Mao City, located in North Market.
It was early spring, with floating ice melting, fish swimming, and plants sprouting.
People on the streets gradually shed their heavy winter clothes, revealing a lighter attire.
The shops and vendors in the alleys of North Market had begun their businesses. Travelers with tall horses led the way, and merchants guided their caravans, causing the streets to become slightly crowded.
The vendors on both sides of the road shouted loudly, hoping to catch the attention of passersby and facilitate their opening for profit.
At this moment, cats were scattered throughout the streets. Those who had finished their morning meal lounged in sunny spots such as rafters, doorways, and trees. Cats who hadn't eaten yet either roamed the streets and alleys to beg for food or waited for familiar residents to offer them meals.
In addition, with the approaching Spirit Cat Festival, pedestrians on the streets were even more joyful. The shops and vendors on both sides treated the cats with greater kindness and adorned their shops with various cat decorations.
There were paper-cuttings, calligraphy and paintings, wood carvings, and bronze sculptures, all related to cats. Some shop owners even began to dress up their cats.
Some adorned cats with hats, others dressed them in clothes, and some even decorated them as characters from traditional operas.
It was truly a sight of cats vying for attention, bringing great joy to the people of Mao City.
However, beneath this lively atmosphere, there was also a sense of melancholy.
Nevertheless, this couldn't change the fact that the entire city was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Spirit Cat Festival.
In the midst of the crowd, a white cat sat on the back of a half-grown ginger-colored dog, looking around and attracting attention.
"Jewelry store... jewelry store..."
Duke, holding a pig dragon's fang in his paw, squatted on the dog's back. He had returned from the reed marshes outside the city.
On the way, he had processed the flesh of the pig dragon into Blood Food Pills, but he had kept the scales, beast skin, bones, and sharp teeth separately.
If he put them all in the black cauldron for refining, they would probably turn into ashes.
It would be better to keep them and see if he could find a shop to sell them at a good price.
He could sell the beast skin to fur merchants, the bones to the pharmacy, and the sharp teeth to the jewelry store.
As for the fish he had caught, ninety percent had been turned into Blood Food Pills by Duke, and the remaining ten percent was kept in the black cauldron space to give to Old Li as an extra meal.
The old man was living a very frugal life, and he hardly had any oil stains in his daily meals.
The remaining river fish were plump and large. Duke would bring them back, let the old man make a pot of fish soup to supplement his diet.
Even if he didn't eat it, he could exchange it with the neighbors for some meat, eggs, and vegetables as he wished.
With a cat holding a pig dragon's canine tooth in his paw, sitting on the dog's back, he looked around for any jewelry stores.
This kind of thing, the beast's tooth, could only be sold at a jewelry store.
After selling it, he could exchange it for silver coins, then use them to buy rice and flour for Old Li, and then get some meat for the dog's feast.
Moving forward along the street, the cat's eyes lit up, and he patted the dog's head.
"Thirteen, go over there!"
Under the transmission of spiritual communication, the dog immediately turned in that direction, carrying Duke towards a jewelry store.
Crossing a low threshold, the first thing they heard was the tinkling sound of jewelry.
As the sound drew near, a simple and taciturn man sat on a stool, hammering a silver ingot with a wooden hammer.
Under the man's hands, the silver ingot continuously transformed, starting from the size of a thumb and gradually extending into a thin strip.
"Brother, look at him, such a handsome and cute cat!"
Her voice was like the singing of a yellow oriole, clear and melodious. Following the sound, Du Ke saw a delicate beauty in a goose-yellow garment, with an oval face and hair adorned with hairpins, walking out from behind the counter.
In the beauty's arms, she held a golden-thread embroidered tiger.
This tiger had a tiger-shaped head and a round and plump body, with bright eyes.
As the beauty approached Du Ke, the golden-thread embroidered tiger also cast its gaze towards him, exuding a lazy demeanor.
"Perhaps it came to ask for an early meal," the taciturn man said without lifting his head. "I remember there's still a little bit of Huang Huo'er's breakfast left. I'll go get it for him."
