The Mural City covers an area equivalent to the size of a Red Candle Town. The only difference is that the streets are messy, with varying widths, and many are skewed. There are few high-rise buildings. In addition to numerous shops the size of tofu cubes, there are also many stalls and hawkers. One after another, it's just like the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs in rural villages. Of course, most of them are silent businessmen, squatting by the roadside, with their sleeves and shoulders shrunk, paying no attention to the people on the street, whether they want to see or buy. purchase.
There are different opinions about the origin of the Mural City, especially the pictures of female officials of the Heavenly Court painted all over the walls. They are full of various manners and arouse people's imagination. The Pima Sect, which founded the mountain here, is very secretive about this.
Chen Pingan walked and stopped all the way. In about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Chen Pingan followed a huge flow of people who also came here to come to a mural. The mountain wall was more than ten feet high. The mural was full of momentum. Chen Pingan stood in the crowd. Among them, looking up, the content of the mural is a side profile of a graceful goddess, who seems to be walking forward, her spirit is flying, there are auspicious clouds under her feet, and around her waist is a luggage inkstone, which is no longer common in this world. I don’t know if it’s the light or the aura of the mural, but the goddess’s eyes are moving like a living person.
This mural of a goddess, which was named "Hanging Inkstone" by later generations, is mainly green in color, but there is also just the right amount of lime powder and gilding, which is like the finishing touch, making the mural thick yet fairy-like. At a glance, it makes people feel The impression is like cursive writing in a book. The pen seems simple, but in fact, upon closer inspection, whether it is the folds of the dress, the accessories, the texture of the skin, or even the eyelashes, it can be said to be extremely dense. The pen complies with the law.
I think the person who painted it must be a master of painting.
Chen Ping'an only has a rough understanding of Beiju Luzhou Yayan, so he can only hear roughly the discussions around him for the time being. The eight murals in the underground city have been taken away one after another by destined people from all dynasties for thousands of years. The five parts have their own destiny of providence, and when the five goddesses step out of the murals and choose to serve their masters, the painted murals will fade instantly. The texture of the scrolls will remain the same, but they will become like line drawings, no longer colorful and spiritual. The five murals were scattered, so the Pima Sect invited the patriarch of the sect who had been friends with Liuxiazhou for a certain generation to cover the scrolls with a unique secret technique to prevent the murals from losing their aura and being eroded by the years.
Most of the tourists who come here to enjoy the scenery admire the goddess's stunning appearance. Of course Chen Ping'an also looks at it. If you don't look at it, it's in vain. After all, it's just a mural. What can you do after looking at it?
However, Chen Ping'an focused more on the small ancient inkstone hanging on the goddess's waist. Two ancient seal characters could be vaguely seen as "掷电". The reason why he recognized it was also due to the book Li Xisheng presented to him. "Authentic Alchemy Book", many of the insect and bird seals on it have actually been lost in the world.
Near this mural, there is a shop that specializes in selling copies of this goddess painting. Prices vary. Among them, the double-hook gallery-filled hard yellow version is the most expensive. For one the size of a round fan, I dare to ask for twenty snowflakes. It cost money, but Chen Pingan saw that the paintings were indeed beautiful, not only similar in shape to murals, but also similar in spirit. Chen Pingan bought two paintings, planning to keep one for himself and give another one to Zhu Lian in the future.
Zhu Lian once said that when it comes to collecting, the most taboo thing is to be miscellaneous without being refined.
The shop is run by a young girl and a boy. The girl doesn't like to deal with customers, but the boy is particularly smart. When he saw that Chen Pingan bought the most expensive one in the shop, he began to recommend a suit to Chen Pingan, the distinguished guest.
There are five pictures of goddesses in a hard yellow book, placed in a bright red wooden box. The boy said that the cost of the wooden box alone was worth several snow coins.
Chen Pingan gently reached out and wiped the wooden box. The wood was delicate and the aura was light but mellow. It must have been produced at the top of Xianjia Mountain.
The young man also said that the other two paintings of goddesses cannot be bought here. Customers have to walk two steps before they can buy them at other shops. There are still three ancestral shops in the Mural City. There are rules set by the elders, and they are not allowed to rob them.
The business of other shops, but the five copies of the murals that have been covered up by the Pima Sect, can be sold by all three shops.
Chen Ping'an thought for a while, said he would look at it again, put away the "hanging inkstone" picture of the goddess, and left the shop.
As for the chance of a goddess or something, Chen Ping'an didn't even think about it.
I heard some guests keep saying that once the goddess steps out of the scroll, she will serve her master for the rest of her life. The five people in the scroll in history all formed immortals and Taoists with their masters, and at least they could both become Nascent Soul immortals.
, one of them, a down-and-out scholar with mediocre monastic qualifications, got the favor of a "immortal staff" goddess, unexpectedly broke through again and again, and finally became a great monk in the Immortal Realm in the history of Beiju Luzhou. It's really true.
