Chapter 11

When Zhang Tie arrived at the grocery store, he had already put the incident with Doug out of his mind. By tomorrow, Doug's misfortune would surely become a laughing matter among the Airplane Brotherhood. It was uncertain whether this unfortunate fellow could ever wash away this stain on his life.

When Zhang Tie arrived, Tang De was busy serving customers in the store. Zhang Tie stood to the side, watching. After the customers left, he walked behind the counter, picked up a broom, a cloth, and a basin of water, and thoroughly cleaned the store. After finishing this, he took out an abacus, flipped through the ledger, and cleared the accounts for the past few days. Since Zhang Tie came to the grocery store, he had noticed that the store owner, Tang De, had become increasingly lazy. It usually took about an hour to finish these tasks, and it was the same today.

Seeing Zhang Tie busy in the store, Tang De lay back in his recliner and closed his eyes leisurely.

Thinking about the few pieces of something called tea leaves that Barry had in his hand today, Zhang Tie's heart stirred, and he started chatting with Tang De.

"Boss, do you know what tea leaves are?"

"Tea leaves!" Hearing this question, Tang De turned his head curiously and glanced at Zhang Tie. "It's a very precious and rare drink. Wealthy and powerful people who want to appear refined and cultured love to use this to show off their status!"

"That's not right. It doesn't seem to be a drink. I saw someone put it directly in their mouth and chew it with their saliva."

"Idiot, tea leaves are steeped in water, and there are many rules!" Tang De scolded. "Putting tea leaves in your mouth is a method some nouveau riche use to freshen their breath!"

"Oh, you mean this thing is very expensive!"

"Not just expensive, but very expensive. The lowest grade, in Black Flame City, a pound of it costs this much!" Tang De held up a hand. "As for the higher grades, you can forget about them in this lifetime!"

"Five silver coins!" To Zhang Tie, this was already quite shocking.

"Five silver coins..." Tang De sneered disdainfully. "That's just to smell it. It's five gold coins, and sometimes even more expensive!"

Zhang Tie was stunned, thinking that no wonder those few broken leaves, ugly as they were, were carefully wrapped in paper by Barry. It turned out this thing was very expensive, something ordinary people couldn't afford.

"So expensive, if Black Flame City could grow it, wouldn't we be rich!"

"Even if we got rich, it wouldn't be your turn. This thing only grows in the Eastern Continent; it can't be grown anywhere else. The ones who can do this business are all big merchant groups and chambers of commerce with powerful backgrounds!"

"The Eastern Continent, I've heard there are many human countries there, some of which are very strong. Some countries have thousands of cities like Black Flame City, as our teacher taught us in school..."

"Country bumpkin, what's Black Flame City? There are cities dozens of times larger than Black Flame City. When you have the chance to travel to the Eastern Continent, you'll see. There, the human countries are mainly composed of the Hua people. Back when I was young..." Tang De's face showed a look of longing and reminiscence, and he began to talk non-stop. Zhang Tie listened attentively. It seemed that Tang De had indeed been to the Eastern Continent when he was young, and some of his stories were credible. However, the parts about forming blood brotherhoods with powerful human warriors from the Eastern Continent, fighting against the races that wanted to exterminate humans, discovering valuable ruins with pioneers, and exploring underground with a group of beautiful women, almost being seduced by them, and seeing large diamonds and gold blocks as big as houses, were likely just the kind of content found in knight novels, which Zhang Tie automatically filtered out.

While Tang De was chatting, he was talking about how the beautiful women who went underground with him were crying and begging to marry him when two customers entered the store. The customers were in their thirties, weathered, bearded, wearing leather boots, copper-buckled belts, studded half-armor, and carrying long swords on their waists and steel crossbows on their backs. The studded half-armor had hooks for a hooded cloak, making them look like pioneers. In the year Zhang Tie had been at the grocery store, his eyes had become quite discerning. These two were pioneers, but they had probably been at it for not long. This could be seen from the condition of their equipment. Newcomers in the field for one or two years often looked like this, as if they were afraid others wouldn't know they were pioneers, and their equipment was as neat as that of regular soldiers, bought in sets.

"Sir, what do you need?" Zhang Tie asked professionally and politely.

The two men first sized up Zhang Tie, then looked around the store, nodded to each other, and the taller one approached, leaning down and lowering his voice. "Is the boss here? We want to talk business with him!"

