Finding a Partner

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

Li Banfeng had taken a liking to this phonograph. Putting everything else aside, just the fact that it was steam-powered, such a precise piece of mechanical equipment, was something you wouldn't even see in Yue Province.

If he took this back to Yue Province and sold it as a collectible, he would definitely make a huge profit. Even if he didn't sell it and kept it for himself, it would be a satisfyingly good item.

Shopkeeper Feng wiped the phonograph, a look of reluctance on his face. "This was handmade in Amikan Country. There are only two in Pro State, and I really don't want to sell it."

Li Banfeng understood the implication of his words. He wanted more money.

"Shopkeeper Feng, name your price."

Shopkeeper Feng pondered for a moment, then held up two fingers.

Xiaopang's eyes widened. "You want twenty thousand?"

Shopkeeper Feng shook his head. "Huan Country Notes, two hundred thousand!"

"Two hundred thousand!" Xiaopang showed a bewildered smile. "Shopkeeper, you really think we're fools."

Shopkeeper Feng said, "It's worth the price. There's really no room for negotiation!"

Li Banfeng looked at the phonograph.

It had an antique mahogany cabinet, with three brass horns on top. The right horn was still slowly emitting steam.

"The forest flowers have withered, burying even the heart; when the swallows return in days to come, where will the body be?~~"

The moving melody still lingered in his ears, making Li Banfeng even more eager to buy this phonograph.

But two hundred thousand was too far out of reach for Li Banfeng.

His tuition and living expenses were earned through his own work. Li Banfeng had never had more than ten thousand in assets in his entire life.

He glanced at Qin Xiaopang, who widened his eyes and said, "What are you looking at me for? I've never seen that much money in my life. In our village, two hundred thousand is enough to build a house!"

A sickle for five hundred, and building a house for two hundred thousand?

Was he kidding?

Of course, this sickle wasn't an ordinary item, and the house Qin Xiaopang mentioned was probably some kind of special place.

Li Banfeng's gaze never left the phonograph. According to Li Banfeng's estimation, this phonograph could definitely sell for five hundred thousand in Yue Province. Li Banfeng was full of confidence in the biggest investment of his life. He looked at the owner, straightened his back, and said, "Keep this phonograph for me. I will definitely buy it!"

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

He felt that Li Banfeng would truly buy this phonograph.

"Okay, I'll keep it for you," the shopkeeper agreed.

I will definitely buy it!

For Li Banfeng, these words indeed carried a special weight.

At the Welfare Institute, seeing the children outside eating popsicles, he had said, I will definitely buy it.

When he was in junior high, seeing his classmate's basketball shoes, he had said, I will definitely buy it.

When he was in college and saw other students' cell phones, he said, I will definitely buy one.

He bought the popsicles, he bought the sneakers, and he bought the cell phone.

He would definitely be able to buy this phonograph too.

"Brother, let's go! We're running out of time!"

Qin Xiaopang pulled Li Banfeng away from Feng's General Store. The clerk sighed and said, "Shopkeeper, when do you think this thing will sell?"

The shopkeeper thought for a moment and said, "I think that Mr. Li just now was genuinely interested in buying it."

"What's the use of just being interested?" The clerk shook his head repeatedly. "Forget twenty thousand, I don't think he even has twenty yuan on him!"

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

Including the handle and the axe head, it was seventy centimeters long.

Li Banfeng frowned and said, "You're taking this thing up the mountain?"

"I heard that anyone who dares to go up Bitter Mist Mountain is a tough person. Bringing this axe will scare away at least half of them."

Xiaopang carried the axe, then went to the market and bought twenty catties of dry food, filled two large pots with water, hired a carriage, and took Li Banfeng all the way west to Bitter Mist Mountain.

They walked for a whole day. Of the twenty catties of dry food, Li Banfeng ate less than one catty, while Qin Xiaopang ate nearly half.

Late at night, the two arrived near Bitter Mist Mountain.

Li Banfeng looked into the distance, only seeing the hazy night, but no mountain.

Xiaopang found an inn and rented two beds in the communal room.

He himself felt a bit shabby staying in a communal room and specifically explained to Li Banfeng:

"I wanted a single room too, but this damn place raised its prices. A room is a hundred, and a bed in the communal room is only twenty. Let's just squeeze in, brother."

Li Banfeng wasn't picky. He lay down on the bed and pretended to be asleep.

