“Why is it filled with so much mud?” Zhao Jin Yu only felther heart pound, almost impatiently asking.
That man seeing Zhao Jin Yu worked up like this, was evermore cheerful, thinking at first glance this was a young lady kept at homewithout having seen the world, she’ll believe whatever he said…, right from thestart she started caring for his stone, a truly soft heart, immediately heturned his head to look at Chen Rong scared of the consequences, seeing herexpressionless face, without showing any objections, his courage grew evenmore, thinking perhaps this was a hired armed escort, so long as her employerinsists, the armed escort won’t pay attention to her employer’s personalmatters, he said, “Young lady don’t you know, this stone doesn’t only justtalk, it can also bounce, if I didn’t fill the inside with mud, it wouldincessantly thud inside.”
Zhao Jin Yu did not think of this reason, she couldn’t helpthink of the stone’s fussy manner every time it bathed, his love forcleanliness was an obsession, now it was however stuck in the mud, has it alreadybeen driven mad from rage?
“I want it!” Zhao Jin Yu felt she couldn’t wait a minutelonger.
That man restrained the joy in his heart, smiling he said,“Young lady you have good taste, since the young lady likes it, then I willforsake it, if you give me this much…”The man extended his fingers on bothhands, “A stone that can both speak, and jump will be yours.”
Zhao Jin Yu nodded, from her embroidered pouch she took outtwenty large copper coins throwing it on the table, the smooth and round coppercoins. .h.i.tting each other produced a crisp noise, at the same time it made thatman show an appearance like he was struck by lightning.
That man widened his eyes, somewhat displeased he spokeloudly, “I’m saying two thousand silvers!”
Zhao Jin Yu pouted unhappily, saying to Chen Rong at herside, “Auntie Chen, let us leave, this person is swindling us as if we’reidiots, not only is this stone a common Yuhua stone, it simply isn’t worth twothousand silvers, even if this stone can talk, can jump, who would believe it?If it really was this sort of extraordinary stone, if it was precisely a stonespirit, it would have been delivered to the Rare Treasures Pavilion long ago,why would it be here to be peddled?” Zhao Jin Yu paused, watching that man’sface unsightly turn green then white, her heart was delighted, again saying,“If you can truly proof this stone can talk, not just two thousand silvers, Iwould even buy it for twenty thousand silvers.”
Chen Rong’s excessively stiff expression finally softened alittle, hearing these words, she said, “The young lady is right, we shallleave.”
That man expression was sluggish, only after a while did heawkwardly smile, urging Zhao Jin Yu to stay, “Please wait, this stone truly isan extraordinary stone, it only speaks at night.”
“Then we will wait until night.” Zhao Jin Yu lightly liftedher chin, a face showing she had all the time in the world, her mind was like amirror, the stone was an idiot if it spoke in front of a stranger twice, allowingpeople to use information against it.
That man’s stubborn expression finally showed cracks, hesaid, “I’ll sell it to you for two hundred silvers.” Right now he simply didnot have the power to make the stone talk, so long as Zhao Jin Yu picked up thestone she would know with a glance, this stone was basically badly damaged, theplace below the mud was missing a huge chunk, this was also the reason why hecrammed the box with mud, wanting to cover up its flaw.
Ever since he used the large stone to crush it, it didn’ttalk, at first he had thought this stone spirit had died, later he discoveredit still had an indescribable sheen and l.u.s.tre to it, he was then certain thisstone was still alive, only no matter what he did, steam and boil it, roast it,bury it alive, put it in salt water…, it wouldn’t speak for the life of it.
It was just as Zhao Jin Yu said, he had previously takenthis stone to the Rare Treasures Pavilion to try his luck, the Rare Treasures Pavilionwas a famous trading company, specialising in collecting rare treasures, thosethings with spirits would be turned into longevity pills by the Rare Treasures
Pavilion’s Daoist priests who concoct pills of immortality, selling them toroyalty and the wealthy, clearly this stone was one of the best materials, onlyunfortunately who was willing to accept a stone who was missing a bit and couldnot speak? He kneeled at the doorway imploring, the Rare Treasures Pavilionbelieved him for a bit, but after waiting for half a day they did not see thestone talk, they beat him out without politeness, that group of youngsters weretoo vicious, his legs were still somewhat painful now!
