Chapter 115: A Small Episode in Hulu Town

Luo Mingyue nodded: "Yes, but it will take a long time to refine this pill."

Qingrui asked: "How long?"

Luo Mingyue replied: "Three days."

Qingrui was speechless, because for a dragon with a long life, three days was really too short and passed in a flash.

"I thought you were going to say that refining the elixir would take decades or even hundreds of years."

Luo Mingyue said: "How is that possible? By the time I finish refining the elixir, the little people I'm familiar with will be old."

She moved closer to the cardboard box. Because she had promised yesterday to take Jiang Yanfeng and others to the town, Luo Mingyue put down the wooden box at this moment.

Seeing this, Chen Qi jumped over and ran over.

Luo Mingyue grabbed him and put him into the wooden box.

Jiang Yanfeng also came up and said, "Grandpa Song hasn't prepared enough steamed buns, and Widow Yan hasn't prepared them either... Only Grandma Chen has finished steaming the flower rolls, because she has her husband to help her."

Luo Mingyue said, "Don't worry, I'll take you there first. I solved the property problem last night... There is a [Prophet] in Hulu Town named Fang Yurong. I saved her life, so she wants to give me a house, which will be in your name."

"prophet?"

Hearing these two words, Jiang Yanfeng subconsciously turned his head and looked at Chen Qi.

Chen Qi blinked his eyes and said, "I am still young. Theoretically, I can visit any nearby village. If the local [prophet] doesn't like me, he can expel me, but he can't kill me."

Luo Mingyue said: "Fang Yurong has a good personality, she won't chase you away."

Chen Qi grinned, "Of course, I'm just going to take a look around, I won't cause any trouble."

As he spoke, Luo Mingyue put them both down.

Jiang Yanfeng took Chen Qi into Hulu Town.

There were constant sounds of hawking on the streets, and storytellers in the teahouses.

All of this was new to Chen Qi.

He even bought two strings of candied haws.

Fang Yurong had completed a new dream contract and was worried that she could not contact Luo Mingyue when she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door and saw a handsome young man with gentle brows standing outside. The young man had an elegant scholarly air, and he was tall and graceful, with a graceful demeanor.

Next to the young man stood a little boy with handsome features and dark pupils.

The young man said, "Hello, my name is Jiang Yanfeng, and next to me is my younger brother, Chen Qi."

Fang Yurong smiled and said, "My name is Fang Yurong."

She invited the two men into the house for tea, and they chatted briefly and got to know each other a little better.

Fang Yurong took out the house deed and took Jiang Yanfeng and his brother to the yamen.

There was a plain-looking young man in the yamen, his surname was Sun, and he was a constable. Constable Sun had wanted to buy the family's house for a long time, but he had a good impression of Fang Yurong, and Fang's father was good at fortune-telling and obviously not someone he would easily mess with, so Constable Sun had never mentioned this matter. Now that he saw Fang Yurong was going to sell the house to a stranger, Constable Sun was immediately unhappy.

"Miss Fang, if you want to sell such a nice house, you might as well sell it to me."

Then, Constable Sun asked again, "How much do you want for this house? I can raise the price."

Fang Yurong said, "So it's Brother Sun. I didn't sell this house, I gave it away for free. Brother Jiang saved my life, so I decided to give him the house to thank him."

"What?"

Constable Sun's eyes widened immediately, and he couldn't help but say, "For free? This is too precious! For saving my life..."

I originally wanted to say "not worth it", but then I changed my mind and thought, doesn't this mean that Fang Yurong's life is not as good as a house?

Moreover, he couldn't say "I will marry you in exchange for saving my life", because Constable Sun wanted to marry Fang Yurong. He thought about it and said:

"How can a house be enough to repay the favor of saving my life? So don't give him the house. When this Brother Jiang comes to you for help in the future, it won't be too late for you to help him."

Fang Yurong said, "Brother Jiang wants a house."

Constable Sun said: "Usually only wealthy families live in this kind of large house with three entrances and three exits..."

Constable Sun has a wide network of contacts and he knows almost all the wealthy families in the village. He has never heard of a family with the surname Jiang.

"I wonder how many people there are in Brother Jiang's family? Why do you need to live in such a big place? How about this? Tell me the number of people in your family and I'll find a suitable house for you. Brother Jiang, do you think it's okay?"

Constable Sun felt that his tone was polite enough, calling Jiang Yanfeng "big brother" all the time. If Fang Yurong hadn't been here, he would have turned hostile in a moment and threatened Jiang Yanfeng to give up the house. But now, in front of his sweetheart, he could only take this polite approach.

