He calculated the account and pushed 7 strings of copper coins toward Su Qi:
"648 copper, I'll round it up to 700 for you."
Su Qi didn't take it and calmly said, "Show me some low-tier blueprint diagrams."
The vendor's eyes lit up, and he smiled brightly:
"You're in luck! Just after the Night of Survival, I received quite a few good diagrams!"
He pulled out an iron box from under the counter, inside were a few diagrams of uniform size, about the size of two A4 papers.
Su Lin leaned over to take a look, the material of this thing was unknown, but it seemed to have a faint strange glow.
The original owner had a deep impression of this thing, and without Su Lin deliberately thinking about it, the concept of the diagrams popped into his mind.
Construction diagrams, peculiar items that emerged in the post-apocalyptic rules, are also one of the dependencies allowing humans to survive today.
By utilizing the construction diagrams and gathering enough materials, one can erect powerful mechanism structures within safehouses.
The Arrow Wall at Second Uncle's house is one such thing.
The vendor laid out each diagram and introduced them with a touch of pride:
"There's the Earth Spike, Ejection Floor, Slime Floor, and a few other common items not worth mentioning. The main attractions are these few..."
He drew out a few trump card items from underneath and slapped them heavily on the table:
"Floor Ejector! A floor mechanism that channels energy every five seconds to emit intense flames! Wide range! Strong power! Rare elemental damage mechanism!
"Spike Wall! A wall mechanism! Though it's not elemental damage, it combines displacement and high damage traits! It can push away non-lethal monsters causing collision damage, and push the monsters for collaboration with other mechanisms to kill! Top-notch goods!"
The vendor raised his voice, full of confidence:
"With these two paired together, and if you upgrade the walls and windows a few levels, even a newbie homeowner can withstand the monthly Night of Survival..."
Su Qi squinted at him, his eyes clearly saying: Keep talking.
The vendor gave an awkward smile and lowered his volume by twenty to thirty decibels: "…can last an extra ten minutes."
Su Lin almost didn't catch it.
Su Qi tapped the counter with a finger: "Price?"
"For one--" the vendor leaned forward, widened one eye to scrutinize Su Qi, with a full face of blank expression, and each hand extended 1 finger, "20 silver!"
Su Lin took a sharp breath.
Damn, that's enough to eat braised pork for how many meals?!
"What do you think?" Su Qi asked his nephew.
"Hehehe," Su Lin chuckled dryly, "Does Second Uncle want me to sell my butt to earn money?"
Su Qi rarely showed a teasing look: "You've inherited your mom's looks, along with the Su Family's traditional sharp brows and starry eyes, if you really sold, I guess you could afford it."
"Eww!" Su Lin shivered, clenched his butt and shook his head repeatedly, "Garlic bird garlic bird garlic bird... I'm not that kind of person."
"Hmph." Su Qi's mouth slightly curved up, then he said seriously:
"The Night of Survival just passed and finances are tight at home. If you want to buy, I will lend you 50 silver. Two diagrams plus matching materials should be enough. Pay back 200 copper a day, 1 silver equals 1,000 copper for you."
1 silver equals 1,000 copper seems normal, but because of the convenience of high-value currency, the actual exchange value is higher, often could float up by twenty to thirty percent.
Meaning, for the 50 silver borrowed from Second Uncle, not to mention interest, he might even have to make up ten or so silver coins for Su Lin.
Su Lin was touched, but still hesitated for a moment.
He looked at the diagrams on the counter, the required materials were not all low-grade, meaning his "King of the Garbage Can" entry wouldn't be effective.
Then looked at those so-called common diagrams.
The required materials were only metal and wood.
Su Lin pointed to the Earth Spike and Shock Wall diagrams: "How much for these two?"
The vendor scratched his nose, roughly guessed what the outcome would be, and lost interest suddenly:
"Two for 1 silver, or 1,200 copper."
The price was vastly different!
Su Lin then asked: "The good stuff you mentioned, how many times the effect of these two?"
The vendor looked at him suspiciously, and said: "How many times? How can this be compared? If you're forcing it, in terms of damage range and power, the Floor Ejector, the same type as the Earth Spike, is definitely more than three times!"
Only three times? Hearing this, Su Lin was overjoyed and decisively said: "I'll just take these two cheap ones!"
Su Qi sighed inwardly, looked at his nephew with a bit of disappointment.
He intended to lend the 50 silver coins, making Su Lin bear the daily repayment pressure, forcing him to diligently go out and scavenge for supplies.
Even if luck wasn't as good as today, earning three hundred copper coins a day shouldn't be difficult.
Repaying 200 copper daily, along with food expenditure of forty to fifty copper for Su Lin's two-person household, should be sufficient.
