After the Autumn Harvest Festival ended, the carriages and horses outside Ma Manor gradually dispersed.
Medicine merchants left with cartloads of medicinal herbs, the Pill Workshop stewards beamed as they held their account books, and the martial schools and gangs all came away with gains of their own.
Gaolin County, bustling for days, finally quieted down.
But Ma Manor was not the only one whose coffers overflowed. Gao Manor had also made a fortune.
Although mutant beasts had descended from the mountains several times during the autumn harvest, and even a Meridian-Opening-Rank Beast had appeared, few of the Medicine Fields had actually been destroyed thanks to Lu Chen standing guard.
So Gao Manor had also earned a hefty sum at this Autumn Harvest Festival.
Inside Gao Manor, the storehouse blazed with lamplight.
The stewards busied themselves counting medicinal herbs, checking the accounts, and sealing away banknotes.
Gao Jian stood before the storehouse, looking at chest after chest of silver, barely able to contain his smile.
Beside him, the old steward said quietly, "Manor Lord, this year's harvest was even better than expected."
"If Lu Chixiao hadn't defended the Medicine Fields and stopped the mutant beasts, we would probably have had to watch Ma Manor count its money this year."
Gao Jian nodded.
Of course he understood that Lu Chen deserved a share of the credit for their profits at this Autumn Harvest Festival.
Especially when it came to that Azure-Horned Savage Bull.
Had Lu Chen not lured it away, Gao Manor's Medicine Fields could never have produced such a harvest.
Gao Jian looked at the silver piled high inside the storehouse, pondered for a moment, then said, "Fetch fifty Metal Essence Pills."
The old steward froze.
"Fifty?"
Gao Jian said, "And fetch a bottle of Metal Essence Jade Elixir."
"We're