Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 600 - 599 Purchased, Continuing Onward

"Then, if you’re selling, how much could you get?" Tian Peng asked again.

He had already started calculating in his mind. If the price was right, he would buy them on the spot, since they wouldn’t take up much space in the silken pouch anyway.

"I’m unsure about the pricing in Chang’an. Where I come from, nuts candy is twenty coins per tael," Li Mutuo said.

This stuff was indeed not cheap, and nuts candy was quite heavy. Despite its small size, a tael of nuts candy was only two mouthfuls.

However, selling for twenty coins meant it was not something ordinary folks could afford. Moreover, its appearance wasn’t very refined. If he wanted to sell to the officials and the nobility, the sales might not be very good. All in all, this was something of a novelty.

But if it were sold in the northwest, it would be hard to say. The candy was cold-resistant and filled the stomach; it was a good thing.

"I’ll take it for fifty coins a tael, I want all of it," Tian Peng said.

"Ah?" Li Mutuo was stunned. He was well aware that nuts candy was expensive.

However, he had to set the price high because of the substantial ingredients. He just didn’t expect someone would want to buy the entire stock.

"Nuts candy is indeed good. I have a long journey ahead of me and need it to stave off hunger," Tian Peng said. "If you sell to me, you are here to make money after all, yes?"

"Could you take a little less?" Li Mutuo said. "I’m not just here to make money, but also to introduce the product to Chang’an. If you take it all, I’d have nothing left to promote."

Even though Tian Peng had reckoned his product wouldn’t sell that well, he and Li Mutuo had crossed paths by chance.

Indeed, to transport nuts candy from far-off Tibet to Chang’an was not an easy task.

And they were about to arrive at Chang’an. To buy all of his nuts candy mid-journey would indeed let down their hard work.

Tian Peng nodded, "Since you’ve said as much, I’ll take half then. Is that alright?"

"Of course, that’s alright," Li Mutuo said. "Don’t worry about the fifty, let’s keep it at twenty coins per tael."

"No, that can’t be," Tian Peng refused. "Travel is exhausting, and you’ve come from afar. Labor and travel expenses must be taken into account, or else you’d be at a loss."

Li Mutuo knew Tian Peng was a good man. He didn’t want Tian Peng to come up short, and the two were at a standstill.

Eventually, they compromised. Tian Peng purchased fifty jin of nuts candy at thirty coins per tael.

Tian Peng handed over dozens of taels of silver to Li Mutuo, who immediately brought out a knife, went to his wagon, and carried fifty jin of nuts candy onto the table.

"Brother Zhu, with so many items, how do you plan on taking them away?" Li Mutuo asked. "Did you also come by horse carriage?"

"Mhm," Tian Peng answered vaguely.

Considering the busy inn and that they would be heading in opposite directions the next day, they wouldn’t have any more dealings with each other.

"That’s perfect, I supposed as much. You must have come by horse carriage, to purchase so much nuts candy," Li Mutuo said.

Having sold his nuts candy, Li Mutuo knew Tian Peng must like the specialties from his homeland very much, so he became even more amiable towards Tian Peng.

"Yes." Tian Peng didn’t know how to respond, so he simply nodded, as an acknowledgment.

"By the way, Brother Zhu, I never did ask where you’re headed," Li Mutuo made small talk.

"Northwest," Tian Peng answered. "That’s the boundary of the Great Tang where the sound of swords and guns is common. That’s the nature of my business; naturally, I’m heading there."

"True, the northwest is cold; it’s not a great place to be. If you make enough money, it’d be better to go somewhere else," Li Mutuo said.

"What’s good or bad about a place? You get used to it," Tian Peng casually replied.

"True, looking at how strong and healthy Brother Zhu is, I suppose a bit of hardship is nothing to you," Li Mutuo flattered.

Tian Peng didn’t answer; he lifted his wine cup, and the two clinked their cups together.

"By the way, you’re coming from Tibet, which shares some of the same paths to the northwest, right? Is it easy to travel there?" Tian Peng asked.

"Over there..." Li Mutuo’s expression suddenly changed, "It’s not easy to get around, unfortunately. There’s only one Official Road, or else I would definitely advise you to take a different route."

"What happened?" Tian Peng, seeing Li Mutuo’s expression, wondered if there might be monsters involved.

Recalling the situation there, Li Mutuo felt terrified, trembling at the mere thought.

He hastily described to Tian Peng, "If you go further ahead, you’ll see a village with a small stream. Make sure to keep your distance from the stream. There are a lot of Strange Insects there, with fangs and claws, very frightening."

"Strange Insects?" Tian Peng didn’t know what Li Mutuo was talking about, and he was very curious, "What about the villagers, have they been harmed by these Strange Insects?"

"The Strange Insects don’t attack people; they live in the stream but crawl out and they eat meat, which is particularly terrifying."

"The fish and shrimp in the stream are all consumed by the Strange Insects, and they also eat the roots and stems of crops. In short, they have frightened the local villagers so much that many have moved away. But as the number of Strange Insects increases, the nearby villages have also been affected. It’s quite a difficult situation overall."

Since they didn’t harm people, they weren’t monsters, so Tian Peng was somewhat relieved.

Afterward, Tian Peng put the nuts candy into his Silken Pouch, mounted his horse, and set off again on the road to the northwest.

Having passed two more post stations, it was now dark. Tian Peng decided to rest at this station.

He was still thinking about the Strange Insects that Li Mutuo had told him about and decided to rest at this station, planning to investigate the Strange Insects further the next day.

This post station was sparsely populated; in fact, it was so empty that Tian Peng was the only guest.

Tian Peng had the innkeeper find him a room and asked, "Why are there so few people? Isn’t this the main route to Chang’an? There should be more people."

The innkeeper sighed, "It’s all because of the Strange Insects. Nobody knows why they’ve appeared. In the fall, the Strange Insects are particularly numerous, and some even crawl to the post station, giving the sleeping guests quite a scare."

"As a result, we’ve seen fewer and fewer guests over time. Some even prefer to push on through the night rather than stop here."

"I see, so the Strange Insects are indeed quite formidable," said Tian Peng.

The inn seemed clean, devoid of any Strange Insects. They must have cleaned thoroughly for the sake of their guests.

"We’ve cleaned it up many times. Right now, as it’s autumn, we have to clean several times a day. You won’t see any Strange Insects inside the inn," the innkeeper noticed Tian Peng’s gaze and explained, "It’s just that we can’t always be cleaning. Sometimes we might miss a spot and a Strange Insect will crawl into a room, scaring the guests."

Hearing how serious he sounded, Tian Peng quickly asked, "And what do these Strange Insects look like?"

"These Strange Insects are this big!" The innkeeper spread his hands wide as he described.

"Not only are they big, but they also have very hard shells, and two pincers. They use their pincers to cut up their food, and the crops in the village have all suffered," he continued.