Changing the Register, Changing Households

"Could this Blood Dragon Sturgeon free me from my lowborn household status?"

Xu Fan smiled.

"Yes."

Chen Hai glanced at the Blood Dragon Sturgeon. Not wanting to make trouble, he nodded slowly.

"Manager Chen, you're refreshingly straightforward!"

Xu Fan raised an eyebrow and smiled shyly.

He hadn't expected the new manager to be so accommodating. It caught him off guard.

He had thought he would have to trade spears of words, then fight another round and show his strength to get it done.

That wasn't how the script was supposed to go, was it?

"One more thing."

So he struck while the iron was hot:

"From now on, you'll still take seventy percent, but the price for the prized fish I sell at the fish market must match the purchasing price: ten taels per jin."

"Since you're a martial master, naturally you don't have to be treated like an ordinary fisherman. Agreed."

Chen Hai frowned slightly, but after a moment's thought, he nodded again.

"He agreed to that too?"

Xu Fan muttered to himself. That was ten times the price. Was the fish market really willing to pay it?

Even if it was, how would the fish market answer to the Canal Gang?

How strange.

If you don't make a move, how am I supposed to strike?

"One more thing."

Xu Fan felt in his pocket and found he didn't have enough silver on him to buy land and a house:

"The fish market's ruffians and rogues seized Old Man Kong's fields. How about transferring them to my name so I can change my household registration to a farming household?"

"Agreed."

Chen Hai glanced at Old Man Kong and nodded again.

"And another..."

"Are you ever going to finish?"

Veins bulged on Chen Hai's forehead. Clenching both fists, he stared at Xu Fan and spoke word by word.

"...That's all for now, then."

Xu Fan shrugged, unconcerned.

"Let's go, Old Kong."

Taking Old Man Kong along, he turned and left the fish market.

The many fishermen watching at the fish market stared at Xu Fan in disbelief, as though seeing him for the first time.

More than half a year ago, both of Xu Fan's parents had perished in the jaws of a strange beast, leaving him alone to fish on the lake.

They had thought it wouldn't be long before he starved to death, was bullied to death, or died in the jaws of a strange beast.

Who would have thought!

He had been catching prized fish every few days, and his life had grown better by the day.

Now he even seemed to have become a martial master and shed his lowborn household status!

"Lord Chen, are we just going to agree to that brat's demands?"

The fish market overseer asked cautiously.

Chen Hai glanced at him. "He may have completed his second Blood Exchange. I've only done it once. Do you want to fight him?"

The overseer shrank back and dared say no more.

"The Canal Gang will deal with him in due course."

Chen Hai looked away, snorted coldly, and swept off with a flick of his sleeves.

"What are you all staring at? Is the fish market's cut too small?"

The fish market overseer shot a vicious glance at the other fishermen, his expression hostile.

At his words, the fishermen watching scattered like birds and beasts, though they continued whispering among themselves.

"The Xu family's ancestral graves must be sending up green smoke, to have produced such a promising child as young Xu."

"I could tell young Xu was no ordinary boy from the time he was little. He's bound to do great things!"

"Pfft, if you thought so highly of him, why didn't you give him Chunhua as a wife before?"

"That was only because I hardly ever saw him, so it got delayed. It wasn't that I was unwilling."

"Young Xu is so capable. How about I send my Yudan to become his disciple and learn martial arts? It'd be good if he became a martial artist!"

"Good idea. I'll have my Gensheng try to become his disciple too!"

Rosy Cloud Tavern.

Xu Fan brought Old Kong in for a bowl of minced-meat noodles.

Before long, two thoroughly roguish ruffians arrived with the land deed, their faces full of fawning smiles.

"Master Xu, here's the land deed. Please have a look."

The two inwardly lamented their plight, terrified they would be struck dead on the spot with a palm. They weren't the ones who had seized the fields-that had happened so many years ago.

They had merely been working for the fish market, and now they had been pushed forward to take the fire.

