By the time Zhang Tie reached the general store, he had already pushed what had just happened to Doug out of his mind. By tomorrow, Doug's mishap would surely become a laughingstock throughout the Airplane Brotherhood. Who knew whether that unlucky fellow would ever be able to live it down?
When Zhang Tie arrived, Tang De was serving customers in the shop. Zhang Tie stood to one side and watched. Only after the customers left did he go behind the counter, grab the broom, rag, and basin, and give the shop a thorough cleaning. Then he picked up the abacus, flipped through the ledger, and sorted out the shop's accounts for the past few days. Ever since Zhang Tie had started working at the general store, he had noticed that its owner, Tang De, was getting lazier and lazier. These chores took Zhang Tie nearly an hour every time, and today was no different.
Seeing Zhang Tie busy in the shop, Tang De stretched out on his reclining chair and leisurely closed his eyes.
Thinking of the few scraps of what Barry had called tea leaves, Zhang Tie had an idea and struck up a casual conversation with Tang De.
"Boss, do you know what tea leaves are?"
"Tea leaves!" Tang De turned his head in surprise at the question and looked at Zhang Tie. "They're a rare and precious drink. Those rich and powerful gentlemen who want to cultivate an air of refinement and pretend to have taste and style love using them to show off their status!"
"That can't be right. They don't seem like a drink. I saw someone put them straight in his mouth and hold them there. Does he eat his saliva?"
"Idiot, tea leaves are steeped in water, and there's a lot of fuss involved!" Tang De scolded. "Some nouveau riche put them in their mouths to freshen their breath!"
"Oh, so they're expensive?"
"Not just expensive. Extremely expensive. The lowest grade, shipped in from elsewhere and sold in one-jin packages here in Black Flame City, costs this much!" Tang De held up five fingers. "As for anything better, you can forget about it for the rest of your life!"
"Five silver coins!" Zhang Tie thought that was already outrageous.
"Five silver coins..." Tang De gave a scornful snort. "That'd only let you smell it. It's five gold coins, and sometimes even more!"
Zhang Tie was aghast. No wonder those few shabby, ugly leaves had been wrapped in layer upon careful layer of paper by Barry. They turned out to be worth a fortune—something ordinary people couldn't afford to dabble in at all.
"If they're that expensive, wouldn't you make a fortune if you could grow them in Black Flame City?"
"If anyone's going to make a fortune, it won't be you. They only grow in the Eastern Continent; you can't grow them anywhere else. The only ones who can get into that business are major merchant groups and trading houses with powerful connections!"
"The Eastern Continent? I heard there are lots of human kingdoms there, including many powerful ones. Some have thousands of cities like Black Flame City. Our teachers told us about it at school..."
"Country bumpkin, what's Black Flame City compared to those places? There are cities dozens of times bigger than Black Flame City. If you ever get the chance to travel around the Eastern Continent, you'll see for yourself. The human kingdoms over there are primarily made up of the Hua Clan. Back when I was young..." Tang De's face took on a wistful, faraway look, and then he began rambling on. Zhang Tie listened attentively. Tang De really had been to the Eastern Continent when he was young, and some of his stories seemed credible. But the rest—how he had sworn blood brotherhood with powerful human Warriors from the Eastern Continent according to their customs, fought alongside them on the battlefield to rout the alien races bent on wiping out humanity, discovered priceless ruins with some Prospector, explored underground with a bevy of beautiful women, nearly been ** by a crowd of women, and seen diamonds as big as a person's head and gold nuggets as big as houses—could be identified as the sort of stale material already overused in Knight novels, so Zhang Tie automatically tuned it out.
Tang De was in the middle of another wild tale, describing how the beautiful women who had gone underground with him had wept and begged him to marry them, when two customers entered the shop. They were both in their thirties, weather-beaten and bearded, wearing leather boots, belts with bronze buckles, riveted half-armor, and long swords at their waists. Steel crossbow cases were strapped to their backs, and the shoulder plates of their half-armor had hooks for attaching windproof hooded cloaks. They looked like Prospectors. After a year working at the general store, Zhang Tie's eye had grown sharp. Though the two were Prospectors, they probably hadn't been at it for long. He could tell from the condition of their gear. Beginners who had been in the trade for only a year or two all looked like this, afraid no one would recognize them as Prospectors unless they dressed like regular soldiers, buying their equipment as complete sets.
"Can I help you two with anything?" Zhang Tie asked, professional and courteous.
The two men first looked Zhang Tie over, then glanced around the shop and exchanged nods. The taller one came over, bent down, and lowered his voice. "Is the boss here? We'd like to discuss a deal with him!"
Customers like these came by all the time. Tang De's general store not only sold things, it bought them as well. Seeing the two Prospectors acting so cautiously and asking to speak directly with the owner, Tang De climbed out of his reclining chair, rubbed his hands together, and came over with a deferential bow.
