Using Greed

After saying that, Qin Fang could no longer hold on. His vision went black, and he fell unconscious.

The burly man with a face full of flesh hurried forward and snatched the Golden Chain from Qin Fang's hand.

He carefully wiped it clean, then, not caring that it had been handled by Qin Fang's filthy hands, put it straight into his mouth and bit down.

Everyone crowded around, watching Brother Dragon expectantly.

Brother Dragon bit through the chain. After examining it closely, a wild joy surfaced in his eyes.

"It's real!"

"Really?!"

The others immediately turned to Qin Fang, their eyes shining as they rushed him all at once and began searching him from head to toe.

One of them noticed the crutch. When he picked it up and looked, he discovered that a small hole had been hollowed out in its middle, then wrapped with ragged cloth on the outside, creating a concealed hollow space.

Clearly, the Golden Chain had been hidden inside.

But now, it was completely empty.

"Fuck, he's filthy... There's nothing else."

They searched Qin Fang all over for a while, pulling out his Identity Plate and the dagger at his waist.

But they found nothing else of value.

Qin Fang's filthy state had them all cursing under their breaths.

One man asked Brother Dragon softly, "Brother Dragon, this guy said just now that there was more outside the city..."

He licked his lips, the greed in his eyes laid bare for all to see.

This was gold!

It was worth even more than silver!

Great Yu's currency used Great Yu Currency as its basic unit.

One Currency was one cash; a thousand Currency made one string, roughly equal to one tael of silver.

Ten taels of silver equaled one tael of gold.

But those were the official exchange rates.

In actual civilian use... it generally took twelve strings to exchange for one tael of silver.

Likewise, it took around twelve taels of silver to exchange for one tael of gold.

That depended on whether the currency had been minted officially or privately.

Privately minted silver generally had a lower silver content than official silver. Therefore, the ratios differed.

And though this gold necklace the refugee had produced was not especially thick... it still weighed around one tael!

Converted, that was more than twelve taels of silver!

...For an ordinary farming household, their entire annual income was likely no more than that!

The men stared with burning eyes at the gold necklace.

All of them swallowed unconsciously.

"Who would have thought a refugee could be this rich..."

"Don't underestimate them. Who knows what they were before they fled? Maybe he was some rich family's young master..."

They muttered among themselves.

Brother Dragon lowered his head to look at Qin Fang, who had already fallen unconscious, and immediately made a decision.

"Go find a cart!"

"Save him?" Several men looked at Brother Dragon, their eyes lighting up.

"Save my ass!"

Brother Dragon gave a cold laugh. "But we need to wake him up first and get him to tell us where he hid his money!"

Clearly, Brother Dragon had no intention of saving Qin Fang at all.

But first, they had to wake Qin Fang.

Greed flickered in his eyes as he forcibly suppressed his anticipation. "Damn it, this Dayun has finally come around to us brothers... If this refugee could casually take out a Golden Chain, he must have left even more behind!"

"What about the patrol duty..." someone asked quietly.

"To hell with patrolling. We'll just pretend we're transporting corpses later. Don't worry, nothing will happen. Other households have people guarding the place too."

Brother Dragon was decisive.

Everyone immediately nodded in agreement...

This was work that came with gold!

When would they ever encounter something like this normally?

Very quickly, someone pushed over a small cart used for carrying corpses. They hurriedly lifted Qin Fang onto it, made sure no one nearby was paying attention, and left at once...

Splash!

In his dazed state, it felt as though a basin of cold water had been poured over his head.

Qin Fang gave a muffled groan and hazily opened his eyes.

But his head still hurt, and everything he saw was blurred and indistinct.

A voice with a distinctly layered quality rang out beside his ear. "Brother Dragon, he's awake, he's awake!"

Soon, he heard footsteps. One of the voices sounded somewhat familiar, and it rang urgently by his ear. "Kid, wake up. Where did you hide the rest of your money?"

After asking several times, Qin Fang remained muddled and disoriented. The other party even shook him hard before his consciousness cleared slightly.

He barely opened his eyes and immediately saw that face full of flesh.

His mind began to clear, and he gradually realized the situation he was in.

Just by glancing at the surroundings, his heart went cold. He knew... these people had no intention of saving him.

They only wanted to learn from him where he had hidden his money.

But fortunately...

He had never gambled on their kindness.

What he had gambled on...

Was their greed!

So he kept his gaze vacant and unfocused, saying nothing.

An anxious expression appeared on Brother Dragon's fleshy face. "Hey, don't die yet! Talk, say something! Where did you hide your money?!"

He even slapped Qin Fang hard across the face several times, trying to wake him up.

Qin Fang's cheeks immediately swelled red. He had no strength left in his body, but he remembered this grudge. He merely continued to keep his eyes unfocused.

Brother Dragon asked several times, receiving no answer.

Furious, he casually shoved Qin Fang aside and sat there to calm his breathing.

The voices of the others sounded nearby.

"Looks pretty serious... Shouldn't we save him first?"

"Save him, my ass. With injuries like his, who knows how much it would cost to heal him? Wouldn't it be better for us brothers to spend that money on a few rounds of good liquor? Why waste it on some refugee?" someone retorted.

Qin Fang's gaze remained unfocused, but he tried his hardest to look at the speaker's face from the corner of his eye...

He barely managed to make it out.

The man had a weasel-like face, was around thirty, and had a mole beside his mouth.

After speaking, he curled his lip. "Besides... to be honest, I doubt he really has any more money."

When the others heard that, they immediately looked at him unconsciously, thoughtful suspicion rising in their eyes as well.

Qin Fang's weak voice sounded. "This young master... has plenty of... golden leaves..."

Everyone immediately turned to look at Qin Fang.

They saw only that his gaze was vacant and unfocused, while the words from his mouth seemed to have slipped out unconsciously.

Golden leaves...

Everyone swallowed.

"Where are the golden leaves?!"

Brother Dragon hurriedly pressed him, clearly hoping to take this chance to pry out some clues.

But immediately afterward, Qin Fang fell silent again. He muttered incoherently to himself, then soon let his head droop and closed his eyes, as though he had fallen unconscious once more.

But in truth, he was forcing himself to stay alert, listening to the movements around him.

After quite a while, Qin Fang heard the people beside him discussing in low voices. "He calls himself young master... Could he really be some rich family's son?"

"Would a rich family's son become a refugee?"

"Do you know how long this drought has lasted? Add the refugee unrest on top of that... it's not impossible."

"So what do we do? Save him or not?"

They began discussing it in low voices.

Qin Fang's heart rose into his throat.

In his current condition, if no one saved him, he would surely die!

After a long while, Qin Fang heard a voice grinding through clenched teeth.

"Kid, if you dare play me for a fool, I'll let you know what it means to beg for life but be unable to live, to beg for death but be unable to die!... Come on, to Spring Return Hall!"

Hearing this, Qin Fang finally relaxed. He knew these people truly intended to save him.

Once his mind relaxed, his consciousness sank into darkness again...