Fantasy: Immortality Begins with Absorbing Demons

Chapter Fifty-Four: Unfamiliar Sketches

This knife is over three feet long, with a long, straight blade, a wide and flat surface, a slanted tip, a long body, a short handle, and small, square guards.

It is both fierce and resilient, bold and meticulous, proud and simple, magnificent and elegant.

The shape of the sword in this sketch is clearly that of a famous Tang sword.

In Han Yi's memory, the Tang sword was the pinnacle of swords in his previous life, not only exquisite and beautiful in appearance but also extremely powerful!

Master Lu looked at the charcoal sketch drawn by Han Yi and slowly said, "If we were to recast this sword according to the design in this sketch, the material seems insufficient..."

"Young man, will you provide the extra raw materials yourself, or will you use what I have here?" "Use what I have here."

Master Lu pondered for a moment and said, "Three days, two hundred taels of silver."

so expensive?

Han Yi was startled by the price Master Lu quoted. He hadn't expected silver to be so cheap, especially since this was just for recasting and most of the materials didn't need to be provided.

However, as long as it achieves the effect he wants, then it's worth the price.

But Han Yi suddenly thought of something. He pointed to the blue jade sword and the piece of blue jade on the hilt, and asked, "I wonder if this piece of blue jade is valuable enough?"

"That's enough, that's enough!" Master Lu said with a broad smile.

It seems that this piece of blue jade is worth more than two hundred taels of silver, but Han Yi does not intend to keep this excellent piece of blue jade after reforging the weapon. It is too flashy and typical of being all show and no substance. Since keeping it is useless, converting it into strength is worthwhile.

"Alright, in that case, let's sign the contract."

"By the way, could you make me a pair of high-quality metal gauntlets?" Since I've already signed a contract with the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, I might as well buy a pair of gauntlets as well.

“That’s no problem at all…” Master Lu immediately measured Han Yi’s palm size.

He said calmly, "Come and collect the gauntlets and the reforged Blue Jade Sword in three days..."

At the entrance of the treasure pavilion

"Junior Brother Han, don't forget to go to Liu's Rice Shop tomorrow to collect your monthly allowance."

Han Yi readily agreed, but Pan Sheng had other matters to attend to and declined his dinner invitation.

————————-The next morning

After finishing twenty soup dumplings, Han Yi strolled leisurely toward Chang Le Fang. He was still a little excited, after all, he was there to collect what was essentially his first month's 'salary'.

When he was an outer disciple, he worked for free without any pay.

Soon, Han Yi arrived at the entrance of Liu's Rice Shop.

The front door of Liu's Rice Shop is located on the busiest street in Changlefang, where several people come to buy rice from time to time.

The back gate of Liu's Rice Shop was the west gate of Changlefang, which was close to the main road of Anyan City, making it extremely convenient for transporting goods.

Thump, thump thump, thump

In the backyard of Liu's Rice Shop, several workers were pounding rice with a pestle.

Rice hulling is the process of removing the husks from the rice grains after they have been threshed. The husks removed are called rice bran, and the remaining rice grains are the white rice we eat.

The tools used for pounding rice are somewhat like medicine mortars and pestles: a stone mortar and a pestle. Two people take turns lifting the pestle and smashing the grains in the mortar to remove the outer husks.

Most of the hulled rice like this was delivered by rice merchants to major restaurants and large families in the inner city, while a small portion was sold at the front desk.

The rice bran left after hulling is also bought up by the people and used as firewood for stoves or as livestock feed.

Of course, there are also many poor families who cannot afford rice and will buy rice bran to fill their stomachs, since rice bran is very cheap.

Pounding rice is an extremely strenuous task. For the workers at Liu's Rice Shop, pounding a mortar of rice requires at least two or three hundred poundings. After pounding a mortar of rice, they are already drenched in sweat.

Liu's Rice Shop was a sizable business. In the backyard, sacks of rice were piled up, and it was unclear how long the men would be pounding them. Meanwhile, at the back door of Liu's Rice Shop, many men, tanned dark by the sun and dressed in the most common gray linen clothes, were anxiously waiting, some carrying sacks and others pushing carts.

"What are you doing?"

Han Yi was initially a little confused, but then he realized that it was the height of summer, the season when rice was fragrant, and July was the rice harvest season.

He must have arrived just in time for Liu's rice shop to collect rice.

Han Yi gave a wry smile and touched his nose.

"Unbeknownst to me, ten months have passed since I became a refugee and came into this world..."

He could no longer clearly remember his life in his previous life, and was gradually adapting to his current life...

Although Han Yi was standing in the middle of the back door, somewhat blocking the way, the group of men, seeing his black outfit, dared not speak out and quickly walked around him, even lowering their voices. Han Yi, regaining his composure, made way. He had nothing else to do, so he decided to wait.

"Unhulled grain costs 200 coins per shi (a unit of dry measure), but your bag contains rice bran, so it costs 300 coins per shi..."

"This year's rice harvest is bountiful, but unexpectedly, the price has dropped even further..."

"Yes, the Sun family's rice shop is quite honest. I heard that the rice shop next door mixes rice with bran, and only charges two hundred coins for a shi (a unit of dry measure) of rice..."

Han Yi stood in the courtyard and could vaguely hear the complaints of the rice shopkeeper and the rice seller.

"High grain prices lead to starvation for farmers; low grain prices harm them."

He sighed inwardly; it was truly a universal truth.

Before long, the people in the courtyard gradually dispersed, leaving only a few men who seemed to be arguing with the shopkeeper about the price of grain.

At this moment, the sharp-eyed shopkeeper spotted Han Yi standing to the side through the crowd. Although Han Yi was only a young man, he was handsome and elegant, with a demeanor that was distinctly different from the others in the courtyard.

The shopkeeper, who had been bossing these men around, immediately stopped glaring at them. He quickly walked past the men and greeted them with a big smile.

"My surname is Liu, and I am the manager of this rice shop."

"Is the visitor Han Yi, Lord Han?"

The men, who had initially been somewhat dissatisfied, all fell silent upon seeing Han Yi.

Han Yi smiled slightly, nodded in agreement, and took out a contract from his pocket.

After checking the contract, Manager Liu's smile deepened. He led Han Yi to the counter, opened the cabinet, took out three large silver ingots and one small silver ingot, and presented them with both hands.

"Thirty-five taels of silver, Lord Han, please verify."

"Thank you, Manager Liu." Han Yi cupped his hands slightly, then put the silver into his pocket without even looking at it.

"If anything happens, Manager Liu, you can go to Qiuzhu Alley and have the second brother on the left deliver a message to me."

Before leaving, Han Yi gave some instructions to Manager Liu.

"I know, I know. Take care, Lord Han..." Manager Liu bowed respectfully.

Han Yi turned and left. As he walked away, he could still faintly hear the envious voices of several men behind him.