Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

Today, Gu Qing'e changed into a dark-colored short jacket with the cuffs tied tightly and her hair simply tied up with a cloth. She didn't look like a scholar, but more like a female accountant from a security escort agency on an errand.

Before Chen Zhuo could answer, two more people appeared behind her.

The tall woman in the dark gray robe was none other than Senior Sister Zhao Xuelang.

The other person, with long hair casually tied back with a wooden hairpin, holding a plain folding fan without any writing on it, and a faint smile on his lips, was none other than the second senior brother, Li Zhao.

"Senior Sister, Second Senior Brother," Chen Zhuo greeted them in turn.

His eyes showed increasing doubt.

What day is it today? Why are all the senior sisters here?

Zhao Xuelang nodded to Chen Zhuo, his gaze sweeping over him, and he raised an eyebrow slightly:

"These past few days of defending the city haven't been easy, but your scholarly aura has become much more profound. It seems you haven't neglected your studies during the long night."

"By chance, I've recently made some gains," Chen Zhuo said vaguely.

Zhao Xuelang didn't press the matter further; she wasn't the type to pry into her junior brother's affairs.

Li Zhao gently opened and closed his plain folding fan, lightly tapping it on Chen Zhuo's shoulder.

"Your second senior brother heard about your impressive bidding at Chunfeng Pavilion, buying a scroll of notes for seventy taels without even blinking. What, are you here to snag another bargain today?"

After saying this, he suddenly closed the folding fan, tapped it lightly twice in his palm, and added in a low voice:

"Don't worry, I'm not here to steal your treasure today. If it really is a treasure, your second senior brother will raise the price for you."

Before Chen Zhuo could even defend himself, Gu Qing'e had already chimed in, her voice low but unable to conceal her excitement:

"Junior brother, when Second Senior Brother said something like that last time, he was trying to raise the price for Senior Sister, which made Xu Yi so angry that he couldn't even wave his fan properly."

Seeing that Li Zhao's folding fan was about to strike again, Gu Qing'e simply went around to Chen Zhuo's back.

"Anyway, I'm here today to watch the excitement and see if there are any good things that have been missed."

My senior sister is short on cash after that last transaction; she only has enough to buy a few small stones, just for fun.

While the group was exchanging pleasantries, the teahouse became even more crowded.

Chen Zhuo noticed the two people who came in through the door.

The one walking in front had "Outstanding among men" written on one side of his folding fan and "One in a million" written on the other.

This person was none other than Xu Yi.

Behind him followed a scholar-like man, Wanyan Liang, whom Chen Zhuo had met once at the Long Night camp.

He carried a wooden box shaped like an inkstone in his hand, following behind with a restrained expression, as if afraid of being recognized or afraid of losing him.

Judging from this, Wanyan Liang has already approached Xu Yi.

Moreover, the two get along quite well.

Seeing this, Chen Zhuo felt relieved, realizing that his gifts hadn't been taken for nothing.

The junior sister glanced to the side and rolled her eyes.

"Another one waving a fan."

Li Zhao covered half his face with a fan, his gaze drifting over the edge of the fan, and said softly in an extremely innocent tone:

What's wrong with the fan?

Gu Qing'e opened her mouth, but ultimately decided to pretend she hadn't heard.

Xu Yi had obviously noticed this as well.

He glanced at Zhao Xuelang and Li Zhao for a moment each, nodded slightly as if to greet his opponents of the same level, and then walked straight to the stalls on the other side of the hall.

Chen Zhuo did not follow.

He walked around the exhibition booths, looking at each one in turn.

Most of the stalls had a wide variety of items.

There were half-cut raw stones, sliced ​​chalcedony, jade pendants of unknown authenticity, and several pieces of decent-quality demon materials mixed in.

He walked around, stopping occasionally, and found an inconspicuous stall in a corner.

The stall owner was an old man in his sixties with a white beard, squatting against the wall smoking a pipe.

A coarse cloth was spread out in front of him, with a dozen or so stones scattered on it.

The stones varied in size, and their outer shells were covered with a layer of dust, as if they had just been dug up from somewhere.

A quick scan of the panel revealed that almost all of the dozen or so stones were white.

This surprised him slightly.

This old man has quite a collection; he's actually gathered so many high-quality items.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on an inconspicuous stone.

It was about the size of a fist, with a crooked and grotesque appearance. Its shell was covered with spots of rust and was pressed down in the corner of the stall to weigh down the cloth.

The panel displays a green quality rating.

Chen Zhuo squatted down without making a sound, first picked up another nice-looking stone, pretended to examine it, then put it back, and picked up another one.

After repeating it several times, it seemed as if he suddenly noticed the piece in the corner.

"How much for this dusty gray one?"

The old man took a puff of his cigarette and squinted at the stone in his hand.

"thirty."

Chen Zhuo was overjoyed. Thirty taels of silver, and there was still money to be made on green quality goods.

Just as I was about to say "deal," I heard the old man's slow, leisurely voice.

"Thirty taels of gold."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhuo's face darkened, and he met the man's ambiguous, half-smiling gaze.

Damn it, looks like I can't get any bargains. This guy's here to fish.

Thirty taels of gold is equivalent to three hundred taels of silver and three pieces of jade.

This is definitely not worth it.

So Chen Zhuo put down the stone and left the stall; he wasn't one to be taken advantage of.

Just as I turned around, I saw Chen Tianshen and Chen Tianlang squeezing in through the door.

The two of them had clearly taken special care of their appearance today; their hair was coated with some kind of oil that made it so shiny it was almost reflective.

Although the clothes were faded coarse brown cloth, they were surprisingly all buttoned up.

The neater they are dressed, the more they look like two silly boys wearing new clothes and waiting to be patted on the head by their elders.

Chen Tianlang pointed to a rough stone with sulfur-colored veins on its outer shell in the corner, his face full of certainty:

"Look at this pattern, this color! If there's no treasure inside, I, Chen Tianlang, will write my name backwards!"

Chen Tianlang written backwards is still Chen Tianlang.

Chen Zhu silently recited a phrase to himself, deciding not to expose the two guys' questionable taste.

Before he could look away, he saw two more figures squeeze in behind the two men.

A tall, thin man wearing a worn-out scholar's robe, without a fan in his hand, was Zhou Ping.

Chen Zhuo also recognized the short man next to him; he was the old man from a prominent family who sold "Autumn Water Notes" at the Chunfenglou trade fair last time.

Zhou Ping had obviously seen Chen Zhuo as well.

He paused for a moment, then nodded slightly as a greeting.

Chen Zhuo nodded. The two weren't particularly close; they had only briefly crossed paths during a demon-slaying operation.

To be more precise, it was the time when Zhou Ping was pushed out by Xu Yi to snatch the ghoul materials.

After that, we had no contact.

The two were standing in front of a stall, talking in hushed tones.

The short old man held a slice of stone, pointing to the texture of the cut surface and saying something.

Zhou Ping listened attentively, nodding from time to time.

He carried nothing in his hands—neither a folding fan nor an inkstone. His cuffs were slightly frayed, but clean.

Upon seeing this, Chen Zhuo muttered to himself.

Why are so many people coming? Is this bluestone so popular?