Chapter 228: Ferry Market

Near the ferry, the market was still lively.

It was just not as lively as the last time.

What was missing were the people running boats on the water.

The commoners living in the surrounding area were not much affected.

In the middle of the market, there was a residential house that had set up a stall at the door of its main hall, selling shoes.

Most of what they sold were straw sandals, cloth shoes; the good ones were just shoes with thicker soles or embroidered cloud patterns on the uppers, focusing on practicality. Only one pair of shoes had exquisite soles, red uppers, and rabbit patterns embroidered with gold thread and green lines, exquisite yet playful and cute.

These shoes didn't look like something ordinary people would wear or buy; even ordinary families getting married couldn't wear such good shoes. They looked more like something a daughter from a noble family would wear.

Placed on this shoe stall, they really stood out.

Everyone passing by the market cast their eyes on them.

But no one dared to ask the price.

Even the young couple guarding the stall were a bit doubtful themselves.

"Will anyone really buy these shoes?" the young woman couldn't help but worry, "Who in this place can afford such good shoes?"

"There should be someone." The man also frowned.

"If they don't sell, we'll lose the money we earned in two months."

"There should be someone. My grandfather and my father made a pair of these shoes every ten years, and every time someone different came to buy them. This time will definitely be the same," the man said, frowning.

"Could it be that your short-lived parents lied to you?"

"Why would they lie to me about this? Besides, I remember! Ten years ago, my father also made this pair, and someone really came to buy them!"

"How could such a thing happen in the world..."

The woman didn't believe it, only feeling worried.

A woman who fell into the water, a divine lady who saved people, a promise to make shoes, different people coming to buy them every ten years, generations of inheritance, two hundred years of time—no matter how you listen to it, it sounds like a story in a book.

Does such a thing really exist in the world?

The woman didn't know; she only knew that these shoes used the best cloth and thread and took a lot of her energy. If they didn't sell, she would lose a lot.

Just as she was thinking this, three people came before her.

A young man and woman in Daoist robes, and a sturdy martial artist with a beard carrying a blade. The Daoists made people feel close, while the martial artist made people afraid.

The three of them saw the pair of shoes at a glance.

"How much for this pair of shoes?"

Hearing this, the young couple was stunned.

"Six, six taels of silver."

"Six taels?"

Luo Seng had just reached into his bosom, wanting to take out that piece of broken silver to pay, but upon hearing the price, his hand froze, and he looked at Lin Jue and his junior sister in dismay.

Then he took out the willow branch.

"Check the size."

"Are you... are you buying them for the Divine Lady in the river?" the man asked stammeringly.

"You know too?"

"Naturally I know!"

The young couple was shocked again, looking at each other, both opening their eyes wide.

Someone had actually come to buy shoes for the Divine Lady!

Then the man hurriedly said: "Then there's no need to compare. It's just this pair, just this long."

"Hmm?"

Luo Seng compared it with the willow branch, and sure enough, it was just right.

Lin Jue asked: "You didn't quote an exorbitant price, did you?"

"How could I dare? This is the price!" The man didn't dare to cause a misunderstanding about this matter, hurriedly saying, "Ever since our ancestor was saved from the water by the Divine Lady, generation after generation, we have made this pair of shoes every ten years. Every generation has been this price; I wouldn't dare to shout randomly."

"Look at this workmanship; I stitched it stitch by stitch for half a month!" the woman also said, "This cloth, this gold thread, are also unusual!"

"So you have been making shoes for the Divine Lady in the river for generations?"

"It's not good to say it like that," the man said coyly, "it's only one pair every ten years."

"Is it always this price?"

"Always this price, I wouldn't dare to lie!"

"So that's how it is."

Lin Jue couldn't help but frown:

"This woman..."

Luo Seng had already untied his bundle and taken out six taels of silver.

"Bought!"

Not long after, the three of them left with the shoes.

The young couple remained where they were, feeling both relieved and incredibly surprised.

Strange things in the human world were usually recorded in books and passed down by word of mouth, but they hadn't expected that today, it would actually arrive at their own door.

