Even Score

Shan Guo'er bent down.

Her head was barely a meter away from Gao Jing.

Her huge, jet-black eyes stared at Gao Jing, brimming with boundless anticipation.

Clear, innocent, pure.

Gao Jing felt that if he failed to keep his promise to the little girl, it would be an unforgivable crime!

Fortunately, this time he had not only brought back candy.

He had brought a full two thousand pounds!

"Here, here!"

Gao Jing hurriedly pointed at the rattan basket on the right. "All the candy here is for you!"

Shan Guo'er immediately looked where he pointed, excitement gleaming in her eyes.

"Wow!"

She reached out and grabbed a ten-pound block of peanut candy, her eyes curving with delight.

Then she eagerly stuffed it into her mouth!

"Wait!"

Gao Jing quickly stopped her. "You need to, um, peel off the stuff on the outside before eating it."

There was no word for "plastic" in Great Wilderness Script.

Shan Guo'er blinked and tried using her fingers to tear at the cling film wrapped around the peanut candy.

With a rip, she tore it off.

After examining the peanut candy in her hand, the little girl was no longer in such a rush to eat it.

She raised the candy beneath her nose and sniffed it, then stretched out her little tongue and gave it a lick.

Her eyes instantly lit up!

Crunch!

The next moment, five pounds of the ten-pound peanut candy had vanished into her mouth.

Crunch! Crunch!

As she savored the crisp, fragrant peanut candy, a smile more brilliant than spring blossomed across the little girl's face.

She had never tasted anything so sweet and delicious in her life.

It filled her mouth, lingered between her teeth, made her taste buds explode, and sank straight into her soul!

It was so delicious!!

If the little bit of chocolate Gao Jing had given her before had allowed her to glimpse a beautiful heaven...

Then this peanut candy had brought her straight into heaven itself.

She was so happy she was about to fly.

And the sincere joy and happiness Shan Guo'er revealed at that moment made Gao Jing very happy too.

Deeply satisfied.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

Soon afterward, Shan Guo'er stuffed the remaining half-block of peanut candy into her mouth as well.

Chewing as she did so, she quickly grabbed a second block.

First tear off the film, then put it in her mouth—she simply could not stop!

"Shan Guo'er, eat it when you get home."

Sensing trouble, Gao Jing hurriedly said, "I also brought salt back for your grandfather."

At the rate she was eating, two thousand pounds of peanut candy would not last very long at all.

Gao Jing had planned to stay in Mountain Stronghold for a while this time.

If the little girl got addicted, ate it all, and made him get another batch...

That would be troublesome!

Besides, what if she ate too much peanut candy and got cavities?

Did little girls of the Giant Race get cavities?

Gao Jing badly wanted to log onto Bihu, where everyone supposedly had a degree from a top university, and ask.

Waiting online, very urgent!

"Mm."

Shan Guo'er was quite sensible. With her mouth full, she mumbled, "I'll take you to Granpa."

She carelessly crammed the peanut candy in her hand into her mouth, then held out her palm to Gao Jing. "Come."

Gao Jing was already very familiar with this gesture from the little girl.

He immediately jumped onto Shan Guo'er's palm.

The little girl placed Gao Jing into the basket hanging on her back, then grabbed the rattan basket carrying the goods.

The two rattan baskets were connected by thick, long vine roots, like a shoulder pole.

She effortlessly lifted them onto her shoulder and leaped down from the back of the Giant Rhino Packbeast.

Her landing was stable enough to earn a perfect ten!

Gao Jing's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

There were eighty or ninety tons of goods in those two rattan baskets!

Gao Jing truly could not imagine how much strength was hidden within the little girl's "tiny" body!

"Let's go!"

After jumping down from the pack beast, Shan Guo'er took off toward the stronghold at full speed!

Giant Rhino Packbeast: Huh???

Woof!

Just then, a little yellow dog came scampering out through the gate.

It happened to pass Shan Guo'er in the opposite direction.

Woof! Woof!

The little yellow dog hurriedly turned around and tried to chase after its little owner.

But it accidentally tripped over a grass vine on the ground and fell face-first into the dirt!

Woof!

It was anxious and flustered, tears welling in its aggrieved eyes.

"Stupid doggy!"

Shan Guo'er stopped and waited for the little yellow dog to catch up.

Then she grabbed it and stuffed it into the basket on her back.

Gao Jing in the basket: "..."

The next moment, the little yellow dog's wet tongue licked over.

Gao Jing, his face covered in drool: "!!!"

Weak, forced, helpless.

"Grandpa!"

Shan Guo'er dashed up the mountain path and ran inward along the long stone steps.

"Gao Jing is back! He brought salt back!"

