Seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune: Starting with death row inmates

On the bed, Zhuang Man had heavy bandages wrapped around his chest and green herbs applied to his forehead.

Zhuang Fu frowned as he looked at his cousin's miserable state: "You mean... Shen Chen used Qin Pi's swordsmanship and defeated you with a single strike?"

Zhuang Man crossed his arms in front of him and nodded bitterly.

Zhuang Fu sighed, thought for a moment, and said, "Actually, your brother can think of other ways to help you..."

"That's enough, brother." Zhuang Man said calmly, "I'll just be content to be his subordinate. Following such a capable person doesn't seem so bad."

Seeing this, Zhuang Fu didn't say anything more, and sighed, "Alright, then you should focus on recovering."

He thought to himself, "Shen Chen was able to reach the Visceral Realm in such a short time. It seems he has extraordinary talent. No wonder Qin Pi treats him so well..."

"I always thought he was just a weakling who couldn't even kill a chicken. This kid is cunning and keeps things hidden... Wait, it seems like he was setting me up by trading those four salt wells with me?"

Zhuang Fu felt increasingly uneasy and made up his mind: "I'll go check out the salt well tomorrow."

The next day, Zhuang Fu went to the salt well in the back mountain very early.

The salt well remained the same as before, with a group of laborers drawing brine and boiling it into coarse salt; nothing seemed amiss.

What surprised Zhuang Fu the most was that the faces of these laborers were much better than when he was in charge of the mine.

"What's going on?" Zhuang Fu remained calm and continued to observe.

At noon, after lunch, the workers collectively put down their work and lay down on the nearby flat and clean straw mats to take a nap.

However, the foreman in charge of supervision nearby turned a blind eye to this scene.

Zhuang Fu pondered, "These lazybones see Shen Chen as weak and easy to bully, so they're slacking off like this?"

He secretly counted the bags of salt again and saw that the number was nearly 30% less than when he was in charge. He sneered inwardly, "Hmph, it's a miracle they can even make any money."

Just as he was about to leave, a voice called out, "Master Zhuang?"

Zhuang Fu turned his head and saw that it was Wei Xiong. He said somewhat awkwardly, "Brother Wei, I've come to see what kind of business you're doing."

"These salt wells are quite good, and the salt they produce is excellent." Wei Xiong nodded with a smile. "The head of the Zhuang family is indeed a very honest person."

"Haha..." Zhuang Fuqian laughed twice, wondering to himself that salt prices had been falling recently, so why was Wei Xiong not reacting at all?

Zhuang Fu said, "I think there are quite a few slackers among those laborers. Brother Wei, you must keep a close eye on them."

Wei Xiong said calmly, "It's alright, noon is a time for rest anyway."

"Hehe, Brother Wei is truly kind, giving them time to rest." Zhuang Fu praised Wei Xiong with a forced smile before turning and leaving.

workshop.

"Zhuang Fu came to see the salt wells?" Shen Chen raised an eyebrow upon hearing this news. "Does he want to back out?"

Wei Xiong said, "I think he just strolled around and didn't do anything else."

Shen Chen drew a fortune stick, and seeing that there were no problems, he nodded and turned to look at the large pot next to him: "The heat should be just right."

A pot of salt water was boiling in a large pot. As time went by, white steam rose, and salt crystals gradually appeared at the bottom of the pot.

Upon seeing this, Wei Xiong asked in surprise, "What are these things?"

As the steam dissipates, more and more salt crystals condense at the bottom of the pot.

Shen Chen picked up a spatula, scraped the salt crystals out of the pot, and then sifted them through a sieve.

Fine, snow-white grains of salt appeared before Wei Xiong.

"Brother Wei, what do you think of this salt?" Shen Chen asked.

Wei Xiong picked up a pinch of salt with his thumb and forefinger, rubbed it carefully, and then licked it with his tongue. His eyes lit up immediately: "Good salt! Excellent salt!"

Wei Xiong looked down at the salt Shen Chen had made. He had traveled all over the country and seen countless strange things, but he had never seen such fine and good salt.

"Brother Shen, you actually know how to make salt?" Wei Xiong looked at Shen Chen with admiration and surprise. "The key is... I've never seen this method of salt making before. Where did you learn it?"

"I stumbled upon it in an old book; it's called recrystallization," Shen Chen said casually.

Looking at the fine salt on the table, Wei Xiong was extremely excited: "With this method, we won't have to worry about selling our salt at a high price."

After tasting the salt made by Shen Chen, Wei Xiong could only describe the salt on the market as garbage.

Shen Chen nodded: "Next, we just need to wait for the price of salt to rise."

Just then, there was a sudden, urgent knocking at the door: "Master Shen, Master Wei, something terrible has happened!"

Shen Chen and Wei Xiong pushed open the door. The person who entered was a worker from the salt well. He looked anxious and said breathlessly, "Something's happened at Salt Well No. 2!"

Salt Well No. 2.

The crowded people surrounded a corpse lying on the ground. The corpse was in a gruesome state, with almost the entire upper body gone, leaving only two legs.

Whispering voices arose:

"What happened? How did Zhao Laosan die?"

"Hiss... Don't you know? There's a monster in that salt well with a mouth bigger than the well opening. It can eat a person in one gulp, leaving only their two legs."

"That's fucking outrageous..."

Wei Xiong and Shen Chen arrived at the construction site. After understanding the situation, Wei Xiong sternly rebuked the crowd still gathered around: "What are you looking at? Disperse!"

Shen Chen stared at the mangled corpse on the ground, his eyes flashing: "No wonder Zhuang Fu was in such a hurry to sell this salt well; it turns out there was something wrong with the well itself."

Wei Xiong summoned the foreman, and after hearing the foreman's account, he cursed, "That Zhuang Fu is so dishonest! He actually kept this from me! I'll curse his own mother..."

Wei Xiong told Shen Chen, "There's a bloodthirsty python in this salt well; it's very difficult to deal with."

The Bloodthirsty Python is a peculiar and ferocious beast that has an extreme fondness for blood. Because the taste of brine is somewhat similar to that of human blood, it is often found in salt wells.

With the appearance of such a ferocious beast, the salt wells will definitely be unable to continue operating normally for the next two days.

"I'll go and deal with this beast." Wei Xiong made a quick decision, grabbed his sword, and went down into the well.

Nearly half an hour later, Wei Xiong climbed out of the well again.

"Should we kill that beast?" Everyone looked at Wei Xiong expectantly.

"Damn it, that beast is so cunning, it runs away as soon as it sees me, we can't catch it at all!" Wei Xiong cursed.

Wei Xiong was a master of the Meridian Opening Realm, his true energy was sharp and unrestrained. Ferocious beasts are always keen to sense true energy, and they knew danger was coming as soon as Wei Xiong approached, so they quickly ran away.

Shen Chen arrived at the salt well and looked at the dark well opening. From the darkness below the well opening, it seemed as if a fierce gaze was scrutinizing him.

"Hmph, you're ruining my business, you're asking for death." Shen Chen's face was icy cold.

[Good fortune: You personally went down into the well and successfully slew the bloodthirsty python. Auspicious.]