Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Quan Guest Comes
The annoying examination didn't last long.
The Goldfish Guard, though with a bad memory, is conscientious enough. After confirming the identities of several guests, it spits out a large blister and asks several people to burrow into the blister, which then uses its tail to push the blister into the pond.
When viewed from the outside, the pond water is clear and shallow.
But after the blisters fell into the pond, Zheng Qing had a feeling of entering a high-speed elevator - outside the transparent bubble wall, light and shadow flashed quickly, slender swimming fish, oval scallops, rampant crabs, etc., the aquatic creatures flashed with various magical halos, and the eyes of people who were shaking were dizzy, making people can't help but close their eyes.
When Zheng Qing felt the blisters vibrate and opened his eyes again, there was already a dark blue world in front of him.
It is as if you are at the bottom of the sea at a very deep depth, but when you look up, you can see the brilliant galaxy in the sky.
This paradoxical novelty caused several young wizards to stay where they were for a moment, just tilting their necks to admire the beauty and wonder of nature.
"Izumi Kelai welcomes you. A large blue-black crab waved a huge pair of pincers with two bouquets of magic on them, and its voice was like a brush rubbing wood, sand and low: "...... New guests, don't stand at the door, it will block the way of other guests. ”
Zheng Qing woke up suddenly, dragged the witch, and hurriedly left there.
Unlike the pedestrian streets of Huiziji, Four Seasons Square or Beta Town, Quankelai's polder is located underwater, which gives it two very distinctive characteristics – heavy water vapor and dark light.
Although the organizers used a huge blister-like barrier to cut off the polder from the sea, creating a world full of air that allows guests from land to shop in the polder with peace of mind, this is ultimately the world of the aquarium. For the sake of the health of the aquariums, the humidity in the polder is particularly high.
Zheng Qing felt that every breath he took was spraying water like a whale.
As for the dim lighting, the polder organizers replaced the natural light with a lot of magic light, which made up for this shortcoming.
Fist-sized pearls of the night are embedded in the coral trees around them, glowing octopuses climb on the walls of the blisters, their bodies glowing orange and white depending on the temperature and mood, and the stone shops on both sides of the street are lit with candles and oil lamps to entice every passing customer.
The aquarists use different oil lamps than the wizards on the ground.
The shamans on the shore like to use the precious sea ointment such as whale oil, shark oil, and Jiao oil as fuel, while the miraculous creatures under the water use equally precious ointments such as lard, monkey oil, and giant oil as fuel.
The crudely made black candle burned hard in the low stone room, the flame was bright red, and from time to time a golden spark or two popped out, making a faint, beeping popping sound.
Everyone's face is like a thin black veil, which adds a bit of mystery for no reason.
Also different from the noisy and noisy ground market, the underwater polder market is more like a legendary ghost market, quiet and hairy. Zheng Qing felt that every step they took was like walking deeper into the mud, and the people oppressed by the water vapor and silence were breathless.
"It can't be so quiet forever, can it?" he asked his two companions in a mosquito-like voice—and then he saw two businessmen making deals in the ancient way of 'pinching their fingers'.
Jiang Yu patted him on the shoulder comfortingly.
The little fox struggled hard in Zheng Qing's arms, trying to break free from his restraints and go outside to have fun. The young student had to find a rope to tie it to his wrist, so as not to sneak away without noticing.
"Be honest!" the wizard whispered, in a slightly annoyed voice, "This is not a school...... Beware of being caught by the people and made into a fox fur coat!"
"It's too small to make a fox fur coat...... Make a hat at most. Xiao Xiao kindly corrected it.
These terrible rhetoric finally put Poseidon at ease.
Of course, what is more likely to calm it down is the tiny octopus in its paws.
Just passing by a coral tree, Zheng Qing saw the glowing octopus climbing up the branches, so he plucked it off and stuffed it into the little fox as a toy.
The little fox was playing happily, but Mr. Octopus was annoyed - the light from its head had turned from milky white to bright red, like a pool of flowing lava.
The red glow of magma illuminated the nearest shop, and a fresh green tortoiseshell hung from the stone lintel, the slender green fluff rising and falling in the humid air, as if it were still alive.
Zheng Qing poked his head in and took a look, this was a shop specializing in selling turtle shells.
Just by taking a look, he saw many distinctive tortoise shells such as longevity turtles, sea turtles, mud turtles, turtles, snapping turtles, tide turtles, leatherback turtles, etc., which were stacked in the store. A tall fish-man was looking at a large scale in his hand in distress.
Seeing that a guest showed his head, a hint of joy flashed in the fishman's eyes, and he threw away the scale in his hand and hissed: "Do you need some tortoise shells? Divination, medicine, carving, all kinds of categories, according to the price, Tong Su is not bullied! The cheapest one is a copper!"
The young student laughed apologetically twice, and shrank his head back.
"The doctor can buy a little," Zheng Qing glanced at Xiao Xiao, who had been following him, and suggested, "The price of tortoise shells here is very cheap...... Don't you like to use tortoise shells for divination?"
"Home, free. Xiao Xiao's chin curled his goatee, and his answer was unusually succinct.
Zheng Qing let out an 'oh', his eyes already attracted to the next store. He looked at everything with great interest that was so different from the ground.
A short, shriveled old wizard jumped to his feet and shouted in front of a slender merman, "...... It's a robbery! A one-foot shark silk only had three beans and five jiao last year, so how can it become five beans this year?"
The mermaid raised his hand and pointed to a blackboard hanging from the shop.
It reads: 'Affected by La Niña, the sea water in the eastern part of the ocean has become abnormally colder, and the production of mackerel in 08-09 has been greatly reduced. The price change has been verified by Quankelai, and there is no price gouging and other behaviors. ’
The shriveled old wizard's eyes rolled and muttered, "Then if I buy more than 100 feet, can you spare me ten shark beads?"
Shark pearls are said to be pearls made by the tears of sharks, and they are widely used in many magical potions, and the price is more than double that of ordinary pearls.
Zheng Qing had never seen such a 'bargain' guest, and he couldn't help but widen his eyes.
Just because the mermaids don't deal with wizards often doesn't mean they're stupid.
"Can't!" the shopkeeper who sold the silk finally spoke, and refused in a firm tone: "Loss!"
Her voice was clear, with a bird-like tactful sound.
"Nine?"
"Eight...... When I bought it last year, you spared me five, but this year it's so expensive, so it's okay to give two more!"