Chapter 22: Those Who Block the Way Out of the City Appear
His actions yesterday were quite significant, so it's not surprising that someone is watching this area. However, no matter how many people come, they are destined to be disappointed.
Lu Xuan mentally lit a candle for the idiots who returned empty-handed. He then visited the remaining ironware shops he hadn't finished shopping at yesterday, spent fifty taels to buy the last bit of ironware, and began aimlessly and randomly shopping.
When passing by pastry shops, I bought everything, regardless of price or quality, savory or sweet. If I came across thin-skinned, generously filled, and delicious buns and pies on the roadside, or eggs or fruit stalls, I bought them all, like scraping the ground dry.
While the shopkeepers and stall owners were happy to have made money, they couldn't help but wonder if they were planning to buy up all the food they could eat for the rest of their lives.
Along the way, he also met a merchant from a coastal city and spent thirty taels to buy several cartloads of dried fish, dried kelp, dried shrimp and other seafood that the merchant had stockpiled.
Around noon, I was lucky enough to run into a sweet potato vendor.
The other party's sweet potatoes were probably dug up in the mountains. There weren't many of them, and they were still covered in a lot of soil. They weren't very big, and many of them were oddly shaped.
Lu Xuan broke off a piece and took a bite. The taste was completely different from the sweet taste of modern sweet potatoes; instead, it was dry and astringent.
It tastes awful.
Nevertheless, he bought the less than ten pounds of wild sweet potatoes in front of him.
Since today's schedule wasn't rushed and he unexpectedly received sweet potatoes, Lu Xuan, unusually, found a restaurant with a good view on the second floor and ordered a sumptuous meal to satisfy the audience's cravings.
Live stream viewer: What's the point of this? *slurp*
As the audience drooled over the dishes, Lu Xuan enjoyed his meal while looking out the window at the bustling, peaceful scene of prosperity.
After the cataclysm, everything before our eyes will be gone, and countless people in the city will die in the initial upheaval.
Even if he were lucky enough to survive, what followed would be a long and endless period of wandering and struggling to survive, just like he and countless others who experienced the apocalypse with him.
The more rational viewers shifted their gaze from the increasingly tempting food to Lu Xuan.
Is the anchor really not going to warn people in the city?
[Didn't I say before that even if the streamer said it, no one would believe him, and it would only cause trouble for him?]
But no matter what, it still involves hundreds of thousands of lives.
What do you mean by "upstairs"? Does it mean that if these people die, it's the live streamer's responsibility?
Even without streamer X, things will still go wrong. It's a favor if the streamer mentions it, it's their right not to. Besides, even if they do mention it, they might not accept it. It's even more infuriating to be treated like dirt with good intentions.
The audience members held differing opinions, and for a moment there seemed to be signs that they were about to start arguing.
Lu Xuan, however, seemed to have seen nothing, continuing to eat and drink as usual, neither offering any reassurance nor any explanation.
After finishing our meal, we went straight to the teahouse next door.
It's not that I'm going to drink tea, but rather that I'm going to buy some tea leaves.
After all, people in ancient times drank tea as water, while raw water or boiled water was given to livestock.
Viewers in the live stream: ? ? Who are you cursing?
Upon arriving at the teahouse, Lu Xuan inquired about the types of tea they sold and their prices. He ultimately chose to purchase 100 jin (50 kg) of both the regular and mid-range teas, spending 80 taels (40 taels) in total.
"What a coincidence that we meet again." While Lu Xuan was waiting for the shopkeeper to return with the goods, a surprised voice came from behind him.
Lu Xuan turned around and saw that the person who came was Bai Xuefeng.
He nodded in acknowledgment, "Young Master Bai."
In the past two days, he would occasionally chat with shopkeepers while shopping, and even when he was having lunch by the roadside, he could hear people talking about it, and naturally he learned about the Bai family's background.
The Bai family's aunt married into a marquis's family in the capital, and they also had close relatives who held official positions in the capital. They were considered one of the most prominent and well-regarded families in the area.
Lu Xuan didn't care how remarkable Bai Xuefeng's background was. What he was more concerned about was whether the Bai family had any rare or unique items that were not available outside the capital, given their extensive connections in the capital.
For example, corn, corn, and more corn.
With the city to be leaving tomorrow, Lu Xuan was unwilling to miss this opportunity and asked directly, "Does Young Master Bai have any corn from overseas? Its fruit is a long, cylindrical, yellow kernel."
Bai Xuefeng paused for a moment, but then, for the sake of the three-hundred-year-old ginseng, he answered honestly, "I don't know if its name is corn, but I do have a few of the plants you mentioned at home. They were gifts from relatives in the capital."
Lu Xuan's spirits lifted. "I wonder if Young Master Bai would be willing to sell me the corn? If you can't sell it all to me, even just one stalk will do. I'm willing to pay a high price!"
Bai Xuefeng waved his hand and said, "The ginseng you sold to Baiyaotang is very useful to my old man. It's just a rare fruit, so there's no need to pay a high price. If you need it, you can come to the Bai family to pick it up whenever you have time."
Lu Xuan didn't want to accept benefits for nothing, but the Bai family wasn't short of money. Even if he gave them all the remaining thousand or eight hundred taels he had, it probably wouldn't amount to much for Bai Xuefeng.
