Lovely Writing System (Part 2)

123 Would You Be Willing to Exchange?

Su Yan watched his boyfriend with rapt attention but when Nie Chang still didn't move to buy the tanghulu after about a minute, he frowned and tugged at his sleeve. "What are you doing? Didn't you want to get one for me?"
Nie Chang smiled wryly. "Mn. I ..." He coughed embarrassedly. "I'm trying to determine which one is the best. Since my little darling deserves only the best."
Su Yan blinked and turned to look at the tanghulu. Indeed. If they had the chance to buy a tanghulu in a cultivation novel, then they had to make sure that they didn't make a loss! They had to take the biggest one! No, the prettiest one. The tastiest ...
Su Yan frowned at the tanghulus. Ah, Nie Chang was right! Just which one should they take?
The owner of the stall frowned right back at them. These guys ... Could they decide already? What would the people think if they saw two men standing in front of his stall frowning at his tanghulus like this?! He really wanted to tell them off but looking at the white hair and golden eyes one of them sported, he didn't dare to say anything. Shit. This was obviously a mighty cultivator! If he pissed him off, he wouldn't even know how he died. No, no, it was still better to smile.
"That ... How about that one?" Su Yan pointed to one of the tanghulus with an indecisive expression.
Nie Chang wanted to cry. Didn't they all look the same? Well, it was still good his little darling had believed him. At the very least, he could win some time. Who knew? Maybe somebody would come and buy a tanghulu before them? Then he could watch what that person used to pay and see if he had something of that currency as well.
The owner of the stall smiled happily when he saw one of the cultivators point at a tanghulu. This was his chance! "Ah, this customer has very discerning eyes! That is one of my best tanghulus! Just f—" He coughed. "Just ten copper coins!"
"Ten copper coins?" Su Yan looked at the tanghulu in a daze.
The stall owner froze but still forced himself to nod. Come on! Those were cultivators! One of them even a high-leveled one! They certainly wouldn't lack in copper coins! Asking them for a slightly higher price shouldn't be too much. To make sure that he hadn't gone overboard he glanced at the white-haired man. He instantly regretted the choice.
Nie Chang looked like he was staring at the tanghulu with the intent of burning a hole into it just with his gaze. In fact, he wasn't looking at the tanghulu at all. He was currently rummaging through his spatial ring in search of something that resembled copper coins. Unfortunately, although Ziju An had a lot of things, there was nothing resembling ordinary coins.
Nie Chang frowned. If he really didn't have any copper coins, then he wouldn't be able to buy the tanghulu but just look at Su Yan's face! He was obviously excited! His eyes seemed to sparkle while looking at the tanghulu. How disappointed would he be if he didn't get one?
The stall owner cleared his throat awkwardly. It seemed ten copper coins was a bit too much, after all? "Uh, how about five copper coins?"
Su Yan raised his head. Why was this guy suddenly suggesting for them to pay only five? Was there something wrong with this tanghulu? He turned to look at Nie Chang and saw him stare at the tanghulu absentmindedly. So there was indeed something wrong with it!
He grabbed Nie Chang's sleeve and tugged. "Ah Chang, if the tanghulu here isn't good, we could also go somewhere else!"
The stall owner blanked. Huh? How had that customer arrived at this conclusion? Hadn't he just offered them a better price? He wanted to speak up but Nie Chang was faster.
He cleared his throat and looked at the stall owner awkwardly. "That ... Do you only accept copper coins?"
The stall owner froze before realizing his mistake. Right! Those two were cultivators! Naturally, they wouldn't use copper coins like normal people. Ah, he should have known! No wonder this man had hesitated for so long. He coughed. "Ah, I am sorry. There aren't many cultivators coming by here so I forgot. Naturally, I also accept spirit stones. You can get two tanghulus for one spirit stone!" He hopefully looked at the cultivator only to find him frown again. Don't tell him he had made another mistake?
Nie Chang searched through the spatial ring again and couldn't help but feel even more awkward. How could this be? Why wasn't there even a single thing that looked like a spirit stone?! He had already resolved himself to ask if he could pay with something else than copper coins, making him lose a great deal of face and now he couldn't even produce a single spirit stone. What kind of bad luck was this?
Su Yan looked up at his boyfriend and blinked before tilting his head. Wait. Nie Chang had hesitated before because he didn't have any copper coins. Don't tell him ... "Master, could it be you don't have spirit stones either?"
Nie Chang froze and looked at Su Yan. Was his little darling purposefully trying to make him look bad?
The stall owner indeed looked at him strangely. What was this? A high-leveled cultivator with neither copper coins nor spirit stones? Don't tell him these two were trying to scam him?! In that case, there should be another person jumping out soon and offering help or something and while they fussed about, one of them would steal his purse. Tch, he definitely wouldn't let that happen!
The stall owner hurriedly covered his purse with his hand and eyed the two people in front of him suspiciously.
Just then Nie Chang grabbed something from his spatial ring at random and held it in front of the stall owner. "Owner, would you be willing to exchange against this?"
The owner really wanted to laugh. There it was! This was probably some worthless —
"Heavens! Isn't that the level seven mythical artifact 'Seal of Doom' that was crafted by Grandmaster Ziju of the Jin Shan Sect when the demons ran rampant in the Abyss of Darkness?!"