Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie then immediately drove his car into the trading center where he bought things.

He was still using Samira’s purse. When Samira failed his plot to screw Zhang Tie in the Wild Wolf Castle by losing his purse, Zhang Tie found that this purse was very fashionable and comfortable, so he decided to keep it with him. Not afraid that Samira will find him trouble for it.

The two bags of rice cost only a small half of the silver coins in the purse. There were still more than 20 gold coins that were still untouched.

The amount of money inside the purse was equal to more than his dad’s two years’ salary. It was not a small amount of money for Zhang Tie. Previously, he had felt reluctant to spend it, however, when he thought back to those small kids who rose high the board ’We are very hungry’ with wide-open eyes fixed on him, Zhang Tie couldn’t hold onto it any longer.

Zhang Tie felt that it might really be the god’s willingness. In the beginning, in the name of the phantom ’contract of soul and bloodline promise’ of Grandma Teresa and that Guardian God School, he prevented Samira from winning against him in the court and finally gained a complete victory. Therefore, today, he would use this money for the orphanage of the Guardian God School.

Most average people in Blackhot City would have time to buy things only after they finished their work in the evening. This was especially so after the prices of food sharply surged, compared to before, and people could buy fewer things at a time, though the purchase frequency increased. Therefore, many shops and firms in the trading center would not close up until 10:00 pm.

Being very familiar with this trading center, Zhang Tie had a clear route in his mind. He directly drove to a comprehensive firm opened by a Chinese.

The moment Zhang Tie got off his car to look around, the boss of the firm was already enthusiastically greeting him in front of the gate. Zhang Tie saw a shrewd personality in this boss that could be seen on all Chinese businessmen who did business in foreign countries.

Looking around the various commodities that had been piled as high as small hills in the warehouse beside this firm, Zhang Tie nodded his head internally.

”What can I do for you?”

The Chinese boss was very enthusiastic about his new customer because of Zhang Tie’s Chinese appearance and the good reputation of the Norman Empire’s soldiers when they shopped in Blackhot City.

The boss spoke Chinese. In this age, all the Chinese were very united. In the eyes of other human kinds, the they were people who could become partners from a group of two, form a team from a group of three, and a gang from a group of five. In any place, once the number of Chinese exceeded ten, nobody would then dare to find them trouble.

Without saying anything, Zhang Tie directly threw that purse to the Chinese boss, who easily caught it.

”I will spend all this money in your firm, how many benefits can you give me?” Zhang Tie asked in Chinese.

Simply after weighing it in hand, the boss already revealed a smile. ”You can enjoy 30% off in our firm if the cost exceeds 20 gold coins, once. As you are a Chinese, I’ll give you an extra 10% off, totaling in 40% off. Besides, I can help you send the commodities to your home. Due to low profits in grains, this is the largest benefit that I can give you!”

”Fine, give me the list of commodities, I want to have a look!”

Of course little deals would not need a list of commodities, however, as for transactions above ten gold coins like this, the boss would present a list of commodities for the guest to choose from. The list included everything that was stored in the warehouse and what the boss could get for the guest.

Glancing over the list, Zhang Tie started the shopping spree like ordering dishes in a hotel.

50 bags of rice, 25 kgs in each bag...

34 bags of corn, 30 kgs in each bag...

50 bags of flour, 25 kgs in each bag...

140 kgs of dried meat slices...

98 kgs of white sugar...

127 kgs of salt...

23 bottles of plume oil, 5 kgs a bottle...

17 bottles of alcohol, 2 kgs a bottle...

Zhang Tie ordered all the items one by one while the Chinese boss scribbled it down on a notebook with a pen. After noting it all, he hurriedly started to calculate on the abacus. After deducting 40% of the total price, he got the final result - 26 gold coins, 18 silver coins, and 33 copper coins. He then opened Zhang Tie’s purse and counted the coins inside. After he finished counting, he was really dumbfounded. There were 26 gold coins, 18 silver coins and 33 copper coins inside.

They were precisely equal to the total amount of these commodities.

”What? Isn’t it enough?”

”Enough, enough, the money inside is precisely enough. Not even one coin less. I just had planned to reduce 33 copper coins for you before!”

Sweat formed on Chinese boss’ forehead.

’It took this military officer less than 30 seconds to order all the items. Most of the prices were different, and were not even integers. Besides, I even gave him a 40% off. Had he calculated them all in his mind when he ordered? How could that happen? It takes me, a highly skilled abacus manipulator with dozens of years’ experience, over one minute to calculate them all, how could this person know the answer only after one glance.’

