After the Heavenly Demon Sect disciple told Huang Xiao the latest news he had gathered, he left.
Huang Xiao, however, was in no hurry to leave. Seeing the tea stall's elderly proprietor bustling about serving tea and water as well, he stopped him and asked, "Proprietor, you have quite a few customers here. You could hire a few more hands."
"Young master, there's something you don't know. It isn't that this old man doesn't want to hire anyone. It's simply too hard to find people nowadays, and I dare not hire anyone lightly," the old proprietor said with a sigh.
"Oh? Why is that?" Huang Xiao asked.
"These past few years haven't been peaceful. Most people don't dare venture out. If they do, they might end up lying dead in the wilderness. Look, even these people helping me are all relatives of one sort or another. Actually, even if I could find people to hire, I wouldn't dare employ them. I might end up hiring a bandit. If they worked with their accomplices outside, how would I survive? The world is too chaotic, far too chaotic." The old proprietor shook his head and sighed.
"It's only been like this these past few years, hasn't it? I heard that people in Dali used to live and work in peace and contentment. Their lives were reasonably good," Huang Xiao said.
"Three years ago, I think. The trouble started three years ago. I heard there was a new emperor. Ah, I don't know what happened either. We ordinary folk only hope to scrape together enough to eat. If we can avoid illness and disaster, we're already thanking the Buddha. But with the world in chaos, who knows when calamity will land on your head? Young master, you seem quite extraordinary, but when you're