The Ghost Merchant

Eventually, the family began packing for the trip to the Capital with the letters in hand. "Thank you for giving us this opportunity to work at Heavenly Aroma," Ming Zhu happily climbed in a wagon smiling at Fangsu.

Fangsu smiled at she patted Ming Zhou's hand, "No, it should be me that was lucky to find such talent while travelling," Reassuring the family that she was happy to find them and suing their talents to help in Fangsu's partnership business and in turn helping them find work, "Anyway, do you know if there is a Merchant Association here?" Fangsu asked Ming Zhu who was familiar with the village.

Ming Zhu nodded, pointing to a street where the Merchant Association was located and Fangsu quickly ran to register herself as a merchant. The process was quite lengthy where she needed to identify herself, handing in the permit to sell merchandise, signing paperwork and registration fee. As the registration process was nearly finished the merchant association manager who was attending to her stared at the young man with an intrigued expression. Seeing a young individual such as this person in front of him wanting to enter the merchant industry that was filled with dirty tricks, black money and exploited traps would probably quickly fall trap to common tricks from underhanded merchants. But, the manager checked over the paperwork the person handed to him.

Fangsu had placed her white mask that only had eye sockets so that she could see to hide her face since it would be hard to pass off as a man with her face but it would suffice since she already had a gender-neutral voice which had helped her in many situations. After signing up for a 6-month membership which was quite normal for a short term merchant which was suitable for Fangsu since she would only take the guise of a merchant when it was needed in a more crowded area. While in more remote and empty areas she would remove the merchant disguise to travel normally.

Fangsu had commissioned a wood carpenter to build her a small but foldable stall that would make for an easy setup for when she would be selling her merchandise. However, the finished product would take a couple of days and this was the time when Fangsu entered the marketplace to look after the placement of certain local shops and other small merchants. The local products that were produced were mostly for seafood, equipment for fishermen and jewellery made from the small shells along with sea jewels that glittered upon the sunlight which bounced on the surface of the jewel and reflected the light elsewhere.

Fangsu went into a jewellery shop to gaze at the shiny brilliance of the sea jewels that reflected light into the walls and ceilings. Each jewel varied in colour but as Fangsu eyes wandered around the shop there were pearls that were varied in colour it was quite a surprise to see the various colours that pearls could come in as she was used to seeing the normal white pearls. The manager of the shop noticed the surprised expression of the newcomer that was being talked about in this village, "Are you interested in the raw jewels and pearl that we have available?" Walking up to the unexpected Fangsu was jumped out of fright at the manager's voice.

Fangsu nodded as she pointed at the pearls which were arranged according to their colour range from the normal whites, pinks, oranges, yellows, purple, blue and greens, "How are these pearls so colourful?" Since Fangsu was not familiar with pearl cultivation which fascinated her. The manager obviously didn't expose his trade secret knowing that it took much effort to procure the colour of the pearls.

Nevertheless, Fangsu understood that no businessman would let out their trade secrets but she would want to take advantage of these colourful pearls that were rarely used. Combining the colour pearls with sea jewels or glass to make a hairpin into various designs would make a popular item amongst nobility especially the younger ones. But, Fangsu entering the jewellery industry would be walking into murky waters. It just wasn't her forte. Turning to the direction of the manager, "I would like to have a couple of custom made jewellery sent to the capital," Fangsu write down the address of the Blossoming Fragrance establishment, "I want five hairpins with the coloured pearls and sea glass also I want three pendants using the most durable sea glass you have here," Drawing each design with a spare piece of paper and a brush.

With each brushstroke, the explicit drawing was brought to life as the images of Qilins that would be engraved into the pendants were beautiful yet showed the regal and revered nature of the Qilin which were known to be extinct and one of the myths. The illustrations for the hairpin were astonishing as the main centrepiece for the hairpin that would be made of sea glass and pearls would form sea anemones which Fangsu thought would be suitable for the materials used for the hairpins. The manager was very intrigued by the extragrant designs of the hairpins and jade pendants, "This flowers what are they?" The manager pointed at the flowers in which he had never seen before.

Fangsu placed the brush down on the table realising that many people were not familiar with the floral from the island she lived on. The beautiful sea anemones which sway upon the current of the waves as if they were dancing in the water. There are rarely any varieties of sea anemones that live in the coastal area since the Empire's temperatures are too cold in winter and prefer warmer water all year ago like the island she lived in, "I have travelled to many places and this flower lives in the sea," Fangsu tried to simplify the explanation for the manager knowing that sea anemone much is a rarity amongst the marine life in these coastal areas.

Once the manager heard that these flowers lived in the sea where it was quite inhospitable for flowers, "A flower that grows in the sea?" He thought it was the imagination of the youngster, "Impossible!" The manager laughed at Fangsu but she didn't respond to the laughter but continued to smile as she continued to draw the sketch for the jeweller to produce.

Fangsu placed eighty silver coins which shone brightly on the wooden reception table which shocked the manager who had never seen so much money presented before him. "This should be enough for all the eight items I request for," Eighty silver coins could last the manager a comfortable life for his entire retirement, "Also, send this letter with the items," Fangsu handed him the letter which had a very distinct Qilin mark with the character Chen on it. The letter wasn't secretive as it was just to update her family on her wellbeing.

As Fangsu walked about and around the small fishing village with curiosity as she watched the fishermen and locals interact with each other. She crouched down to a stall where there were many embroidered pieces but they were no match for Gui Ying but they were still beautiful as they emulated the colourful sea life, "Sir, are you interested in buying any of these pieces I have available here?" The vendor who owned the embroidery pieces was rather young. Fangsu shook her head as she continued her way to the carpenter who had finished the request for the foldable stall.

