Black Flame City had been built by a business-oriented organization like the Coal and Steel Union, so its commercial district naturally occupied the finest part of town: the Upper East District, far from the production areas and downwind. The district was bustling. Several major commodity exchanges, where even the smallest transactions were beyond ordinary people's means, stood in its busiest spots. The city's abundant coal and steel production sustained all this prosperity. From dawn to dusk, it seemed that trains were hauling the city's specialties out of town every hour of the day.
The little general store where Zhang Tie worked was also somewhere in the bustling commercial district, but compared with the grand premises of the major trading companies, free-trade outfits, and exchanges, it was tucked away in a far more obscure, more down-to-earth corner. The train station was less than three hundred meters away, and all sorts of people came and went. The store itself stood right beside a flea market put together spontaneously by local residents and those Prospector newcomers from elsewhere. The area was lively with people passing through all day, though their clothes made it clear that most of those who frequented it were little folks from the lower and middle classes. What kept them coming, beyond the simple need to earn enough to fill their stomachs, were the street-side fairy tales that had circulated for who knew how many years and had never been verified: stories of some peddler stumbling across an incredible treasure one day and striking it rich. These tales kept ordinary people hanging around the neighborhood, day after day, year after year, and inspired wave after wave of Prospector newcomers to pack their gear with high spirits and set out for the unknown lands west and north of Black Flame City. Of course, if you were lucky and had a good eye, you might find something worthwhile here.
When Zhang Tie arrived at the general store, its owner, Tang De, was curled up in a heap on the lounge chair by the entrance. He basked in the evening sun, eyes half open as he calmly watched the crowds passing along the street. Only when a well-built or beautiful woman walked past the store did his fish-fat head turn slightly, his gaze following her for quite a while.
As usual, the first thing Zhang Tie did was clean the store. Then he checked and organized the stock on the shelves and counter before clacking away on the abacus and entering the accounts. After a year here, Zhang Tie felt that his greatest gain had been learning to use that strange mathematical tool called an abacus. It was a practical skill the school had never taught him, but he reckoned it would help with his future work. His father had been trying to find him a bookkeeping job at one of Black Flame City's coal exchanges, though he wouldn't be able to consider it until he finished his military service. For ordinary people, finding a job in the city after completing their service was already quite good, no matter what the work was, as long as it put food on the table.
He had just finished the accounts when a customer came in. Tang De's pig-like body was still sprawled in his chair, so Zhang Tie closed the ledger and went to greet the newcomer.
"May I help you? What are you looking for?" The customer was in his forties and still wore the work clothes of a railway station stevedore in Black Flame City. He smelled of coal dust. Judging by the time, the factories should have just let out, so the man had probably stopped by on his way home from work.
"I'd like to have a look at some white crystal." As he spoke, the stevedore in his forties examined the boxes of crystals behind the counter. They contained a dazzling array of crystals, mostly ordinary first-grade ones and a few second-grade ones. White crystal was the most common type. Some was natural, some artificial. Crystals of the same size and quality cost more if they had two points rather than one, and natural crystals were far more expensive than artificial ones. Artificial crystals looked prettier, but natural ones were more effective. Zhang Tie had heard that before the Great Cataclysm, crystal had served only as decoration. The public had known nothing of its ability to aid cultivation, nor of its secrets. Now, even the old women selling goods on the street knew about it. In this age, crystal was a strategic resource, and one of the things that gave humanity the confidence to survive.
"Is this all you have?" The man looked a little disappointed. The ordinary stock in the display case clearly didn't satisfy him, which slightly surprised Zhang Tie. Even these ordinary first-grade crystals were expensive for ordinary people.
"We have better goods in the store, but they cost more. Would you like to see them?"
The man smiled and patted his money pouch. Zhang Tie said nothing more. He put on a pair of white gloves, turned, and took a more refined box from a drawer in the cabinet behind him. He carefully set it on the counter and opened it in front of the man. Inside lay four white crystals: two double-pointed and two single-pointed. They were clear and translucent, with very few impurities. But what drew the eye most was the hazy, sand-like shadow within each one, shaped unmistakably like a pyramid. The largest and finest of the four was a double-pointed crystal. Inside it, every face of the pyramid shimmered with an indescribable radiance when viewed closely. It was a marvel of nature, a natural gathering of the energy of the universe. White Pyramid Crystals could do more than quickly help their users enter a meditative state and calm their minds. During cultivation, users could also draw on the power of the pyramid within to absorb universal energy more quickly and awaken their bodies' hidden potential and vitality.
