Back Door To Another World - Chapter 4 Wine Marshal Discovers Heaven
Thankfully, I was able to control my facial muscles in time and was able to pretend to not look surprised. His accent was unusual, could it be one from another kingdom. After all, the average countryside peasant wouldn’t be able to set up such a luxurious store. I began to look around.
Everything seemed so unreal. There were metal shelves that were fitted perfectly. Whichever blacksmith forged them, he must have been a Grandmaster at the Perfection Realm. On top, there were countless vibrant products covered in a thin layer of some unknown material. Sometimes it could be transparent, others colourful. How interesting.
I used my Spirit Sense to extend in the shop and saw countless alien and unfamiliar items. There were even words I didn’t know. What was a “pre-paid SIM card”, or “Huawei”? Finally, I came across something I could recognise in a small corner of the shop. There were wooden shelves teeming with glass bottles of countless wines. They had unusual labels on them with words I couldn’t recognise, but as the Marshal of Wine, I was able to recognise the distinctive scent of alcohol.
Hmm… Seeing as I had already entered the store, I might as well purchase a bottle or two. I walked over to the wine area and pointed to one of the bottles within the glass display.
“I would like one,” I say. “How much would it be?”
— (Change in P.O.V back to Jiang Nan)–
The old man looked at me with an odd expression. He seemed to look around the store and began to walk over to the wine section. He pointed to one of the prized wine bottles inside the cabinet.
“I would like one,” he said. “How much would it be?”
He spoke in an unusual accent using many rarely-used archaic words. However, that was to be expected of someone from the past.
“888…” I was about to say ‘888 RMB’, but I realised that this ancient world would likely not use RMB. If they used gold coins, how much would each gold coin weigh, and how much would it be worth back in my world? I was attempting to calculate using my poor mathematics when the old man gave an intonation of surprise.
“888 Gold Coins?” The old man asked.
“No, wait! You’ve misunderstood me!” I was about to change the price when the old man interrupted me.
“888 Gold Bars?” The old man gasped.
I look at his face and gave up. Would it turn to 888 tonnes of gold next? I shrugged and gave up. Anyways, an old man by himself, surely he wouldn’t be the Emperor, able to execute me with a word. I know the Emperor usually goes around with an entourage, and he wouldn’t visit normal stores like mine.
“Yes.” I agree.
“Alright.” The old man gave a pained expression, but with a wave of his hand, 888 small gold bars, each the size of my fist, flew onto the floor. What the heck? Where did all these bars come from? Could it be like what the texts say? That in ancient times the sleeves were so big that scholars could fit a couple scrolls inside. I had thought that it was an exaggeration, but it seemed that it was a euphemism instead.
–(Change in P.O.V back to the Wine Marshal)–
I was a bit shocked at the price. 888 Gold Bars would be more than sufficient to purchase 8880 normal bottles of wine, but perhaps only 88 top-quality bottles of wine. For the prestigious “Dragonwine”, perhaps 888 Gold Bars could buy only one or two small cups. After all, the Dragonwine was brewed by the former Emperor himself, for the Royalty only. Even he as a Marshall with many merits had only tasted the Dragonwine seven times before.
However, in order to save my pride, I gritted my teeth and bought it. It’s nothing compared to my wealth back home, I comforted myself.
I took the gold bars out of my Spatial Ring, sending it onto the floor. I didn’t want to see this store anymore after being scammed so much gold, so I left hurriedly back to my residence. It seems that I have been away from the affairs of the people for too long, to get cheated so easily. Outside the store, I took out my Spirit Boat and flew back quickly.