From bone collectors to the supreme ruler of humanity

Chapter 12 Soaring Grain Prices

Lin Xiu squatted by the kang (a heated brick bed), staring at the bag of money, her eyes sparkling: "Brother, with this money, we don't have to move anymore?"

"No."

Lin Yan squatted down, patted Lin Xiu's head, and said softly, "No one can drive us away."

Lin Xiu nodded vigorously, her eyes a little red.

"Mother, I'm going to town tomorrow to pay the donation and buy some grain while I'm at it."

"Um."

Chen nodded and weakly replied, "Come back soon."

"Know."

Lin Yan leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and checked his control panel.

[Basic Body Training (Beginner) (21/500)]

【Basic Sketching (Beginner) (43/500)】

【Viewing the Mountain (First Glimpse) (21/100)】

Although Guanshan's growth was slow, Lin Yan wasn't in a hurry.

There's plenty of time; he has all the time in the world to do it all.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the oil lamp on the ceiling of the cave dwelling.

The flickering flames provided the only light inside the cave dwelling.

Lin Xiu had already curled up asleep next to her mother, her little hand still clutching the melted sugar figurine stick.

Chen had already fallen asleep leaning against the headboard, her faint breathing echoing in the darkness.

After Lin Yan blew out the oil lamp, the entire cave was plunged into darkness.

The only sound was the wind sneaking in through the crack in the door.

Lin Yan began to cultivate secretly.

One breath in, one breath out.

His blood and qi circulated slowly throughout his body, without the slightest slackening.

He has to get up early tomorrow.

We still need to go to town.

I must continue living.

Lin Yan's breathing gradually calmed down.

Moonlight shone through the crack in the door, illuminating his face.

His face still retained a youthful innocence, but the changes in his brows and eyes were beginning to emerge.

It was the fifth watch of the night, and the sky was still not fully bright.

Lin Yan walked unsteadily down the gravel path leading out of the mountain.

Today he deliberately slumped his shoulders, his spine pressing against his worn-out jacket.

Some grass ash was also smeared on his face.

From a distance, he looked like an ordinary, unfortunate refugee.

Lin Yan kept his head down, but his eyes quickly swept over the surrounding bushes.

Although he had already cleaned up Wang Agou's body yesterday.

But Lin Yan also knew in his heart that killing was easy, but cleaning up the mess was difficult.

The next few days were the most difficult time for him.

When they reached the south entrance of the town, Lin Yan suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He stood there, staring in astonishment at the south entrance before him.

Normally there are only two constables here, but today there are eight standing there.

The eight servants were all dressed in black, close-fitting outfits, with goose-feather sabers hanging at their waists, their eyes constantly scanning the crowd.

This is definitely not the kind of spectacle that should be seen on a normal day for collecting donations.

Lin Yan's heart sank immediately.

The queue moved very slowly.

Lin Yan noticed that the way the officials checked things was different from the usual inspection methods.

Without asking where they came from or looking at the sign, they reached out and pinched the pedestrian's wrist and the space between their thumb and forefinger.

Lin Yan's heart skipped a beat.

This is bone palpation.

Ordinary people's tiger's mouth is soft and weak, only those who have practiced martial arts for many years can make it as hard as iron.

The government isn't investigating refugees; they're clearly screening martial artists.

Lin Yan's mind raced through rudimentary methods of imitation.

Although I have only just begun to learn, I have already distinguished myself from ordinary mortals.

If these lackeys find out something...

With so many menial servants here, there's only one fate for them: death.

Lin Yan closed his eyes and silently recited in his heart: I am a useless person, I am a piece of rotten mud that is about to starve to death.

He used the tricks of rudimentary modeling to force his skin and flesh to sag.

The originally abundant qi and blood were forcibly shrunk back into the depths of the internal organs.

"Next!"

An officer shouted coldly, then grabbed Lin Yan's left hand.

Lin Yan trembled all over.

The officer pinched Lin Yan's wrist bone three times hard with his fingers.