"Brother, take a look, this cat even rides on a dog, it's quite interesting."
The beauty came to Du Ke and Thirteen, squatting down while sizing up Du Ke and the dog.
Even though the woman wore loose robes, her exquisite figure couldn't be concealed, and the golden-thread embroidered tiger was squeezed to the point of rolling its eyes.
Seeing the beauty squatting down, Du Ke handed over the pig-dragon's tooth he had in his paw.
The beauty was momentarily stunned by the sight but quickly smiled and accepted it.
"Brother, this cat even knows to ask for food and wants to give a reward!"
"He actually gave a tooth, the teeth are really good, they look like little knives!"
As the beauty's words fell, the taciturn man finally raised his head and looked at the tooth in the beauty's hand.
"Let me see it."
The taciturn man furrowed his brow and asked the beauty for the tooth. As the beauty stood up and walked over to hand him the tooth, the man also felt the smooth surface of the tooth.
"This tooth feels like that of a pig-dragon, judging by its size, it might be the tooth of an old dragon that lived for decades."
"I remember a few days ago, Mr. Xu came to inquire about animal teeth, didn't he?"
While the beauty caressed the golden-thread embroidered tiger in her arms, she smiled at Du Ke, "Don't worry, I'll get you something to eat later."
Du Ke shook his head in response to the sound and indicated that he didn't want to eat.
Seeing Du Ke and the dog shaking their heads, Thirteen imitated them and shook his head too.
During the headshaking, the rope knot on Thirteen's tiger-head hat swayed, making him look even more adorable.
"This...," the beauty saw Du Ke and the dog shaking their heads and tentatively asked, "Don't want to eat?"
Du Ke immediately nodded, while Thirteen, still shaking his head, didn't notice that his master was communicating with people and continued shaking his head fervently.
Smack!
A palm slapped Du Ke's head, making Thirteen calm down. At the same time, the golden-thread embroidered tiger, who witnessed the scene, licked his lips and eagerly reached out its paw.
But just as the golden-thread embroidered tiger's paw extended, the beauty withdrew it, causing the tiger to roll its eyes in annoyance.
"Do you not want to eat? Then what do you want?"
When the beautiful maiden was puzzled, her second brother also stood up and walked to Du Ke and Shi San's side. His pitch-black eyes silently stared at Du Ke and Shi San.
"Do you want to exchange something?"
After a moment of observation, the taciturn man suddenly spoke, and Du Ke immediately nodded. The beautiful maiden, covering her mouth in astonishment, exclaimed, "Second brother, how did you know?"
Ignoring her, the taciturn man said to Du Ke, "What do you want to exchange?"
"These beast teeth are intact and of excellent quality, but there is only one. However, the things I want to exchange for are a bit scarce."
Upon hearing this, Du Ke raised his claw and brushed through Shi San's fur, pulling out another beast tooth. He handed the tooth to the taciturn man. Then, he continued to use his paw to retrieve more beast teeth from Shi San's fur.
He kept pulling them out until he had thirty in total, leaving the golden-threaded embroidered tiger in the arms of the beautiful maiden dumbfounded.
Approaching Shi San, the beautiful maiden extended her delicate jade hand and touched the dog's fur, which had been dyed a ginger-yellow color. She too was taken aback and exclaimed, "Where did this cat find so many beast teeth?"
The taciturn man looked at the thirty beast teeth, picked them up, and used his apron to hold them.
"Why bother about that? Go get the tools. I want to measure and evaluate these teeth!"
"But, second brother!"
"Hurry up!"
The taciturn man scolded, and the beautiful maiden pouted, placing the golden-threaded embroidered tiger on the counter and fetching the tools.
The taciturn man placed the beast teeth on the counter and, using the tools brought by the beautiful maiden, measured and weighed each one, selecting those of the best quality and appearance.
Before long, the taciturn man turned to Du Ke and said, "Among these thirty beast teeth, sixteen are of excellent quality, seven are average, and seven are inferior."
"What do you want to exchange them for?"