The little girl's clear voice echoed through the valley, drawing many people from the stronghold to poke their heads out and look.

Shan Guo'er ran all the way to the wooden house in one breath.

She kicked open the door.

Inside the wooden house, the old Wizard was teaching a group of little brats from the village.

The little girl's sudden intrusion gave everyone a fright.

"Grandpa!"

Without another thought, Shan Guo'er eagerly called to the old Wizard, "Gao Jing is back!"

"I heard."

The old Wizard put down the charcoal pen in his hand and revealed a kindly smile.

Gao Jing stepped on the edge of the basket and sprang onto the wooden table in front of him.

He respectfully bowed to the old Wizard. "Greetings, Chief Wizard. I'm back."

"You've worked hard."

The old Wizard slightly bowed in return.

He said to the curious little brats, "Go home for now. We'll continue studying tomorrow."

The little ones actually wanted to stay and watch the excitement.

But they did not dare disobey the old Wizard, so they could only leave the wooden house reluctantly.

They kept turning back as they walked.

Shan Guo'er secretly made faces at them.

Then she shut the door.

She moved the goods from the rattan basket onto the table. "Grandpa, Gao Jing brought me candy. It's really, really delicious."

"You should have a piece too!"

Shan Guo'er skillfully unwrapped a piece of peanut candy and offered it to her grandfather as if presenting a treasure.

"You eat it."

The old Wizard stroked her head and said affectionately, "Grandpa won't eat it."

Of course, he could see how much the little girl liked this candy.

How could he eat hers?

Gao Jing smiled. "Shan Guo'er, could you bring me a jar?"

The old Wizard nodded to his granddaughter.

"Okay."

Shan Guo'er answered brightly.

She stuffed the entire unwrapped peanut candy into her mouth, and one cheek immediately puffed up like a squirrel's.

Very soon, she found Gao Jing an empty earthenware jar.

The Mountain Tribe was quite primitive. The Giants' everyday tools were mainly made of stone, bone, and wood.

But they also knew how to use clay to make pottery.

For cooking food.

Gao Jing drew the Mountain-Cleaving Saber he carried with him and cut open the seal of a salt bag.

He had Shan Guo'er help pour the coarse salt from the bag into the jar.

The old Wizard was visibly shaken.

The old Giant extended a skinny, withered index finger into the jar, dipped up a few grains of salt, and tasted them.

Then he froze.

During the time Gao Jing had lived in Mountain Stronghold, he had studied Great Wilderness Script with the old Wizard every day.

He had never seen the other man lose his composure like this before!

He could not help feeling uneasy. "Chief Wizard, is there a problem?"

"No."

The old Wizard came back to his senses and gave a bitter smile. "There's no problem. It's just that this salt is truly too good!"

"Truly too good..."

A reminiscent look appeared on his aged face. "Even in the City of Ten Thousand Kings, I never ate salt this good."

Gao Jing immediately let out a breath of relief.

As long as there was no problem.

He was glad he had bought coarse salt rather than refined salt. Otherwise, he had no idea what expression the old man would have worn.

Still, Gao Jing had a question in his heart.

Could it be that the Wizards who wielded Transcendent power had not developed a method for refining salt?

That should not have been difficult.

But this was not the time to ponder such questions. He continued opening the salt bags.

In the end, after all the salt bags had been opened, they still failed to fill the earthenware jar Shan Guo'er had found!

Gao Jing began to doubt life itself.

Eighty tons—an entire eighty thousand kilograms—of edible coarse salt that had cost him nearly a fortune.

And it was not even enough to fill one jar!

There were more than seven hundred people in the Mountain Tribe.

It was a cup of water against a cartload of firewood. No matter how good the salt was, what use was that?

There was simply not enough to eat!

He said apologetically, "Chief Wizard, I'm very sorry. I could only bring back this much..."

The Copper Anchor's storage space was simply too limited.

"No, no, no!"

The old Wizard immediately waved his hand and interrupted Gao Jing's apology. "Sir Gao Jing, you are far too polite!"

Gao Jing was stunned.

The leader of the Mountain Tribe had added the words "Sir" to the way he addressed him.

In Great Wilderness Script, this term was generally used only as an honorific for a Shi.

Shi referred to the nobles and powerful figures among the Great Wilderness Humans.

Gao Jing had never expected that this coarse salt would raise his standing in the other man's heart by so much!

He hurriedly said, "I wouldn't dare."

The old Wizard shook his head.

The old Giant reached into the pouch at his waist, pulled out a grayish-black stone, and set it beside the clay jar. "Do you know what price we have to pay to obtain a piece of Saltstone?"

Gao Jing certainly remembered that bitter, astringent stuff.

He shook his head as well.

The old Wizard raised one finger and sighed. "One animal hide—a Sabertooth Tiger hide!"

