The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#250 - Autumn wind

Although the bamboos taken from the bamboo path were incomparably hard, they still couldn't withstand the teeth of the Iron Eater, and it bit them off in a few mouthfuls.

And this once again proved that the natural enemy of bamboo is indeed the panda.

Even though the Iron Eater embezzled one bamboo for every four it chewed off, it still helped Lu Jing and the others chew off a full eighty bamboos in an afternoon.

If this continued, the three of them would be able to gather the number required by Supervisor Huang in less than three days.

Yang Tao also picked out a bamboo that was just the right thickness, intending to use it to make a new spear.

However, after asking Lu Jing about the wages charged by Chi for forging weapons, Yang Tao silently gave up the idea of asking Chi for help, and prepared to ask the professor who taught the weapon refining class for more information.

Seeing that the bamboo matter had been settled, only the last of the three punishments for trespassing into the Otherworldly Grotto remained, which was the labor on the school farm.

However, Lu Jing didn't plan to go to the field so early. Having solved another problem, he decided to give himself a half-day off and return to the capital to see Gu Caiwei, whom he hadn't seen for more than a month.

He also planned to let the black cat stretch its legs, as the latter had been feeling very cooped up lately.

Most of the people in the academy were experts, and even if it ambushed someone with its speed and agility, it would be difficult to actually bite anyone, so apart from taking a bite out of Yang Tao earlier, it hadn't been able to eat any luck since.

After Lu Jing inquired around, the three people who had been targeted by the black cat all expressed, directly or indirectly, that they had no intention of being bitten by a cat recently.

So Lu Jing had no choice but to take the black cat back to the capital to freeload.

While the other students were still studying hard in the lecture hall, Lu Jing, together with the disguised Amu and the black cat, had already passed through the [Well] and arrived at Hengji Coffin Shop.

It was almost dusk, the liveliest time of the day.

The stalls selling vegetables, fruits, meat, and sundries were crowded with people, with women and servants picking out ingredients. Outside the restaurants and taverns, many merchants and officials were welcoming friends and seeing them off. The aroma of rice, boiled meat, and steamed buns filled the air, making people's index fingers twitch.

Lu Jing first ordered a red bean paste dumpling to fill his stomach, and while eating, he looked at the black cat on top of Amu's head. The latter shook its head at him, indicating that it didn't see any "food."

Since experiencing a strange first-person perspective cat video in Ye Gongmei's thatched cottage, Lu Jing felt that he had established some kind of bond with the black cat.

They both found each other much more pleasing to the eye, and with the beast-controlling technique that Ye Gongmei had taught him, Lu Jing could now have some simple communication with the black cat.

Of course, this was probably also related to the fact that the black cat had lived for hundreds of years and could understand most human languages. As long as it was willing, it could execute even some very complex commands very well.

The two of them and the cat strolled along Riverside Market, heading towards the charcoal shop run by Gu Caiwei.

Thanks to Princess Fu'an's help, Gu Caiwei's charcoal business was now growing bigger and bigger. Before Lu Jing went to the academy, she had already opened a second branch in the city.

However, she usually spent this time of day checking the accounts at the main branch, and then inspecting the charcoal to be delivered to various places the next day, especially the red charcoal used by the palace, which was the most important.

This kind of charcoal was made from very hard northern wood, and the control of the heat and time during firing had to be very precise. The charcoal produced was black and shiny, and when lit, it not only produced little smoke, but also burned twice as long as ordinary charcoal, and had a faint woody fragrance.

Because the finished charcoal was mostly packed in baskets and brushed with red soil, it was called red charcoal.

Red charcoal was considered Gu Caiwei's charcoal shop's signature product, helping her quickly make a name for herself in the capital. But besides that, her shop also had many other varieties of charcoal.

This was because red charcoal was good in every way, but it was too expensive. Not only was the wood difficult to find, but it took a lot of wood to burn just a little charcoal, so the price was naturally ridiculously high.

Apart from supplying the palace and some royal residences, most officials and merchants were reluctant to burn such expensive charcoal.

So in reality, Gu Caiwei's charcoal shop didn't sell much red charcoal. It sold more affordable charcoal to meet the needs of different classes in the city.

When he arrived outside the shop, Lu Jing remembered the time when Gu Caiwei had disguised herself as a man and pretended to be his cousin to tease him, so Lu Jing had an idea and decided to return the favor.

He took out a human skin mask he had obtained from Luo Niao and put it on his head in a secluded corner.

It was just that those old ginseng that could sell for a good price were mostly located in the deep mountains and old forests, where not only wild animals roamed, but also had to guard against other ginseng merchants' attacks, because no one in the wilderness would talk about laws, and the knife in their hand was the most useful.

Therefore, most ginseng merchants had martial arts skills, and most of them had several lives on their hands.

After reading the booklet, Lu Jing had to admit that Luo Niao, the flower thief, was quite skilled. It could be seen from the identity he chose for the disguise that he was indeed very good at grasping women's psychology.

Because most ginseng merchants who left the north had already accumulated enough wealth and were quite rich. In addition, because they often licked blood from the edge of a knife, they usually had a dangerous aura. Those young girls and noble ladies who had been raised in boudoirs found it difficult to resist this attraction, coupled with this somewhat rough but quite heroic appearance.

Feng Jiulang had a charm that those pale-faced scholars in the capital did not have.

Of course, Lu Jing had not undergone the corresponding training, so it was difficult to truly immerse himself in his current identity and make it indistinguishable from the real thing. Fortunately, he was only joking with Gu Caiwei, so he didn't need to care too much about the details.

After dressing up, Lu Jing swaggered into the charcoal shop with Amu.

As soon as he appeared, the female shopkeeper's eyes lit up. Before Lu Jing could speak, she preemptively said, "What does the guest want? I can introduce you."

Lu Jing pretended to scan around, but quickly withdrew his gaze, deliberately lowering his voice and saying, "You can't do it. I'm here to discuss a big deal. You have to invite your boss out to talk to me."

The female shopkeeper was stunned for a moment. "A big deal? How big?"

Lu Jing held up three fingers.

"Thirty thousand strings of cash?" the female shopkeeper asked tentatively.

Lu Jing shook his head. "Three hundred thousand strings of cash." Anyway, he couldn't afford it, so he just made up a number.

The female shopkeeper was indeed frightened by the number, which was beyond her control. However, a look of embarrassment appeared on her face.

"If you came at this time on a normal day, our boss would definitely be here, but today, it just so happens that she has something to do."

"What is it?" Lu Jing asked in surprise.

"Guild Leader Jiang of the Qian Yuan Chamber of Commerce is celebrating his sixtieth birthday today. Everyone from the Qian Yuan Chamber of Commerce has gone to celebrate his birthday, and Shopkeeper Gu has also gone."