Chapter 407 - 257: I... I’m Getting My Revenge
Chapter 407: Chapter 257: I... I’m Getting My Revenge
「Five days passed in the blink of an eye.」
The weather in Shu State turned from sunny to overcast.
Gray clouds rolled like ocean waves, stretching for thousands of miles. A great sun, ringed by a pale halo, was faintly visible.
The lack of wind left the city feeling a bit muggy and stifling.
Much like the common folk coming and going in the East and West Markets, every face was tinged with a measure of sorrow.
"The price of grain has gone up again."
"Five days ago, a *dan* of fine grain cost one-and-a-half taels of silver. Three days ago, it rose to two taels of silver. And today, that Lin’s Grain Store opened with its listed price having soared to two and seven-tenths taels of silver."
"The way I see it, tomorrow it’ll probably hit three taels of silver for a *dan* of grain."
"Damn it, these crooked merchants!"
"When the price of grain drops, they’re all slower than the last. But when it goes up, they’re all trying to outpace each other!"
"If this keeps up, my family’s really going to run out of food."
"Sigh, my boy’s been complaining he’s hungry for the past two days. Me, I haul sandbags all day, and it’s only enough to buy a single bowl of noodles..."
This situation naturally led the common folk to complain.
Especially the poor families.
They toiled away every day, yet the money they earned wasn’t even enough for one person to eat their fill, let alone feed an entire family.
"Damn it all, didn’t they say our Shu State had a good harvest this year? Why is there a grain shortage?"
"It was good, but it couldn’t stand up to natural and man-made disasters."
"A while back, heavy rains caused the Chishui River to burst its downstream dams, flooding the fields in three counties to the east."
"If the Governor’s Office hadn’t requested it, ordering those few County Yamens to release their grain stores, I’m afraid a famine would have broken out over there long ago."
"And on top of that, here in our Prefecture City..."
"I heard a while back that the East Market Grain Store’s warehouse burned down, so the store had no choice but to raise its prices."
"Who said that?"
"How come I heard it’s because the grain in Iron Wall Town was burned, and Marquis Xiao bought a huge amount of grain to replace it, which caused several grain stores to raise their prices?"
"Marquis Xiao? Impossible!"
"Just yesterday morning, someone from the Xiao Family posted a notice at the Government Office, explaining that the military grain for the Three Towns came from another source. How could it be the Xiao Family?"
"They say that, and you just believe it? I’m telling you, they’re the ones who bought it."
"Hmph, you even dare to slander the Xiao Family? I think you’re tired of living!"
"You... Hey! Don’t hit me, don’t hit me! I was wrong..."
It seemed like a farce, but in truth, similar incidents were happening all over the Prefecture City.
Of course, most people didn’t believe the Xiao Family was the culprit behind the rising grain prices. But when enough people say something, it’s inevitable that some will blindly follow.
This was especially true for the hungry, who began to point their fingers at the Xiao Family and the grain stores of the East and West Markets.
The Xiao Family was naturally aware of the situation internally, but with so many rumors flying around, even posting a notice wasn’t enough to shut everyone up.
"Young Master, do you think those people are doing it on purpose?"
Xiaodie clenched her little fists and waved them a few times, saying indignantly:
"The Third Master already posted a notice at the Government Office door, but they just refuse to believe it! They insist that Iron Wall Town buying a large amount of grain is the real cause of the price hike."
Chen Yi stood before his desk, brush in hand, sketching on a piece of paper. He smiled and said:
"You, you should listen less to what people outside the estate are saying. Just hear it and let it be, don’t go arguing with them."
"With grain prices in the Prefecture City having multiplied, many people can’t eat their fill. They have a fire in their chests with nowhere to vent it, so naturally, they’ll be exploited by those with ulterior motives."
Hearing this, Xiaodie’s anger subsided a little. She asked, "Young Master, are you saying someone is fanning the flames from behind the scenes?"
"Perhaps."
"In any case, if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. It’s best to let the masters of the house handle this matter."
As Chen Yi spoke, he finished a line drawing, set down his wolf hair brush, and picked up the sheet to blow the ink dry on the Yunsong Paper.
These past few days, he had spent most of his time practicing his Painting Skill. He had already practiced three techniques—ink-wash painting, line drawing, and color painting—to the Skilled Level.
He was already capable of using ink-wash painting to depict the magnificence of mountains and rivers, and of using line drawing to capture a person’s appearance and form.
The same was true for color painting.
He just hadn’t yet revealed his Minor Success in the Painting Dao and was still unsure what effect channeling the Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Mechanism into a painting would have.
Fortunately, Xiao Wan’er wasn’t pressuring him, so he was in no rush to complete the portrait of the several members of the Xiao Family’s main branch.
Chen Yi glanced at his work, nodded in satisfaction, and called to Xiaodie, asking, "Here, take a look. What do you think?"
Xiaodie stopped the words on the tip of her tongue. She craned her neck to look at the painting in his hand, her big eyes blinking a few times in bewilderment.
After getting a clear look at the portrait on it, her mouth fell slightly open. She pointed at herself and stammered:
"Y-Young Master, is... is this a painting of me?"
Chen Yi smiled, nodded, and handed the painting to her. "A gift for you."
Xiaodie took it, her heart filled with joy. "Thank you, Young Master."
She looked at it again and again, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
"But you’ve painted me so beautifully! I’m not this pretty, am I?"
"And also, why is the me in the painting wearing an orange cotton skirt? I already changed into a thicker little jacket today, you know?"
Chen Yi was tidying up the clutter on his desk. He chuckled and chided, "Why so many questions? Just take it."
He wouldn’t tell Xiaodie that his deepest impression of her was still from his period of confinement.
’Back then, Xiaodie’s cute outfit was certainly cute, but she also watched him like a hawk.’
’She’d stare at him all day long as he copied the Xiao Family rules.’
’He’d probably never forget it for the rest of his life.’
Xiaodie, of course, had no idea about any of this. She just thought he had intentionally painted a more beautiful version of her, and her little face remained flushed.
"Young Master, you paint so well."
"Is it that I paint well, or that you’re just good-looking?"
"Of course... of course your painting is good..."
After a bit of banter, Chen Yi finished tidying the study, rose, and walked outside the wooden building. He looked up at the sky and said:
"I’m heading out for a bit. You stay here and watch the garden."