Jiang Yanfeng said: "There are thirty-five people in my family."

"Three...thirty-five?"

Constable Sun was stunned. "Brother Jiang, where do you live now?"

Jiang Yanfeng was a little impatient after hearing so many of his questions. He said, "My home is not in town. I plan to move there."

"oh--"

Detective Sun nodded quickly and had an idea in mind. It would be difficult for outsiders like these to take root in the town. Firstly, they had no connections and didn't know who to ask for help when they encountered problems. Secondly, they had no power and were easily bullied.

Constable Sun planned to wait until the title deed was in Jiang Yanfeng's name before making a careful plan and finding a way to take over the house. Therefore, he was particularly enthusiastic and helped run errands throughout the process. Soon, the title deed was in Jiang Yanfeng's name.

Fang Yurong said, "Thank you, Brother Sun. You are such a nice person."

She smiled beautifully, and Constable Sun couldn't help but feel moved. He waved his hand and said, "Why are you being polite? Your business is my business."

Fang Yurong said goodbye to him with a smile, and then took Jiang Yanfeng and Chen Qi for a stroll in the town, introducing them to the general situation of the town, and finally said: "Brother Jiang, you can contact the immortal, right?"

Jiang Yanfeng said "hmm".

Fang Yurong added: "I foresaw through dreams that the [Yuanshui] awakeners sent by the court would poison the rainwater, and it was an extremely vicious poison that could infect the people with the plague. I can't think of a cure, and there is no [Xuanyi] in the town. I... want to ask the immortal for help."

Jiang Yanfeng said: "I will convey this to you."

"Thanks."

As they walked, Fang Yurong arrived at the residential area on the east side of the town, but saw that the people had gathered together and actually blocked the road.

"what happened?"

Fang Yurong was curious, and there happened to be several acquaintances in the crowd, so she stopped one of them and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Is that Fang girl? We are queuing up here to buy steamed buns."

Just now when Fang Yurong was busy transferring the house deed, Luo Mingyue had already sent another batch of little people, bringing Grandpa Song and several others over, because Luo Mingyue was going to refine the transformation pill next, but she had promised to send the little people to sell meals every day, so she had to break her promise. In order to compensate, she provided a lot of steamed bun crumbs and boiled egg crumbs, and also sent a carriage from Mojia Village, which was full of food.

Now, Grandpa Song and his two companions no longer hawked their wares separately. Instead, they worked together. Some were responsible for distributing the steamed buns, some were responsible for collecting fees, and some were responsible for using a large spoon to scoop boiled egg crumbs for the people. Each person received one spoonful, which was given as a gift if they bought steamed buns. It was free of charge.

The people were going crazy trying to grab the things.

"Steamed buns?" Fang Yurong was puzzled. When did the steamed bun seller become so popular? Didn't ordinary people steam their own steamed buns at home?

After buying the steamed buns, some people came out with basins full of steamed buns and a large spoonful of crushed eggs at the bottom. Everyone couldn't stop smiling.

The shape of the steamed buns is a bit strange. They are cut into cubes, while normal steamed buns are round.

Fang Yurong asked: "How much is this pot?"

"One penny."

"One penny?" Fang Yurong finally understood why the business was so booming.

Basically, each household only bought one cent worth of food, because everyone was short of money and couldn't bear to buy more. Moreover, there were limited people in the family. If they couldn't finish the food and it couldn't be refrigerated, it would go bad after a long time, so they didn't buy more.

"Don't push, everyone gets a share!"

Widow Yan was quick and efficient. She was responsible for scooping eggs for everyone. Grandma Chen was responsible for distributing steamed buns, and Grandpa Song was responsible for collecting money. They divided the work and worked together very efficiently.

Of course, there were also people in the crowd who loved to take advantage. After getting a spoonful of boiled eggs, they didn't pay for it, didn't even take the steamed buns, and just sneaked away.

Widow Yan did see it, but she didn't know the other person's name. In addition, there were many people around, so it was inconvenient for her to chase after him. She could only turn a blind eye and pretend not to notice.

There are also people whose families are really in financial difficulty and are reluctant to spend money, so they mix a spoonful of boiled eggs and take them home to give to their parents and children, but they are reluctant to eat even a single bite themselves.

Before long, the people had finished their purchases and dispersed contentedly.

"Village Chief Jiang!"

Widow Yan waved her hand.

Fang Yurong was surprised, "You know each other? Are you the village chief?"

Jiang Yanfeng nodded, introduced the identities of the three people to Fang Yurong, and said, "The immortal asked us to sell grain at a low price in order to make life easier for the people."

