The Legendary Master’s Wife - Chap 143
Chapter 143 : Twelve Demon Beasts
Ten thousand miles away from Qing City was a town called SiFang.
SiFang Town was famous for squarish things and sculptures and it was a very strange town. But the evaluation stones from there were very famous because the best sculptors on the Long Xiang Continent were from there. Many famous sculptors come from SiFang Town.
Ling Xiao and You XiaoMo’s second destination for this trip was SiFang Town.
In order to shake off the people tailing them, Ling Xiao just hugged You XiaoMo and brought them both into his dimension when they came out of Qing City.
His dimension was not like You XiaoMo’s dimension as You XiaoMo’s dimension could not be moved. Of course, this was also related to the fact that he didn’t have complete control over it yet. Also, Ling Xiao’s dimension was formed from a spatial rift. Dimensions formed from spatial rifts could be moved by intention, however, the distance it could be moved depended on the level of the person.
So usually it would take half a day to get from Qing City to SiFang Town by horse carriage. Even the winged bird would take two hours. However, going through Ling Xiao’s dimension, it didn’t even take a few seconds. By the time they walked out of the dimension, they were already outside SiFang Town.
SiFang Town was really like its name. One could even make out the square shape of the town from outside.
You XiaoMo raised his head and looked at the main gate of the small town, it was a square. The length, width and height was basically the same and even the inscribed board on top was square. Everything was very unique and eye-catching.
But You XiaoMo was very unwilling because he was forced by Ling Xiao to come here. Ling Xiao simply didn’t forget his intention to let him buy an evaluation stone.
Before, when they were in Qing City, You XiaoMo saw that Ling Xiao didn’t bring up the matter about buying an evaluation stone so he thought he had forgotten about it, so he also didn’t bring it up. Turned out not only did Ling Xiao not forget about it, he even planned it out beforehand.
At one side, Ling Xiao saw that his mouth was forming such an exaggerated pout that one would soon be able to hang several pounds of pork on it. So he just hugged him by the waist and walked into SiFang Town while beaming, “Xiao Shidi. I know you are now very anxious. But it doesn’t matter. Very soon you will know what the color of your soul is.”
You XiaoMo almost spit out blood. So he still thought that he was unhappy because he was anxious about evaluating his innate talent? He was sure that this fellow was doing it on purpose!
“Da Shixiong, why must we come to SiFang Town? Why didn’t we just buy it in town just now?” You XiaoMo changed the subject. He didn’t want to continue with what they were just talking about because he would definitely get angered to death.
“Too inconvenient.” Ling Xiao beamed as he spoke.
“Why was it inconvenient?” You XiaoMo asked. He had no idea that they were trailed by a lot of people the moment they left Qing City.
There was nothing to hide about to this matter. While Ling Xiao told him about it, he also used the opportunity to give some general knowledge. Things like the treachery of men or disputes between forces, he explained his analysis on the whole situation in the Southern region of the Long Xiang Continent clearly to You XiaoMo, not shying away from shady matters.
Ling Xiao was not afraid that You XiaoMo would learn to become bad. In his eyes, it would be even better if he became bad. He was still worried that he was not bad enough and would get deceived instead. So, this matter, he had to make it clear.
By the time he finished speaking, You XiaoMo was already wiping away many handfuls of cold sweat wordlessly. The way of the world was really very complicated and it looked like he had to continuously increase his strength, and also the strength of Little PiQiu.
But after listening to Ling Xiao, he couldn’t deny that Ling Xiao was right to have doubts.
They should be a little more careful with everything. If by any chance someone found out that his soul was not the same as before, it would definitely bring them a lot of trouble.
Walking into SiFang Town, the buildings on both sides of the street were also squarish. But they were very simple and crude. No matter if it was the clothes of the people or their houses, they couldn’t be compared to the luxury of Qing City. However, it gave You XiaoMo a comfortable feeling.
