Yue headed back up the mountain slope and then back to the village. The sky had just started brightening up and the people were waking up and starting their day. The Bright Moon Village mainly consisted of two types of people, farmers and herb-pickers. Of which, the former tilled the more milder sloped lands to provide for food for the populace while the latter picked precious herbs to sell the low-lying folks.
Yue belonged to the latter, picking herbs from dangerous slopes before selling it to the wealthy merchants of the village and the Village Chief Lan. But before he could do that, he had to do something else.
'I need to present something precious to the Chief otherwise there is trouble ahead.' Yue scrounged his brows as he remembered that the Village Chief was conducting a special ritual and that required some special herbs. Unfortunately, his luck was not that good today as the slope from which he usually collected the herbs were unusually bare and dry today.
"Dammit! I hope others had better luck than me."
…
"Come, come! Flowers at cheap prices, come and have it all!"
"Begunia, Crimson Begunia! You will not find such Begunias anywhere else. Yes madam, what do you need?!"
"Come here, m'lady. Let me show some precious flowers that my boys have picked."
'The markets are sure rowdy today…' Yue remarked within his head as he saw the sellers frantically selling their flowers to the customers. And it was not without reason too, as flowers, especially mountain flowers, tend to lose water quickly and shrivel in the matter of hours, so it was in the best interest for the buyers and the sellers to resolve their business as soon as possible.
Yue did not fall into this category as he had fixed buyers. But that did not mean that he was willing to ignore the market that easily.
"Forty pennies for a kilogram of Crimson Begunias! This is a scam!"
"M'lady, you have been buying from me for the better part of a decade. Have I ever scammed you?"
"But this price… I have only 35 copper pennies with me. And I have several other things to buy!"
"I know, I know but I cannot help you here, m'lady. The price of Crimson Begunias have skyrocketed. Today is the Divine Moon Festival and not only this but other flowers are also in demand like Red Damsel and Flaming Lotuses. Infact, Flaming Lotuses and Red Damsels are increasing even more rapidly so… listen to me clearly, m'lady, buy these flowers before they get even more expensive."
Yue's ears perked at the last sentence and a viscous smile floated on his face. But he hid that smile masterfully as he walked towards his fixed buyer but with a hop in his step and a tune in his lips.
"Master Hu! Good morning! How are you today?" Yue greeted the old master Hu. Broad and stocky with a thick body hair and manly scent, old master Hu was a beast of a man. Along with that, a fierce look, sharp eyes and white hair, old master Hu had a physique of a tiger and it was no wonder that everyone gave him the nickname of Bai Hu or White Tiger. And also like the name, most people were even afraid of meeting him, let alone talking with him, all except Yue.
"Geh!" Master Hu groaned disgustingly as he glanced at the shabby looking Yue with a basket around his back. "Come ta deliver yer flowers? Leave and be lost."
"Now, now, there is no need to be so gruff." Yue spoke as he placed his large basket on the ground but master Hu did not even deem it worthy to respond. Yue was used to this treatment but he was not finished. "Oh, but I wished to make a proposal, master Hu. I want to get 20 copper pennies for a kilo of Crimson Begunias."
"What?! Are ya bargaining, boy?" Old Master Hu glared at Yue and his entire body shook as he was bathed in a heavy bloodthirsty look but he held his ground. "Yes." He replied calmly but then he added with a smile, "I heard that the prices of Red Damsel and Flaming Lotuses are going up too because of the Divine Moon Festival. Now, I do not have any Flaming Lotuses but I do have Red Damsels and Crimson Begunias along with Fatal Cezunip and Accaca Buds. How about it?"
Old Master Hu stared at the young pup with his bold white eyes for a moment and thought how foolish he might be for challenging The White Tiger of Bright Moon Village but if old master Hu was Bai Hu then little Yue was Mi Huan or a honey badger, taking daring bets against unimaginable odds were his pastime. Yue smiled widely as he presented his basket that was nearly full with flowers that would sell quite well during this festival season but old master hu would not be an effective and cutthroat middleman if he could not cut a more sizable portion of Yue's profits.
"… 15 copper pennies and no more."
"That would not do, old master Hu." Yue replied with a smile, "after all, there are more sellers here who would like to cut me a more favorable rate than what you are offering. Not to mention, I can also go to the village lord."
"Then go. Why are ya bothering me?!" old master Hu responded dismissively but inside, he was really not betting on Yue leaving. And just like he predicted, Yue did not leave, instead he crouched down and waited. Old master Hu knew this tactic and this enraged him for without caring, watering and properly separating the flowers as quickly as possible, it would very quickly lose it's scent and bring down it's overall price. But this was not Yue's problem as it was the seller's job to sell to the public and not him. He could, obviously try and give him a lower rate for his 'mishandling' but in this busy time and with Yue's attitude, there was no way he would go under 15 pennies. Fortunately, or unfortunately, right that instant, old master Hu's right-hand man, Lu entered the tent. "Old master, the prices of Begunias are increasing exponentially and we have very little stock in… hand…"
Old man Lu's words dried up when he saw old master Hu glaring daggers at him but the damage had been done. Yue's apprehensive smile had turned into a full-blossom as he gave a victorious pose towards the fearful white tiger of Bright Moon Village.
"Fine, fine, ya win this round. I will buy the Begunias for 20 copper a kilo and for the Damsels, I will give 15. Not a single dime more."