Such customers were common. Tang De's grocery store not only sold things but also bought things. Seeing the cautious demeanor of these two pioneers and their desire to talk directly to the boss, Tang De got up from his recliner, rubbed his hands, and bowed slightly as he walked over.

"I'm the boss, I make the decisions here!"

The two pioneers' eyes scanned Tang De, they looked at each other, and then nodded subtly.

"Do you buy things here?"

"Yes, as long as they have value, I'll buy them. If the items you bring are too valuable for the store to handle, I can introduce you to the right people. If you're satisfied, I'll need a 5% commission afterward!" Tang De's shrewdness and straightforwardness immediately convinced the two pioneers. After cautiously looking outside to ensure no one was paying attention to the store, one of the pioneers blocked the view from outside, and the other took out a fist-sized metal ore from his bag and placed it on the counter.

The ore was golden and shiny, looking quite valuable and impressive. Zhang Tie had thought these two might bring out some treasure to broaden his horizons, but he was surprised to see them bring out this. He opened his mouth to speak but then shook his head.

"Is this it?" Tang De sucked in a breath, looking as if he had a toothache.

"Yes, this is it..." the pioneer said solemnly, looking at Tang De. "Give us a price. If the price is right, we can do long-term business with you!"

"Five copper coins for five kilograms!" Tang De quoted a price.

"What? Say that again! Did I hear you wrong..." The two pioneers stared at Tang De with wide, angry eyes.

"Say it a thousand times, it's still five copper coins for five kilograms!" Tang De said slowly, ignoring the red faces of the two pioneers. One of them, who was blocking the view, had his hand on the hilt of his sword, looking ready to draw it.

"Do you think this is gold? It looks so much like it, and the color is so beautiful?" Hearing this, the two pioneers were slightly stunned and nodded. The one with his hand on the hilt of his sword relaxed a bit.

"Ha, some gold ores do look like this, but unfortunately, this is not gold. It's pyrite, and five copper coins for five kilograms is a fair price for it!"

"Pyrite?" One of the pioneers picked up the shiny ore, seemingly disbelieving that the thing they had worked hard to get was worth less than scrap iron. The other, more suspicious, didn't fully trust Tang De. Seeing their expressions, Tang De didn't say more but instructed Zhang Tie, "Bring out the pyrite sample from the store!"

Zhang Tie turned around, rummaged in a corner of the store, and brought out a dusty, tattered bag. He placed the bag on the ground, revealing its contents. Inside were over ten kilograms of the same material as the ore on the counter. The two pioneers squatted down, each picking up a piece of the worthless pyrite and comparing it to the one they had. Their faces showed a mix of emotions, and they finally slumped like deflated balloons.

"There's a canyon on the red highlands about a hundred kilometers southwest of Black Flame City. You probably got this from there. This thing does look a lot like gold, and in the past, pioneers have mistaken it for gold, causing some laughs. Don't worry too much about it. Pioneering is full of strange and unusual things, and no one knows everything!"

With the location revealed, Tang De's words completely shattered the last bit of hope in the two pioneers. They stood up from the ground, thanked Tang De listlessly, feeling embarrassed, and left the store without staying longer. As they reached the door, one of the pioneers remembered the pyrite they had considered a treasure and, in anger, threw it onto the street.

"Pyrite, the fool's gold, truly lives up to its name. Two more fools have been fooled..." Watching them leave, Tang De shook his head and sighed, then lay back in his recliner.

Later, a few more customers came to the store, and they sold items worth over ten silver coins. When Tang De said, "...I won't keep you for dinner today!" Zhang Tie knew it was time for him to leave.

He wondered what Doug and Barry were up to as he walked out of the store. The sky was getting dark, and the lamplighters were starting to light the street lamps. After walking less than ten steps, Zhang Tie suddenly stopped. By the light of the newly lit street lamp, he saw something glinting slightly at the corner of the wall ahead...

Oh, it's the pyrite those two fools dropped. The pyrite, now split into two pieces after being thrown, had rolled to the side of the street. Zhang Tie took a few more steps...

Oh, no, there seems to be something inside the pyrite. It was that thing that glinted, and its color was different from the pyrite under the street lamp. Zhang Tie's heart raced as he took a few more steps, turned his back, and pretended to tie his shoelaces. Seeing no one was paying attention, he quietly picked up the two pieces of pyrite and put them in his pocket. There was indeed something inside the pyrite, and Zhang Tie's heart pounded even faster...

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