15: Chapter 15 Dasheng Goods Store

It had not long been dark in Mo Family Village.

Liu Chunmei sat by the kang table, watching Mo Xiaochuan eat with his head down, and mentally calculated the days once more.

Mo Shoutian had been away from home for almost half a month.

In the past, going into the mountains to hunt took at most five or six days.

Even going to Qingshi Town to sell furs and returning wouldn't take this long.

When he left, he took sixty taels of silver; she didn't know how things were going, if he had a place to stay at night, or if he had encountered any trouble on the road.

Liu Chunmei didn't tell anyone about these worries, only pondering them to herself.

With Mo Shoutian not at home, if she wore a worried expression all day, her son would only worry along with her.

Mo Xiaochuan ate a few bites of rice and looked up at his mother.

"Mother, Dad has been out for almost half a month, why hasn't he come back yet?"

Hearing Mo Xiaochuan ask this, Liu Chunmei feigned calmness and said,

"Uncle Xiaohu came by the other day and said that Uncle Dahu asked him to bring a message. Your dad hasn't finished his business yet, and he'll be back in a few days once he's done."

"Really?"

"What really or fake, could Mother lie to you."

After saying this, Liu Chunmei also picked up a piece of meat for him.

"Your dad has gone into the mountains for so many years, what hasn't he seen? Eat quickly, and stop thinking about all these random things all day."

Mo Xiaochuan nodded and didn't ask further.

Mo Xiaohu had indeed come the other day, but he only delivered two newly hunted pheasants and hadn't mentioned anything about Mo Shoutian at all.

After dinner, Mo Xiaochuan returned to his own room and took out the broken jade hidden next to the stove opening.

Qingli raised her head from the jade and looked at Mo Xiaochuan, asking,

"You're worried about your dad?"

Mo Xiaochuan placed the broken jade on the kang.

"He has never been out for this long before."

"Didn't your mother just say that he already had someone send word back?"

Mo Xiaochuan didn't answer immediately.

He knew that when his mother was speaking just now, she hadn't looked into his eyes.

After a moment, he said,

"My dad promised he would come back."

Qingli looked at him.

"You trust him just like that?"

"Everything my dad says counts."

Mo Xiaochuan sat down properly in front of the broken jade.

"Besides, I don't even know where he went. Even if I worry, I can't help, so I might as well Cultivate properly. When he comes back, I can also make him worry less."

Qingli looked at him for a moment and said nothing more.

The next morning, Jiuzhou City.

Mo Shoutian ate two steamed buns and drank a bowl of thin congee downstairs at the inn, then headed towards the south of the city in the direction Zhou Chengan had told him.

There were too many streets in Jiuzhou City; he asked the way several times and walked for nearly an hour before finding the Dasheng Cargo Firm.

The Dasheng Cargo Firm occupied a very large space, with a shop for receiving goods in the front and a courtyard in the back.

As soon as Mo Shoutian walked up to the entrance, he smelled a scent of fur and blood mixed together.

A fair number of large animal skins and bones were piled in the courtyard, and several shophands were cleaning a newly delivered wild boar.

A shophand saw Mo Shoutian, walked over, and asked,

"Selling goods or buying goods?"

"I'm looking for Shopkeeper Qiu Wansheng."

"What business do you have with our shopkeeper?"

"Chen Wanshan of the Chen Family Fur Shop in Qingshi Town sent me."

Hearing Chen Wanshan's name, the shophand told Mo Shoutian to wait a moment at the entrance and turned to go inside.

Before long, a man of around fifty years old walked out from the back.

The man wasn't very tall, wearing a thick dark cotton robe, with his hair combed neatly.

He stood at the entrance and looked at Mo Shoutian for a few moments.

"You know Chen Wanshan?"

"I do. Most of the furs I've hunted over the years have been sold to Shopkeeper Chen."

"How is that kid doing now?"

"The shop's business is all right, and he's a good person."

Qiu Wansheng smiled upon hearing this and said,

"In front of you people who sell goods, of course he's a good person. Back when we were apprentices together, I took plenty of scoldings from the master on his behalf."

After speaking, he invited Mo Shoutian to go to the back room.

Inside the room were a table and several chairs, and by the wall were two wooden racks holding account books.

Qiu Wansheng had a shophand pour two bowls of tea, and only after sitting down did he ask,

"Since Wanshan had you travel so far to find me, there must be some matter, right?"

"I want to ask Shopkeeper Qiu whether things on large wild beasts are valuable."

"That depends on what kind of wild beast it is."

Qiu Wansheng picked up his tea bowl and took a sip.

"Ordinary tigers and black bears, as long as their fur is intact, can sell for quite a bit of silver. Their bones, gall bladders, and meat are also bought by people. If they've lived for many years, there might even be more valuable things on them."

Mo Shoutian followed his words and asked,

"Shopkeeper Chen told me that some wild beasts can grow a kind of dan inside their bodies, is that true?"

Qiu Wansheng put the tea bowl back on the table.

"Why are you asking about beast dan?"

"Our side borders a large mountain, and there are quite a few large beasts in the mountains that have lived for many years. No one dared to provoke them before, and I just wanted to ask about the price clearly first."

Mo Shoutian repeated what he had said to Chen Wanshan earlier.

"My son is thirteen this year, and in another two years he should settle down and start a Family. As his father, I naturally have to save up more Family property for him."

After hearing this, Qiu Wansheng said,

"Beast dan indeed exist, but it's not like a wild beast living a long time means it will definitely grow one inside its body."

"Some wild beasts have eaten medicinal herbs carrying Spiritual Qi, and some have lived year-round in places with abundant Spiritual Qi. Only after a long time might beast dan be born inside their bodies."

"Can you tell before killing them?"

"Hard to tell."

