A Storm Was Brewing

The road from Shahu County to Qingshan Village was rough, but the journey was only a dozen-odd li, and the weather was good. They arrived in less than a shichen.

Along the way, Lu Chen ran into several villagers he knew.

When they saw Lu Chen, they were so surprised they could barely speak.

Where had he made a fortune? He was actually leading three pregnant ewes home!

Lu Chen greeted them and went home.

He called the stunned Lu Tang and Lu Ming over to unload the goods, then paid the ox-cart driver. Once the driver had gone, Lu Tang could finally wait no longer and turned to the three goats on the ground.

"Brother, did... did you buy these?"

Her voice was trembling.

Lu Ming swallowed, his face full of disbelief.

How could he not know what state their household was in?

They were so poor they could barely keep the pot boiling!

Where had the money for all this come from?

"All right, I had a bit of good fortune and earned some money, so I went to the county town and bought a few things."

Lu Chen laughed. "Xiao Tang, I bought these clothes for you. See if they fit. I also bought some cloth, so we can make clothes for you both later! And here are some hair ties. I bought those for you too!"

After taking out Lu Tang's gifts, Lu Chen brought out a few more things. "Xiao Ming, this dagger is for you. Be careful with it and don't cut yourself. I bought you some clothes and shoes too."

"Put all this oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar in the kitchen. Oh, and I bought this roast chicken especially for you two. We're having roast chicken tonight!"

"Wow, it smells so good!" Lu Tang had just put her clothes inside. When she came back out and saw the big roast chicken, her eyes lit up. She came closer and stared without blinking, as if afraid it might vanish in a moment.

Lu Chen smiled.

"I bought these two goats for you. Drink some goat milk every day, and it'll make you strong and healthy so you can grow up quickly!"

"Huh? Weren't there three?" Lu Tang asked, puzzled.

"The other one is for Uncle Teng Yue. He saved my life, and I haven't gone to thank him these past few days. We can't let people say we're ungrateful and don't repay kindness!"

"Mm, we should thank Uncle Teng Yue!" Lu Ming nodded.

"I bought these brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones for you two. You don't have to be stingy with them, just don't waste them."

He took out all four treasures of the study.

After distributing everything, Lu Chen led the goat to Teng Yue's home.

The village's former old Xiucai, the teacher at its Village School, was Teng Yue's father, Teng Chuan.

Lu Chen talked with Teng Yue for a long time. Teng Yue refused to accept the goat no matter what and kept trying to turn it down. In the end, Teng Chuan made the decision to keep it.

Lu Chen stayed and talked with them a while longer before leaving with a smile.

Neither of them asked why Lu Chen had recovered so quickly or why he had money to buy a goat.

It was none of their business.

They were all from the same village and were connected through family ties. They were happy to see Lu Chen doing well.

Afterward, Lu Chen took gifts to Second Grandfather's home, Clan Leader Lu Xiande's home, and the homes of other villagers who had helped him, thanking them one household at a time.

Life was getting better.

That evening, Lu Tang and Lu Ming ate half the roast chicken and wanted more, but their stomachs wouldn't allow it. They couldn't finish it, so Lu Chen polished off the rest.

"Is it good? If it is, I'll buy another one next time!"

He was very grateful to Cheng Datou.

If not for him, where would he have gotten the money to buy all this?

The next time he needed money, if he was strong enough, he wanted to borrow a little more from the Green Bamboo Gang.

Surely they wouldn't mind.

That evening, Lu Chen sat in the courtyard, gazing at the bright moon on the horizon.

At some point, he had acquired the habit of watching the moon.

Perhaps it was because the education he had received from childhood made him feel that the moon represented longing and reunion.

Lu Ming was in the courtyard, excitedly playing with the light bow. Boys had never been able to resist things like that.

A straight wooden stick, a knife, a long spear, a bow and arrows—these were all things boys couldn't refuse.

