Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 169 Night Talk
After Zhou Yixiu, along with Sect Leader Kang and others, harvested the alfalfa, they called Duan Anle to drive the animal cart and together they pulled the harvest into the newly built warehouse of Chongming Sect.

Since Commander Tie had said at the Pingrong County Office that day that the state government would purchase all major transactions from the government-run market from now on, Master Kang thought it would be better to keep this batch of alfalfa as green storage first and sell it to the state government later.

How to store the harvested spiritual plants is also a science. Zhou Yixiu called Kang Rongquan and Mo Ku over.

The old man took a decoction made of several herbs and carefully explained how to spray it. Afterwards he talked about how to set up restrictions and called Wei Gu, who still looked disappointed, to help.

The hundreds of arts of cultivation are never independent, and there are always close connections between them.

There was no shortage of people at this time, so Master Kang ordered the rest of the people to disperse and return to their respective duties.

The few people dispersed immediately. They never thought that the prize proposed by Han Yundao would be won by Duan Anle, a low-key guy.

He has always been resolute in doing things. In the alfalfa harvesting competition, he not only beat Zhou Xinran and Wei Gu, but even the old master Ji Wuwu was inferior to him.

Zhou Xinran and a group of fellow disciples were surrounding him, grabbing his collar and refusing to let him leave, insisting that he agree to treat them to a meal.

Duan Anle, an honest man, naturally responded with a smile, and stuffed all the newly obtained spirit stones into Jin Shilun's hands without missing a single one: "Well, thank you for preparing tonight, well, all the brothers can come to my courtyard."

Jin Shilun's injuries have improved a lot now, and it's time to stretch his muscles. Of course, he won't refuse the opportunity to practice, "Senior brother is always generous."

Although this amount of spirit stones may not seem like much, it is actually equivalent to a year's income for many independent cultivators. However, Duan Anle stuffed it into Jin Shilun's pocket without any reluctance. He is indeed a generous man.

The fellow disciples chatted and laughed and then dispersed. Soon the night fell and everyone came to Duan Anle's courtyard one after another.

The person who greeted the guests at the door was Duan Anle's cousin. The Duan family had always been a small family in Chongming Sect. Duan Anle's cousin looked like he was cast in the same mold as him, and his character was as honest and reliable as his.

After all the children arrived one by one, Xiao Wu Meng, Mo'er, Song Hui, and Dong Liu'er helped serve the wine and food, and then they sat down at their tables.

"My fellow disciples, you have taken the time to come and bring honor to my humble abode." As the host, Duan Anle held back for a long time, wanting to imitate his teacher and say some polite words to entertain the guests, but he still spoke haltingly.

Zhou Xinran, who was sitting in the middle, was so happy that she stopped him from talking. She stood up gracefully and said with a smile, "Okay, okay, I know you are happy for us to come, Junior Brother Duan. Don't learn from those pedants. We will not leave until we are drunk at the banquet today!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the children cheered.

Duan Anle was not at all displeased with Zhou Xinran's behavior of stealing the show. Instead, he felt relieved and raised his glass with a smile: "Senior sister is right. I won't leave until I'm drunk."

"Don't go home until you're drunk, don't go home until you're drunk!" The fat kid Kang Rongquan was shouting the loudest among the people. He had been busy helping Zhou Yixiu take care of the alfalfa recently and had to take a leave of absence to come here tonight. Pei Que next to him tried to pull him back several times but failed and was almost carried away by him.

However, he made the place quite lively. After hearing what they said, some younger ones also put their chopsticks on the spiritual food plates that they had already prepared.

The dishes that Jin Shilun prepared for this outing were very rich. He did not keep a single cent of the spirit stones that Duan Anle gave him, and used them all on tonight's ingredients.

The brothers and sisters did not come empty-handed. Zhou Xinran brought the spiritual wine stored by Zhou Yixiu, Pei Que brought the spiritual liquid he asked from Pei Yi, Ji Wuwu brought the old ginseng wine he had collected for many years, and Mo Ku brought the spiritual rice crackers he made himself.
Even Song Hui and Dong Liuer, two new kids, knew to go to the mountain and pick a basket of red mountain fruits before they could come together.

These things were evenly distributed one by one, filling up the small table in front of the children to begin with, just like a festival.

The younger generations ate with relish, expressing their enjoyment and applauding repeatedly.

They say they won't go home until they are drunk, but in fact, Jin Shilun and the older ones are all in charge, so how could they let the kids sitting there drink too much?

Even Kang Rongquan only gave one bowl of spirit wine, while Song Hui, Yuan Changsheng, Dong Liuer and others could only share a ladle to taste it.

Even so, they squinted their eyes happily. Normally, the master would not let them taste the spiritual wine, so they naturally could not waste it.

They ate heartily, and Kang Dabao also gathered with his fellow apprentices in the quiet room for a night talk. Compared with the younger generation who were eating and drinking, they only had a cup of cold tea in front of them, which looked much more shabby.

