Publicity

"Are you really a rich second generation?"

Feng Haixuan's colleagues turned to look at him.

Judging by the way he and An Weiyan had acted just now, An Weiyan seemed to have hit the mark. But could he have done that deliberately, just to show off?

If he really was that rich, why would he work as a reporter?

Looking at their expressions, Feng Haixuan knew perfectly well what they were thinking.

"I am."

Feng Haixuan nodded, still thinking about how An Weiyan had seen through his family background at a glance, and how he had then immediately located those criminals.

He and An Weiyan did not know each other, and he had been assigned here at the last minute to cover the story. Besides, An Weiyan had reached that conclusion after taking just one look.

The idea that he had looked him up online and obtained his information was clearly impossible.

Then there was what Liang Lijian had said: An Weiyan had come to report the criminals just one day after he posted the bounty.

However he looked at it, An Weiyan really did seem to possess some special ability.

"Would you mind if I asked about your family's financial circumstances?"

His colleague beside him refused to give up, still feeling that what An Weiyan had said was false.

Feng Haixuan glanced at this colleague and said helplessly, "I keep a hundred million in Alipay just for everyday expenses. What do you think of my family's financial circumstances?"

As he spoke, Feng Haixuan opened his phone and showed him.

At the sight of that long string of digits, none of them could even count how many digits there were at first. They were utterly stunned.

There really was a rich second generation right beside them...

And a super-rich second generation at that.

But the question was, how exactly had An Weiyan seen through him just now?

At that thought, they could not help turning back to glance at the Daoist temple.

"Could that guy really tell fortunes by counting on his fingers?"

At the thought, they shook their heads again. "I wonder if that guy was using some new kind of scam?"

"Yeah, this is way too mystical. Maybe we're just caught inside the game, so we haven't spotted the holes in it."

Although Feng Haixuan still harbored some doubts about An Weiyan's abilities, he spoke up when he heard that.

"He used that ability to find seven criminals outright and earn over seven hundred thousand."

"If that counts as a scam, then it's still an ability of sorts. After all, the criminals he found were real."

Hearing Feng Haixuan say that, the others fell silent.

That was a fact they could not dispute.

Especially with Liang Lijian right there to bear witness.

Liang Lijian, however, said nothing. He, too, had been deeply shaken.

He wanted to find a hole in An Weiyan's words, but could not make any headway for the moment.

"Then how should we report this when we get back?"

"We report it truthfully, of course, and help publicize his Daoist temple while we're at it. Once more people start coming here, we'll know whether this guy can really tell fortunes."

At this point, a trace of interest appeared on Feng Haixuan's face.

Even now, he was not quite sure whether An Weiyan's abilities were real, or whether he had used some other method unknown to them to stage all this.

But since he wanted to make the temple famous and seemed to want more worshippers, they might as well help him give it a try.

Growing up, he had never lacked anything, materially or spiritually. But after living that way for so long, life inevitably became somewhat dull.

Now, An Weiyan's appearance had stirred a flicker of interest in him.

He wanted to see whether An Weiyan really possessed that ability.

And helping An Weiyan get some news coverage was hardly difficult for him.

The others thought it over and agreed.

Besides, this was the age of traffic. Unscrupulous reporters had done no shortage of things like taking statements out of context just to grab attention.

If they gave this story proper coverage today, it should definitely attract plenty of traffic.

There was no reason not to report it that way.

With that in mind, they hurried to make arrangements after descending the mountain.

They had to write up today's report as quickly as possible and publish it online.

Seven hundred and fifty thousand!

An Weiyan looked at the money he had received, his face full of excitement.

Even after paying taxes later, he would still have quite a bit left.

For the time being, he could afford to feed those several hundred mouths in Linbei County.

At that thought, An Weiyan hurried down the mountain. This time, he went on a major shopping spree.

To make it easier to transfer all this grain, An Weiyan rented a small warehouse on the outskirts.

He called the landlord, signed a one-year contract straight away, and took possession of the warehouse.

Then An Weiyan contacted a wholesaler by phone and purchased a thousand sacks of rice, five hundred sacks of flour, as well as salt and oil.

These things cost An Weiyan over a hundred thousand yuan.

Once the goods arrived, An Weiyan had them put in the warehouse.

After the delivery workers left, An Weiyan began moving them.

At three in the afternoon, An Weiyan finally finished everything and returned to the Daoist temple, also paying back the money he had owed Su Qingyun.

An Weiyan did not know what Su Qingyun was busy with. He left her a message after repaying her, but received no reply.

He did not keep waiting, however, and went straight to Linbei County.

Lin Liyun was still training the yamen runners, teaching them how to become qualified runners.

Seeing this, a thought struck An Weiyan. Right, the yamen runners will need some standard equipment later, too.

Hmm, I'll buy some armor later.

Apart from guarding against demons, he also needed to arm these private forces.

After all, not everyone was so friendly.

If someone saw how well he had developed Linbei County and wanted to seize power or something, he would have the ability to resist.

An Weiyan planned to buy this armor, along with some weapons, later.

As it happened, he had earned quite a bit this time, so he could still afford to maintain a force like this.

For a force like this, each man's annual pay and provisions amounted to eight taels of silver. One tael of silver could buy 380 jin of coarse grain or 200 jin of polished rice.

Coarse grain meant wheat bran, buckwheat, and some dried beans. Wheat bran was the outer husk of wheat, and coarse grain was what most common people usually ate.

They rarely ate polished rice. Perhaps at New Year, they would grit their teeth and treat themselves to a little.

It was clear just how hard life was for the common people here.

Doing the calculations, for each person An Weiyan recruited, the annual pay and provisions would be thirty-two fifty-jin sacks of rice. At 129 yuan a sack, thirty-two sacks came to 4,128 yuan.

If he maintained a hundred men, that would cost over four hundred thousand a year?

An Weiyan froze at this calculation, then frowned. It actually cost that much. Sure enough, maintaining a force was not something one could easily afford.

But if he paid in silver, he could buy one tael of silver in the main world for just 240 yuan.

That would make the annual expense 1,920 yuan per person, or a little under two hundred thousand for a hundred people. Calculating it this way, buying silver outright and bringing it over to pay them would be much more economical.

And the silver in the main world was pure silver, too.