Meanwhile, at Huang Manor in the west of the city.
Three masked men lightly vaulted over the high wall. After briefly looking around, they leaped into the residence.
The man on the left was named Ding San. His voice was somewhat shrill. "This residence looks quite grand. Why has no one been living here?"
The man on the right, Ding Er, said, "Isn't it better if no one's here? Have you forgotten that time we were discovered and chased around like dogs?"
Several days earlier, the group had begun staking out this residence. From the outside, it looked utterly ordinary. Only a few servants responsible for cleaning came and went, all of them people without cultivation.
This had continued until this morning, when three carriages stopped outside the manor. After the drivers carried ten chests into the residence, they all left.
They knew it was time to make their move.
Once night fell, they slipped in over the high wall.
The man in the middle was clearly the leader of the three. His name was Ding Yi, and he lowered his voice.
"Enough nonsense, you two. Move together. Find those ten chests first."
The three swiftly made their way toward a building on the left. Nearing a window, Ding San lightly poked through the oiled paper covering it with a finger. By the moonlight, he made out the room's layout.
Ding San grew excited, his voice rising several notches.
"Big Brother, we've struck it rich! We've struck it rich!"
Ding Er became anxious and slapped him on the backside. "Rich, rich—rich how?"
Ding San turned around, his face brimming with excitement. "The furniture in this room is all rosewood. At a glance, you can tell the owner is either wealthy or noble."
"Do you think this could be some high official's place for keeping a mistress? Look, the outside is just ordinary white walls and black tiles, but inside—good heavens—the furniture is all rosewood..."
Ding Yi and Ding Er pondered it for a while and felt that was highly likely. Even if the owner was not a high official, he had to be someone extraordinary.
"Enough looking. Even if this furniture were yellow pearwood, we couldn't carry much away. Find those wooden chests first. Maybe the rest of our lives of wealth and glory depend on this one haul."
Though reluctant to leave, Ding San still moved away from the room.
Suddenly, Ding Er spoke in a low voice.
"Big Brother, I found tracks."
The other two went over to look. There was indeed a dense string of footprints on the ground. Following them, the three arrived at a small room. They quietly poked open the window paper and saw ten wooden chests sitting inside.
The three exchanged glances, their eyes blazing with fervor. They spoke in unison.
"Go!"
After confirming there were no mechanisms or traps, they entered the room. Ding San held a piece of wire in his hand, and with a light fiddle, he opened the lock.
They eagerly opened the chest, only to be dumbfounded the next moment. There were no treasures inside, only a chest packed to the brim with soybeans.
Ding San picked up a soybean and examined it closely, but no matter how he looked at it, it was just an ordinary soybean.
"These are soybeans? They went to all this trouble to transport ten chests of soybeans here?"
"Could they be some special medicinal ingredient?"
Ding Er was clearly a body refiner. He gripped the lock in his hand and exerted force sharply, directly crushing it. This chest, too, was filled with soybeans. The two turned to look toward their big brother.
Ding Yi stood there deep in thought, and the chest before him was also full of soybeans.
Ding Er snorted. "Whether they're soybeans or not, won't I know after eating one?"
Ding Er displayed the smooth-brained nature unique to body refiners. Though he had no idea what this was, he wanted to rely on his robust physique to test its flavor.
The instant the soybean reached his mouth, Ding Yi slapped his hand away.
"Do you have a brain? You don't even know whether it's poisonous, and you're stuffing it into your mouth?"
Suddenly, a disturbance came from outside the courtyard. The three immediately shut up, quickly closed the chests, and found places to hide inside the room.
Before long, the footsteps of two people approached, and the door was pushed open. They seemed to be checking the chests in the room.
Ding Yi and the others held their breath. If anything went wrong, they would flee at once. Although they were confident in their hiding skills, one chest's lock had been crushed by Ding Er.
Yet it seemed they had not been discovered.
One person spoke in an extremely deferential tone. "Lord Sasaki, rest assured. The journey has been extremely safe. No one has grown suspicious."
The other was clearly of higher status and immediately rebuked him. "Bastard! I told you not to call me Sasaki. Call me Huang Fu."
The voices gradually faded away, and only then did Ding Yi and the others emerge from the shadows.
Ding San scratched his head in confusion. "Sasaki? What a strange name."
"But they seem to value this batch of beans greatly. Could they really be something good?"
Yet no one replied for a long time. Ding San turned around. Ding Yi's brow was tightly furrowed as though he was contemplating something, while Ding Er had already hoisted two chests onto his shoulders and was studying how to carry three at once.
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After a moment's hesitation, Ding San stepped forward to help.
