Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2385 Bring a Message 48.0
After entering the flower hall, Xiao Fengqi greeted everyone and exchanged a few simple pleasantries before sitting down.

Hongye looked at Xiao Fengqi, then looked towards the door, and said, "Mr. Xiao, are you alone?"

"Yes, it's just me." Xiao Fengqi thanked Meilin who handed him the teacup, smiled at Hongye, looked at Shen Haolin, Shen Cha and Xue Ruitian, and explained, "Uncle is still studying the Sanskrit on the picture, and the old lady is accompanying him. They both have certain insights into Sanskrit, and many of their ideas are much better than mine."

"Did you come here this time just because of the new discovery on the sea chart?"

“Yes, this one.”

"Hey, Xiaocha!" Xue Ruitian interrupted Xiao Fengqi, waved his hand at Shen Cha, and said, "Let Brother Xiao have some tea first, and then we can talk about business."

Shen Cha felt a little embarrassed. She was indeed a little anxious. She gestured to Merlin and asked her to bring over a few plates of snacks as an apology.

"Thank you, General." Xiao Fengqi looked at Hongye who had been staring at him, "What's wrong?"

"Brother Xiao Qi didn't come with you?"

"No, he's been having a lot of fun lately." He took a sip of tea, sighed helplessly, and said, "These past few days, he's been taking the Ning family's brother out to play every day, and he won't come back before curfew."

"I heard that they have been like this in recent days, leaving early and returning late." Jin Miaomiao yawned, "When I went to check the pulse of the master uncle and the old lady, the two old ladies complained to me. I don't know where these two children have been, what they have been doing, and they go out early every day and never come back until dark at night. This is nothing. The two of them wear clean clothes in the morning, but when they come back at night, they are all dusty. I even saw cuts on their trouser legs or sleeves."

"Where could they have torn their clothes?"

"I asked Brother Xiao Qi, they went to the horse farm. The brother from the Ning family doesn't know how to ride a horse, so Brother Xiao Qi has been teaching him how to ride these days." Xiao Fengqi chuckled, "These two look capable, but they are still children at heart. They feel particularly happy running around in the horse farm for a day. Moreover, I heard that there is an even younger brother in that horse farm. The three children playing together are a bit reluctant to leave."

"Horse farm?" Shen Haolin looked at Shen Cha, "Where is Qi Bo?"

"It should be. There is only one horse farm in our city."

Shen Cha glanced at Merlin. Merlin received the signal and quietly left the flower hall.

Xiao Fengqi saw Merlin leave but didn't care at all. He slowly finished his tea, moved some things on the table to make a large space in front of him. After wiping it clean, he took out a roll of paper from his sleeve and spread it on the table.

"This." Xue Ruitian stood up and took a look. "Is this a copy of the sea chart?"

"Yes, I drew it." Xiao Fengqi waited for Shen Haolin and Shen Cha to come over before continuing, "But it's only a small part of it. We can only confirm one corner. The others are still under study." He looked at Shen Haolin, Shen Cha, and then at Xue Ruitian, "First of all, I want to make it clear that it is not a sea chart."

"It's not a sea chart?" Shen Cha looked at Xiao Fengqi, "What is it? A relationship chart?"

"General, you are wise. It is indeed a relationship map. At first, we didn't understand why there were moons, suns, stars, and flowers on a sea map. This doesn't make sense. Later, the third master figured out one of the sentences. It looked like a Buddhist scripture, but it was actually a transaction. After cracking this, we can be sure that at least this piece is their transaction map." "Transaction map?" Shen Cha and Shen Haolin exchanged glances, "I see, these marks and symbols may be their buyers?"

"Yes, it could also be their seller." Xiao Fengqi nodded, "The old lady said that this picture was brought out from home, but she is not familiar with the people and things in the family, and she doesn't know what's going on." He looked at Shen Cha, "Does she have any unspeakable secrets?"

"It's nothing. The marriage between the two families is based on interests. The old lady is nominally the wife of the Ning family, but in fact she has nothing to do with the Ning family. They don't interact with each other for many years. If it weren't for some things that her nominal husband asked her for, these things and the Ning family's siblings would not appear in front of us." Shen Cha sighed softly, "It's normal for her to be unfamiliar with this. I heard from Ning Cheng that this was hidden in the secret compartment of the Ning family leader. He saw the clan leader open the secret compartment when he was at home, and he was very concerned about this, so he brought it out before he ran away from home."

"This little guy usually looks quiet, but I didn't expect him to be so smart."

"Yes!" Hongye nodded gently, "But, what do these shapes represent? Can you tell them apart?"

"I've almost figured it out." Xiao Fengqi looked at Hongye and pointed at a triangle and a trapezoid. "These are ordinary buyers and sellers. Based on the Sanskrit around these figures, we can basically determine the content and amount of their transactions." He looked at everyone, sighed softly, and said, "All of them are related to Wangyou Powder. Most of these triangles are restaurants, tea houses, or theaters. Some of the trapezoids look like pharmacies, and some have names similar to Zhuangzi, but most of them are Zhuangzi. There are still very few pharmacies, and the transaction amounts and quantities are not large. The most does not exceed one hundred taels of gold!"

"No more than a hundred taels of gold?" Shen Cha thought for a moment, "A hundred taels?"

"Yes!" Xiao Fengqi nodded, "But there are still very few triangles and trapezoids, which means they don't care much about ordinary sellers and buyers. There are more stars, moons and suns, which represent the big players."

"Big customer?" Hongye touched his chin, "Does it mean someone who buys a lot?"

"Hmm!" Xiao Fengqi pointed at the star pattern. "I'm not sure which store this belongs to. They bought a lot of Forget Worry Powder worth thousands of gold at one time. The one with the moon pattern is twice as much as his. But these stars and moons are not from Daxia, because those Sanskrit translations seem to be from the Western Regions. It also shows here that the price of one ounce of Forget Worry Powder is completely different when sold to triangles and trapezoids than to stars and moons."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"The stars and the moon are more expensive?"

"Yes!" Xiao Fengqi nodded. "For example, if we sell it to restaurants and tea houses, one tael of Forget Worry Powder is worth one tael of gold. If we sell it to merchants from the Western Regions, it would be worth ten, twenty, or even more taels."

"Huge profits!"

"That's right!" Xiao Fengqi nodded at Hongye who looked surprised. "As for this sun, it is still unknown. There is only one sun and there are no Sanskrit clues around it. We can guess..."

"It represents Master Falian."

"That's right, Duke." Xiao Fengqi nodded. "Based on the location of the sun, we looked for it on the real sea chart."

"How? Did you find anything?"

"We did find it, but I feel like something is wrong." Xiao Fengqi looked at everyone, "Old Madam Ning said that this is an uninhabited island that has been abandoned for at least thirty years."