Finding Partners

"How much is this phonograph? I'll buy it!"

Li Banfeng had taken a liking to this phonograph. Forget anything else—the fact that it ran on steam alone made it an exquisitely precise piece of machinery, something even Yuezhou had never seen.

If he brought it back to Yuezhou and sold it as a collectible, he would surely make a killing. Even if he did not sell it and kept it for himself, it would still be a deeply satisfying treasure.

Steward Feng wiped down the phonograph, his face full of reluctance. "It was handcrafted in Amikan Country. There are only two in all of Pro State. I truly don't want to sell it."

Li Banfeng understood what that meant. He wanted more money.

"Steward Feng, name your price."

Steward Feng pondered for a long while, then held up two fingers.

Xiaopang's eyes widened. "Twenty thousand?"

Steward Feng shook his head. "Huan Country Notes. Two hundred thousand!"

"Two hundred thousand?" Xiaopang gave a baffled laugh. "Shopkeeper, you really took us for suckers."

Steward Feng said, "It's worth every penny. There's no bargaining on this!"

Li Banfeng looked at the phonograph.

It had an antique redwood cabinet, with three brass horns on top. Steam still slowly puffed from the mouth of the horn on the right.

"Forest flowers have faded, even the heart lies buried. When spring swallows return one day, where will this body be~~"

The moving melody still lingered by his ears, and Li Banfeng wanted the phonograph more and more.

But two hundred thousand was far too distant for him.

He had earned his own tuition and living expenses through part-time work. In his entire life, Li Banfeng had never possessed more than ten thousand in savings.

He glanced at Qin Xiaopang. Qin Xiaopang glared. "What are you looking at me for? I've never seen that much money in my life. Back in our village, two hundred thousand would be enough to build a house!"

A sickle cost five hundred, and a house cost two hundred thousand?

Who was he kidding?

Of course, that sickle was no ordinary item, and the kind of house Qin Xiaopang spoke of was anyone's guess.

Li Banfeng could not take his eyes off the phonograph. By his estimate, it would definitely sell for five hundred thousand in Yuezhou. He was brimming with confidence in the greatest investment of his life. Looking at the owner, he straightened his back and said, "Keep this phonograph for me. I'll definitely buy it!"

Steward Feng looked into Li Banfeng's eyes and felt that these words seemed to carry a special weight.

He felt that Li Banfeng really would buy the phonograph.

"All right, I'll keep it for you." The shopkeeper agreed.

I'll definitely buy it!

Those words truly held a special weight for Li Banfeng.

At the Welfare Institute, when he saw children outside eating popsicles, he had said, I'll definitely buy one.

When he was in middle school, seeing his classmates' basketball shoes, he had said, I'll definitely buy a pair.

When he was in college, seeing other students' phones, he had said, I'll definitely buy one.

He bought the popsicles, the shoes, and the phone.

He would definitely buy this phonograph too.

"Brother, hurry up! We're running out of time!"

Qin Xiaopang dragged Li Banfeng out of Feng's General Store. A clerk sighed. "Shopkeeper, when is this thing ever going to sell?"

The shopkeeper thought for a moment. "I think that fellow surnamed Li truly wants to buy it."

"What use is wanting it?" The clerk repeatedly shook his head. "Forget two hundred thousand—I don't think he could even take out twenty!"

Xiaopang went to a blacksmith's home and bought an axe.

Handle and head together, it was seventy centimeters long.

Li Banfeng frowned. "You're taking that up the mountain?"

"I heard that everyone who dares go up Bitter Mist Mountain is a ruthless sort. With this axe, I can scare off at least half of them."

With the axe in hand, Xiaopang bought twenty jin of dried rations at the market, filled two large jugs with water, hired a horse-drawn carriage, and headed west with Li Banfeng toward Bitter Mist Mountain.

After traveling a full day, Li Banfeng had eaten less than one jin of the twenty jin of provisions, while Qin Xiaopang had eaten nearly half.

Late that night, they reached the vicinity of Bitter Mist Mountain.

Li Banfeng looked into the distance and saw only the hazy night. There was no mountain in sight.

Xiaopang found an inn and rented two spots on a communal bed.

He himself felt that sleeping on a communal bed was rather shabby, so he specifically explained it to Li Banfeng.

"I wanted a private room too, but this damned inn has raised its prices. A room costs a hundred, while one spot on the communal bed is only twenty. We brothers can squeeze in together."

Li Banfeng was not picky. He lay down on the bed and pretended to fall asleep.

