Shopping

The two passed through the South City Gate and truly entered Shrek City.

The bustle inside the city was entirely different from the market outside the gates.

The streets were much wider, with shops packed side by side on both sides, selling everything—weapon shops, herb shops, Soul Tool parts shops, clothing stores, general stores, and even several pawnshops with "Buying" signs hanging outside.

Lanterns hung outside the shops, their warm yellow light joining into a continuous glow that brightly illuminated the stone-paved road.

There were also quite a few street stalls, far more orderly than those outside the city. Every stall was neatly arranged, and the vendors did not shout loudly. They simply sat there, only calling out when passersby stopped to take a closer look.

Jiang Nannan led him skillfully through the crowd, introducing the place as they walked. "This street is called South Market Street. It's one of the busiest places in Shrek City. There are even more people during the day, and fewer at night, but some stalls only come out at night."

Xue Lingyun looked around and nodded occasionally.

"What do you want to browse?" Jiang Nannan turned back and asked. "Food is over there, the herb shops are in the alley ahead, and there's a pretty good Soul Tool parts shop around the corner. The owner's a little shady, though, so you'll have to haggle."

Xue Lingyun thought for a moment. "Let's just look around. If there's anything suitable, I'll take a look."

"Alright." Jiang Nannan agreed readily and pulled him into the alley. "Then I'll take you to the herb shops. I know which ones have good goods at fair prices."

The two entered an alley narrower than the main street.

There were shops on both sides. Their lights were dimmer than those on the main street, but the alley was quieter. Every now and then, the faintly bitter scent of medicinal herbs drifted out from a doorway.

Jiang Nannan stopped in front of a shop and pointed. "This one. I've been here a few times. The owner's decent and doesn't cheat people."

Xue Lingyun glanced inside. The shop was not large. A row of medicine cabinets stood against the wall, their tiny drawers packed tightly together, each labeled with the name of an herb.

An elderly man with graying hair sat behind the counter, his head lowered as he fiddled with something.

The two walked around the shop. Xue Lingyun glanced over the samples displayed in the counter but said nothing.

The old man looked up at them. Seeing that they appeared to be students, he did not bother greeting them much and went back to his work.

After leaving the shop, Jiang Nannan asked quietly, "Nothing catch your eye?"

Xue Lingyun shook his head. "The goods were genuine enough, but the prices were a little high. That thirty-year Jade Marrow Ganoderma was priced at three hundred gold. Outside, it would be two hundred and fifty at most—but the proper shops on this street are all about the same price. If you want to find a bargain, you still have to dig through old goods."

Jiang Nannan's eyes widened. "You could tell its age and price with one look?"

"After seeing enough, you get a rough idea," Xue Lingyun said. "Besides, that one wasn't in great condition. Two of its roots had broken off, and it hadn't been dried thoroughly enough. It wouldn't keep for long after buying it."

The way Jiang Nannan looked at him changed slightly.

They visited several more shops. Xue Lingyun merely glanced at most of the herbs displayed openly and did not enter another one.

Jiang Nannan did not rush him and simply followed along.

After turning into another alley, they came upon a shop that looked more run-down than the others, with all sorts of miscellaneous items piled outside its entrance.

Xue Lingyun's footsteps paused as he gave the pile a few extra looks.

It was a heap of old goods that seemed to have been collected from all over—herbs, ores, several pieces of metal with no obvious use, and a few broken Soul Tool parts—all jumbled together beneath a layer of dust.

The owner was a middle-aged man doing accounts behind the counter. Seeing someone staring at the pile, he casually called out, "Those are all old things I bought in. Clearing them out cheap. Ten gold a piece, whichever one you like."

Jiang Nannan leaned closer and whispered, "What good could there possibly be here? Let's go. I'll take you somewhere else."

Xue Lingyun did not respond. He crouched down and rummaged through the pile.

Among the junk was a fist-sized stone, dull gray and pitted across its surface. It looked like something picked up casually from the roadside.

Yet Xue Lingyun picked it up, turned it over several times, and brought it close to smell it.

"This one." He stood and handed the stone to the owner. "Ten gold, right?"

The owner looked at the stone, his gaze a little puzzled. He could not even remember when he had taken in the thing.

But since he had already named the price, he did not think much about it and nodded. "Ten gold."

Xue Lingyun counted out ten Gold Soul Coins from his storage Bracelet and placed them on the counter.

Once they had left the shop, Jiang Nannan could not help asking, "What was that? It looked like an ordinary stone to me."

Xue Lingyun handed the stone to her. Jiang Nannan took it and examined it, but still could not make sense of it.

"This is Associated Ore." Xue Lingyun turned the stone over and tapped the pitted patterns on it with his fingertips. "A type of Silver Frost Iron, but this gray outer layer bears the marks of high-temperature burning."

"This kind of ore is only treated at high temperatures when forging certain special alloys. After treatment, the surface layer becomes like this, but the material at its core actually becomes purer."

