Chapter 16 Leisurely Days
This year.
It was Chu Ning's first year in the Liang Dynasty, and he called this year the First Year of Chu.
At first, people thought it was just an ordinary New Year.
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Daning County is very lively from the first to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with a variety of programs.
Chu Ning and his old aunt, who have already escaped the poverty line, had a very comfortable New Year.
Because he was the town's constable, he didn't have to maintain law and order in the city during the Spring Festival. Every day he would accompany his old aunt to the City God Temple to worship gods, to the Taoist temple to burn incense, and to the Buddhist temple to pray for amulets.
He was quite curious and asked his aunt, "Aunt, you go to both the Taoist temple and the Buddhist temple, aren't you afraid that the gods and Buddha will be angry?"
"Silly child, of course you should worship whichever spirit you like. But you don't know which spirit it is, so just worship them all. It won't do any harm."
"Yes, the main theme is a sincere person without faith."
Old aunt: “?”
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On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Chu Ning's vacation ended.
It's time to go back to Xiafeng Town.
He didn't bring his great aunt with him, not because he couldn't afford to buy a house in Xiafeng Town, but because it was not suitable for the old lady to live in Xiafeng Town now.
Last year, my aunt was still in good health, but since I became a constable, her health has suddenly deteriorated. The doctor said that she had lost her energy and spirit.
Chu Ning understood in his heart that the old aunt's health was better than that of a young man like himself, not because her health was really that good, but because she was holding her breath and dared not fall down. If she fell down, who would take care of her?
But now that he had become a constable and his life was getting better and better, the old aunt no longer had to worry about him, and she let go of her anger.
With this release, all the pain that my body had suffered over the years came out.
According to the doctor, my aunt needs to rest now and cannot leave the familiar place, otherwise my health will get worse.
Chu Ning had just mentioned to his old aunt that he wanted to ask Director Huang to transfer him back, but was scolded by his old aunt.
In desperation, Chu Ning had to ask Mrs. Huang to take good care of his old aunt, and he also decided to come back to the county town to visit his old aunt every weekend.
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After returning to Xiafeng Town, Chu Ning continued to practice martial arts, hunt and stroll around as usual.
The townspeople and merchants no longer feared Chu Ning as they did at the beginning, and they could even make a few jokes with him occasionally. However, there was only one person who had some fear in his eyes every time he saw Chu Ning.
Liu Da felt a little panicked.
At the beginning, he was impulsive and told Constable Chu that his cousin was coming to Xiafeng Town. However, his cousin did not arrive for a long time. When he went to his cousin's house to pay New Year's greetings in the first month of the lunar year, he found out that his cousin had died.
He was beaten to death with one punch on a dark and windy night.
Although his cousin also told him that if you are a gangster, you will either be hacking people or being hacked, and that he has enemies all over the county, it is normal for him to be beaten to death one day.
But for some reason, when he heard the news, the figure of Constable Chu popped up in his mind.
Chu Ning didn't notice this detail, or rather, he saw Liu Da's panic, but didn't think about it that way.
He thought Liu Da's panic might be because his cousin had died and he had no one to rely on.
For this reason, he patted Liu Da's shoulder and comforted him: "Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. I will protect you... You can pay as much commercial tax as you want."
He didn't know that his words made Liu Da even more panicked.
Chu Ning was still very Buddhist in collecting the protection fee this month. He would collect less or owe money to merchants whose business was not good. There was also a merchant who mentioned that a baby was born when paying the protection fee. Chu Ning returned some of the protection fee to the merchant as a gift and went to the banquet with him.
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In the second month, Chu Ning's life not only included martial arts training, hunting, and strolling, but also banquets.
As long as the people invited him, he would participate. This allowed him to become one with the townspeople and also gave him a more comprehensive understanding of their situation.
Whose family has a baby, whose daughter-in-law quarrels with her mother-in-law every day, whose man likes gambling the most, whose business is the biggest...
If you ask about this information, people really won't tell you. But as long as you eat at a banquet and sit at the same table with women, you will know it all if you eat many times.
Chu Ning's strength has reached over 1,200 kilograms.
It took him more than two months to gain two hundred pounds, which was obviously much slower than the original speed. Chu Ning knew that this was because his Bull Demon Power had reached a bottleneck again, and the growth he could get now came from the minimum living allowance of the Longevity Fruit.
Minimum living security.
