"Hey, this, this... Why is there a sound of a pipa in this flower? Is this a rare flower from the fairyland?"
"It's a divine instrument, a divine instrument that retains the lingering sound of the immortal master's performance! You can listen to the sound of the pipa, the splashing of springs, and the melodious singing of hundreds of birds. Such a skill must be the work of the immortal master!"
The distinguished guests from Gongyu City could no longer contain their emotions; this strange-looking copper flower could actually make sounds, and such a complete and pleasant pipa tune at that. This was more unexpected than the expected divine musical instrument, and it surprised them even more.
The monks were confused.
"What's going on? This thing obviously has no spiritual power, so how can it have immortal sound?"
"Wait, the boss just said that this thing was made by some industrial pioneer Zhu Changyang... Could it be the same Zhu Changyang who made the spiritual power rice cooker?"
"Ah?! It's him!"
Speaking of Zhu Changyang, many people can't remember him at first, but when they mention the spiritual power rice cooker, they know it immediately. Even if there are still some unclear points, they will be immediately educated.
"I've heard that Zhu Changyang is good at using ordinary things to create magical items. I thought it was an exaggeration, but it seems to be true."
The local guests from Gongyu City could no longer hold back and asked loudly.
"The divine musical instrument is truly a rare treasure. Boss Hua, how much do you want to bid for it?"
"No hurry, let's finish listening to this song." Hua Boyuan was very satisfied with the effect of the phonograph. He made a gesture of silence, indicating that everyone should listen to the end.
Among the guests there were some who were truly refined and had already been immersed in the music. They responded out loud, "Yes, let's finish listening to this song first."
"Well, you play really well, with a blend of meaning and emotion, comparable to the immortal master of Yaoyin Pavilion. Please keep your voices down, don't disturb this elegant music!"
The song was not long and was finished quickly.
Hua Boyuan pressed the switch and smiled: "As you can see, this phonograph can record the wonderful sounds of the world. Just press it like this, without any magic power, and it can be started, and you can enjoy music at any time."
There was another commotion among the guests when they heard that it could be used without any magic power.
Such a magical tool is so easy to use
Seeing that the atmosphere was getting heated, Hua Boyuan said, "The starting price of Master Zhu Changyang's latest masterpiece, the phonograph, is three upper-grade spirit stones, and each bid increase must not be less than one hundred middle-grade spirit stones."
Top-grade spirit stones are extremely rare. One spirit stone is worth one thousand mid-grade spirit stones or one million low-grade spirit stones. They are hard to come by in daily life.
Since Zhu Changyang traveled through time, he has never seen a top-grade spirit stone except for the piece of Kunshan jade he brought out from the Gupeng Secret Realm.
Normally, one high-quality spirit stone could buy a top-grade magical instrument of excellent quality. However, the spirit spike that the young master of Yongzhou Tianhou had just refined was only sold for six hundred medium-quality spirit stones.
The phonograph does not use any precious materials, nor does it have any functions that can add anything to cultivation or fighting. It is simply not as good as those real magic weapons for transmitting sound.
The starting price for such an artifact is set at three top-grade spirit stones, which is an astonishing price.
Some monks who valued spiritual power frowned on the spot, thinking it was too outrageous.
However, most people did not think there was any problem at all, especially the nobles in the mortal realm, who felt that such rare items were better than those magical instruments that required skills to activate, and that the price was justified.
"Four high-grade spirit stones."
"Add five hundred medium-grade spirit stones."
"Five, top-grade spirit stones."
Studio:
[Ahh, seeing everyone rushing to bid, I'm also very excited! ]
[Hahahaha, I've seen records. When Edison's phonograph was unveiled at the World Expo, people lined up to see it. Now I know what the scene was like!]
[It’s normal. We take it for granted now, but in the past these were miracles. ]
[Now that I say this, I suddenly feel like we are living in a miracle! ]
The voices of bidding rose and fell, and one could faintly hear the impatience. Before long, the price reached eight upper-grade spirit stones.
This price is already close to Huayan's record in recent years. A hundred years ago, Jiang Huile played a stunning melody at Yaoyin Pavilion, and the lingering sound lingered in the ears for three days. Afterwards, a Yaoqin he had used was donated for auction, and the transaction price was eight top-grade spirit stones.