"Jewelry?"
The white cat remained indifferent, and the taciturn man continued, "Silver coins?"
Du Ke immediately nodded, and the taciturn man also nodded. "According to the market price, one beast tooth of excellent quality is worth eighty copper coins, fifty for average quality, and thirty for inferior quality."
"A hundred copper coins can be exchanged for one silver ingot. In total, these are worth one thousand eight hundred and forty copper coins, which is eighteen silver pearls and forty copper coins."
Du Ke nodded, indicating his agreement.
"Young lady, go fetch the money."
Upon seeing Du Ke's nod, the taciturn man immediately slapped the table and asked his own sister to get the money.
However, the beautiful maiden was stunned and said, "Second brother, are you just going to accept it like that?"
"Why?"
The taciturn man glanced at his sister, and the beautiful maiden pointed at Du Ke stammeringly, "This is a cat..."
"Are there not enough cats in Mao City with spiritual abilities?"
As soon as the taciturn man spoke, the beautiful maiden suddenly realized, "That's true!"
"But still, it's quite extraordinary for a cat to exchange items for money!"
"Enough, go get the money!"
The taciturn man urged and paused for a moment before adding, "Bring the whole money pouch, the one that can be hung around the neck, and also exchange one silver pearl for a hundred copper coins."
"Hurry up."
"Alright, alright."
Mei Jiaoniang pursed her lips and turned to fetch the money.
Before long, Du Ke and Gouzi walked out of the jewelry store. Gouzi had a money pouch hanging around his neck, swaying from side to side with his footsteps.
As they were leaving, Du Ke didn't forget to nod to the siblings inside the jewelry store.
Watching the white cat ride away on Gouzi, Mei Jiaoniang leaned on the counter, playing with her golden silk embroidered tiger, and asked curiously, "Second Brother, why did you agree so readily to the exchange?"
"When doing business, bargaining is usually expected. But this time, being straightforward is not a problem. Father won't say much even if he finds out," replied the taciturn man, sitting in his place, examining the acquired animal teeth.
Perplexed by her younger sister's remark, he simply said, "Exchanging the spirit cat is our good fortune. Father won't say much about it."
"Spirit cat?" Mei Jiaoniang pouted, "How can you be so sure?"
"Golden eyes, fur like jade. What else could it be if not a spirit cat?"
With these words, the taciturn man held up the animal teeth in his hand to catch the sunlight streaming in through the skylight. Mei Jiaoniang's eyes widened, and she exclaimed, "Ah, Second Brother, why didn't you say so earlier?!"
"You said it, but I can still hold it and share in the good fortune!"
"Stop making a fuss. Go get the silver thread. I've already figured out how to process these animal teeth!" said the taciturn man, slightly annoyed by his sister's loud excitement. After all, a spirit cat appearing in Mao City was not that unusual, right? Truly a woman of the house!
But these teeth sent by Zhu Polong were indeed precious. He might be able to create something remarkable with them.
Ah, truly a spirit cat.
These pig dragon's teeth are in great condition. Even the roots are intact!
..............
Du Ke was unaware of the siblings in the jewelry store. He was now taking Gouzi to the grocery store to buy rice and noodles for Old Li.
The grocery store had a four-corner wooden sign hanging in front, with the character "grain" carved on the front and the surname of the shopkeeper carved on the back.
It was considered the earliest form of advertising.
The grocery store was located in the northernmost part of North Market, right next to the market for buying and selling carts, horses, and livestock. Just standing at the door, one could hear the sounds of people and horses, and smell the stench of animal dung.
"Phew!"
The white cat rubbed its nose after sneezing and was about to urge Gouzi to enter the store to buy grains when its ears perked up, hearing a few quarrels.
"Hey, you ignorant man!"
"I want to buy this lamb. I'm offering the highest price with sincerity. Why are you giving me that sour face?"
"I already said, this lamb is not for sale. Why are you still bothering me?"
"Hey, let me ask you, are you selling it or not?"
"Not selling, not selling. Hurry up and leave!"