Chapter 298 - 289: Magpie, Crow

Chapter 298: Chapter 289: Magpie, Crow

The small village was filled with a sense of decay and desolation.

Fu Juemin stopped beneath a massive Chinese toon tree in the village and ordered Cao Tian and the others to split up and make inquiries.

Strangely, the arrival of their group of strangers didn’t cause much of a stir in the village.

Fu Juemin activated [Yao Ling]. Combined with the aura-sensing of his Gratitude "Inner Sensing" state, he discovered that there wasn’t a single able-bodied person between the ages of fifteen and forty in all of Xingwan Village.

Besides this peculiarity, a large group of sallow, skinny children hid in the distance, sizing up these "Nobles" with curious eyes.

Unlike his previous attitude toward the refugees, this time Fu Juemin had Xu Xinyi take out the dried meat, pastries, and other snacks she had brought and distribute them among the gaggle of children.

After handing out the food, Xu Xinyi had a blast playing with the children under the tree, giggling nonstop.

As Fu Juemin watched them play, the men he had sent out began to return one by one.

"Young Master, we’ve made inquiries. There are only three families with the surname Ding in this village.

When we mentioned Madam Ding’s name, an elderly man had a vague recollection. What he said more or less matches what we know..."

After finishing his report, Cao Tian paused, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings before he lowered his voice. "It’s just that all the young and able-bodied men in the village are gone. We asked, but no one would say anything..."

"Mm."

Fu Juemin nodded slightly, his expression calm as he said coolly, "Don’t worry about that for now. Let’s focus on getting Aunt Ding’s affairs in order first."

"Yes, sir."

In this world, as long as you have people and money, getting things done is effortless.

The news that a "great personage" had returned in glory to trace their roots and revise the family genealogy stirred up the entire small village of Xingwan.

A few village elders dug out the clan’s genealogical record and, after checking name by name, successfully found the name of Fu Juemin’s birth mother on one of the pages—Wan Qingdong.

With that, the matter was settled.

Next came revising the Ding family’s genealogy, then selecting a site for the grave...

It seemed like a pile of trivial tasks, but in reality, it all took less than half a day to complete.

Fu Juemin paid a large sum of money and had Gu Shouyu, the current Director of the Imperial Observatory, temporarily act as a "Feng Shui Master." He selected a spot for Aunt Ding on the mountain behind the village—a prime location that, in Gu Shouyu’s words, had "excellent feng shui."

By the next day, the work of building the tomb was already underway in full swing.

「The next day, on the mountain behind Xingwan Village.」

Fu Juemin stood on a lush, grassy slope, holding Madam Ding’s funerary urn as he quietly gazed at the distant scenery.

Not far from him, on another part of the slope, a dozen or so people were hard at work with hoes and pickaxes.

At the same time, another group of people carrying tools was climbing up the small path from below.

"Are the neighboring villages all in the same situation?"

Fu Juemin glanced at the group climbing the slope and coolly asked Cao Tian, who stood beside him.

To bury Aunt Ding as quickly as possible, Fu Juemin had thrown a lot of money around to hire workers.

Since Xingwan Village was entirely populated by children and the elderly, he had sent his men to hire people from nearby villages.

Who would have thought that the people who answered the call from the neighboring villages were either in their fifties, at the youngest, or children around ten years old who weren’t even as tall as a hoe handle.

"This whole area is like this."

Cao Tian nodded. "It’s all because of that minor Warlord named Chen..."

In the span of a single day, Fu Juemin had "acknowledged his ancestors" and, on top of that, had been extremely generous.

The people of Xingwan Village quickly came to see him as one of their own. The reason for the absence of young, able-bodied men was finally revealed: a Warlord faction in Taimei County, led by a man called "Grand Marshal Chen," had been forcibly conscripting men for the past six months, snatching up every last able-bodied person from Taimei County and its surrounding villages.

This explained the scene that had greeted Fu Juemin’s group upon their arrival: a village with no one but the elderly and young children.

’Grand Marshal, Warlord... in my eyes, they’re nothing more than a band of roving Horse Bandits.’

But the man had men and guns under his command. It was said he even paid off the county officials, who turned a blind eye to his actions, allowing his arrogance to grow unchecked.

’The timing is indeed ripe for a rebellion...’

Fu Juemin lowered his gaze, his hand gently caressing the smooth porcelain of the urn in his arms. His tone was placid. "Let’s have the men get to work first. After this is done, we’ll go find him."

"Yes, sir."

Cao Tian replied, his eyes burning with an eagerness to get into action.

