Caravan Trip 3

In his hurry, he forgot to take the memory stone and pay the 5 coppers to the old man, letting them clatter on to the wooden floor of the bookshop. "Kid, you forgot your memory stone!" called the old man, but seeing that he had already went away, he muttered to himself "Nevermind, a free 2 coppers for me. Only an idiot wouldn't want it." he bent down, rubbing his back carefully as he picked the 5 coppers from the ground. Slightly fumbling to take the 2 coppers stuck in the crack of the wooden floor, lightly cursing his aged body.

Tian Jiao had ran out, fury and worry in his eyes, remembering his abandoned coppers and memory stone, he mocked himself for his forgetfulness. 'Damn, no time to think about that.' he thought to himself as he raced to the sweet stalls; a crowd gathering round to see the scene. Pushing his way through roughly, he arrived to see a handsome youth with long black hair tied in a ponytail, coal-coloured peach blossom eyes, wearing a faded blue robe with slight stains on it.

The youth's triangular face was one of utter anger and wrath, "You dare!" he roared threateningly at Xiao Yue, who was lying on the ground, sobbing silently. His hand that a purple signet ring on it, whipped back, about to slap Xiao Yue; the next thing he know was that he was standing between his little sister and the young master: with a searing scarlet handprint imprinted on his face.

'It hurts' was what he thought, it hurted his pride, destroyed it, anger rose in him like waves, humiliation fueling him, voices shrieked and urged for him to slap this arrogant kid in the face. But then a voice popped out: "Jiao'er are you an impulsive person?", it was his mother's voice; the past soon merged into the present for him.

"Jiao'er, are you an impulsive person?" his mother asked

"No, of course not mum!" he replied confidently, as he knew being an impulsive person was bad and any child would want themselves to appear as good as possible.

"Then what would you do when a person slaps you?" his mother questioned him slyly.

"Hmm..." Tian Jiao thought carefully about it, he just said he wasn't an impulsive person, so what would a not impulsive person do in that situation? "Ah! I know, I won't slap that person back, I'll try to talk through it!" he smirked, his mum couldn't trick him!

"Haha, clever boy! So promise me you'll do exactly that!" flattered his mother with a warm yet proud smile.

He returned to the present, he knew what to do now.

Looking up at the young master, he did his best to smile as warmly as he could but it was still very forced. In the young master's delicate yet smug eyes was a sort of arrogance, he hated it. 'Calm down, talk through it' he thought, spreading his arms wide with a smile, desperately trying to ignore the stinging pain on his cheek.

"Honorable young master, may I know how my ignorant little sister has managed to offend you?" Tian Jiao asked as politely as anyone can when a random stranger slaps them.

"Oh, that stupid brat is your little sister. Haha, no wonder, bastards of the same kind stay together." mocked the young master.

A wry smile appeared on his face, burning with rage within; the young master's words had hit a sore point in him. Tian Jiao was a bastard, he had no father nor mother now, it was a harsh yet bitter word to say.

His nails digged into his palm, making blood flow out, as he faced downwards, trying to contain his boiling emotions. Then he looked back up again, "Haha, what a funny joke, Honorable young master. Honorable young master, May I have the honor of learning your name?" he asked, attempting to change the subject.

A cruel smile of victory was on the young master's lips, "My name is something a bastard like you doesn't have the honor of knowing but because I'm a compassionate person, I'll tell you my name: it's Liu Hao Jun. Your ignorant little sister dropped her candy on my robes that was worth 3 taels of silver. I demand a compensation of equal worth!" snarled Liu Hao Jun.

Tian Jiao's smile faded, Liu Hao Jun demanded an astronomical sum of 3 taels of silver equivalent to 300 silver which is pratically a booming amount of 30,000 coppers. A sum of money, he could never hope to obtain, much less anything of equivalent value.

Just as all hope faded for him, an audacious voice rang out behind the crowd, "3 taels?! Little brother, aren't you being too greedy?"

All heads turned to see the mystery man who addressed Liu Hao Jun as his little brother. Liu Hao Jun froze, his smirk vanishing without a trace, as he turned as well. It seem that Liu Hao Jun had a good idea of who this man is.

It was a man that was of average height, stunning features that comprised of: long black hair tied in a ponytail just like his little brother, the similar clear lined nose, coal coloured peach blossom eyes that was slightly rounder and gentler from his younger brother and a thin and slim body. He wore the same purple signet ring on his right hand, a midnight blue robe with a white waistband and a glamorous sword that had a embroidered gold hilt with a red string tied around it, the sword was covered with a jet black sheath.

