Chapter 12: The Price Refuses to Budge
Lin Wei paid them no mind either.
She knocked on Sun Hu's door, but there was no answer.
Lin Wei returned to her own room, lay down to practice breathing exercises, and rested for a bit. Sun Hu must have gone to fetch their meals.
She had left a pot of chicken soup, waiting to share it with him.
A thread-thin strand of spiritual qi had already formed in her Dantian—it was extremely pure and refused to dissipate. Most of the meridians in this body were now unblocked. As she circulated the spiritual qi through her body, completing just a single cycle, a knock sounded at the outer door.
She gathered the spiritual qi back into her Dantian, opened her eyes, got up, and went to answer the door.
Sun Hu stood there holding a large basin, smiling as he said, "Granny, it's time to eat."
Lin Wei nodded and gestured for Sun Hu to come inside.
Lin Wei produced the roasted chicken and a casserole pot of chicken soup.
Sun Hu stood dumbfounded, swallowing subconsciously. "Granny, where did you get these?"
Lin Wei gave a faint smile. "Eat."
Embarrassed, Sun Hu scratched his head. He didn't want to take more than his share, but Lin Wei placed the roasted chicken directly into his large bowl.
"Eat. It won't taste as good if it sits too long."
Sensible children were exceptionally endearing.
Lin Wei thought of Su Qiao, wondering how the girl was doing and whether she had taken her words to heart.
Perhaps they would meet again someday, or perhaps they would never cross paths again.
As Sun Hu looked at Lin Wei before him, he could only feel how kind and warm she was. His eyes turned red and his nose stung with emotion. Ever since coming to this place, people had either despised him for being slow or made fun of him; only Granny treated him this way.
"Thank you, Granny."
With that, Sun Hu dug in with gusto.
The two of them finished off both the chicken and the soup completely, after which Sun Hu briskly carried the dishes out to wash them.
Lin Wei waited for Sun Hu. The examination was in half a month, but during this fortnight, they had to prepare their own medicinal ingredients for alchemy.
Lin Wei was running low on middle-grade pills, and she planned to save her three high-grade pills until the spiritual qi in her Dantian grew a bit thicker.
According to Liu Xun, medicinal ingredients were by no means cheap.
Generally, anyone wanting to pass the examination would buy better ingredients to guarantee success.
Moreover, the prices for examinees taking the alchemist test had been marked up.
Sun Hu returned after finishing the washing.
The two of them set off for the medicine hall.
The medicine hall was vast and packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people.
Lin Wei hadn't expected such a massive crowd.
"Xiaohuzi, what kind of pill are you planning to refine?" Lin Wei asked, looking at Sun Hu beside her.
"Stamina-Enhancing Pills. I can succeed almost every time I refine those," Sun Hu replied with a smile. There were too many people here, and fearing someone might bump into Lin Wei, he kept a watchful eye on their surroundings.
Lin Wei took it all in and then asked, "Then let's buy the ingredients you need first."
A Stamina-Enhancing Pill required nineteen different ingredients. The two of them stopped before a stall and began selecting them.
Once they were chosen, Sun Hu asked the stallholder, "How much for these?"
The stallholder, a man of about thirty, looked at Sun Hu and replied, "Ten middle-grade pills, or fifty near-high-grade ones will do."
Lin Wei was astonished. It took fifty near-high-grade pills just to trade for this tiny batch of ingredients, and even under ideal circumstances, these ingredients would yield at most six or seven middle-grade pills.
That was only assuming everything went according to plan; if one grew too nervous and lost control, they might end up with only one or two.
Sun Hu was already reaching for his pill vial.
Lin Wei grabbed his arm, turned to the stallholder, and said, "That's far too expensive! Aren't you basically robbing us? Lower the price, come on."
If she hadn't been by this foolish boy's side, heaven knows how badly he would have been taken advantage of.
She would show him the formidable bargaining skills of an old lady!
Lin Wei was fully confident she could beat this price down.
The stallholder blinked, then shook his head. "Old lady, we have fixed prices here with no deception for young or old—we don't bargain. If you find it too expensive, why don't you go look around somewhere else?"