Coming back from the Rare Treasures Pavilion, he trulyregretted it so much, why did he smash the stone in a moment of anger? Now heactually had a feeling that he was becoming poorer guarding a treasure, in theend he still didn’t give up, he thought he would find someone with more moneythan sense and sell it, settling on Tongzhou dock, people came and went here,many people only stopped over for the night, after he sold it he would slipaway swiftly, later when the buyer finds out it’s a fake which cannot speak,wanting to settle the matter with him they would have to first catch a boat toTongzhou dock right?
Yes, this person is Zhen Xiao Liu who had picked up thestone from the dried up well a few days ago.
Zheng Xiao Liu looked for someone at the door of the tavernfor half the day before finally fixing his attention on Zhao Jin Yu, heactually saw Zhao Jin Yu as someone with more money than sense, mainly because hehad seen Zhao Jin Yu kindly buy two steamed buns from a blatant swindlingbeggar, this sort of kind-hearted person was best to con.
Who knew he would unexpectedly shoot himself in the foot?This girl was very perceptive!
Zhao Jin Yu remained unmoved, she felt that paying twentylarge copper coins to get something back of hers was considered very generous, ifit wasn’t for the fact that if her item was lost and found and would need totalk about why the stone ended up in the dried up well…, it would make theother person sense that she knows the stone can talk, at first she hadconsidered not giving anything.
“Twenty large coppers.” Zhao Jin Yu resolutely anddecisively said.
“Twenty silvers!” Zheng Xiao Liu seeing Zhao Jin Yu’s unmovedappearance, gritted his teeth lowering the price.
“Twenty large coppers”
“Twenty silvers!”
Zheng Xiao Liu talked down to twenty silvers, no matter whathe was unwilling to lower the price, Zhao Jin Yu lifted her chin, resolutelysaying, “I don’t want it.” Then she made to walk out, she had thought ZhengXiao Liu would urge her to stay at all costs, afterwards she would seize theopportunity, make him accept the price of twenty copper coins, who would haveimagined, Zheng
Xiao Liu actually suddenly kneeled down with a putong sound.
“Young lady, I ask you to give to charity, I have an eightyyears old mother at home, a child crying piteously for food, only all oursavings have been spent on my wife’s serious illness…, there’s actually no wayfor us to live nowadays, just from a glance you are a young lady of a very richfamily, a bit of money through the cracks of your fingers could feed our familyan entire year, please don’t haggle with me over such little money.” Zheng XiaoLiu immediately became a good man who dedicated his all to his family.
In fact Zheng Xiao Liu had a good eye for people, don’t justsee that Zhao Jin Yu was wearing ordinary clothing, her adoptive father wasstill a government official, her adoptive mother came from a large andinfluential family in Jinling, from childhood she had strictly instructed ZhaoJin Yu and taught by words and example, so Zhao Jin Yu’s every movement wasalready different from an ordinary person.
Hearing of the eighty year old mother Zhao Jin Yu almostcouldn’t resist, =.=
In the end Zhao Jin Yu still took out twenty copper coins tobuy the stone, no longer saying how well she speaks, afterwards Zheng Xiao Liupractically made an unreasonable scene rolling about acting shamelessly,nevertheless Chen Rong couldn’t stand by idly and watch and made a move,scaring Zheng Xiao Liu to retreat.
Zheng Xiao Liu’s pent up frustration was across his facewhen he left the tavern, it’s just that recalling Chen Rong’s expert movementjust now made him somewhat scared in his heart, weighing the bag with thecopper coins inside with his hand, swiftly he headed back, waiting until hecouldn’t see the tavern did he breathe out a sigh, he couldn’t help utter, “Wasn’tthat move just now made famous by the head armed escort at Xiantian bodyguardsestablishment?” He shook his head immediately, thinking that was very muchimpossible, Xiantian bodyguards establishment was reckoned to be first orsecond best in the Jianghu, anaverage person did not dare to provoke them, that head armed escort had longago not accepted protection jobs, now again how can she appear here, and protectinga young girl? With such a thought he did not have any more notions to betangled with Zhao Jin Yu, comforting himself he thought eventually he had gottensome money, and had at last made up for his expenses over these two days.
At night it again started to snow, Zhao Jin Yu closed herdoor, sitting on the tavern’s bed she opened the box, throwing away the sludge,and took clean water to wash the stone, spending an hour.
But when she saw the stone missing a piece she couldn’t helpstamp her feet, how did she not notice it before! If she had known so much wasmissing, not just twenty copper coins, she wouldn’t even give a single coin!
How much does this hurt?
