10 1.10: The Trade and Revelation......

After about an hour's nap, the 3 brothers stirred and sat up. I rubbed my eyes and asked, "The merchant is on the way right now?" to the direction of the brothers. "Soon..... We are going to trade off these baskets with the items brought by the merchants," said Cheng while the other two brothers stood up and walked towards their beached craft.

I saw them took out their paddle from the beached craft and carefully placed the two ends into each basket. This provides easy access to carrying these baskets over a long distance without using their bare hands.

After slipping the baskets at the ends of the paddle, they hoisted the paddle on their shoulder deftly and used their 'strong' as padding to prevent chaffing. Soon all the three brothers have done the same manner and walked towards the trail with me in tow behind them.

The leftovers of the raw mussels which was brought up earlier for lunch I took them with me for Ani to prepare for dinner later. As we headed towards the clearing of the trail and towards the main path, I heard the clappity clop of an incoming horse and carriage that was creaking on the left side of the path.

The brothers settled down their baskets and paddles alongside the path and waited for the arrival of the merchant.

A burly man about the age of early '30s was riding on the horse-driven carriage and was strolling its way towards our direction. By the look of the carriage's weight alone, I had the presumption that this merchant does travel a lot to ply their trade. "Hello Cheng...! How has it been?

The usual six baskets as normal yes?" exclaimed the burly man as he slowly idled his carriage to a complete stop right beside the three brothers. The horse neighed and stomped its two front hoofs.

"Yes, as usual, Boss Fei. Another exchange date will be scheduled for the next three days. I will inform you by using a pigeon carrier." replied Cheng while Ding peered over the side of the carriage and looking at the goods that will be used for exchange later.

Eun was at the front of the horse and was petting the horse's head while smoothing its mane. "Bo....come and help me offload these goods down and the rest can help out carrying the baskets of mussels up," suggested Fei to me and I nodded in acknowledgment. I went to the back of the carriage and hoisted myself up.

"Boss Fei, do you want me to bring down all of these baskets?" I asked the merchant as I scanned the number of baskets on the carriage. "Yup, all of them are for the settlement," replied Boss Fei towards me. There were three sacks in baskets filled with grain I supposed.

I dragged it across to the edge of the carriage and Eun helped me to bring it down on the ground. Each sack of grain weighed about ten to twelve kilograms.

Next, I pulled two baskets filled with an assortment of tubers; such as sweet potatoes, tapioca, yam, and potatoes while another basket was filled with onions, garlic, fresh and dried chilies, stalks of coriander, parsley and chives.

A total of six similarly sized baskets were being exchanged with six baskets of mussels. "No wonder these were called 'treasures'." I thought to myself aloud. These mussels were worth as much as the goods exchanged and no such currencies existed in this era.

The merchant looked back at the six baskets of mussels and smiled with satisfaction. He patted Cheng's shoulder and said," I'd better be off now. Remember to send me a pigeon message when its time for me to trade again." and Cheng nodded.

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The other two brothers were securing the baskets on the paddles while awaiting for Cheng. Ding, on the other hand, pulled the horse's reins and turn the carriage about towards the path the merchant had come from.

We all waited for the merchant to move along the path and once the carriage was far ahead then the brothers picked up the paddles; balancing the baskets and placed on their shoulders after placing their 'sarongs' as a cushion.

The brothers were happily chatting about their collection of 'treasures' in exchange with the goods this time. "Bo...I am sure Ani would be busy later on after we arrive at our settlement. Why don't you join us at the 'port' later on." chimed Ding towards me as I trudged behind them. Later I learned that the 'port' they had mentioned was the meeting point under the canopy of the shady tree within the courtyard.

As we neared the entrance of the settlement, I asked in general towards them, "Guys, have you ever seen a wolf shadows tall as the trees at night?" Suddenly, the brothers dropped their paddles they were carrying on their shoulders while accidentally knocked a few items off their baskets.

They turned around, eyes wide as saucers and with their mouths gaped wide open. They looked at me in bewilderment for a short while when suddenly Cheng finally spoke up," You sure you saw a shadow of a wolf as tall as the trees? Do you think its some shadows dancing off some lantern's light and its part of your imagination?!?"

"Y...Yes, I saw it at a glance's moment when I came back from the common latrine last night." I stammered while at the same time staring at them from one face to another.

I dreaded of thinking and saying the wrong words to them especially that I do not have the intention to reveal that I am just transmigrating into Bo's body while my original body was still back in my own time either in a comatose state or even may be in the morgue....or worse still already been laid to rest in peace six feet underground.

Ding and Eun picked up the fallen items that had rolled out from the basket; while Cheng glared at me with eyes that had gotten red either with rage or with the effects of being submerged in the sea.

"You do not speak of the Guardian Spirit when we are not within our settlement. The forest around here have ears but if you want to find out more, meet us at the 'port' later once you had done with these goods." hissed Cheng to me in a very voice that was a total opposite that he had spoken when the first time I met him and earlier on.

"Y...Yess.....I understand," I replied meekly and hung my head in silence while walking all the way back to the settlement...