"I'm the boss. What I say goes in this shop!"
The two Prospectors looked Tang De over, exchanged glances, then nodded almost imperceptibly.
"Do you buy things here?"
"We do. Anything valuable, no matter what it is, I'll buy. If what you've brought is too valuable for this little shop to handle, I can put you in touch with someone. If you're satisfied with the deal, I'll take a five percent brokerage fee afterward!" Tang De's seasoned, straightforward manner immediately convinced the two Prospectors. After cautiously checking outside and confirming that no one was paying any attention to the little shop, one of the Prospectors turned sideways to block the view from outside while the other pulled a fist-sized chunk of metal ore from the leather bag of odds and ends at his side and placed it on the counter.
The ore's surface gleamed gold, making it look like actual gold. It seemed precious and impressive. Zhang Tie had expected the two men to produce some treasure that would give him a chance to feast his eyes, but he hadn't expected them to bring out something like this. He opened his mouth in surprise, then said nothing and shook his head.
"This is it?" Tang De sucked in a breath, looking as if he had a toothache.
"This is it..." One of the Prospectors regarded Tang De with grave expectation. "Name your price. If it's right, we brothers can work with you long-term!"
"Five kilograms for one copper coin," Tang De quoted.
"What? Say that again! I must have misheard you..." The two Prospectors stared at Tang De, eyes wide, their faces furious.
"I could say it ten thousand times and it'd still be the same: five kilograms for one copper coin!" Tang De replied slowly, paying no heed to their reddening faces. The man who had been blocking the view had already begun to reach for the sword at his waist.
"You two must think this is gold ore, since the color's so similar and it looks so pure?" At Tang De's words, the two Prospectors paused, then nodded. Even the one with his hand on his sword loosened his grip a little.
"Heh. Some gold ore does look a lot like this, but I'm afraid this isn't gold ore. It's Fool's Gold. Five kilograms for a copper coin is a fair price for it!"
"Fool's Gold?" One Prospector picked up the glittering ore, apparently unable to believe that the thing they'd gone to so much trouble to find wasn't even worth scrap iron. The other seemed suspicious and didn't quite believe Tang De. Seeing their expressions, Tang De said no more. He simply turned to Zhang Tie and said, "Bring out our sample of Fool's Gold!"
Zhang Tie turned and rummaged around in a corner of the general store. He soon brought over a battered, dusty sack and set it on the floor, revealing what was inside. More than ten kilograms of the stuff spilled out. Sure enough, it looked exactly like the ore on the counter. The two Prospectors crouched down and each picked up a couple of worthless pieces of Fool's Gold to compare with the one in their hands. Their faces went through every shade of color before they finally wilted like deflated balls.
"There's a canyon in the Red Highlands, a hundred-odd kilometers southwest of Black Flame City. You probably got this stuff from there. It really does look a lot like gold ore. Prospectors have mistaken it for gold before and made fools of themselves. Don't take it to heart. When you're out prospecting, you can run into all kinds of strange things. Nobody knows everything."
The fact that Tang De even knew the location completely crushed the last shred of hope in the two Prospectors' hearts. They stood up, dejectedly thanked Tang De, and, feeling humiliated, didn't linger in the shop. They slunk away. When they reached the door, one of them remembered he was still holding the piece of Fool's Gold they'd thought was a treasure. With an angry curse, he hurled it into the street.
"Fool's Gold, the gold of fools. It really lives up to its name—two more fools have been taken in..." Watching the two men leave, Tang De shook his head and sighed, then stretched out on his reclining chair again.
A few more groups of customers came to the general store later, and they sold more than ten silver coins' worth of goods. When Tang De said, "...I won't keep you for dinner today, as usual!" Zhang Tie knew it was time for him to leave.
What were Doug and Barry up to now? Zhang Tie wondered as he walked out of the general store.
Dusk began to fall, and the lamplighter went around lighting the city streets, ringing his bell. Zhang Tie had taken fewer than ten steps when he suddenly stopped. By the light of the streetlamp that had just been lit, he saw something glimmer faintly beneath the wall ahead...
Oh, it was the Fool's Gold those two fools had thrown away. After hitting the ground, it had rolled into a corner by the roadside and broken in half. Zhang Tie took two more steps...
Wait, no. There seemed to be something inside the Fool's Gold. That must have been what flashed just now. Its color was different from the ore's under the lamplight. Zhang Tie's heart stirred. He walked over, turned his back, and pretended to crouch down to tie his belt. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he quietly picked up the two pieces of ore from the roadside and slipped them into his pocket. There really was something inside the Fool's Gold. Zhang Tie's heart instantly began pounding...