Just then, Ding Yi suddenly spoke. "Sasaki does not seem to be a given name. It is a surname among the Japanese pirates."
Ding San and Ding Er stopped what they were doing and exchanged a glance.
"Big Brother, you even know about the Japanese pirates? You really know too much."
Ding Yi glanced at the two brothers and sighed. One was smooth-brained, and the other could not move when he saw money. If he did not know a little more, their heads would have fallen long ago.
"Put the chests down first. This may not be something good."
"The Japanese pirates burn, kill, plunder, and commit every evil along the coast. He went to such lengths to send these things to Yongning Commandery. He cannot possibly be planning to do good deeds, can he?"
A sharp glint flashed through Ding Yi's eyes.
"If it isn't something good, then it is something bad. There's a problem with this batch of seeds!"
Time flew by, and soon it was the next morning.
Shen Qing, seated quietly in his room, slowly opened his eyes. A fierce aura surged forth.
Over the course of a single night, Shen Qing had perfectly converted all the medicinal power into true qi. His realm had soared directly from Xiantian Realm First Level to Xiantian Realm Fifth Level.
In just one night, Shen Qing had traveled the road that other Xiantian Realm martial artists took years to walk.
If Zhang Shan found out, he would probably brood resentfully for half the day again.
Suddenly, bursts of firecrackers and fireworks rang in his ears, accompanied by the joyous voices of the people. With a faint twitch of his nose, he could even smell the fragrance of wheat cakes.
Shen Qing rubbed his stomach.
"Is there some festival going on? My stomach happens to be hungry too. Wheat cakes sound pretty good..."
He rose, slightly restrained his true qi, pushed open the gates, and walked out of the courtyard.
Even the usually solemn Hundred Households Office had gained a little laughter.
Turning his head, he saw Scholar, Black Dog, Lin Zikai, and Old Li sitting in a circle, intensely discussing something.
Scholar spotted Shen Qing at once and hurriedly pulled the others to their feet. "Boss, you're up."
Shen Qing nodded and smiled. "I slept well. What's going on outside?"
Scholar hurriedly explained, "The Autumn Harvest Festival is coming up these days. Everyone outside is preparing for the sacrifice."
"A sacrifice?"
"That's right. Every three years, our Autumn Harvest Festival holds a grand sacrifice to the God of Millet, thanking him for the past years' abundant harvests and praying for favorable winds and rains in the years ahead."
"They're even giving out free wheat cakes on the streets."
Shen Qing remembered as well. Autumn Harvest Festivals were held throughout the dynasty. The dates varied somewhat, but they were generally not far apart.
The Autumn Harvest Festival in the Capital City was even more extravagant. Every sacrifice required powerful vicious beasts as offerings; Xiantian Realm beasts were not even worthy of being displayed.
Shen Qing walked over to the group and saw what they had been discussing so intensely: a map.
"What were you talking about just now?"
Lin Zikai quickly moved aside, revealing the map behind him. "Sir, we plan to pool our money and buy a courtyard on Academy Street. Academy Street has Taoli Academy, the best academy in Yongning Commandery. We want to bring over our younger brothers and sisters at home and send them there to study."
Shen Qing nodded thoughtfully. In these times, martial strength was revered, but martial cultivation was not the only path. Studying was also a broad, smooth road.
The dynasty seemed to grant special treatment to civil officials. Although everyone said martial cultivation could prolong one's life, those civil officials did not have short lives either. Shen Qing remembered that the position of current chancellor had not changed for four hundred years. In other words, that chancellor had already lived for four hundred years.
However, Shen Qing did not know the exact reason. After all, his former self had merely been a wastrel in the Capital City. He had run to Baiyun County in a fit of anger, wanting to prove himself.
"Where are you planning to buy, and how much silver will it cost?"
Lin Zikai smiled shyly and pointed to a location at the end of Academy Street. "Here, at the end of Academy Street. It only costs a little over three hundred taels of silver. Even pooling our money, this is all we can afford."
Shen Qing leaned over for a look. "Where are the most expensive ones?"
Thinking Shen Qing also wanted to buy one, Lin Zikai hurriedly pointed to another location. "Boss, the most expensive ones are here, in the center of Academy Street. One courtyard costs a little over seven hundred taels of silver."
"But don't worry. With Scholar here, he's really good at haggling. The place we want was originally selling for four hundred taels. Scholar haggled last night, and now it only costs three hundred and fifty taels."
Shen Qing nodded. "All right. Wait here for me."
With that, he returned to his own courtyard, then came out again shortly afterward.
He slapped thirty hundred-tael banknotes directly onto the table.
"Four people buying one place? If word gets out, people will think we can't afford it."
"Take it. Each of you buy one. Pick the expensive ones!"
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