txolops Chapter 39 Dramatic Change
Chapter 39 Dramatic Change
East City, Fragrant Pavilion.
Zhou Qiuyuan, Lu Chengping, Wei Xiao, Qi Mingyu and Ma Hongyuan gathered on the third floor.
A large table was laid out in front of them, filled with food and wine. The ingredients were all exotic animal meat, medicinal cuisine made with aged herbs, and fine wines that were at least forty years old.
This meal was far more lavish than the previous banquets.
The other four chatted about things in their circle, but Zhou Qiuyuan wasn't interested and focused on eating.
His physical condition is getting better and better, and the dietary supplements he has been taking recently have played a significant role in this.
Lu Chengping would occasionally throw the topic to Zhou Qiuyuan so that he could blend into the atmosphere and avoid feeling alienated from the three rich young masters.
"I just received some news today, and you'll all know about it soon enough. I might as well tell you." Qi Mingyu revealed the secret she had just heard from home: "The Blackwater Sect attacked the Heavenly Craft Academy, annihilating the sect's headquarters and market in one fell swoop. Only a few immortal masters escaped."
"The Heavenly Craftsmanship Academy protected the Heavenly Craftsmanship City, which was severely damaged. The cost of repairing the formation was enormous. Since this place is less than two thousand miles away from the Black Swamp City, the immortal masters of the Blackwater Sect decided to relocate the surviving mortals to the Black Swamp City."
"The Heavenly Craft Academy is most skilled in crafting weapons. In this battle, many immortal masters with acquired spiritual roots have perished. In addition, with the spiritual tools of Heavenly Craft City, Brother Lu's thunder spirit tool will soon be available."
"Is this really true?" Lu Chengping was slightly surprised, feeling both delighted and somewhat sinister.
The Lu family's power is waning, not only because the Wang family is seizing business, but also because the immortal master the Lu family relied on suffered a severe injury while searching for treasure in the Blackwater Swamp and has been in seclusion ever since.
The Lu family also had immortal masters who purchased acquired spiritual roots to enter the inner city; however, they did not join the Blackwater Sect and therefore had no access to such information.
The Lu family was too slow to obtain information at the Immortal Master level. They didn't receive any advance warning about such a big event and only learned about it from Qi Mingyu.
Qi Mingyu smiled proudly and said, "Why would I lie to you! In just a few days, the mortals from Tianqiao Academy will be delivered to Black Swamp City one after another."
"Father told me not to tell anyone about this. If my brothers weren't people Mingyu trusts, why would he have leaked this information?"
For a moment, everyone's conversation revolved around the Blackwater Sect, their eyes filled with longing.
Did the Blackwater Sect destroy the Heavenly Craft Academy?
A large number of ordinary people from Tianqiao City are going to migrate to Black Swamp City.
No wonder the Qi family's Tianxiang Tower was secretly stockpiling grain. They received the news yesterday, but even a day later, the news was only circulating within the small circle of the large family.
Zhou Qiuyuan learned some clues from Gong Lei by chance, and only after attending the banquet tonight did he learn the whole story.
The land cultivated outside Kuromasa Castle was limited, and the rice produced could not supply too many people. Otherwise, the castle would not have been shrunk back then.
The influx of mortals from Tianqiao City will inevitably impact the limited rice supply in Black Swamp City, causing rice prices to skyrocket.
If there is a 30% food shortage, the selling price will not simply increase by 30%, but will continue to rise until 30% of the population can no longer afford food.
The more people entered Tianqiao City, the more frantically grain prices rose, even ushering in an unprecedented price surge.
The impact of this incident is likely no less than that of the city shrinkage incident years ago.
Did the immortal masters of the Blackwater Sect not know that sending too many people at once would lead to countless people being unable to afford food and a large number of people starving to death?
They had experienced something similar before and should have learned their lesson, but...
Zhou Qiuyuan sighed silently to himself and stopped thinking about it.
The tide of events rolls on like a wheel, and ordinary people cannot stop it; they can only try to protect themselves.
"Thank you for informing me, Brother Mingyu. I will immediately have my father stop selling grain. I'll take my leave now." Ma Hongyuan cupped his hands in greeting and hurriedly departed.
