"I heard you!" Ye Lang replied, his expression and tone unchanged.
"Then why bother going into the city!" the minor official scoffed.
"Does our entry into the city have anything to do with what you said?" Ye Lang asked curiously.
Yes, is it related?
Everyone is thinking about this question, and it seems like they have nothing to do with each other. Who is this person? Does he have the right to say such things?
Who did he think he was? The city lord? Or the emperor?
"Of course it's relevant, I'm from here..." the junior official stammered.
"What is it here? The head chef?" Ye Lang asked, guessing that the person in charge of distributing the porridge was probably the head chef or something similar.
"Who is the head chef? I, I am the grain officer here..." The minor official finally revealed his official title, but this made him feel ashamed. Looking at Ye Lang, he seemed a little embarrassed and angry.
"So it's you, Grain Officer! My apologies for not recognizing you!" Ye Lang said politely, but this politeness only lasted a short while before it was quickly broken.
"I just don't understand, what right do you have to tell us what we're doing in the city as a grain official?" Ye Lang asked calmly, his question not meant to be condescending, but simply a question.
However, other people heard it differently, thinking that Ye Lang was looking down on them and trying to embarrass them.
At this moment, people nearby couldn't help but secretly laugh, including those from the small town; they all seemed to dislike this grain official.
"I'm not qualified, how am I not qualified? Do you even know who my brother-in-law is?" In this situation, people usually bring up their powerful backers, even though this is a very low-class approach.
Just as I expected, they're bullying each other because of their master's power!
The people in the small town cursed inwardly with disdain. They tolerated this Petty Grain Official not because they were afraid of running out of grain, nor did he have the right to deduct from their grain supply. The reason they tolerated him was because of his Petty Grain Official.
"I don't know!" Ye Lang shook his head. "But, does it matter? Can you represent your brother-in-law?"
"Of course you can!" the Petty Grain Official said uncertainly, making it clear to everyone that he couldn't.
At this moment, Ye Lang said, "Oh, I see. Then tell me who your brother-in-law is."
Hey, you don't actually believe him, do you?!
Everyone present wiped the sweat from Ye Lang. "You can even believe this?"
"My brother-in-law is the Regiment Commander of the Knights Order here," the Petty Grain Official said arrogantly.
"Oh, isn't the Regiment Commander of the Knights Order the city lord?" Ye Lang asked, following the tone of the question.
"No!"
"Then what are you being so arrogant about?" Ye Lang asked with a smile.
Everyone was stunned...
"Of course... Ah... What did you just say?" Seeing Ye Lang's calm smile, the Petty Grain Official didn't react for a moment, thinking that Ye Lang was praising him.
At that moment, after recovering, the people nearby exclaimed in unison, "Then what are you being so arrogant about?!"
At this moment, the Petty Grain Official's face had turned crimson, like a bomb about to explode, and his anger and embarrassment seemed to have reached a breaking point.
"You're not the city lord, what right do you have to restrict our entry? Even if you were the city lord, you'd still have to open the city gates for me, let alone you! If you know what's good for you, get lost!" Ye Lang said softly.
The Petty Grain Official jumped up, shouting angrily, "You lowly commoner, how dare you tell me to get out! I'm telling you, you won't be entering this door this year, you're not qualified!!"
"A lowly commoner? Just for saying that, I could send you to jail, but I won't bother with a Petty Grain Official like you. What qualifications do you need to enter your tiny town?" Ye Lang said disdainfully to the Petty Grain Official.
In Ye Lang's words, there was actually something that the Petty Grain Official should pay attention to: the Petty Grain Official's disrespect towards him could actually lead to a lawsuit.
There is a universal law on this continent: if a noble is insulted, he or she must be punished, because they are nobles and should possess dignity; and if a noble insults another, he or she must also be punished accordingly, because they are nobles and should maintain their dignity!
Of course, this rule has been trampled on by some powerful nobles, and few people pay attention to it. However, if a commoner insults a noble, he will suffer a great loss. As for a noble of lower rank insulting a noble of higher rank, it goes without saying that he will die even more miserably than a commoner.
This is because, for commoners, nobles might only teach them a lesson, since they don't want to stoop to the level of commoners, as that would be beneath their dignity. But among nobles, it's an arena for struggle, and they won't let things go easily.
Judging from the appearance of this Petty Grain Official, he should be a minor nobleman, but he is definitely not of higher status than Ye Lang. It seems that Ye Lang also carries some kind of title, which he himself is not sure about, but he has always had it.
Although the Ye Clan left the Xiangkong Empire, their noble status was still recognized by all countries. Moreover, in order to curry favor with the Ye Clan, not to mention offending Ye Lang, even if Ye Lang, the Thirteenth Young Master, disliked them, they could still be erased.
At this moment, neither the Petty Grain Official nor the others paid any attention to this. They were only concerned about Ye Lang's tone, which said that this was a small town. If it wasn't his boastful tone, then it meant that he was a person of extraordinary status.
At this moment, the Petty Grain Official naturally believed the former more, thinking that Ye Lang was the kind of person who talked big.
"Hmph, quite the boast, I wonder if you even have the right to say that!" the Petty Grain Official sneered, seemingly not dwelling on Ye Lang's identity, as if afraid of touching on something he couldn't afford to offend.
"Then what qualifications do you think are required?" Ye Lang asked calmly.
"Well, at the very least, you have to be able to afford the City Entry Fee. That's the bare minimum. Ten copper coins for those with imperial status, and one Silver Coins for those without!" the Petty Grain Official said, barely managing to muster his breath. He now sensed that Ye Lang's identity was far from simple; his aura was unlike anything these refugees possessed.
"I thought it was something serious, but it's just City Entry Fee. Do you all have imperial status?" Ye Lang asked the refugees around him.
If it were before, Ye Lang would have already thrown a bag of gold coins at him, but now he doesn't want to; he won't give a single extra coin this time.
It wasn't that he suddenly realized he didn't want to squander money anymore; it was because he now understood that his money needed to be used where it was needed, and that squandering money should be postponed, or rather, postponed.
Upon learning that there were hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing this time, Ye Lang knew he could afford to squander his entire fortune...