novelraw Chapter 212 Scarcity Makes Things Valuable!
Chapter 212 Scarcity Makes Things Valuable!
Chapter 212 Scarcity Makes Things Valuable!
The lobby of Youfu Inn has been converted into a tea-drinking area, and a storyteller has been hired to entertain guests there.
When Gu Lianshan and his daughter arrived, the storyteller was recounting the sensational tale of a mortal stealing fragrance from the previous day.
The guests sitting here drinking tea include traveling merchants staying in inns, ordinary people living in the city, and some wealthy merchants.
This place has never been this lively before. Today, it's all thanks to the mortal who stole the incense yesterday. Now, all the people of Cheng are out and about, and everyone wants to find the three Ma brothers.
"...The peony incense in the hands of the three Ma brothers yesterday, although only half of it was left, was said to have burned all night at Changqing Gate. It was only when the morning light rose this morning that the incense was completely burned out."
The storyteller only said this one sentence, and the guests took over the rest, talking excitedly and going on and on.
"Last night, countless people sat around in front of Changqing Gate, all staring at the incense. The fragrance of that incense could be smelled from dozens of feet away!"
"I can testify to this. My family lives near Changshan Academy, and our whole family smelled that fragrance!"
"What a coincidence! I smelled it too. The fragrance is refreshing and delicate, with a hint of floral scents. It's incredibly fragrant, soothing and refreshing! I felt so light and refreshed when I woke up this morning! Even my mother had a great appetite and ate two bowls of porridge this morning!"
"Brother Li! So you feel the same way?"
"What? Brother Wang, you can smell that fragrance too?"
"It's more than just smelling it! I stood guard outside Changqing Gate all night yesterday, smelling the incense all night long, but I don't feel tired at all. My whole body feels light and airy, as if I've entered a fairyland! The teachers and students of the academy felt the same way. They all stood guard all night until the incense burned out before they dispersed!"
"From what you're saying, is that fragrant fruit truly a divine fragrance?"
"When Headmaster Han of Changshan Academy left, he said, 'It's a rare find in the human world!' Headmaster Han comes from the Han Clan of Qingyang! A true noble family! What kind of treasures hasn't they seen in this world? For Headmaster Han to personally utter the words 'It's a rare find in the human world,' tell me, what else could it be but divine incense?"
“No wonder… Last night, the Taoist priests from Taihe Temple came, and the monks from Jinguang Temple also came. A group of Taoist priests and monks were meditating outside Changqing Gate, saying they were trying to understand the secrets of heaven through meditation.”
"That old lady from the Cheng family also kept watch all night yesterday! After the incense burned out, she declared that anyone who could find the three Ma brothers would be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver! Anyone who could extract another sacred incense from the Ma brothers would be rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver!"
"Is this true?!"
"Yes! The Cheng family has posted notices! They're posted right next to the Cheng family restaurant!"
……
Several people who heard about the reward immediately paid their bills and left, clearly heading to Cheng's Restaurant to join in the fun.
They wanted to see if this was true. If it was, they would stop what they were doing and search the whole city for the three Ma brothers every day.
Gu Lianshan and his daughter stood in the corner listening. When they heard the reward money being one thousand or ten thousand, the father and daughter grinned and looked silly!
At the end, Gu Lianshan whispered in Gu Tang's ear, "It's the Cheng family!"
These words seemed abrupt and unrelated, but Gu Tang understood their meaning. She nodded and whispered in reply:
"Double the price again! Scarcity drives up value! Since the reward is already ten thousand taels of silver, let's sell them three, ten thousand taels each! Thirty thousand taels for three!"
"Didn't you make several? You only sold three?" Gu Lianshan paused. What about the rest? Should they keep them for themselves?
"I misjudged it before. Since it's divine incense, it's impossible for them to sell dozens at once! No matter how good something is, it becomes worthless once the quantity is too high! I'll just sell three, three is just right!"
Gu Lianshan thought about it and realized that it made sense.
After discussing it, the father and daughter stopped standing there and turned to go inside to find Gu Lai'an.
Get Gu Lai'an away as soon as possible!
They're still waiting to sell incense!
Gu Lai'an was eating and drinking heartily in his room.
He didn't know why his father had suddenly brought him to Bei'an City, and he was filled with anxiety the whole way.
After entering the city, his father threw him into an inn, saying he was going out to buy some things and that if he got hungry, he should ask the innkeeper to bring him food.
Gu Lai'an was staying at an inn for the first time, and seeing the innkeeper's respectful attitude towards him, his vanity swelled to an extreme.