Wei Xiao was about to take his leave when he saw Lu Chengping wink at him, so he had to hold back.
The group toasted and drank, and after nine rounds of wine and five dishes, they had enjoyed their meal.
Qi Mingyu revealed some big news, and everyone took turns toasting him. He was a little tipsy and drank quite a lot of wine in one go. His personal attendant helped him leave.
Lu Chengping took out his money pouch to pay, only to find it empty. His expression changed slightly, and he angrily said, "That damned thief dared to lay a hand on me! He's incredibly audacious!"
Lu Chengping turned to Wei Xiao and looked at him with a pleading gaze, "Brother Wei, please pay for this meal first, and I'll make up for it next time."
Wei Xiao crossed his arms and said helplessly, "Brother Lu has hosted a banquet today, but I only brought my mouth with me."
"Brother knows I recently bought a mid-grade fire spirit tool and I don't have any spare money."
He glanced sideways at Zhou Qiuyuan and chuckled, "Isn't there another Brother Zhou here?"
"You've been eating for free with us for half a month, so you should show your appreciation. You can pay for this meal yourself."
Lu Chengping quickly shook his head and said, "That's not appropriate! Junior Brother Zhou's family is poor, and he can hardly afford the tuition fee for becoming a disciple. As his senior brother, I should take care of him..."
"I don't believe he can't come up with this much money!" Before Lu Chengping could finish speaking, Wei Xiao grabbed him by the neck and forcibly "kidnapped" him.
Only Zhou Qiuyuan was left to face the shopkeeper.
The innkeeper smiled and said, "Xiangmanlou does not offer credit. Please pay for the banquet in full, young master."
Zhou Qiuyuan watched the struggling Lu Chengping and the domineering Wei Xiao disappear from sight, then asked indifferently, "How much?"
"Rounding down the change, it's a total of twenty-three taels of gold."
Zhou Qiuyuan suspected he was hallucinating; the price was unbelievable.
He purchased 100 shi of rice and grain for nearly 20 taels of gold, but ended up spending 23 taels of gold on a single meal.
This is equivalent to consuming 120 shi of grain.
Just outrageous!
"Sir, Xiangmanlou uses only fresh, top-quality exotic animal meat, carefully prepared by our chef. The medicinal dishes include 30-year-old ginseng, and the Dragon Sparrow Tongue Wine is also 50 years old."
"Xiangmanlou has always been honest and fair in its business dealings, treating everyone, young and old, fairly and without question."
"Sir, are you perhaps trying to dine and dash?"
The words "free meal" seemed to carry a special magic, and several figures walked out of Xiangmanlou, looking at Zhou Qiuyuan with unfriendly eyes.
"All right!"
Zhou Qiuyuan took out a few gold leaves from his pocket. After the shopkeeper weighed them, he returned the rest.
Thankfully, this was a dream from the future; in reality, making him pay that much money would be the death of him.
As Zhou Qiuyuan walked downstairs, he saw Lu Chengping finally break free from Wei Xiao's grasp, looking at Zhou Qiuyuan with a face full of shame and saying, "It's all my fault, senior brother. I've made you spend so much money this time!"
Wei Xiao sneered and said, "Friendship is about reciprocity; there's no such thing as giving without receiving."
"That's just my temperament, Brother Zhou, please don't take offense."
"That's only right." Zhou Qiuyuan smiled, showing no remorse for paying twenty-three taels of gold.
This left Lu Chengping and Wei Xiao even more baffled.
Could it be that even twenty-three taels of gold couldn't seriously damage him?
After saying goodbye to Lu Chengping and Wei Xiao, Zhou Qiuyuan always suspected that Lu Chengping had not really been robbed of his money, but had instead set a trap specifically for him.
He had not forgotten that Lu Chengping had always wanted to obtain the Thunder-Nourishing Pill.
I've been eating and drinking for free all this time, and I've also gotten a lot of useful information. I've been living a very comfortable life and don't want to break off relations.
However, this is ultimately just my own speculation, and I still need to verify it myself.