"It's nothing, your grandfather just suffered a bit of a shock."
Lu Tao replied casually, his face still full of excitement.
Five hundred thousand taels of silver, converted to Chinese currency, is five hundred million yuan. Lu Tao had never seen so much money in his previous life. At this moment, Lu Tao felt so fulfilled.
No matter what world you're in, it feels really good to be rich.
"What happened to Grandpa?" He Yuanshuang asked worriedly as she helped He Zongming up.
He Zongming asked his granddaughter listlessly, "Yuanshuang, is Grandpa really useless?"
"ah?"
He Yuanshuang opened her mouth wide in surprise and hurriedly said, "No way, Grandpa is the pillar of our family. Without Grandpa, we wouldn't have the life we have now. Grandpa, what's wrong with you?"
He Zongming murmured, "Grandpa earned a lifetime's worth of money, but it's not even as much as your brother Lu makes from selling a pair of chopsticks."
"A pair of chopsticks?"
He Yuanshuang was a little confused and didn't quite understand what her grandfather was saying. "Grandpa, what are you saying? Are you alright?"
"Hey old man, is it really necessary? You're so old, what haven't you seen? You can't even handle this little bit of excitement?" Lu Tao said, pursing his lips.
He Zongming immediately became excited, puffing out his beard and glaring, and said, "You make it sound so simple. If you found that you earned a lifetime's worth of money but didn't even make as much as a pair of chopsticks, you'd be even more excited than I am."
"No, not at all."
Lu Tao shook his head and said slowly, "I understood a long time ago. I once saw... well, I heard that someone sold a painting for a million taels of silver, and that painting hadn't even reached the first level yet."
"Impossible, where did you get this information from? I don't know anything about it," He Zongming said suspiciously.
Lu Tao laughed and said, "Of course it's true, why would I lie to you?"
"Oh, I see. The person who painted this must be someone extraordinary, a powerful expert above the Innate Realm?"
Lu Tao shook his head. "No, he's just an ordinary person with no cultivation whatsoever."
"How is that possible? How can an ordinary painting be worth that much money?"
He Zongming simply didn't believe it. "Could it be a painting of some powerful figure? Or..."
"Stop guessing, it's neither of those."
Lu Tao interrupted He Zongming's guess and said, "They are all ordinary. Moreover, I have heard that someone earned hundreds of thousands of taels of silver by singing a song."
"So, you should be more open-minded and take things easy. You'll get used to these kinds of things after seeing them so many times."
He Zongming rolled his eyes at Lu Tao's comforting words. How could he possibly get used to this? But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he couldn't help but glance at Lu Tao before silently withdrawing it.
Indeed, we'll probably see a lot more of this kind of thing in the future.
You'll get used to it.
"Grandpa, are you saying that Brother Lu made a lot of money from selling a pair of chopsticks?"
At this moment, He Yuanshuang seemed to realize something, her almond-shaped eyes widening, and she said in a somewhat dazed manner, "More than you earned in your entire life?"
That hurts.
He Zongming had barely recovered when his granddaughter stabbed him in the back. He felt a pain in his chest, but could only helplessly say, "That's right, your brother Lu just sold chopsticks, and a pair of chopsticks sold for five thousand taels."
Wow, five thousand taels? That's a lot!
He Yuanshuang stared at Lu Tao in astonishment, her mouth agape, her expression gradually turning to one of adoration.
"What five thousand taels?"
The others then came out of the room and began to ask questions.
Finally, He Zongming revealed that he had been selling chopsticks, which immediately shocked everyone.
"Five hundred thousand taels?"
No one could believe it was true. Selling chopsticks for 500,000 taels of silver? It was like a fairy tale.
No wonder Lu Tao didn't care much about accommodation, refrigeration ice beads, ordering food, etc. before, and didn't feel the pinch at all. It turns out that these expenses were really insignificant to him.
"Brother Tao, those chopsticks, are they ours...?"
Wu Ming excitedly grabbed Lu Tao's hand, wanting to ask something, but didn't ask directly, his eyes shining.
Lu Tao smiled slightly and nodded, saying, "That's right, Xiaoming also contributed a lot to selling these chopsticks."