The crowd fell silent, and no one made any more bids. Some monks who were used to judging by spiritual power were secretly shocked.
This price is beyond the affordability of many people. Even the wealthy who can afford to pay a higher price have to consider whether such a huge investment is worth it.
Hua Boyuan smiled. This price was exactly the limit he had predicted at the beginning, so he calmly shouted, "Eight high-grade spirit stones for one time."
"Eight high-grade spirit stones twice."
"Eight high-grade spirit stones three..."
Just as the decision was about to be made, a deep voice suddenly came from the private room in the corner of the second floor: "Twelve, go up."
The voice was obviously deliberately lowered, and its original timbre could not be heard, but its content was no less than thunder.
There was an uproar in the audience, and everyone turned to look at the source of the voice, wanting to see who was making such a heroic move.
Unfortunately, the private rooms are reserved for distinguished guests of special status and are equipped with special restrictions, so they cannot be peeped into from the outside.
Even Hua Boyuan's heart skipped a beat, but he remained calm.
This price was far beyond his initial expectations, and was enough to make others back off.
Hua Boyuan collected his thoughts and called out three times. As expected, no one raised the price, so the hammer went down and the deal was done.
Zhu Changyang and his group waited in the box for a while, and then saw Hua Boyuan and the shopkeeper coming in hurriedly.
Hua Boyuan's face was filled with joy, and his enthusiasm for Zhu Changyang increased: "Master Zhu, you can see that the phonograph was sold at a good price. I finally lived up to your trust."
"Thank you for your hard work." Zhu Changyang shook hands and greeted him. His face was calm, but tears were streaming down his face. Twelve top-grade spirit stones! This was a price he could not even dream of.
See, this is the importance of sales channels.
Hua Boyuan spoke in praise for a while before getting down to business: "The guest has already paid. We will give you the money after we do some calculations. However, we don't have that many high-grade spirit stones. Some of them need to be paid with equivalent mid-grade spirit stones."
"No problem." Zhu Changyang nodded. He had already noticed that high-quality spirit stones were very scarce, and most of the time they were replaced by medium and low-quality spirit stones.
Jie Li asked curiously, "Boss Hua, which customer bought the phonograph?"
With such a big move, he must be a celebrity in the city. Jie Li felt that he needed to know more about it.
Hua Boyuan shook his head: "Sorry, the guest asked for confidentiality, so I can't disclose it."
Jie Li felt a little disappointed, but didn't ask any further questions.
Zhu Changyang didn't find it strange. Rich people like to be mysterious.
Hua Boyuan was a very good person. Originally, Huayan Auction was going to charge a 20% handling fee, but in order to show his sincerity in continuing the cooperation, he only charged two high-grade spirit stones and gave Zhu Changyang the full amount of ten high-grade spirit stones.
He also gave Si Kouluo's elementary school homework book that Zhu Changyang had photographed to him for free.
Zhu Changyang was not polite. Hua Boyuan would make the money back from him sooner or later anyway.
At present, business was of the utmost importance, so he immediately handed two of the bills to Jie Li and said, "Take them and take Xizhi to buy a pipa."
Jie Li took the bill and looked at it. His hands immediately trembled: "No, no, no, how can we take so much!"
The note Zhu Changyang gave him was worth two thousand medium-grade spirit stones, accounting for 20% of the total profit.
"You just heard it with your own ears. Everyone said that the phonograph played the immortal master's music. If it weren't for Xizhi's record, the machine alone might not be sold at this price." Zhu Changyang smiled, "I think it is reasonable to charge this price for Xizhi's skills and contributions."
When talking about this, Jie Liqing couldn't help but smile with pride.
For him, the happiest thing today was not the sensation caused by the phonograph, but the praise for the pipa music from the distinguished guests in the audience.
He had heard many people say that it was a tune that only the Immortal Master of Yaoyin Pavilion could play.
After hesitating for a while, seeing that Zhu Changyang insisted, Jie Li accepted it and hurriedly said goodbye to his two brothers: "I will take Xizhi to buy a pipa. You wait for my good news."
.
The next morning was the final exam for Raoliang College.
