Chapter 178: Chaos in Xiaocheng (18) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Unlike the prosperous and decadent Xiaocheng of the past, the city now seems to resemble a chaotic world. Every household is tightly shut, and only a few pitiful lights illuminate the entire city.
The entire city was eerily quiet, save for the occasional chirping of insects and the metallic clanging of armor joints. Gong Shuwu followed Chu Yao, the two heading straight for the butcher's house. The once bustling night market was deserted, stalls scattered haphazardly along the roadside, a scene of utter desolation.
Even someone as cold and hard as Gong Shuwu couldn't help but sigh.
This is war.
Even if the enemy hasn't actually invaded yet.
However, the quiet didn't mean the city was "dead." In the unseen, dark corners, dirty things happened all the time, such as robbery and murder. In the alley leading to the butcher's house, two corpses lay dead, their eyes wide open, their body temperature not yet completely gone.
Gong Shuwu stepped over the pool of blood formed by the blood of the two corpses, leaving trails of bloody footprints on the muddy, smelly road.
He said, "Alas, I'm late."
If only it could have been sooner.
Perhaps the old man and the young boy on the ground can survive.
Chu Yao remained calm and expressionless, uttering, "It's no use arriving early; it's better to meet the King of Hell sooner rather than later."
These two are likely a grandfather and grandson who make a living by begging in the neighborhood.
Before the rebels arrived, they were already starving and emaciated. With the rebels attacking the city, ordinary people were struggling to make ends meet, let alone spare any kindness to help them.
Living one more day is just another day of suffering.
Gong Shuwu sighed softly upon hearing this, inwardly agreeing.
It's clearly a fallacy, but it's perfectly relevant in the current context.
This shows what the world is like...
No one spoke for the rest of the journey.
Chu Yao knew the way to the butcher's house well, and sensed something was wrong as soon as he approached. As one of the "wealthy" people in the neighborhood, the butcher's house was neater and cleaner than those of his neighbors.
His wife and parents were all diligent and clean people; they never piled up garbage or filth in front of their door. Anyone who threw dirty water in front of their door would be verbally abused for a long time. But now, the area in front of their door was a mess, and an unbearable stench filled the air.
The wooden door, which used to be washed every few days, was split in two by some sharp weapon. Chu Yao pushed it open, and the broken pieces of the door clattered to the ground. A trail of dried blood stretched from the door into the house, and the hemp rope used to dry clothes in the yard had broken off at one end.
Chu Yao's heart skipped a beat.
The pace was changed from a short walk to a brisk walk.
Gong Shuwu hurriedly followed.
The same thought flashed through their minds—
Something's happened!
The butcher's house has four rooms in total.
It wasn't a large place; they could search it in no time. Aside from the furniture that had been ransacked, there wasn't much left, and no one was alive. If it weren't for the trail of blood outside, they could have comforted themselves by thinking that the butcher's family had received the news and hurriedly packed their bags to flee.
but--
Gong Shuwu watched Chu Yao's retreating figure, opened his mouth as if wanting to say something to comfort him, but swallowed the words back. There was no point in saying anything now.
Losing two students at once, even if they hadn't known each other for very long, how could Chu Yao, as their teacher, possibly feel good about it?
The atmosphere was almost frozen, making it hard to breathe.
"Alas, please accept my condolences..." Gong Shuwu said.
Chu Yao's jaw tightened as he suppressed his anger.
"Why should you mourn?"
If something truly terrible had happened to them, would the murderer really be kind enough to collect the butcher's family's bodies? That pool of blood could very well be from an animal...
all in all--
I want to see him alive or dead.
Chu Yao's hands, hidden in his sleeves, clenched slightly into fists. His unkempt nails had grown quite long, leaving crescent-shaped marks on his palms. Even as he said this, his ominous premonition grew stronger.
He said, "Try to find people before the rebels break in."
If the rebels were to invade, the chaos and confusion would make finding even a few people seem like searching for a needle in a haystack, with little hope.
Gong Shuwu said, "Then let's go and take a look at a few nearby shops."
Whether they fled or were killed, they could always find out something. Chu Yao was about to nod when the two of them heard a very faint rustling sound—a soft scratching, like fingernails scratching a wooden door. They exchanged a glance and followed the sound.
The noise was coming from the corner of the woodshed.
They moved aside the pile of clutter and finally found the source of the sound in a crevice: a dirty, lumped-up object.
In the darkness, his eyes emitted an eerie light.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a cat.
Chu Yao recognized it at a glance.
"Su Shang!"
