Chapter 1979 — The Antique Market

"I don't know either," Wei Zhao said flatly. There was no way he was going to tell a classmate he had known only a few days about the Zhang Liju notebook, so he simply asked, "If you don't know, then what are you buying a medicine cauldron for?"

"So I can study it!" Han Jingyi said. "Besides, I've dug up loads of material about alchemy masters online. I want to research it on my own first! And I browse the antique markets all the time — who knows, I might even stumble on a manual of cultivation formulas for alchemists..."

"Is that so? Well, go ahead and study, then..." Wei Zhao said nothing more. It seemed Han Jingyi had heard about alchemy masters from somewhere, gotten hooked, and started researching alchemy — only without any of the right methods.

Of course, if it were that easy for her to turn into an alchemy master, the sun would rise in the west.

At that thought, Wei Zhao let go of his suspicions. Few ordinary people knew of cultivators or alchemy masters, but the wealthy who had hired cultivators as bodyguards would certainly know of cultivators — and as for alchemy masters, the cultivators themselves surely knew.

So it was perfectly normal for a rich girl like Han Jingyi to have cultivators as bodyguards at home, and no great feat to have learned from those bodyguards that alchemy masters existed. It was just that she seemed thoroughly obsessed, so much so that she had even chosen a related major at university.

"Mm-hm!" Han Jingyi nodded emphatically. "Brother Wei Zhao, don't you like alchemy?"

"Liking it doesn't mean I can do it," Wei Zhao said flatly.

"Then once Jingjing learns alchemy, I can teach Brother Wei Zhao, and then we can dual-cultivate together!" Han Jingyi said.

"Pff—what? Dual cultivation?" Wei Zhao coughed twice, badly startled by Han Jingyi.

"Yes! Isn't cultivating alchemy together dual cultivation?" Han Jingyi said, looking at Wei Zhao in complete bewilderment.

"...Fine. Then once you've learned it, I'll dual-cultivate with you." Wei Zhao could not be bothered to waste words explaining things to Han Jingyi. The girl had probably studied alchemy and medicinal ingredients since childhood until her brains had gone soft; say too much and she would certainly ask why, so Wei Zhao simply said nothing.

"Mm-hm, wonderful! Then it's settled, Brother Wei Zhao — a promise is a promise!" Han Jingyi held out her little finger.

"What for?" Wei Zhao frowned.

"Pinky swear!" Han Jingyi said. "Only a pinky swear can guarantee you won't cheat me..."

"All right, all right, a pinky swear it is!" Seeing that Han Jingyi was about to rattle on endlessly again, Wei Zhao cut her off, held out his little finger and hooked it with hers, going through the motions just enough to get it over with.

"Pinky swear, hang by the neck, a hundred years, no taking it back!" Han Jingyi said.

"No taking it back. Can we go now?" Wei Zhao started the car and said helplessly.

"No! Aren't we going to the antique market now? I want to study alchemy, so I have to buy a medicine cauldron. If I don't study, how can I teach you, Brother Wei Zhao? You're not going to refuse to support me, are you?" Han Jingyi looked at Wei Zhao pitifully. "We've already pinky-sworn, you know!"

Wei Zhao checked the time and saw that school was still a long way from letting out, so he nodded. "Fine. We'll have a look around, then."

The antique market of Donghai City was located near the East Heavenly Gate. Wei Zhao had never been there either, so he could only follow the navigation device to one of the largest antique markets in Donghai City — indeed, in the whole province!

Since Donghai was a provincial capital, its antique market was far larger than those of other cities. Wei Zhao parked in the market's lot and was charged twenty yuan for parking, which struck him as a bit of a rip-off!

Antiques really were a rich man's game — even the parking cost more than elsewhere!

Fortunately Wei Zhao did not care about such a trifling sum. After parking the car, he and Han Jingyi walked into the antique market together.

The market was vast, selling every kind of thing imaginable, a dazzling array in which genuine pieces, fakes and reproductions were all on offer. Unless one was a connoisseur, it was generally very hard to buy the real thing.

But Wei Zhao had no interest in buying antiques. Back in that ancient tomb there had been so many treasures, yet he had not carried away a single one — much less would he spend his own money on such things.

What Han Jingyi wanted to buy was a medicine cauldron. Such things were not common and generally required luck to come across, though there were plenty of reproductions. In this sort of item, however, reproduction and genuine article differed little in material — either cast iron or solid bronze — and for a novice alchemy master that was quite sufficient.

The two of them had come with purposes: Wei Zhao with the notion of simply having a look around, and Han Jingyi searching specifically for a medicine cauldron. So they basically skimmed past things, and after covering most of the market, Han Jingyi finally found a stall specializing in medicine cauldrons.

"How much for this medicine cauldron?" Han Jingyi picked up a cast-iron cauldron that looked about right and asked directly.

"Brother Wei Zhao, is this man an idiot? I asked him how much it costs, so why is he spouting all this nonsense?" Han Jingyi put the cauldron down and said to Wei Zhao.

"Hey? Little girl, what kind of talk is that? Who are you calling an idiot?" Hearing Han Jingyi insult him, the stall owner immediately grew rather displeased.

"Brother Wei Zhao, look — the man's not only an idiot but has no self-awareness either. Whatever he's selling can't be any good. Let's go look at someone else's stall," Han Jingyi said, turning to leave.

"Wait, don't go! I was only introducing you to the history of this medicine cauldron. If you don't want to hear it, we can talk price..." Seeing that Han Jingyi meant to leave, the stall owner grew anxious at once and hurriedly called her back.

"Brother Wei Zhao, let's go," Han Jingyi said, dead set on leaving.

Wei Zhao had no choice but to turn and follow her...

But before the two had gone far, two burly, broad-shouldered men blocked their path.

"What do you want?" Han Jingyi eyed the two men warily.

"You damage a medicine cauldron and think you can just walk away? Not so easy!" one of the men said coldly.

They were local thugs. Every merchant in the antique market paid them protection money, and in return they naturally helped these people settle their troubles — a matter of mutual benefit.

The stall owner had been stung by Han Jingyi's insults, and seeing the deal slip through his fingers had soured him further, so he had fetched two hoodlums to teach Wei Zhao and Han Jingyi a lesson.

In the stall owner's eyes, both of them were dressed like students, and Han Jingyi was clad head to toe in designer labels — plainly a rich girl. Squeezing some money out of them would be no trouble at all.

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