In the communal room, there was a large connected bed with over twenty people squeezed onto it. There were sounds of snoring, teeth grinding, and talking in their sleep.

After Xiaopang fell asleep, Li Banfeng quietly slipped out of the inn, hid the key in the small woods outside the inn, and entered the Portable Abode.

His own room was the best.

From the Welfare Institute to graduating from college, Li Banfeng had never had his own room. Now, even sleeping on the cold ground, he felt comfortable.

This time he didn't oversleep. By the time Li Banfeng left the Portable Abode, it was just getting light.

Xiaopang also woke up early and was looking around for Li Banfeng. "Brother Li, where did you go?"

Li Banfeng gave a perfunctory answer, "Went to pee. Brother Pang, are we going to sleep a bit longer?"

Xiaopang was anxious. "Sleep? What are you talking about? Let's hurry up the mountain."

Li Banfeng followed Xiaopang west. After walking for an hour, a thick fog spread in the distance, and they still couldn't see the shadow of the mountain.

There were many people walking on the road. Xiaopang carried the axe and the dry food on his back, cautiously observing his surroundings.

A bald man, in his thirties, with a scar near his left eye, was hurrying forward and bumped into Xiaopang from behind.

Xiaopang stumbled, almost falling, and looked up at the bald man.

The bald man's eyes flashed fiercely. He turned back and looked at Qin Xiaopang: "Are you blind? Don't you know you're blocking the way?"

Xiaopang immediately got angry: "You f*cking bumped into me, and you still dare to f*cking curse?"

The bald man stepped forward and said: "What about cursing you? I f*cking didn't beat you, do you think your skin is itching?"

Xiaopang raised his axe and swung it in front of the bald man.

The bald man spat and pulled out a foot-long machete from his waist.

Li Banfeng watched quietly from the side. Without a change in expression, his right hand gripped the handle of the small sickle.

The small sickle was in his pocket, and neither the bald man nor Xiaopang noticed it.

A man in his early thirties, with a side part, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a gray checkered suit, approached Xiaopang and the bald man.

"Gentlemen, if you have energy, use it on the mountain. Why show off here?"

To be honest, Xiaopang didn't want to fight. He was also in a hurry to go up the mountain to pick flowers, but he couldn't lose face.

The bald man looked at the man with the gold-rimmed glasses, put away his knife, and both sides found a way to back down, letting the matter pass.

The bald man continued on his way, and Xiaopang also put away his axe.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses whispered to Xiaopang: "Brother, is this your first time on the mountain?"

Qin Xiaopang scoffed: "I've walked this Bitter Mist Mountain countless times, how could it be the first time!"

It was indeed his first time, but he couldn't show his inexperience in front of others.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses smiled: "Whether it's your first time or not, let me give you a piece of advice. That bald man is not a good person. He will definitely try to harm you on the mountain."

Xiaopang spat: "What if I'm afraid of him?"

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses shrugged his eyebrows: "An open spear is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is hard to guard against. Not to mention you, I just said one extra word, and I might suffer his loss on the mountain."

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

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses looked at Li Banfeng again. Li Banfeng lowered his head and said nothing, looking like an honest person.

The three walked together for a while, and in the distance, they could vaguely see several flags.

There were yellow, green, and purple ones.

Li Banfeng asked: "Whose flags are these?"

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

He didn't know where these flags came from either, but Li Banfeng's question was equivalent to telling others that it was his first time on the mountain.

In fact, the man with the gold-rimmed glasses had already seen that it was their first time on the mountain. Looking at those flags, the man with the gold-rimmed glasses whispered: "The Bai Family, the Huang Family, the Lu Family, the Liu Family, people from all the major medicine shops have come."

Xiaopang had heard of the names of these medicine shops, but he didn't understand why the people from these medicine shops would come here.

After picking Snake Spot Chrysanthemums, they would naturally sell them to the medicine shops. They could just wait at home to do business, so why bother coming to the foot of Bitter Mist Mountain to wait?

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses knew the reason but didn't state it clearly: "My two friends, let's not go any further. Let's wait for news here."

"Wait for news?" Qin Xiaopang frowned. "Wait for what here? The Snake Spot Chrysanthemum only blooms for one day. The longer we wait, the fewer flowers we can pick."

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses shook his head and pulled out a folding fan from his waist: "Do you know when the Snake Spot Chrysanthemum blooms?"