"Leave it there."

Xu Fan didn't even look at them. He wasn't afraid the deed was fake, and he couldn't be bothered to hold anything against two small fry he had never met before.

He had retrieved the deed for his own sake, merely using the seizure from Old Man Kong as a pretext.

"Yes, yes."

The two nodded and bowed, then hurried out of the tavern.

"Young Xu..."

Old Man Kong stared blankly at the deed, his body trembling slightly.

"Don't misunderstand. The fields are mine now."

Xu Fan laid his left hand on the deed and tapped it lightly with his index finger:

"But you can farm the land for me. I'll pay you wages."

If not for changing his household registration, he couldn't even be bothered to take the fields.

After all, with his current strength, he couldn't yet disregard Great Qin's laws. Who knew what sort of powerful figures might emerge from a nation in a martial world like this?

For him, being able to travel freely throughout Great Qin was enough. Property mattered least of all.

"Good, good!"

Old Man Kong's voice trembled.

He had thought he would die on Peach Blossom Spring Lake one day, or fall during this harsh winter.

He had never imagined that, before he knew it, young Xu would reach a point where even the fish market manager had to bow his head to him.

Truly, heaven had eyes!

The jade shopkeeper watched Xu Fan leave and listened to a servant's inquiries.

After hesitating for a moment, he entered the rear courtyard and spoke respectfully:

"Young lady, that Xu Fan seems to have already completed his second Blood Exchange and forced the fish market manager to bow his head. He has excellent aptitude. Should we..."

As the first person to notice that Xu Fan was different, he could clearly tell that Xu Fan was progressing at tremendous speed and might not be inferior to a genius like Liang Chi.

If both could join the Clearwater Sect, they would be very likely to become Grandmasters in the future and pillars holding up the sect.

Were the young lady's standards so high that even a genius with the potential to become a Grandmaster no longer caught her eye?

Lan Ci sat cross-legged beneath a willow tree, her face covered by a thin veil. Her limpid eyes shifted slightly, and her tone was cool:

"No need. It took him more than half a year to complete his second Blood Exchange. He's not worth my trouble yet... In this age, heroes crowd the world like crucian carp crossing a river. Xu Fan isn't even qualified to know where that river is."

"What matters more now is waiting for Jiang Yunhe to appear and obtaining the Emperor Flow Serum. Only then can I take another step forward and contend with the heroes of the world."

Speaking of Jiang Yunhe made her dark brows crease slightly, and she began to doubt her own judgment.

More than three months had passed, and Lin Chu had traveled back and forth to Wuling County several times, yet Jiang Yunhe still hadn't made a move?

If this dragged on, that regional commander might arrive in Qingzhou before long.

The shopkeeper sighed inwardly and dropped the subject of Xu Fan, saying instead:

"Lin Chu is about to begin his seventh Blood Exchange. He slipped into Wuling County last night and should be preparing to strike at the Canal Gang's people."

Though he trusted the young lady's judgment, more than three months had passed. Was Jiang Yunhe really still here?

Even if he couldn't escape Qingzhou, perhaps he was hiding in another prefecture or county?

But the young lady insisted, so he could hardly say anything.

In a month at most, that regional commander of the Brocade-Clad Guard would arrive.

Then, everything would become clear.

Even if Jiang Yunhe had become a Grandmaster, he would no longer be able to hide or escape.

"Zhu Xiuwen is over there. If a fight breaks out, I'll get there quickly."

Lan Ci was confident, her eyes growing brighter:

"At a time like this, we must be all the more cautious. Even ants cling to life, let alone people."

The fact that Jiang Yunhe had escaped the Brocade-Clad Guard's encirclement several times was proof enough of his cunning and resourcefulness.

But when people like that were driven into a corner, they often did the unexpected.

Even if he knew someone was using Lin Chu as bait, he might turn it to his own advantage. It remained to be seen whose hands the deer would die in.

"You're right, young lady."