Chapter 239 - 169: What a Coincidence
"You’re out of luck, sir. Our last stalk of blood ginseng was just sold."
Hearing the Shopkeeper’s words, Fang Yue shook his head and left the pharmacy.
He was somewhat disappointed, though.
But more than that, he was impressed. Denglai City truly was a more prosperous city than Shanyang Prefecture.
In Shanyang Prefecture, most pharmacies had never even heard of blood ginseng, let alone sold it.
Yet here in Denglai City, he had just wandered into a random pharmacy and immediately found a lead.
Unfortunately, he was too late, and someone else had bought it.
After leaving the shop, he resumed his casual search, but several more pharmacies also turned up empty.
He visited six pharmacies in total. Four had none in stock, and at the other two, the supply had just been bought out.
The next shipment to the pharmacies wouldn’t arrive for at least three months. Fang Yue couldn’t wait that long, so he had no choice but to give up.
He just wondered who had gotten to all this blood ginseng before him.
「Meanwhile, in another part of Denglai City.」
"Husband, this blood ginseng is far too expensive. We’ve spent more than half of our family’s silver in one go. What are we supposed to do now?"
Her heart ached as Zhang Shu gazed at the three brocade boxes before her, which contained three stalks of the medicinal herb known as blood ginseng.
The herbs were incredibly expensive; even the cheapest one cost eight thousand taels of silver.
The three stalks of blood ginseng had cost a grand total of thirty-four thousand six hundred taels of silver.
"What does a woman like you know? Our family has left Shanyang Prefecture. How are we supposed to establish a foothold here in Guangfeng Prefecture? If we can’t, we’ll burn through this silver in no time."
"Heh. Without a patron to protect us, we probably couldn’t even keep this money. Take a look around. Don’t you see how the local officials here in Denglai City look at us refugees? Their eyes are practically glowing with greed."
Chen Shicheng sneered. He came from a Noble Family, so he knew exactly how these officials thought.
’If his father were here, there’d be nothing to fear. A veteran seventh-grade military officer, a Qi Sensing Martial Master—he could still command enough respect to keep things in line.’
But as things stood, his father was still stationed in the Boundary Mountain region, guarding the border between the two prefectures. He couldn’t make it to Guangfeng Prefecture.
In other words, if someone in his position didn’t quickly come up with a plan to secure their place, they could easily fall prey to the schemes of some corrupt official.
"These people are wolves, and they’ve already marked us refugees as fat sheep ripe for the slaughter."
Chen Shicheng let out a cold laugh. Without further explanation, he took the gifts and set out to visit several influential figures in Denglai City.
’If he could pull the right strings and have his father transferred from Boundary Mountain to this area... it would still be a border defense post, but their situation would be entirely different.’
’That way, the Chen Family could gradually integrate into the political circles of Guangfeng Prefecture and put down roots.’
「The next day.」
Fang Yue went out alone, preparing to make a trip to the local Government Office.
He needed to get a travel permit for Guangfeng Prefecture.
After all, the one he currently had was issued by Shanyang Prefecture, which allowed him to travel freely without being stopped or questioned there.
But here in Guangfeng Prefecture, it wasn’t nearly as useful.
The officials here wouldn’t recognize a permit from Shanyang Prefecture. Or, even if the higher-ups did, the ones doing the grunt work—the Guard Army soldiers and government constables—certainly wouldn’t.
Just as he stepped out, Fang Yue noticed a commotion on the street not far ahead.
"Hmph. You lot look shifty, like spies from the Rebel Army. What are you up to, sneaking into Denglai City? Surrender now! I’m taking you in for a thorough interrogation!"
Several government constables dressed in black and red uniforms surrounded five horse-drawn carriages, weapons in hand.
Their leader wore a vicious expression, sneering at the people inside the carriages.
The other government constables beside him looked equally menacing.
"Do... do you know who we are? Get out of our way at once, and I’ll pretend this never happened."
A middle-aged man in luxurious clothes stepped forward from the convoy, the fat on his face trembling with rage.
"Hmph, I know exactly who you are. A spy for the Rebel Army! Now, are you coming with us quietly, or do we have to get rough?" the lead government constable barked.
"You... You’re going too far!"
The middle-aged man’s face turned beet red.
He was a man who had navigated the world of officials before, so he knew the score. He knew the saying: a County Magistrate might ruin a family, but his constables would wipe it out. These government constables were often far more vicious than the officials they served.
But now, he was the fish on the chopping block, completely at their mercy.
Here in Denglai City, his old connections and prestige were nothing but a joke.
What he couldn’t believe, however, was that even bribing the government constables was useless. They simply weren’t taking the bait.
Soon, the carriages and all the people were led away by the government constables.
"Excuse me, sir, what’s all this about? Why are those government constables just arresting people at random?"
Fang Yue asked a nearby old man, although he already had a few guesses of his own.
"Heh heh, what else could it be? They spotted a fat sheep and decided to slaughter it," the old man chuckled.
"Oh, I see."
Fang Yue understood. It was just as he’d suspected.
With the recent disaster in Shanyang Prefecture, many wealthy and prominent families had fled.
These people had been important figures back in Shanyang Prefecture, even in Shanyang City, but here in Denglai City, part of Guangfeng Prefecture, they were nobodies.
It was a classic case of a phoenix in distress being worth less than a chicken.
’Looks like I need to get that official permit from Guangfeng Prefecture as soon as possible,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, who knows when these increasingly brazen government constables might decide to come after me.’