Chapter 5: Growth (Part 2)
Time flew by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the grandfather clock within the hall rang eleven times, signifying that it was now eleven in the morning.
"Is Hogg at home?" A clear voice rang out. The Baruch manor had no guards, so clearly, this person had already arrived within the manor grounds.
Hogg frowned, placing down the thick tome in front of him. "Linley, today we'll come to a stop here." Revealing a wisp of a smile, Hogg turned around and walked towards the guest hall.
"Ah, Hogg, my dear friend! Just the other day, I heard the clothspinner bird's cry, and I just knew that something good was going to happen. Indeed, by noon, I received your missive, and as soon as I read it, I was overjoyed."
"Dear Philip, I am very happy to see you as well. Hillman, quickly go and bring me the stone sculpture, 'Fierce Lion'. Philip, come, let's go to the main hall and wait. The sculpture will be here shortly."
Hearing these words, Linley felt his heart twinge.
"We're selling off more family belongings?" Linley knew that the 'Fierce Lion' sculpture was one that his father deeply liked. But the Baruch clan, which took very few taxes from the town of Wushan, really was in dire economic straits.
Fortunately, the Baruch clan was an ancient one, and by virtue of its age, had stored many rare and precious items.
Unfortunately, even the vastest of hoards could not withstand so many years of auctions and sales. By this point in time, the number of valuable items within the clan was very few. Linley couldn't help but turn to stare at the grandfather clock. "I wonder how long it will be before even this clock has to be sold off."
A middle-aged man with long, golden hair and a nobleman's aura strode into the hall by Hogg's side. Linley immediately was able to guess that this middle-aged man must be 'Philip'.
"Oh, this adorable child must be your son, right Hogg?" Philip smiled very warmly at Linley. "Linley Baruch, right? May I address you as Linley?"
"It would be my honor, sire." Linley placed his right hand against his breast and respectfully bowed.
"What an adorable child." Philip seemed very pleased.
By his side, Hogg laughed. "Philip, stop wasting time with the child. Look, the 'Fierce Lion' you have desired for so long has arrived." As he spoke, Hillman easily carried in the large sculpture into the hall, and then easily set it down.
It was a nearly thousand-pound stone sculpture, but in Hillman's hands, it seemed like naught but a toy, clearly showing Hillman's strength.
"Mr. Hillman, your strength amazes me. My own manor doesn't have anyone as fierce as you, guard captain, even though I control twelve towns." Philip smiled as he spoke, but the implicit meaning in his words was quite clear; he wanted to invite Hillman to work for him.
Hillman said coldly, "The town of Wushan is my home, sire."
"Forgive me." Philip quickly apologized.
Philip turned to look at Hogg. "Hogg, I must say, although I like this stone sculpture very much, the artisanship of this 'Fierce Lion' sculpture cannot be considered to be top tier, much less the masterpieces of those grandmaster sculptors."
"Philip, if you don't wish to buy it, then forget about it." Hogg was quite succinct.
Philip's eyes couldn't help but narrow, but then he laughed. "Haha… Hogg, don't be angry. I'm not saying that I don't wish to buy it. I'm just telling the truth. How about this. I'll buy this sculpture for five hundred gold coins. What do you think?"
"Five hundred?" Hogg frowned.
This price was much lower than what Hogg had hoped for. He had been hoping for at least eight hundred.
In the Yulan continent, one gold coin equaled ten silver coins equaled a thousand copper coins. The average commoner would be able to earn twenty or thirty gold coins in a year. Even the average army soldier would only earn a hundred or so gold coins.
"The price is too low." Hogg shook his head.
"Hogg, you must know that in all the ten thousand plus years of the Yulan continent, there have been countless sculptures made. The true value of a sculpture is in terms of its artisanship. As far as the artisanship of this one… well, heh, suffice to say, I just like it. Five hundred gold really is my highest offer. If you don't accept, then let's just forget about it."
Philip laughed as he turned to look at the grandfather clock in the hall. His eyes gleaming, he said, "Hogg, if you were to sell this clock, however, I would be willing to pay a thousand gold."
Hogg's face grew cold.
"Ahem, two thousand gold would be acceptable as well. This would be my highest offer." Philip hurriedly said.
Hogg sternly shook his head firmly. "The grandfather clock is not for sale! As for the sculpture, six hundred gold. Take it or leave it."
Philip carefully studied Hogg for a moment, then chuckled. "Fine, Hogg. I'll give you some face. Six hundred gold it is. Housekeeper, bring me six hundred gold." The caretaker for his manor, who had been waiting outside the entire time, immediately ran over with the gold.