Sect Leader Kang took a sip of the spiritual tea in front of him, coughed lightly, and said solemnly: "There are two biggest benefits to the reconstruction of Chongming Market this time. First, the state government will allocate funds and lead the construction. We don't have to spend any more spiritual seeds. We can even provide materials and labor to the state government to earn spiritual stones."

He pointed to the original site of Linghe Market on the map and continued, "Secondly, the state government felt that the original Chongming Market was too close to Linghe Market, so it decided not to rebuild Linghe Market. In this way, there will only be our market nearby, and it will not be diverted by other markets, so business will naturally be better.

Moreover, the scale of the newly built market will be much larger, even larger than the Caowu Market of the Caowu Cult. By then, the only market in Pingrong County that can be compared with the scale of Chongming Market will be the Yushan Market of the Tongxiu Association. "But there are always some disadvantages." Ye Zhengwen frowned and said.

After hearing this, Master Kang nodded. Meetings are a time for everyone to work together, so of course he was happy to have someone speak up.

"That's right. First, although the provincial government has appointed me as the city lieutenant, they will still assign two city accountants to me. They say they are only responsible for checking the accounts, but in fact they will still have a clampdown on me."

“Secondly, although the provincial government had stated that it would provide compensation to the dead and injured merchants in Chongming Market, it had not said whether they would be given the opportunity to rent shops in the future.

They had a good cooperation with us before, and we have some close relationship with each other. If they can continue to stay in the market, it will be a help for us to deal with the changes from the state court. If I have time in a few days, I will go to Tie Zhijun to ask for them. "

"Third, after the reconstruction of the market by the state government, the Xue, Lu, and Ye families only gave one shop a rent-free treatment for half a century, and their original share was invalidated. In addition to the same treatment as the other three families, our Chongming clan only has the additional benefit of being able to share 10% of the various taxes collected by the market every year.

The only reason I can manage it now is because the state court gave me the title of the market lieutenant. If one day the state court does not allow me to do this, then Chongming Sect will only have a profit-sharing relationship with Chongming Market and will no longer have the right to govern it. "

Jiang Qing didn't like these menial matters. He frowned and said, "Senior Brother, please make the decision on these matters."

Ever since Pei Yi devoted himself to alchemy and practice, he didn't want to get involved in these matters and agreed with Jiang Qing's words.

Compared to them, Yuan Jin was the one with his own ideas. He just said, "Should we ask Uncle Hei Lu's opinion first?"

Sect Master Kang was silent for a while, then nodded and said, "Yes, that makes sense. Although Master Uncle Hei Lu said not to focus too much on these external things, I still need to report to Master Uncle when he comes out of retreat."

Everyone present knew that although Taoist Heilu still held the title of the head of the Hemu Sect, he had actually been residing in the Chongming Sect as the supreme elder.

His fellow disciples came to invite him again and again, but Taoist Heilu would not necessarily meet them every time, let alone invite them back.

However, the monks of Hemu Dao have been living a very comfortable life recently. Many well-known small families have been exploited and swallowed up by them. The spiritual fields, spiritual veins, mountains, forests and mineral veins have all been exploited by them.

Compared to working hard to earn resources, plundering by trickery is undoubtedly a more convenient and effective way.

Nowadays, the leading nephews of Heilu Taoist are living a much more comfortable life than the leader of Chongming Sect who is still struggling to fight for his life in the state court.

The reason why Taoist Heilu is unwilling to go back may not be due to the unfilial deeds of these descendants.

After listening to Kang Dabao, Ye Zhengwen said softly, "The merchants in Linghe Market have lost their place now. Their strength and capital are better than those merchants in Chongming Market. Some of them have a good reputation. Now is a good time to contact them."

Ye Zhengwen was worthy of being the one who had opened a shop and done business before. After hearing this, the head of Kangda nodded, thinking that this was something that could be done.

"It is easier to attract people by attracting a few merchants with strong brands. But we don't have to focus on the original merchants in Linghe Market.

Our Chongming Market is one of the markets closest to the Jackdaw Mountains in Yunjiao Province. Many major foundation-building sects have to send people to collect mountain products, mountain treasures, spiritual flowers and herbs. Inviting twenty Qi training forces is not as loud as inviting one foundation-building force to participate."

The head of Kangda talked for a while. Ye Zhengwen turned his one eye and thought for a while before speaking: "There are not many foundation-building sects in the nearby counties, and most of them have their own markets. If the head wants to invite them to settle in, it will take some effort."

"It is difficult to invite the foundation-building forces nearby, but we can ask those that are a little further away." Kang Dabao kept the question in suspense and did not say anything else.

"But it's always faster to walk on two legs. Junior Brother Ye knows a lot of people in Linghe Market. You can try to contact a few families with good reputations. If possible, it would be best if you can invite Master Chen Yu to come. The two city accountants that the state court is going to send have not arrived yet. Many regulations may not be as simple as we think. Junior Brother, you can contact them, but don't be too sure."

Kang Dabao's words made sense. Ye Zhengwen nodded in agreement and said nothing more.

"Okay, let's stop here for tonight. I will go to see my uncle tomorrow morning, and then go to Xuanwei City."

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(End of this chapter)