Crossing the street, turning, heading towards the Inner City.
In the carriage, the proprietress held a warm kettle in her hands and leaned on Li Yuan’s shoulder, whispering softly, "Life is getting harder and harder..."
"What’s wrong?"
"I’m worried about unrest."
"If Silver Creek gets chaotic, it would be the last place to do so in Shanbao County."
"This year is another poor harvest, even though there are no natural disasters, how could it be like this?" The proprietress sighed softly and continued, "The new Tributors you Blood Saber Sect took in are completely different from Master Wu and Master Li; some of them are basically just bandits and thieves. Don’t know how much trouble they’ve caused."
"Isn’t this to deal with the Sun Family and those remnants of the Wei Family?
Last year, we swept clean the remnants in Silver Creek, Wutong, and Zichong, but in other places, they’re still around." Li Yuan casually remarked, and then asked, "Any news from outside the county?"
"I’ve contacted the merchants a few times, they say..." The proprietress’s beautiful eyes flashed with a hint of sadness, "There’s famine everywhere, it was bad last year, and it’s continuing this year.
Places that originally weren’t affected are now suffering too, it’s like many of the fertile lands suddenly became barren.
Don’t know what’s happening.
Now the dead lie everywhere from starvation, and brokers are all over the place... sigh..."
She sighed deeply.
Human hearts are made of flesh; even if something doesn’t concern you for now, how could you not feel a shred of empathy or compassion?
"Really?"
Li Yuan responded, but suddenly he remembered something: it seemed... the meat fields in the Inner City and those at the Wei Family had bumper harvests this year.
Ninth Grade Demon Beast Meat is being used as a resource, frantically supplied to those new Blood Saber Sect disciples to help them quickly break through to Ninth Grade and reach Perfection.
Thinking of this, he fell silent.
The proprietress, holding the warm kettle, leaned on him and slowly closed her eyes.
...
...
Night fell.
One dragon and two phoenixes, after some tenderness, lay warmly entwined under the quilts.
Moonlight filtered through the window, the dim darkness revealing only the indistinct outlines of the table and chairs inside the room, while outside, the cold wind howled, implying an icy world of snow, making the warm scene under the mandarin ducks embroidered quilt even more striking.
Li Yuan looked at Yan Yu lying on his right arm, then at Xue Ning on his left arm.
Lady Yan was petite and lovely, while the proprietress was tall and charming, yet he remained robust and strong.
Food and sex are human nature, such are the matters of the world.
Li Yuan turned to the left and then to the right.
When neither of the two women were present, they could only talk with Li Yuan, but when they were there, they allowed Li Yuan to mess around without conversing with him, instead chatting with each other across him.
"Sister Xue, wasn’t I right? This man is quite amazing."
"Hee hee, it was tough for Sister alone before."
"Sister Xue, what are we having for breakfast tomorrow?"
"How could I get up in time?"
Li Yuan listened to the two women chatting happily, completely ignoring him, and though he tried to join in several times, they didn’t talk to him.
After some thought, Li Yuan suddenly said, "Sister Yan, Sister Xue, I broke through to Seventh Grade."
Instantly, the two women quieted down.
Li Yuan continued, "Let’s pick an auspicious day and have a wedding banquet. By then, Master Li will host it for us."
The two women immediately became elated...
Lady Yan said joyfully, "Great, great!"
The proprietress cheerfully said, "I remember, in ten days there will be a good day."
But immediately, the proprietress realized something and said, "Broke through to Seventh Grade?"
Yan Yu knew this and giggled beside her.
Seeing her laughing so charmingly, the proprietress was even more stunned, repeating, "Seventh Grade?"
Li Yuan leaned in and whispered into her ear, "Maybe... I’m already one of the strongest in Shanbao County."
The reason he said "maybe" wasn’t because he saw anyone stronger than him; after all, Tie Sha was still over a hundred in comprehensive strength behind him. But he always felt that there might be some hidden masters lurking in each place.
At first, he hid it from the proprietress, but as they spent more time together, their hearts opened to each other, and with the upcoming official wedding, he decided not to keep it a secret.
But the proprietress was already stunned.
Her pretty face was full of shock, stammering, "Then... what about the Black-faced Elder?"
Li Yuan recalled the Black-faced Elder’s "165~185" comprehensive strength and said, "One-on-one, I could probably kill him with just one slash."
"Re... really?" The proprietress’s breath quickened, her voice trembling.
Lady Yan reached across the front of Li Yuan’s chest, gently kneading the proprietress’s stiff face, and laughed, "Look at this surprised little face, not something you see every day."
The proprietress coyly replied, "Sister Yan, is what my husband says really true?"
Lady Yan said, "Of course it’s true, my husband is amazing. But... you can’t tell others, instead, you should make decisions as if my husband just broke through to Eighth Grade."
Upon hearing this, the proprietress’s beautiful eyes showed a thoughtful expression, and then she understood, taking a deep breath and leaning against Li Yuan, saying, "Husband, I really feel safe following you."
Li Yuan gently ruffled her hair.
At this moment, Yan Yu finally asked, "How big should the wedding banquet be?"
Li Yuan said, "What do you all think?"
"Just..." The proprietress was still thinking.
Lady Yan, however, said, "Husband, why don’t we keep it simple?"
Li Yuan said, "I’m afraid you won’t be satisfied."
Lady Yan carefree replied with a laugh, "We’re more worried that you’ll show off."
Li Yuan laughed, "It’s not the banquet that gives face. What about Sister Xue?"
Thinking of the starving dead she had seen, if the wedding banquet was extravagant, she would feel uneasy, as it would be better to use the money to open more porridge shops. In fact, she had already discussed this with Yan Yu.
At this moment, she also softly said, "I’m also worried about losing face for my husband.
Actually... Sister Yan and I both belong to my husband, whether we have a wedding banquet or not, it doesn’t matter."
...
...
The next morning, Li Yuan went directly to the government office to get the "brewing rights" approved.