As for why Zhao Jin Yu suddenly changed her mind and wentback to get the stone, the reason was somewhat incredulous, even though aftershe had thrown the stone into the dried up well she had felt slightly ill atease, but it wasn’t so bad it was unbearable, thinking it would be fine after afew days, but when she was having dinner she suddenly felt a burst ofdepression in her heart, soon after came a sharp heart and bone piercing pain,she couldn’t help cry out, almost collapsing to the floor.
At that moment she was dripping with cold sweat, deathlypale, only thinking something must have happened to the stone, she had toreturn and see.
This sort of direct connection made her recall the stone’sorigin, a lot of things happened a long time ago and were forgotten already, ifit wasn’t for the stone telling her lies that night, she wouldn’t have thoughtof it. That stone’s origin is rather unusual, it wasn’t as the stone said atreasure that the emperor lost, rather nine years ago when she travelledthrough time to become Zhao Jin Yu, it was a thing someone had sewn into herlittle pocket, she thought it was related to her own background, but could notthink of anything else.
Then later, when her adoptive father took her in she placedthe stone inside her jewellery box, not moving it at all, who would haveimagined one day, that stone would actually speak.
The funny thing after was, this stone unexpectedly said it,itself was a treasure the emperor had lost, at that time Zhao Jin Yu feltsomething was wrong, in the middle of the night she suddenly woke upremembering, the stone had always been hers, and had laid in her jewellery boxquietly for nine years, how could it turn into the emperor’s thing in a flash?
Recalling this Zhao Jin Yu was then certain the stone hadalways been lying to her, handing it over herself was almost ominous, itwouldn’t end well, that’s why she threw the stone down the dried up well.
Who would have imagined, if it’s fated to be yours youcannot leave it, going around in circles the stone yet again returned to herside.
“Is it really painful? How did they mistreat you?”
“Little thing, if it wasn’t for you lying to me before, whywould I have thrown you into the dried up well? I honestly left you theretemporarily. I would have definitely returned for you.”
“Little thing, I don’t know who you truly are? Maybe youhave some magical power I don’t know, but…, women called Zhang Hong werearrested, it must be your doing right? It doesn’t matter if you don’t want totalk about your ident.i.ty, I also won’t examine the secrets you hide.” Zhao JinYu paused here, thinking about her own ident.i.ty, it’s not that she wasn’tkeeping secrets right? “But if you have the power can you get them released.”
“If you really are able, can you help my father, I reallymiss him.” Zhao Jin Yu thinking of Zhao Chang Chun’s skin and bone appearance,he again thought of his former elegance and grace, she only felt a pain in herheart like taking a knife to flesh.
When the emperor opened his eyes he felt very comfortable, itturns out he was lying on a soft silk cloth, warm all around, a familiarfragrant of exotic odours a.s.sailed his nostrils, making him unconsciously takein another deep breath, he raised his head, seeing a woman lying beside him,right now sleeping with her face to the side, the candle flame in the room washazy, shining on her fair face, like a gold plated thing from a long time ago.
These two days he had basically lived in an abyss ofsuffering, that man who had captured him had used all methods to make himspeak, roasting him on a fire, placing him in water to boil, even putting himoutside and watch drop by drop of water freeze him…, he however did not givein, if he spoke, that man would certainly think of a way to sell him, nowadaysa lot of Daoist priests who concoct pills of immortality like to use these sortof spirit things for concoction, basically smashing it up and placing it intoointments, then sell to those high officials and n.o.blemen who want to live along life, that’s why he didn’t dare try, all he could do was rather die thanspeak, making Zheng Xiao Liu think he was already dead, then discard him,restoring his freedom.
In order to escape from this torture he had previously triedto use money to entice Zheng Xiao Liu to tell him his name and address, sadlyZheng Xiao Liu actually had some common sense, sneering he had said, he wouldnot let him know, who knows if these sort of demonic things would seek revenge,afterwards he had tried not sleeping at night, but it was like he was cursed,so long as he didn’t pay the slightest attention he would slip into dreamland,then again would be tortured.
At the start he had hated Zhao Jin Yu, thinking he wants herto be dismembered into thousands of pieces, but not knowing why…, when he wasfrozen in water to make him speak, he actually sort of missed those days ZhaoJin Yu held him against her chest to sleep.
At that moment he started to re-examine his position as astone, it was different than being an emperor respected and revered by all,when he changed into a stone, he was merely an ordinary stone, he also closelyreconsidered at Zhao Jin Yu’s value.