NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Go shopping
I asked the coachman to take me to the mundane bookstore. Luckily he did not comment on this - either because Yu JinLi did not complain yet or my dear aunt wants to see my next move -
AnNan city was a prosperous and relatively safe one - as safe as a city in a cultivation world would be -
Our city lord had been doing a good job for the last 50 years and was the strongest resident at mid stage Nascent soul. That was until 10 years from now due to his poisoning. His replacement was pretty weak with his late stage of core formation
You could see little kids running around under the watch of their parents. Stores filled with customers and peddlers selling from snacks to toys. In my 1st life, I went shopping around the same time as now thanks to the bully gang but I never shopped by myself until I was at least 15 years old - and even then I had to disguise myself -
I stopped the carriage when I saw a bank. I had to exchange some spiritual stones into silver as mundane books were so cheap that only silver was needed. The average price of idle books are from a few hundred Wen to a few silver taels depending on the quality and content.
Lucky me, no one in AnNan city would disrespect or scam a 10 year old wearing brocade clothes even if he came alone; when you are rich you are powerful. There was also a very harsh law against those who hurt kids less than 12 years old regardless of the background. The only work around is if the kids were hurt by other kids their age
It was very easy to exchange spiritual stones into money at the bank. The difficult part is the other way around so it took me less than 15 min for the exchange of 2 low level spiritual stones.
a High Spiritual stone cost 1k mid level stone. Mid level one cost 1k a low level stone. A Low level stone cost 1K silver tael while 1 Silver tael cost 1K Wen
Our City was near many mid level spiritual stone mines so mid and low level spiritual stones were widely circulated. Very few high tier stones can be seen. Even if all mundane stores accept spiritual stones, you mostly need silver tael or Wen currency to buy what they offer. Local cultivators would also choose to use silver to pay at those stores. Using spiritual stones there - even low level ones - was like using a gold bar at a popular burger joint in my 2nd life.
Those who lived in the city were all cultivators. If at 12 years old you were still not a cultivator, you would be asked to move out of the city. No exceptions. Even if you were part of a powerful family. Those families would give their non-cultivator descendants some fertile lands to start their new lives as landlords or a business outside the city
For those who had a low level of cultivation, they would find it hard to find a job in the city. City guards were at least at the foundation establishment stage. The waiters in the restaurants or tea shops were at 5th level of Qi condensation minimum. The mundane stores had a minimum rule of 1st level of Qi condensation to work there.
The ones from a poor family in the city who are non-cultivators or with low level cultivation usually moved to nearby villages far away from those rich and powerful bullies. Their lives would turn out much better in the new environment.
Because the city was the only one in the 200 Li radius11 Li is about half a kilometer, most farmers would come here to purchase some of the necessary goods. Those villagers were either non-cultivators or had a very low cultivation base. A level 6 of Qi condensation practitioner could be a village chief and they usually are over 100 years old - and looked like it -
The mundane store district is pretty big as even cultivators like me would come to buy some necessities (books, music instruments, toys, snacks…)
As the bank was close to the bookstore I decided to walk there. The coachman parked the carriage nearby and was following me. As this was not part of his job, I was pretty sure my dear aunt told him to do it. Well I don’t care.
I took one hour to browse the books at the store and picked many miscellaneous ones in; mathematics - none advance sadly when you cultivate, math and science did not matter much even if it exists - , farming, maps, cooking, music scores - I played a bit of guitar in my 2nd life - , herbology and some light novels. I also added some paper of good and poor quality as well as ink and a few writing kits.
I ordered some books about advanced mathematics and other subjects I found interesting that the store did not have. I will come back in a few weeks to take them. I spent around 400 silver. The store manager was a bit sad that I used silver instead of spiritual stone but he did not show it. I was satisfied.
I went afterward to the calligraphy shop. Not going to the calligraphy lessons does not mean that I cannot practice on my downtime - at least that what I would like the Yu family to believe -
I sent about 350 silver tael in calligraphy tools and paper. I already had a kit from my parents - that was the reason I wanted to learn in the first place- but I wanted to have a 2nd kit to practice with.