Chapter 364: Binding the Child-Bearing System to Become a Winner in Life Chapter 365: Passersby Strive to Live (33)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Having shop assistants run errands was a tactic wealthy families often used.

Shen Yao didn't blink when buying things, especially with many people trailing behind her and her son, watching wide-eyed as she acted as if she were going to buy everything in Yang City, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

A steady stream of shop assistants delivered the packaged items to the Eastern City Inn.

Even just this unrestrained attitude put the City Lord's Mansion side at ease.

It was clear the Liu family didn't take their falling out with the City Lord's Mansion seriously; otherwise they would have fled in a panic instead of continuing to buy everything in sight.

Liu Jingyan:...

Liu Jingyan looked at the things piled up in the inn's main hall that couldn't fit, not blaming Shen Yao but thinking about how much they would waste when they left.

"It won't come to that; sending them back to the estate or the Orcish Defense Line would save a portion of daily expenses."

Although what was sold outside couldn't compare to what they produced themselves, the estate's burden increased every year; even though all of Yingchuan supplied the Liu family with goods, no one would dislike having too many things.

Shen Yao waved her hand, her face showing obvious fatigue after a day's work, "Wasn't Grandfather supposed to come?" With Liu Xiuwen helping, no one dared snatch these goods.

Liu Jingyan walked up to Shen Yao, "Grandfather will go directly to the City Lord's Mansion when he comes tomorrow."

Shen Yao:... Huh?

"We're leaving early tomorrow morning?" Shen Yao looked at Liu Xiuwen, who was already on his way and would appear at the City Lord's Mansion tonight ahead of time, without exposing Liu Jingyan's lie.

"Leave early in the morning, then have the inn assistant deliver the goods to the City Lord's Mansion," Liu Jingyan said innocently; Shen Yao had misunderstood him—this man truly didn't know Liu Xiuwen had come early.

After all, there was a time lag in sending letters; even if Liu Xiuwen set out the moment he saw the letter, it would take two days.

The letter Liu Jingyan wrote himself surely contained some understanding of the matter.

But this time Liu Jingyan underestimated how much Liu Xiuwen valued him (more precisely, Liu Mingjin), thinking a round trip wasn't troublesome, so he simply flew over alone.

Shen Yao knew Liu Xiuwen's exact arrival time in Yang City thanks to the system's positioning, and thus deduced they could surely leave smoothly early tomorrow morning.

The husband and wife were of different paths but the same destination, simply thinking alike.

Waving her hand, she handed the troublesome matters to the family big shots to solve; the couple felt no embarrassment at all, washed up, lay down, and went to sleep.

As for the flashing blades and swords that would happen at the City Lord's Mansion... what did that have to do with them?

Early the next morning, everyone finished breakfast and got directly into the carriage outside the door.

Liu Mingjin's puppy-like eyes sparkled as he looked at his own mother, admiring her greatly in his heart.

Who would have thought, Mother's words were so accurate; they were really leaving.

"Sit properly, don't move around everywhere; the next town we're going to is three days' journey from here," they would also have to camp in the wilderness for two nights.

"Mother, will we encounter the situation from the past two days?" Liu Mingjin blinked his eyes, very curious.

The events of that night left a deep impression in Liu Mingjin's mind.

Although people's memories gradually fade and dissipate with the passage of time, this was not now; Liu Mingjin could still recall most of the content.

Shen Yao neither shook her head nor nodded, but reached out to touch Liu Mingjin's cheek, "We haven't experienced it; no one can guarantee anything."

Perhaps it would happen, perhaps it wouldn't; the world here changed endlessly, and years of chaos provided fertile soil for certain strange things to develop.

Just like a small Yang City, it harbored a mountain spirit capable of destroying an entire town.

Last night she slept soundly, and the entire populace of Yang City was unaware, but just outside the city wall at a short distance in the periphery, a fierce battle was raging.

Liu Xiuwen did not hold back but went all out on the offensive, directly eliminating the Yang City Lord and the mountain spirit that had been chasing them.

The news was told to Shen Yao by the system after she woke up; at that time Shen Yao and Liu Mingjin were dining, while Liu Xiuwen sat in the neighboring room giving instructions to Liu Jingyan, who had not come out.

These things were done behind Shen Yao and the others' backs, so Shen Yao simply pretended not to know.

"Alright, your father is here; get ready to depart." Seeing Liu Jingyan come out of the inn, Shen Yao put her hands down and leaned against the soft pillow, waiting.

Hearing that his birth father had arrived, Liu Mingjin hurriedly crowded to the window to look outside.

His gaze happened to meet Liu Jingyan's; Liu Mingjin instinctively shrank his shoulders, put down the curtain in his hand, and obediently turned around.

The carriage moved after a short while, loaded with replenished supplies, moving forward all the way until it left the tall city gate.

