Upon hearing this, Xu Nian glanced at the arrogant and domineering guard, but didn't argue with him. She casually asked, "How much?"
"Since there are quite a few of you, let's calculate based on the number of people."
The guard, still acting like a big shot, said, "One tael of silver per person."
"One tael of silver?"
Upon hearing this, the villagers were immediately shocked and repeated the sentence in disbelief.
Xu Nian brought a large group of people, and everyone was dumbfounded.
One tael of silver is no small sum, especially with famine raging and no one having any income.
"What, you think it's too much? Then get lost!"
The guards, oblivious to any problem, pointed and whispered among themselves, "What are you doing here if you have no money? Get out of here!"
After saying that, he arrogantly turned his head away, seemingly no longer intending to talk to these "poor bastards".
Xu Nian laughed angrily and gave Gu Zhan a wink, "Is this how you treat your guests?"
Gu Zhan understood immediately, and several strong soldiers standing beside him immediately stood behind Xu Nian.
"Heh, hospitality? What are you talking to me about... this?"
The guard turned around and started cursing, but fell silent when he saw the soldiers behind Xu Nian, his face showing a hint of panic.
Hahaha, this is hilarious! That's such a coward!
[He was pretending just now, but now he's scared.]
This person is probably a bully who preys on the weak and fears the strong.
"how?"
Xu Nian showed no fear, raising her eyes to meet the guards' gaze. "Each of you gives you one tael, and you've probably pocketed quite a bit, haven't you? If this were told to your city lord, would you still be able to sit in your position?"
Throughout history, this kind of gatekeeper position has always been lucrative.
Upon hearing this, the guard's face showed panic, and he stammered, "Don't talk nonsense! This is an order from the city lord: taxes must be paid to enter the city!"
"Everyone in the city has enough to eat and lives in peace and contentment, so what's wrong with paying a little money?"
Hearing this, Xu Nian was somewhat surprised, but her face remained calm.
The two sides remained locked in this standoff, and the guards were already drenched in sweat.
He's been lording it over everyone for months, and no one has ever dared to defy him. How come he's run into such a tough opponent today?
Seeing the large number of people behind Xu Nian, the guards were also flustered and stammered for a long time, unable to give a coherent explanation.
Just as Xu Nian was about to continue questioning, a very effeminate male voice came from the side, "Oh, what's going on here? So lively?"
The guard looked up, jumped in fright, and bowed obsequiously, "Brother Li, what brings you here today?"
The man known as Brother Li had a delicate appearance and an excessively thin body, but his face was filled with an arrogant air of superiority.
"none of your business?"
Brother Li glared at the guard, then turned to Xu Nian and asked, "What's wrong with you? You don't want to pay to enter the city?"
Xu Nian glanced at the trembling guard, her expression unchanged, and said, "He said one tael of silver per person."
"oh?"
Brother Li looked down and suddenly kicked the guard. "How come I don't remember that the city lord instructed that it was one tael of silver?"
"Brother, I was wrong, I was out of my mind!"
The guard immediately knelt down, speaking tremblingly with fear on his face, looking extremely afraid of this Brother Li.
Xu Nian immediately understood that the guard was just taking advantage of the situation to make money, and her gaze towards Brother Li softened considerably.
"In that case, how much silver should we pay?"
Hearing Xu Nian's question, Brother Li looked her up and down and then inexplicably laughed.
"Since you're so sensible, we'll let it go. But once you're in the city, you must follow our rules, or you won't be allowed to stay."
Xu Nian had no objection to this.
After all, this is their territory, so we shouldn't act recklessly.
Seeing that Xu Nian readily agreed, Brother Li's smile deepened, and he looked extremely satisfied.
He turned and kicked the guard again, his effeminate expression appearing particularly terrifying. "Come here."
Sensing that Brother Li might punish him, Xu Nian tactfully led the group into the city.
As soon as she entered the city, Xu Nian realized the difference between this city and other cities, including those far away.
Although the city wasn't particularly bustling, it had everything you could need: houses, stalls, and even grain for sale.
Xu Nian immediately became interested and took a few people to see it.
A crowd had gathered around, but he kept picking and choosing, asking, "Can you make it cheaper?"
"It's really not going to be cheap; I don't make much profit selling this."
The grain shop owner looked troubled. "I pay more taxes every day than I sell grain, not to mention I have to pay grain to the city lord. How can I possibly give you a discount?"
Xu Nian listened silently from the side, her brows furrowing involuntarily.
It seems the people of this city aren't living as well as the guards at the gate described.
Thinking of this, Xu Nian didn't linger. Instead, she walked down the road and saw many stalls along the way, all selling all kinds of items.
It includes plenty of vegetables, fruits, rice, oil, and salt.
But their only commonality is that they are all ridiculously expensive.
After wandering around for a while, Xu Nian had heard the city lord's name from many people, and they all had complicated and unpleasant connotations.
Logically speaking, the city lord provided them with land to support themselves, and they should not be evaluated in this way.
Xu Nian was puzzled, when Gu Zhan suddenly exclaimed "Eh!"
The two looked over and saw a shed not far away with a crooked wooden sign hanging on it that read "Porridge Distribution".
A long line had already formed, and everyone was holding a broken bowl.
"Master, how about we have this for dinner tonight?"
The villagers behind them discussed it for a moment. They still had some wild vegetables on hand, so it wouldn't hurt to eat them with porridge. They couldn't have big meals of meat and fish every day.
Hearing them say that, Xu Nian naturally had no objection and led everyone to the end of the line to join the long queue.
The queue was very long, and it was almost dark before it was Xu Nian's turn.
Xu Nian took out a bowl from her spatial storage, looked up at the large pot, and was immediately stunned.
The bottomless pot was still full, filled with murky rice water, with hardly a grain of rice to be counted—it was pitiful.
"New here, huh? A bowl of porridge costs one coin."
The man watching the porridge glanced at Xu Nian and pointed to the bowl beside him, which was already filled with many copper coins.
Since things had come to this, Xu Nian could only swallow this bitter pill and toss in a coin.
She turned around and showed the bowl to everyone.
Seeing the pitiful amount of rice in the bowl, many people stopped queuing, but some people had no other food and reluctantly got the porridge.
Xu Nian looked at the murky rice soup in her hand and found it really hard to swallow.
Even so, the queue still stretched for a long time, and many people didn't even get to get any porridge.
Seeing a young man next to her lamenting that he hadn't gotten any porridge, Xu Nian's eyes lit up. She walked over to him and handed him the bowl.
The young man looked at Xu Nian in surprise, "What's this?"
Xu Nian lifted her eyes slightly.
"Here's some porridge for you. How about I ask you some questions?"
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