Lin Yan tried his best to control his palm, preventing it from resisting.

"Pah, another skinny monkey with nothing but poverty."

The officer dismissively let go, wiped the dust from his fingertips onto Lin Yan, and said rudely:

"Go inside, don't block the way!"

Lin Yan nodded obsequiously and hunched over as he slipped into town.

It seems that the master behind Steward Zhao has begun to disregard the consequences and has even resorted to using government agents.

With these thoughts in mind, Lin Yan continued walking towards the temporary donation collection point at the county government office.

Xifang was a temporary donation collection point for the county government.

The place was bustling with noise.

Zhou Dahu sat with his hands on his hips in a shady armchair, fiddling with a string of walnuts. Upon seeing Lin Yan, he spoke slowly and deliberately:

"Hey, Lin Yan? You're still alive in the mountains?"

Lin Yan forced a fawning smile onto his face and shakily pulled the bag of money from his pocket.

"Thanks to Master Zhou, I had a stroke of luck and managed to collect some mountain produce, which made up the required amount."

Lin Yan gently placed three hundred copper coins on the table.

Zhou Dahu glanced at the pile of money, his lips curling into a smirk.

Instead of counting the money, he reached out and fiddled with it a couple of times.

"Lin Yan, this money of yours... the quality is off."

Zhou Dahu picked up a copper coin, blew on it, and pretended to listen to the sound before slowly speaking:

"The imperial court is cracking down hard now, and all your money is old; it will be discounted."

"In addition, these copper coins are simply insufficient for fire consumption and travel expenses... so we need to add another fifty coins."

As Zhou Dahu spoke, he stared at a grayish-white bone skewer hanging from Lin Yan's waist.

Lin Yan picked it up casually in the mountains and shaped it into a hairpin to use for tying her hair.

That bastard is a real scoundrel, he'll eat you alive without spitting out the bones.

Lin Yan cursed inwardly, then feigned panic and said:

"Master Zhou, we're completely out of rice. This three hundred coins is what we scraped together by selling everything we own..."

In the midst of his frantic waving, he deliberately pulled out the few copper coins he had left in his pocket.

Two of the copper coins rolled a few times along the table and came to rest right at the feet of the accountant.

These coins all have three hidden diamond-shaped notches along their edges.

That was the marked money that King Agou of the Black Sand Gang always carried with him.

Out of the corner of Lin Yan's eye, she saw that the accountant's hand had frozen.

The man's surname was Su; he was an experienced professional hired by a large business in town.

Accountant Su squatted down and picked up the two copper coins, staring at them carefully, his fingers repeatedly rubbing the notch.

She looked up and glanced at Lin Yan with a complicated expression.

Lin Yan deliberately exposed this filth to muddy the waters.

This belongs to Wang Agou of the Black Sand Gang.

Could it be that Wang Agou has some connection with this person?

In an instant, many thoughts flashed through Su's mind.

"Alright, alright, since you have no money, give me this bone hairpin as payment, and I'll call it even."

Zhou Dahu snatched the bone skewer from Lin Yan's head and waved his hand dismissively.

"Get lost, just looking at you brings bad luck!"

Lin Yan looked pained as he stumbled and ran towards the grain shop on East Street.

For him, the most urgent task right now is to buy grain.

As long as the food is in hand, who cares about the Black Sand Gang or the government? They can just take their families and disappear into the deep mountains, where no one can find them.

But as soon as Lin Yan arrived at the entrance of the grain shop, he was completely dumbfounded.

The price tag hanging above the door had numbers that were so glaring they hurt your eyes.

"Brown rice, three thousand coins per shi?"

Lin Yan rubbed his eyes, wondering if he had seen wrong.

Yesterday it was 900 coins, today it has more than tripled.

The refugees queuing outside the grain store had erupted into chaos, with shouts of cursing and desperate cries rising and falling.

"Get out if you're not going to buy! Buy it or don't, it's up to you!"