Chapter 98
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In the dilapidated temple, a scruffy man with a goatee flipped his grilled fish, muttering with a frown, “Why are these barbarians so cunning as monkeys? Going by their rates, this batch leaves us with only half the hides and silver we used to get in previous years.”
The man in indigo linen riding attire suggested, “What if we teach them a lesson? I don’t believe that these savages wouldn’t want our goods. Whose merchandise in the borderlands isn’t priced several times more than ours? Let them get accustomed to it! Buy it or leave it, it’s their choice!”
The other three men nodded in agreement, then simultaneously turned to look at the gray-haired leader.
Someone addressed the leader, “Brother Zhao, it’s your call.”
At this moment, outside the temple window, the Seventh Prince, with half his chubby face quietly exposed, gazed intently at the grilled fish in the goatee man’s hand.
“These people aren’t playing tricks with us.” The man with white hair showed no sign of noticing the activity outside the window. “Currently, the Great Qi is at war with the Khitans. The hides in the hands of various border tribes were looted by the Khitans a few months ago, all used to make armor. With the shortage of goods, it’s impossible for us to exchange as we did in previous years.”
The goatee man became anxious. “What do we do then? Are we just going to trade our goods at a low price with them? Not to mention recovering the costs, all the hardships we’ve endured on this journey, transporting goods, will be in vain!”
The man with white hair took a deep breath. “Don’t worry, we don’t necessarily have to trade with the Jurchens. Let’s pack up our goods and continue westward. We can negotiate prices with the Dolon tribe. It’s farther from the war-torn areas, so they’ve been less affected by the Khitan looting.”
Outside the window, the Seventh Prince, fixated on the grilled fish, swallowed saliva.
His appetite made him alert to every sound and vigilant in every direction, quickly deducing that these people were likely all merchants.
He wondered how to trade for this grilled fish.
The Seventh Prince usually didn’t carry silver on him. Even when leaving the palace, it was the palace eunuch who followed, settling the bills.
Luckily, this time, heading out for war, Consort Xi, concerned for his well-being, had tucked a few silver notes into his pocket. Just in case there was something not available in the army rations, he could buy food along the way.
Consort Xi didn’t think much of it. She just worried about her son going hungry. Little did she dream that this expedition would turn into such a significant event.
Now, these few silver notes came in handy.
Although the Seventh Prince had never directly engaged in transactions, he remembered some things from Xue Yao’s ramblings when he was younger. Like the cost of a certain type of expensive fish on his dining table, emphasizing not to waste anything.
With the Seventh Prince’s memory, recalling the prices of various fish was as easy as pie.
The most expensive variety was only two taels of silver per catty, something common households wouldn’t indulge in. Regular fish cost a mere ten or so copper coins per piece.
The Seventh Prince could tell that the grilled fish in the goatee man’s hand belonged to the variety costing about ten or so copper coins per piece.
However, the timing of this fish’ appearance made it seem like a priceless delicacy in the Seventh Prince’s eyes, worthy of the exorbitant price of two taels of silver per catty.
The Seventh Prince lowered his head, pulled out a stack of silver notes from his pocket, and took out the smallest denomination, fifty taels.
Consort Xi, fearing that carrying too many silver coins would burden her son, had given him only such silver notes. There were no smaller denominations.
At this moment, inside the dilapidated temple, the five men remained oblivious to the boy outside continuously salivating, engrossed in discussing the next stage of their shipment route.
Shortly after, one of them finally heard footsteps outside the door and turned to look—
The Seventh Prince, head held high, walked gracefully past the front of the broken temple.
The men were startled, gripping the handles of their knives.
Doing business on the frontier was lucrative, with plenty of daring bandits. Many engaged in this trade were once bandits themselves, accumulating enough capital before turning to legitimate commerce.
When these merchants were once bandits, they often trailed caravans silently, gathering information.
Oddly, when the men snapped out of their trance, they found that the figure that had just walked past the door seemed… quite relaxed?
It didn’t match the behavior of a bandit scout.
Could it be that the area outside was already surrounded by bandits, and that was why this scout seemed so leisurely?
Just as the five men were nervously uneasy, the Seventh Prince turned back, then walked past the door.
The five men: “? ? ?”
Even if they were surrounded, there was no need to be so arrogant!
