Chapter 259
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Chapter 259: Unease
In the Chen household.
“Back so soon?”
Seeing Chen Qi just walk through the door, Lady Chen immediately put down her sewing and asked, “Did you manage to borrow any?”
It was her idea for Chen Qi to borrow grain from Wang Chen, but as a woman, she couldn’t approach him herself, so she pressured her husband to go to Wang Chen for help.
Lady Chen understood Chen Qi’s character well; he often prioritized pride over practicality.
Forcing him to borrow grain was also putting him in a difficult position.
“I got some.”
Chen Qi placed the storage bag he held onto the table and sat down, feeling downcast.
He thought he was too incapable, unable to even support his wife and child, and having to rely on others for grain made him feel unworthy of being a man!
Lady Chen’s eyes brightened. “How much did you borrow?”
Chen Qi shook his head in confusion. “I… I don’t know.”
He genuinely had no idea.
“You!”
Lady Chen was disappointed and took the storage bag to open it for a look.
“About three hundred pounds!”
After checking, she exclaimed in delight, “It’s all spiritual grains! This means Jin and Yu can finally practice!”
Chen Qi’s two sons possessed the Potential for cultivation, representing the couple’s great hopes.
Both boys were still young and needed nourishment for their growing bodies. To build a solid foundation, they needed Resources for cultivation to strengthen their bones and refine their energy.
The problem was that spiritual rice, spiritual grains, and beast meat were incredibly expensive.
The prices had risen too dramatically!
Chen Qi forced a smile. “But we have to pay it back.”
He didn’t want to be a debtor, but repaying such a large amount of spiritual grains would be challenging.
“Well, let’s get through this and deal with it later.”
Lady Chen sighed. “Wang Chen is quite generous; we can’t let him down…”
She made a secret decision in her heart!
They must repay Wang Chen’s kindness.
But how to repay him needed careful thought.
As Lady Chen pondered, Wang Chen’s image suddenly appeared in her Sea of Consciousness, as vivid as if he were right in front of her.
This smart and capable woman tightened her grip on the storage bag.
At that moment, Wang Chen had just arrived at the marketplace.
Even though it wasn’t a market day, there were still people setting up stalls in the marketplace.
Nearby, there were also many shops; this area was essentially the CBD of Dongwu Town.
Wang Chen walked around but didn’t buy anything.
However, he was shocked to discover that the price of spiritual grains at the grain store reached as high as fifteen spirit fragments per pound!
This price truly exceeded Wang Chen’s understanding.
When he farmed the spirit fields at the Yunyang Sect, he sold white jade rice to grain merchants for fifty pounds per spirit.
That equated to two spirit fragments per pound.
The grain store would certainly mark up the price when selling to others, but even with rising grain prices, it had never been this high.
This price was outrageous!
Wang Chen finally understood why Chen Qi came to him for borrowing grain.
He simply couldn’t afford the current price of rice!
Not only had the price of spiritual rice skyrocketed, but the price of regular tribute rice had also surged to a jaw-dropping level.
Moreover, the grain store owner acted as if he didn’t care whether customers bought or not, claiming prices would rise again tomorrow!
As for the reasons behind this situation, Wang Chen heard several possible truths in the teahouse.
First, the autumn harvest yield in Yunyang’s former territory significantly decreased.
Taihao Peak had ascended dramatically, nearly draining the spiritual vein of Tianyun Mountain.
Without the nourishment from this spiritual vein, the quality of the spirit fields in Yunyang’s former territory dropped considerably, leading to a severe decline in rice yield.
Naturally, grain prices surged.
In fact, this situation should have happened six months ago.
However, the Guiyuan Sect, which occupied Yunyang’s territory, had purchased a large amount of spiritual rice from other places to stabilize the market, preventing prices from soaring.
But such a loss-making endeavor was something the Guiyuan Sect only did once; after that, they neglected the situation.
As a result, the crisis became evident after winter set in!
It was said that several immortal cities, including Yunshan and Yunhai, limited the quantity of spiritual rice and grains that could be purchased, not allowing bulk buying.
Additionally, over the past month, thief cultivators from the outer regions had become very active, and demon and evil cultivators frequently appeared. Traveling merchants moving between the north and south no longer dared to travel for goods.
In such circumstances, how could Dongwu Town, seeming like an isolated island, not be impacted?
Actually, Dongwu Town was doing okay; at least life was relatively stable, and even though rice prices were high, it was manageable for now.
The truly unfortunate ones were those small villages with low resilience to hardship.
If the loose cultivators in these small villages couldn’t get enough to eat, internal strife would easily break out, leading to mutual killing and looting of each other’s wealth.
Values like etiquette, righteousness, integrity, and shame meant nothing when it came to survival!
Recently, a number of fleeing loose cultivators arrived in Dongwu Town.
The market felt unsettled.
As Wang Chen left the teahouse and walked a few steps, he saw someone on the street engaged in the “human market” trade.
"Dear fellow traveler,"
Since Wang Chen had glanced twice, a Pawnbroker noticed him and approached with exaggerated respect, asking, "Would you like to buy a maid to take home? She has a Transcendence cultivation level and is excellent at making the bed, warming your bed, and cooking."
As he spoke, the Pawnbroker pulled over a girl around thirteen or fourteen years old.
"How about her? A Transcendence maiden, you can take her home for just one hundred spirit fragments!"
What is one hundred spirit fragments worth now?
Just a few hundred pounds of rice!
The girl, whose value was equivalent to several hundred pounds of rice, looked timidly at Wang Chen, her eyes revealing a glimmer of hope.
She had a frail figure, but her appearance wasn’t bad; with some care, she could become quite a beauty.
Wang Chen ignored her gaze and did not acknowledge the eager Pawnbroker, choosing to leave on his own.
He wasn’t a saint and couldn’t save everyone.
Taking care of himself was good enough!
Back home, Wang Chen sneaked into the hidden chamber and took out the storage bag he had hidden away.
He counted his stock of food again.
According to the current market price, the value of the spiritual rice and grains he had obtained had at least multiplied by five.
What a win!
But Wang Chen felt no joy.
Because this spiritual rice and grains were for his own consumption; he had no intention of selling them.
While buying low and selling high is a good idea, given the current situation, the price of spiritual rice may remain high for a long time, and selling now would likely mean having to buy back at the same or even a higher price.
Of course, having food on hand brings peace of mind; at least Wang Chen felt very calm inside.
Over the next few days, more people flooded into Dongwu Town.
It seemed that loose cultivators from several hundred miles around were gathering here.
The most immediate consequence was that the law and order in Dongwu Town suddenly worsened.
Although the city lord’s office established Wei Hall to handle the dirty work,
it was clear that relying solely on Wei Hall’s strength was insufficient to suppress these newcomers.
At this time, Xin Han announced he was going into closed-door cultivation, handing all affairs of the city lord’s office to his concubine,
as well as to her brother—Lord Jin Snake Jun!
This brother and sister seemed intent on manipulating Dongwu Town to its breaking point.
It felt unsettling.