Ever since Fu Juemin had used the Perfect Pharmacist Master Skill for "Washing Marrow and Sinews" on him on the train, allowing him to break through the Blood Barrier, his power had been accumulating and then surging forward at an astonishing rate.

The sharp glint in his eyes grew stronger by the day; he had been itching for a fight lately.

The spring sun wasn’t harsh, but a canopy had still been set up on the hillside.

Fu Juemin and Xu Xinyi sat beneath it, eating snacks, drinking tea, and admiring the mountain scenery all around them.

Cao Tian and the other subordinates stood on either side.

These few able-bodied young men were relaxed and at ease, while in the distance, a crowd of old folks and children grunted and groaned as they toiled away—the scene was awkward no matter how you looked at it.

It wasn’t that Fu Juemin was unwilling to let his men help. Rather, he had made an agreement with the villagers: they would be paid for every hour of work.

If he sent his men to join in and shorten the work period, these people might even resent him for it in their hearts.

So Fu Juemin simply chose to "watch from the sidelines," not even appointing a supervisor. If they got tired and took a break, it was fine. As long as they didn’t blatantly slack off, he pretended not to see.

Noon arrived. The meals were supposed to be cooked in the village and delivered up the mountain.

But it was well past twelve, and there was still no sign of the people bringing the food.

A few of the elderly workers from Xingwan Village conferred and decided to go down to see what was happening. They didn’t mind missing a meal, but they couldn’t let the "Nobles" go hungry.

Just as the people on the slope were about to head down, someone came scrambling and tumbling up from below.

Before the person even arrived, a hoarse, panicked voice drifted up on the wind.

"N-Not good! Grand Marshal Chen’s men are here again!!"

Beneath the canopy, a bored Fu Juemin heard the voice. The lid of the gold pocket watch he was fiddling with snapped shut with a CLICK.

He slowly rose from his chair and gave a cool command, "Let’s go. We’ll go have a look."

....

"Why are you taking people again?!"

In Xingwan Village, a disheveled, gray-haired, and ancient-looking woman sat slumped on the ground, her arms protectively wrapped around two five- or six-year-old children behind her. Her voice was mournful and filled with deep indignation. "Our village... there’s no one left in our village!!"

"No one left?"

A brawny man in black, his face fleshy and cruel, sneered from his horse. He gestured with his riding crop at the old woman, and then at what was behind her.

"You, him, him, her... aren’t you all people?!

A bit old, a bit small.

But two can count as one, three can count as one... we can make do."

As he spoke, he cracked his whip in the air with a loud SNAP and sneered, "Now get up, you old bag of bones. You won’t survive two lashes from me!.."

Despair filled the old woman’s face. Just then, a group of people charged forward from the end of the village, carrying hoes, pickaxes, and the like.

The man in black thought it was the remaining men of the village banding together to resist. He was about to laugh when he suddenly spotted a few people in the crowd... and his eyes lit up!

"Excellent! Excellent!"

The man in black counted the newcomers, his eyes blazing as if he’d just seen gold. "One, two, three, four... So many able-bodied men, and there’s even a woman!"

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud. "I knew I heard a magpie this morning! Turns out it was a sign that today is the day I, Jin the Third, make my fortune and earn some merit!"

Though he acted arrogant, he wasn’t a fool. In fact, he was quite cautious.

Upon spotting the newcomers, he immediately let out a long whistle, calling back all his companions who had spread out to search the village.

Then he dropped his whip and yanked the pistol from his belt.

Just as he did this, the man in black’s vision blurred. Something seemed to flash past him at high speed.

Before he could even squint to get a clearer look, he was suddenly and uncontrollably ripped from his saddle, hurtling forward as if flying through the clouds!

"WHOOSH—"

With the wind howling in his ears, the man in black was utterly terrified. He could see nothing else but a ball of light.

An exceptionally beautiful ball of light.

It shimmered with seven colors, like a glazed mirror under the sun.

The light grew rapidly in his vision—or rather, he was the one rapidly and actively approaching the light.

In just an instant.

SMACK!

The burly man’s thick neck landed squarely in the palm of a slender, pale hand.

Its five fingers tightened like a pair of iron tongs, clamping down on his throat.

Immediately after, a calm, gentle voice sounded from above.

"You must have misheard... That wasn’t a magpie. It must have been a crow’s caw."

As he spoke, a fair and handsome young man leaned down under the sunlight.

He moved closer, patting the man’s cheek with his other hand—not too lightly, not too hard—and said in a placid tone, "Tell me, what did you mean by ’two can count as one’? ’Three can count as one’?

Your Grand Marshal Chen really isn’t picky with his recruitment. The old, the weak, women, children—he’ll take them all."