Starting from the Greyhound, seventy-two changes.

Chapter 5 The dream is to live a good life

There are three villages under Sheyu Town, namely Shizi Village, Dachen Village and Xiaowang Village.

Shizi Village is the middle area connecting Dachen Village and Xiaowang Village, and is also the only way to "Baojiao County".

Due to its special geographical location and the fact that many famous figures emerged from Shizi Village in its early years, more than a hundred years ago, the imperial court issued an order to separate the "Snake Fish Town" from the original "Shizi Village".

Because of its location as a town, it also attracted wealthy people from the two neighboring villages to settle down and build houses in the town.

The layout of Sheyu Town is very simple, with a long street that is about seven or eight hundred meters long and three short streets, the shortest of which is only two or three hundred meters long, forming a "丰" shape.

“It’s not much different from the town fairs I attended when I was a kid.”

Chen Ku pulled a cart to buy firewood.

In fact, it was my first time in the town. The road was a dirt road, and I saw an endless stream of people wearing short shirts and coarse cloth on the street. They were all people busy with their lives.

There is an area where vegetables are sold, all of which are common vegetables in the countryside, such as cucumbers, cabbages, and potatoes. Some old people in the village go to pick vegetables early in the morning, carrying their loads on their shoulders and running dozens of miles to the town, earning a few cents of hard-earned money.

There are also food stalls selling jelly, tofu stalls, steamed buns shops, etc.

Melon seeds, red dates, thin-skinned walnuts, peanuts, and various dried fruit stalls.

At this time, I heard a group of people gathering nearby.

"Have you heard that Zhujiazhuang was looted by a group of vagrants and bandits?"

"Several officials in Zhujia Town had their families beaten to death."

“That group of refugees died even more!”

"It's so miserable."

"There must be a bandit leader behind this group of hateful refugees..."

"Fortunately, Zhujia Town is still a hundred miles away from our Sheyu Town, so the spread should not be able to come..."

"Oh, it's hard to say."

Hearing this, the three of them fell silent.

Old Master Li was smoking a pipe, with worry in his eyes.

"These people are no longer considered refugees, they are bandits. Refugees will only starve to death, but if they organize themselves, they will become bandits." Chen Ku was worried: "Even the homes of wealthy landlords could be broken into and killed. There is really no sense of security in this chaotic world."

"Come, have a big bun first." Li Ji Yang was simple-minded and didn't think much. He came to the town just to eat something good. He bought six big buns first and gave one to Chen Ku and grandpa respectively.

"...Thank you Ji Yang." Chen Ku took it and saw that it was a vegetarian bun, then he started to eat it with peace of mind. There was nothing else, the meat filling was precious.

After the three of them finished their buns, they put on their backpacks, pulled the cart, and walked along the longest street. When they reached two-thirds of the length, there was an area in front where herbs were placed, which was similar to a vegetable market.

It is the fork in the road between the main street and the second street that separates an area called "Yaochai City".

At the entrance of the market, there was a memorial archway, and there were actually two yamen runners standing there.

Old Li raised his head and warned the two people behind him, saying, "Poor boy, take out the retail letter that the village chief gave you and sent to Zhao Bocai's house. You need to verify your identity when you enter Yaochaishi Street."

"Oh." Chen Ku immediately took out a piece of cloth from his arms. On it was the signature and handwriting of the village chief of Dachen Village, indicating that Chen Ku was a "retail investor" affiliated with a household in the village.

This is who I am now.

For retail investors who are not registered, it is equivalent to a temporary ID card.

Looking at Old Li and Li Ji Yang, they took out two bamboo pieces, also called waist supports.

On it were their places of origin and names, but they were also stamped with the government's iron seal, indicating that they were legally registered citizens of the Ji State.

Chen Ku watched the yamen runners checking the "household registration pass" one by one to enter Yaochai Street, and he felt as if he had checked ID cards when entering a scenic spot in his previous life.

But he knew in his heart that the yamen runners checked his identity in order to register him, and then when he came out, they would collect taxes based on the income flow into Yaochai Street.

"Retail investor?" When it came to Chen Ku, the tall, bearded yamen runner glanced at him coldly and said, "Are you a foreign refugee, or have you committed some crime?"

Chen Ku was silent for a moment.

But he couldn't help but look at the notice posted behind the two yamen runners. There was a portrait, name, hometown and crime on it.

Seeing Chen Ku noticed the wanted poster behind him.

The tall yamen runner raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why, do you know him?"

Chen Ku immediately shook his head: "I don't know him, I just saw the high reward money."

"You don't know him, why are you staring at him?" the tall yamen runner asked impatiently.

The middle-aged yamen runner next to him cleared his throat, and pointed at the wanted poster and said to Chen Ku and the people behind him:
"Everyone passing by, please take a look at the person in the portrait. This is a newly painted portrait of a smuggler named Ni Kun. He smuggled a huge amount of money. Anyone who can provide his whereabouts will be rewarded with 30 taels of silver. Anyone who helps to capture him will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver!"

"One hundred taels!"

People were frightened.

"This is a big criminal, probably a martial artist!"

Such a high reward also means terrible danger, so ordinary people dare not be greedy.

The bailiffs also knew what everyone was thinking.

