When he woke up, he was a little sleepy. Yesterday they forgot about the passage of time. So when he went to sleep it was a few hours past midnight.
He left his bedroom and began preparing breakfast. When it was done, he placed it on the table. Walked back to the bedroom and said. "Hello, sleeping beauty. It's time to wake up. Everyone has already left, and we are late." After a good minute of waking her up. She finally gave up and left the bed.
But when she tried to walk, immense pain hit her. "Owww! It hurts!" Xing chuckled uncontrollably "Didn't I tell you yesterday? I told you we need to stop, otherwise, you won't be able to walk. But you didn't listen."
"How I was supposed to know that it will hurt this badly?" "It's your problem, not mine." But in the end, he still gave her an arm.
They ate breakfast and left. Today they had to spend almost double the time that it normally takes to travel from house to farm.
But thanks to that Lihua was feeling better.
Why? because she obviously had muscle sores. And after a walk, she warmed them up a little bit.
When they were standing in front of his herbs, he asked "Do you feel that smell?" She looked at him "No." "That's weird because I definitely can smell some money!" She facepalmed.
"My dear Dew grass, I see you are growing and spreading beautifully. I'm sorry, but I will have to limit your growth. I know, I know, it hurts me too, but I desperately need money" And he began collecting it. "Weirdo!" Lihua told him and left him alone.
When he collected all the herbs, he took the sack. And start walking towards the village. His destination? Herbalist shop.
"Hello, Aunty Qiao." He said when he walked in. "Little Xing, welcome. What brings you here?" "I have herbs to sell, Dew grass to be exact. I would also like to buy specific herb seedlings."
He gave her a sack. She placed it on a scale and weighed it. Fifteen seconds later she was done. "You have 110 g. That will be 6 silver coins and 60 bronze coins. What would you buy?" Xing smiled "Scarlet Lilly."
"Hoho, I see you are not playing around this time. One silver coin for one lily bulb. How many would you like?" As he expected, it wasn't even close to cheap. But when you knew more about this herb, you knew it was worth it.
"Scarlet lily — Tier 1 herb
Occurrence: Blooms in places where natural Yang Qi is abundant. For example volcanoes.
Harvesting: Collect the flower.
Acquiring a seedling: Naturally forms when the flower wasn't plucked. May rot if humidity is high or/and temperature is low.
Cultivation: Plant seeds in the ground. High temperatures are beneficial.
Known uses: May be directly consumed to slightly enrich Yang Qi, not recommended due to possible drawbacks. Used in alchemy as a supplementary ingredient in Tier 1 Blood cleansing pill."
Only the possibility of enriching Yang Qi makes this flower worth a lot. Unfortunately, the risk that comes with it drops its value. But that's not all. Scarlet Lily is also used in Blood cleansing pill concoctions. He didn't have any information about that pill. But he knows for a fact that those types of pills are expensive. Why? Because effects are permanent.
'I need some money for unexpected expenses. I hope one silver and sixty bronze coins will be enough.' "I will take five." Xing answered after thinking for a while. "Good, give me a minute" When she came back, she gave him a sack. One with lily bulbs and one with coins. He took them and left the shop. As might be expected, he bid farewell beforehand.
When he was coming back to the farm. He walked past the weaponsmith. He stopped and thought 'Maybe I should buy the cheapest sword and begin training with it? And as if fate wanted that. I have the exact amount of bronze coins that are needed to buy it. Whatever, I'll need it sooner or later.' And he walked inside.
Behind the counter was the same burly man whom he met when he visited this shop for the first time. "Good to see you again, Sir." "Oh, it's you. What brings you here today? Wanna take yet another look at weapons?"
"No, I would like to buy this sword." He said while pointing at the sword. "I see. So, you've chosen a sword. But you probably never had one before. So, let me give you a few pointers." "Thank you... err" "Oh, I guess I've never introduced myself. My name is Duan Gang" "Pleasure to meet you, Uncle Duan. I'm Ren Xing."
Duan showed him the correct swordsman stance and a few basic slashes. Then it was Xing's turn. His moves were slow and sloppy. Posture was nonexistent. But that was to be expected. They quickly focused on his stance. That way the risk of creating bad habits was miniscule. After an hour and a half with some brakes in between. Duan became satisfied. "Good, train like that until you are proficient with those moves. Then you can come back, and I will show you a little more."
Xing was so glad that he was polite last time. Thanks to this he had someone that could teach him. This way, he avoided something that could have been a prelude to his doom — not having the correct stance and making many unnecessary moves.
"Thank you for everything, Uncle." "No worries, I'm glad that I could have helped the younger generation." He said while smiling.
"Then I will get going, have a nice day!" "You too, Little Xing." And he walked out of the weaponsmith.
He made a quick stop in their house to leave money and swords. And continued his journey to the fields.
"Xing'er, what took you so long?" Lifen asked when he showed up. "I've met someone, and he gave me some pointers." "Well, whatever. So how much did you earn?" "I've earned a little bit over six silver coins, but there's only one left now." He replied. "Why is it not surprising to me? So what did you buy this time?" He smiled and showed her the insides of the sack. "That's it? Five seedlings?" "I've also bought something extra, but it was only a little bit over fifty bronze coins." Lifen became flabbergasted "Only?" "Yes, mom. In a year or two, that amount of money won't matter that much to us." She didn't know what to say.
"I don't understand you anymore. At least tell me more about herbs that will grow out of this." Mother said when she came out of her reverie.
And so, Xing began a long talk about Scarlet Lily.
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Thanks for reading. I would be thankful if you could tell me what you think about this novel so far. I believe it's good enough, but who am I to judge? What I'm looking for right now is constructive criticism. That would help me improve myself and this novel. Have a nice day, and sorry for all my mistakes.