Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

Chapter 111 Walking Your Own Path

During the time Zhou Ye was away from home, the alley was struck by a devastating disaster.

The Flower Snake Gang suddenly arrived with 4 or 50 people, including Hei Liu, the gang leader, and other key members. In addition, the Woodcutter Gang also sent more than 10 people. They were led by Xiong Ge.

Without a doubt, the Woodcutter's Gang came to support the Flower Snake Gang. They sought out the Righteous Brotherhood to completely break the backbone of those young men! And, incidentally, to make an example of them, to make the local people obedient once again.

I won't go into the specifics of the process.

In short, anyone who had joined the Haoyi Brotherhood had their home ransacked and looted. As for the teenagers hiding in their homes?

The peripheral members beat them severely and extorted money from them: the core members were arrested, and the Flower Snake Gang demanded an exorbitant sum, threatening to torture them to death otherwise.

This included Xiao Jie's parents and family members. They were also beaten, and their families suffered heavy losses.

However, during this massive crackdown, for some unknown reason, some thugs set their sights on Gao Xiaoyi's family. Perhaps the butcher was relatively wealthy, so they wanted to extort money from them—or so they thought?

Fortunately, Gao Xiaoyi wasn't home today. But after these people barged in, Gao's mother felt extremely wronged.

To be honest, it's really a misunderstanding. Gao Xiaoyi never participated in the Haoyi Brotherhood.

So Gao's mother stopped Xiong Ge. After all, Old Gao was an outer member of the woodcutter's gang. He was a brother in the gang; how could she falsely accuse someone?

But no one expected that Xiong Ge had such a volatile temper. Perhaps he was annoyed by the harassment, perhaps he didn't take Lao Gao, a mere peripheral member, seriously, or perhaps he could still get a considerable share of the benefits from the Flower Snake Gang—

Whatever the reason, Xiong Ge suddenly attacked Gao's mother, punching and kicking her. After a few blows, Gao's mother was bleeding from all seven orifices.

Just as Xiong Ge suddenly erupted, Lao Gao was still searching inside the house for that wooden plaque, the one belonging to the outer members of the Cao Gang.

When Lao Gao arrived outside with the wooden sign, he suddenly saw that his mother had been beaten to death. He went berserk on the spot, grabbed a boning knife, and prepared to fight to the death. After injuring several thugs, he too was surrounded and beaten to death by Xiong Ge and his gang.

"Brother Ye, I'm so useless. I just watched helplessly as Uncle Gao and Aunt Gao died." Xiao Jie was still in deep pain.

Zhou Ye's face was already expressionless. After transmigrating to this other world, he didn't actually have many close friends. As for Old Gao and his wife...

They are just concerned about their two elders! They are so timid and cautious, so unwilling to cause trouble, and just want to live their own quiet lives.

How could such an honest couple be suddenly beaten to death?

Zhou Ye's eyelids twitched slightly. "Is it your Flower Snake Gang? And Xiong Ge from your Woodcutter Gang? Very well! Then I'll send you on your way!"

Suddenly, Xiao Jie stood up abruptly. He wiped away his tears, as if he had made up his mind: "Brother Aye, I should go too. Thank you for taking care of me these past few days."

"Um?"

"Don't worry! I wasn't acting impulsively. It's just that Uncle Gao and Aunt Gao got involved because of us. If I stayed at your house, you might get implicated too. I've thought it through now, and I should grow up and walk my own path."

"No, I've already contacted my friend. They'll send you to the capital in a few days?"

"No need. I won't run away anymore. Am I supposed to run far away for the rest of my life? If that's the case, even if I manage to survive, I'll despise myself—"

'

Seeing that Xiao Jie had made up his mind, Zhou Ye stopped trying to persuade him. However, Xiao Jie ultimately accepted the bottle of low-grade Qi and Blood Pills that Zhou Ye had given him; as for the 100 taels of silver notes? He resolutely refused to accept them.

It was like a dream. Xiao Jie appeared suddenly, and then he disappeared just as suddenly. He finally pursued his own path!

Zhou Ye left home again and headed towards Lao Gao's house.

The butcher shop in front of Lao Gao's house was a complete mess; all the meat had been looted. Lao Gao's door was also unlocked, and the inside was similarly ransacked and robbed.

The only thing that had been cleaned up was the bed; the bodies of Old Gao and his wife had been moved to the bed and covered with a tattered cotton quilt.

quilt.

After lifting the quilt, Zhou Ye observed a few moments of silence before bidding a final farewell to the elderly couple.

Ultimately, what those thugs want is for the people to be fearful, so they can exploit them later. Most gangs don't completely wipe them out. Otherwise, if all the people fled, who would they have left to oppress?

Therefore, the gangs generally don't pay attention to the neighbors' demands for new households.

After thinking it over, Zhou Ye left Lao Gao's house and went to the door of Gu Lizhang's house.

Is Village Chief Gu home?

"Hey, A-Ye, what's up?"

"I had just gotten home when I heard Uncle Gao and Aunt Gao—"

"Damn it! What kind of world is this?" Even Village Chief Gu couldn't help but curse.

