A trail hidden in the dense forest appeared in front of Wang Chen.
He discovered this road not long ago when he was hunting, and there were fresh traces of people or hunters trampling on it.
Wang Chen walked along this road.
After walking for more than ten miles, the trail turned into a real mountain road - the road was paved with thick stone slabs.
The surface of each stone slab is densely covered with the vicissitudes of time, and it is unknown how many people have stepped on it, leaving deep marks.
After walking for another mile, two roads branched off ahead.
Left or right?
Wang Chen hesitated for a moment and did not make a choice immediately. Instead, he sat down on a stone under the big tree next to him.
This stone was obviously used as a place for pedestrians to rest, as it has patina on it.
Wang Chen took off the water bag hanging on his waist and took a sip of cool spring water.
He planned to wait here to see if any pedestrians would come and ask for directions, so as not to run around like a headless fly.
Facts have proved that Wang Chen's decision was correct.
He waited there for almost half an hour when he heard a sound coming from a distance.
Soon a caravan of mules and horses arrived at Sanchakou.
This caravan was not large in size, with four or five mules and horses and about ten people, each of which was carrying a heavy load. The caravan members were all armed with swords and bows, and they were obviously warriors.
The leader was an old leader with gray hair on his temples. He glanced at Wang Chen with his hazy eyes and hesitated but did not stop.
Until he came to Wang Chen.
Wang Chen stood up, bowed and asked, "Old man, I lost my way in the mountains. Which way should I take to get to the nearest county?"
"The nearest county?"
The boss's eyes were a little strange.
Wang Chen was dressed like a hunter, but he said he had lost his way in the mountains and was sitting at a fork in the road not knowing which way to go.
Is this reasonable?
It’s not reasonable at all!
But the old boss has lived for such a long time and has seen many strange things and people. He can live peacefully until now and has his own set of rules for dealing with things.
No matter how strange he felt, he still replied with a smile on the surface: "The nearest county here is Yancheng, and our caravan is going to Yancheng. If you don't mind, little brother, you can go with our caravan."
His eyes were venomous, and he did not see Wang Chen as a villain or a bandit spy, so he was willing to form a good relationship with Wang Chen.
Wang Chen was grateful: "Thank you very much."
"You are welcome."
The boss turned around with a smile and shouted: "Everyone, let's rest here and set off again after noon."
So the caravan stopped at the roadside to rest, eat, drink water, and take care of the mules and horses' fodder.
Lao put away the whip in his hand, sat down on the stone next to Wang Chen, and asked curiously: "Little brother, where did you come from?"
Wang Chen did not answer directly, but took off the tiger skin tied to his back: "Old man, do you accept fur goods?"
"let me see."
The old man glanced deeply at Wang Chen and then took the tiger skin.
"We accept both mountain goods and leather goods."
He opened the folded tiger skin, carefully inspected it inside and out, and said: "Your tiger skin is good, very complete, but the tanning technique is a bit lacking."
Wang Chen rubbed his nose: "You can estimate the price and we'll make it if it suits you."
His skills in tanning animal skins are indeed very average, mainly because he has not put much effort into this aspect.
"If you want me to accept it..."
Lao raised his head and pointed a finger: "I can only give you a hundred taels of silver at most, but if you sell it to Yancheng, if you meet a suitable buyer, you can get two to three hundred taels!"
He stressed: "I'm not cheating people, this is the rule of our industry. I don't have to make money, but I can't break the rules."
"So if you want to sell it at a high price, you'd better take it to Yancheng!"
With that said, he was about to return the tiger skin to Wang Chen.
Wang Chen didn't answer, waved his hand and said, "Then one hundred taels."
He, or Ling Zhiyuan, did not have much concept of money in his memory. Wang Chen was not very clear about the purchasing power of this one hundred taels of silver.
But the other party was very frank and spoke clearly, so Wang Chen didn't bother.
The old man's head froze.
Two to three hundred taels of silver is not a small amount.
You must know that for an ordinary family of five, ten or twenty taels are enough for a year's living expenses.
You can buy a nice house in Yancheng with only three hundred taels of silver!
In the end, Wang Chen didn't care about the price difference at all and was actually willing to give it to him at a low price.
But that's not the point.
The point is that Wang Chen's indifference is not an act. He gives the impression to the boss that he is very much like the kind of son of a wealthy family who has lived in luxury for generations, and his speech and behavior reveal the temperament of a superior.
This made the old boss who was used to the world a little uneasy. He put away the tiger skin, gritted his teeth, took out two banknotes from his arms and handed them to Wang Chen: "Thank you very much."
Wang Chen took the banknotes and saw that they were all in denominations of one hundred.
He was very familiar with banknotes. He could tell they were not fake as soon as he touched them, and the bank number that issued the banknotes was also a well-known big bank.
Ling Zhiyuan spent a lot.
Wang Chen handed one back to the other party: "If you say a hundred, it's a hundred."
As a result, I always put on a smile and refused to accept it - I would rather make less money than offend someone who doesn't know the details.
Wang Chen was too lazy to argue with this old gangster, so he simply collected the banknotes and then threw a bag to the other party.
It contained four cut tiger claws.
"So be it!"
The old man didn't even see where Wang Chen got the cyst from, and he was secretly wondering, but he didn't dare to dwell on it any longer.
He took out the wine from the bag of the mule and horse and invited Wang Chen to drink it with him.
As a result, Wang Chen only took one sip and then stopped drinking - it was sour.
And this also strengthened the old leader's idea, and his attitude towards him became more polite.
After noon, everyone had had enough rest, and the caravan got back on the road.
This caravan came from the road on the left and went to the road on the right. He led the way with his head in front and chatted with Wang Chen. No one else had any objections.
This old leader was extremely experienced and shrewd. He told all kinds of allusions and anecdotes about the world in a clear and logical manner, which made Wang Chen listen with relish and did not feel that the journey was boring at all.
In this way, we followed the caravan for about twenty miles, and it was almost evening.
The boss said: "Little brother, there is an inn three miles ahead. We will stay there for the night."
Wang Chen nodded and said nothing.
The boss called a group of caravan guys to speed up, and before it got completely dark, he saw the mountain inn with lanterns hanging on it.
The size of this inn seems to be quite small. There are already many mules and horses parked outside. It is obvious that merchants have settled here for a long time.
With the light from the lanterns hanging under the eaves, Wang Chen could clearly see the inn's sign.
