it off his hand; following the simple concept of not showing off wealth, he twisted a rope to tie it, hung it around his neck, and hid it inside his collar.

At this moment, Seeing Pei Ye rubbed the dragon head twice; the jade dragon raised its head and opened its mouth, and the head, the size of a fingernail, actually opened wider than a fist, revealing a deep passage at the throat.

Seeing Pei Ye first stuffed the silver into it.

According to what Zhu Gaoyang said, the width of this dragon's mouth was the width of the items this storage device could carry—this storage device was just like a dragon's belly, containing a narrow space about the width of an upper arm and over a zhang long.

Fine silver could go in, pills could go in, clothes and shoes could be rolled up and stuffed in, but anything larger wouldn't fit. And if you stuffed it too full, if you wanted to take something out, you'd have to pour out the things blocking the front first.

Logically, this size was enough to put in two swords; Seeing Pei Ye originally wanted to try sending the Heart-Slicing Glaze in, but as soon as this intention was exposed, the Heart-Slicing Glaze pulled away violently, pointing its cold and sharp sword tip at him.

"Fine." Seeing Pei Ye was helpless, so he had to put it back into the sword case, intending to carry it on his back himself.

His own sword wouldn't be dissatisfied, but that was a weapon for fighting enemies; if he put it in, it wouldn't be easy to take out in a pinch.

Placing the sword case on the table as well, and the jade pendant on the sword case, Seeing Pei Ye started to stare blankly again while looking at these things.

What else was there?

Suddenly he gave a light "Oh," walked into the courtyard, picked up the black cat by the neck from beside the well, walked back into the room, and placed it on top of the bundle amidst its blank gaze.

Seeing Pei Ye looked at this table of things and nodded with satisfaction.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 116 =====