Over there, Zhu Da sat in the carriage humming a little tune, showing no trace of his earlier anger.
"Sir, are you really... planning to make that bandit your advisor?" the steward asked, puzzled.
Officials and bandits are enemies; if we take him in, people will surely criticize us.
"I'm not stupid. A bandit like him thinks he can enter the government office?" Zhu Da's tone was full of contempt. "I originally planned to kill him on the way, but I didn't expect him to be so lucky and not follow me."
"That's good, at least my hands won't get dirty. It's just a pity about all that grain."
"With such a severe drought, we feel uneasy without food in our hands."
The steward pondered for a moment and said, "That fellow probably won't give up so easily. If he comes to the county office again in a few days with grain, then..."
"It's just in time," Magistrate Zhu Da laughed. "I can get a lot of things for free again."
He couldn't be happier.
"Once we get the stuff, we can find some excuse to drive him away or kill him, and that'll be the end of it."
"Your Excellency is wise." The butler's eyes lit up, and he showered the butler with compliments.
Zhu Da felt flattered by the praise, but after a while he frowned again: "I just don't know what this Jiu Xian is up to. How did he end up massacring a small mountain stronghold under my jurisdiction?"
"My lord, the people in the Red Mansion are like madmen. They do whatever they feel like. As long as they don't kill ordinary people or high-ranking officials indiscriminately, they're just bandits. If they die, they die." The steward said indifferently.
"What I'm curious about is, is Jiuxian really a woman? Something doesn't seem quite right."
Zhu Da wasn't entirely sure: "To this day, no one has ever seen Jiu Xian's true face. Who knows if she's male or female?"
"Alright, forget about her. As long as she doesn't bother me, I don't need to provoke such a scourge."
What he didn't know was that the evil spirit he spoke of had already arrived at the county town gate before him.
Is this really the gate of an ancient county town? Luo Xi was stunned. How come it looks exactly like the gate of the post-apocalyptic base?
Over there, clusters of emaciated people sat or squatted haphazardly on the open ground outside the city wall. They were all dressed in rags, their faces were miserable, and their eyes were devoid of any light, like walking corpses.
Some of them weren't even wearing clothes, just lying casually on the sand by the roadside in tattered pants, so thin that they were just skin and bones.
If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of her chest, she would be no different from someone who had starved to death.
Luo Xi felt a little depressed.
"Why is it so hard to see a normal world? There are natural disasters and man-made calamities everywhere." She sighed.
But that wasn't all. After waiting in line for ages, when it was finally her turn, she exclaimed, "What did you say? Five hundred coins per person to enter the city?"
The gatekeeper said impatiently, "Yeah, are you going in or not? If not, get out of my way and don't delay my business."
That tone was just like the bandits of Jiuqu Village.
Luo Xi took a deep breath: "Brother Cha, how much is a steamed bun now?"
Could it be that prices were high during this dynasty?
Seeing that Luo Xi's attitude was good, the soldier didn't mind telling her, "Before, a vegetarian bun cost one coin, but now, well, ten coins."
"So don't think we've taken too much; once we get into the city, we can survive."
"If you stay outside, tsk tsk, you might get carried away by wolves or robbed and killed by bandits and refugees without even realizing it."
Rosie: "Since you know this, aren't you going to do anything about it?"
"We've taken care of it," the soldier said arrogantly, his tone nonchalant. "They just need to get into the city, and that's it."
Rosie: "..."
He simply tossed the copper coin in his hand to him and left.
If I stay any longer, I'll definitely get so angry I'll die.
After entering the city, Luo Xi went straight to the county government office, then hid in a tree by the entrance, waiting for Zhu Da, that fat sheep.
The city entrance fee is so expensive, it's like they're openly bandits. Luo Xi wouldn't mind keeping all this ill-gotten wealth for him.
A moment later, Zhu Da walked in in a good mood: "Quickly, quickly move everything to my storeroom. Be careful not to break anything."
He remembered that there were quite a few antiques inside.
"Yes, sir!"
Luo Xi quickly concealed himself and followed Zhu Da to the warehouse.
Good heavens, a room of about 100 square meters is almost half full of stuff.
Needless to say, there were gold ingots, silver ingots, and copper coins, as well as countless jewelry pieces, swords, cloth, inkstones, calligraphy, and paintings—all of them were of high quality.
They're really good at making money.
After the yamen runners finished moving everything, there was even less empty space left in the storeroom.
"Get out, all of you! Stay outside and keep watch. No one is allowed to come in without my permission." Zhu Da chased everyone away, closed the door, and began to happily admire his treasures by himself.
"Oh my, not bad, not bad at all. I didn't expect that some bandits could have so many good things. This gold is so shiny, and this jade pendant feels so good. If I had known this a few days ago, when someone reported it to the authorities, I would have sent troops to wipe them out directly."
"Wow, this is from the previous dynasty?" He picked up an inkstone and looked at it with fascination.
So you know about the evil deeds of Jiuqu Village. Luo Xi narrowed her eyes, waved her hand and the space opened instantly, and the inkstone that Zhu Da had just looked at disappeared.
Zhu Da: "...!!!!!"
What happened? Where did it go?
Left hand? None!
The right hand, none either!
What exactly happened?
He turned his hands over and over, looking at them again and again, and even rubbed his eyes, afraid that he was just seeing things, but when he opened them again... there was still nothing there.
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