Qiu Wansheng thought for a moment.

"Those kinds of wild beasts are generally larger than their peers and smarter than ordinary wild beasts. Some heal exceptionally fast after being injured. However, none of these are certain; in the end, you still have to kill them and cut them open to know."

Mo Shoutian picked up his tea bowl and took a sip.

"If one really gets a beast dan, how much silver can it sell for?"

"Beast dan are not things for ordinary people to use; the ones who truly collect them are those Immortals, and they generally don't settle accounts with silver."

"No silver, then what do they use?"

"Spirit Stones."

Mo Shoutian feigned hearing about it for the first time.

"What kind of thing is a Spirit Stone?"

"It's a kind of stone used by Immortals to Cultivate, storing Spiritual Qi inside."

Speaking up to this point, Qiu Wansheng even raised a hand and gestured.

"About this big, and some can even emit a slight glow at night. Immortal Cultivation Sects and Immortal Cultivation Families control Spirit Stone mines, digging some out every year. Aside from letting their disciples Cultivate, they also take them out to acquire beast dan and precious medicinal herbs."

Mo Shoutian asked again,

"Then can ordinary people buy them with silver?"

"Occasionally someone sells them, but it's hard to run into."

Qiu Wansheng explained,

"Silver is valuable in our hands, but it doesn't have much use to those Immortals. If you take silver to find them, they might not be willing to trade. But if you produce a beast dan, or old medicine they happen to need, things will be different."

Mo Shoutian asked,

"Since beast dan are worth Spirit Stones, why don't those Immortals go into the mountains to look for them themselves?"

Qiu Wansheng let out a laugh.

"There are quite a few large beasts in the mountains, but very few actually have beast dan inside them. For two or three Spirit Stones, searching in the mountains for ten half-months is not worth it."

"If they really run into something formidable, naturally they still have to make a move themselves; ordinary hunters don't have that ability."

Only then did Mo Shoutian understand that if ordinary people want to obtain Spirit Stones, they must first produce things that Immortals need.

Like the Zhou Family collecting medicine for the Qingmu Sect, and the Dasheng Cargo Firm collecting things from large wild beasts on behalf of Cultivators, they all rely on these businesses to come into contact with Spirit Stones.

"Then how many Spirit Stones can a single beast dan trade for?"

"That depends on the quality."

Qiu Wansheng extended two fingers.

"The worst can still trade for two or three pieces, slightly better ones can trade for seven or eight pieces or even more. Anything better than that, I wouldn't dare collect here, nor is it something an ordinary hunter can get."

Qiu Wansheng picked up his tea bowl and took a sip.

"There are plenty of large beasts in the mountains, but very few actually have beast dan inside them. Sometimes you kill a dozen or so, and you might not even find one."

"For two or three Spirit Stones, wandering in the mountains for ten half-months—those Immortals are certainly unwilling."

Mo Shoutian asked,

"What about those worth seven or eight Spirit Stones?"

"Things capable of giving birth to that kind of beast dan are nothing compared to ordinary tigers and black bears."

Qiu Wansheng glanced at him.

"If they truly encounter something that catches an Immortal's eye, they will naturally make a move themselves. If an ordinary hunter runs into it, most likely they won't even have a chance to run for their lives."

Mo Shoutian recalled what he had said just a moment ago.

"Why wouldn't you dare collect better beast dan?"

"Things that are too good easily invite trouble."

Qiu Wansheng looked at Mo Shoutian and said,

"If an ordinary person produces things worth dozens of Spirit Stones, others will definitely ask where they came from."

"By then, what people set their sights on won't just be the beast dan; they might even take your life along with it."

Mo Shoutian asked again,

"If there's only a single ordinary beast dan, can Shopkeeper Qiu here help trade it for Spirit Stones?"

"I can."

Qiu Wansheng answered very crisply.

"However, I can't run errands for you for free. For example, if a beast dan sells for three Spirit Stones, I give you two, and the remaining one goes to me. If it can only sell for two, I'll take some silver instead."

"Occasionally a hunter gets lucky and hunts a wild beast with a beast dan inside its body—that's nothing rare."

Speaking up to this point, Qiu Wansheng added a reminder:

"But if someone comes over every other day holding beast dan, that's different. By then, not only will the people receiving goods keep their eyes on him, but even those Cultivators will inquire about where the beast dan came from."

Mo Shoutian nodded.

Thinking that Qiu Wansheng knew Cultivators who collected beast dan, while he himself had no connections in this regard. Letting him earn a cut from it was safer than running around everywhere looking for people with the beast dan himself.

Qiu Wansheng picked up his tea bowl and said,

"What I'm telling you is out of respect for Wanshan's Face. Just listen to it and leave it at that; don't truly lose your life in the mountains for a few Spirit Stones."

Mo Shoutian didn't take up his words, only lowering his head to take a sip of tea.

After a while, he put down the tea bowl.

"Shopkeeper Qiu, do you have any gear here for dealing with large wild beasts?"

Qiu Wansheng glanced at him.

"Listening to your meaning, you're really planning to go give it a try?"

"I want to try."

"What do you want?"

"Crossbows and long spears, as long as they can deal with large wild beasts, I want to take a look at all of them."

Qiu Wansheng said,

"The prices of these things are not cheap; did you bring enough silver?"

"Let's look at the items first."

Qiu Wansheng stood up from his chair.

"Alright, come with me to the back courtyard."

Walking to the entrance, he turned his head back and said,

"I can sell the things to you, but ugly words must be spoken upfront. If you really die in the mountains, don't let your Family members come looking for me."

Mo Shoutian picked up the bow he had placed by the wall when entering.

"I came to buy hunting gear, not to buy my life from you."

Qiu Wansheng chuckled upon hearing this and led him toward the back courtyard.