After the Seventh Prince passed the door once again, his brows were already furrowed—
Why didn’t these merchants greet His Highness? His Highness had already appeared twice.
The Seventh Prince’s communication style was extremely passive. He needed others to greet him first and then ask if His Highness was hungry.
This group, looking neither like eunuchs nor attendants nor soldiers, was truly difficult to figure out.
Unable to endure the hunger any longer, he started growling. The Seventh Prince, no longer composed and elegant, sluggishly walked to the temple door, looking pitifully at the five inside. He informed them with a whimper, “Your grandpa has entered.”
The five men, ready to draw their knives, were left bewildered—
Standing at the door was a dirty boy, dressed in a dark vermilion robe with wide sleeves and a broad sash. Judging by the style, it was definitely the attire worn by the young masters of wealthy merchant or noble families, but it was worn and tattered.
There was a tear on his arm, seemingly with a faint trace of dried blood, concealed by the vermilion fabric.
“Who are you? What do you want?” The man with white hair stared warily at the boy.
The Seventh Prince opened his mouth but couldn’t produce sound. He cleared his throat with effort and, in a hoarse voice, said, “Buying fish.”
“What?” The man didn’t understand.
The Seventh Prince struggled to shift his eyes from the grilled fish to the man’s face, and earnestly said, “You are merchants. Your grandpa is a customer.”
The man in indigo approached, puzzled. Impatiently, he took quick strides forward, pointed at the Seventh Prince’s nose, and scolded, “Where did this foolish kid come from? Is this the place for your mischief? Get lost!”
The Seventh Prince’s serious expression instantly turned into shock and anger. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“What’s the matter? Itchy for a beating?” The man took another step closer, glaring at the boy who seemed like a beggar.
However, his intimidation didn’t scare off the boy. The boy remained still, lifting his head to meet the man’s gaze, his initial anger turning into confusion.
As the man got closer, he realized that despite the dirt on his face, the boy had remarkably delicate features — deep contours, clear and transparent eyes. He didn’t seem like a Han Chinese.
The man speculated that the boy might be from a nomadic tribe in the frontier. Yet, upon closer inspection, the clean part of the boy’s neck revealed skin as fair as cream, not the tan of someone accustomed to the winds and sun on the grasslands.
Various strange and illogical cues left the man uncertain about the boy’s identity. Subconsciously, he lowered his voice and asked, “Are you perhaps a prince from some tribe?”
The boy didn’t answer, remaining motionless, still looking at him.
“My apologies.” Thinking the boy had tacitly agreed, the man smiled apologetically. “Which tribe are you from? Do you want to discuss some business with us?”
“Buying fish.” The Seventh Prince, forgiving the man’s earlier rudeness due to his intense hunger, turned his head and pointed at the grilled fish in the goatee man’s hand. “Flip it quickly, don’t let it burn.”
The man turned, following his finger to look and furrowed his brow. “You want to buy that grilled fish?”
The Seventh Prince nodded.
“Are you messing with me?” The man grabbed the boy’s front angrily, ready to act, but the touch of his fingertips suddenly gave him a jolt in his chest.
It was the sensation of top-quality fabric!
After all, they were merchants, and though they hadn’t handled some goods, they had seen such fabrics in cloth shops.
The man lowered his head to feel the fabric on the boy’s clothes. He leaned in to inspect closely, then immediately turned and called to his brothers in shock. “Come see! This! He’s wearing cloud brocade! Cloud brocade exclusively supplied by the Jinling Weaving Bureau!”
A group of people gathered immediately, like experts appraising, burying their heads to scrutinize the boy’s dirty outer garment.
Cloud brocade was a sky-high-priced brocade silk fabric. In their shop, they had only seen a piece of this fabric, a treasure of the store that no one could afford.
Unexpectedly, in this remote place, they encountered someone wearing this exorbitantly expensive fabric.
And it was even worn and dirtied, truly a waste of a precious material!
The leader with white hair confirmed that the fabric was indeed cloud brocade. He raised his hand to signal his brothers to step back and politely asked the boy, “Young Brother, who exactly are you? We, big brothers, are itinerant merchants, experiencing many hardships on our journey. We don’t have the patience for jokes from a young brother like you.”