Fang Yurong heard this and thought of Luo Mingyue putting down pots of meat at night. She said with emotion, "Your immortal is really generous, but I guess she doesn't want to reveal her identity, so she won't put things down in the daytime. You can only sell them here."

Jiang Yanfeng said: "That's right, the original intention of the immortal is to let everyone live a good life, not to harvest faith."

There was still some food in the carriage that had not been sold, because many people in the town didn't know that food was sold here. Only those living near this street knew about it.

At this time, a tall and thin young man was walking over with a basin in his hand. When he found that the people had dispersed, he stopped and did not move forward.

Grandma Chen saw him and waved at him, "Come over here, young man. We haven't sold out the steamed buns yet."

The tall and thin young man blushed, and not only did he not move forward, he took a step back.

Grandma Song touched her face and asked in confusion: "I am so old, and my grandson is already ten years old. Why did this boy blush when he saw me?"

Widow Yan frowned slightly when she saw this and whispered, "Village Chief, this is the guy who secretly mixed two tablespoons of boiled egg crumbs and ran away."

Fang Yurong heard it and also whispered, "I know him. He is a filial son in our village. His surname is Zhao and his name is Zhao Bao. His mother actually gave birth to four children, two sons and one daughter. The daughter is married and lives far away. She has also started a family and it is impossible for her to send food to her mother every day. As for the two sons... the eldest son Zhaogui owed gambling debts and stole all of my mother's savings and resold her house deeds. Only my mother and the youngest son Zhao Bao are left. Zhao Bao is very filial, but unfortunately he has lost his house and has to support the elderly and repay the debts owed by his brother... Life is very tight."

"I heard that his wife got angry and took the children back to her parents' home, leaving him and his mother alone. He goes out early and comes back late every day to work as a laborer, but the town has been in a bad economic situation recently, and I heard that he was just fired by his employer."

Widow Yan felt a little sympathetic, and then asked in a low voice: "Why did you fire him? Isn't it because he always tries to take advantage of others?"

Fang Yurong shook her head. "That's not the case. In fact, Zhao Bao is a kind-hearted person. He used to help his neighbors for free whenever they had any difficulties. Unfortunately, he was dragged down by his brother's gambling debts and his life was tight. He might have come here because he saw that the food you sell is cheap."

Widow Yan was puzzled after hearing this: "Why should he pay off his brother's gambling debt? This is obviously unreasonable."

Fang Yurong said: "The casino people don't care about that... The casino people said that if he doesn't pay back, they will sell his mother... sell her to the building to pay off the debt."

"What building?" Widow Yan asked, and suddenly realized something. She covered her mouth, blinked her eyes, and whispered, "It's not the kind of brothel I thought it was, right? How old is the mother of the Zhao brothers? Is she beautiful?"

Fang Yurong said: "You are sold in to do hard labor, not to receive customers..."

Fang Yurong was not married yet, so she felt uncomfortable talking about this topic.

After hearing this, Widow Yan was overwhelmed with sympathy. She saw Zhao Bao moving towards the carriage, so she walked over, scooped two full spoonfuls of eggs, filled his bowl with steamed buns, and finally even filled her own bowl with steamed buns and handed them all to Zhao Bao.

Zhao Bao waved his hand and said, "I only gave one penny, I can't buy so much."

Widow Yan said, "Business is good today, I'm happy, and you're the last customer, so it's okay to take a little more."

Zhao Bao trembled with his lips, wanting to refuse but unable to do so. He looked deeply at Widow Yan, said thank you, then picked up the basin and ran away.

Grandpa Song said, "We are helping the immortals sell things today. Isn't it inappropriate for you to give away food for free?"

Widow Yan said: "The Immortal is kind, he won't blame me...right?"

She felt a little guilty.

Jiang Yanfeng smiled slightly and said, "The immortals are always kind and will not blame you."

This incident was just a minor incident and no one took it seriously.

Widow Yan and the others packed up their things and went to another street to sell the remaining steamed buns. Chen Qi and Jiang Yanfeng wandered around the street for a while. Then the two sides reunited and left Hulu Town together. They walked to the place where the immortal had picked them up and stood in the wooden boxes one by one.

Luo Mingyue sent them back and said, "I may have to go out for a few days. You will have to cook for yourselves during these days."

Jiang Yanfeng said, "Okay, I will pass this news on to everyone. In addition, Fang Xianzhi of Hulu Town said that when the [Yuanshui] people go to the town to make it rain, the rainwater will contain poison that can infect people with the plague."