Chapter 1637: The lady by the stream

Zhao Song wasn't sure where Lord He's confidence came from, especially since he was still encouraging everyone to eat and drink their fill.

Yet, his actions were incredibly generous. Whenever the palace guards mentioned Lord He, they practically broke their thumbs giving him enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Only by comparison could one truly appreciate the difference; compared to the chaotic Tianshui City, Yongquan Mountain Villa was like a beautiful paradise.

Taoxi Stream, in the western suburbs of Yongquan Mountain Villa.

The stream babbled on, seemingly oblivious to human sorrows.

The large crater left by Dong Rui's decisive battle with Red Dwelling Master Cao Wendao a few days prior still hadn't been smoothed over.

The authorities had originally sprinkled medicinal powder and backfilled the crater, burying the gigantic dead Fandapi monster fish on the spot. But someone had dug up the ground again, exposing the fish's corpse.

Fortunately, the weather was very cold, slowing the monster-puppet's decomposition, so no foul odor permeated the air.

A large area of loose earth covered the ground, and the surrounding broken trees remained as they were.

He Lingchuan approached under the moonlight, calling softly twice, "Big Aunt, Big Aunt!"

He was a little worried because there were traces of two new campfires by the stream. He bent down and broke off a half-burnt piece of wood, noting that the break was still somewhat damp.

"Why are you acting like a thief?"

A voice spoke, startlingly close. He Lingchuan spun around in surprise, only to realize that a dead tree in the woods about ten feet away had moved.

As it moved, it simultaneously changed color and took two steps closer to him.

It was Big Aunt Zhu.

He Lingchuan gave it a thumbs-up. "Big Aunt, your color-changing skill is becoming increasingly refined."

"Hmph," Big Aunt Zhu grunted. Her body was noticeably smaller than when she was in the Yangshan Archipelago. "Where's my wine?"

Big Aunt Zhu had been wandering near Yongquan Mountain Villa. A single full meal could sustain her for a month, so she didn't need to hunt frequently. She usually found a cave to hide and sleep, and with her supernatural ability to conceal herself, almost no one could detect her presence.

However, she loved alcohol. Every few days, Dong Rui had to deliver wine to her. Now that Dong Rui had left, the task of delivering wine fell to He Lingchuan.

Big Aunt and Second Aunt had vastly different personalities, but both shared a love for fine wine.

He Lingchuan took out good wine from his storage ring, placing jar after jar on the ground, six in total. "This apricot wine was brewed by some unknown former master of Yongquan Mountain Villa," he said. "Since I won't be taking them with me anyway, we might as well drink them all."

He could have assigned the wine delivery task to subordinates like Wan Qifeng, but He Lingchuan felt that no matter how busy he was, he should personally meet Big Aunt for a drink and a chat. After all, this great monster had traveled all the way from the Yangshan Archipelago to Yao Kingdom specifically to protect him, and her dedication was admirable.

He tapped open the clay seal of a wine jar, poured some into a bowl, and an intoxicating aroma filled the air.

Big Aunt Zhu, however, simply extended her proboscis, pierced the clay seal, and began to drink with relish.

"Good, gurgle gurgle, this wine is good," Big Aunt said, drinking as she asked, "How did you manage to shake off those shadows to get here?"

Since Dong Rui had left with the Snail Toad, He Lingchuan no longer had a tool for escaping underground. Although Big Aunt Zhu had placed an Eyeball Spider on He Lingchuan, the tiny creature occasionally needed to nap and wasn't constantly connected.

After all, it consumed spiritual energy.

He Lingchuan smiled mysteriously. "I have my own ingenious methods."

Zhao Song and the other palace guards still thought he was staying in his own courtyard at Yongquan Mountain Villa.

Big Aunt Zhu didn't ask further. She would just check with her Eyeball Spider when the boy returned later, and then she'd know, wouldn't she?

He Lingchuan pointed to the campfire remains on the ground and asked, "Who left these?"

"Vagrants. There are so many vagrants slipping out of the city lately!" Big Aunt Zhu replied. "I was sleeping in the woods when six or seven of them crept over. They found shovels from somewhere and started digging, then cut up the remains of the Fandapi monster fish and roasted it to eat."

She paused. "They went into the woods to gather firewood and almost started plucking my 'leg hair'."

He Lingchuan chuckled. "What 'little geniuses'."

Indeed, with the vagrants unable to fill their stomachs, someone must have thought of the giant dead fish by Taoxi Stream, which had only been dead for a few days.

In the freezing cold, let alone a fish that had only been dead for a few days, some would even dare to eat one dead for two weeks.

When you're nearly starving, who can afford to be picky? Given the size of that Fandapi monster fish, feeding a hundred people would have been no problem at all.

"What these people experienced was nothing more than the daily life of a commoner in Shanjin," Big Aunt Zhu said casually. "But not long after they ate, they clutched their stomachs, cried out in pain, and then died."

"..." Big Aunt's remarks were as concise as ever. "That monster-puppet was forged from divine blood. Ordinary people who eat it won't fare well. So, what happened to their bodies?"

"I threw them away." Having drunk the first jar too quickly, Big Aunt Zhu began to savor the second. "Dead bodies are an eyesore."

"Has Ashmona appeared in the past few days?"

"No," Big Aunt Zhu replied without lifting her head. "I've placed some 'eyes' around Youhu Lake and Yongquan Mountain Villa, in the dark woods and the hills, but I haven't found any trace of it."

The authorities hadn't received any relevant intelligence either, indicating that the monster was quite secretive.

"However, while I was strolling in the south of the city, I discovered an empty camp. Judging by the marks on the ground, it might have originally housed many people, but there wasn't a single living creature left. Several carriages were damaged and abandoned, and of the horses that pulled them, only a few hooves remained. The ground was covered in blood."

