The night is like water, deep and indifferent.

On the hill not far from the mouth of the Li River, a few clusters of lights flickered, and the night watchman leaned against the cowhide tent, looking tired and drowsy.

A few days earlier, the river had broken through the river, and a large area downstream had been flooded, and the existing ferry port had been destroyed by the river.

These days, the Night's Watch is barely able to feed himself on a few fish and shrimp caught downstream of the riverbank, but being trapped on this bare hill and helpless, his spirit has long been on the verge of collapse, and the occasional stir will wake the Night's Watch from its exhaustion and lethargy.

"Bang-la-la-"

The sound of the water splashing suddenly sounded, and the night watchman jerked his spirit, and the short knife that was resting beside him was already in his hand.

It was a middle-aged man with a dark complexion, his hair was disheveled, his clothes were disheveled, and his whole body exuded a sour, musty smell, he stretched out a rough palm, and lifted a gap in the curtain on the tent, his slightly reddened eyes vigilantly looking at the unknown risks in the darkness.

The sound of the water was leisurely, like a child playing, the man stared slightly into the darkness for a moment, slowly stood up, and walked out with gentle steps.

A few dim lights shone on his body, the man pursed his lips slightly, picked up an oil lamp hanging at the door of the tent, he held a short knife in his hand, and patrolled around the mountain with a radius of nearly 100 meters, but all around was a vast river, and sometimes there were waves rolling, but he did not find any special anomalies.

With a long sigh of relief, the man took the short knife, turned back along the same path, hung the oil lamp on the stand of the tent, he sat on the ground, his eyes dimmed, and quietly looked at the dark night wrapped in the river in the distance, and his slightly wooden face showed a look as silent as stagnant water.

As for the few burning oil lamps, he had no time to scruple about them, and it seemed that only in this way could he experience the only trace of warmth in the cold and dark night sky.

Stretched out his tongue and licked his chapped lips, he reached into the tent left and right and groped for a while, he didn't touch the water bag, but it seemed to touch something else, a cold touch spread from the palm of his hand to the whole body, as if he was licked by something soft, the man was frightened, "ah" rolled backwards, his eyes widened, he looked frightened, and tried to stand up, but his feet didn't know when it became slippery, he kicked a few times, and fell heavily to the ground.

At this time, he noticed that in an open space in front of the tent, there was an extra layer of slimy liquid, which was slippery and shiny, like boiled white porridge, and the liquid extended into the tent from the river under the mountain.

Suddenly, a breeze blew and extinguished several burning oil lamps, and the man shivered slightly, and in the darkness, a thin black shadow flew out of the tent, and a beast-like howl resounded through the night sky for a moment......

......

......

In the dark Baiyun City, there were starry lights lit up, and in the backyard of the Baicao Hall, Chu Xuan leaned on the rattan rocking chair, spread his hands, and read a stack of intelligence files that had just been submitted.

Closed his eyes and was silent for a while, his fingers tapped slightly on the armrest, and then raised his head and glanced at the man standing opposite.."Then the Su family bought a large amount of grain in Gaoyang?"

"Yes. "The steward in charge of the periphery of Huangquan Dao looked respectful, and he was familiar with the information that was discovered.." After this volcanic eruption, the area of nearly 1,000 miles on the north side of Baiyun City was covered with a large area of volcanic ash, and the people of the City Lord's Mansion were organizing people to clean it up, but there was still a lot of farmland that was sold, and many people were afraid that the volcanic ash would affect this year's harvest, so the price of farmland was falling again and again, and only a few farmlands in the south that had not been affected became sought-after, compared with half a month ago, the price of farmland over there had increased by at least three to five times. ”

He lowered his head and said, his eyes glanced at Chu Xuan cautiously, and when he saw that he looked interested, he dared to continue.."Compared with it, although the price of grain has not risen as fast, it has still doubled, so the Su family used a large amount of ancestral property to buy 500,000 quintals of "Gaoyang Snow" from Gaoyang City, they may want to take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money, so the capital is very sufficient. ”

"Oh. Chu Xuan nodded, and asked again, "The City Lord's Mansion doesn't care about this matter?"

"The City Lord's Mansion once came forward to curb the price of grain, but the effect was not great, many families are following the trend, and they are even more than the Su family, but they do not have the ability of the Su family, because the Su family not only controls nearly half of the grain industry in the city, but also the Shangguan family in Gaoyang City is also in-law, the head of the Su family is married to the daughter of the Shangguan family, and the Su family can buy such a large number of good "Gaoyang Xue", which is also the result of the Shangguan family's efforts. He said.

"The daughter of the Shangguan family?" Chu Xuan frowned and asked, "It's the one who was so scared by Xiaoyu that he peed his pants...... That so-called aunt?"

"Uh...... Yes. The man looked at him and nodded cautiously.

"Hehe—interesting. He rubbed his chin and thought for a while, "Xiaoyu is in Baiyun City, how many industries are there, and how profitable is it?"

"Uh...... Miss's property, in addition to some handed down from my Huangquan Dao, there is also a part left by her father, there are about seventy shops, and the rest ......" Seeing that he seemed to want to tell the details of each property, Chu Xuan shook his head and stretched out his hand to interrupt his words. Okay, these things, I probably don't have any interest in listening to, I just want to buy some farmland in the north of Baiyun City, so what, how much can these industries detach, you can buy as much as you want, you see that things are done, if it is not enough, you can think of some way yourself, in short, within ten days, I want to see enough farmland, the quantity, the more the merrier is the best. ”

"Farmland in the north?" the man's eyes widened, he didn't expect this to be the result.."Big, my lord, the large area of farmland in the north covered by volcanic ash has long been abandoned by others, why are you ...... Are you still thinking about buying?"

"Of course I have my point. Chu Xuan glanced at him and didn't explain.."You just have to do what I say, as for the rest, don't pay attention to it." ”

"This ......" The man opened his mouth and was silent for a long time, and finally seemed to think of Su Yu's previous instructions, before he gritted his teeth and nodded.

Chu Xuan waved his hand to signal that the man could leave, and the man saluted, turned to leave, and the backyard of Baicao Hall suddenly fell into a quiet atmosphere again.

"You humans, is it really complicated?" A crisp voice came, Chu Xuan glanced at it lightly, and saw Xiu'er sitting on the window of the room, her legs dangling in the air.."Why do you say that?" he asked.

"You just killed those people, why bother?" she blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering, and she looked incomprehensible.

"Do you think it's fun to kill people? boring stuff is always annoying...... What's more......" He paused, and Fang said, "What's more, your sister Su won't agree......"

Of course, this reason - he himself felt untenable, smiled slightly, he couldn't help but shake his head: "Okay, maybe I also want to change the way I treat things, unless I have to, otherwise fighting and killing is always a bad thing, maybe you will see some different scenery from another angle, well, this thing, just as a way of cultivation." ”

"Cultivation method?" Xiu'er tilted her head slightly and looked at him with a wink.

"Cultivating the mind. He looked at her as well and said.

......

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