The next morning, Lady Yan lay in Li Yuan's arms, tangled up with him.
The two had not enjoyed such a morning waking up together for quite some time.
As dawn just began to break, they started whispering to each other.
Li Yuan asked, "Sister Yan, have you heard of the Blood Saber Sect, the Wei Family, or the Sun Family?"
Lady Yan hugged her man tightly and said, "The Wei and Sun families seem to be prominent gentry in the county. The Blood Saber Sect... I've heard of them too, they seem quite influential in the county."
Li Yuan asked again, "Last month, when I wasn't around during the day, did any tax collectors come to the Little Ink Workshop to collect taxes?"
Lady Yan said, "Yes... there was even a family in the village workshop that couldn't pay the tax. Their daughter was taken away, and the family cried and shouted, but the tax collectors completely ignored them."
As she spoke, Lady Yan sighed. Compassion is human nature, a reflection of the shared plight of all living things.
With her words, Li Yuan combined his own memories and suddenly understood.
Ordinary people have no idea of the intricacies or the power structures involved.
Yet, who were last month's tax collectors if not genuinely government tax officials?
They were clearly tax collectors from those two families, merely disguised in government uniforms, much like Cai Ze.
Clearly a disciple of the Blood Saber Sect, yet also an official.
His heart felt somewhat heavy.
Cai Ze's words echoed repeatedly in his mind, rumbling like thunder.
— I'll leave my words here: even if the Red Lotus bandits overrun Shanbao County, he still won't touch Silver Creek Square. —
— This Dynasty, ah, is just the largest Social World influence, but 'the largest' refers only to its founding. —
— If the Red Lotus bandits enter a county, burn, kill, and loot, what can't they do? —
Li Yuan felt an increasingly suffocating sense of urgency.
Vaguely, he sensed that a larger chaos, the true collapse of order, had not yet begun.
In the history of the world before he traveled here, even during the cold weapons era, it was just Low Martial, yet there were dark times of chaos like the Five Barbarian Rebellions and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
In this world, the court could tacitly allow Social World influences to exist as a nation within a nation, and deep in the mountains, terrifying things were hidden. What would it be like once chaos erupted?
Li Yuan could hardly imagine.
He secretly clenched his fist.
Time was running out; he had to quickly gather enough silver to move to Silver Creek Square immediately.
But he couldn't fully trust Cai Ze; he could verify this when he had the chance to visit Hengwu Restaurant.
Hengwu Restaurant was also in Silver Creek, and this time he caught a glimpse from afar, seeing it was still operating normally, with good business. Meat would still be needed.
With this thought, he was about to get up.
As he moved, Lady Yan retracted her long leg that was draped over him and asked, "Brother Yuan, are you going out?"
"Yes."
Li Yuan said as he gently lifted the quilt and pressed it down again, starting to put on his pants and clothes.
Inside the quilt, Lady Yan looked at her man with raindrop-like eyes and directly pulled back the quilt, revealing her fair skin, saying, "Then I'll get up too..."
After saying that, she blinked and smiled, "Yesterday, the clothes you wore smelled of rouge, and I washed them? Don't feel bad, right?"
Li Yuan speechlessly said, "Still bringing it up?"
Lady Yan rolled her eyes with a certain charm and said, "Aren't all women like that?"
"True."
As the two casually chatted, Li Yuan finished dressing, and Lady Yan buttoned up her clothes too.
Li Yuan went outside to wash up, while Lady Yan quickly started a fire, heating up millet porridge and salted meat for breakfast.
With salt and meat at home, Lady Yan naturally preserved plenty of salted meat.
A moment later, the two finished their meal, Li Yuan grabbed his bow and went out, while Lady Yan took his changed clothes and threw them in a wooden tub, then picked up a washing bat to ask Aunt Wang to join her in doing laundry.
...
Li Yuan had just walked a little way from his doorstep when he saw a tall, thin figure swaying.
That figure was Tian Bao.
As soon as Tian Bao saw Li Yuan, he hurried over, respectfully saying, "Brother Yuan, good morning."
"What is it?"
"Brother Yuan... I... I want to follow you," Tian Bao lowered his head.
His eldest brother had been drafted to fight in the war, and more likely than not, he was dead, leaving only him and his father at home.
His father was half-dead too.
Tian Bao looked at the fate of the people around him, and it seemed to be his future, but he was unwilling to accept it. Life or death, whatever happens, he'd rather risk his life in these troubled times so that at least he wouldn't regret it too much when he died.