The three of them returned to the riverbank.

The water was still empty, with most boats tied to the shore. A covered boat was rocking gently, and a beautiful white fox on the boat was jumping on the deck, catching damselflies flying from the shore.

"Splash..."

The three of them boarded the boat one by one, the rocking boat stirring up waves.

The fox landed on the deck and immediately stopped, no longer paying attention to the damselflies, only focusing its gaze on them.

"Thank you for your hard work. I didn't see any restaurants in the market, and there wasn't anything good to sell, so I only bought a few leaf cakes," Lin Jue opened a leaf wrapped in layers, inside were a few leaf cakes, and he unwrapped two and handed them to his fox, "Eat these to pad your stomach first. If there's anything else to eat at the next ferry, I'll buy some more."

The fox walked up obediently, opening its mouth to take them.

Luo Seng took the pair of shoes and threw them into the water.

"The shoes are for you!"

With a splash, the shoes stirred up some water.

A whirlpool formed in the river water, and the light cloth shoes immediately sank.

"Remember to make up the money!"

Luo Seng stood at the bow of the boat and shouted at the water.

But no sound came from the water.

After a while, there were two splashes, and two carp jumped out of the water, landing on the deck, constantly flicking their tails and struggling.

"Heh..."

Luo Seng laughed, having no choice but to pick up the fish.

Thinking that at least they could be used to feed Lin Jue's fox.

However, Lin Jue had already fed both leaf cakes into Fuyao's mouth, and Fuyao was lowering its head and eating hard.

This thing was too sticky, and its mouth wasn't good at chewing, so it had to bite it bit by bit, turning its head in circles as it bit, as if it were struggling with it.

Lin Jue laughed to the side.

Luo Seng didn't bother with it anymore, holding the oar and pushing off the shore. With a ripple on the water, the covered boat immediately left the shore and slid toward the middle of the river.

Many people on the shore cast their eyes over, wanting to see which ignorant person dared to take the water route these past few days.

But the people on the boat seemed completely unaware, rowing downstream, and soon blurred into the morning mist and water vapor.

In the distance, a red sun rose.

Drifting downstream for more than a hundred miles.

Passing several ferry crossings, because the water route here was developed, merchant ships and cargo ships often traveled on the Wei Shui River, so there were markets not far from almost every ferry crossing, and traces of stalls could be seen at many ferry crossings, but there was no one there these past few days, and they were empty.

By dusk, the covered boat suddenly reached a wide stretch of water. Amidst the mist and water vapor, visibility was limited, and if it weren't for the shadows of mountains on all sides, it felt as if they had traveled to a vast and boundless place.

"This must be it, right?"

Luo Seng stood at the bow, rowing to the right to dock.

There was also water mist on the shore here, and human figures could be seen through the mist, and there were human voices, and the fragrance of meat could be faintly smelled.

"There's a market here too?" Luo Seng said, "Just in time, my belly is hungry!"

The closer they got to the shore, the clearer the view became.

The shore was also an ancient ferry crossing.

Behind the ferry crossing was a flat area, and on the flat area was a forest, with many pear blossoms blooming, like a tree of snow, and in the distance, there were high mountain cliffs.

There were people setting up stalls on the flat ground, and many figures coming and going.

There were sounds of bargaining, hawking, and eating and drinking.

It was indeed another market.

"Splash..."

The boat docked, stirring up some water sounds.

Luo Seng jumped down first, followed by the fox that jumped down with the wind, and finally Lin Jue and the other.

Swish!

Who knew how many pairs of eyes looked at them.

The closest one was a wonton stall, a small cart and stove, a few tables and stools, with steam rising. The stall owner was an old man, looking kind, and his business was very good, with many guests sitting beside the tables and stools.

Behind him was someone selling pots and pans, someone selling ceramic utensils, someone selling clothes—all small stalls.

Although these people looked similar to humans, if you looked closely, it was not hard to find the differences.

Some were exceptionally thin, some exceptionally fat, some exceptionally tall, some exceptionally short, some hunched over, some had strange expressions and manners; few were truly the same as humans.

