Chapter 292: Chapter 292

"Good, if it's just about money, that's easy to handle. Here are three hundred taels in bank notes." Miao Tiao nonchalantly took out three bank notes and threw them to Xiaoyao.

"Thank you for your patronage." Xiaoyao caught the bank notes and said with a smile, then jumped onto Mao Mao's back, unloaded all the goods, patted Mao Mao's back and left.

Xiaoyao didn't give anyone a chance to strike up a conversation and left so gracefully, leaving a group of people looking at each other in bewilderment.

Miao Tiao frowned, not because of Xiaoyao, but because of the goods before him. He had spent three hundred taels on these things, he couldn't just leave them here. But he could only carry a little himself, and he couldn't carry everything. How could he go shopping with Sister Yinwu ?

Fortunately, at this moment, that "Sister" Yinwu was very sensible. She had people take all the silk back to the inn. Perhaps she wasn't being considerate, but simply wanted these things, the more the better.

"Let's find an inn. It's impossible to stay at the Mo family now. As for visiting the Mo family, it's already getting dark, better to go tomorrow."

Xiaoyao decided to call it a day and prepared to find an inn to rest.

"No rooms again? Even you don't have rooms here, are there any other places that do?"

Xiaoyao was now helpless. He had run around to every inn in Qingyun City, but not a single one had vacant rooms. All were packed to capacity, even reservations would have to wait several days.

What was this situation?

Xiaoyao quickly understood, it was because many people had come recently. Naturally, more people were staying in the city, and Qingyun City wasn't large to begin with, with not many inns. It was easy for them to be fully booked.

Plus, with one inn demolished by someone, the situation was even worse.

Now quite a few people were staying in camps outside, setting up their own accommodations. Fortunately, many of those who came this time were military personnel, so camping wasn't a big deal for them.

Could it be that I also have to go camping?

Better not, too troublesome. I'd have to buy materials, and it's only for a night or two. I can just spend the night anywhere. I've encountered similar situations before, even in the wilderness. This is at least a city, the conditions are much better.

Actually, even sleeping on Mao Mao's back would be quite nice, no need for anything else.

"Forget it, let's go browse the night market, eat something, then find a random place to sleep." Xiaoyao patted Mao Mao's back, directing Mao Mao toward the night market. The most update n0vels are published on novᴇlfire.net

By this time, it had gotten dark and the night market had opened. Xiaoyao also needed to deal with his hunger problem. Mao Mao had eaten before and could go several days without eating, but he couldn't.

Xiaoyao was familiar with Qingyun City. After turning a few corners, he reached the night market. He dismounted, no, got off Mao Mao, then walked along buying snacks. As a night market, most vendors sold snacks; everything else was unimportant, well, unimportant to him.

A place like the night market didn't seem very suitable for Mao Mao. Its size was considerable, and in such a crowded place, it seemed to become an obstacle for others.

However, Xiaoyao didn't refrain from bringing Mao Mao because of this. This wasn't because he was good to Mao Mao, but because he wanted Mao Mao's usefulness, Mao Mao could block crowding people, let him eat in peace, and also break through crowds so he wouldn't get stuck.

How could he not bring such a useful tool.

"Damn, whose cat is this. So big and in the way." Someone had grievances against Mao Mao, having their path blocked, a very normal reaction.

"Uneducated. How is this a cat? Can cats be this big? This is a dog."

"Dogs aren't this big either. This should be a monster beast."

"Hey, whose monster beast is this? Can you move it aside."

"Brother, is this big dog yours?"

Someone approached Xiaoyao. This kind of immoral, selfish behavior was bound to be condemned.

"No, this isn't mine." Xiaoyao shamelessly denied it.

"Walk a few steps and see." Everyone stared at Xiaoyao. Mao Mao kept following Xiaoyao, if it wasn't his, they'd cut off their heads and let people use them as stools.

"Oh my, I'm tired. Boss, what are you selling here? Musical instruments?" Xiaoyao shamelessly started talking with a nearby stall owner. If not for this situation, he would certainly continue forward.

This stall displayed various musical instruments, making Xiaoyao naturally think it sold instruments. At the same time, he noticed these instruments looked rather old, as if they'd been used before. Could this be selling used instruments?

The stall owner was an elderly man who looked ordinary but somehow gave off a mysterious feeling.