He glanced at Chen Ku and said coldly:
"If anyone knows about this but does not report it, or covers up or conceals it, not only will they be convicted of the same crime and sentenced to death, but their families will also be implicated!"

Seeing this, Old Li came over and said, "My two lords, this is a kid from my village. He has a clean background and has never done anything bad. He became a retail investor because of my brother's involvement."

The two yamen runners heard this. The tall yamen runner said in a deep voice to the people around them: "See? If you know something but don't report it, your family will be implicated. This is the fate. You will become a retail investor. All your income from this Yaochai Street must be taxed half. Do you understand?"

After saying that, he looked at Chen Ku, waiting for a reply.

Chen Ku sighed inwardly and said, "I understand."

The two yamen runners saw that his attitude was quite good, and also because there were people queuing behind him, they slowly let him pass.

After entering the market entrance.

Old Li took a puff of his pipe and sighed, "You think of your brother, don't you? I'm sorry for your hardship."

Chen Ku shook his head and smiled: "It's okay, let's go sell medicine."

This body's brother, Chen Xin, suffered such a fate because of his desperate actions of smuggling and illegal immigration.

After traveling through time for so long, Chen Ku could more or less understand why there were so many people smuggling and selling drugs in Baojiao County.

First of all, Baojiao County is located in the southwestern border. The Liangjie Mountain not far away is the border line, and outside the border is the Yuan Kingdom.

Given the geographical situation, it is normal that smugglers arise.

But there’s actually a bigger reason.

That is the world today, where countries are closed to the outside world and trade is cut off between countries.

The richness of products varies from country to country. Take the neighboring Yuan Dynasty for example. Due to its special geographical location behind the mountains, some medicinal herbs are very common in the deep mountains and old forests within the Yuan Dynasty. They also have strong medicinal properties, so they are not worth anything within the Yuan Dynasty.

But if one only needs to risk being beheaded, cross the Liangjie Mountain, and use smuggling channels to bring these herbs to Ji State, where they are not produced in abundance and are in short supply, the profit can be ten times or even a hundred times.

In today's world, many people are forced to live without money due to various heavy taxes and life pressures, so they choose to take risks...

Soon, Old Li took Chen Ku to the Yaochaishi Street to sell all the herbs for the three of them.

As soon as Old Li took out the seven-liang old mountain ginseng, it caused a sensation in several stalls.

"Seven ounces is ginseng, eight ounces is treasure, and only one ounce is left before it becomes a treasure grass."

"Pity!!"

"But even so, it's still expensive."

"I offer seven taels of silver, one tael of silver for one tael of ginseng, the price is fair."

Finally, after some bargaining, Lao Li sold the seven-liang old ginseng for seven liang and six qian of silver.

Someone nearby said with regret: "What a shame, what a shame, if it had one more tael of silver, the price of this ginseng would have increased by at least five times, at least 40 taels of silver."

"That's what we say, but everyone knows that if a ginseng weighs more than 700 grams, it will take another year to grow one ounce. Adding it all together, it takes at least 30 years for a ginseng to grow into a precious medicine. How can ordinary people have such a great blessing?"

Old Li shook his head and sighed, realizing that he was unlucky and could only encounter it when the amount was seven taels.

Later, he arranged to sell Chen Ku's snake bone grass.

Chen Ku got a total of four hundred and fifty coins. He said to Grandpa Li that he was going to buy firewood, then temporarily separated from Grandpa Li and his grandson and headed towards the back street of the medicine firewood market.

There are not only people selling firewood here, but also people selling fish.

Sheyu Town is surrounded by mountains and rivers.

There are snakes in the mountains, fish in the water, medicine in the grass, and firewood everywhere.

So the Yaochai Market not only sells medicine and firewood, but also snakes and fish.

I bought 100 wen worth of firewood. Firewood was one tenth of the price of rice, one jin worth one wen, and I bought a total of 100 jin of firewood.

One hundred kilograms, Chen Ku could carry it with his current body, but fortunately there was a cart, which saved half the effort.

After loading the firewood and going back to look for Grandpa Li and his grandson, he heard the same cries coming from the medicine firewood market as Grandpa Li had encountered before.

"There are precious fish, there are precious fish!"

"It's the kid from the Bai family. He caught a precious fish this time!!"

"The precious fish, like the precious grass, is a great tonic for blood and flesh, and is a spiritual creature."

"Oh my god, there's more than one!"

"I was born in poverty, but I caught some precious fish. Now I have turned my life around. With these precious fish, I can join a martial arts school, pass the exam to become a martial arts student, and change my status to a county resident. My life will be smooth sailing in the future."

"I'm so envious. Brother Bai is going to live a good life."

"I heard that just now, an old man dug up seven taels of old mountain ginseng!"

"Grandpa, how come I never get a chance to do something good like this?!"

After Chen Ku drove the cart away, he heard from afar that those precious fish were sold at the price of thirteen or fourteen taels each.

First it was Old Master Li, then this buddy, they all became rich by living near mountains and rivers.

Then he thought about the half tax he would have to pay soon, and he would only have a few cents left in his hand.

The heart is stimulated,

He touched his nose and realized that he had memorized many of the smells in the Yaochai Market and could track them ten miles away.

"I'll go into the mountains tomorrow. This time, it's my turn to have a good time!"

(End of this chapter)