As she received the foldable stall to check whether it was operable. It was perfect. Fangsu went to the stables where she began mounting all her luggage on the horses and hopping onto Tian's back. She continued to travel throughout the continent under the disguise as a merchant and she was able to receive a decent income from it. This would be the start of Fangsu's double life as a merchant. She began travelling through the coastal villages through the middle mountainous ranges and inner plains. Unknowingly, Fangsu's unpredictable appearance in remote towns and sudden disappearance off the main road gave her the reputation of The Ghost Merchant. Always disappearing and reappearing without much notice into remote areas followed with popularity booms in the towns that she left.

While this was going on and the reputation of her merchant disguise was soaring, Fangsu wiped the sweat dripping from her forehead as the harsh summer heat began beaming onto her. Leading the small herd to a nearby streaming river for them to rest and fill their stomachs while she refilled her supplies to continue on her journey. While refilling the low supply of merchandise and water she began reminiscing about the delicious foods, fun activities, exciting festivals and unique commodities that were not available in the capital. The next town was located in the middle mountain ranges where there was a delicacy of birds nest soup and a village nearby which was known for honey harvest action from a special species of bees that are only known to originate from. However, the locality of the villages was much too far for her and she would need to stop at an inn that was known to house many mercenary groups especially the Horned Vipers.

The Horned Vipers are a mercenary group that are known to be merciless and heartless bastards who have pillaged villages, raped women and blackmailed many people with power to make them do their bidding with powerful backings. Fangsu wanted to avoid having to pay for a room in the inn which could risk having her items robbed from her, especially the small herd of horses, Tian, her weapons and especially her grandpa's jade ring. She wanted to avoid it as much as possible but the horses need some intense grooming. It was simply too much to handle all four horses by herself.

Fangsu decided to lead the herd to the inn, paying the horse stable manager to groom her horses. Before entering the inn, Fangsu placed her white mask over her face to hide her face. As she opened the door the smell of old alcohol as mercenaries began jeering and cheering at each other while harassing the waitresses. The poor waitress had to face the constant sexual leering of many of the mercenaries especially Horned Vipers. Fangsu didn't help since she herself would be as helpless as the waitress because many of the mercenaries were cultivators and could easily kill her.

Her mother told her that even though it was heartless, you only help someone if you have the power to but Fangsu didn't have much. After receiving the wooden tablet for her room, Fangsu excused herself to her private room and was thankful, she was able to avoid gathering any attention towards her. Sadly her choice to keep her hair undyed caught the attention of many of the mercenaries and the servers.

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Fresh from the bath, Fangsu decided to go down to the dining floor to get some food because she was bloody starving. Scanning the room for a desolate table but there wasn't a single table that wasn't filled. There was a table filled with mercenaries that were quite annoyed by the Horned Vipers vulgar behaviour which did sometimes lead to some fights. Fangsu walked up to a table that was filled with people who were much older than her, "If it is okay, can I have a seat here?" Politely asking the mercenaries who were occupying the table for a seat at the table.

The mercenaries nodded as they moved themselves to allow for the newcomer to have a seat at the table, silently observing the strange individual. The newcomer was quite short with ash grey hair that was tied up into a ponytail and a white mask that covered their entire face not allowing any chance for them to see their face. Ordering a massive amount of food, the mercenaries were quite worried that the small person would not be able to finish that amount of food. But, the main thing they were concerned about was the mask that hid the person's face.

Seeing that her mask was an inconvenience for eating food, Fangsu removed her mask revealing her bare face. The mercenaries gasped in shocked once the mask was taken off to see such a cute face that was about to be eating huge quantities of food, "I forgot to introduce myself," Cleaning off her mouth that had demolished the massive amounts of food, "My name is Fang and I'm a small travelling merchant." The server who was about to take the finished plate from Fangsu was also shocked to see such a cute-faced person had eaten so much food.

One of the older mercenaries that was sitting in front of Fangsu nodded as they introduced themselves and told her that they were affiliated with Black-Winged Leopards which was a mercenary group that was only recently formed in the last 5 years, "My name is Sun Chong," The last name was familiar to Fangsu and she realised that the mercenary must probably one of Wu Song's relative

Fangsu was fascinated by the diverse members in the mercenary group but a sudden pain came to her which caused Fangsu to stagger as she quickly tried to stand but she quickly staggered in pain. Her lungs gasped for air as the pain turned quickly blurred her vision, summoning out her medicine and it laid her hand. The mercenaries quickly saw the medicine in her hand which quickly unravelled. The packaging to reveal a pungent medicine smell which caused many of the members of the mercenary were repulsed by the intense smell. Pouring the medicine into her mouth which caused the pain in Fangsu's body to decline to a much more bearable pain level, "Sorry that I ruined the mood," As she quickly tried to return back to her footing but she stumbled.

A female mercenary close by quickly caught Fangsu in her arms, "You don't look too good," Looping her arm around Fangsu's arms and legs, "I will take you to your room," As the female mercenary carried Fangsu and felt that the weight of the person was too light for anyone this size. But on closer inspection, the female mercenary found that the person she was carrying had a very similar face to the famous Cheng Fangsu but the only difference was the hair, eyes and gender.

There was a slight fragrance of magnolia flower which faintly wafted off the tiny person like a ghost.