Divine Tang Era

Chapter 109 Zhong Kui

"Coo coo coo"

"Hey, this chick is so cute."

"Go away, go away, get out of here."

As soon as Xu Dan and Wan Zhen approached, the chicks spread their wings and hopped around, clucking. Wan Zhen was delighted, but the old man guarding the stall waved them away.

Wan Zhen said with dissatisfaction, "Uncle, you're really stingy. It's just a glance, what's the big deal?"

The old man glared at himself, pointed at his own body, and said angrily, "I'm stingy? Look at this, it's a chick, does it look like a chick? What kind of eyesight do you have?"

"What else could it be but a chick?" Wan Zhen rolled his eyes.

"This is an eagle, an eagle, understand? And a chick? A chick looks like this." The old man spat out his saliva.

"An eagle? How could that be? Don't think I haven't seen them before. I've seen plenty. Are eagles this small? They're huge." Wan Zhen clearly didn't believe it.

"You were this big when you were born! Weren't you held and nursed? Didn't you run around naked? It looks just like you did when you were little, and now it looks like the eagle you see here." The old man said angrily.

"Coo coo coo"

Little chick, oh no, I mean little eagle.

It didn't know what the two were arguing about; it just spread its wings, hopped around, and cried out, looking silly and not smart at all.

The little guy was about the size of a palm, with a thin rope tied to his feet. One end of the rope was held in the old man's hand. He really did look like a chick, and his chirping sounded the same. No wonder Wan Zhen thought it was a chicken, and even Xu Dan thought so.

"Coo coo coo"

Wan Zhen called to it in the sound of a chick, and to his surprise, it actually listened and came over.

No one would believe it wasn't a chick. The old man looked at it, furious, but there was nothing he could do.

"Grandfather, give me a piece of dried fish." Wan Zhen, finding the little eagle amusing, asked Xu Dan for a piece of crispy dried fish to feed it. The little eagle happily pounced on it and started crunching away. The old man moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

Xu Dan thought this thing was quite fun and could take it back to keep the little magpie company.

He then asked the old man, "Uncle, how much is this sculpture?"

"It's not expensive, just three taels of silver. Take it or leave it."

"It's so expensive, you're robbing me! Everyone knows these things are hard to raise, and we don't even know if they'll survive if we take them home. If they don't, then all our money is wasted!" Wan Zhen shouted upon hearing the price.

At that moment, Xu Dan suddenly realized that he had a real talent for bargaining.

First, make a big fuss to suppress the other party's product, and then bargain. This has always been the strategy of older women when bargaining.

"Even businesses can lose money, let alone raising this kind of thing. There's an old saying, 'A fortune is nothing if it has fur.' Raising this kind of thing is risky. If you want to raise it, you have to think it through. Don't come back to me when it dies, or I won't be responsible." The old man seemed to think the price was too high, and there was a hint of unease in his words.

Actually, he wasn't feeling guilty because he thought the price was too high; it was because he had found the carving.

The old man was honest and felt a little guilty about selling the things he found for such a high price, so he didn't speak with much confidence.

"Uncle, can you give me a discount?" Xu Dan tried to bargain.

"Then I'll give you two ounces." Without saying another word, the old man offered a rock-bottom price.

"Two ounces is too expensive, one ounce at most..."

"Alright, just one or two taels." Before Wan Zhen could finish speaking, the old man stuffed the little eagle into Xu Dan's arms, clearly knowing which one was the real buyer.

Distracted by him, Wan Zhen felt stifled. Seeing the old man's decisiveness, Xu Dan took out some silver and gave it to him. The old man took the silver and ran off as fast as he could, as if someone was chasing him.

Seeing his flustered expression, Wan Zhen stared in disbelief and turned to ask, "Grandfather, did we overpay?"

"It's not expensive." Xu Dan shook his head.

It's just that the old man didn't know its value. If he had met a discerning person, he might not have been able to buy the carving for even ten taels of silver, let alone one.

"It's still too expensive. I think he might sell it for 100 coins." Wan Zhen thought for a moment and said.

"How could it be so cheap? Even chicks cost a lot of money, let alone this stuff."

"Too."

These days, even small chicks and ducks cost two or three coins on the market, and larger ones, weighing half a pound or a pound, are even more expensive. Those are for eating, but if you raise eagles to adulthood, they can hunt on their own. They can catch pheasants, wild ducks, goats, and geese with ease, earning more than just one or two ounces of money. There are people in Jingning City who raise these creatures, but they are extremely difficult to raise, and countless have died.

Xu Dan tied the other end of the rope on the little eagle's foot to his own hand to prevent it from running away.

It cost an ounce of silver, after all; we can't waste it.

He fed it another dried fish, then held it in his arms before continuing on his way. He didn't know if it was full, but the little thing actually fell asleep in his arms. No wonder it got caught; it was so silly, who else would they catch but you?

After taking a stroll around the market and seeing what it was like, the two headed back.

