Chapter 178
Tianshan Town is not far from the gate of Tianshan Mountain. When Fan Xiaoxiao entered the town a couple of days ago, she was sitting on horseback and didn't have the mood to look around carefully.
Upon closer inspection today, I discovered that this town was bustling with activity. Rice shops, oil shops, furniture stores, and fabric shops—it had everything one could need. The people coming and going included not only martial arts practitioners dressed in their martial arts attire, but also some farmers whose faces Fan Xiaoxiao had never seen before.
The two approached and inquired further, only to learn that they were from a village on the other side of the Tianshan Mountains. Their village was much farther away than Ginkgo Village, and people from there came to buy whatever they wanted. There were quite a few villagers like them.
After hearing her words, Fan Xiaoxiao suddenly fell silent. She suddenly realized something terrifying: the reason Gu Chongtai was being hunted down by the righteous path was because he possessed a treasure map and knew how to find the treasure's location. Simply put, it was a case of "possessing a treasure is a crime." Then what about Tianshan?
In about a year, the imperial court will move here due to the drought. Will they really be able to accommodate the land under their own jurisdiction then?
Fan Xiaoxiao's brows furrowed involuntarily. The more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. She knew that the reason why no one was able to successfully rebel in the Zhou Dynasty despite the tyrannical rule of the emperor was because the emperor had killed all his brothers.
Moreover, the Zhou Dynasty valued martial prowess, its soldiers were valiant, and its emperors were skilled in warfare; even the Liao cavalry struggled to gain any advantage against them. While the rebels, who had not yet fully emerged, claimed to be acting in the name of the Prince of Ning, no heirs had been found. The only information Fan Xiaoxiao found in the book was that the group went to the Demon Palace to besiege Gu Chongtai.
There was also Sun Jingde, who had previously pursued him. According to Gu Chongtai, this man still seemed to be operating under the name of the Demon Palace. However, Gu Chongtai had never seen the tattoos on his body before.
One thing after another shrouded Fan Xiaoxiao like a thick fog. She rubbed her temples, wondering what the treasure map had to do with all this. And why did Bai Chaoyan's father have that treasure map? Were the original treasure maps in the hands of the Celestial Venerable? Did the Celestial Venerable know what was inside the treasure maps?
"Why……"
The problems were intertwined, causing Fan Xiaoxiao to let out a heavy sigh. Master Lu, standing beside her, looked at her with some confusion: "Xiaoxiao, what's wrong?"
Fan Xiaoxiao snapped out of her reverie and shook her head: "No, it's nothing. Oh, by the way, Master Lu, let's go check out the blacksmith shop first."
Seeing that she was unwilling to talk, Master Lu did not intend to press her further. He flicked the reins and headed towards the blacksmith's shop.
"Whoa!"
With a screech of the reins, Fan Xiaoxiao jumped off the carriage. The blacksmith's furnace was burning hot in front of the stall. The blacksmith was a young and strong man, dressed in short clothes. The muscles in his hands bulged as he struck the iron sheets, showing that he was quite strong.
Seeing Fan Xiaoxiao walking towards the blacksmith's shop, he quickly stuffed the iron sheet into the furnace. Then, wiping his face with a handkerchief, he gave Fan Xiaoxiao a simple, honest smile: "What would you like to buy, young lady?"
Fan Xiaoxiao took out a blueprint, which depicted a saw that she had modified from memory and with the additions from Master Lu.
"I'd like to get one of these done. Can you do it here right now?"
The young man took the blueprints, looked at them for a long time, and then frowned deeply: "This..."
"This isn't difficult; you just need to make the blade of an ordinary headless forging knife serrated."
Master Lu had parked the carriage sometime earlier and came over. Seeing the young man's doubtful expression, he explained the situation and then drew the steps on the blueprint with charcoal.
It must be said that specialization is still necessary for any profession. With Master Lu's explanation, the young man quickly understood.
"I see! With this method, you can come and pick it up the day after tomorrow."
Master Lu nodded, then thought for a moment and said, "Make two of these, one thicker and one thinner."
The young man nodded and wrote everything down. After Master Lu paid, Fan Xiaoxiao suddenly remembered the iron pot dish that the Ghost Doctor had been clamoring for. She thought for a moment and, before leaving, asked the young man again if he could make a concave iron pot.
"It should be possible, but it's just me and my father here, so we can't open it right away. If you want it, my wife, it will probably take a few more days to come and get it."
Fan Xiaoxiao nodded indifferently. Since the foundation was still being leveled, she wasn't in a hurry to use it. So she readily paid the deposit. However, because Master Lu had just given her some guidance, the young blacksmith only accepted the basic payment for the iron.
After leaving the blacksmith shop, the two headed straight for the place to buy blue bricks, which was one of their main purposes for the trip.
However, Fan Xiaoxiao and Lu Ye searched all over the place but couldn't find a store that had the quantity they needed. Even after piecing things together, they could only buy about half of what they wanted.
Just as Fan Xiaoxiao and Master Lu were about to give up, an elderly man who looked rather old approached them and said, "I've been watching you two for a while now. Are you looking to buy some blue bricks?"
Fan Xiaoxiao and Grandpa Lu exchanged a glance and nodded: "Yes, Auntie, we need to buy a lot of blue bricks. Do you know where we can buy them?"
The old woman nodded, her cloudy eyes glancing at their carriage.
"I know, but those blue bricks are from when my family built our house last year. There are only a little over a hundred left, and I don't know if that's enough for you?"
"A hundred or so yuan!?"
Fan Xiaoxiao was overjoyed, as they were exactly that number short.
"We'll take them. How much do you charge for these bricks, ma'am?"
When the old woman heard that Fan Xiaoxiao and the others wanted the blue bricks, she grinned, seemingly very happy.
“I bought them for two taels of silver. If you need them, I’ll sell them to you for one and a half taels. But I don’t have those bricks in Tianshan Town; I’ll have to go to another village to get them. Is that alright?”
Fan Xiaoxiao was taken aback, not expecting that buying a blue brick would require leaving the town, and she immediately hesitated.
"Wife?"
Seeing the woman's uncertain expression, the old woman didn't seem inclined to urge her. After asking a few questions, she smiled and added, "If you're worried, madam, I'm not forcing you to buy or sell. I just overheard you two buying some, which made me think of selling my family's bricks. If you don't want them, madam, I'll take my leave now. I need to get home before dawn."
After saying this, she turned and walked away.
Fan Xiaoxiao and Grandpa Lu exchanged a glance. If they missed this old man, they didn't know how long they would have to wait to buy bricks again. Moreover, they would need to accumulate a lot of bricks next spring, so for them, saving as many as they could now was the best they could do.
With this in mind, Fan Xiaoxiao steeled her resolve and called out to the old woman, "Wait! Granny, we want those bricks!"
(End of this chapter)
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