Chapter Four: The Hall of Exchange
Within Cloud City.
When the cold-faced man regained consciousness, he found himself already carrying a variety of bags, leading Li Le along the path toward his own wooden house.
The cold-faced man was silent.
Li Le held the coat bundled with mushrooms. The surge of emotion inside her receded like the tide, and calm rationality swiftly reclaimed its place in her mind. Instinctively, she began to observe this unfamiliar world with care.
As soon as she entered the city gates and stepped onto the outskirts of Cloud City, she felt a light she hadn’t experienced for a long time. The light had a golden hue, radiating from the tallest tower at the city’s center, gentle yet bright, casting its protection over this land.
Beneath this illumination were shops and bustling crowds, all seemingly ordinary—
—if one ignored the strange objects they carried or displayed.
Li Le strained her ears, keen to understand her surroundings. For instance, she wondered why, at eighteen years old, she was being treated as if she were a minor.
She soon noticed that the term “Geli” was mentioned constantly by the city’s residents, often in connection with the word “adulthood.”
“Brother Bai, what is ‘Geli’?” Li Le didn’t beat around the bush, but asked the cold-faced man directly.
He glanced at her, quickly replying, “You’re still young. Maybe your family didn’t have time to explain…”
“‘Geli’ is a coming-of-age ceremony that young ones undergo at nineteen… Only after completing ‘Geli’ can you truly become a contributing member of your faction, eligible to take part in battles and share in the spoils.”
Her confusion was instantly dispelled, but she pressed on, “Brother, what exactly does the ‘Geli’ ceremony involve?”
Just earlier, the cold-faced man had registered her at the city gate, becoming her “guardian”—Brother Bai. Li Le now knew his name was Bai Ye, and she trusted him a little more.
Bai Ye’s jaw tightened, his expression growing serious as he turned to Li Le and said, “Children shouldn’t ask too many questions… For now, let’s take care of the mushrooms, and then I’ll bring you back to the cabin…”
Li Le was momentarily taken aback, not expecting Bai Ye to be so evasive. Still, she didn’t dwell on it; if not from him, she’d ask someone else. She was determined to find out eventually.
Bai Ye seemed intimately familiar with every street here.
He led Li Le through a maze of turns into a peculiar shop.
Inside, three walls were lined with shelves—two rows empty, the third covered with a black cloth, concealing most of the displayed items.
In addition, there was a small, dark wooden door in the far corner, opposite the shop entrance.
Li Le watched as Bai Ye strode inside and called toward the little door, “Goods in!”
At his call, the door creaked open, and out stepped an old man with a full beard, pipe in hand and a look of utter satisfaction in his eyes.
The old man grinned as he emerged, saying, “Here to sell goods again?”
Bai Ye relaxed a little at the sight of the elder. “Yes. I’ve saved up quite a bit lately and thought I’d cash it all in at once…”
The old man took a puff of his pipe, his eyes brightening with interest. “Oh? If you say so, it must be quite a haul…”
Bai Ye said nothing, just giving Li Le a look. She understood at once and efficiently unwrapped the bundle, placing it on the counter.
When the old man spotted Li Le, he chuckled and said to Bai Ye, “Where’d you pick up this child? She hasn’t had her ‘Geli’ yet, has she?”
Bai Ye kept a straight face. “She’s my sister.”
The old man laughed even harder. “Now, I know you grew up living off the kindness of others, with no siblings at all. Where did this little sister suddenly appear from?”
Bai Ye wasn’t annoyed, only persistent. “I just recognized her.”
The old man was surprised, but then a light dawned in his eyes. “Are you serious…? Wait, did you become her ‘guardian’?”
Bai Ye nodded, expressionless, his eyes practically saying, “Obviously.”
The old man was so tickled he laughed aloud, putting down his pipe as he began to unwrap the bundle, muttering to himself, “Well, I can’t be bothered to argue with you today—let’s see what you’ve brought… Oh?!”
His hands moved quickly, and he stopped speaking as he unfolded the package completely. Staring at the pile of mushrooms, his voice nearly changed pitch.
“Did you move into the heart of the Death Fog? How did you collect so many ‘Life-and-Death Mushrooms’!?”
The cold-faced man replied calmly, “I told you, I saved them up bit by bit.”
The old man could only stare.
Save them up? These fresh, uniformly colored ‘Life-and-Death Mushrooms’—as if you could collect these over time! You’d have an easier time saving up the old man’s head to use as a football!
Lies without even a pretense!
The old man rolled his eyes, relit his pipe, and after a few steady puffs, said to Bai Ye:
“All right, I won’t press further… Just take care of yourself. Don’t let me spot you among the dead!”
He glanced at the heap of mushrooms in the coat and said directly, “Four gold coins, forty-five silver.”
Bai Ye nodded. The old man’s appraisal was sharp—right in line with his own estimates.
The man spoke, “Exchange one of the silver coins for a hundred copper ones, and give me the change.”
The old man didn’t argue. He tapped the counter with his pipe and swiftly carried the mushrooms through the small door into the back room.
A moment later, he returned with a tightly tied cloth pouch, small but seemingly substantial.
“Here—take it,” he said gruffly, tossing the pouch to Bai Ye.
Li Le, who had been quietly listening, heard the pouch whistle through the air—it sounded heavy.
But the old man tossed it casually, and Bai Ye caught it one-handed, entirely unfazed.
A brief smile flickered across his features. “Done. I’ll be off, then…”
With that, Bai Ye glanced at Li Le, beckoned her to follow, and strode out of the shop without looking back.
Li Le quickly fell in step behind him, just as the old man’s grumbling voice followed from inside:
“Stubborn as ever… Go on, then! As if this old man cares…”
A thought crossed her mind. As she left, she glanced back and noticed a black signboard hanging above the shop.
The characters on it were crooked and incomplete—supposedly spelling “Barter Hall.”
Why “supposedly”? Because the first character was missing a stroke, the second lacked a brush on the left, and the last was practically cut in half…
Li Le couldn’t help twitching at the corner of her mouth. She hadn’t expected the shop’s sign to be so… distinctive.