The streets weren't bustling with much people, but the scene in front of me was still quite lively, the sun was about to set in 1 or 2 hours at most, so that was mostly the reason to why the street were like that .
My first task would be to buy some new clothes and even though the instructor advised me against, i would like to buy a mask too, so even if i wasn't able to wear it at the Dojo, i would be able to use it to disguise myself, what i did to that Lu Sun won't be forgotten by him, i don't know whether he held a grudge initially against the original Tian Long or not, but i'm sure that he is now .
Would a mask really be able to prevent his retaliation, i don't believe so, but currently i was thinking more of hiding, so it should do just that, i guess .
My mentality has changed for good or bad, i can't tell, but i'm willing to bet on the first option than the latter, the stunt i just pulled off before was a clear indication of that, at least i hope so .
As i got away from the family complex, i went to an alley and stripped my clothes, i removed the loose shirt i was wearing and i turned it and wore it inside out .
The reason to why i did that was because i didn't want to catch anyone attention, even though a few people would dare to miss with the Lu Family, i wasn't a Lu family member, no, i wasn't even a servant in the family, so i might as well hide that fact as to not attract any dangerous people attention towards me, not now when i'm not even close to the family complex .
As i was walking through the streets, i faced two problems, the first problem was the lack of information about this city i was currently roaming, i didn't know anything about this city other than the way to reach the market, heck i can't seem to remember even the city name, so i didn't even know where the Dojo that instructor Lu mentioned .
But i believed that i will manage something out, after all i still have the name of that Dojo, as i was thinking like this a few shadows suddenly crossed from one house to another, those were Martial Arts Practitioners, those guys were exempted from having to go crossing the street like normal people do, instead of saying exempted, it was better to say they had a privilege linked to their powerful abilities .
If a normal person can jump from one From one rooftop to another, then sure he can do so as well, i was able to tell because i recalled that this was the scene that had Tian Long fall in love with Martial Arts in the first place, he saw the scene of guys his age playing with one another on someone's rooftop, that happened when he was helping in moving the groceries to the family kitchen .
But regardless of how beautiful the scene that was displayed out of Tian Long's memory looked, the scene in front of me was quite different, at some point of my roaming, i seemed to have unknowingly arrived to a shady area on the city and that introduced me to the Second problem i was having, apparently the only safe place for me in the city was the Lu Family mansion .
Yes, that was the second problem, i was currently facing, being pickpocketed was actually my least worries, i had shabby clothes on me, so i wasn't worth much for them to target, what i was afraid of was to be killed directly, as i was walking through that street i noticed the lack of people passing by .
The few people who were on the narrow street was giving me some weird glances, the reason i believed that they were harboring bad intentions towards me, some of them even showed their killing intent, i was more familiar with that concept, thanks to instructor Lu's efforts, that was the reason why i felt that my life was endangered .
Thankfully the sword strapped to my waist acted as some sort of deterrent to some of those guys, at least had them think twice before acting, but some of the eyes on me was undeterred by the iron sword, i was bluffing them with my calm demeanor, something that i was able to gain quite the proficiency in due to my old job, i hope that guy have a very very good wife .
And my hunch was once again correct, i suddenly stood in place as i saw 4 to 5 guys that had scars all over their faces and were wearing a more shabby clothes than me, the reason i stopped was because they were standing in my way and just as i was beginning to think that i would at least a few teeth in the next fight, a shadow suddenly passed above us, then a second later, group of people running at inhumane speed was seen following the first shadow .
The moment those shadows passed by us, they caught the attention of all the people in the scene me included, but i was also the first one to recognize that the chance to slip away had come, i didn't waste that chance and used it to my advantage and was able to slip away, i was thankful to whoever those shadows were pursuing .
I got out of the shady area after some time without a problem, i marked that place in my mind as no good from now on, but the place i appeared in was not that much better too, maybe a little better, but i still didn't know how appearing in this place would help me in finding my way back to the market, i was in the red light district area of this city, all the buildings in front of me were either brothels or bars and there weren't a few numbers of fancy restaurants as well as restaurants mixed with brothels .
The scents in that street was a mix of perfumes, incense, delicious food and other nasty stuff, luckily for me and since the night hadn't fallen yet, the paths were mostly empty, women laughter echoed from behind the closed doors ringing in my ears like bells, but i discarded of the ridiculous thoughts i was having, reminding myself of my current priorities, also noting that i better stay out of these kind of places in the future, that if i wanted to achieve something in my Martial Arts Path, i also don't have money to spend on such useless things currently .
As i walked, i was met with disdain from both men and women, that again was due to how shabby my clothes were, i was even beginning sniff some eerie smell, but i already know what caused this, me working at the stables all day made me currently smell like the things i was dealing with .
And me wearing the shirt inside out didn't help much in removing that eerie smell, if anything it made things even worse, but that was also the reason to why i was so desperate to get a set of new clothes, a shower would be quite good too, but i don't think showers were something common here, i can't seem to remember the original Tian Long taking one either .
As i was thinking of this, i was suddenly handed a piece of paper, i wondered what was that about, so i tried to read what was written on the flyer, yes the paper in front of me was indeed a flyer, surprisingly i was able to read what was written on the flyer albeit with a bit difficulty, that was strange because from what i remembered, the original Tian Long was an illiterate guy .