Six sacks of yellow gold.
"Six hundred gold, Hogg. You can count it, if you want." Philip smiled.
Hogg hefted the sacks. Just based on weight alone, Hogg was certain that there really were six hundred gold coins in them, a hundred gold per sack. Hogg smiled and nodded. "Philip, how about staying and having dinner with us?"
"No need, I still have some business back home." Philip laughed.
Philip's housekeeper subsequently instructed two powerfully built warriors to lift and carry away the sculpture, which they did with difficulty.
After Philip and his entourage had departed, Hogg stared at the six sacks of gold, a dim look in his eyes. This time, he sold the stone sculpture. Next time? Although the manor still had many things remaining, sooner or later, they would have nothing left.
"Father, I want to learn to be a sculptor!" Linley suddenly said.
Linley knew very well that in the Yulan continent, those famous master sculptors could produce works valued at tens of thousands of gold pieces each. Some famous sculptures could even reach a hundred thousand gold pieces. And wealth aside, the societal ranking of these sculptors was also very high.
"If I can become a master sculptor, then… then father will no longer have to sell our family possessions." This is what Linley was thinking.
"Sculpting?" Hogg glanced at Linley, his eyes cold.
"Linley, do you know that amongst the hundreds of millions of people in the Holy Union, there are at least several million who have studied sculpting. But in the entire Holy Union, the number of true masters can be counted on one hand. In addition, if you don't have a good instructor, you simply cannot succeed on your own."
"The inner circle of sculptors is not one which ordinary people are allowed into. You only see the sky-high valuation of the works of the masters, but do you know that the vast majority of sculptors only make a few dozen gold coins each year?"
Hogg's voice was very fierce.
Linley was so frightened he immediately knelt down. Just now, he only spoke because he thought that sculpting could improve his family's situation. He didn't expect his father to say so much and lecture him so sternly.
"Enough. The ancestral hall needs some cleaning. After lunch, go and clean it up," Hogg said coldly.
"Yes, father," Linley said respectfully.
Looking at Linley, Hogg sighed in his heart. "Sculpting? Oh, child. Do you know that in the past, I also practiced sculpting? I spent ten full years of my life trying to learn. But unfortunately, my sculptures weren't worth a single coin." Hogg, too, had once foolishly dreamed of becoming a master sculptor and thereby improving his clan's situation.
But in his heart, he felt very helpless. Despite spending ten years training, his sculptures were still worthless. The field of sculpting could be described as a pyramid.
Those famous master sculptors were at the top of the pyramid. They enjoyed a high status, and each sculpture they made was worth hundreds of thousands of coins.
But the valuation of the work of the countless low-level sculptors at the bottom of the pyramid was soul-crushingly low. Most of their works would just be bought by commoners for just a few silver coins to use as decorations in their homes.
Chapter 6: Coiling Dragon Ring (Part 1)
Underneath the setting sun, the rosy clouds seemed to cover half the sky, casting their red hue upon the entire world.
"Cleaning the ancestral hall is pretty easy."
Departing the ancestral hall, Linley had to admit that he had over-prepared. He had slotted an hour for this job, but in just fifteen minutes, he was finished cleaning.
On the Yulan continent, each year was divided into twelve months, each month 30 days, each day 24 hours, and each hour sixty minutes. Most noble families owned grandfather clocks, and were able to accurately tell time. Some extremely wealthy or extremely high-status individuals might even own meticulously calibrated wrist watches.
"The ancestral hall is cleaned every month. Frankly speaking, in just a month, the ancestral hall won't get too dirty. All I have to do is just casually wipe it down. I have almost an hour before training starts. What should I do?" Bored, Linley looked around in all directions.
The ancient Baruch mansion had five thousand years of history.
The front courtyard was cleaned every day, but the rooms in the much larger back courtyard, aside from the ancestral hall, were all covered in dust, and even the walls were cracked. Wild grasses and dark green lichen covered the floors and even ran up the walls.
"Heeeeey…" Seeing the decrepit architecture, Linley's eyes slowly brightened. "Lots of places in the back courtyard haven't been visited in over a century. I wonder if there's any ancient, valuable items there?"
Upon coming to this realization, Linley's heart began to pound.
"If I am able to find some valuable things and give them to father, no doubt he will be very happy." Linley took a deep breath, then immediately entered a decrepit room next to the ancestral hall. Step by step, he walked carefully, wielding a sturdy wooden stick in his hands, which he used to strike down the cobwebs, allowing himself a more careful examination.