This could never be a coincidence.

At once, the Chinese boss started to feel that this young military officer of the Norman Empire was unpredictable. He could never know that Zhang Tie’s ’Mental Arithmetic by Abacus’ had reached a level that could not even be described by himself. When Zhang Tie took the list of commodities, only after one glance over it, he already knew how many items could be purchased using the money in the purse. After two seconds’ consideration he had already determined what he could purchase.

”Can you load them up now?”

”Oh, yea, right away! These items will be directly taken from the warehouse, though the alcohol will take some extra time as it has to be sent from elsewhere...”

”Fine, please hurry up, someone is waiting for these items to cook supper!”

”Alright, I’ll arrange it in ten minutes. Please come in and have a drink!”

The boss looked more affable after the sale.

Ten minutes later, a truck full of commodities and four carriers drove to the west side of Blackhot City following Zhang Tie’s car. After a short while, they arrived at the orphanage in the civilians’ area, which was not far from the west city wall.

Like what Zhang Tie saw when he came here bringing rice soup before, Grandma Teresa and a group of kids from the orphanage stood at the entrance with raised heads, waiting for Zhang Tie’s arrival as they all knew that he would bring them some food today. However, nobody could have imagined that what followed Zhang Tie would be a truck full of all kinds of food and materials that the orphanage needed most.

Rice, flour, corn, sugar, dried meat, oil, salt, and alcohol.

A truckload of items! Since Grandma Teresa founded this orphanage, this was the largest donation that the orphanage had received till now.

Seeing the truck, all the kids cheered up, and their small faces revealed jubilant smiles at once. The desolate orphanage immediately became joyful, like welcoming a grand festival.

Although Zhang Tie felt reluctant to spend all of this money at the beginning, the moment he saw the brilliance and hope on the faces of those kids and Grandma Teresa, he also felt warm and very happy inside.

‘Everything I did for the orphanage is worth it,’ Zhang Tie murmured inside. He felt truly rich, which originated from how many people he could use his money to please and satisfy.

A mean guy with countless gold coins was definitely not as satisfied as him; if he had kept the money in his purse, he would still not have tasted this sense of satisfaction and pleasure.

It was really happy to have money, however, he would feel happier, more satisfied, and more brilliant inside if he could spend that money to make his beloved people happy!

Filled with such great pleasure and satisfaction, Zhang Tie almost forgot his wounds, joining the army of carriers, helping them to bring the items into the orphanage from the truck.

However, after he placed two bags of rice under his left armpit and used his strength to carry it, the wounds on his abdomen and shoulder started to pulse with pain.

He gritted his teeth and went ahead, but after carrying only one round of items, Zhang Tie’s face had already turned sallow, a patch of fine sweat drops forming on his forehead. Worse, the two wounds seemed to have started bleeding again.

A little girl with a bag of salt in hand happily rushed over and hit Zhang Tie’s abdomen carelessly. She hurriedly apologized when she saw his face immediately turning pale.

”Doesn’t matter, go ahead and bring inside what you’re carrying!”

Zhang Tie forced a smile as he saw off that little girl, then panted for breath.

Grandma Teresa walked over with her eyes fixed on Zhang Tie’s face.

”You’ve been wounded?”

”Yea, a bit, doesn’t matter. These items should help the orphanage pass through this period!”

Zhang Tie revealed a smile.

”Can you show me your wounds?” Grandma Teresa asked carefully.

”You can deal with injuries?” Zhang Tie joked in a relaxed manner.

”God’s brilliance exists everywhere!”

...

When the kids and female servants of the orphanage were jubilantly preparing for a grand supper, under the persistent suggestion, Zhang Tie took off his upper clothes and laid down on a hard bed in Grandma Teresa’s prayer room.

Guardian God School’s pious believers would regularly lock themselves inside such prayer rooms where they can isolate themselves from the outside for seven days, during which they would pray, meditate, and clean their own inner heart and body.

After undoing Zhang Tie’s bandage and gauze, Grandma Teresa noticed that the wounds on his abdomen and the hollow that connected his left arm and his chest had already started to ooze blood. After checking the wounds carefully, she told Zhang Tie to lie on the bed and wait for her to come back; she would get a bottle of medicine.

Under Grandma Teresa’s strong persistence, Zhang Tie couldn’t refuse her anymore. Therefore, he just stayed in the prayer room.

Two minutes later, she walked in with an old-fashioned small box, the material of which he did not recognize...

On its outside was a silver olive branch pattern of the Guardian God School. At the sight of this small box, Zhang Tie instantly knew that the item inside was definitely not common.