Liu Hao Jun's face paled visibly as the young man strode forward, countless woman drooling and dreaming deliriously at his perfect body, an imposing and majestic aura surrounding him. "B..bi..biggg..br..oth..er!!" Liu Hao Jun stammered, as he faked a trembling smile with his pearly white teeth.

The man hung his hand around Liu Hao Jun like an old friend, with a threatening smile on his face. "Hello, name's Liu Hao Wu. I'm very sorry for my younger brother's action and I hope you can forgive him." apologised Liu Hao Wu, as he pressed a hand on top of his brother's head, forcing it down, making Liu Hao Jun do an embarrassing head bow to Tian Jiao.

"Ah, it's nothing." replied Tian Jiao with a 'kind' smile on his face, who wouldn't be happy to someone who bullied them be forced to apologise and shamed publicly.

"I'm sorry." Liu Hao Jun muttered half-heartedly before getting smacked on the head by his angered brother. "I'm sorry! OK, you happy now!?" he roared, his face blushing a scarlet red.

"You have thrown away all the face our family has! Bullying a little kid?! A girl at that point! What is wrong with you! Do you think I am not ashamed of you! Go apologise, you disgrace!! " shouted his brother ferociously as he pointed at Xiao Yue, who nearly everyone has forgotten.

The heads turned again.

They saw a young woman with an average height dressed in a snowy white robe with baby blue computed sleeves. She had sharp cold raven-coloured phoenix eyes, the same clear lined nose, her lips were slightly paler than others. She stood infront of Xiao Yue, holding a stick of sugar syrup candy, coaxing Xiao Yue to stop crying.

Sensing the attention she had attracted, she turned her head, her elegant and icy eyes, glaring at Liu Hao Jun's eyes with a frosty disdain. Liu Hao Jun's eyes widened like saucers, bewilderment appeared in his eyes first, then fear.

"Big Sis...Why are you here?! Aren't you supposed to be at home?" he stuttered awkwardly, his lips twitching.

Everyone was confused, why were these three extraordinary looking people at their ordinary town and most of all they were all siblings!

"Why am I here? I'm here to collect a certain something from father's old acquaintance but I happened to witness this...contemptuous scene. So I thought I might as well clean up your mess." she snapped, her voice laced with ice.

"Uhhh...sorry sis." he apologised sincerely this time, he bowed his head in shame, he truly respected this big sister of his.

"It's alright." she muttered as she got up, walking towards him and gently ruffling his hair affectionately.

She walked past Tian Jiao towards the bookstore, ignoring his existence completely, making him mildly angered. Turning around with the most charming and amiable smile he could muster, he said "Hello, virtuous young miss, my name is T--Wang Jiao. May I have the honor of knowing your name?" he asked politely with a wave of his hand as she passed by him, remembering the advice the old man gave him.

She took no notice of his smile nor his wave, neither replying to his question as though a she has a grudge against him. Noticing that she was heading towards the bookstore as well, he turned his head and motioned for his little sister to come and she skipped over, licking her sugar syrup candy with relish.

Tian Jiao let out a smile, gazing down at his little sister, "You scared me half to death! Next time, don't get into trouble so much, OK?" he whispered and winked to her as though it was a little secret as they walked to the bookstore, he was previously in.

"OK!" she goofily smiled.

Letting out a light grin filled with satisfaction, he patted her head. He turned his head round, looking at the distant back of the young miss, he looked down at his little sister. "Yue'er, do you know the big sister's name?" he asked.

"Hmm... Ah I know! Big sis said her name was..uh I think it was..Zhi Qing?!" muttered Xiao Yue slightly confused.

"Impossible, she might have lied to you. See, they are all siblings right and the young masters' surname Liu, so she, of course has the same surname as them." answered Tian Jiao.

This attracted the attention of the young miss who said "Don't assume things, and this none of your business, I'm adopted for your information."

Tian Jiao furrowed his sword-like eyebrows in displeasure at her comment, causing him to think: Who are you to judge what I do! Zhi Qing saw his expression and snorted frigidly in response, turning her back to him, obviously displeased by his reaction.

The door of the bookshop groaned eerily as it opened, heavy smoke had long filled the room. Furrowing his eyebrows, he took the first step in but right as his foot touch the wooden floorboard of the bookshop, Zhi Qing had long strolled in, nostalgia in her eyes as she touched the dust covered shelves.

The owner glanced up from his smoking pipe, panic in his eyes when he noticed Tian Jiao then delight and pleasant surprise as his gaze shifted to Zhi Qing who, in return, glared at the owner. "Uncle Zhang, have you gotten that item?" she asked with an expectant yet dismissive gaze.

Before Uncle Zhang (or the owner) can answer, Tian Jiao interrupted rudely with a smirk, "Owner Zhang, may I please have the item I just recently bought, back."

