Grain Shortage

Gao Fei had never expected anyone to believe him in the first place.

Besides, who would step forward for someone who had sold out the human race?

The record was complete.

Gao Fei turned and left, intending to go back and catch up on sleep. Since transmigrating here, he had not had a proper rest.

He had barely entered the courtyard when a white-uniformed runner rushed in from outside.

"My lord, the grain in the official granaries is about to run out. The entire county only has three days' rations left."

At that moment, Yue Qinghe and her daughter had already left. Only Second Uncle's family and Qiu Mei remained in the courtyard.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look.

Gao Fei was somewhat puzzled, and his words came out without much restraint.

"Who are you? Why are you coming to me with this? Go find an official."

The newcomer jumped in fright. He had witnessed what happened outside the yamen just now—this man had given the registrar a light pat, and the man had become a puddle of blood.

Before someone so temperamental and unpredictable, anyone would be afraid.

"M-My lord, you are now Yueyang County's last remaining official."

"Me? A constable? The biggest? Where are the chief constable and the court clerk?"

Gao Fei pointed at himself, disbelief written all over his face. The county magistrate had run off to walk a demon outside, the registrar had been slapped to death by him, but there should have been plenty of other officials—there were four chief constables alone.

"They all died in demon attacks. According to the Great Wu Code, if a superior dies or disappears, their subordinate takes their place. My lord is now Yueyang County's decision-maker."

Gao Fei stared straight at Gao Linyue, who was still watching the show from the side.

"Second Uncle, I can't do this! You do it."

Gao Linyue hurriedly waved his hands. "I'm not an official. I can't!"

No one else laughed at him. They merely watched.

Gao Fei had no choice. He was now the only constable left in the city. He had encountered the county magistrate outside, but unfortunately, the man could not come back to solve this problem.

"Tell me the situation. Is there really no grain left in the city? How long would it take to transfer grain from elsewhere?"

"There is still some within the city. The Lin Family and Zhang Family have always kept grain stores. If they can take them out, they can hold on for a while, though we will have to ask them for the exact amount. Fetching grain from the surrounding counties would be fast—seven days for a round trip would be enough."

Gao Fei shook his head. He had heard that the nearby counties were unsafe. Seven days simply would not work.

"How long would it take to go to Qing Province?"

"More than two months for a round trip, and that is only if we use a four-wheeled carriage pulled by demonized horses."

Gao Fei was speechless. What kind of rotten mess was this?

"Go gather every white-uniformed runner except those guarding the city walls. Have them assemble here. Half an hour—anyone who does not come will be considered to have given up their post."

"Yes, my lord."

After the white-uniformed runner had gone far away,

Gao Linyue finally walked over and spoke slowly.

"Don't go robbing them. Borrow politely, understand?"

The Zhang Family's people in the county had been wiped out, leaving only the two siblings. Their grain should still be there. Gao Fei was the lifesaving benefactor of both of them, so he could try borrowing it.

Old Master Lin had been beaten to death. His family probably would not lend anything.

Gao Fei thought for a while but could not come up with any solution.

"Fine. I'll go take a look first. Actually, I'm very easy to talk to."

Gao Fei had originally wanted to go back into his room and lie flat, but that was no longer possible.

He chatted with Gao Linyue in the courtyard about the divisions within the Spirit-Absorption Realm.

Once spiritual energy had first entered the body and the twelve primary meridians were initially opened, one had reached the Spirit-Absorption Realm, Early Stage. At this stage, methods of attacking with spiritual energy were extremely limited, and many could only be used two or three times.

Some could not even use spiritual power at all, and could only enhance their physical attributes within their bodies.

At the Qi Assimilation Realm, Mid Stage, one opened the extraordinary meridians and stored spiritual power, causing reserves to increase greatly. The extraordinary meridians were divided into four: Chong, Dai, Qiao, and Wei. Only then could the techniques of the Spirit-Absorption Realm truly reveal themselves.