Only after the carriage had been traveling for a while did Liu Jingyan lift the curtain and come in.

His expression had returned to normal, no longer looking as fierce as when he had just left the inn.

Liu Mingjin fawned forward, clenched his small hand into a fist, and gently punched Liu Jingyan's shoulder.

Liu Jingyan:...

Liu Jingyan sighed helplessly, "You..." Children's curiosity was too strong; this was something hard to change no matter how many times they emphasized it.

Wanting to pull Liu Mingjin over to lecture him again, but meeting his own son's innocent eyes, Liu Jingyan could only silently say "forget it," put on a stern face, and told him to stay obediently in the carriage during this period.

Because there was a child in the carriage, Liu Jingyan did not mention to Shen Yao the matter of Liu Xiuwen looking for him.

Only after night fell and they had set up the tent did Liu Jingyan roughly tell them about the matter of Yang City.

The Lord of Yang City openly violated principles, and the person had already been dealt with by Liu Xiuwen.

But many commoners still lived in Yang City and needed a new city lord to manage it; Liu Xiuwen planned to send a Liu family side branch over to openly take over Yang City.

Shen Yao was surprised; these years the Liu family had controlled the Yingchuan region using a strategy of staying behind the scenes, without focusing their thoughts on the surface.

Why did they suddenly change their style? Hadn't Liu Jingsheng not yet taken people to the Lin Family's territory?

"Wanting to show the Lin Family, and incidentally find out where the Lin Family's bottom line lies."

The Lin Family was dissatisfied with the Liu Family yet wanted to form a marriage alliance with them; the Liu Family knew the Lin Family was dissatisfied but deliberately entered the game themselves, all for that position above ten thousand people.

Liu Jingsheng was about to set out; Liu Xiuwen thought of the Lin Family problem, which is why this testing happened today.

After listening, Shen Yao worried this move would bring danger to everyone who was about to go to the Lin Family's territory.

"No, during the time Eldest Young Master was at the Lin Family, it happened to be the days when the Human Race Alliance resisted the Demon Race, and the location was within the Lin Family's territory."

Otherwise, how could Liu Xiuwen rest assured letting Liu Jingsheng take two great-grandsons with such extraordinary talent together?

Although this Human Race Alliance was merely an open cover and pretense, at that time there were many outsiders in the Lin Family's territory, and for the sake of their own reputation, the Lin Family would certainly not do anything damaging to their own image.

"Perhaps the Lin Family also thought that with so many outsiders around, the Liu Family couldn't refuse their marriage alliance, thereby showing both sides were allied in front of outsiders to increase their own chips," while conveniently covering up the inside story the Lin Family wanted to hide at all costs.

The Lin Family's change in attitude before and after was obvious, and the Liu Family had long harbored the intention to investigate, but unfortunately, whether sending someone up or going themselves, there was no suitable opportunity.

Now there was a perfect reason; no matter how dangerous the road ahead, the Liu Family would definitely not let it pass.

The two talked about this matter again, but no matter how much they said, they couldn't participate, so they could only drop the topic, turn around, and go to sleep.

After staying two nights in wilderness tents, they finally saw a familiar town.

Upon entering, they replenished a pile of supplies, and by the way met with the manager in the city, making sure there were no problems before getting on the carriage to leave.

Perhaps it really was one face for each person; their identities were very useful in the Yingchuan region, and no matter what temperament the town's manager had, they all acted courteously toward them.

Until the carriage left the Yingchuan region and arrived at a new clan's territory.

"Mother, where is this?" Liu Mingjin opened his eyes and looked out the window.

Last night, they had just wanted to find a place to rest when they were attacked by a flock of birds with long and short arms, and had to urge the carriage to travel at night.

Liu Mingjin could only lie on the carriage to sleep, in a daze and jolted awake several times, with faint marks appearing on his white, chubby face.

"This is Qing'an Commandery; walk further ahead and enter the range of Qing'an City."

Qing'an Commandery bordered Yingchuan closely and was a region whose products were not very abundant.

The clan managing this place bore the surname Shang, locals who had taken root in Qing'an for several hundred years.

In short, the Shang Family's reputation was not very good, especially since the Shang Family had previously driven people away, making it the region with the fewest commoners among the surrounding territories.

They came to Qing'an Commandery this time because the place they were going required passing through here.

"We won't stay here, Jin'er; be careful when entering the city later."

This was not like those previous towns; even if the two of them went out, there would be no danger.

Shen Yao had a whole new set of adaptation criteria for every place she arrived at.

Liu Mingjin nodded; anyway, he understood that he only needed to listen to his mother.

The carriage continued forward, and beyond the tall mountain range lay a boundless plain.

They traveled forward, dust-covered and weary, occasionally hearing a few sounds different from their own.

These were commoners living in the surrounding area, some simply hiding in the mountains.