He Lingchuan sipped his wine. "Do you think Ashmona did it?"

"When it ate Dong Rui's 'Number Sixty-Six,' it swallowed it whole, which shows it prefers to eat that way. That's why all the living people in the camp disappeared. Horses are larger, so it couldn't swallow them in one bite; it had to tear them apart to eat. Although it's a mud-sculpted monster-puppet, I can sense its craving for flesh and blood."

"Several people, several horses—its appetite is truly considerable," He Lingchuan mused. "Could it still be after me?"

"Not likely," Big Aunt Zhu explained. "Dong Rui told me that it detests Cao Wendao and everything Cao Wendao forced it to do. So, after gaining its freedom, its first instinct was to get away from you and Yongquan Mountain Villa."

"That's good. I truly don't have the time to worry about that creature lately."

Big Aunt Zhu asked, "How far has Dong Rui gone?"

Her Eyeball Spider had a limited range; if Dong Rui traveled too far, she would lose contact.

"From what I know of him, he should be nearing the border by now." The Snail Toad had broken a leg, and Dong Rui had a shoulder injury, but the Ghost Ape was still intact, and there was also a flying Bat Monster-Puppet, so their travel speed was still much faster than ordinary people. "Perhaps they've already headed straight for Red Dwelling."

Red Dwelling contained Cao Wendao's and his subordinates' research materials, and possibly even experimental subjects. Dong Rui hoped these would aid his own monster-puppet research and, more importantly, allow him to uncover the secrets of the Heavenly Palace.

That fellow was extremely cunning; his safety was essentially no concern for He Lingchuan.

"Have any unusual individuals sought out Qingyang in the past couple of days?"

"No, she hasn't had a single visitor."

He Lingchuan nodded. Ever since Red Dwelling targeted him for attack, and with the Fandapi monster fish's corpse as corroborating evidence, King Yao had increased surveillance on Qingyang. Even Yuwen Xu mentioned during a drink with He Lingchuan that officials who had dealings with Qingyang in the past few months had all been summoned for strict interrogation!

At the mention of the names, He Lingchuan suddenly understood.

No wonder so many officials had committed suicide; the root of the problem was truly here.

This was unimaginable last autumn. Back then, Qingyang wielded her power of denunciation, causing panic among anyone she pointed to. Even Xue Zongwu was uneasy, and King Yao wouldn't have dared to be so disrespectful toward her.

Ever since the construction of Youhu Villa began, and since the Tianshui Eastward Expansion project started, her authority and reputation had plummeted. King Yao gradually gained the upper hand, winning over most of the officials to his side.

At least, on the surface, that was the case.

"King Yao must have become alert, which is why Qingyang accelerated her actions," He Lingchuan said, lightly swirling the wine in his bowl. "The recent vagrant riots are the work of Qingyang and her faction. King Yao has most likely guessed as much, but he just can't find the evidence."

King Yao had recently arrested many officials, but he remained unaware that Qingyang's accomplices were hidden among his "own people."

Big Aunt Zhu casually asked, "Why do the food shortages and riots in Tianshui City become more severe the more they're suppressed these past dozen days?"

"Is that strange?" He Lingchuan took a sip of bayberry wine. "Improper handling of a food shortage inevitably leads to riots. Wasn't it the same in Yuan Kingdom before? The Hong Xiangqian Great Uprising... Oh, you've never been to Yuan Kingdom, so you wouldn't know about those things."

If there hadn't been a famine, the Hong Xiangqian Great Uprising wouldn't have erupted in Yuan Kingdom, provincial officials like Nian Zanli wouldn't have rebelled, and Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu wouldn't have gone to the Coiled Dragon Desert to scheme for the Great Fang Pot. He Lingchuan himself would probably still be comfortably living as a profligate young master in Heishui City, right?

"A single unrest often sets countless causes and effects in motion."

Big Aunt Zhu asked in surprise, "Yao Kingdom has been established for nearly two hundred years; it's impossible they haven't encountered food shortages before, right?"

"Haven't they accumulated any experience?"

"This time, the situation is unique." He Lingchuan casually picked up a peach and washed it in the stream. Yongquan Mountain Villa alone had five varieties of peaches; this one was called Dragon Blood Peach. It wasn't large but was as red as blood and exceptionally soft and sweet when bitten into.

To have fruit to eat during a food shortage made this peach taste doubly sweet.

He gestured with the peach towards Big Aunt Zhu, but she declined. She only consumed meat juices, and at most, a little wine.

"Yao Kingdom used to have prosperous livelihoods and developed trade, or rather, a very strong financial foundation. Here, a food shortage doesn't necessarily equal famine." He Lingchuan took a bite of the peach. "According to Tianshui City's historical records, forty years ago, Yao Kingdom also experienced a significant increase in grain prices, with rice and flour reaching thirty-five wen per catty. While not as high as today's fifty wen, it was still quite substantial. At that time, the Yao people complained bitterly, but it hadn't reached the point of widespread destitution."

"This period of soaring prices lasted for about three to four months before slowly declining. There were a few localized conflicts and frictions between officials and commoners, but they didn't escalate into larger unrest."

"Right, if it could be thirty-five wen forty years ago, why can't it be fifty wen now?" Big Aunt Zhu never quite understood the human world.

"There are many differences. Back then, thirty-five wen was the peak price for grain; now, it's just entering its rising phase, and everyone can see that prices will continue to climb." He Lingchuan smiled. "The most important thing is that the Yao people truly have no money left."

"No money..." Big Aunt Zhu pondered for a moment, then let out a long "Oh." "The New City?"