Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

Chapter 66-The Start of the Black Market Part 2

Translated by Snowfall77

The tall person in the black cloak made to move on, when the toad mask person suddenly screeched: “Halt!”

Slightly stiffening, the tall person halted in their tracks.

“You’re a stranger!  You haven’t come here before!”  Toad mask person’s voice sang out loudly, “Newcomers must follow the rules.  Don’t follow the rules within the black market territory, whether small black market or big black market……don’t go by the book, you’ll go to hell!”

The tall person’s voice was low: “Then what are the rules?”

“Listen carefully!”

“First, prices are clearly marked!  Prices are fixed!”

“Second, it is forbidden to ask names, inquire after the nature of spirits, and forbidden to fight.  Violators——die the death of a thousand cuts!”

“Third, don’t step on the formation!  Do not cause disorder!  Do not break your word!  No indiscretions!”

“Life and death are decreed by fate, wealth and rank are bestowed by heaven!”

The puppet’s thin voice was shrill, laced with insidious ruthlessness, and the eyes behind the toad mask were fixed on the tall, black-cloaked person.  Yet the puppet seemed scared of the tall person.   For no matter how sharp the puppet’s words were, it carefully maintained a certain distance.

After its sing-song recitation of the rules, the toad mask puppet made to give the tall person a pricing board that was white with a black pattern around its edges.  Whatever was written on the board could be magnified or reduced, thus allowing many items and prices to be written on it.

The tall person, knowing what the toad mask puppet was afraid of, took the pricing board and left.

Now obviously the tall person in the black cloak was Xia Ge, who’d gone through a great deal of effort to come and sell her dan on the black market.

In order to find Black Rock cave, she’d gone to the library, found the maps, attentively read descriptions of the black market, and made all kinds of preparations.  In order to make the trip quick as possible, she’d ran through the night using {ghost and shadow}.  To disguise her true stature, she’d gone to the carpenter’s and gotten some customized 20 centimeter high stilts.  Thanks to the extra height, the black cloak only dragged on the ground a little.  The mask was from when demon puppets had attacked the village.  A few children of outer disciples had been playing with some masks they’d found afterwards, and Xia Ge had tried to trade some sweets for a mask.  Who knew those children would be craftily hard to bargain with?  After a great deal of haggling, the children had begrudgingly traded not a whole mask, but one that had a small piece broken off the chin.

And so the mysterious tall person with a long black cloak and a ferocious visage was born, a farcical and strange character.

However, the reason the toad mask puppet had been afraid wasn’t because of Xia Ge herself, but because it’d detected Guilongyu’s scent on Xia Ge.

Entering the cavern, Xia Ge took out a slightly ragged piece of cloth, found an inconspicuous place, placed a small box on top of the cloth, and calmly sat down, with legs crossed and posture upright.

Next to Xia Ge was another seller, wearing a conical bamboo hat and a cloak.  Whether the hat-wearing seller was human or not it was impossible to tell.  Their cloth spread on the ground was much finer than Xia Ge’s though, being black with a delicate silver pattern embroidered around its edges, unostentatious and exquisite at the same time.  Upon the cloth there was nothing worth much note, just some simple medicine bottles and common grasses.

Sitting quietly, the hat-wearing seller was motionless, their back straight.

Xia Ge, knowing herself to be in unfamiliar territory, also minded her own business.  Trying to strike up a conversation with a stranger probably wasn’t advisable.

There was no one of knowing who or what you might be talking to.

Clandestinely touching Guilongyu that hung from her waist, Xia Ge inwardly reassured herself that she was just borrowing the jade for a couple more days.

People noticed the new seller.  Which was nothing unusual in and by itself, but the fact that the new seller had only put one item out on their cloth was.  A few come over to inquire: “What are you selling?  Why is no price marked?”

Xia Ge deliberately lowered her voice: “Medicine.”

“Oh?  Well, what kind of medicine?  Let us take a look at it.”

“Quite right.”

Gradually surrounded by more and more onlookers, Xia Ge deflated the suspense with her direct words: “Bigu dan.”

“Tut-tut……Bigu dan.  And here I thought it might be something good.”

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

“……”

Scattering in disinterest, the crowd was gone and only two or three individuals remained: “Alright, being that it’s a Bigu dan, can’t you open the box and show us its quality?”

“How much?  Spit it out.”

“……”

Xia Ge was actually stressed about how much to ask for her dan, especially considering she had no idea what the market value of a Bigu Dan was.  She didn’t want to sell it at too low a price, however there were only a few left that were still interested……and she didn’t know what price would be too high either.

The first rule of the black market was that goods had a fixed price, and once stated, the prices couldn’t be changed.  Regardless of whatever the treasured item was, if you set the price too high, you couldn’t lower it.  If it didn’t sell, it was your own fault.  Set the price too low and lose money?  It was your own fault.  But so long as you were trying to sell it in the black market, you could only price your item one time.

Thinking it over, Xia Ge decided to err on the side of pricing high.

“For two Bigu dan,” Xia Ge said, earnestly holding the pricing board “Price is one hundred medium-grade spirit stones.”

The cloudiness of the pricing board dissipated away, displaying Xia Ge’s goods and their price.

-[Bigu Dan] Two: One hundred mid-grade spirit stones-

Gold, silver, and copper was the coinage for the outside world.  However, in the black market and among cultivators, spirit stones were the currency of choice.

Outer disciples, since they weren’t yet practitioners and thus had no use for spirit stones, were paid with copper coins.  Therefore Xia Ge wouldn’t have picked spirit stones of her own volition.  It was just that as she wandered the market earlier, she’d observed that no one used gold or silver for their transactions, but only spirit stones.

“One hundred mid-grade spirit stones?!”

“Trying to rob people blind?!”

“I’m outta here.  Do you think people came here to do business or to get swindled?!”

“……”

生死有命  [shēng sǐ yǒu mìng]

Life and death are decreed by fate; Life and death lie in the lap of the gods; The number of one’s days is fixed

富贵在天  [fù guì zài tiān]

Wealth and rank are matters of destiny; Riches and honor depend upon Heaven; The possession of money and rank is bestowed by Heaven

青面獠牙  [qīng miàn liáo yá]

a long-toothed man with a livid face; One’s face was blue and one’s teeth stuck far out; terrifying in appearance; with a green face and ferocious fangs