Did me crossing into this body had a hand in this, whatever the reason was, i'm quite thankful for this kind of development, even though the flyer in front of me was difficult to be read and comprehend completely, i was still able to understand most of the information on the flyer and was quite excited about it, for the price of some pieces of silver, i could be enjoying a good bath .
Yes, the flyer in my hand was advertising the opening of a new Bathhouse, i really didn't want to go spending my money on usless things, but i should at least go and take a look, for hygienic reasons and if the price was right, i might really be interested in trying it .
After i finish shopping for clothes of course, or else it would be like putting the cart before the horse, if i don't change the clothes i will be wearing after taking a bath, then i might as well not take a bath at all, since it would be meaningless .
As i got out of the area due to asking a passerby for direction and even though he was talking to me with one of his hand on his nose blocking his nostril, i was thankful to him giving me directions .
I hurried out of this area and on my way, i came to see the newly opened Bathhouse on the road to the Market area, i was surprised to see rows upon rows of people waiting in front of the Bathhouse, i wondered how spacious was that building to be able to hold that many people in it, i guess i will find out once i'm done buying the new clothes .
After reaching the Market, i stopped to catch my breath and after that, i began to scoop the stalls that were selling finished garments, after strolling back and forth, i finally saw a place selling garments that were quite to my liking .
The moment i stood on the stall i found to my liking, the vendor a middle aged man with swirling eyebrows actually began to shoosh me away as if i was some kind of beggar, i pointed out that i had money but went away from that stall, after all it wasn't the only stall that was selling clothes, i stood in front of the stall next to the vendor from before, a middle aged man welcomed me warmly, seeing what happened before .
He told me to pick whatever that i wanted and i did just that, i bought a brown loose-fitting tunic paired with a black wide-legged trousers, pale yellow sandals with straps that securely hold the shoe in place and finally a belt to finalize the new look . after some haggling with the vendor on how much all that cost he told me that would be a half silver tael or 50 copper coins, but i was able to haggle with him and bought the whole package for 25 copper coins or quarter of a silver tael .
After i got all my things packed, i was still surprised that there was another currency going around than the taels of silver, so i asked the vendor about it and he kindly told me that the smaller currency was lead coin, every 100 lead coin equal to 1 copper coin, he showed them to me even, copper coins were round coins with holes they were bronze in color, as for lead coins they had the same design but were dark gray in color .
He then continued to tell that 100 copper coins equal to one silver tael, 10 silver taels equal to one golden tael, i thanked him for the info and asked him about the directions to the Solid Rock Fist Dojo, he pointed me where to go and i once again cupped my fist at him and thanked him for his guidance, i was beginning to get addicted to cupping my fist, for some reason i kept feeling good every time i do it .
I paid him then got the change from him 75 copper coins he put them in a pouch for me, even though i felt his smile was a bit forced, i still accepted it nonetheless and left the place, two steps, i had only taken two steps when suddenly a vendor on the other side began to sell at even lower prices than the one that i just paid, the difference in the price was a whooping 15 copper coins .
Only then did i understand why he hurriedly agreed with my way of haggling and even smiled at me like that before, i was ripped off, i turned to look at that guy and he was still smiling while looking at me, but now his smile was more natural than before, he was really happy about scamming me .
I shook my head and went on my way, if i go to the officials to complain, i won't be gaining even a lead coin back, no, i will even hand them money so to compensate them for the wasted time, they were literally standing in the streets with nothing to do at all .
So it was very much pointless, but it being pointless doesn't always mean that it was meaningless, or maybe it does, but at least in this case in particularly it doesn't .
Looking at the trumping smile on that guy face fueled my irritation a little more, so i turned back to standing in front of that stall and asked him flashing a copper coin in front of him was enough to caught his attention, even he was a bit guarded at me, i said :
" That copper coin will be for you, if you tell me how much that fox mask co... .
I was about to continue, but he suddenly grabbed the coin in my hand and in a swift manner he pulled it out of my hand and said that it was worth 5 copper coins, before he finished his sentence, i grabbed towards that mask and held it in my hand .
" Now we are even .
I said and headed out of the place with all my things in hand and the mask on my face, leaving him not even the smallest chance to refute me, he too wasn't able to call the guards that i was stealing, due to the fact that all the surrounding people witnessed me dealing with him just now, so it wasn't logical for me to steal what i already bought, no matter the way he tried to put it .
I reduced my losses a little bit just now, now onto the next destination, the Bathhouse, the Bathhouse luckily was on the road to the Martial Arts Dojo, i would also be forced to pass through the Red Light District again, but first from the scamming vendor i got to know a few things about the newly Bathhouse that was opened, the Bathhouse was under the management of the Han Family, a big Family like the Lu Family .
As i reached the Bathhouse, i saw that the rows of people bad all disappeared, i wonderd, did the Bathhouse close all of a sudden, their was a clerk on the door, i might as well ask what happened .
As i was about to reach the clerk, i suddenly remembered something that almost resulted in me facepalming myself .
I HAD FORGOT THE FOOD THAT I PAID HALF TAEL FOR ...