Lu Tang, meanwhile, was playing with her hair ties.

She couldn't understand why her second brother was grinning so happily at a bow and arrows that he couldn't close his mouth.

She preferred the hair ties her brother had bought her. They were colorful and so pretty.

There were also her new clothes and shoes.

They were all pretty.

She would wear them out tomorrow and show her little friends. They'd die of envy!

Watching the two children in the courtyard, each happy in their own way, Lu Chen smiled too, though his mind was occupied with other matters.

Huang Chao is dead. Sooner or later, they'll find him. Cheng Datou and Huang Sangu died in the house. I shouted "Flying Eagle Horse Gang" at the time, but it probably won't do much good. Still, it's better than nothing. I need to make other preparations.

In truth, Lu Chen was still somewhat anxious.

He was still too unfamiliar with this world.

Once the Green Bamboo Gang follows the trail of Lu San, Lu Si, and Huang Chao, it'll be obvious that they all came to grief after coming to collect my debt. And Cheng Datou died right on the heels of Huang Chao coming to Qingshan Village. It'll be far too easy to connect the two.

Lu Chen pondered the matter.

He had to cultivate the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique to Organ Refining as soon as possible.

From what Cheng Datou had let slip, the Flying Eagle Horse Gang was very powerful, and the Green Bamboo Gang was beneath its notice. The strongest person in the Green Bamboo Gang probably wasn't beyond the Marrow Washing Realm, or Blood Exchange at most.

But even if it was Blood Exchange—no, even if it was only Organ Refining—he couldn't deal with it.

He was alone, with a younger brother and sister to look after, while the Green Bamboo Gang had strength in numbers.

It's a pity the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique can only be cultivated to Organ Refining. Right, I also got one Luck Value point. What can that do? Is it a higher-level Fate Value?

Lu Chen recalled the Luck Value he had obtained from Huang Sangu.

He opened the panel and examined the one Luck Value point. With a thought, Lu Chen learned where it had come from and what it did.

So it was because Huang Sangu abducted and trafficked too many children and women, harming heaven's harmony, that I got one point? Then why didn't Cheng Datou give me any? Didn't he traffic people with Huang Sangu?

Lu Chen was puzzled.

Simply put, Luck Value was much like merit, akin to fortune. It allowed a Trait to break through its original upper limit or fused several different Traits into a new one.

"Whoa, it can break a Trait's upper limit? Isn't that exactly what I need?"

Lu Chen was thrilled.

He had 103 Fate Value points and one Luck Value point left.

His greater mastery skills were Throwing, Robust Strength, and Nimble Footwork.

His lesser mastery skill was Thrusting.

His Ox-Splitting Saber Technique was at the Copper Skin Realm.

He had tried already. He couldn't upgrade the Ox-Splitting Saber Technique because he didn't have enough Fate Value.

Then I can only improve one greater mastery skill.

Throwing, Robust Strength, and Nimble Footwork were an attack, a strength skill, and a movement method, respectively. He could choose any of them.

I still have too little Fate Value... How else can I fleece some wool? I've already fleeced the children. Maybe I should think about how to fleece the adults? Do I really have to set up a night school? That doesn't seem very useful. Or should I teach them to make money? Tsk, too bad there's no way to fleece online lenders here. Otherwise, if the whole village did it together, we could definitely change our fates!

Changing fate sounds simple, but when you actually try it, there are problems everywhere. Except... killing people is the simplest!

Lu Chen startled himself with that thought.

Should I run to the county town in the middle of the night again and take out someone from the Green Bamboo Gang? Right, Huang Sangu wasn't from the Green Bamboo Gang. She was from the Black Pole Gang. I've never heard of that gang. I suppose it's a gang hidden underwater, one that specializes in shady business and whose name ordinary people have never even heard.

Perhaps I can consider stirring up some trouble for the Green Bamboo Gang and the Black Pole Gang, so they won't have time to concern themselves with me.