Now that Su Lin is unwilling to borrow, the ominous premonition that his nephew is still a lazy guy resurfaced in Su Qi's mind.
Fishing for two days followed by drying the nets for three days might be the best outcome.
Su Qi, although his impression of Su Lin was briefly improved by Su Lin's performance, the previous stereotypes were so deep-rooted and persistent that he remained deeply worried.
He swept his hand across the counter, collected over six hundred copper coins from selling supplies, then pulled out a silver coin from his pocket, turned around and handed it to Su Lin, saying sternly:
"I'm lending you this one silver coin. Starting tomorrow, pay me back 100 copper coins a day."
Su Lin scratched his head, roughly guessing his uncle's intention, and replied with a slight smile: "Alright."
Only then did Su Qi feel slightly relieved.
Uncle and nephew left the tin stall.
Su Lin went to other stalls to buy some rice bran, wild vegetables, and other foods, as well as salt, soy sauce, sugar, and other seasonings, spending nearly 400 copper, enough for him and Su Tongxi to eat for a week.
If he only bought these, Su Qi would have been very comforting.
However, Su Lin suddenly walked to a small stall beside him, and after some gestures with the sallow-faced female stall owner, he spent 60 copper to buy an... utterly useless doll!
Su Qi's pupils shrank suddenly, his heart pounded wildly.
Soon after, Su Lin walked into Gouhuo Tavern, and emerged with half a portion of braised pork worth more than three hundred copper!
At this point... Su Qi's heart completely froze.
The money just earned was spent clean within a blink!
...
Su Qi, expressionless, led the jubilant Su Lin home.
As they approached home, granddaughter Su Yingying ran out excitedly, shouting: "Grandpa, grandpa!"
Only then did Su Qi show a trace of a smile, squatting down to hug his only bloodline, his heart warmed.
He silently vowed never to let her learn bad habits from her young cousin!
This silly nephew is utterly unreliable!
But in the blink of an eye, Su Yingying peeked out of grandpa's arms with her big, watery eyes, noticing the conspicuous doll in Su Lin's hand, her eyes suddenly sparkled.
She slowly slipped out of her grandpa's arms, timidly walked to her young cousin's side, looked up with her small face, her big eyes blinking, her little finger lightly biting on it, asking knowingly:
"Young cousin, young cousin, what is that you're holding in your hand?"
Su Lin squatted down, chuckled:
"I have something in both my hands, which hand are you asking about?"
Su Yingying shyly pointed at Su Lin's left hand holding the doll: "This one."
"Oh~ this one huh~"
Su Lin shook the cute doll in front of Su Yingying's eyes.
Su Yingying's eyes followed the doll, her unblinking look was extremely adorable, making Su Lin smile even wider.
"I bought this for the good child who lets me pat their little head. Is Yingying a good child?"
Su Yingying's little face suddenly wrinkled like a small bun, her eyes filled with immense indecision.
Mom said getting close to the young cousin would catch the laziness disease, but the young cousin would give beautiful dolls to good kids who let him pat their heads...
Under Su Lin's chuckling gaze, Su Yingying couldn't resist in the end, leaned over to his ear and whispered:
"Well, well, you can only pat once... and young cousin can't tell my mom."
"Deal!"
Su Yingying happily received her beloved doll, Su Lin successfully patted his niece's little head and even fed her a bit of braised pork.
Su Qi stood by, staring blankly at the entire scene, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
The thing he hated his nephew for foolishly spending money on turned out to be for his own granddaughter.
Considering the past, he absolutely couldn't have predicted that his typically cold nephew would do this.
His perception of his nephew, like a light breeze stirring the strings of a zither, changed somewhat again.
Su Yingying's cheerful calls echoed into the house, drawing sister-in-law Zhao Yaxin out as she stepped over the threshold.
Her brows were like distant mountains veiled in light mist, her eyes like cold pools saturated with icy snow, her soft pink lips pressed into a cold, stern line, her tight jawline was sharply defined like fine jade.
This face was stunningly clean, coldly transparent, utterly beautiful, making one hesitate to look long, yet unable to avert their gaze.
The midday sun splashed on her washed-out grey skirt, the hem swept through the dust accumulated at the threshold, contrasting her slim waist, below which her full hips were round like millstones, swinging gracefully with her steps, making the skirt taut and round.
With just one glance, Su Lin's previous memories suddenly surfaced:
"Hips wider than the shoulders, beyond immortal."
More importantly:
The former self of this fellow actually openly suggested marrying his sister-in-law less than two years after his brother's death, wanting to bring her into his house...
The memory was overwhelmingly informative! Su Lin gasped sharply, his eyes widened slightly.
Good grief! Another monumental pot was securely lodged on his head.