Jiang Nannan froze. "You mean..."

He weighed the stone in his hand before continuing, "This ore has been used, but not completely used up. If there's a core inside that wasn't fully smelted, refining it again after taking it back should yield at least three taels of Silver Frost Iron Essence. On the market, Silver Frost Iron Essence costs around five hundred gold per tael."

Jiang Nannan's eyes widened. She lowered her head to look again at the unremarkable stone in her hand, unable to speak for a moment.

"Of course, there might be nothing inside at all." Xue Lingyun smiled. "That's gambling on stones. It depends on luck."

Jiang Nannan stuffed the stone back into his hand, her expression even more complicated. "You... how do you know all this?"

"When you've been to more places, you see more things," Xue Lingyun said casually. "Some of it I read in books, some I learned from others, and some I figured out myself."

Jiang Nannan fell silent for a while, then suddenly said, "I thought I was already good at saving money, but you're saving money and making money at the same time."

Xue Lingyun laughed at that.

The two continued browsing.

Jiang Nannan was indeed excellent at haggling. At a snack stall, she somehow bargained a serving of sweet rice cakes from five copper coins down to three, and even got the owner to throw in an extra piece.

Watching from the side, Xue Lingyun felt that if this girl opened a shop in the Far North, she could probably talk Xiao Bai out of half his food stores.

"Well?" Jiang Nannan handed him a sweet rice cake and raised her chin proudly. "Not bad, right?"

Xue Lingyun accepted it and took a bite. It was sweet, soft, chewy, and indeed quite good. He nodded. "Impressive."

Jiang Nannan smiled so brightly that her eyes curved into crescents.

The two ate as they walked, passing a stall selling old books.

Xue Lingyun glanced over it, paused, then stepped back.

More than a dozen old books lay on the stall. Some were handwritten copies, while others were printed editions. Their corners were frayed from having been read countless times.

He crouched down and flipped through them, then picked up the thickest one. On its cover were the hastily scrawled words: Continent Ore Vein Distribution Miscellany.

As he flipped through it, the contents were not miscellaneous at all. It was filled with records of the origins of various ores. Some pages even contained simple terrain maps marked with notes such as "suspected ore deposit" and "someone once discovered a certain ore here."

There were several different styles of handwriting, as though different people had added to it over different periods.

"How much is this?" Xue Lingyun asked.

The stall owner was a thin, wizened old man. He glanced at the book in Xue Lingyun's hand. "That one? Thirty copper coins."

Xue Lingyun did not haggle and paid directly.

Jiang Nannan leaned in to look. "What is this? An old book?"

"Mhm." Xue Lingyun put the book into his Bracelet. "I'll read it slowly when I get back."

Jiang Nannan did not ask further and pulled him onward.

After wandering around for nearly half an hour, the two were a little tired and sat down outside a shop selling sweet drinks.

Jiang Nannan ordered two bowls of chilled sour plum soup and pushed one toward Xue Lingyun.

Xue Lingyun took a sip. It was tart and cool, truly refreshing.

Jiang Nannan cradled her bowl in both hands. After watching him take several sips, she suddenly asked, "You seem to know a little about everything?"

Xue Lingyun thought about it. "I wouldn't say I know much. I've just encountered more things, so I know a bit."

"Then how do you know so much?" Jiang Nannan asked. "Is your family in business? Or did someone in your family teach you?"

Xue Lingyun shook his head. "No. I've just traveled to more places."

Jiang Nannan was silent for a moment before asking again, "When you traveled, were you always alone?"

"Mhm."

"Weren't you lonely?"

The question caught Xue Lingyun off guard.

Lonely?

He thought of the Ice Palace in the Far North, of Snow Empress's aloof figure, of Ice Empress's haughty tone, and of Xiao Bai's honest face.

During those days, he had never felt lonely.

But when traveling, he really had been alone.

Alone on the road through desolate wilderness. Alone settling down in unfamiliar towns. Alone searching deep in the mountains and forests for the "things" he sensed.

Sometimes, he would not encounter another person for days and could only talk to himself.

After a moment of silence, he finally said, "I got used to it."

Jiang Nannan looked at him and said nothing more.

She lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of her bowl. After a long while, she said softly, "That must have been hard."

Xue Lingyun did not answer.

The two quietly finished their sweet drinks, then rose and continued onward.

The night market was in full swing, with even more people than before.

Jiang Nannan pulled him through the crowd, pointing at one stall and saying, "The noodles here are good," then pointing at another shop and warning, "The jewelry here is a scam. Never go in."

Xue Lingyun let her lead him along. He occasionally asked a question or two, but more often simply listened to her talk.

When they reached a fork in the road, Jiang Nannan suddenly stopped and pointed ahead. "That way sells Soul Tool parts. Want to take a look?"

Xue Lingyun followed the direction she pointed. Several shops there were indeed brightly lit, and various parts could vaguely be seen displayed in their counters. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Not today. Another day."

Jiang Nannan nodded and did not ask further.