Immediately upon entering the room, a rotten scent wafted past Linley's nose. Thick cobwebs could be seen in each corner, and spiders could even be seen clambering about.
Many spiderwebs were covering decorative curtains and furnishings. Upon closer examination, all of these curtains appeared very ancient. Unfortunately, the curtains were tattered beyond belief, just barely holding together in the semblance of a curtain.
"If these curtains weren't ruined, no doubt they would be worth a lot of money." Linley helplessly shook his head. He continued to inspect the room, using his stick to brush aside the layers of cobwebs as he carefully searched.
He searched the floor, the cabinets, and even to see if there were any secret passageways on the walls.
"According to the books I've read, it is quite common for walls to contain hidden levers or passages." Linley carefully rapped the walls, listening to the sounds.
Linley very much enjoyed this feeling of searching for treasures in the ancient room. But he had forgotten something. If he could come up with this idea, wouldn't his father, his grandfather, and the other elders of the Baruch clan also have thought of this?
These ancient rooms had long ago been scoured clean by the deceased elders of the Baruch clan.
Linley was only eight years old, after all. Although the strict education of the clan helped him mature quickly, there was still a large gap between him and an adult. Naturally, he wouldn't be able to consider things from a more complete point of view.
"Nothing in this room. Next one…" Linley exited the first room and entered the second.
There were actually many rooms in the back courtyard. After all, the front courtyard, which Linley resided in, constituted only a third of the entire manor. The back courtyard was far larger. Linley would probably have to spend an entire day in order to finish searching the entire back courtyard.
"All these decorations are ruined. There isn't a single one worth money." Linley exited yet another empty room.
He stared up at the sky.
"Eh, looks like it's almost time for training. I have another fifteen minutes or so at most." Linley turned his head around and stared at an extremely large room. "I'll just look at that last one, that big one. I'll spend about ten minutes searching. If I can't find anything, I'll go off to training."
Having made up his mind, Linley raced towards the large room.
This ancient room was much larger than even the main hall in the front courtyard. Stepping inside, Linley carefully scrutinized the place. "I bet hundreds of years ago, this was the dinner hall for our Baruch clan." From the ornaments and furniture, Linley could tell that this was a living hall.
A huge, grandiose-looking hall.
"Search the ground first."
Same as before, Linley lowered his head, widened his eyes, and began carefully searching the room one part at a time. Upon seeing anything interesting, he would tap it twice with his stick. If it was made out of stone, he would ignore it. Since he didn't have much time left before training was to start, his searching speed increased as well.
"Time to search the walls and the curtains. Oi. Last, best hope." Linley grimaced as he scanned the surroundings. "Clan elders, I really hope you guys left one or two things behind for me to find. Even if it is just a small thing."
Linley carefully searched the walls, even peeking behind the tattered curtains.
On the ancient walls were many rotted wooden cabinets, each of which had many drawers. Linley pulled open each and every drawer, but the drawers were totally empty, almost immaculately so. The only thing inside of them? Some dust.
"Alas!"
After pulling open the last drawer, Linley felt bitter disappointment in his heart.
"After searching for all this time, I didn't even find a single valuable item. All I did was cover myself with sweat and dust." Linley stared at his clothes. They really were filthy, now. Linley couldn't help but feel discontented.
Linley's gaze once more flashed across the room.
"Hmph. I'm leaving." Linley angrily used the stick in his hand to strike hard against a nearby cabinet, as though he wanted to give vent to all the anger that had built up over an hour of fruitless searching.
"Thud!" The stick solidly struck against the cabinet.
The cabinet was extremely ancient. After having been chewed on by mites for a hundred years, it couldn't withstand any weight. After having been struck so fiercely, it began to creak and groan.
Hearing this, Linley couldn't help but look behind him in alarm. "Oh no, it's going to collapse!" While searching the other rooms, Linley had also destroyed a few other pieces of furniture, so by now, he was very experienced.
Linley hurriedly dodged to one side.
In the end, the cabinet, which was twice as tall as Linley himself, collapsed. With a crashing sound, the cabinet smashed against the floor, breaking into seven or eight pieces, covering the room with even more dust. But hidden amidst the dust, unseen by Linley, was…
Upon the shattering of the cabinet, a black ring which had been hidden within the wooden supports, came tumbling out, falling to the ground.
"Ew, ew!" Linley spat out the two words as he hurriedly tried to escape the wave of dust.
"How unlucky! My entire body is covered with dust now, and I bet training is about to start. I'd best go take a quick shower and put on some new clothes." With a wave of his arm, Linley pushed open the door and departed the ancient room.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
8 Power
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