The communal bed was one long plank bed crammed with more than twenty people. Some snored, some ground their teeth, some talked in their sleep—every sound imaginable was there.

Once Xiaopang was asleep, Li Banfeng quietly slipped out of the inn, hid the key in a small grove outside, and entered the Portable Abode.

His own home was still the best.

From the Welfare Institute until graduating college, Li Banfeng had never had a room of his own. Now, even sleeping on the cold ground felt comfortable.

This time, he did not oversleep. When Li Banfeng emerged from the Portable Abode, dawn had just broken.

Xiaopang was up early too and was searching everywhere for Li Banfeng. "Brother Li, where did you go?"

Li Banfeng brushed him off. "Went to take a piss. Brother Pang, should we sleep a little longer?"

Xiaopang grew anxious. "Sleep for what? Hurry up and get up the mountain."

Li Banfeng followed Xiaopang west. After walking for an hour, dense fog filled the distance, yet the mountain's shadow remained nowhere to be seen.

Quite a few people were traveling the same road. Xiaopang carried his axe and provisions, warily sizing up their surroundings.

A bald man in his thirties, with a scar at the corner of his left eye, hurried forward and happened to slam into Xiaopang from behind.

Xiaopang staggered and nearly fell, then looked up at the bald man.

Bald Head glared viciously and turned back to look at Qin Xiaopang. "Are you blind? Didn't you know you were blocking the road?"

Xiaopang immediately flared up. "You fucking ran into me, and you fucking dare curse at me?"

Bald Head stepped forward. "So what if I curse at you? I haven't fucking beaten you yet. You itching for a beating?"

Xiaopang raised his axe and waved it before Bald Head's face.

Bald Head spat, then drew a machete more than a foot long from his waist.

Li Banfeng quietly watched from the side. Without showing a trace, his right hand gripped the handle of the small sickle.

The small sickle was in his pocket. Neither Bald Head nor Xiaopang noticed it.

A man in his early thirties approached Xiaopang and Bald Head. He wore his hair parted to one side, Gold Rimmed Glasses, and a gray plaid suit.

"Gentlemen, save your strength for the mountain. Why show off here?"

To be honest, Xiaopang did not want to fight. He was in a hurry to get up the mountain and gather flowers too, but he could not bring himself to lose face.

Bald Head looked at Gold Rimmed Glasses and put away his blade. Each side found itself a step down, and the matter was let go.

Bald Head continued on his way, and Xiaopang put away his axe as well.

Gold Rimmed Glasses lowered his voice to Xiaopang. "Brother, your first time up the mountain?"

Qin Xiaopang scoffed. "I've walked Bitter Mist Mountain more times than I can count. How could this be my first time?"

It was indeed his first time, but he could not show weakness before others.

Gold Rimmed Glasses smiled. "Whether it's your first time or not, let me offer you a word of advice. That bald fellow is no good man. Once you get up the mountain, he'll definitely try to stab you in the dark."

Xiaopang spat. "You think I'm afraid of him?"

Gold Rimmed Glasses raised his brows. "An open spear is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is hard to guard against. Forget you—even I may suffer at his hands on the mountain for saying one extra word just now."

"I'm not afraid anyway." As Xiaopang said this, he gripped his axe tightly.

Gold Rimmed Glasses looked at Li Banfeng again. Li Banfeng kept his head lowered and said nothing, looking every bit like an honest man.

The three walked together for a while, and several flags vaguely came into view ahead.

Some were yellow, some green, and some purple.

Li Banfeng asked, "Whose flags are those?"

Xiaopang glared at Li Banfeng, reminding him not to show weakness.

He did not know where the flags came from either, but Li Banfeng's question practically told everyone that they were climbing the mountain for the first time.

Gold Rimmed Glasses had actually seen through them long ago. Looking at the flags, he murmured, "The Bai Family, Huang Family, Lu Family, Liu Family—the people from all the major medicine shops are here."

Xiaopang had heard of these medicine shops, but he did not understand why their people had come here.

Once they picked Snake Spot Chrysanthemums, they would naturally sell them to medicine shops. The shops could simply wait at home to do business, so why stand guard at the foot of Bitter Mist Mountain?

Gold Rimmed Glasses knew why, but did not say it outright. "Friends, let's not go any farther. We'll wait here for news."

"Wait for news?" Xiaopang frowned. "Wait for what? Snake Spot Chrysanthemums bloom for only one day. Every moment we wait means one less flower picked."

Gold Rimmed Glasses shook his head and drew a Folding Fan from his waist. "Do you know when Snake Spot Chrysanthemums bloom?"