Qin Xiaopang said loudly: "It blooms today!"

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses fanned himself and said slowly: "It does bloom today, but the time of blooming is uncertain.

Early morning is today, noon is today, and dusk is also today. If you go up the mountain now and it doesn't bloom until dusk, wouldn't you be exposed to the poisonous mist all day for nothing?"

Qin Xiaopang sneered: "I have cultivation, I'm not afraid of the poisonous mist."

"I know you have cultivation, but even with cultivation, you shouldn't waste it for nothing," the man with the gold-rimmed glasses looked at the vast dense mist in the distance.

"Ordinary people who continuously inhale the mist on Bitter Mist Mountain for three hours will likely lose their lives.

Cultivators who have just started and have no level can at most last seven or eight hours. Looking at how strong you are, you should be a Food Cultivator, right?"

Qin Xiaopang didn't say anything. A cultivator's Dao Gate and cultivation level should not be revealed to others.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses smiled: "If you are a Food Cultivator, after eating and drinking your fill, you can last for more than ten hours.

Go up the mountain after the flowers bloom. As long as you find the right place, picking seventy or eighty flowers is not a problem."

Seventy or eighty flowers, at eighty-five yuan per flower, would earn over six thousand yuan.

Qin Xiaopang heard this and was eager to move forward. The man with the gold-rimmed glasses closed his folding fan and blocked Qin Xiaopang, frowning: "Didn't I tell you, it's not time yet. Wait for the flowers to bloom before going up the mountain. Every year, countless reckless people like you die on the mountain."

Qin Xiaopang said angrily: "Do you know when the flowers will bloom?"

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses pointed at the flag in the distance with his fan: "I don't know, but they do. Every year, the medicine shops hire two scouts to go up the mountain.

When they find the flowers blooming, they will send a signal, and the medicine shops will send people up the mountain. At that time, we just follow them."

Qin Xiaopang was startled: "The medicine shops also send people up the mountain?"

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses smiled: "If they don't send people up the mountain, they can't buy Snake Spot Chrysanthemums. How can they refine Snake Spot Pills?

If a large medicine shop can't even produce Snake Spot Pills, wouldn't its reputation be ruined?"

Qin Xiaopang looked around: "So many people are going up the mountain. All the flowers they pick have to be sold to the medicine shops. Are they still afraid of not being able to buy them?"

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses fanned himself and said: "If only one medicine shop buys the flowers, they naturally won't worry about buying them, and the price will be set by the medicine shop.

But several large medicine shops in Medicine King Gully all want to buy the flowers. If there is a dispute, the price will be up to the seller."

Qin Xiaopang still didn't understand: "Didn't they all agree on eighty-five yuan per plant?"

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses shook his head and said: "That's the price released before going up the mountain. After coming down the mountain, it's still up in the air.

Suppose you run a medicine shop and don't have a single Snake Spot Flower in your hand, and the flower pickers are asking for a high price, will you buy it or not?

If you send people up and pick three to five hundred plants, you will have a rough idea. If it really doesn't work, you can refine fewer pills, and you won't be at the mercy of the seller."

This man with the gold-rimmed glasses was a true expert. From his words, it could be seen that he was very knowledgeable about the business on Bitter Mist Mountain.

While he was talking, several people gathered around and listened quietly. These people had never been to Bitter Mist Mountain and wanted to learn some experience from the man with the gold-rimmed glasses.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses wasn't stingy either, rambling on about a lot of common knowledge, focusing on the characteristics of the Snake Spot Chrysanthemum.

As he spoke, he suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed on the flag of the medicine shop in the distance.

Under the medicine shop's flag, several men were walking towards the depths of the thick fog. The man with the gold-rimmed glasses said to everyone, "The people from the medicine shop have gone up the mountain. We should go too."

Qin Xiaopang was eagerly about to step forward when the man with the gold-rimmed glasses reminded him, "Don't follow too closely. At the foot of the mountain, these people will abide by the rules to protect the medicine shop's reputation.

But once they're on the mountain, they'll do anything. Picking flowers is hard work. Picking them yourself is definitely not as fast as robbing others."

Hearing this, Qin Xiaopang tightened his grip on his axe again, and the few people around him also became nervous.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses said, "If you trust me, let's team up. It'll be good to look out for each other."

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