“Just buy this fish.” The Seventh Prince pointed at the goatee man. “Your grandpa will pay two taels of silver.”
The five men were once again puzzled. Two taels of silver for a fish?
“Could this be a fool?” one man quietly asked the leader.
The Seventh Prince raised his hand, unfolding the silver notes for them to see.
The men looked down, instantly shocked by the amount of fifty taels.
A deathly silence fell in the dilapidated temple, with only the crackling of the fire echoing.
The goatee man was the first to recover. “You’re offering two taels of silver for this fish?”
The Seventh Prince nodded.
The goatee man was overjoyed, about to close the deal, but the leader beside him immediately raised his hand to stop him.
“Younger Brother,” the leader spoke calmly, “This is the borderlands. Who knows if your silver notes are real or fake? We can’t accept them without a bank in sight within a hundred miles.”
The goatee man became anxious, stepping forward to plead, “Brother… this young gentleman is wearing cloud brocade. How could the silver notes be fake? Even if they are, it’s just two taels of silver. Let’s sell him the fish.”
The man with white hair shot him a glare that silenced him instantly.
“He says he wants to buy our fish for two taels of silver. We’d have to give him forty-eight taels of silver. What if the silver notes are fake? We’d only lose two taels of silver, right?”
The goatee man slapped his forehead, realizing this belatedly. He quickly raised his thumb, praising the leader’s alertness.
Could this kid be playing dumb, pretending to be clueless while plotting something empty-handed?
Having roamed the four corners of the world for so many years, they had almost been deceived by a mere child. The goatee man squinted, examining the boy and faintly sensing the issue—
The boy exuded a unique aura. When their eyes met, he felt an inexplicable instinct to comply with the boy’s wishes. It was like a kind of sorcery, almost falling for the deception.
The Seventh Prince, near starvation, declared, “The silver notes are genuine.”
The man with white hair nodded and smiled. “Whether real or fake, dealing in genuine silver and gold is the custom of us borderland merchants. We can’t accept silver notes. Apologies, Younger Brother, please leave.”
“No need to search further.” The Seventh Prince refused to take back the silver notes. Driven almost insane by the aroma of the grilled fish, he remembered the teachings of his reader-in-waiting: As a prince, he must cherish the common people and not forcibly take their food. Displaying royal generosity, the Seventh Prince said, “I’ll pay fifty taels for this fish.”
“Deal!” This time, the goatee man didn’t give the leader a chance to intervene. He reached out and exchanged the grilled fish for the silver notes in the boy’s hand.
The Seventh Prince, excited, took the grilled fish, bit into it eagerly, crunching through the crispy skin. However, his throat was too dry, and he struggled to swallow.
Seeing the boy struggling to swallow, the leader took a step forward, intending to pat his back. However, the boy immediately hid the grilled fish behind him, staring at him with a wary look, like a little wolf cub. Surprisingly, a warning growl emanated from his nose.
The leader laughed. “Younger Brother, don’t be afraid. I don’t want to take your fish. I just thought you couldn’t swallow it and wanted to help. Need some water?”
The Seventh Prince, looking at him with disdain, reacted as if he had just encountered a distant relative.
The leader immediately had his men fetch a water flask and handed it to the boy.
The Seventh Prince lifted the water flask, tilting it back to gulp down water with loud “gulu gulu.”
The leader, trying to be friendly, probed, “Young Master, did you get separated from your family? Your accent sounds like someone from the capital.”
The Seventh Prince, now immersed in the joy of having food, alternated sips of water with bites of fish, making communication difficult.
Once His Highness patiently finished his fish, the leader said to him, “If the young master trusts us, travel with us. We’ll ensure your safety back to the capital. Just have the young master write a note, and once you’re home, give each of us five hundred taels as a labor fee.”
The Seventh Prince rolled up his sleeve, raised an eyebrow, and squinted at the leader. “Your grandpa is perfectly capable. No need for an escort.”
The leader, thinking this was an inexperienced rich young man, smiled gently, not wanting to disillusion him. He only said, “But you didn’t bring provisions. The pickled fish and water are what we’ve brought for the journey. We still have about a hundred miles before reaching the grassland. Hunting is scarce, and finding a place to buy provisions would take dozens of miles. Even if you’re skilled, you might die of thirst and hunger here.”
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