Chapter 12: Incidents in the City

At dawn the next day, Xu Yaozu, Hunter Wang, and the others set off, pushing their handcarts.

By the time their group of more than thirty people arrived at the prefecture city, the gates had yet to open. Outside the city, a few refugees lay scattered on the ground.

They waited until the city gates opened. Xu Yaozu pushed his cart forward toward the gate guards, with the rest following closely behind. When they were about ten meters from the gate, they came to a stop.

After paying the entrance fee to the guards, Xu Yaozu entered the city.

Inside, the city appeared bustling and prosperous, but a closer look at the vendors’ expressions revealed that nearly everyone carried a look of worry.

Xu Yaozu arrived at a tea stall, where only one or two customers sat scattered about.

“Uncle, may I ask how to get to the grain store?”

The tea stall owner glanced up and pointed with his hand. “It’s in the back street.”

Just as Xu Yaozu was about to thank him, the owner glanced around cautiously before lowering his voice. “I can tell you’re a refugee. Let me give you some advice—buy your grain and leave quickly. Don’t linger in the city.

Sigh… this world devours people whole!”

After saying this, the tea stall owner turned away and closed his eyes again, as if resting.

Xu Yaozu thanked him and headed straight for the grain store.

The grain store was nothing like he had imagined—it was not overcrowded with desperate buyers. In fact, there were only a handful of customers.

He took a quick survey of the store and noticed that not only was the grain of good quality, but there was also a wide variety. Even miscellaneous goods were stocked in abundance.

A middle-aged man dressed as a shopkeeper approached him with a smile.

“Are you here to buy grain, sir? Our store has everything you could need.”

Xu Yaozu glanced around and saw that even the cheapest coarse grain was selling for 200 wen per jin—more than ten times the usual price.

As for salt, which was even more precious, the cheapest coarse salt was priced at five taels of silver.

A wave of anger and despair washed over him. The Sheng Dynasty had clear laws prohibiting merchants from inflating grain prices due to natural disasters. Even if prices fluctuated, the increase was not supposed to exceed fifty percent.

But here, the prices had skyrocketed tenfold. How could ordinary people afford to eat?

Despite his frustration, Xu Yaozu had no choice but to endure. The two hundred villagers of Dahe Village were depending on this grain for survival.

With ten taels of silver, he bought only two jin of coarse salt. He spent the rest of the money on coarse grain, but even then, the total amount of food barely reached five hundred jin.

As Xu Yaozu carefully inspected each sack of grain, the shopkeeper chuckled and said, “Our store is fair to all customers, young and old alike. Even the prefect himself has praised us.”

Xu Yaozu paused for a moment, then forced a simple, honest smile. He lifted the grain sacks and began loading them onto the cart.

Remembering the tea stall owner’s warning and wanting to be cautious, he quickened his pace to leave the city.

He was only a few hundred meters from the gate when a group of thugs, along with a wealthy-looking man, suddenly chased after him.

“Quick! Stop him!” the wealthy man shouted.

Xu Yaozu immediately sensed trouble and tried to rush toward the city gate, but a few of the thugs blocked his path.

“Where do you think you’re going? You stole my master’s grain and still want to run?”

“You must be mistaken, brother,” Xu Yaozu replied calmly. “I bought this grain from the grain store on the back street. How could it belong to your master?”

The thug sneered. “You say you bought it with silver? Who can prove it? How about I go back to the grain store with you and ask?”

Hearing this, Xu Yaozu immediately understood. This was clearly a well-planned scheme.

He looked toward the city gate, where the guards stood indifferent. His eyes reddened slightly. So this was what it meant to have officials who were supposed to serve the people.

It was likely that the prefect himself had a hand in this. What a well-calculated plan—to squeeze every last drop of blood from the refugees.

“No need to ask,” he said. “I suppose the shopkeeper would simply claim he’s never seen me before, right?”

The others burst into laughter. The wealthy-looking man strolled over leisurely and said, “You’re quite self-aware. Now, you lot, throw him out of the city.”

“I am this year’s newly appointed juren. Who dares lay a hand on me?”

The moment Xu Yaozu finished speaking, the laughter around him grew even louder.

“Just now, I thought you had some sense, but it turns out you’re just another fool. Do you think being a juren means anything in times like these?

Hahaha—looks like you won’t be leaving the city after all.”

As the thugs closed in on him, Xu Yaozu decided to fight back.

Although he had been a scholar since childhood, he wasn’t the type to bury himself in books all day. During breaks, he often worked the fields with his younger brothers, so he had built up some strength.

However, two fists were no match for four hands. He was quickly overwhelmed, and the thugs began striking him repeatedly with clubs. Their blows were ruthless, as if they intended to beat him to death.

Xu Yaozu started to think he might die here today—until, suddenly, a young man dropped from the sky.

The youth’s martial skills were profound. In just a breath’s time, all the thugs lay on the ground, yet his sword had never even left its scabbard.

Before Xu Yaozu could recover and express his gratitude, the young man had already leaped onto a carriage, took the reins, and prepared to leave.

Xu Yaozu gritted his teeth, struggled to his feet, and pushed his cart to follow behind the carriage. As expected, the guards did not stop him.

Only when he saw Hunter Wang and the others rushing toward him did he finally feel at ease.

Hunter Wang glanced at the bruises on Xu Yaozu’s face and was about to ask what had happened when Xu Yaozu suddenly ran after the carriage.

“Thank you for saving me, young master. Unfortunately, I have nothing to repay your kindness right now. May I at least know your name? Our entire village is deeply grateful to you.”

But the young man remained silent from beginning to end.

It wasn’t until a voice came from inside the carriage that Xu Yaozu realized there was someone else inside.

“Let him come closer.”

Xu Yaozu followed the young man to stand beside the carriage window. Before he could even speak his thanks, the person inside asked, “How many of you are fleeing? Where are you headed? Which route are you taking?”

Xu Yaozu didn’t want to answer these questions. However, for some reason, the voice inside was so calm and composed that he unconsciously found himself answering them one by one.

“…”

Ever since the small group had left for the city that morning, the people on the mountain had been restless.

Xu Nian didn’t want to just sit in the cave staring at everyone, so she took a few of her younger siblings outside to forage for food.

“Big Sister, what are we doing today? How about we go look for more dates?” Xu Jian asked, swallowing his saliva.

“There aren’t that many dates left. Let’s just wander around and see what we find.”

Since the youngest ones, Xu Cai and Xu Ling, had followed along, Xu Nian didn’t dare to go too far.

Not far behind the cave was a cliff, below which a waterfall had once flowed into a deep pool. This was where they had been getting their water for the past few days.

However, due to the drought, no water was flowing down anymore. Only a few meters of water remained in the pool.

“Big Sister, why are we here? There’s nothing to eat here,” little Xu Ling asked, her head full of confusion. Her mother had strictly forbidden her from coming near this place.

Xu Nian smiled mysteriously. “Maybe there’s a surprise waiting for us. Try throwing some stones into the water—who knows? There might be fish hiding down there.”