CH 29

“Sigh!¹ What should I do? The price of unpolished wheat rose again. It’s now 5 copper coins per catty. On that of that, the price of polished rose to 7 copper coins per catty. Who can afford that?”

“Right!? We’re going to starve before the wheat harvest comes.”

“D*mn! Those unscrupulous food merchants all raise their prices this time of the year. We finally got Lord Liu Feng, who removed a lot of taxes, but those food merchants freaking increased their prices to be 1 copper coin higher than last year…”

Ba Fu’s had a stern face. He could hear those kinds of words everywhere he walked, and he wanted nothing more than to slaughtering those unscrupulous grain merchants.

He had been very busy² these past days. During the day, he was busy with completing the tasks the city lord had given him, and during the night, he would go to the military camp to teach those idiots.

Ba Fu suddenly thought of the school that he had reopened. It had already been 3 days, and no one had registered. Ba Fu couldn’t help but imagine things.

Does the city lord not have any ideas either? The paper that they could use to write with gave him a little bit of hope, although he didn’t know why those yellowish paper were called white paper³.

Ba Fu imagined things the whole time that he was walking. He was going to see the city lord right now to report some urgent matters. Of course, if it was lunchtime, he would be 10 times more willing to go.

Like, what if the city lord suddenly invited him to eat steak again? He was a bit conceited remembering the look of admiration from his spouse, son, daughter-in-law, and his grandchild.

But this matter was urgent. He needed to report this matter to the city lord as soon as possible, since it was related to the survival of Xi Yang City.

Ba Fu was invited to Liu Feng’s study. It was his first time being in there.

“Huff, huff,” Ba Fu panted, lowering his head. He didn’t look at the things in the study as he was afraid that he would faint.

Luxurious and gorgeous were the only words that Ba Fu could think of to describe the study. In here, he saw many things that only existed in legends. Those transparent crystal glass cups, for example, were only owned by kings.

“Ba Fu, sit.” Liu Feng put down the cup of water and pointed to the chair in front of the desk. “What made you come so early today?”

Ba Fu saluted respectfully and then sat down on the chair. He was extremely nervous. Meeting him in he study was a sign of the city lord’s trust in him.

“My lord, someone found traces of beastkins in the mountains in the west.” Ba Fu glanced at the catgirl that was sitting on the desk.

Mina, who was eating a pastry, paused slightly, and her tail started to sweep uneasily.

“Beastkins? How many?” Liu Feng was interested. He had been in this world for more than a month and had only saw Mina.

“Sir, a hunter scounted about a dozen beastkin.” Ba Fu’s face was solemn. “I suspect they are the beastkin’s vanguards, and they will come to rob us during the autumn harvest.”

Liu Feng nodded lightly and rested his chin on one of his hands and tapped the table with his fingers. “You think that these beastkins will come and rob wheat like they had done in the previous years?”

“Emm… In the previous years, there were only a few beastkins that came to steal from us, but I heard that several other cities had been robbed by large amounts of beastkins,” Ba Fu said, scratching his cheek.

Liu Feng knew that Xi Yang City was relatively remote and that the land was relatively barren, which was why the beastkins seldom came to rob them as they knew they wouldn’t really be able to get much.

Whether they were horse thieves⁴ composed of humans or thieves composed of beastkins, they were pests of the autumn harvest. In order to survive, they would rob people.

Many beastkins live in the Forbidden Mountains. They have to find enough food before the 4 month long winter comes, or else they would starve to death.

Mina had previously spent the winters in the Forbidden Mountains. Remembering Anri, she was a little lost in her thoughts, thinking, “They should have gone to the South, right?”

“I understand, I’ll let people pay attention to the beastkins’ paths.” Liu Feng nodded his head and changed the topic. “Has anyone went to your night school these days?”

“Night school?” Ba Fu was was a little confused about the new phrase, but after a little thinking he new that it was referring to his school. “Sir, no one came to my night school to learn.”

“Don’t worry, people will go there tonight.” That was within Liu Feng’s expectations. He took out a piece of paper from the painting jar beside him and gave it to Ba Fu. “Post this on the bulletin board.”

Ba Fu knew what the bulletin board was. It was a small wooden wall that Liu Feng had put in the plaza. Liu Feng didn’t like to go out to speak, so he would usually post his requests on the bulletin board.

He also felt that Liu Feng shouldn’t go out to speak, as it would detriment his status as a noble. He was fascinated by the feeling of reading the words posted on the bulletin board.

Ba Fu took the paper, looked at the requirements on it, and widened his eyes. “Sir, how could you do that?”

“Why can’t I? There’s still 20 days left before the autumn harvest, and most people have nothing to do, don’t they?” Liu Feng said.

“But this is really unfair to you. Everyone is taking advantage of you,” Ba Fu said anxiously.

“The entire Xi Yang City is mine. Who can take advantage of me? You need to let go of your thoughts,” Liu Feng said. “Just do what I asked.”

Translator’s Notes:

¹ I’ve changed my mind and decided to use the English version of onomatopoeia whenever I can.

² 充满. Full. I think it’s busy, based on the context.

³ 白纸. Technically, just 纸 would also be saying paper, but saying 白纸 also refers to paper. Printing paper, to be specific. Kind of like how we have say toilet paper, tissue paper, construction paper, to separate them.

⁴ 马贼 Idr if I said this before but this basically just refers to thieves that rides horses, not thieves that steal horses. Not saying that they don’t steal horses, though.

Translator Note:

Can’t say that I’m back, but I’ll try to translate as much as I can. Also, please feel free to point out any mistakes that I make. I’ll try to fix them if I can.