In a moment of impulsiveness, he ordered a fine meal and a pot of wine from the waiter.
When Gu Lianshan led Gu Tang in, they saw Gu Lai'an holding a chicken leg in each hand, his face covered in oil from eating it.
Gu Lai'an, whose mouth was stuffed full of meat, was so frightened when he saw his father return that his face changed. He immediately stood up, almost choking on the meat in his mouth!
"What's the rush? Eat if you want. It's just a meal of meat, your dad is happy to give it to you." Gu Lianshan glanced at the food on the table.
They have a good appetite; there were chicken, fish, meat, and eggs—six dishes in total, all meat-based, with not a single vegetable dish.
There was a pot of wine on the table. Gu Lianshan glanced at the pot, walked to the table, sat down, and personally poured a cup of wine for Gu Lai'an.
"Eat quickly. After you've eaten and drunk your fill, Dad has something to tell you."
Gu Lai'an looked helpless; his father's behavior terrified him!
"Dad, you scared Big Brother." Gu Tang could tell at a glance what Gu Lai'an was thinking. He was uncomfortable with his father speaking to him so kindly and felt that there was a trap waiting for him.
Gu Lai'an's guess was correct; there was indeed a trap waiting for him.
No, it can't be called a trap. It's a test and an opportunity for him. If he can repent and learn the craft from the carpenter, the family might be able to accept him in the future.
"Look at your pathetic self!" Gu Lianshan couldn't stand his son's spineless state and cursed him angrily. He got up and went to sit elsewhere, afraid that he would lose control of his temper and curse again.
He was sending his son off today, and he didn't want the two of them to have another argument.
Gu Lianshan left the table, and Gu Lai'an visibly breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to continue eating the meat, but then he noticed that Gu Tang was still standing by the table.
What are you doing here? Are you staying at this inn too?
Gu Tang hadn't returned home for the past two days, so Gu Lianshan said she had some medicinal herbs to sell and was waiting for news at the inn.
Gu Lai'an believed it to be true. He was both envious and extremely resentful. This brat never spent the money she earned on him. Such a sister was utterly useless!
"Why do you care what I do? I can go wherever I want, and even Dad hasn't said anything. You're the one who's so strict!"
Gu Tang rolled her eyes, pulled up a chair and sat down at the table, deliberately trying to annoy him.
Gu Lai'an was indeed angry, but he dared not lose his temper.
He glared at Gu Tang, then sat back down in his seat with a frustrated expression, continuing to gnaw on the chicken leg in his hand.
He kept gnawing on a chicken leg while glaring at Gu Tang every now and then, as if he were tearing Gu Tang's flesh apart. He didn't dare to say a harsh word, and could only keep stabbing himself with his eyes. Gu Tang couldn't be bothered with someone like that at all.
After Gu Lai'an had devoured all the dishes on the table, he grabbed the wine pot and drank directly from it, finishing the entire pot in one go.
Seeing him like this, Gu Tang knew that this man was doomed; after one pot of wine, he would definitely be drunk.
Sure enough, after drinking a pot of wine, Gu Lai'an's face turned red and he looked drunk in no time.
Gu Tang called out to her father, "Father! Big brother is drunk!"
Are you drunk?
Gu Lianshan got up and came over, just in time to see Gu Lai'an holding an empty wine jug and making a gesture of pouring wine into his mouth.
He snatched the wine jug away, pointing at Gu Lai'an angrily: "I told you to drink, not to get drunk! You brainless idiot, I already told you I had something to tell you later, and you, on the other hand, turned around and got drunk!"
A pot of wine wasn't much, and even though Gu Lai'an was drunk, he wasn't extremely drunk. Faced with his father's anger, he still had some sense and didn't dare to say a word back.
Enraged, Gu Lianshan stopped beating around the bush, put down the empty wine jug, and told Gu Lai'an directly that he had found him a master.
Gu Lai'an's head was throbbing, and he couldn't understand why he would want to find himself a mentor.
"Why...why do I need to find a master?" he asked, his tongue thick with confusion.
“What do you mean, ‘what’? Look at you, always stealing chickens and dogs, just wasting your days. If you keep going like this, you’ll ruin yourself! Your father found you a master so you could learn a trade and at least have something to do in the future…”
Gu Lai'an didn't hear what was said next; at that moment, all he could think about was "learning a trade."
These words startled him sober.
His face paled as he asked, "Father, do you want to send me to be an apprentice?"
Gu Lianshan nodded: "That's right, to learn a skill, you must start as an apprentice. You'll be an apprentice for three years first, and then your master will teach you..."