Not only did he refuse to bargain, but he actually told Lin Wei and the boy to go look elsewhere. For a moment, Lin Wei was somewhat bewildered. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
According to her expectations, the stallholder should have haggled back and forth with her a bit, finally knocked off a tiny fraction of the price, and then added, "Let's make a deal as friends, come back often." Why wasn't he playing by the rules?
"It's alright, Granny. I've already prepared it, and what I have is just enough."
Sun Hu didn't look disappointed at all; he smiled and handed his pill vial to the stallholder.
The stallholder grinned as well, carefully wrapped up all the medicinal ingredients, and handed the package over to Sun Hu.
Sun Hu pulled Lin Wei along as they departed.
Lin Wei muttered under her breath, "This doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't he bargain?"
"Granny, you can bargain in the mundane world, but nobody bargains here," Sun Hu said with a smile.
Lin Wei sighed. "Fine. I suppose I don't know enough about this place yet."
"Granny, what kind of pills are you planning to refine?"
Now that Sun Hu had secured the ingredients for his own pills, he asked with concern about Lin Wei.
"Concentration Pills."
Concentration Pills calmed the mind and settled the spirit. Taking one before meditating aided a cultivator's practice; it was a very common pill and also the most widely used.
"Granny, you're amazing!"
A look of admiration washed over Sun Hu's face as he tugged Lin Wei along to buy her ingredients.
A Concentration Pill required twenty-eight ingredients in total, and quality ingredients did not come cheap.
Lin Wei only had eight middle-grade pills on hand, but gathering the ingredients required eighteen. Since many people needed to refine Concentration Pills, there was never a shortage of buyers.
Seeing Lin Wei in a bind, Sun Hu offered to help.
Lin Wei shook her head. "I'll wait a few days. I'll just buy the leftovers that other people didn't pick."
The ingredients other people chose were meant to boost their success rate, but she had no such need.
Anxious for Lin Wei, Sun Hu watched as she gently patted his arm and said with kind warmth, "Be a good boy and listen to me."
Sun Hu was very obedient and complied immediately.
Lin Wei looked her fill around the medicine hall. She didn't buy any ingredients, though she did purchase some fire stones, and returned to their quarters with Sun Hu just as dusk was falling.
Sun Hu went off to fetch their meal.
Lin Wei took out two spiritual chickens and set them to stew.
Items kept in her dimensional space never spoiled; they remained as fresh as the moment they were slaughtered, and even now felt warm to the touch.
Her space was different from a standard storage artifact; its only drawback was that it was simply too small.
As soon as Sun Hu returned, a rich aroma filled the air.
Once the chicken soup was ready, Lin Wei handed a whole chicken to Sun Hu.
"Granny, I..."
"Hush. Just eat."
Lin Wei cut off whatever Sun Hu was about to say. She disliked talking while eating, preferring to focus entirely on enjoying the food.
There was chicken soup brimming with spiritual qi, steamed buns bursting with spiritual qi, and crisp, crunchy pickles. Only after eating her fill did she truly feel the vibrancy of life.
"Go wash up and head back to your room to cultivate early," Lin Wei instructed.
Sun Hu nodded, took the pots and bowls outside, and washed them.
Lin Wei sat cross-legged on her bed and began to cultivate.
Compared to before, several more hair-thin strands of spiritual qi were drawn into her body. She endured the aching soreness in her meridians, and as the spiritual qi coursed through her, Lin Wei collapsed into an exhausted sleep. The next day, she woke up reeking of foul odors.
Whenever her meditation pushed her to the point of exhaustion and sleep, this happened; she was already used to it.
Putting on a face mask, she ignored the strange looks from others and went to wash up.
Layers of black sludge were scrubbed away, and when she emerged, she was once again a fresh and clean old woman.
Looking at the neat and tidy Sun Hu after their meal, Lin Wei called him over. Gazing up at the towering young man, she said helplessly, "Sit down and let's talk."
Sun Hu stood nearly two meters tall and was solidly built; standing before her, he looked like a temple guardian door god.