Chapter 483: Salt Resources Near the Small Town Have Dried Up

A Tu? Nan Qinghuan remembered there was another child also called A Tu. The Ancient People had limited knowledge, so they named their children very casually, and many even shared the same name.

However, this person's appearance put her on alert.

But she couldn't wait for Ying to return any longer, so she decided to go take a look.

The sun blazed fiercely.

A tea house called Tushang stood by the roadside. The Ancient People had little culture and named things very oddly, often using uncommon names.

The tea house was also very crude, just a bamboo structure. But in the Ancient Land, this was already considered decent. Merchants from various places came here to do business, and the comings and goings of people brought vitality to the place.

Moreover, many diverse cultures converged here, adding energy to the Small Town. There wasn't just tea leaves, but also oil tea, brewed from a kind of oily leaf. Its taste was somewhat similar to butter tea. Nan Qinghuan had tried it—these were the most ancient of teas.

Of course, it also had its own unique style.

When they arrived, the one called A Tu was a man. He was very tall, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a high nose bridge, looking very much like someone from the West.

When Nan Qinghuan came, A Tu recognized her at once. "Excuse me, are you Nan Qinghuan?"

Nan Qinghuan glanced at the man before her and saw he was carrying many snake-skin bags—these were probably early versions of bags.

"I am Nan Qinghuan, and you are…"

"Please, have a seat. And this is?"

Naturally, he was referring to Jiguang.

"I'm a local from this town. You don't need to know who I am. Let me ask you—you said you know why our salt is so expensive. Why is that?"

That A Tu seemed very helpless when the matter was brought up. He sighed deeply and poured tea for the two of them. "It's like this—I'm in the salt business. The person you're looking for is me."

"You?"

Nan Qinghuan hadn't expected the person Dashan was sent to find to be this man before her. She was a bit angry. "Since you're here, then I'll ask you—the price has increased tenfold. Why is that? Everyone can't afford salt anymore. Do you know you're disrupting market rules?"

"Market?"

That A Tu wasn't someone who could be easily intimidated. He stood up, walked to the railing, and gazed down at the Common People coming and going below.

"The market isn't something I can decide, Nan Qinghuan. Our salt has run out, so we have to raise the price."

"Run out? How is that possible?"

She remembered that before, a natural salt lake had been discovered in the Tribe. There was plenty of salt there. How could it be gone? "The salt in that salt lake is gone. The salt I'm selling them now is transported from elsewhere, and the price is very high. I have no choice either. I buy it expensive, so naturally I have to sell it to them at a high price."

"You're full of shit! You're clearly inflating the market price. Do you think you're the only one selling salt?"

Jiguang didn't believe this man was the only salt seller. But the man just smiled. "I'm the only one who knows the craft of making salt. I need to hire people to do it. And now, the raw materials are gone too. To survive, I have to raise the price. If you think it's too expensive, no problem—you can just not eat it."

"You…"

Jiguang was speechless. Who said the Ancient People were stupid? This one right here was very clever. And the saying 'all merchants are cunning' applied here too.

She felt this man was simply price-gouging. Since he was the only one selling salt and the other tribespeople didn't know how to make it, he had them over a barrel.

Damn it!

This was a major issue concerning people's livelihoods and had to be resolved.

"Nan Qinghuan, the salt price can't go up. So many people without salt will get sick, and over time, they'll lose the strength to work."

Nan Qinghuan understood the harm of having no salt even better than Jiguang. But now that the salt resources here were depleted, it was very troublesome.

This man was unwilling to lower the price, and she couldn't force him to, as that would also disrupt the market.

"A Tu, are all the nearby salt mines gone?"

"They're gone. I knew you'd come looking for me, so I came to you first. I don't want the salt price to go up either, but there's no salt nearby. I have to transport it from elsewhere and then boil it down. The back-and-forth makes the cost very high. A price increase is inevitable. If the Town Mayor thinks I'm wrong, then I'll go sell somewhere else. I won't stay here."

With that, A Tu turned to leave. That wouldn't do.

"Hey, wait a moment."

Nan Qinghuan couldn't let him go. If he left, there would be other salt dealers, and the price still wouldn't come down.

So the urgent task was to find new salt resources. But all the places nearby had been searched. Was the Town, now that it had grown, going to face a salt shortage? Nan Qinghuan's head ached. Seeing her worry, Jiguang said, "Don't worry. The Ancient Land is so vast—it's impossible not to find salt mine resources. We'll think of something."

"How about this, A Tu? Can you give me some time? I'll send people to look for salt mines. And once we find one, we can contract it to you. But you have to promise me one thing—you can't raise the price. Salt is the foundation of the people's livelihood; it can't be raised."

A Tu had his own calculations. Coming to talk to Nan Qinghuan about the salt matter was actually… "No need. Right now, I already have a very large salt mine. The person from that salt mine has already met with me. He told me he can give me a cheap price, but he has a condition. To fulfill that condition, I need your help."

"What? You have a source?"

"Yes. It's a Beastman. He has a very large salt mine, but he has conditions. That's why I came to ask for your help."

Such good fortune? Jiguang guessed that this person with the salt mine must have his eye on something in the Town. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent this man to be his mouthpiece!

"What are his conditions? Tell me."

A Tu curled his lips and slowly walked over to her. His gaze fell on her belly—a woman about to give birth.

"He wants Rongdi's head. Just the head, and he'll give me three years without a price increase. The people here can go three years without eating high-priced salt."

What? That was no small matter. Both Nan Qinghuan and Jiguang were stunned.

He wanted Rongdi's head? What big talk!

"Who has such a big mouth, wanting Rongdi's head? He's my town's general, and his safety concerns all the Common People. His head isn't easy to take."

Nan Qinghuan hadn't expected someone to want Rongdi's head. She thought of what happened in the morning. Who wanted to kill Rongdi? That A Tu looked very helpless. "I don't know why this person said that, but that's his only condition. If you don't agree, the salt price here won't come down, and the people will have to eat expensive salt."

A Tu put on a look of helplessness, which made Jiguang very angry.

Enough was enough!

Suddenly, she reached out and—bang—punched A Tu.

The blow landed.

In an instant, the man was knocked to the ground by her punch, blood streaming from his nose.

"You, you woman—why did you hit me?"

"Why did I hit you? Weren't you asking for Rongdi's head?"

"What does that have to do with you?"

Nan Qinghuan smiled and looked at the man who had been hit. "What a coincidence. The Rongdi you mentioned is her man. What do you think—should she hit you or not?"

"What?"