Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

The hunting trip ended without any other surprises, and by sundown everyone returned to the meeting place. The group Liu Zhu was with returned with the most prey because it was the largest, but Tian Ru did garner some attention when he came back covered in minor wounds, dragging a bear behind him. Any admiration aimed towards him was immediately dispelled when the Yu family's elder spent at least 10 minutes scolding him for going too far out and fighting a bear alone.

After returning to the Yu family's mansion Liu Zhu spent nearly an hour scrambling about looking for some sort of container to keep the butterflies in. As he did so they followed him through the hallways, flitting past furniture and housekeepers, and confusing many people in the process.

Luckily the butterflies didn't seem to care about being put in a container, and the problem of them flying away or being stolen had been solved. With this done Liu Zhu could once again train without any worries while he waited for Yu Bai to get back to him about a tailor that might be interested in the gold silk cocoons. It was time to sell his first batch of plants soon, so he figured he'd go down to town, sell both, and come back with a pouch laden with gold coins.

Yu Bai got everything with the tailor arranged a few days after the hunting trip, so Liu Zhu prepared to head down Yu Mountain and meet with them. Yu Bai and Tian Ru both offered to go along with him and show him around the town, but he declined since he needed to sell his herbs without them noticing. He wasn't an apothecary, so if someone he knew saw him selling a large amount of valuable plants it'd create more questions than he'd like.

Still, this was more a precaution than anything. In the grand scheme of things Liu Zhu wouldn't be in danger if someone realized that he was selling an oddly large amount of medicinal herbs. He'd only be at risk if someone could put together everything and figure out that his blood caused plants to grow, driving them to investigate his body, likely after killing him. Sure, the plants Liu Zhu had would sell for over 200 gold coins in total, but that wasn't enough for someone like Yu Bai to scheme over, let alone the elders above him.

Liu Zhu left the Yu family's estate at the crack of dawn, having just finished an early training session with Yu Qiang. On the way down he noticed the mines scattered about Yu Mountain once again, and decided that he'd visit them on the way back and see if he could purchase any metal. If Liu Zhu wasn't a cultivator it'd be ridiculous to stroll into a mine simply to purchase metal, but since he was looking for higher-quality metal that refiners used to make items for cultivators, it was acceptable. It's not like they'd turn down a sale that came walking to their door.

The streets were mostly empty when Liu Zhu reached the town, and he weaved through the maze of streets on his horse before reaching a nicely decorated stone building. Flowers adorned the storefront outside, and a banner with a spool and thread sewn into it hung from the awning. Liu Zhu left his horse outside and entered the building. Inside was a colorful selection of expensive-looking clothes and other handmade goods scattered about- it was almost like being inside a rainbow.

As Liu Zhu glanced around he heard something to his left, and suddenly a massive man poked his head above the piles of goods. Besides his massive size, Liu Zhu noticed that he was at Bone and Marrow Tempering. Maybe he was the store's guard? Liu Zhu was about to ask him where the tailor was before the man introduced himself. "I'm the tailor here, Yuan Taichi, but everyone just calls me 'Big Yuan'. Are you the cultivator selling the gold silk cocoons?" Liu Zhu was immediately thankful that he hadn't asked where the tailor was and risked offending him, and managed to close the sale from there.

After some discussion the final price for the gold silk cocoons was set at 213 gold coins. This sum was clearly a large portion of the tailor's funds, but apparently gold silk was valuable enough that he was confident in profiting off of the deal. Liu Zhu was overjoyed at this huge windfall, and followed 'Big Yuan' to collect his payment.

The money was hidden in a floor safe. The contents of the safe, three golden banknotes and a scattered pile of coins, were immediately reduced to one bank note and a few gold coins. Liu Zhu left quickly after the deal was closed, holding the banknotes close to himself and running his fingers over every line on them, trying to determine their authenticity.

Once Liu Zhu was out of the store he stared at the two banknotes for a minute, his mouth gaping open slightly. These banknotes were products of the Hi Empire, produced to help expedite trade in what they referred to as 'minor' countries. Their purpose was mainly to help standardize currency for international trade and to prevent merchants and cultivators from having to carry around hundreds or thousands of gold coins, and as a result were only printed in large denominations. As a result of this, while Liu Zhu had seen the elders of his clan deal in these banknotes, he'd never actually had them himself. They were usually reserved for cultivators beyond him, merchants, or skilled artisans, so it felt slightly surreal holding two.

After a couple minutes Liu Zhu accepted the reality of the situation, carefully putting the two banknotes into his pocket and hurrying over to the apothecary to sell his herbs. There an old women slowly weighed out and examined each plant he pulled out, her eyes slowly growing wider and wider as he continued taking them from his pack. The total she quoted gradually added up as she did so, eventually capping out at 209 gold coins and some change.

Of these 209 gold coins 39 were spent on the plants that Dai He told him to purchase. That left 170 gold coins in profit, making Liu Zhu's cut 144 gold coins. He immediately reinvested 44 gold coins into new plants to grow before putting another banknote worth 100 gold coins into his pocket. At this point he had almost 400 gold coins to his name, four times what he'd ever had before. He was eager to spend some of it, but held back his urge for the time being and decided to consult Dai He on the matter once he returned to the Liu Clan. He was a better businessman than him, so it would be best to speak with him before he accidentally pissed away his newfound wealth.

After selling off the gold silk cocoons and plants, Liu Zhu stopped somewhere that advertised 'all-day dinner theater'. He was initially preparing to eat while riding on his horse, but after seeing the promise of 'a show to rival those in the capital', Liu Zhu decided to check it out. It'd be a shame to ignore what few attractions the town had to offer while he was here.

Two hours later, the show and meal were done with. Liu Zhu could only hope that no theater in the capital could be compared to the show given here. There wasn't a single redeeming feature in the stage, acting, or story. The average peasant taken off the street would probably give a better performance than the "actors" they found for their dinner theater. The props were horribly ill-advised and they would've been better off with none, and the story was an incomprehensible mess of unconnected plot points. All in all he had been ready to leave immediately after finishing his meal, but some sort of sick fascination kept him watching until the end. He supposed that wasn't something that could be found in the capital, at the very least.