As soon as he said that, everyone looked over.
Wu Ming's parents, in particular, exclaimed in surprise, "Xiao Ming also contributed?"
Then he hesitated and said, "But, how can a child like him help with chopsticks that have just entered the advanced stage?"
"Why can't I help?"
Wu Ming felt a little aggrieved upon hearing this, as if his parents' disbelief in him made him very unhappy.
Lu Tao patted Wu Ming's head and said with a smile, "Not only can he help, but you can too."
"Can we do it too?"
Now, everyone looked at Lu Tao expectantly, wondering what exactly he meant by "help".
"Indeed, this matter is quite simple."
As he spoke, Lu Tao took out a twig, made a simple pair of chopsticks, put the chopsticks into the wooden basin and stirred them, saying, "Just keep stirring like this."
"Huh? That's simple? What use is that?"
Even He Zongming didn't understand it.
"This basin contains blood medicine for cultivating at the Blood Refining Realm. If the chopsticks are to be made into an entry-level item, they need to be stained with the blood of this high-level item during the initial production stage."
Lu Tao casually replied, "This is the simplest step, and the only step you can help with. I have to do the other complicated steps myself. You just need to help me stir it like this."
"That's simple, just leave it to us."
Wu Ming's father, Wu Tianyou, readily agreed, and the others nodded in agreement as well.
Lu Tao smiled and said, "Thank you everyone. Of course, I won't let you help me for nothing. From now on, I'll pay for every pair of chopsticks..."
Before Lu Tao could finish speaking, He Zongming interrupted him, saying, "Why are you saying all this? It's no trouble at all. We're using your money for food and lodging these days. If we're helping you out, do you think we'll ask for payment?"
Wu Tianyou also said, "That's right. Our whole family is relying on you now, and Xiaoming's cultivation is also thanks to you. I feel more at ease if I can help you a little now, otherwise I'll always feel embarrassed."
"Alright, let's leave these aside for now."
Lu Tao shook his head helplessly, "We'll talk about it after things settle down."
"That's more like it."
He Zongming chuckled, then picked up the remaining branches and offered to help make chopsticks. "Since I have nothing else to do, I'll help you with that."
"Don't move, I'll do it."
Lu Tao quickly stopped him and explained, "I have to do the first step of making chopsticks myself. You can help me cut the branches, and I'll do the shavings."
"Alright then, you can cut it."
He Zongming didn't insist, but frowned slightly. Suddenly, he belatedly asked, "Lu Tao, were your ancestors chopstick makers?"
He had forgotten to ask beforehand; his understanding of Lu Tao's family was that they were blacksmiths, which had nothing to do with chopsticks.
Lu Tao then added, "That's right, our ancestors made chopsticks, but they didn't make any money, so they switched to blacksmithing."
"oh."
He Zongming suddenly realized, but he didn't know whether he believed it or not.
Mr. and Mrs. Wu Tianyou were unaware of these things and did not ask any further questions.
Next, Lu Tao took out a large number of tree branches and made them into simple chopsticks, then asked everyone to help him gain experience points.
In the end, a huge batch was made, a full thousand pairs of chopsticks.
"Be careful, don't break it," Lu Tao warned.
He Zongming said irritably, "Do you need to remind me? These chopsticks cost five thousand taels. If they break, even if you don't care, we will be heartbroken."
That's right.
These people were very careful when grinding for experience points, afraid of breaking the chopsticks.
If one branch is broken, it's worth 2,500 taels; if both are broken, it's worth 5,000 taels.
Lu Tao was willing to give it up, but they were all reluctant.
And so, Lu Tao's small group for grinding experience points began to take shape.
Lu Tao didn't know much about the other people, so he naturally didn't dare to invite them. But he knew quite a bit about the Wu Ming family and the He Zongming family, and trusted them rather much.
Therefore, Lu Tao decided to have them help him gain experience.
Of course, Lu Tao wouldn't treat them unfairly, not only in terms of their quality of life, but also, once his cultivation level improved, he would be perfectly capable of helping them advance further in martial arts...
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