Xuanxia

Chapter 69 Making a Living
"Fifty copper coins, that's all I can give you."

The butcher with a face full of flesh looked at the rabbit meat in front of him and said with a curled lip: "We are not short of meat here. It's only because there are no wounds on your rabbit and the arrows have pierced through its eyes that the fur can be sold for some money... otherwise I wouldn't even bother to buy it."

Fu Qingzhou and Tang Jiao took the pitiful copper coins and looked at each other with helplessness in their eyes.

Winter is approaching and there are fewer wild animals in the mountains.

What's more, Shu is not like Bailu Mountain. It has a large population and naturally many hunters. In addition, Fu Qingzhou is not a local hunter and is not as familiar with the surrounding mountains and forests as he is with Bailu Mountain. After all the effort, he only caught a few rabbits.

They are now in a town on the official road called Luotie Town. There are many people and the business is quite developed. There must be a large number of farmers raising livestock nearby, so the butcher shop owner said that there is no shortage of meat here.

But the only way he knows how to make money is hunting...

"How about looking for some shamans around here?"

Fu Qingzhou was somewhat tempted to go back to his old ways.

"Spiritual charlatan?" Tang Jiao was a little curious: "Why can I make money by looking for a charlatan?"

Fu Qingzhou smiled, walked with her on the street, and briefly chatted with her about his past experience of killing charlatans.

After hearing this, Tang Jiao thought for a moment, "Brother, you killed those bad guys, didn't you take them to claim the reward?"

"Receive the reward?"

Fu Qingzhou's eyes widened: "Is there still a place to claim the reward?"

"Yes!" Tang Jiao explained, "When I traveled from the capital to southern Xinjiang, I often saw bounties posted in villages and towns. If a knight caught the villain on the bounty list, he could go and claim the reward."

"Back then..." She lowered her head: "I was also robbed by bandits on the road. It was a few knights who killed the bandits for the reward, and I was saved."

Fu Qingzhou suddenly realized.

In ancient times, unlike modern society, it was difficult to maintain comprehensive public security. If the official military force was high, then the civilian military force would also be high!

In martial arts novels, there are all kinds of bandits, flower-stealing thieves, and green forest heroes... they are everywhere.

The government will naturally suppress bandits, but big towns can afford some experts, but small places cannot do so.

Therefore, many villages that were attacked by bandits and evil people would post a reward, and the local people would pool money to pay the reward and find some knights to help solve the problem.

Of course, big towns would occasionally run into troubles that they could not solve, but at that time they should look for the big sects, or some famous and powerful people with higher cultivation levels, and such matters would not be Fu Qingzhou's turn.

Thinking of this, Fu Qingzhou blinked: "Your idea is good, we can become bounty hunters! Your martial acupoints are also open, right?"

Tang Jiao nodded somewhat embarrassedly: "Well... I just opened one realm."

"It's okay, it's better than not opening it."

Fu Qingzhou waved his hand: "Let's go and look for the bounty in this town. Do you know where to find it?"

"Ok!"

Tang Jiao knew that she had helped her elder brother, and nodded happily: "Usually, there will be a special notice board near the government office."

The town was not big, and the two quickly found the bulletin board not far from the government entrance.

The pieces of paper on the bulletin board were yellowed and torn, but at least the words on them were still clearly readable.

"The thief monk from East Shu, Fa Chen, offers a reward of 100 taels of silver... must he have at least the fifth realm of cultivation?"

Fu Qingzhou's eyelids twitched.

He changed the reward and looked at it: "Traitor of Qiluo Palace, female, unknown appearance, only known to be good at singing and dancing, reward of three hundred taels of silver! Cultivation... Oh my god, the sixth realm?!"

Tang Jiao also read out the bounty: "Brother, those two of you are not from this town. This one looks like it was posted by the town. It seems simpler?" "About fifty miles south of the town, there are more than a hundred horse bandits, three leaders, all of whom are at the fourth level of cultivation. The bounty for each head is fifty taels of silver. The rest of the horse bandits will get five taels of silver each."

Her eyes sparkled: "How about this?"

Fu Qingzhou was a little hesitant.

Horse bandits are not quite the same as ordinary bandits.

You should know that it is difficult for ordinary bandits to have enough money and food to raise many horses, but horse bandits are different. To be called horse bandits, there must be at least 20 to 30 horses among the more than 100 people, and their mobility will be much stronger.

Moreover, most of these people are gathered together, so it is not a simple matter of adding up their combat power.

More importantly, fifty miles south of the town... is in the opposite direction of the Langhuan Mountain where he wanted to go.

"Forget it, let's take a look. Is there anything else?"

Fu Qingzhou decided not to consider this reward for the time being.

The two looked around but found nothing.

This town is not too far from Shudu City, and there are no deep mountains or old forests around it for bandits to occupy. Most of the bounties posted are posted by Shudu City.

"Do we really have to look for these horse bandits?" Fu Qingzhou touched his chin, very hesitant.

At this moment, a man in police uniform strolled over to the two of them at the gate of the yamen and asked, "Are you two... a young man who wants to accept the bounty?"

Fu Qingzhou bowed to him and said with a wry smile, "I want to earn some money by offering a reward, but the reward here is too difficult for my brother and I, so I'm afraid we can't do it."

"Oh, that's all right."

The constable chuckled and said, "Didn't a guy called Long Dabei show up near us a few days ago? He attracted many gangsters to come here, and they also made money, so they solved many of our old cases."

"The bounties you see nowadays are the most troublesome ones. Considering your young age, it's normal that you can't do it."

Fu Qingzhou's forehead was covered with sweat.

The reason for this is...

"But, there is no other way."

The constable changed the subject and said, "Our town is close to the official road, so there are naturally many people passing by. But if you go along the forest road and go northeast for more than 30 miles, there are some villages there. There are many bandits nearby. We have been there several times but failed to wipe them out. There should be some rewards."

"Besides, those bandits only dare to harass small villages. I'm afraid they don't have much power. If you are willing, you can give it a try."

Fu Qingzhou was overjoyed: "That's great, thank you, big brother constable!"

"Haha, no problem." The constable walked away leisurely. Fu Qingzhou and Tang Jiao looked at each other, with joy in their eyes.

Although the two did not rest much, they immediately set off. According to the constable's instructions, they did not take the official road, but went northeast into a small hill and walked along the forest road.

Fu Qingzhou currently had only a crude longbow in his hand that he had made temporarily in the mountains and forests in order to make money from hunting. However, he had no other choice but to hope that someone in the next village could lend him some weapons.

Thirty miles is not far, but it did take some time to walk.

Soon, as the shade of the trees faded, the front gradually opened up and large tracts of golden farmland came into view.

The fields are full of water and the rice leaves are as tall as ever; the sun shines through the trees and the morning mist is low.

When late autumn arrives, it is the harvest season. Many farmers are bending over to pick rice in the fields, with the setting sun shining brightly with warm light.

But it is also during this time of year that bandits are most likely to come down the mountain to steal food.

(End of this chapter)