When you embrace a beautiful woman, you become a deity on the mountain top. At this point in your life, what else can you ask for?
Chen Ping'an's palms were sweating when he heard that. He quickly drank a sip of wine to calm down his shock. He only had to put his hands together and silently prayed that the senior goddess on the mural would have a higher vision and never fall in love with him blindly.
After that, Chen Ping'an went to the other two murals and bought the most expensive gallery book. The style was the same. A nearby store also sold a set of five pictures of goddesses. The price was the same as what the young man said before, a hundred pieces of snow.
, no discount. These two pictures of the Goddess Tianguan are named "Xing Yu" and "Riding a Deer" respectively. The former is holding a white jade bowl in his hand, tilted slightly, and visitors can vaguely see the sparkling light inside the bowl, with a dragon shining with golden light. The latter
The figure is riding a colorful deer, and the goddess's skirt is trailing, making her look like a fairy. This goddess is also carrying a blue unsheathed wooden sword with the three characters "happy wind" engraved on it.
Along the way, Chen Pingan was mixed in with the crowd, listening and watching more.
One of the words made Chen Ping'an become obsessed with money, and he planned to become a baggage owner himself. During this trip to Beiju Luzhou, in addition to practicing swordsmanship, he might as well do some business. Anyway, among the things close to him and the things in the square inch, the position is almost the same.
soar into the air,
Some passers-by say it is a picture of a goddess in the Mural City. Because of its exquisite workmanship and gimmicks, it is known to both the north and south of the continent. In the northern area of ​​Beiju Luzhou, monks often bid extremely high prices, and it is very popular in the northern palace officials.
, there are even wealthy immortal masters who are willing to pay a small sum of money to purchase a complete set of eight murals of city goddesses.
Chen Pingan thought about it carefully. At first he thought it was profitable, but then he felt something was wrong. He thought that such a good thing was like a bunch of copper coins lost on the ground. A monk with a little wealth could pick it up and earn the money.
Price difference. Chen Ping'an took a closer look at the group of chatting tourists not far away. They didn't look like shills for three shops. After thinking about it again, he realized that Beiju Luzhou has a vast territory and Skeleton Beach is located at the southernmost end.
Taking the Xianjia ferry is a big expense, not to mention that the Goddess wanted to sell it for a high price. It depends on whether the other party has a good heart and is more casual. How much luck depends on it?
Looking at the box-stuffed boxes in the three shops, the output is very varied. Taken together, there may not be any monks willing to earn this relatively difficult small profit.
Of course, it is also possible that the shop and the Skull Beach Pi Ma Sect have their own fixed sales channels, which are just unknown to outsiders.
The matter of making money.
Chen Ping'an has traveled such a long way, and among the people he knows, Sun Jiashu of old Longcheng and Dong Shuijing of Longquan County have done the best. Not to mention Sun Jiashu, who already has a great family, but only those who were born in a poor alley and became "suddenly rich"
Dong Shuijing's attitude towards making money impressed Chen Ping'an the most. After Dong Shuijing had already made a lot of money, he got to know Yuan County Magistrate, Cao Duzao, and Guan Yiran who he was going to visit recently.
Big people can make friends, but he can also earn a small amount of money from the wonton shop. Although Dong Shuijing runs the shop now, in the eyes of some people, it may be more of a cultivated sentiment after having a rich family, but Dong Shuijing is still diligent.
Be sincere, be serious, and be unambiguous at all.
This is the business experience a businessman should have.
So Chen Ping'an found the shopkeepers at both stores and asked if they could get some discounts if he bought more gallery books at once. One shop just shook his head and said that you can buy up all the shop's inventory for a piece of snow.
There is no shortage of them, and there is no room for negotiation. In another shop, the owner is a hunchbacked old woman. She smiles and asks the customer how many sets of goddess pictures he can buy. Chen Ping'an says how many are left in the shop, and the old woman says "fill in the book."
It is a delicate work, and the shipment is extremely slow. Moreover, the main painter of these goddess paintings has always been an old guest of the Pima Sect. Other painters dare not paint at all. The old Keqing never wants to paint more. If he is not a Pima Sect, then
There are rules. According to the old painter, every time he looks at the evil-minded disciples in the world, he will have more karma, which is really a waste of money. The old woman then admitted that the shop itself was not worried.
There is not much sales left, and now there are only about thirty sets left in the shop, and they will all be sold out sooner or later. After saying this, the old woman laughed and asked Chen Ping'an. If this is the case, discounting means losing money. Is there such a thing in the world?
Doing business?