"That won't do any longer, old master. The price has increased." Yue said with a large smile and making old master grin his teeth.
"Fine. 25 for Begunias and 30 for the damsels. No more, no less."
"Fantastic!" Yue cheered jovially as he willingly poured his flowers onto a mat that had already been placed on the ground not far from where he stood. After dumping nearly half of his content, he beckoned towards old master Hu who in turn sent some of his underlings who diligently and quite rapidly separated the flowers into four categories atop four different mattresses. When they were finished, they picked each of the mat from the four corners and then tied them and weighed them.
"Crimson Begunias… 5 kilograms."
"Red Damsels… 6 kilograms."
"Accaca Buds… 2.5 kilograms."
"Fatal Cezunips… 4 kilograms."
Old master Hu nodded before taking out his purse. "25 for Begunias and 30 for the Damsels." Yue reminded from the side, much to old master Hu's irritation but he counted the coins and gave the boy exactly 425 copper pennies or 4 silver and 25 pennies. "I am paying 16 pennies a kilo for the Accaca Buds and 20 for the Cezunips. Be happy."
Yue was happy but he did not miss showing a more miserable face to the old man. "You miser…" Yue cursed as he picked his basket. "Wait! What about the rest?"
"That is for the Lord, master Hu. I hope you will not place your hands on what belongs to the Lord?"
Master Hu clicked his tongue in annoyance but it was not a hidden or secret fact that the Lord and his Lan family bought exclusively from the little boy Yue as for the reason why… none knew truly. And Yue did not dare question the Lord's favor or his intention and only did his best to please him as best as he could for he paid high and mightily for the flowers that Yue sold to his family.
Giving old master Hu a final nod, Yue left his back stall and headed back into the market for his job was not finished.
'Now, before going back to the Lord's manor. I must present something truly worthy of his attention. If I could find something spiritual that might be of his interest or the Divine Moon Festival then…' Yue nodded his head vigorously, after all he knew that the village lord was a highly superstitious man and even if he was not presented with the most rarest of the herbs and plants in the mountain, his wrath might be subverted if he could be presented with a spiritual ingredient that expedited heaven's favor towards his family.
With that objective in mind, Yue scoured the little market place for nearly an hour, stopping continuously to water his flower and preserve their longevity. He visited some of the stalls whose sellers proudly listed their spiritual herbs but Yue did not dare buy from them for they were marketing it at enormous prices while some of the others marketed at a much lower price but their ingredients were either of lower quality, plucked unripe or too ripe. 'None of these would work for the festival at the Lord's manor.' Yue deemed and despair was just about to set in when he noticed something, or rather smelled something.
"Oye! Oye, you!" Yue shouted at a frail seller who was sitting at a corner of the market. Dressed in a dark and hooded clothing and sitting in a dark and damp corner, it was quite hard to clearly see his face but it was not the man's attire or his overall attitude that attracted Yue to him. No, it was what he was selling.
"What are you selling, old man? Do you even know what you are selling?!" He whispered with gritted teeth as he crouched down near him. The hooded man looked up, drowsy and was caught a little off-guard when he saw Yue sitting so close to him.
"Wah!"
"Shh! Dont shout!" Yue said as he placed his hands over his face. "Why are you making a commotion in the market? Do you want to get thrown out?!" The hooded man was confused to say the least, after all the entire market was bursting with people shouting and clamoring to either sell or buy, so why should he be thrown out? Yue did not provide an answer though instead, he picked up a large root stock from the table in front of him and watched it closely before giving it a light sniff.
"Sniff! Sniff! 10… no, at least a hundred… yes! Jackpot!" Yue cried gleefully as he immediately took the thick root and placed it gently into the jade boxes that he had with him.
"Wait! What are you doing?! That's mine!" The hooded man shouted, much to Yue's displeasure as he placed his hand on his face once again. "Shhh! Why are you shouting?!!" he asked exasperatedly. "Did I say I was not going to pay?"
The hooded man shook his head. "Then why are you shouting?!!" this time, it was Yue's turn to shout, something which caught many's attention. "Ahh! Sorry, sorry, got a little agitated!" He apologized to the bystanders before turning to the hooded man once again. "Now, I'm going to ask once and one time only. What's the price of this root stock?"
"That… that is not for sale."
"Not for sale!!" Yue shouted again before apologizing once again to the bystanders. "Are you playing with me, mister? If this is not for sale then did you bring it here in the market to dry it?"
"Well, no but—"
"Then why are you making it difficult for me, mister? Just quote a price and be done with it."
The hooded man turned silent for a while as it stared into Yue's pretty face for a some time. But when he opened his mouth, there was a slight anger and repressed fury in his tone, "how old are you, kid?"
"Old? Why? I'm 10 next month."
"10. Well, I'm 43 this year, so show some respect or else I will whoop your ass into oblivion."
"Oh really?" Yue spoke, his usual friendly aura quickly changing into a more cutthroat aura, "whoop my ass, mister? Who are you to whoop my ass? I don't think I have ever seen you here, have I?" Yue spoke as he tried to pull the man's dark hood back but the man dodged his hand easily. Yue smiled at that action, confirming that the man was not someone from this village "you know we, folks of the mountain village, don't trust outsiders very well. Village chief Lan does not like strangers in his fief and veteran merchants like Old Master Hu or that crook Lou does not like unknown faces doing business in their turf. And as it happens to be, I'm quite close to both of them. Hmm…"
"Are you threatening me, boy?!"
…