Gao Jing had never seen a Sabertooth Tiger.

Yet from the old Wizard's expression, he could tell that obtaining a Sabertooth Tiger hide was no easy matter.

"The wood you gave us isn't worth much at all."

The old Wizard continued, "To hunt a Sabertooth Tiger, we might lose a brave warrior."

Gao Jing fully understood what he meant.

This was the enormous disparity in the value of goods between two worlds.

How could they possibly know that the coarse salt Gao Jing had brought was worth no more than a single log in the Main World?

"What you have brought to our tribe is hope."

The old Wizard said meaningfully, "Without salt, our warriors will gradually lose their strength and become weak beyond measure. Our tribe will perish because of it."

"So now, do you still think your salt is too little?"

Gao Jing was left speechless.

He greatly admired the old Giant's frankness and breadth of heart.

The old Wizard had not needed to tell him any of this.

But he had laid everything out plainly.

This was trust!

After thinking for a moment, Gao Jing asked, "Wizard Chief, does that mean your Saltstone was traded from others as well?"

"Yes."

The old Wizard nodded. "About every ninety days, a merchant caravan comes to our village."

Black-hearted merchants!

Gao Jing understood. "So that was how it was."

Originally, Gao Jing had wanted to say that they would no longer need to trade with those black-hearted people in the future.

I'll bring you salt for the long term!

But then he considered that if he could not find a way to charge the Copper Anchor, such a promise would be utterly useless.

So he forcibly swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

"Oh, right."

He said, "I also brought you a gift."

The old Wizard asked with interest, "What gift?"

Gao Jing used the Mountain-Cleaving Saber to cut open a sack.

The yellowish-brown dried leaves stuffed inside were immediately revealed. "Tobacco leaves!"

The old Wizard usually enjoyed smoking a pipe.

A pipe was hidden inside the head of his wooden staff, and whenever he had nothing to do, he would pull it out and take a few puffs.

But the tobacco leaves he used smelled quite inferior to Gao Jing.

Therefore, during his large-scale shopping trip in the Main World, Gao Jing had specially bought several hundred jin of tobacco leaves for the old Wizard.

Buying tobacco leaves had not been easy. Gao Jing had only managed to get them through connections.

The reason he had bought only several hundred jin was that he worried the Main World's tobacco might not suit the old Wizard's taste.

If the old Wizard did not like it, it would all have been wasted.

"Hm?"

The old Wizard was somewhat surprised.

He pulled out his pipe, grabbed a handful of tobacco leaves, and stuffed them into the bowl.

The tobacco leaves Gao Jing had brought were whole, but to a Giant, they were not much different from shredded tobacco.

He lit it and took two puffs.

His cloudy old eyes suddenly lit up.

The unexpected delight on his face was at least eighty percent similar to Shan Guo'er's expression when she had just eaten peanut sesame candy!

"Fine tobacco!"

The old Wizard was overjoyed. "Thank you, I like this gift very much."

Gao Jing smiled. "As long as you like it."

At least he had not bought the wrong thing.

"Shan Guo'er..."

Only after taking several blissful puffs did the old Wizard reluctantly put down his pipe. "Go tell Shan Tai to light the bonfire tonight. We will entertain our friend!"

"Mmph."

Shan Guo'er, beside them, covered her mouth and tried hard to swallow the peanut candy in it.

But her cheeks were puffed out like a chipmunk stuffed full of chestnuts.

How could that possibly escape anyone's notice?

While Gao Jing had been talking to the old Wizard, the little girl had no idea how many pieces of sesame candy she had secretly eaten.

The old Wizard did not know whether to laugh or cry. He reached out and rubbed his granddaughter's hair. "Eat sparingly. It wasn't easy for Lord Gao Jing to bring these things back. Once they're gone, there will be no more."

Shan Guo'er nodded with a flushed little face, then ran out of the wooden house in a puff of smoke with the little yellow dog.

The old Wizard smiled.

After taking two more puffs, he asked solemnly, "Lord Gao Jing, how should I thank you?"

Gao Jing's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

After carefully reading Chronicle of the Great Wilderness, Gao Jing had quietly changed the goal of his actions in the Great World.

Making money had been pushed into a secondary position.

He now had a higher pursuit!

Now, this new goal suddenly had the possibility of being realized at once. How could he not be excited?

But Gao Jing quickly calmed down. "Wizard Chief, you don't need to thank me, because this was a fair trade."

"And if the people of the tribe hadn't saved me, I'm afraid I would already have died in the wilderness."

"So I should be the one thanking you!"

The old Wizard chuckled.

He gently tapped the clay jar of coarse salt on the table with his pipe and said meaningfully, "Then now..."

"We're even."