At this time, most people looked at them, their eyes different.

Some were curious, some frowned.

Some kept sniffing their noses.

Luo Seng's left hand holding the blade couldn't help but tighten, while he turned his head calmly to look at Lin Jue.

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Although he had slain many yaoguai and ghosts, all the yaoguai and ghosts he had slain were not even half of what could be seen here, not to mention that visibility was limited, and he didn't know how many more were in the distance.

For such matters, it was better to see what the Daoist would do first.

Then he saw Lin Jue walk forward, first smiling and bowing: "Everyone, greetings."

His junior sister also walked forward and bowed.

Seeing this, Luo Seng felt reassured.

"We are traveling Daoists from afar. We heard that the yaoguai king here is holding a birthday banquet, hehe, and we want to broaden our horizons, so we brought gifts to attend the banquet," Lin Jue said.

"Humans?"

A "young scholar" four or five feet tall looked at them.

"What's wrong? You've grown so big, have you never seen a human before?" Lin Jue asked curiously.

Seeing that he was not afraid, the young scholar stopped talking.

Compared to humans fearing yaoguai, it was ultimately yaoguai who feared humans more.

After all, yaoguai could only gain some fear from humans after they became spirits, but yaoguai were generally afraid of humans before they became spirits, not to mention Daoist practitioners.

But there were more yaoguai and ghosts here after all.

Many yaoguai and ghosts looked at each other, as if discussing.

"Hehe..."

The old man in front of the wonton stall laughed twice and said: "Didn't you say you were hungry before you got off the boat? Why not come here and eat something?"

"What kind of filling are the wontons?"

"Fish and green onion."

"Good!"

The Daoist immediately walked over, full of smiles, not disgusted at all, nor afraid.

"There's no human meat filling, right?"

"This old man is practicing the Dao with peace of mind! I wouldn't dare sell that!"

"That's good, that's good. Everyone understands the principle of hurting one's own kind. I'll say it up front: we don't eat human meat. Since ancient times, whether human or yaoguai, there's no principle of a business going against its customers, not to mention we said it up front," Lin Jue walked to the stall and said to the stall owner with a smile, "If the stall owner intentionally harms us, after we leave here, we will kill you."

"Ah?"

The abrupt sentence formed a sharp contrast with the smile on the Daoist's face.

The old man couldn't help but shiver.

Even if they were yaoguai, they were just spirits who had achieved the Dao. If one talked about the importance of life, they might value it even more than before they became spirits. If one talked about bloodthirstiness, most were weaker than before they became spirits. If they weren't extremely vicious, how many would want to kill others at every turn?

The other yaoguai and ghosts were also stunned.

"Everyone, don't misunderstand! We are usually like this to humans too!" Luo Seng stood out and said, then pointed to the boat beside them and also said, "I'll tell everyone too: that is our boat. Everyone, don't recognize it wrongly and row it away. If you steal our boat, after Zhang leaves here, I will also come looking for you."

Both of them were very calm, not afraid of yaoguai and ghosts at all, and had a feeling that yaoguai and ghosts were no different from humans in their eyes.

The surrounding yaoguai and ghosts couldn't help but look at each other.

With this, many yaoguai and ghosts immediately became honest, each doing their own thing, no longer wanting to make things difficult because they were humans, at most looking out of curiosity and discussing in low voices.

The old man also honestly cooked four bowls of wontons and served them.

"Enjoy."

"Bring a few pairs of chopsticks."

"Good, good, good..."

Three pairs of chopsticks were also brought up.

Among the many yaoguai and ghosts, the three people and one fox were calm, at most harboring some curiosity, without the slightest fear.

The sky was getting darker and darker.

In the twilight, the steam from the wonton stall still rose, and the three people and one fox were eating heartily as if no one else was around, making a slurping sound. The stall owner watched from the side, his thoughts very strange—

Clearly he had been thinking about testing and making things difficult for them before, but at this moment, he was looking forward to gaining the approval of humans. ===== CHAPTER 229 =====