He lowered his voice.
Perhaps hearing a familiar name, the cat let out a weak meow and obediently allowed Chu Yao to pick it up. This kitten was Su Shang. Qi Shan was worried about unforeseen circumstances during the tax evasion, and didn't feel comfortable leaving it at the bandit stronghold, but feared keeping it with her might cause problems…
Coincidentally, Lin Feng quite liked it.
So he asked Lin Feng to temporarily take care of Su Shang.
As soon as Su Shang was in Chu Yao's hands, she couldn't wait to lick his fingers and palms, making a pitiful and weak meow.
The cat, pampered by its owner Qishan, is more affectionate, loves to cuddle, and is not afraid of strangers compared to other cats.
Chu Yao: "..."
Even though he didn't particularly like cats, these little creatures that are hard to tame, he was still softened by Su Shang's meows, so he poured it some water and soaked some dry food before feeding it to it.
Gong Shuwu also recognized that this was Qi Shanyang's beloved cat, and said, "Finding this little guy is a good omen..."
Chu Yao absentmindedly hummed in agreement.
However, this is the only piece of good news.
They discovered that their neighbors were in the same situation as the butcher's house; some had bloodstains inside, some were clean, and some showed signs of a struggle. They couldn't find out anything from them.
The search scope was further expanded.
They only found two thugs committing crimes in the alley. Their territory was on the other side of Xiaocheng, and they were unaware of the surrounding area.
Seeing that he couldn't get any information out of him, Chu Yao gave Gong Shuwu a wink, and the latter understood immediately, suddenly tightening his fingers.
With a short whimper, the corpse collapsed to the ground, its neck twisted at an angle, and fell silent.
"What should we do..."
They searched until late into the night but still found no clues.
Just when he was at his wit's end, Gong Shuwu noticed that a little orange-red had appeared in the sky above the city gate. In no time, the orange-red slowly expanded and spread, becoming more and more intense.
Faintly, the sounds of shouts and cries of battle could also be heard.
Gong Shuwu's heart skipped a beat: "The rebel army outside the city has attacked again?"
Chu Yao shook his head: "It doesn't seem like it..."
If it were a rebel attack, the shouts and cries of battle would be clearer. The location of the orange-red flames is also wrong; it seems—it seems like something happened at the location of the rebel camp!
Just as Chu Yao had predicted, the walls of Xiaocheng were unharmed.
However, it is indeed somewhat related to them.
To be precise, it's about his relationship with Shen Tang.
After they finished dealing with Yancheng, they wanted to meet up with Chu Yao and the others as soon as possible, but they encountered an unexpected incident on the way.
The two men saw a group of rebel soldiers escorting a shipment of grain and fodder.
I originally intended to avoid it, but—
The enemy was determined to deliver their own casualties!
Let's not even mention that awful and disgusting monthly ticket ranking from October.
[Regarding the slower pacing and padded plot]:
When we were raising and castrating pigs before, some readers mentioned that recently there has been a lot more talk about the storyline of Praying for Goodness.
I admit there are issues with this, and in fact, long novels are all prone to this problem. The recent slow updates make the flaws seem even more pronounced. However, I still need to explain that pig castration is part of the farming and management aspect, and it leans towards daily life. In the future, there will not only be pig castration and pig farming, but also silkworm rearing, weaving, dyeing, farming, and tree planting. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to the books I bought, *Tiangong Kaiwu* and *Qimin Yaoshu*. Oh, and Lin Feng's literary mind and the way of the scholar are also related to this…
The main storyline follows Tang Mei's path to the pinnacle, but she doesn't walk this path alone; her companions and rivals are all part of it. The last ten or so chapters focus on the story of Qi Shan, incidentally introducing the "Sacred Land of Mountains and Seas." Those who have read the relevant chapters, even if they don't mind the length, will know that only a portion of the "Thousand Mountains" (i.e., the Hundred Schools of Thought) in the "Mountain of Books" have appeared so far. Before Tang Mei's arrival, this world was dominated by Confucianism and Military Strategy, with Legalism and Taoism playing minor roles; the others were either still in decline or hadn't even appeared yet.
I don't know if opening the shop too big will cause it to collapse; I can only say I'll try my best.
The main focus of Qi Shan's storyline is to supplement his background, write about his past, connect some previous foreshadowing, and fill in the plot holes, rather than how the prefect died.
Of course, the water's appearance also has something to do with my slow updates and rambling descriptions.
There's still some rambling to come; I'll write about that in tomorrow's chapter.
(End of this chapter)
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