Zhang Wu Ao stiffened but his professional experience allowed him to quickly react and answer with a shameless smile of an old fox. "Yes, yes, of course, I was just helping you keep it." then he reached for the drawer at his messy desk, taking out the memory stone with a poisonous smile, before handing it reluctantly to Tian Jiao.

Tian Jiao snatched it from his hand, shooting him a suspicious look as he flipped and check the stone over, rubbing his hand over it's stone cold surface with apprehension; it was oddly warm to the touch; far too fake. It was then that Zhi Qing spoke out as she was scanning the shelves for anything that caught her eye, she was eyeing a purple ring on the top shelve, labelled 3 silvers.

"Uncle, how much space can this storage ring hold?"

"Ah, you have good eye!" praised the old man as he gazed at the storage ring with a soft sigh before continuing, "It can hold up to...Uhmm, hmm...ok, wait let me check." he muttered as he turned and strutted towards the back wall, which opened up, sliding to the side, revealing a mind-blowing storage room.

It was gargantuan but still able to fit into the small space of the wall, it had floating cardboard boxes with mouths like that of monsters: long slithery tounges, eyes like saucers, and a red gaping mouth littered with countless sharp, spiky teeth. The entirety of the room was an ethereal, calm turquoise colour, loaded with steel shelves that continued limitlessly.

Tian Jiao oogled and gawked at this transformation with newfound respect for the old man, which completely disappeared when the old fox tried to steal his memory stone and denied it. The old man noticed his awe, chuckling weirdly in victory as he thought 'Now you're in awe with my awesomeness, aren't you kid? Hehe, you're still too green, hehe...'

He walked in, disappearing into the enormous and vast, almost endless space of the storage room, leaving the two awkward and almost unknown strangers. After two painful seconds of silence, the old man finally returned with an hovering elegant sandalwood box and a floating notebook that was titled 'The Bookstore's order'.

The dense sandalwood thumped onto the wooden table, as the old man snatched the notebook from the air, skimming through it as though he was looking at a dictionary. With a flip of his hand, the door to the storage slid shut and the cover of the sandalwood box slipped off the sandalwood box. "Hmm...let's see. Ah, yeah! It's 23 acres. And here is your exclusive ice phoenix head plumage feather. Hmm... The original price should be 100 black notes but since that old fogey begged me to give you a discount, the price will become 99 black notes.

Tian Jiao rapidly blinked his eyes, as though he was in a dream, yes, he should be in a dream, a freaking phoenix feather!? Yeap, he must be dreaming, black notes are the world's highest currency, a single black note is worth a 1000 taels of silver - gold is not used as a currency, only as a material for crafting- a single tael of silver is worth 100 silver and a single silver is worth 10 coppers.

(A/N: 1 copper < 1 silver < 1 tael < 1 black note.

10 coppers = 1 silver

100 silvers = 1 tael

1000 taels = 1 black note)

"Ok." she replied, shooting the owner with a disdainful look before taking out a jet-black rectangular piece of paper that had a roaring white tiger stamped in the centre. Tian Jiao pinched himself on the side, he felt the pain; definitely not a dream. 'Calm down... These are rich people not someone as poor as me but seriously! This... This.. This is just too much!' he thought as he calculated the sum again and again, sighing wistfully to himself: 'A commoner like me, can never hope to even get that much money in a lifetime!'.

'OK, let's just focus on the goal ahead!' he exclaimed in his heart, pushing his awe down before saying to the Uncle Zhang or the bookstore owner: "May I please have my 2 coppers back if you would not give me the memory stone back."

The old man's wide eyes suddenly turned even wider, letting out a business-like cough then purposely ignoring him, Tian Jiao's cheeks hurted from pulling such a long fake smile. "Uncle Zhang, old habits die hard, don't they? You should kill this bad habit before it affects your already horrible business." stated Zhi Qing, raising a fine eyebrow before shooting Tian Jiao a look that said you-owe-me-a-favor.

"Ughh... How can you bully an old man like me! Poor me is just trying to run a business for a living!" complained the old man in an exaggerated way, tipping his body backwards and placing a barely raised hand on his chest, in order to emphasise his speech but ended up falling flat on his back."Ow.. Ow.. Ow!" cried the old man, extremely unhappy with what just happened, he glared at them "Don't you dare laugh!" he warned harshly, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to have eyes like that of a snake.

The both of them just stood there, unimpressed by his antics, then there was another odd moment of vexing silence. "Fine, fine, fine! Ok! I'll give you your memory stone!" squawked the old man, wiping his bum in frustration, getting up to go back into the storage room.