At the late stage of the Spirit-Absorption Realm, one opened the Ren and Du meridians, allowing spiritual power to form a Lesser Celestial Circuit.

At the Spirit-Absorption Realm, Perfected, all eight extraordinary meridians were opened, allowing spiritual power to form a Greater Celestial Circuit.

As they talked, white-uniformed runners began appearing one after another.

There were already around fifty people outside the courtyard.

Lu Xiaoliu stood among them as well.

Gao Fei beckoned and called the boy inside.

"Xiao Liu, your old man died. Why aren't you at home holding a funeral? Why did you come here?"

Gao Fei rummaged around on his person for a long while. He only had a few dozen copper coins, not enough to give away, so he could only wait. No, that's not right.

"Did you have someone deal with the Dog Demon's corpse outside the city?"

"My lord, I had someone haul it off to sell. It was still Four Seas Residence, but there was too much of it, so the price was a little lower—one thousand five hundred and eighty taels."

Lu Xiaoliu awkwardly pursed his lips. He wanted to smile, but then remembered that a family member had just died and held it back. The result looked ridiculously comical, almost feminine, as though he only lacked an orchid-finger pose while holding the banknotes.

Gao Fei took them, then handed eighty taels' worth of banknotes back to him.

"Buy a good coffin, bury him soon. The city's affairs will still depend on you in the future."

He turned around and gave five hundred taels to Second Aunt. He had never given her living expenses before, so this made up for it.

Second Aunt declined several times before accepting them.

There truly was not much surplus grain at home. Martial artists were all bottomless pits, and if Gao Fei had not supplemented them with fifty taels of silver, with so many people and rising prices, they would have long since eaten themselves into ruin.

Gao Linyue leaned closer at that moment.

"Gao Fei, look, you are already at the Body Tempering Realm, Perfected, yet you have no Spirit-Absorption Realm cultivation technique. It isn't safe to carry this money around. I'll keep it at home for you, and you can use it when you buy a cultivation technique."

One thousand taels was one million copper coins. By Blue Star currency estimates, it was worth at least eight hundred thousand yuan.

"Second Uncle, what do you want this money for?"

"This..."

Seeing the situation here, Second Aunt quickly walked over and said to Gao Fei,

"Don't give it to him. He has a soft heart. Whenever he sees a poor child with even a little talent, he pays for their martial academy tuition. I can only control his wages. I have never once seen any of the money he earns from going out to kill demons."

Gao Linyue had just wanted to argue when she continued berating him.

"You thought I didn't know when you came back injured..."

"Enough, stop talking. You'll make a joke of us in front of others."

Gao Fei looked at the somewhat awkward middle-aged man before him and felt as though he no longer recognized him.

What Gao Fei lacked now were Spirit-Absorption Realm cultivation techniques and Beast Cores. This little silver truly had little use.

After considering it for a while, he decided that if he really needed money, he could just go out and kill demons. There was no need to fret over it. Xiao Liu had helped recover this money anyway, and keeping it himself had no real meaning.

He handed over the banknotes.

"Once we finish dealing with all this, we may have to make a trip to Qing Province. We can't let them lose their tuition next month."

"Gao Fei, you really have changed. I'll thank you on their behalf!"

When Gao Fei heard the first part, he was startled and thought something had been discovered. Good thing I held steady.

"I've experienced a lot lately. I've seen through many things. They're all just that—external possessions. One's own strength is what matters most."

Gao Linyue and his wife both revealed gratified smiles.

"Our family's qilin child has finally grown up and become sensible."

Gao Fei let out a long breath. He had finally muddled through. From now on, he should be able to be himself without deliberately keeping his distance from them.

Whenever he used Merit Points to practice martial arts, he always felt as if he had become a martial fanatic, as though he had lived another lifetime.

With the feeling of having lived through another world growing ever stronger, he worried that he might become someone who cared about nothing.

If he truly lived like that, what meaning would there be in life?

Gao Fei shook his head, forcing himself to wake up.

"I'll be back soon. You all chat first."