Chapter 430: A Debt of Gratitude Repaid a Hundredfold

A bowl of herbal tea, containing a few cheap medicinal herbs, tasted cool and refreshing.

After sliding down the throat, it quickly cleansed the internal organs.

Zhou You closed his eyes and savored the aftertaste, actually breaking into a light sweat.

It turned out that Chongguang Cheng was located underground; sunlight could not reach it, and the environment was damp, so the people in the city liked to drink herbal tea to dispel the dampness.

This bowl of tea was truly good.

Footsteps and the sound of ox hooves hitting the ground rang in his ears.

The young man had not broken his word; he arrived leading an ox, with a shriveled satchel draped over his shoulder, containing such a pitifully small amount of money that it could not even clink together.

A bag hung by the ox's mouth, inside which came the sound of roasted soybeans rubbing against each other; it seemed to be a delicious reward for it.

"Sit down, old man. My Daqing is very docile, and his back is broad and flat, so it won't be uncomfortable to sit on."

"But this is a yellow ox!"

Zhou You looked three times, confirming that the ox's coat was earthy yellow; why was it called Daqing? The young man scratched the back of his head and smiled honestly, "He didn't look like this when he was little. Because he loved eating withered grass, his coat color changed."

The ox made no sound, burying its head to eat the soybeans, chewing with a crunching sound.

A moment later, the young man led the ox, Zhou You sat on the ox's back, and the two chatted as they walked.

"Are you visiting relatives or friends in the city, old man?"

"How did you figure that out?"

"You are empty-handed, so you aren't here for business. You are old, so you aren't here for manual labor. Doesn't that just leave visiting?"

That made sense; this kid wasn't stupid.

Zhou You nodded, and as they chatted, it was already time for a meal.

The young man's stomach rumbled a few times; he patted the ox's head, the ox lowered its head, and he reached into the cloth bag, pulled out half an unfinished dry pancake, and took a bite.

Clearly, he was extremely hungry; the young man used force in his cheeks, and the pot-lid-sized unleavened pancake was finished in a few bites.

After finishing, he was still not satisfied and licked the crumbs off his fingers.

He suddenly remembered something, looked back at Zhou You, and slapped his forehead, "Old man, you are still hungry. I'll go find a shop that's open and get you some noodles."

A moment later...

The young man swallowed his saliva, watching longingly as Zhou You finished a large bowl of noodles, which even had chopped green onions and sesame oil sprinkled on top, the aroma enticing.

"The noodles are good. Thank you, young man."

Zhou You wiped his mouth and chatted with him about daily life again, "Are you married?"

"No, my family is poor. My ancestors down to my generation have all been farmers. My father didn't marry my mother until he was forty."

The young man said honestly, "The weather hasn't been good in recent years, and we can't even get enough to eat from farming. I figure I'm not as good as my father; I can't wait until I'm fifty to get a wife."

As he spoke, he looked around and secretly told Zhou You, "Actually, I have a sweetheart, Xiaohua from the same village. As long as I can earn enough money, we can get married."

"How much more do you need?"

The young man's expression became solemn; he spread out his palm and gestured an astronomical figure, "A full 5 taels of silver."

He then smiled bitterly, "With so much money, digging food out of the dirt, who knows how long it will take to save up."

"So, I heard people say it's easy to make money in the city, so I cut firewood every day and bring it here to sell."

Zhou You's gaze swept over his satchel, and he saw at a glance that there was no more than fifty coins; hmm, and he still treated him to tea and noodles.

The added value of firewood was too low, it wasn't a scarce item, and there were many people selling it; despite the large volume, it couldn't fetch a high price.

The ox carried so much firewood, working hard to transport it from the surface to the underground, yet it couldn't even sell for a hundred coins.

Hmm, it was also possible that the buyers were bullying the young man for his honesty and deliberately suppressing the price.

"Niu, you won't be able to marry Xiaohua like this. Let's figure something out." "Old man, my name isn't Niu, my name is..."

"It's all the same, all the same. Look at Daqing, does he argue with you about names? Let's talk about serious business."

After all, it was Zhou You's first time here, and he was clueless about the local environment, so he asked, "Do you know what kind of things in this place could fetch a good price back in your hometown?"

"That's a lot..."

The young man still wanted to show off his knowledge, but was interrupted by Zhou You, "It's best if it requires no capital; after all, you have no money."

"I've got it!"

The young man racked his brains for a long time, then his eyes suddenly lit up.

The place where they were talking was beside a public water fountain, with people coming and going, many passersby.

The ox lowered its head to lick the water, its nose ring tied with a rope to a stone pillar nearby to prevent it from wandering off.

The old man sat, the young man squatted, and the scene of the two talking was quite harmonious.

Other passersby thought the scene was ordinary and walked away after a few glances.

Only...

A martial artist with thick arms frowned as he looked at the white-haired old man, and after identifying him repeatedly, he finally confirmed it.

"It's him. This young man is in for bad luck."

His companion asked in confusion, "You know that old man?"

"What old man? Even if he turned to ash, I would recognize him. Kaibeishou Yan Ping, someone who lives by the blade and makes a living through robbery."

The implication was that he was just a bandit.

The martial artist shook his head, "I heard that after the Cloud-Touching Stronghold was wiped out, he also became a stray dog. How did he end up in Chongguang City?"

The companion was clearly not interested in a bandit and pulled him along, "Let's go, don't you want me to take you to see the mine?"

The martial artist then remembered the important business and looked at Zhou You, "Business is important, let's go!"

He had no sense of chivalry to warn the honest young man that a wolf in sheep's clothing was in front of him.

Recently, making a living had been difficult, and he had encountered successive troubles, so he urgently needed a sum of money to relieve his pressing needs.

His companion had been hanging around Chongguang Cheng for many years and introduced him to a deal; if done well, he wouldn't have to worry about food and drink.

"As a Martial Master, if you had even one or two thousand taels of savings on hand, I wouldn't recommend you do this."

The companion sighed with emotion; these times were too chaotic, and even Martial Masters couldn't get ahead.

This Martial Master shook his head, "What's the use of being able to fight? Are there few Martial Masters who have starved to death in these times?"

A moment later, the companion stood with him before an open-pit mine, and a pungent odor rushed toward them.

The underground specialty of Chongguang Cheng, and also the most abundant and widely distributed, is Excrement Stone.

Legend has it that the vast space beneath Chongguang Cheng was hollowed out by an ancient earthworm building its nest.

This ancient earthworm had a body comparable to a giant dragon; every time it opened its mouth, it would swallow a hundred tons of soil, moving through the underground as easily as a fish in water, truly the undisputed king of the darkness.

After swallowing the soil and digesting it, the substance it excreted was Excrement Stone.

This Excrement Stone is compressed and condensed, very heavy, each piece the size of a basketball, piled together like winding, twisting caterpillars.

Because the quantity is so vast, it is rampant locally and is worth nothing at all.

But if transported elsewhere, it becomes a very precious tool for fertilizing fields; one melted Excrement Stone poured onto the ground can increase the fertility of barren land for three years, and planting any crop can increase yields by thirty percent or even double them.

"You want me to sell fertilizer?"

The Martial Master was shocked and hesitant; how was this any different from handling manure? It was truly disgraceful!

(End of chapter)