After a moment's thought, Lu Xuan had an idea.
Bai Xuefeng came to the teahouse without any urgent business. Seeing that Lu Xuan seemed very anxious, he simply asked him to go with him to the Bai family to retrieve something right now.
Upon arriving at the Bai family's residence, Bai Xuefeng invited him in for a chat, but Lu Xuan did not want to waste time visiting someone else's home, so he waited outside. Before Bai Xuefeng entered, he said, "I have something I want to tell Young Master Bai later, so please come out again."
Upon hearing this, Bai Xuefeng simply dispatched the steward to fetch the corn, while he stayed behind.
What do you want to say?
The viewers in the live stream had a vague premonition of something and all perked up their ears.
Lu Xuan said, "In ten days, a huge disaster will break out in the prefectural city and even further areas, and the disaster will last for many years. I came to the prefectural city this time to purchase as many supplies as possible to cope with the upcoming disaster."
Bai Xuefeng: "..."
Bai Xuefeng: "???"
Lu Xuan: "If Young Master Bai trusts me, in order to ensure the safety of himself and his family, it would be best to collect a batch of supplies as soon as possible while there is still time."
Bai Xuefeng: "..."
Bai Xuefeng's expression was completely stunned.
A massive disaster, and it will continue for many years?
Could this person in front of me be some kind of diviner who can predict the future? Otherwise, how could he know these things?
Lu Xuan did not keep trying to persuade Bai Xuefeng to believe him. After the butler took out the two potted plants and confirmed that they were indeed unripe corn plants, he prepared to leave.
Before leaving, he gave a final reminder: "Preparing a batch of supplies won't be a huge loss for the Bai family, but it could save the entire Bai family's life and fortune at a critical moment. Why not? By the way, Young Master Bai can also inform the city government of this news. Perhaps it can save the lives of other people in the city in ten days."
After saying that, he really left.
Bai Xuefeng stared blankly at Lu Xuan's departing figure.
Reason told him that Lu Xuan's words were baseless and not worth paying attention to, but deep down, a voice inside him was telling him, "Trust him!"
His eyelids twitched inexplicably, and a strong sense of unease welled up inside him. He frowned and hurriedly returned home. He immediately summoned the guards and asked them to inquire about Lu Xuan's recent activities since arriving in the city. At the same time, he informed Bai's father about the matter in the study.
On the way back to the inn, viewers in the live stream exclaimed that Lu Xuan was too cunning.
[The streamer didn't even speak to the officials himself, but instead tried to shift the blame to someone surnamed Bai. How cunning!]
[What cunning? That's wisdom! This way, regardless of whether the person surnamed Bai speaks or not, it's their problem, not the streamer's.]
Lu Xuan did not deny that he did intend to shift the blame, but if Bai Xuefeng really informed the government, regardless of whether the government believed him or not, it would at least prove that the Bai family would definitely make preparations in advance, which could be considered as repaying the favor of giving him corn.
Most of it, well, that's up to fate.
On this day, Lu Xuan went around in circles but still couldn't spend all the remaining hundred taels.
He figured he could continue stockpiling goods in Baisong Town after he got back, so he didn't force himself to continue.
On the morning of the fifth day, after settling the bill at the inn, I went to the brokerage to cancel the stay at the small courtyard and then, feeling relieved, went to the carriage rental shop to hire a carriage and embarked on my journey home.
This time he was much smarter than before. After getting into the car, he took out a bunch of cotton from his spatial bracelet and put it under his buttocks. He also put several pieces of cloth on both sides to stabilize his body and prevent him from swaying. At least he didn't suffer again...
The carriage, which had been moving smoothly, suddenly came to an abrupt stop. The coachman outside the carriage cried out in a panic, "Young man, someone is blocking the way!"
Lu Xuan stepped out of the carriage with a displeased expression and found that there was indeed a group of people blocking the way in front of the carriage. Among them, several people with bruises on their faces looked particularly familiar.
The viewers in the live stream recognized him; wasn't this the robber who had been beaten up by the streamer earlier?
Is this a case of being unwilling to give up and attracting even more people?
There were twenty people in total, and they were all armed. They didn't mean any harm!
The driver was so frightened that his face turned pale and his legs went weak. Just as he was considering whether to run away, Lu Xuan jumped off the road and said, "Hide in the carriage. Don't come out unless I tell you to, and don't look out."
Upon hearing this, the driver immediately scrambled into the carriage, hiding in a corner, trembling with fear.
The local thug leader slammed a thick stick in the air, pointed it at Lu Xuan, and glared at him menacingly, saying, "You bastard, how dare you play me! Tell me, where did you hide the grain and meat!"
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow, thinking of the unfamiliar footprints in the courtyard, and seemed to understand something.
Another henchman, standing close behind his boss, added, "There's also silver!"
"Don't think you can run away today!"
Lu Xuan: ?
Live stream viewers: ??
Why don't you listen to what you're saying?
Anyone who didn't know better would think the person who got beaten up last time was the streamer.
The robbers continued their blatant threats, shouting, "Hand over the grain and silver now, or swords have no eyes, and don't blame us for being ruthless and taking your life!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com