Sure enough, the man's eyes locked onto the Pyramid Shadow Crystals as soon as he saw them. His expression was much like Zhang Tie's had been when he first laid eyes on them. These third-grade white crystals were the finest goods in the little general store, each worth more than two gold coins. In Black Flame City, one gold coin could buy enough food for an ordinary family of three to eat their fill for two months.
The price tags beneath each crystal in the box were plain to see. The man saw the price, but still hesitantly pointed at one of the single-pointed crystals and asked Zhang Tie, "Could you... lower the price a little?"
"218 silver. That's already a very low price. Everything in our store is marked clearly. If you don't mind my asking, are you buying it as a gift?"
"Yes. My son turns sixteen tomorrow, and I want to surprise him. My son's a genius!" The man smiled as he said this. His coal-dusted face suddenly softened with warmth and pride. His smile made Zhang Tie think of his own father.
"In that case, 215 silver. I'll throw in a gift box and two taels of Crystal Sand. That's the lowest price and the best deal we can offer..." Zhang Tie said sincerely. It truly was the store's bottom line. The stevedore in his forties had probably asked around about the store's reputation, perhaps on a friend's recommendation. The price was fair by Black Flame City standards, and when he heard about the gift box and Crystal Sand, he agreed at once.
The man carefully fished a money pouch out of his clothes. After paying two gold coins and fifteen silver, he left with the crystals Zhang Tie had wrapped up and the complimentary Crystal Sand. A sale worth more than two gold coins counted as a big deal for the store. Perhaps the store had used up all its luck for the day; in the hour after the man left, aside from two people who wandered in just to browse, it made no more sales.
Zhang Tie sat behind the counter with his chin resting in his hands, staring out at the street and thinking about what had happened that day, lost in a daze...
At last, the sun sank below the horizon, and darkness settled outside. The dead fish on the lounge chair finally stirred, shifted around, and got up with the utmost reluctance. He carried the chair back inside.
"What happened? Did someone beat you up today?"
The scars on Zhang Tie's face made the general store's owner grin with delight.
"No. I took a fall!" Zhang Tie stubbornly insisted.
"Come on, kid, quit pretending. What's there to be ashamed of? When I was your age, I got into three or five fights every day. Either I beat someone up or someone beat me up. It was perfectly normal. If you lose face, win it back!" the store owner said casually.
At that moment, Zhang Tie was thinking only about how Teacher Daina had seen him make a fool of himself that day. Hearing Tang De's words, he could only mutter helplessly, "What if I can never win it back?"
"Kid, that's why you're still wet behind the ears. There's no such thing as a fight you can't win back. There are only idiots and cowards who don't dare to win. If your opponent's stronger than you, then work ten times harder until you surpass him, then beat him until he's crawling on the ground, begging for his teeth. If you still can't beat him, then play dirty. Cover your face and hit him from behind with a club, strike him in the dark, or brain him with a brick. Just don't let him find out who you are!" the general store owner said with a devious grin. He gestured as he spoke, and Zhang Tie stared at him in stunned disbelief. Seeing the boy's dumbfounded look, the store owner seemed displeased. He gave Zhang Tie's shoulder a forceful pat. "Kid, you seem like a decent sort, so I'm passing on the wisdom I've gathered over these decades. When your fists aren't enough, you make up for it with this..." He pointed at Zhang Tie's head and raised his own proudly. "Here's a famous saying for you: a soft tongue can break hard bones, and a clever mind is better than any divine weapon!"
Tang De's last words stirred something in Zhang Tie. They seemed to make sense. "Who said that?"
"Tang De!"
"Yeah, right. I don't believe you!"
"Suit yourself. Hmm, as usual, I won't keep you for dinner tonight!" Iron Rooster said stingily.