Price Increase

"System."

Host: Zhong Lin

Skills: **Archery** (max level), *Flying Locust Stone* (max level), *Three-Dimensional Painting* (max level), **Calligraphy** (max level), **Cooking** (max level), *Iron Mountain Skill* (max level), *Instant Kill Technique* (max level), *Black Tiger Fist* (max level), *Willow Catkin Movement Technique* (max level), *Wind Breaking Saber Technique* (max level)

Skill Points: ∞

Looking at the heap of skills on the System Panel, Zhong Lin felt the same satisfaction as a hamster hoarding food.

The Black Tiger Fist was the Martial Arts Manual Zhong Lin had taken from the bandit Mountain-Suppressing Tiger. He had left it sitting idle before because he could not read, but later discovered that it was merely an ordinary martial arts technique, nowhere near as good as the Iron Mountain Skill.

Zhong Lin found an opportunity to add it to the System Panel as well. Hadn't Little Shi been clamoring to learn martial arts? He could teach it to him.

Zhong Lin picked up the Ghost Head Saber again and practiced the Wind Breaking Saber Technique. The System Panel could inject martial arts experience, but to truly master it completely, he still needed to practice it himself.

This saber technique balanced speed and strength. The faster its speed, the heavier its force. At profound levels, once the saber light passed, heads would fall to the ground.

Actually, it was not quite that exaggerated.

After Zhong Lin used Skill Points to raise it to max level, looking down from such heights, it was really just a technique for wielding a saber. It was nothing like the novels from his previous life, where one swing could slash out saber light several yards long. After all, the lower three grades of martial arts were simply about tempering the body—running faster, jumping higher, and becoming stronger than ordinary people. Saber techniques merely allowed one to better unleash one's own strength. There was nothing that miraculous about them.

After practicing the saber technique and movement technique for a while, Zhong Lin got up and headed to East Market, greeting the residents of Sweet Water Alley along the way.

"Why does it feel like there are more refugees?"

Zhong Lin looked at the additional refugees in ragged clothes on the street, a slight frown creasing his brow.

Zhong Lin and Little Shi had come here as refugees themselves, so he was especially sensitive to them.

Refugees entered Black Mountain County every day, but they were soon absorbed. Some went to the docks to do hard labor, some were bought by wealthy households, and others were drafted into the army. Yet these days, the number of refugees had been growing larger and larger, to the point that it had begun affecting Black Mountain County's security.

After all, more refugees easily meant more beggars and petty thieves.

"Old Liang, same as usual. Cut me five jin of pork belly, plus three jin of fatty meat and three jin of lean meat."

Zhong Lin called out to Butcher Liang at the meat stall.

"Oh! Young Master Zhong is here. You haven't come to buy meat in days. I just slaughtered a grass-fed pig, and knowing you like pig ears, I've been saving them for you!" Butcher Liang said with a cheerful smile.

Zhong Lin's eyes lit up as well. With pig ears, he could make a plate of cold-mixed bait noodles. It was an excellent dish to go with alcohol.

"Then what are you waiting for? Cut it!"

As he spoke, he pulled three qian of broken silver from his money pouch and slapped it onto the counter.

Meat was expensive. Lean meat cost thirty Big Coins per jin, while fatty meat cost forty-five. The money Zhong Lin spent on five jin of pork belly and three jin of fatty meat was enough to feed an ordinary family for nearly half a month.

Butcher Liang did not collect the money. Still smiling, he said, "Young Master Zhong, this... isn't enough silver."

"Hm?"

"Meat prices have gone up. It's not just me raising prices—everything has gone up. Even coarse rice at the grain shops costs ten Big Coins per jin now," Butcher Liang hurriedly explained.

He did not want to lose a major customer like Zhong Lin. Besides, this major customer liked lean meat. His lean cuts often had to be sold together with fatty meat.

Zhong Lin frowned slightly. "Ten Big Coins per jin? Are you sure?"

Coarse rice was whole grain with only the husk removed. It did not taste as good as polished rice, but it was cheap, at five Big Coins per jin. Now its price had doubled.

"Why would I lie to you? That's the price marked at the grain shops. It was still eight Big Coins per jin yesterday, but today it became ten. I have no choice but to raise my meat prices too."

"Why has it gone up so much?"

"I don't know. I heard things have become chaotic outside. You're with the yamen, so you should know better than I do."

Know my ass. There had been a pile of rotten business these past few days. Zhong Lin practiced martial arts every day, and he truly knew little about what was happening outside.

Feeling somewhat vexed, Zhong Lin waved his hand. "Cut it. I won't short you."

"Alright! Please wait a moment. It'll be ready right away."

Butcher Liang quickly took up his knife and cut the meat, then carefully strung it together with straw rope.

After paying the silver, Zhong Lin did not take the meat. He told Butcher Liang that he would come back for it later, then turned and left.

Seeing the refugees, clearly far more numerous than usual, all along the way, Zhong Lin knew something must have happened outside. Since his transmigration, the heavens had only sent down one rain. Not only had the drought not ended, it had become even more severe.

As he passed a grain shop, Zhong Lin discovered that coarse rice was not ten Big Coins per jin as Butcher Liang had said, but twelve Big Coins.

Grain prices have risen a little too far. Something really is about to happen.

Zhong Lin's heart sank slightly.

Food was the people's heaven. Whether they could eat their fill was the first thing ordinary folk cared about, and drastic changes in grain prices would inevitably trigger many problems.

Lost in thought, Zhong Lin arrived at Xu's Clinic, the place where he had often come to buy Eight Treasures Blood Nourishing Soup.

But the clinic, usually surrounded by patients, now had several unfamiliar people inside.

"Master Huang, this month's protection fee."

Xu Lewu held out twelve round coins with square holes in their centers.

Master Huang took the Big Coins and weighed them twice in his hand. Satisfied, he said, "Not bad. You paid readily enough. But word has come down from above: starting this month, the protection fee goes up by twenty percent."

"Twenty percent?"

Xu Lewu flew into a rage at once. Hot-tempered as he was, he even wanted to strike directly, but the moment he saw Master Huang's huge frame, his anger instantly subsided. With a pained expression, he took another three Big Coins from his robes.

"So straightforward? I thought I'd have to use some methods!"

Master Huang was surprised as well. When he brought up the increased protection fee at the previous shops, every one of them had either cried poverty or tried to play rogue. But after being taught a lesson, they had all obediently handed over the money. He had thought this old fellow Xu Lewu would do the same, but he had not expected him to be so accommodating. It truly surprised him.

"Has Doctor Xu struck it rich recently?" Master Huang asked with a smile that was not a smile.

Xu Lewu gave a bitter laugh. "Where could this old bag of bones make a fortune, guarding a clinic? Besides, what happens on this street could possibly escape your notice? If I had gotten rich, how could I hide it from you?"

"That's true."

Master Huang thought about it and found it indeed reasonable. This street was under his protection—what stirrings of wind or blades of grass could escape him?

After putting the money into a cloth bag, Master Huang swaggered out of the clinic with his group of underlings and headed for the next establishment.

Only then did Zhong Lin step inside. Looking at Master Huang's back, he said, "Huang Sheng of the Black Water Gang?"