This is the term Chu Ning came up with after nearly a year of research on the release of the energy of the longevity fruit.
The energy released by the longevity fruit is set as M. There are four major factors that affect the size of M: food, progress of mental skills, exercise, and minimum living allowance.
When the effect of martial arts training begins to weaken, or even reaches a bottleneck, all that is left is food and subsistence allowances.
The minimum living allowance is a bottom line as long as he has enough to eat.
The current minimum living allowance has dropped to the level of increasing four kilograms of strength every day. As to why the minimum living allowance also fluctuates, Chu Ning believes that it has something to do with his body's tolerance.
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If your body is compared to a road, increased strength is equivalent to the cars driving on this road, and a breakthrough in martial arts is equivalent to widening the road, allowing more cars to drive on it.
Now that there are cars on every lane of this highway, it is naturally impossible for cars to insert themselves and drive side by side. The most we can do is add some motorcycles or bicycles and drive on the side.
As long as you break through to the fifth level of "Bull Demon Power", your strength growth will accelerate again.
Take it slow, you will break through the fifth level sooner or later, and now your Bull Demon Fist can already burst out three times of your own strength. Now you should be able to beat two Tang Ruowei with strength alone. If you add chili powder, defeating three Tang Ruowei will not be a problem.
Generally speaking, apart from speed and moves, in a head-on confrontation based on strength, a difference of 200 kilograms is a hurdle, and a difference of more than 500 kilograms is equivalent to a dimensionality reduction attack.
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It's time to pay protection money again.
Chu Ning took the money and rejected the invitation from the merchant who wanted to have a banquet with him at the weekend because there was a wedding in his family. It was not because he could not afford the money, but because he had to go back to the county town at the weekend.
There are no Saturdays or weekends in Daliang. Officials like Chief Huang can have one day off every five days. Of course, even if Chief Huang only works five days a month, no one will say anything.
The normal rule for a small constable like him is to have a ten-day break, that is, one day off every ten days. Similarly, no one would care if Chu Ning took a weekly break.
"Sir, business is not good this month, can you reduce the tax?"
Chu Ning looked at the middle-aged man with a flattering smile and nodded: "Okay."
However, the middle-aged man still did not pay, but said: "Can you give me the rest next month? I really don't have money this month."
Chu Ning looked at the man with a playful expression. The man's forehead was sweating when Chu Ning looked at him. After a few breaths, he quickly took out a bag from his waist and said, "Sir, this is the tax money."
"Wang Daniu, if you come again, you don't need to come."
Chu Ning's words were cold, but none of the merchants around him pleaded for Wang Daniu. Lord Chu was a man of conscience. The taxes he collected were not high to begin with. If there was an emergency at home and he needed money, he could still owe it to him. But you, Wang Daniu, were so cruel that you didn't want to pay.
Even if they were driven out of the street and not allowed to set up stalls by Lord Chu, they felt it was justified.
"My lord, I won't dare to do that again. I won't dare to do that again."
Wang Daniu quickly begged for mercy, but Chu Ning ignored him and left.
He forgot whether it was the white banquet or the red banquet, but he heard the women at the table talking about Wang Daniu.
Wang Daniu often went to the county town to get some rouge and powder to sell in the town, but recently he became addicted to gambling. He would go to the city to gamble in the casino every few days and lost all the family savings.
Fortunately, Wang Daniu's wife was still very decisive. When she couldn't persuade Wang Daniu, she took her children to live in her parents' home. As for the stall, it was usually run by Wang Daniu's wife.
Chu Ning had seen many gamblers in his previous life and knew clearly that no gambler deserved sympathy.
He was a constable and didn't care about household affairs, but it was easy to guess that Wang Daniu knew that taxes had to be paid today, and he probably used sweet words to coax money out of his wife in the name of paying taxes, but he didn't want to pay the taxes so that he could use the money for gambling.
If he took the money, Wang Daniu's wife could still set up a stall here in the future. If he gave it to Wang Daniu, it would probably go into the casino's pocket today.
He said it so decisively in front of so many merchants, knowing that his words would definitely reach Wang Daniu's wife and his father-in-law's home. In order to avoid losing the stall, no matter how soft-hearted Wang Daniu's wife is, she would not give Wang Daniu any more money for the sake of their children's livelihood.
This is all he can do to help. As for the future of the Wang family, that depends on Wang Daniu's wife herself.
(End of this chapter)