Chen Ping'an had no choice but to rely on the old woman's sincere words, so he spent twenty pieces of snow to buy a box set, which contained five pictures of goddesses, named "Changqiao", "Baogai",
"Lingzhi", "Chunguan" and "Zhankan", the five goddesses respectively hold lotus lanterns, support the treasure cover, and hold a white jade Ganoderma lucidum in their arms. Hundreds of flowers are swirling, and birds are flying. The last one is the most unusual, actually
Wearing armor and holding an axe, the lightning flashed, and he was very heroic.
Chen Pingan returned to the earliest shop again and asked about the inventory and discounts of the gallery. The boy was a little embarrassed. The girl suddenly smiled and glanced at the boy who was her childhood sweetheart. She shook her head, probably thinking that this foreign customer was too philistine.
, continued to be busy with his business, and faced the customers, old and young, who were filing in and out of the shop, and still had no smile on his face.
In the end, the boy was easier to talk to, or maybe he was thin-skinned, but he couldn't get Chen Pingan to look at him and smile, so he secretly led Chen Pingan to the room behind the shop, sold Chen Pingan ten sets of wooden boxes, and took away ten snowflakes from Chen Pingan.
Spend money.
After Chen Ping'an checked out, when he left the store, he had an extra package slung across his back.
The girl nudged the young man with her shoulder and teased: "How can you do this kind of business? The customer just chatted with you for a few words and then nodded in agreement."
The young man said helplessly: "I'll follow my great grandfather. Besides, I'm just here to help you with odd jobs, and I'm not really a businessman."
The girl kept her business private and told her, "I don't care. I see the loss of ten pieces of snow in the shop. You can go to your great-grandfather to make up for it later, and beg him to give me more money for the shop."
Draw some.”
The young man smiled and nodded, "Don't worry, my great-grandfather loves me the most. If others beg him, it won't work. If I go and beg, it's too late for my great-grandfather to be happy."
The girl suddenly said: "Then have you told that customer that you should not show off when you go out? There are many people in the shop. He is carrying so many corridors to fill in books. It is not a small sum of money. The area near the mural city is already full of fish and dragons and a smoky atmosphere.
Yes, I like to bully foreigners the most. I can do all kinds of deceptions, but you didn’t give me a word of warning? Look at how I bargained with you. If you didn’t agree, you would almost be able to work as a waiter in our shop. And
With that foreign accent, it doesn’t look like someone who is particularly well-off. The more so, the more careful you should be.”
When a girl is doing business, she always has the temperament to take the bait. But when it comes to the young man, she doesn't hesitate to speak. She must also have a cold-skinned and warm-hearted temperament.
The young man was stunned for a moment, slapped his head, and said guiltily: "I forgot!"
The girl glared and lowered her voice: "Then go quickly! You, a direct disciple of the Pima Sect, are about to go down the mountain to travel, how can you act so unsophisticated?"
The young man yelled, "What about the business in the shop?"
The girl laughed angrily and said, "I've been here since I was a child. Over the years, you've only come down to help a few times. Is it possible that without you, my shop won't be able to open?"
The young man rushed out of the shop, found the foreign wanderer wearing a bamboo hat, and whispered some precautions.
Chen Pingan smiled and said: "Okay, thank you for reminding me."
The young man waved his hand and turned around to run back to the shop.
Chen Pingan asked: "Can I take the liberty to ask?"
The young man immediately stopped, nodded and said, "But it doesn't matter if you say it. If you can say it, I won't hide it."
Chen Ping'an asked: "The opportunity for these eight goddess murals is so great, why isn't the Pima Sect in the Skeleton Beach imprisoned? Even if one's own disciples cannot seize the good fortune, isn't it common sense that the wealth should not flow to others?"
The young man smiled and said: "The Pima Sect is not so stingy. Instead of stealing treasures and dominating opportunities, it is better to form a good relationship with those who are destined to be together. There is an ancestral motto in the Pima Sect's Patriarch Hall, 'As we practice on the great road, we must not worry.
Husbands argue.'"
After Chen Pingan chewed these words carefully, he said with emotion: "The Pi Ma Sect is very powerful!"
The young man was very happy. Despite his short stature and plain appearance, he was actually an inner disciple of the Pima Sect's ancestral hall. He was successful in spiritual practice, so he had a reserved spirit. Although he was very young, his seniority was quite high. It was just different from the murals.
The girls in the city's shops have known each other since they were young, and they would come down the mountain to help him whenever they had the opportunity. When they reached the top of Pima Clan Mountain, there were many white-haired old monks who called him "junior uncle".
After thanking the young man, Chen Ping'an walked towards the entrance. Since he had bought those pictures of goddesses, which would be used as capital to open a business in Beiju Luzhou in the future, it was considered a worthwhile trip and he would not continue wandering around.
In Mural City, I actually saw some ghost repair artifacts for sale in large and small shops along the way. Not to mention the quality of the items, they are really expensive. I guess the really good items and top-notch items will have to stay here for a while. Take your time.
To be continued...