"Village Chief Gu, what are the arrangements for their funerals? Do you need my help?"

For the residents of this area, Chief Gu does indeed assist the government in collecting exorbitant taxes, but he is also required to appear for funerals.

"Hey! Ah Ye. It's just sending him to the mortuary for cremation, right? Don't worry, I'll arrange for someone to take him there in a few days. We can't find Xiao Yi again. The Gao family's money has been robbed again. They might not even be able to keep their house and shop. The Flower Snake Gang already said they'd had their eyes on this place for a while. #!"

"Do you know where Xiaoyi is?"

"It's best if we don't know. It's best if he never comes back. If the Flower Snake Gang catches him, they'll definitely wipe him out completely."

"Uh-huh.

""

As he spoke, Zhou Ye pulled out a few pieces of silver from his pocket, weighing about seven or eight taels: "Village Chief Gu, please take these for Uncle Gao and Aunt Gao's funeral arrangements!"

"So many?"

Zhou Ye smiled wryly: "You all know that Xiao Yi and I are the closest. Let Uncle Gao and Aunt Gao pass away with some dignity. There should be at least two coffins. It would be best to prepare a new set of funeral clothes. Also, there's incense, candles, and paper money. If that's not enough, you can ask me for more."

"That's enough, that's definitely enough. Ah! Ah Ye, you're the most thoughtful one!"

That's true. We still need to find Gao Xiaoyi and remind him that he must not go home.

However, Zhou Ye spent the entire night observing the situation near Lao Gao's house, but Gao Xiaoyi never appeared.

Perhaps Gao Xiaoyi has already heard the devastating news, or perhaps—I hope he is safe! In this vast sea of ​​people, I don't even know where to look for him right now.

I can't worry about Gao Xiaoyi for now; I should focus on my own business first.

At daybreak, Zhou Ye went to the small family compound and retrieved the 5000 taels of silver notes he had kept there. That very evening, Zhou Ye donned a mask and, carrying the invitation, went to attend the auction held in the inner city.

When Zhou Ye first arrived in the county town, he set a principle: do not enter the Ming Jin realm, do not go into the deep mountains; do not enter the Ming Jin realm, do not go to the inner city.

Therefore, when he arrived at the inner city auction and sensed that there were so many powerful experts and masters here, he felt somewhat uneasy.

Fortunately, most people, like Zhou Ye, wore various masks. That should help them avoid having their identities guessed—right?

The auction finally began. The man who stepped onto the stage was a middle-aged, plump man in a brocade robe. He was clearly a master of the Ming Jin (a martial arts technique).

"Good evening, distinguished guests. Since there are many items up for auction tonight, I'll keep it brief: the unit of measurement for the auction is silver. If you don't have enough silver or silver notes, you can use items of equal value as a discount. We have appraisers on hand to assist you. However, I personally do not recommend this, because for well-known reasons, the appraised value of many items is currently quite low, which can easily lead to unnecessary disputes. Nevertheless, the price set by our auction house appraisers will prevail. Furthermore, you must abide by the rules of the auction house. This auction is jointly guaranteed by all the noble families. Malicious bidding, arbitrary bidding, and threatening other guests are strictly prohibited."

The portly auctioneer spoke at breakneck speed, explaining all the auction rules in detail. As soon as he finished, the auction began.

"The first item to be auctioned is the mid-grade Qi and Blood Pill. Each bottle contains 10 pills, and there are 30 bottles in total. We will auction them off one bottle at a time."

The starting price is 100 taels, and each bid must be at least 5 taels.

"The auction for the first bottle will now begin—"

No sooner had the auctioneer finished speaking than someone shouted, "105 taels!"

Immediately, someone nearby placed a bid: "110 taels."

Suddenly someone shouted, "Why are you all so uncooperative? Like women! I'll pay 150 taels!"

The auctioneer smiled and reminded, "Please be mindful of auction order. This gentleman's bid is 150 taels!"

"160 taels!"

"180 taels!"

"185 taels!"

"200 taels!"

, "

Before Zhou Ye could react, the auction price had already jumped to over 200 taels.

Zhou Ye frowned slightly, feeling that something was not right.

Based on past market prices, a mid-grade Qi and Blood Pill costs around 10 taels per pill, so a bottle should cost around 100 taels. Although mid-grade Qi and Blood Pills are mostly privately divided up by the powerful and wealthy in the county town, and often can't be bought even with money, even the premium on the black market would be at most 120 or 30 taels?

Why are prices fluctuating so much? Is there some information I'm unaware of?

Before long, the first bottle of mid-grade Qi and Blood Pills was successfully auctioned off. The final price was a staggering 305 taels?

Faced with such a strange situation, Zhou Ye made a decision in an instant: no matter what the reason, he would buy a bottle first.

"Now we're filming the second bottle—"

"200 taels!" someone shouted impatiently, making everyone laugh.

The auctioneer smiled and nodded: "Then 200 taels. Anyone else—"

"220 taels!"

"240 taels!"

"250 taels!"

Zhou Ye finally started bidding:

"280 taels!"

Sometimes, the amount of money you have is useless. Only your own strength is what truly matters!