Zhu Changyang was not worried at all. He had seen everyone at the auction affirming Jie Xizhi's skills, and among those people there were many elegant people who were well versed in music.
I think as long as Jie Xizhi performs normally, the offer from Yaoyin Pavilion is absolutely certain, and it is possible that he will win the first place and play the same music with Jiang Hui.
With nothing to do, Zhu Changyang simply took Jun Shu to the market for a stroll, where they purchased some daily ingredients such as eggs, rice, flour, salt, sugar and seasonings. They also found some special spices brought by people from outside the region and exotic fruits such as grapes.
But now it was different, I had just made a fortune, this little money was just a drop in the bucket! So I bought a lot of spices and fruits.
The results of the final exam will be out in the morning, so Zhu Changyang baked a cake to celebrate for Jie Xizhi.
Seeing that there was still time, he found the innkeeper again, gave him some money, and lent him his kitchen.
Jun Shu was lying lazily, playing with the cat with his feet. When he saw Zhu Changyang enter the kitchen, he immediately stood up and followed him in, asking curiously, "What are you going to do?"
Zhu Changyang gave a mysterious smile with a hint of evil in it: "Make something that can go with the cake."
Jun Shu's eyes lit up: "A bigger cake?"
"That's not called matching, okay?" Zhu Changyang left him speechless and kept him in suspense, "You'll know in a moment."
Jun Shu did not ask any further questions and stood aside to watch Zhu Changyang operate. The developer followed him in, squatted at his feet, and watched with his head tilted.
Zhu Changyang took out the brown sugar, glutinous rice flour and other ingredients he had bought in the morning, and first put the brown sugar into water to dissolve and boil it.
After a while, the brown sugar water began to boil. He quickly poured in the glutinous rice flour and stirred it quickly with a pair of chopsticks. When the glutinous rice flour stuck together, he kneaded it into a slightly sticky dough.
In this way, the preliminary work was completed, and he waved to Jun Shu: "Xiao Ci, come and help."
Jun Shu walked over: "What are you doing?"
Zhu Changyang rolled the dough into a long strip as thick as his little finger, cut it into small pieces with a knife, and pushed it in front of Jun Shu: "Roll these into small balls, remember to roll them round."
"Oh." Jun Shu didn't understand, but he still did as he was told. However, after rubbing one, he frowned and said, "It's stuck to my hand."
Zhu Changyang laughed and said, "You need to get some water on your hands."
As he spoke, he scooped up some water from the ladle and sprinkled it on Jun Shu's hand. Worried that it was not evenly distributed, he grabbed Jun Shu's hand and rubbed it, "That's it."
Jun suddenly felt the other person's hand moving from the palm of his hand to his fingertips, which made him feel slightly itchy. He stiffened involuntarily and his heart began to beat fast.
Feeling a little strange, he wanted to say something but didn't know how. In the end, he just glanced at Zhu Changyang and continued to roll the meatballs as if nothing had happened.
The meatballs were quickly rolled. Zhu Changyang filled another pot of water, put the meatballs in and boiled them until they floated, then took them out and put them in cold water to cool down.
Jun Shu looked at the brown sugar glutinous rice balls floating in the water and asked, "Can we eat it like this?"
"Not yet, these are just the ingredients." Zhu Changyang smiled and took out sugar, milk and tea leaves. "The next part is the key."
He put half a bowl of re-crushed sugar into a small pot and put the pot on the fire to dry roast.
The bottom of the pot was quickly heated, the sugar first melted into a viscous state, and soon turned into an amber color with a slight burnt smell.
Jun Shu quickly reminded: "It's going to burn."
"It has to be a little burnt." Zhu Changyang said, and then poured the milk calmly.
The milk makes a hissing sound when it comes into contact with the hot pot, and the melted caramel condenses into lumps when it gets cold, but as the temperature of the milk rises, the caramel melts again.
Then put the tea leaves in. The tea leaves are soaked by the hot milk, exude tea color, and blend with the milk.
After boiling for a while, Zhu Changyang took the pot off the fire and filtered out the tea leaves with a colander. Finally, the task was completed.