After all, the Shang Family's lack of integrity was well known; unless they couldn't walk or were burdened with too much, anyone who could run chose to leave Qing'an.

"The land here is so desolate," patches of abandoned land overgrown with weeds.

Shen Yao sighed, thinking that war affected the commoners at the bottom the most; the homes they had finally built were destroyed, and she herself would become a penniless wretch.

One could tell without looking that these fields were of excellent quality, yet now they had become vast stretches of wasteland, with no one coming to tend them, cheaply benefiting the wild grass growing rampant around.

"Walk for a while longer before you can see land being cultivated by someone, but those are all the Shang Family's fields;" commoners had long lost the qualification to be farmers and had become tenant farmers hired by the Shang Family.

The life of tenant farmers was even more miserable than that of farmers; working hard all year, the surplus grain was barely enough to fill their bellies, and if they fell ill, they couldn't even be tenant farmers anymore, becoming servants who had signed contracts of sale.

Relying on such methods, the Shang Family had long dominated the entire Qing'an Commandery.

Now inside and outside Qing'an Commandery, everything belonged to the Shang Family; if it weren't that the Shang Family was timid and afraid of trouble, not daring to jump too high, they might as well be Emperor.

"So we must resolve this war as soon as possible," to quell disputes and stabilize people's livelihoods.

As if seeing merit about to fly toward her, Shen Yao asked about the progress of Liu Jingsheng and his group.

She had already left the Yingchuan region; logically, Liu Jingsheng should also have set off for the Lin Family's territory.

The system answered affirmatively, "They have already left, but encountered trouble on the road; there is no great danger," it's just that they will suffer some hardship.

Shen Yao raised her eyebrows, looking full of interest, "Is it that dangerous out there?" She felt it was fine; at least the troubles she encountered were all successfully resolved.

"It's different; there are other people involved," besides, the Lin Family didn't want to see the Liu Family arrive at the territory safe and sound; it would be best if some accidents happened along the way to reduce their manpower—that was their true intention.

Powerful allies were certainly good, but allies who could always depend on them were what they most wanted to obtain.

If the Liu Family's strength was strong, they would be afraid; if the Liu Family's strength was weak, they would be of no use. It was best to let the Liu Family maintain a mediocre strength, so they could use them with assurance.

Shen Yao:...

"These people just think too beautifully," as if they didn't know how to scheme when sizing up others.

The Liu Family also hoped the Lin Family would fall; it would be best if everyone standing in front of them met with accidents, while they themselves had heaven-defying luck and gained both fame and profit.

"There's no way; people with ambition will all be like this," the Liu Family now also had to walk the same path.

"Help me keep a closer watch; when encountering danger, remember to remind me in time."

Shen Yao herself couldn't help, but she could use resources to have the system take action.

But when the day truly came for her to take action, it could only be said that the Liu Family was facing a life-and-death crisis, and this world was even on the edge of destruction.

Otherwise, Shen Yao couldn't imagine who could hurt several children of great fortune; opposing the Son of Heaven's Dao, even a great villain couldn't stop it.

Moreover, there was no great villain in this world; and because the world was not stable, there were numerous great and small fortune-bearers appearing, sharing a great deal of fortune for nothing.

Through the art of observing Qi and daily maintenance, the fortune on Shen Yao's four children was red to the point of purple; although they occasionally fell into trouble, they could always turn danger into safety and see the light after darkness.

This time was the same; the trouble the system spoke of was merely encountering a troop of demon soldiers; the two sides fought directly, and finally Liu Jingsheng's side achieved victory.

After all, the Demon Race could now be said to roam freely in the Human Race's territory.

Except for certain cities they couldn't take, the remaining cities they could enter swaggeringly, killing people for pleasure without restraint.

Liu Mingxuan and Liu Mingchen detested this situation; whenever they saw it, they would give them a round of slashing, not holding back at all.

Liu Jingsheng didn't say much about this either; he didn't like such a world, but the Human Race was not a group that could unite; otherwise, today's disaster wouldn't have happened.

Shen Yao's group and Liu Jingsheng's group went in opposite directions; there was no intersection between the two sides for the time being.

While Shen Yao's side was being entangled by the Shang Family of Qing'an Commandery, Liu Jingsheng's group was in full swing killing demon race members.

When Shen Yao changed to a new territory and successfully shook off the Shang Family, Liu Jingsheng's group again faced strange phenomena, guarding against one another.

……

Shen Yao and the others walked and stopped along the way; Liu Mingjin, by her side, saw too many towns and thus came to understand the complexity of human nature.

After coming and going, Shen Yao and the others spent one year finally returning to the estate.

Liu Mingjin grew a year older; as her height increased, she matured considerably.

He no longer joyfully anticipated going out, but instead took one step at a time, letting his cultivation time quietly lengthen.