The Great Seminary

Chapter 36

After all, Liu Jianshi was a ninth-grade cultivator who cultivated his physical body, and he quickly recovered some of his strength after being tortured.

He no longer jokingly spoke, and the mask of pain he had worn turned into a mask of sincerity.

He explained Zhang Gui's question sincerely:
"Well, among the guards who went hunting with the young master, there was a Taoist priest of an unconventional sect, known as the 'Pan-Golden Oil'.

A spell that causes a dormant spell.

In order to show off, he would use it every time he accompanied the second young master hunting.

We had originally planned to return to the village when it got dark tonight.

It's because of this bastard's arrogance that he predicted he would encounter a ferocious beast, which is why he has been hunting for so long."

Zhang Gui still seemed to not believe what he said.

"A mere young master like Yangzi actually employed monks to protect him while he was hunting, and some of them were practicing magic.

The Shuanghu Rong family is so grand.

But why have I never heard of its name?"

“The Shuanghu Rong family’s background is not that of officials, but that of imperial merchants.

Naturally, it is not well-known in the southern area like Siyang County.

We came here to buy the Zhang family's farm in Pingyang.

You must know the Zhang family in Pingyang, right? "

Zhang Gui's heart moved when he heard this.
“The Zhang family of Pingyang is naturally a household name in Siyang County.

But how could such a great farming and scholarly family possibly go bankrupt and sell the farm? You must be lying to me. I'm worried!"

As he said this, he stretched out his finger and pretended to insert it into Liu Jianshi's shoulder socket again.

Liu Jianshi was so frightened that his soul was about to be shattered. He hurriedly explained:
"I'm not lying to you, I'm not lying to you.

It is said that the Zhang family in Pingyang had recently suffered a civil strife and a great disaster, and had to pay a huge amount of money in compensation.

All the money for making "mother money" was gone, so I had no choice but to sell my property and land to survive."

"As a family of high esteem from a southern province, who else could they choose to buy land from? Why did they have to go to an imperial merchant like you, Rong?"

"Our young master said that even though the Zhang family of Pingyang has been in the southern provinces for over a hundred years, some of the powerful families in the south still regard them as refugees from the north.

Now that the Zhang family has shown signs of weakness, many local families have begun to show their "wolf side".

Rather than being eaten by them, it would be better for Zhuangzi to be sold to the imperial merchants.

Although it may not be possible to redeem it later, it is safe.”

"I see."

Zhang Gui nodded and smashed the swordsman's head with a punch.

He touched his heartbeat in fear. His true thoughts were much more terrifying than what he showed.

After a while, he took out the herbs from his arms and swallowed them.

The magic herb 'Baicao Xingming' was activated in time, and soon the skin wound on the heart healed without a trace.

Only then did Zhang Gui pick up the rapier he had just pulled out from the ground. After taking a look at it, he felt that the metal used for the casting was not like ordinary fine steel, so he put it away as a trophy.

Then he started touching the corpse.

The swordsman had two small picture albums, like notebooks, hidden in the lapel of his shirt.

The painting is a detailed erotic painting, which has been torn to pieces by steam, but the exquisite painting skills and paper quality can still be seen.

Zhang Gui flipped through it critically and found that it was in such bad condition that it was difficult to collect or resell. He sighed regretfully and threw it aside.

He took out another badge and looked at it.

The brass plate was engraved with water ripples and the word "Rong" was written in the middle.

It should be the badge of the Rong family in Shuanghu.

It was beautifully made but worthless, so Zhang Gui just threw it away.

He picked up a small purse, weighed it, and felt it was quite heavy, which made him excited.

With his hands clasped together, praying for the protection of the gods, he opened his purse and was surprised to see several gold ingots lying inside. The ingots were yellow to the point of being reddish-yellow, of excellent quality, and the size of ornamental walnuts, with the words "ten liang" engraved on them.

At the current exchange rate of one tael of gold to thirty taels of silver, that would be three hundred taels of silver.

It was enough for an ordinary market worker in Pingyang Town to work for more than ten years without eating or drinking.

After counting carefully, there were seven ingots in total, which was worth two thousand one hundred taels of silver.

A mere ninth-rank cultivator, even if he is lucky enough to be employed by a state-owned enterprise, can only earn 300 silver coins a month.

If I wasn't on a business trip to the prosperous coastal area of ​​the south, I would have wanted to go to a brothel to experience the charm of exotic beauties.

Liu Jianshi would never exchange all his savings for gold ingots and carry them with him so that he could attack at any time.

Now it's Zhang Gui's turn.

Keep rummaging.

There was also a portable "ox-powered crossbow" attached to the corpse's arm.

The compact gear tension system works in conjunction with a quiver that can hold seven thumb-sized crossbow arrows.

As long as the force is strong enough, you can string the crossbow and fire arrows continuously with a push upwards.

The price of this thing should be more expensive than the seven gold ingots combined, so Zhang Gui happily put it away.

There was no other valuable gain afterwards.

But he was already very satisfied, and even felt that the fear in his heart had dissipated a lot.

It is money that truly warms the heart.

A bloody corpse left where it is will soon become a parfait for the beasts in the forest.

But Zhang Gui was reluctant to waste it, so he carried it back to Mushroom Valley.

Now it would be late to return to Pingyang Town.

Youyufang is not a busy area, and there are no pedestrians on the streets.

Zhang Gui quietly returned to his door and jumped over the wall.

He quickly washed off the blood and mud on his body by the well, and pulled down two pieces of clothing from the leather clothesline in the yard to change into them.

He coughed loudly twice and shouted:
"Did Mom leave any food for me?"

"Hey, Xiaogui is back, why didn't I hear the door open?"

"He has loved unlocking doors and going home since he was little. We don't need to worry about him and just continue sleeping.

Son, there are some steamed buns left for you on the kitchen stove, as well as cabbage, tofu, and shrimp paste stew and cold tea. Go and have some."

Zhang Gui's kitchen is also a small workshop where Mrs. Yang makes fish and shrimp paste, so it is three or four times larger than the kitchens of ordinary people.

There used to be three stoves.

Now that the business has grown, there are seven stoves.

At this time, there was a small fire under the stove in the middle, and a steamer was steaming on top of the stove.

A wisp of steam rises from the steamer, emitting an enticing aroma of noodles.

Zhang Gui swallowed his saliva, opened the steamer, and more than twenty huge white flour buns came into view.

I picked one up impatiently and took a bite, and my mouth was filled with the delicious aroma.

Next to the steamer, there is a pot of cabbage, tofu and shrimp paste stewed with the lid of the steamer.

I mixed the remaining half of the steamed bun in the sauce, and used a spoon to scoop the cabbage and tofu into my mouth. The hunger in my heart was finally suppressed.

Although it may seem that Mrs. Yang's job of selling stinky shrimp paste does not show her face much, she actually makes a lot of money.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to take advantage of Zhang Jiujiang's family's relocation and buy the house next door without any borrowing or negotiation.

But now it seems impossible to continue saving money.

Zhang Gui's appetite is greater than that of five or six farmhands, who consume more food.

(End of this chapter)