Studio:
[Such a familiar process, people who want to lose weight should run away, it’s the evil bubble milk tea! ]
[Is this thing finally going to bring disaster to the world of cultivation?! ]
[Zhu Changyang has such evil intentions, he actually treats cultivators like this, will they be allowed to practice fasting? ]
Zhu Changyang poured a bowl of cooked milk tea, put some glutinous rice balls in it, and handed it to Jun Shu: "Here, try my special drink, caramel pearl milk tea... Be careful, it's hot."
In fact, pearls are better made with tapioca flour, but that stuff is an imported product and Zhu Changyang hasn't found it yet. Fortunately, glutinous rice flour can also be used.
"Caramel pearl milk tea?" Jun Shu was a little confused.
It was not the first time that he had seen milk tea. People in some nomadic continents in the mortal realm had the habit of drinking milk tea, and it was also sold in some big cities such as Gongyu City. However, milk tea was usually salty. This was the first time he had seen sugar added, and it was burnt sugar at that.
As for why the word "pearl" is used here, it is even more puzzling.
Jun Shu took the bowl and took a sip from the edge of the bowl.
The next second, he opened his eyes slightly, blew a few times at the milk tea in the bowl, and took another sip.
Maybe he still felt it was too hot, so he simply made a few hand gestures and manipulated the milk tea to lower the temperature.
When he felt the temperature was just right, he picked up the bowl and drank it elegantly and quickly in one gulp. When he had almost finished the milk tea, he ate the pearls at the bottom of the bowl. He felt a little surprised at first, but after chewing them for a few times, he immediately found a spoon and ate up all the pearls.
Then he handed the empty bowl to Zhu Changyang and said, "I want more."
Zhu Changyang: “…”
Brother Jun really loves junk food.
There are actually many exquisite delicacies in the world of cultivation, but the taste of milk tea and cake is really overbearing.
Sugar is still a precious commodity at this time of year and few foods contain large amounts of it. Milk tea is usually added with salt. Therefore, this rich sweet smell is even more irresistible.
Human beings' pursuit of high-energy food is engraved in their DNA. Now Zhu Changyang can be sure that the DNA of cultivators seems to have not been able to completely get rid of this instinct.
No wonder Bigu fasting is so difficult.
Seeing Jun Shu's eyes shining, Zhu Changyang couldn't help but laugh. He poured another bowl of milk tea, added pearls, and took out a bamboo stick as thick as his little finger and handed it to him: "Use this to drink."
This is a pure natural straw that he made by polishing a bamboo pole he found in the kitchen. It is just the right size for drinking bubble milk tea.
However, the user experience is still a bit poor. I will take the time to make two glass straws when I have time.
Jun Shu took the bamboo straw, put it into the pearl milk tea and took a sip. The door to a new world instantly opened for him and he began to play with the pearls with great interest.
Zhu Changyang poured another bowl and placed it on the ground for the developer: "Wait until it cools down before drinking it. Be careful not to burn the cat's tongue."
Ordinary cats should pay attention to healthy feeding and should not drink too much milk tea, but the developer is a monster and milk tea alone cannot defeat it.
The developers are circling around milk tea, wagging their tails, and are very impatient.
Zhu Changyang was amused by the two scammers, one big and one small. He shook his head and simply found some oil, milk and eggs.
Jun Shu came over while eating pearls: "What else do you want to do?"
"Make some cream to decorate the cake." Zhu Changyang said.
The method of making the cream is simple, but it takes a bit of manual labor. I didn't have any gelatin sheets at the moment, so I decided to make a simple version.
Pour the milk into the pot, add eggs and sugar, heat and stir together. After the three are thoroughly blended, pour in the cooking oil and stir until it becomes viscous. The basic work is now done.
Finally, wait for the temperature of the cream to drop and then whip it with cold water. This step can be completed with a manual whipping machine.
Jun Shu was now very handy at sending things away and he finished it in no time.
The pure handmade cream is light and shiny with a light yellow hue.
Zhu Changyang cut a small piece of cake and put it on a plate. Then he spread a thin layer of cream on the cake and finally garnished it with two grapes.
"Okay, this is your afternoon tea."
Studio:
[Jun Shu is done. After eating these things, it will be difficult for him to cultivate immortality in the future. ]
[I don't agree. The days with bubble tea and cream cake are like the days of gods. ]
(End of this chapter)