"Please sit, honored guest."
Shi Yiniang said, "If Attendant Hu says your talismans are good, then they certainly are. However many you wish to sell, we will buy them all."
Shi Yiniang saw the Daoist nod, then heard him say, "That would certainly be good, but you needn't keep calling me your guest. Now that we've exchanged names, just call me Xinzhan."
She nodded and said, "All right. Then you needn't call me fellow Daoist either, Xinzhan. Just call me Shi Yiniang."
Both of them found these forms of address rather strange.
But the Daoist felt stranger still. Did Shi Yiniang even count as a name? Why did it sound like a woman's private name? Was that how people named themselves up north? It really was quite different from the south.
He looked at Attendant Hu and asked, "Then how would you price these talismans of mine, Attendant?"
Attendant Hu had evidently already made up his mind while examining the talismans. "Going by White Jade Capital's market prices, thunder, wind, water, and fire talismans fetch a little more. I'll offer you one Jin for twenty, Daoist Cheng. The others are worth a little less, so one Jin for twenty-five. How does that sound?"
Cheng Xinzhan had not expected them to be worth so much and agreed at once.
Attendant Hu smiled and continued, "Since you've met our proprietor, Daoist Cheng, and Attendant Wang just said we should give you a discount, how about this? Our Sea Market will also give you a water pouch with five mu of space. It can hold live fish and can even be put inside a Cave Stone.
"Just don't leave it inside the Cave Stone for too long."
"Then could these sea fish survive in a mountain pool?"
"Certainly. But if you want to