Before they had gone far, a maid from Mingfeng Tower came over and said, "Young master, the master of the tower wants you to come over."

Upon hearing this, Xu Dan could only take out the sack containing seaweed and dried fish and give it to Wan Zhen, telling him to go first, while he and the maid walked towards Mingfeng Tower.

Wan Zhen's mouth dropped open in disbelief. He hadn't expected that the man was so well-connected that he even knew the owner of Mingfeng Tower, a figure they could only dream of!

"Greetings, young man."

"Good afternoon everyone, thank you for your hard work."

Upon arriving at Mingfeng Tower, Xu Dan had barely stepped inside when he heard the maids' greetings, to which he responded.

She had been walking with the maid, but after a few steps she turned back, took out the crispy dried fish she had bought, and gave each person a bucket. "Try it, everyone. I just bought it at the market. It tastes good. You can eat it as a snack when you have free time."

"Thank you, young man."

The maids accepted the gifts without ceremony, thanking them with smiles.

Not only them, but he gave a bucket to everyone who saw it on the first floor. Anyway, it wasn't expensive, so it was a good way to do favors.

Following the maid up to the second floor, they found that Mingfeng Tower Master Lizhu and the various imperial immortals were already waiting in the reception room. The reception room looked new, much larger than before, and the furnishings were more exquisite. Xu Dan did not show favoritism and took out two kinds of newly bought dried fish and dried squid for them to eat. This time, he generously gave each of them five buckets, not just one bucket.

The maids inside the room also received some, so everyone was treated equally and no one was left out.

"Click"

"Click"

Li Zhu and Zhu Yuxian didn't mind, opened the wooden bucket, took out a piece of dried fish and ate it, it tasted pretty good.

After eating a piece, she took the teacup handed to her by the maid to rinse her mouth, then wiped her mouth with an embroidered silk handkerchief. Li Zhu stretched and said, "I didn't expect you to like this kind of thing. If you like it, I'll have someone send you some another day."

"Anything fresh?" Xu Dan asked, intrigued.

"There are plenty."

"Get me some big crabs from the seaside, the ones with roe inside, as well as lobsters, giant prawns, tiger prawns, and abalone, the bigger the abalone the better. And some other things, preferably all live. Also, some dried goods, like this kind of dried squid, the bigger the better. Deduct the price from my share."

Xu Dan took out a large shield of dried squid from his storage bag to show them, but they complained that it smelled bad and told him to put it away quickly.

"Don't worry, there's plenty of these things by the sea. Next time someone comes from there, I'll have someone bring you a whole truckload. You can eat as much as you want."

As expected of the Master of Mingfeng Tower, he is magnanimous and generous; he loves him to death.

Thinking about being able to eat seafood soon, Xu Dan grinned so hard his teeth were showing, making him look silly, even sillier than the silly duck he had just bought.

"Coo coo coo"

The little eagle seemed to have been struck by lightning. It stuck its head out and looked around in a daze. Li Zhu and Zhu Yu Xian chuckled when they saw their master and pet looking so silly.

Xu Dan had no idea what they were laughing at; he looked so silly.

Seeing him like this, Li Zhu Zhu Yu Xian and the maids burst into laughter.

After laughing for a while, Li Zhu quickly said, "Since you're here, hurry up and tell us a story. We haven't heard you tell a story in a long time." If they didn't get this little guy to do something, they were afraid he would make them laugh to death here.

"OK."

Since they've been so generous with the gift, we should reciprocate in kind; it's a matter of social obligation.

Xu Dan had already thought about what to say, so he walked to the small table prepared in the middle of the reception room, stood behind the table, placed the little eagle aside, and asked Li Zhu and Zhu Yuxian, "Do you know Zhong Kui?"

Li Zhu thought for a moment and said, "Are you talking about Zhong Kui, the great god who bestows blessings, protects homes, and exorcises demons?"

"Yes, what I'm going to talk about today is the legend of Zhong Kui."

Xu Dan lightly tapped the gavel and began his narration: "In the early days of our Divine Tang Dynasty, there was a minister named Zhong Hui, courtesy name Dewei, sobriquet Shishi. He was from Haizhou in the west and married a woman surnamed Tan. His family was steeped in Confucian scholarship, and he held a high-ranking official position. However, having no children, he chose to live in seclusion and cease serving in office..."

There are many legends about Zhong Kui, and quite a few are written down, but they can be divided into three parts:

The first part is a prequel, telling the story of Zhong Kui's parents and his birth.

The second part is about going to the capital for the imperial examination and being deified after death.

The third part tells the story of slaying demons and monsters during the Investiture of the Gods period.

Xu Dan, on the other hand, combined these scattered stories from written works, television, film, and drama performances to form a complete legend of Zhong Kui.

Li Zhu and Zhu Yuxian had heard the story of Zhong Kui before, but it was all fragmented and scattered, nothing like the exciting tale told by Xu Dan. Before they knew it, they were completely engrossed in it.