Chapter 392 - 364: Exchanging for Copper (3)

Chapter 392: Chapter 364: Exchanging for Copper (3)

"Pah!"

Chen Pi spat in his direction. "Sell himself into servitude? With a brother like him? He’s a petty thief who’s up to no good, and he even dared to fool around with his master’s women. What master would ever want him? Dalin, get this scoundrel out of my way."

Chen Dalin stepped forward at the command. Having practiced martial arts for years, he was quite strong. He grabbed Cai Shangzhuo by the collar and lifted him like a chick, tossing him into the roadside grass.

Cai Shangzhuo was dazed from the fall. Seeing Chen Pi jump back onto the ox-cart and start to leave, he scrambled to his feet and threw himself in front of it again, wailing, "Uncle, my brother said he and that woman are truly in love! That Shen Dahu is over sixty, isn’t he just ruining her life? They had no choice..."

"You still dare to make excuses for him?"

Chen Pi’s eyes widened, his anger flaring. "Adultery is adultery! Don’t give me that nonsense about true love. Even if Shen Dahu were a hundred years old, that woman is still his concubine. Your brother is a thief!"

Cai Shangzhuo just kowtowed endlessly, trying to appeal to their distant family connection and describing how pitiful his brother was, his sobs wretched and miserable.

Watching the man cry, snot and tears streaming down his face, Chen Pi’s heart softened slightly. He sighed. "All right, stop your wailing. The money belongs to the Master; I can’t touch a single coin. How about this: I’ll go back and put in a word for you with the Master, explain your situation. If the Master is kind enough to intervene, then it’s your good fortune. If he’s not willing, there’s nothing I can do. Now get up. Don’t make a fool of yourself out here."

Hearing this, Cai Shangzhuo acted as if he were clutching at the last straw. He started to kowtow again. "Thank you, Uncle! Your words are more than enough! Whether it works out or not is up to my brother’s fate. I’ll accept it either way and would never dare to blame you!"

"Enough, enough. Stop this morbid display."

Chen Pi waved his hand in annoyance. "You’re a grown man, crying and sniveling like a woman. Get up."

Then he instructed his son, "Dalin, keep an eye on him. Make sure he stays away from the money chests."

Only then did he get back on the ox-cart, crack the whip, and drive it toward the Lingxi Chen Mansion.

「Evening.」

The ox-cart, driven by Chen Pi and his son, creaked and groaned as it returned to the side gate of the mansion.

He stopped the cart a short distance from the gate and said to the nervous-looking Cai Shangzhuo trailing behind, "You just wait here quietly. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll go in and report to the Master."

Clutching at this lifeline, Cai Shangzhuo meekly agreed, huddling in the shadow of the wall, not daring to move.

Chen Pi called over a few men from the gatehouse. Together with his son Chen Dalin, they heaved the heavy burlap sacks filled with copper coins off the cart and laboriously carried them, step by step, toward Chen Li’s study.

Just as they reached the entrance to the study’s courtyard, a maid stopped them.

"Uncle Chen Pi, the Master is seeing a guest in the study."

The maid gestured for them to place the chests under the covered walkway.

「Inside the study.」

Liu Yuejin sat in a guest’s seat, a worried expression on his face.

He was here today to bring Chen Li some news.

About ten days ago, the County Magistrate, Luo Pingyuan, had hired an unfamiliar Master from some unknown place. He had also assembled several dozen government constables with the intent of re-surveying all the county’s farmland.

The official proclamation stated that the Court had issued a decree to strictly investigate abuses like hidden farmland and fraudulent registration, to collect back taxes, and that serious offenders could even be charged with crimes.

After hearing this, Chen Li wasn’t particularly worried.

The Chen Family’s land holdings were all above board; they hadn’t resorted to such schemes and had no fear of an investigation.

However, he was rather puzzled by Luo Pingyuan’s sudden move.

This course of action would easily offend the local magnates. It was an exceptionally dangerous and unwise thing to do.

In the past, such decrees were usually enforced with a lot of fanfare but little substance. For Luo Pingyuan to act with such vigor was truly abnormal.

’When things are this unusual, there’s always something strange afoot. There must be a reason for this that I’m not yet aware of.’

’Still, for now, it doesn’t seem to be aimed directly at the Chen Family, so there’s no need to be overly concerned yet.’

"I appreciate you coming all this way to inform me."

Chen Li nodded. "Please continue to keep an eye on things discreetly."

"Yes, Boss. I’ll take my leave now."

Seeing that Chen Li had the situation in hand, Liu Yuejin said no more. He rose, cupped his fists, and departed.

After leaving the study, he gave a slight nod to Chen Pi, who was bowing on the walkway, and quickly walked away.

Once Liu Yuejin was gone, Chen Li’s voice came from the study. "Chen Pi, you can come in."

"Yes, Master."

Chen Pi quickly complied. He, his son, and the others struggled to lift the chests of copper coins again, carried them carefully into the study, and gently set them on the floor.

"Master, as you ordered, here are the two hundred taels of silver. It’s all in copper coins, collected at a rate of five hundred and fifty cents per tael," Chen Pi said, beads of sweat still on his forehead.

Chen Li walked over to the chests, bent down, and scooped up a handful of copper coins.

Most of the copper coins were badly worn, their edges rough and their inscriptions blurred. Some were even stained with grease or dirt.

Chen Li activated his Innate Qi Gathering Technique. In his vision, the handful of seemingly ordinary copper coins was entwined with wisps of an aura that were even richer than what he had seen on the broken silver.

This aura shared the same source as the Wealth Qi he had absorbed from the broken silver before, but its quantity was in no way inferior. In fact, the aura seemed even more vibrant.

A look of undisguised joy appeared on Chen Li’s face.

The reason was simple.

After he had absorbed and refined the Wealth Qi from the broken silver sent by Qian Laibao, he had discovered that an entire chest of valuable silver contained only a sliver more Wealth Qi than the very first strand of Inner Qi he had painstakingly produced when he first began the Martial Dao.

This discovery had put Chen Li in a rather difficult position.

At this rate of efficiency, relying on absorbing Wealth Qi from silver taels to cultivate until his meridians and Acupoints were full, allowing him to break through to the Inner Mansion Pass of the Spirit Realm Third Level, would require an astronomical amount of money.

Even though he didn’t need to actually spend the money, just circulating the silver coins was extremely troublesome.