Lu Chen had a rough idea in mind.

In the county town, at the Green Bamboo Gang.

Hall Master Wang Bao was nearly mad with rage.

In a single night, his underling and his underling's underlings had all died?

"Qian Gui, how did the investigation I sent you on go?"

A plump figure immediately cupped his fists, bowed, and answered.

"Reporting to the hall master, the room was searched clean. All the valuables were gone, and there weren't any traces left behind. It looks like the work of an experienced hand. Also, we questioned a few neighboring households. They said it was quiet at other times, but it seemed they heard a very brief scream in the middle of the night. Someone also said they heard something about the Soaring Horse Gang?"

"Soaring Horse Gang?" Wang Bao froze, his cheek twitching.

It was the Flying Eagle Horse Gang, wasn't it?

How had the Flying Eagle Horse Gang become involved in this?

Where had that idiot Cheng Datou offended the Flying Eagle Horse Gang?

Wait, no!

Who were the Flying Eagle Horse Gang? Would they need lime to deal with a mere piece of trash at the Copper Skin Realm?

Such a method was obviously the work of someone relatively weak!

He was trying to muddy the waters and frame someone else!

Anyone with a little influence and status knew the Flying Eagle Horse Gang had come to Shanyang Prefecture. Was the person behind this trying to use that news to set the Green Bamboo Gang against the Flying Eagle Horse Gang?

Didn't they think a little too highly of the Green Bamboo Gang?

Could another gang in Shahu County have done it, hoping to sit back and reap the fisherman's profit?

Was it the Great Whale Gang or the Canal Gang?

The trickiest part was that Huang Sangu of the Black Pole Gang had died there too.

Ordinary people in Shahu County might not have heard of the Black Pole Gang, but those like him who dealt with them often knew perfectly well that they were beasts who practiced Body Mutilation for Begging.

Damn that Cheng Datou! Of all the women he could have slept with, why did it have to be that one?

That woman had committed every evil under the sun. She was dead, and that was that. It was hardly worth mentioning.

The problem was her son, Li Mantun. He had become an Organ Tempering Realm martial artist just last year and was the Black Pole Gang's deputy gang leader. His methods were vicious and cruel.

He was only a notch weaker than Wang Bao's own elder brother, Wang Hu, the Gang Leader of the Green Bamboo Gang.

Now Li Mantun was shouting that his kind and amiable mother had died in the Green Bamboo Gang's bed and that her reputation had suffered. He insisted Wang Bao pay compensation.

Compensate his fucking ass! Did that fucking wretch of a mother of his dare call herself kind and amiable?

He was just using it as an opportunity to expand the Black Pole Gang's territory!

That utterly conscienceless creature abducted and trafficked children and women. She should have died long ago!

Wang Bao considered himself a real bastard. He murdered and committed arson, ran gambling dens, and lent money at exorbitant interest. There was no evil he wouldn't do. He was a rotten scoundrel with pus on the soles of his feet and sores on top of his head, but next to someone like Huang Sangu, he considered himself a good man!

The situation was a little thorny now.

Wang Bao frowned deeply.

"Did you look into what Cheng Datou had been doing lately?"

He hadn't even asked who Cheng Datou's sworn enemies were.

When it came to people in gangs, there was no need to ask. There were far too many, and any one of them could have killed him.

"I heard he went out a few days ago, but we couldn't find out what he went to do. The people around him are gone too. Huang Chao seems to have gone to the countryside to collect a debt, and he hasn't come back yet."

"When Huang Chao gets back, question him!"

Wang Bao rubbed his brow.

He could smell the storm brewing.

The Flying Eagle Horse Gang had come in force, and the Green Bamboo Gang simply couldn't stand against them.

Now it seemed other forces were also meddling in the shadows.

Did the Black Pole Gang want to take a bite out of the Green Bamboo Gang too?

Please keep reading, and thank you, everyone! I'll kowtow to you all! ＿|￣|○