"I'm not going!" Gu Lai'an interrupted his father directly, his tone unusually firm.
He said, "Our family is doing well now, and I'm the eldest son, so why should I be made an apprentice now!"
Gu Lianshan's face darkened, but he forced himself not to lose his temper. "So what if you're the eldest son? You steal chickens and dogs and have no livelihood. How will you support yourself in the future?"
"We haven't separated into different households! I eat and live at home, so why can't I support myself?"
“You’ve been separated!” Gu Lianshan stared at him intently. “A few days ago, when I was looking for a master for you, I had the clan chief set up a separate household for you and separated you from the clan.”
Even though I'll still be your father and you'll still be my son in the future, we'll no longer be one family, but two separate families.
Gu Lai'an was dumbfounded: "You separated me?"
"Yes, we separated you out."
"What about Sanlang?!" Gu Lai'an stood up abruptly, his face contorted with rage. "You separated me from the group, but Sanlang, have you been separated from the group yet?!"
“Ping An is still young. I will live with him in the future, so there is no need to separate him from me.”
These words made Gu Lai'an even angrier. "I'm the eldest son! You don't live with me, but instead live with that brat Sanlang? Do you want the villagers to talk about me behind my back?"
"Live my life with you? When I get old and can't move, you won't have a livelihood, how will you support me?"
Gu Lai'an: "...Give me all your assets! When you get old, you won't have to worry about me not having enough money to support you!"
Gu Lianshan laughed in anger at these words: "When your father was adopted, he left empty-handed, without a house, land, or money. How could I possibly have any property to give you?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Lai'an belatedly realized, "You separated me from the family, but didn't give me a single penny of the inheritance?!"
"Father said, since you have no house, no land, and no money, I would like to give you a share of the inheritance, but there has to be something, right? How can I give you anything if there is no inheritance?"
"You're lying!" Gu Lai'an was trembling with rage, pointing at Gu Tang with a face full of resentment: "She has money! Make her give me fifty... no! One hundred taels of silver! If I take the silver, I'll admit to the division of the family; if she doesn't give me the silver, I won't acknowledge the division!"
“The money in your sister’s hands is her own. Father can’t take it, Ping’an can’t take it, and you definitely can’t take it.”
"She's not a boy! A girl isn't even considered a person, let alone someone who can hide money! Her money is the family's money!"
Gu Lai'an's eyes were bloodshot. "You gave me away empty-handed just because you favored that brat Sanlang! You want to leave all the family property to him!"
Seeing his expression, Gu Lianshan knew that this was not a valid argument.
He calmly gave Gu Lai an ultimatum: "What you think or say is none of the family's business. The clan has already established a separate household for you regarding the division of the family. This is not a matter of seeking your consent, but rather a matter that has been settled. I am just informing you."
Similarly, sending you to be an apprentice doesn't require your consent; I've already made the arrangements. I'm just informing you today. If you're obedient, it's best if you go yourself. If you insist on not going, your father will pay a few people to escort you.”
Gu Lianshan's tough attitude was telling Gu Lai'an that if he obeyed, there might still be a chance for things to turn around in the future. If he went down a dark path, then he would have to fend for himself.
His family no longer cares about him.
Gu Lai Anli couldn't understand his father's thoughts, nor could he see anything about the future or the long term; he only saw the present.
He was forcibly separated from his family, without a single share of the inheritance or a single copper coin.
Even so, his father still thought he was living a good life and cruelly wanted to send him away to become an apprentice!
No way! He'd rather die than go!
He wants to go back to the village!
Go back to the village and ask his grandfather and uncle to make the decision; this is not how you divide the family property!
Look at his eldest uncle, who, despite being the eldest son in the family, has taken all the family property.
Looking at himself, he couldn't find another eldest son as miserable as him!
"I'm not going to be an apprentice! I want to go back to the village!" Gu Lai'an bypassed his father and ran towards the door.
Gu Tang stretched out her foot and tripped the person hard, causing them to fall to the ground.
"what!!!"
Gu Lai'an lay on the ground, raging and yelling to vent his anger.
He struggled to his feet and yelled at Gu Tang, "You little brat, you just wait! You better kill me! Otherwise, if I ever get back on my feet, the first thing I'll do is kill you!"
Gu Tang raised an eyebrow. If that's how you put it, then she'll strike first!
"Even now, you're still incorrigible!" Gu Lianshan kicked him in anger.
Just as he was about to reprimand Gu Lai'an, a young waiter's voice came from outside the door: "Master Gu, there's a man surnamed Wei outside looking for you..."