At noon the next day, taking advantage of the lunch break, Fang Yuan came to the commercial area outside the stockade.
Because everyone had to work during the day, there weren't many mountain people among the tents and stalls.
Following his memory, Fang Yuan walked to the place where the heart-knowing grass had been sold last night. But he saw an empty flatbed cart stopped in its original spot. The cart was being pulled by a camel chicken.
It stood there proudly, its body as large as an ostrich, shaped like a chicken, but with a curved hump on its back.
A pair of wide wings were folded at its sides, its colorful feathers bright and splendid.
Its chicken head was held high, its bright red comb like an agate crown, gleaming under the sunlight.
"It seems I am too late; the heart-knowing grass has already been sold out. What a pity. If I had bought a few jin of heart-knowing grass, I could have saved quite a few yuan stones." Fang Yuan paused in his steps, then left and continued further in.
"Come over here! Come taste the fine wines from various stockades! We have over a hundred kinds of fine wine, including the top-notch rush-grass wine, the lingering nine-curve wine, the elegant ancient dragon-well, the sweet-and-sour flower-stone daqu, the mouthwatering hundred-springs old cellar, the richly fragrant drunk three autumns..." In front of a blue barrel-shaped tent, a waiter was shouting himself hoarse.
Fang Yuan's eyes flickered, and he immediately became interested. Changing direction, he entered this wine shop.
The facilities in the wine shop were quite unique.
At the very back of the tent was a long counter. A gu master guarded it, and behind him were dozens of large crystal ladybugs, clinging to the canvas wall of the tent.
The floor of the tent was not carpeted, but directly exposed rocky soil. In the soil grew a cluster of colorful mushrooms.
These mushrooms were of various colors, plump, and somewhat cute. Some were as large as tables, some as small as stools. Often, around a table-sized mushroom, several stool-sized mushrooms would grow.
"These are innocent mushrooms, intentionally cultivated by gu masters. They absorb dust and foul air, purifying the environment. They are a type of grass gu." Fang Yuan recognized these mushrooms at a glance.
He chose a small mushroom and sat down. The surface of the mushroom immediately sank slightly, giving Fang Yuan the illusion of sitting on a sofa back on Earth.
"Young master, this is the wine list. Please see which wine you would like?" A waiter approached.
Fang Yuan glanced at the wine list and found that the wines here were even more expensive than green bamboo wine.
"I'll have a cup of monkey wine." Fang Yuan put down the wine list.
"One cup of monkey wine!" The waiter turned and shouted loudly.
At the counter, the first-rank gu master heard this, immediately bent down, and took out a bamboo cup from the counter.
Then he held the cup, turned around, and faced the tent behind him. On the blue canvas of the tent, dozens of large crystal ladybugs were clinging quietly, heads down, tails up, like decorations on the tent wall.
These crystal ladybugs were also a type of gu, with hollow bodies, often used by gu masters to store precious liquids.
They were completely transparent, as if made of crystal. From the outside, one could see what kind of wine was in the ladybug's round belly.
The gu master quickly found the crystal ladybug containing monkey wine.
He placed the bamboo cup under the ladybug's mouthpart, then gently stroked the ladybug's crystal carapace with his other hand.
A trace of true essence flowed into the crystal ladybug's body, and then the ladybug opened its mouth, and a stream of wine flowed down into the bamboo cup.
The wine splashed for a while, then suddenly stopped.
The gu master placed the bamboo cup filled with monkey wine on the counter. The waiter outside the counter, who had been waiting for some time, quickly and carefully picked it up, took a few quick steps, and offered it to Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan took a light sip. Monkey wine was a fruit wine, with a clear, mellow, and sweet aroma, smooth on the palate.
He didn't drink further, but with a thought, summoned the wine worm.
The plump white wine worm turned into a white light, traced a half-arc in the air, and plopped into the cup.
Wine splashed onto the mushroom table.
The wine worm then rolled happily in the cup, and the monkey wine visibly decreased rapidly. In a few breaths, the cup was dry, not a drop left.
"It's a wine worm!" The gu master at the counter exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. He was a first-rank gu master with only a D-grade aptitude, following a merchant caravan and working in this tavern. He wanted to travel while seeking opportunities.
A wine worm can refine true essence and elevate one's small realm. For a first-rank gu master, it is an extremely precious gu. Wasn't this exactly the opportunity he had been seeking?
"Young master, I don't suppose you could part with your wine worm?" He walked over excitedly, asking earnestly.
Fang Yuan shook his head, firmly refused, then got up and left.
His purpose in coming here was to deliberately expose the wine worm; he had never thought of selling it.
"Young master, young master, please stay. I am very sincere. Perhaps we can sit down and negotiate slowly." The gu master unwillingly followed Fang Yuan to the tent entrance, but Fang Yuan did not respond.
In the end, he could only stand there, watching with great regret as Fang Yuan's figure turned a corner and disappeared from sight.
...