SiFang Town was not big as it only had one street. Walking from the start to the end of the street was already the whole SiFang Town.
SiFang Town was famous for sculptures and both sides of the street were lined with shops selling sculptures. There were stone sculptures, wood sculptures, and also jade sculptures…
You XiaoMo simply picked one of the small shops and just as he walked in, a small black head suddenly popped out from behind the counter. It was a seven to eight year old boy. Seeing that there was a customer, the small boy’s eyes lit up instantly. His cute face was filled with happiness as he quickly ran out from behind the counter, rubbing his palms on his clothes.
“Brother, what kind of sculpture do you want to buy? My shop has everything. Look at these. They are all carved by my mom. My mom’s workmanship is very awesome. Do you want to buy one? One is not expensive. One gold coin is enough.” The little boy’s words seemed to be a product of constant rehearsal. A long string of words and he actually didn’t stop to take a breath. His face was still bright red, as if he was really happy but his tone was still clearly a little cautious.
You XiaoMo glanced at the simple and crude shop and the clothes on the little boy. The clothes had turned white from washing and even showed signs of repeated patching in a few areas. Immediately, he understood that their shop probably didn’t have much business usually. No wonder the little boy was so happy to see them come in.
But looking at the sculptures displayed on the cabinets, the small boy was not lying. Each sculpture, no matter what it was made of, was very exquisite. One could tell that the sculptor was very attentive and exacting.
You XiaoMo suddenly felt a little moved. Maybe he could buy back a few to put in his room or in the dimension. He could also give them to Little PiQiu as toys in order to stop him from playing with things that could not be played with.
Thinking like this, You XiaoMo simply walked over to choose something.
The first cabinet was displaying jade carvings and there were many grades of jade. There was white sand jade, purple ice jade, blue jade and so on. The multitude of colors was extremely beautiful and one could even feel the faint flow of spiritual energy inside upon touching.
Such a beautiful piece of jade carving with spiritual energy was really just one gold coin each?
You XiaoMo felt that this price was clearly too low as it was such a fine piece of jade carving. After deducting the cost of materials, the profit would probably be so little that it would be negligible.
While thinking like this, You XiaoMo’s line of sight suddenly came across the jade carvings on the topmost shelf. It was twelve jade carvings altogether and he suddenly felt more and more excited with each look. He feels that he must be seeing things as they were clearly the twelve zodiac animals. Also, each animal was different in color, making them look especially beautiful.
Ling Xiao realized that he was excited so he followed his line of sight, landing on the twelve animals. Ice cold jade yet they were carved to appear so lifelike, as if they were on the verge of coming to life.
The little boy was secretly monitoring You XiaoMo. Seeing that he seemed to have taken a fancy to the twelve demon beasts that his mother put on top of the cabinet, his fingers started to twist tightly. After thinking it over with gritted teeth, he raised his head. His eyes seemed to show that he had made some kind of decision. He looked tentatively at You XiaoMo.
“Brother, if you like these carvings, I can sell it to you cheap. Each one is not too expensive. I can sell it to you for three gold coins each. Really not expensive. How about it?” The little boy seemed to be worried that this price would scare them off, emphasizing that it was not expensive twice. Actually, it was really not expensive because one could tell from just one look that these carvings could not be compared to the others. The jade used for these twelve carvings was probably the best jade in their shop.
“Bring them down for me to take a look.” You XiaoMo said quickly. Three gold coins each was really too cheap.
Hearing these words, the little boy immediately showed a happy face. He quickly took out a chair from behind the counter because he was too short, he must stand on the chair in order to reach it. Even then, he was barely tall enough.
Only then did You XiaoMo come to his senses. Worried that he would fall down, he quickly walked over, saying, “Little boy. Come down. I’ll take them down myself.”
The little boy was stunned then immediately shook his head, “No, this is part of my job. Brother is a customer. How can I trouble you? I can do it!” He was afraid that this brother would refuse to buy because he didn’t serve him properly.