How to fight?
"Brother Yuan, I'm sincere..." Tian Bao added, "I understand the rules of the Social World. Once I follow you, my life is yours. Whatever you ask me to do, I'll do. Whoever wants to hurt you, I'll risk my life against them."
Li Yuan patted his shoulder and said, "Ah Bao, I'm not in the Social World, how can you follow me there?"
Tian Bao suddenly took a few deep breaths and softly said, "Brother Yuan, it was in the dark of night that I killed that old man Ma Liu.
"I know back then, Big Brother was still in the county, and Ma Liu's death couldn't be linked to him."
Li Yuan: ...
"Big Brother!"
Tian Bao's legs went weak, and he directly knelt down.
Li Yuan looked at him.
Originally, Li Yuan planned to kill Ma Liu himself.
But if he did it, no matter how secretly, it would still be attributed to him.
Being lawless is one thing, flaunting it is another.
This Tian Bao directly helped solve the problem for him, so he was not only observant but also ruthless.
In this world, at least such people could get things done.
"Your first time killing someone?"
"Yes..."
"How do you feel?"
"Excited... I was so excited that I couldn't sleep all night." Tian Bao's eyes were red, filled with bloodshot lines.
Li Yuan said, "I'll teach you archery, but how much you learn depends on your own skills. Master this craft at least, and eating won't be a problem."
"Archery? Brother Yuan... I, I don't have a bow, nor a hunting permit..." Tian Bao mumbled.
Li Yuan said, "Come with me."
...
...
A moment later, Li Yuan arrived at the home of a hooligan called "Ahfei."
This family had a hunting permit, and if he remembered correctly, this permit was snatched by Qian San after swindling Uncle Cai Hua to death and given to "Ahfei."
Afterwards, "Ahfei" followed the Qian Family and committed many evil deeds.
Now, "Ahfei" had been drafted, but the weapons and permit should still be there.
Li Yuan stepped forward and knocked on the door.
No one answered.
Just about to knock again, Tian Bao respectfully said, "Brother Yuan, let me do it, don't dirty your hands."
Li Yuan: ???
He stepped back slightly.
Tian Bao accelerated, rushed forward, and kicked the door hard with a "bang."
The door, which was only barred with a wooden latch, was kicked open.
Tian Bao wiped his right hand from his lower back, grabbed a firewood blade, rushed in shouting fiercely, "Damn it, didn't you hear my brother knocking?"
Li Yuan: ...
Inside, a woman was trembling with fear.
A moment later... that woman, hands trembling, handed the hunting permit and an earth bow, arrows directly to Tian Bao.
Li Yuan tossed over two large coins and said, "I'm buying from your family."
The woman didn't expect to receive money, repeatedly saying, "Thank you, Brother Yuan, thank you, Brother Yuan."
News from yesterday had spread, who didn't know Li Yuan had connections in the government? Ma Liu died, someone reported to the authorities last night, but no officials came to investigate... What does this indicate? Only a fool wouldn't know.
Who would dare offend Li Yuan now?
Tian Bao put the hunting permit in his pocket, and couldn't help touching the earth bow happily.
Li Yuan glanced at him.
This young man wasn't originally a hooligan or so fierce; he was just hot-blooded, and in this chaotic world wanted to change his life for the better, so his character changed greatly.
There must be many more like Tian Bao.
"Ah Bao..."
"Brother, I'm listening."
"When you learn archery from me, always remember the word low-key. Whether during or after learning, you must not act in my name. If you act like you did just now, you can't follow me to learn archery, understand?"
"Brother... I... I... was wrong just now." Tian Bao realized something, a bit flustered.
Li Yuan patted his shoulder and said, "Let's go, come hunt with me."
With chaos imminent, he needed to make money quickly, having another pair of hands would mean one less task for him, and he wouldn't need to manage everything personally.
This Tian Bao seemed decent, at least worth observing a bit.
Whether he succeeds or not, that will be decided later.
Besides, after he went to Silver Creek, there could still be eyes left in the Little Ink Workshop...
As for not being able to control him, this... seems unlikely, at least not very likely.
Tian Bao was merely an ordinary person without any Entry Grade Martial Artist strength... he had remaining points, and was now a Ninth Grade Martial Artist himself. If he couldn't even control an unranked person, he might as well crash into a piece of tofu and die.