In this night market, almost everyone knew this old man. He had suddenly appeared here a year ago, setting up his stall every day to sell these instruments. But up to now, he hadn't sold even one piece.

This wasn't because the instruments were too old or had poor sound quality. On the contrary, these instruments all had top-quality tone. Many people wanted his instruments but none had succeeded.

Because he had a very peculiar condition for selling instruments, a condition that had stopped everyone before.

"Right, selling instruments. Look around freely." The old man glanced at Xiaoyao, then continued resting with closed eyes.

Xiaoyao didn't mind the old man's attitude. He picked up a zither and played a few notes, which surprised him somewhat. The tone was quite good, this kind of instrument could be called superb. How could it be placed here for sale, seemingly with no one interested?

Xiaoyao didn't know that this lack of interest was current, it was because no one could buy them that it became .

"Your instruments are quite good. How much do they cost?" Xiaoyao asked. At this point, Xiaoyao had ignored the people following behind him. Some had already left, while others continued watching him here.

"Very cheap, one tael of silver per piece." The old man didn't open his eyes, speaking with them closed.

"One tael of silver per piece? That's too cheap. Let me see if everything here is the same price?" Xiaoyao asked while trying other instruments to see if they also had outstanding tone quality.

After trying piece by piece, Xiaoyao discovered that every single one here was superb, which made him very happy. One tael each was very reasonable, even if these sold for over a hundred taels each, people would buy them, because art is priceless.

"Yes, everything here is the same, one tael of silver per piece." The old man still maintained the same expression.

"Then I'll take them all." Xiaoyao said.

"Hey, young man, I advise you not to bother." Someone nearby immediately warned Xiaoyao.

"Why?" Xiaoyao asked in confusion. Speaking of which, he also found it strange, how could such good items be placed here with no one interested? He could imagine there must be a reason.

"Because this old man has a condition. Only people who meet this condition can obtain these things," the person beside him said.

Xiaoyao understood. So that was it, this made sense. The condition must be very harsh, so no one had ever met it, leaving good items with no one interested.

However, even so, Xiaoyao wanted to ask what this condition was. If he could do it, that would be perfect, he could obtain these instruments with a clear conscience.

And if he couldn't do it, that didn't matter either. He wouldn't lose anything, what was there to worry about.

"Excuse me, sir, what is the condition?" Xiaoyao asked.

The old man looked at Xiaoyao and said, "As long as you can play one piece on an instrument, that instrument is yours."

"What musical score?" Xiaoyao asked. He believed this couldn't be an ordinary score, otherwise it wouldn't have stumped others and this old man would have long since stopped setting up his stall here.

"See that book in front. If you don't know how, you can copy it down to practice. Coming back when you've learned it is the same," the old man said indifferently.

From his words, it seemed failed people could also copy the score to practice. If no one had taken it away by now, this score must be one requiring supreme skill, only reaching that level of skill could possibly play it. This was no longer a matter of familiarity.

Xiaoyao had seen and studied such scores before. He didn't know what this score was or what content it contained.

This situation seemed entirely beneficial to Xiaoyao. Whichever case it was would be good, he would gain something either way. If it was a score he'd never seen that could stump him, the loss would be not getting those instruments, but he'd gain a score he'd never seen before, that score would be the benefit.

What Xiaoyao hoped for now was actually that this score was one he'd never seen and couldn't play. That way he'd have a new challenge. Getting these instruments wasn't really important, he could make such instruments himself with no difference in tone, possibly even better. But the problem was the materials were troublesome, definitely not something one or two taels could buy, and arguably couldn't be bought with silver at all.

Regardless, Xiaoyao was very much looking forward to this score.

"'Laughing at the Vast Sea'?." Xiaoyao saw the name of that score, and surprise appeared on his face. Obviously, this score was one he had wanted to obtain before, and now he encountered it in such circumstances.

"I can look at this, right." Xiaoyao looked at the old man somewhat excitedly. Although the old man had already said to look freely, out of respect for this score, he still asked.

"Yes, look as you please." The old man glanced at Xiaoyao again, seeming to show a trace of appreciation in his eyes, then quickly closed them again.

To the old man, while people like Xiaoyao weren't many, they weren't few either. No one had been able to play what he wanted, so he held no hope.

Xiaoyao still paid no attention to the old man's attitude, just picked up that score and looked at it carefully, reading every bit meticulously, afraid of missing the slightest detail.