Upon hearing this, Qin Hao realized it made sense.
Think about it, who would give you a box of silver as soon as you arrive? There must be at least a hundred taels in there!
"Please speak, Master Jia!"
"Sir, it's like this, I noticed that the meat you used for disaster relief during the day was all wild animal meat. I wonder if you have any more wild animals? I'm willing to pay a high price to buy them!"
Upon hearing this, Qin Hao finally understood.
This beast was once a demon beast, but it was reduced to an ordinary wild beast due to the suppression of the laws of the Dharma-Ending Age.
Even ordinary wild beasts are more precious than common wild beasts; eating a piece of their meat can have miraculous effects.
Therefore, Qin Hao could understand what Master Jia said.
"Ahem, to be honest, Master Jia, I do have a lot of wild beasts. How many do you want?"
Upon hearing this, Master Jia immediately became excited.
"Sir, how many do you have?"
"Well, not too many, maybe tens of thousands, I still have some."
"What, tens of thousands?"
"Hmm, I wonder how much Master Jia can buy?"
How could this not shock Master Jia? Tens of thousands of wild beasts—it would take an army of 100,000 to capture them.
Wild beasts are incredibly powerful. Even now, it would take an enemy force of 10 to 1 ordinary person to defeat one.
"My lord, where are your tens of thousands of wild beasts?"
Hearing this, Qin Hao quickly replied, "I'm still hunting. Anyway, as many as you want, I can hunt them all."
Hearing this, Master Jia fell silent.
He thought to himself that this county magistrate was no ordinary man; he could hunt as many as he wanted. Could he be a descendant of some great general?
"My lord, I need 100 wild beasts. When can they be delivered?"
"Oh, only 100? Don't worry, I can deliver them to you tomorrow. But each of my wild beasts is quite expensive, you know?"
How much does the master want?
Qin Hao thought for a moment, then held up three fingers.
300 taels?
Qin Hao was shocked when he heard this. He only wanted to say that it was 3 taels per head, but he didn't expect the other party to add 100 times the amount!
"Ahem, Master Jia, no, you..."
"I understand, it's 300 taels of gold!"
Qin Hao was even more speechless; he hadn't expected this wild beast to be so valuable.
At the same time, Qin Hao was also amazed at how rich this patriarch was.
"Ahem, alright, deal. 300 taels of gold per head. I'll send someone to the Jia residence tomorrow!"
"Thank you, sir!"
And so, after chatting for a while, Master Jia left.
That evening, Qin Hao arranged for the little girl and boy to sleep, and then disappeared from the mansion.
The next second, Qin Hao appeared in the primeval forest.
This was once the place where Qin Hao comprehended the Universe Origin, and it was teeming with wild beasts.
Qin Hao reaped the lives of the wild beasts one by one, and in no time, Qin Hao had hunted down 1,000 wild animals.
"Hmm, that's about enough! We'll sell 100 head to Master Jia tomorrow, and the rest will be enough to feed the disaster victims for nine days."
With that, Qin Hao disappeared again, only to reappear in the mansion a second later, where he then began to sleep.
The next morning, the court session began.
The case being tried involved servants of the Jia family stealing the flesh of a little girl and a little boy.
"Court is now in session!"
"Mighty!"
At this time, the yamen already had about 50 people, including constables, servants, and jailers of all ranks.
The person kneeling below at this moment was none other than a servant of the Jia Family.
"Do you know your crime? You dare to openly rob others of their property!"
Qin Hao asked.
"My lord, I know I have committed a crime, please punish me!"
"Ha! You're just admitting your guilt like that? According to my investigation, as a servant of the Jia Family, you have no worries about food and drink, so you wouldn't do something like stealing someone else's food. So, tell me honestly, who ordered you to do this?"
"My lord, no, it was just a foolish thing I did in a moment of confusion. Please punish me!"
"Hmph! Not honest enough! Guards, give him 50 strokes of the cane until he confesses who the mastermind is!"
"Yes!"
After being beaten 200 times, the servant finally couldn't take it anymore and confessed.
There was nothing he could do; he wanted to die but couldn't, because Qin Hao had secretly cast Healing Art on him, keeping him alive and allowing him to feel the pain with perfect clarity of mind. Who could bear that?
"Sir, it was the master's order!"
"Very well, so what is your reason for doing this?"
"Sir, the master said he wants to test whether it's wild animal meat, so he ordered us to steal some and take it back for verification!"
"Very well, since you were acting under orders, you may be spared the death penalty, but you will not escape punishment. You will be imprisoned and sentenced to three years of labor reform!"
"Xu Qiang, take your men to the Jia Family immediately and bring Master Jia here!"
"Yes!"
Not long after, Xu Qiang arrived at the Jia Family with 10 servants.
"Hmph, you dare? We have connections with high-ranking officials in the Capital. How dare you arrest me?"
Seeing this, Xu Qiang was not afraid, but shouted, "Take them away! Anyone who dares to stop them will be executed on the spot!"
"Yes!"
Two men stepped forward and restrained Master Jia; no one dared to stop them.
Because of the few who tried to stop them, they are now lying on the ground, their bodies lying there.
They arrived at the government office.
"Hmph, sir, you have quite the airs of an official! You just took my money last night, and now you're turning your back on me?"
Master Jia glared at Qin Hao and cursed loudly.
"How dare you slander me! The 100 taels you gave me last night was a deposit for buying wild animals from me. How can you say I embezzled it?"
"Hmph, you corrupt official! You dare touch me? Do you know the identity of the Jia Family? Let me tell you, the Jia Family has connections in the Capital. If you dare to mess with me, you'd better watch out, you won't even know how you died!"
"Oh, really? I'd like to see who dares to stand up for a criminal!"
When Qin Hao's case was retried, the entire population of Taoyuan County was paying close attention.
Everyone heard that Master Jia had been arrested by the county magistrate for sending men to steal four bowls of meat from a little girl and a little boy.
Everyone sighed in amazement.
"The county magistrate is truly an upright official; he actually decided to investigate and prosecute this trivial matter!"
"Yes, and he even distributes food to us every day. What a good official!"
While everyone was discussing it, at that moment, inside the yamen (government office)...
"Jia Fugui, you'd better just confess! Otherwise you'll suffer physical pain!"
"Hmph, I don't believe you dare touch me!"
"Alright, guards, bring on the severe torture!"
"Yes!"
Finally, unable to endure the torture any longer, Jia Fugui confessed.
"My lord, I confess. I did order the servants to steal it, but I swear, I only said to take one bowl. The rest was all done by the servants on their own."
"Hey, that's right! Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely, understand?"
"Very well, after my investigation, the truth about Jia Fugui's act of instigating his servants to commit robbery has been revealed. Jia Fugui is hereby sentenced to a fine of 1000 taels of silver and detention for 15 days!"
Jia Fugui did not expect that Qin Hao would not execute him, but only fine him and detain him for 15 days.
He was filled with regret at that moment, wishing he had confessed sooner.