Xiaopang answered loudly, "They bloom today!"

Gold Rimmed Glasses waved his Folding Fan and spoke unhurriedly. "They do bloom today, but the hour is uncertain.

Morning is today, noon is today, and dusk is today. If you go up the mountain now and they do not bloom until dusk, wouldn't you spend an entire day breathing poisonous mist for nothing?"

Xiaopang gave a contemptuous smile. "I have cultivation. I'm not afraid of poisonous mist."

"I know you have cultivation, but even with cultivation, you should not waste it for nothing." Gold Rimmed Glasses looked toward the boundless thick fog in the distance.

"On Bitter Mist Mountain, an ordinary person who continuously inhales the mist for three hours will likely die.

A novice cultivator without a rank can hold out for at most seven or eight hours. You're built so sturdy—you should be a Food Cultivator, right?"

Xiaopang said nothing. A cultivator's path and level of cultivation were not things to reveal to others.

Gold Rimmed Glasses smiled. "If you're a Food Cultivator, then after eating and drinking your fill, you can hold out for more than ten hours.

If you go up the mountain after the flowers bloom and find the right spot, picking seventy or eighty flowers will be no trouble at all."

Seventy or eighty flowers, at eighty-five each—that came to more than six thousand.

Hearing this, Xiaopang hurried forward. Gold Rimmed Glasses closed his Folding Fan, blocked Xiaopang, and frowned. "Didn't I tell you? It's not time yet. Go up after the flowers bloom. Every year, no one knows how many reckless people like you die on that mountain."

Xiaopang said angrily, "Do you know when they'll bloom?"

Gold Rimmed Glasses pointed his fan toward the flags in the distance. "I don't know, but they do. Every year, the medicine shops hire two pathfinders to go up the mountain.

Once they discover the flowers have bloomed, they send a signal. The medicine shops will then send people up, and we can simply follow them."

Xiaopang froze. "The medicine shops send people up the mountain too?"

Gold Rimmed Glasses smiled. "If they don't send people up, how will they buy Snake Spot Chrysanthemums? What will they use to refine Snake Spot Pills?

If a large medicine shop cannot even produce Snake Spot Pills, wouldn't its signboard be smashed?"

Xiaopang looked around. "With so many people going up the mountain, they'll all have to sell their flowers to medicine shops. Are the shops really worried they won't be able to buy any?"

Gold Rimmed Glasses waved his Folding Fan. "If only one medicine shop were buying flowers, naturally it would not worry. The medicine shop would set the price.

But all the major medicine shops in Medicine King Gully want to buy flowers. If they begin competing, the sellers will be the ones calling the price."

Xiaopang still did not understand. "Wasn't it already agreed? Eighty-five for each plant."

Gold Rimmed Glasses shook his head. "That was the price announced before climbing the mountain. After coming down, however, that may be another matter.

If you ran a medicine shop and did not have a single Snake Spot Flower in hand, while the flower pickers demanded a high price, would you buy or not?

If you send people up and pick three or five hundred flowers, you'll have some reserves. At worst, you refine fewer pills. At least you won't be held by the nose by the sellers."

This Gold Rimmed Glasses was a true insider. From his words, it was clear that he knew the business of Bitter Mist Mountain extremely well.

As he spoke, several people gathered around to listen quietly. None of them had ever gone up Bitter Mist Mountain, and they all wanted to learn some experience from Gold Rimmed Glasses.

Gold Rimmed Glasses was not stingy either. He chattered on about quite a bit of common knowledge, focusing especially on the characteristics of Snake Spot Flowers.

As he spoke, he suddenly stopped. His eyes remained fixed on the medicine shop flags in the distance.

Beneath the medicine shop flags, several men walked into the depths of the thick fog. Gold Rimmed Glasses said to the crowd, "The medicine shops' people are heading up the mountain. It's time for us to go too."

Xiaopang eagerly prepared to go forward, but Gold Rimmed Glasses reminded him, "Don't follow too closely. At the foot of the mountain, these people will mind the medicine shops' reputations and follow the rules.

But once they reach the mountain, there is nothing they won't do. Picking flowers is hard work. Picking them yourself will never be as fast as taking them from others."

Hearing this, Xiaopang tightened his grip on the axe. Several people around them grew tense as well.

Gold Rimmed Glasses said, "If you trust me, let's form a crew. That way, we can look out for each other."

PS: Two updates today, seven thousand words. Dear readers, please vote more for Salad and leave Salad more comments.

(End of Chapter)