You XiaoMo didn’t know what he was thinking so he pondered over his words.
Right at this moment, a hand suddenly stretched out from behind them. While they remain stunned, that hand already took down the twelve jade carvings.
You XiaoMo and the little boy turned around in unison to see Ling Xiao take the last jade carving. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at it, completely ignoring their stunned expressions.
“These jade sculptures were carved by your mom?” Ling Xiao asked suddenly as he glanced at the little boy.
The little boy was stunned for moment before realizing that he was talking to him. He quickly shook his head, “No. My mom said that they were passed down from our grandfather.”
“They are carved pretty well.” Ling Xiao praised.
You XiaoMo walked up to him and looked at the twelve animals on the table. His mouth twitched. Fine, he was really seeing things. These are simply not the twelve zodiac animals. At a glance they looked similar but actually, they were twelve demon beasts. They only looked a little similar, that was all. Some of them looked ferocious but they were not the least bit hard to look at.
The little boy heard his praise and two rosy spots of excitement immediately bloomed on his cheeks, “Brother has decided to buy it?”
“Of course I’ll buy. I’ll buy all twelve of them. But…” You XiaoMo still felt like they seemed to be one set so he simply buys all of them.
The little boy heard the words he wanted to hear but then he heard the last word. Immediately he panicked, still thinking that he was complaining that it was too expensive. Gritting his teeth, he decided to lower the price again by a little when he heard You XiaoMo speaking as if to himself.
“Three gold coins each is not too cheap? Little brat. Are you purposely giving me this low price? Let me tell you. I, You XiaoMo am not someone that likes to take advantage of people. So sell them to me at the original price. One look and it’s obvious that these jade carvings are good quality goods.”
These words were really too fake!
Looking at his awe-inspiring upright manner, appearing to say I’m a good person, Ling Xiao suddenly remembered the manager of the Seven Star Hotel that he had swindled before. At that time, a certain person’s actions seemed to be from a whole different person than how he was acting now.
Ling Xiao remembered that You XiaoMo uttered something before, seemed to be that only an idiot wouldn’t take advantage when given the chance.
The little boy clearly didn’t expect him to say these words, standing stunned on the spot right until You XiaoMo waved his hand in front of his face a few times. Only then, did he abruptly come back to his senses, blushing bright red and stuttering, “Brother…do you really mean it?”
“Of course!” You XiaoMo nodded firmly. He could guess that his little boy must be having a difficult time. That was why he reduced the price for him. Most probably it had something to do with his mom, since his mom actually let this small child take care of the shop. Most probably, something must have happened so they were in need of money.
In the end, the boy blurted out a price.
Since it had been passed down from previous generations, the jade used was not ordinary jade. But the little boy’s family also didn’t seem to know what kind of jade so they could only price it at thirty gold coins each.
Hearing this price, You XiaoMo was silent for quite a while. looked like this little boy was crazy short of money so he dropped the price from thirty pieces straight down to three.
But even if it was three gold coins, for their family, it could also be considered a significant sum.
You XiaoMo straightaway gave the little boy three hundred and sixty gold coins.
To him, this few hundred gold coins was still not enough for him to buy a few magic herb seeds. But to the little boy, these gold coins were enough for their whole family to last quite a while. Even if they didn’t open shop, they wouldn’t starve to death.
After the little boy took the gold coins, his eyes got red with excitement. He abruptly turned around and ran to the back of the shop. You XiaoMo was not fast enough to stop him. He still hadn’t bought the evaluation stone!
Right at that moment, several calls could be heard coming from the direction the little boy ran towards, followed by spasms of coughing. Just as You XiaoMo guessed, the little boy’s mother was sick.
After a while, the little boy supported a beautiful young woman and walked out from the rear courtyard. The woman’s face was deathly pale without any sign of color, but her former beauty could still be seen. Most probably she had been tormented terribly by her serious illness leaving her looking like skin and bones.
Note:
SiFang : square
