Zither Emperor

Chapter 5 – The Price of Kindness (I)

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There tended to be only two types of people who passed through the front gate of the slave market: those who sell, and those who buy. Naturally, those who sold were merchants and poor families who couldn’t do anything but sell their own children. Those who bought were high-ranking nobility. No matter their status, it was difficult was any of them to be in a charitable mood. Merchants were highly interested in profit and would probably not take notice of a beggar. The poor had trouble sustaining themselves, let alone others. As for those aristocrats, they were more anxious about the beggar dirtying their gorgeous clothes. Thus, this beggar was obviously not sensible when he chose to come here to beg. If his body was strong he might have been sold as a slave, but he was very small and had a filthy body. In the eyes of those dedicated merchants, he was not even worth bath water.

As this was the first time he saw a beggar, the simple Yin Zhu thought to himself in his heart, ‘Looking at his appearance, he appears to be around my age, yet he is so small. His mother died when he was 3 and his father abandoned him when he was 10 years old. This is such a pitiful encounter!’ His feeling of pity rose involuntarily as he walked up and stopped in front of the beggar.

The little beggar looked up to see someone had stopped in front of him and stopped, His eyes immediately brightening. “Sir, is sir looking to bestow coins to me?”

“For you.” Yin Zhu withdrew from his bosom all of the gold coins he was planning use to buy a gnu, which appeared to be approximately 30 gold coins. Cupping his hands together, he placed it all into the outstretched hands of the little beggar.

The little beggar was expressionless; he looked into Yin Zhu’s flawless, crystal-clear eyes, not knowing what to say. Deep within his heart, his heartstrings trembled furiously. He would have been joyous at getting only one gold coin.

“Thank you, thank you kind sir.” Hands trembling, he was almost in panic as he quickly stuffed the gold coins into his bosom with lightning speed. It was so fast that Yin Zhu was startled.

“Get up, the ground is cold.” Speaking to the side, Yin Zhu, despite the hand being dirty, pulled his hands. He felt that the pair of hands were quite soft. They were small, but the fingers were unusually slender.

Now, the little beggar lowered his head just in time to see, in a flash of sunlight, Yin Zhu’s space ring shimmer and sparkle. His slender and nimble hands suddenly trembled as Yin Zhu pulled him up to stand. He gratefully said, “Sir, thank you. You are indeed a good person.” He abruptly stood up which caused his body to lean into Yin Zhu’s slightly. He gripped Yin Zhu’s hand to steady himself and, in that moment, his fine slender hands secretly moved.

Yin Zhu smiled as gentle and kindhearted as an angel. His heart felt comfortable as he thought to himself, ‘Helping others feels so good.’ “Goodbye,” waving to the little beggar, he walked into the slave market.

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The little beggar’s eyes displayed an internal struggle as he watched Yin Zhu walk away and disappear. Gritting his teeth, he quickly turned around and walked in the opposite direction. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into a crowd of people.

The slave market was divided into seven districts. The outermost district sold inferior, ordinary civilians. Here, even if a robust person greatly exerted himself, he would be worth at most 50 gold coins and nothing more. The next district sold rudimentary magical beasts. After that, the deeper into the five districts the more expensive the items became. Naturally, as Rolle City was a small town, they did not have many highly precious items for sale. Only the major cities’ slave markets could sell genuinely good items such as dragons or beautiful female elves.

Yin Zhu entered the slave market. The first thing he felt was that it was noisy; all kinds of voices continuously echoed in his ears. It was a large place. For a moment, since he completely lacked experience, he didn’t know where to go to buy a gnu. Hastily walking to a passing middle-aged man, he asked, “Hello, uncle, may I ask where the gnus are sold?”

The middle-aged man appeared to be around 40 years old. His body was clothed in exquisite black leather armor. Imprinted on the left side of his chest was an emblem of a double-edged sword overlapping a shield atop a twisting design of thorns and thistles. He was as tall as Zi, and on his back was a long 1.5 meter double-handed sword.

“You want to buy a gnu? I was going there myself. I’ll take you,” The middle-aged man said straightforwardly.

“Fantastic! Thank you, great uncle.” Yin Zhu very courteously expressed thanks to the middle-aged man. The many years of playing the zither imperceptibly influenced his graceful temperament. In addition, with his handsome appearance, it was easy for him to give people a favorable impression.

The middle-aged man led Yin Zhu towards the slave market. Walking to the side. He asked, “Little brother, I am called Ge En. What is your name? Where do you come from?”

“I am called Ye Yin Zhu. I come from Arcadia.”

“Your name is unusual. Oh, we are finally here.” As he spoke, Ge En pointed his finger to a gigantic stable.

Walking up to the horse stable, a fishy smell assailed his nostrils, and Yin Zhu couldn’t refrain from furrowing his brows. He was accustomed to the fresh and clean air of the Desolate Jade Sea. This kind of foul environment felt very uncomfortable. The stable’s interior contained approximately 10 gnus. The gnu dealer was just discussing the prices with some customers.

Ge En was apparently quite familiar with this kind of environment. “Rolle City’s slave market is just like this. If you go to a major city’s slave market in the future, you’ll see a ultra-large horse stable with first-rate gnus. There would be several hundred for selection.”

The gnu dealer seemingly recognized Ge En and walked over to welcome the man. “Oh, is this not regiment commander Ge En? How have you been? New gnu have arrived, select a few.”

Ge En groaned, saying, “Ha Te, what rank are your gnus? I still don’t know. All right, choose for me and give me 20 strong ones. Oh, right, allow my little brother to choose one as well.”

Ha Te hastily smiled and promised, going to a pick the gnus with lightning-speed. After a short period of time, 21 gnus were pulled up. Ge En was evidently an old customer of his as he did not go and carefully select the gnus. Withdrawing his purse from his bosom, “Old standards, five gold for two gnus. This is 50 gold coins, you can count.”

Ha Te took the purse, easily putting it away into his chest. Smiling, he said, “Why count? Don’t tell me I can no longer trust you? You are a member of the Iron Brambles Mercenary Company, the only permanent mercenary force in this city.”

Ge En bitterly laughed and said, “You think I like being stationed in this ghost area? Lacking strength, it’s basically impossible for me to be stationed at those major cities. Very well. This little brother I brought with me, give me face and provide him a cheaper price. Two gold is good. Little brother, pick from these 21 gnus. Although not the highest quality gnus, Ha Te’s gnus have very good endurance.”

Yin Zhu naturally arrived to the conclusion that Ge En’s price was very favorable. “Thank you, Great Uncle Ge En.” As he had given all of the gold coins he had carried to the little beggar, he subconsciously sent spiritual force to his space ring to withdraw money. His face stiffened instantly.

Extending his hands, he saw his eight fingers devoid of anything. Only a pale mark remained on the finger that held his space ring.

“AH! My space ring is gone,” Yin Zhu cried out in alarm. Panic suddenly attacked his heart; the space ring itself was exceptionally precious. But he could say that the ring was even more precious as it held the five zithers! Furthermore, the ring had the recommendation letter from Qin Shang as well as the rest of his gold coins inside. Now, losing the ring, he was immediately impoverished.

“Little brother, are you……” Ge En was suddenly startled by Yin Zhu’s outburst.

Yin Zhu didn’t reply. His crystal clear black eyes flashed with a cold glint. Closing his eyes, he quietly released faint red rays of light between his eyebrows. The red rays of light formed a six pointed star in front of him.

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