In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

"how?"

Facing numerous Zheng family martial artists, Fan Lao Er, who possessed no cultivation, showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, he threatened Qian Wu and the others, saying, "Do you intend to rebel?"

Upon hearing this, Qian Wu's expression changed repeatedly. If it were city guards from other places, Qian Wu would never have been polite to them, but the city guards of Qingzhou Prefecture were different.

The defense of Qingzhou Prefecture was the responsibility of the Qingzhou Army, which numbered a full 100,000.

Of course, Qian Wu wouldn't be so afraid of the Qingzhou Army, but the actual controller of the Qingzhou Army... is the Qing King!

The Prince of Qing is the current emperor's younger brother, and they are as close as brothers. He is extremely domineering and protective of his own. If I dare to lay a hand on these two city guards, I'm afraid I won't be able to leave Qingzhou Prefecture. In fact, it might even implicate the Zheng family behind me.

"Sir."

Qian Wu took a deep breath, trying his best to suppress the anger in his heart: "Our master is the governor of Taicang County. Please give us some face."

"Ah!"

Fan Lao Er sneered and said, "What kind of trash is the prefect of Taicang County? Get lost, or don't blame me for being impolite!"

Clearly, Fan Lao Er did not take the so-called Taicang County Prefect seriously. He had reason to ignore the Taicang County Prefect. Not to mention the Taicang County Prefect, he had never taken the prefect of Qingzhou Prefecture, nor the generals and soldiers of Qingzhou Army seriously!

Because they were under the command of the Prince of Qing, the current emperor's younger brother and an official of the court, who had no right to interfere in the affairs of the Qingzhou Army, let alone deal with them.

Qian Wu's eyes blazed with fury, wishing he could chop Fan Lao Er to pieces and feed him to the dogs. However, his last shred of reason told him that he couldn't do that, otherwise he and the Zheng family warriors who accompanied him would all perish, and even the Zheng family behind them would probably be uprooted...

Qian Wu gave Fan Lao Er a deep look, as if trying to memorize his appearance, and then said to the Zheng family warriors behind him, "Let's go first."

Upon hearing this, the Zheng family warriors quickly suppressed their anger and, together with Qian Wu, moved away from the city gate.

"Fan Lao Er, we're going to be rich this time!"

Another city guard watched Qian Wu and the others leave, his eyes gleaming with greed: "These fruits look incredibly valuable. If we hand them over to the commander, we'll definitely get our share."

Soldiers like Fan Lao Er, who were at the bottom of the ranks, received very little fixed pay, but this did not prevent them from living a very comfortable life. Because they were responsible for guarding the city gates, they could make a lot of money off the merchants through routine inspections.

The merchants could only be angry but dared not speak out, because their master was the Green King.

Of course, even if these low-ranking soldiers managed to get some profit, they would have to share some with their direct superior, the city guard commander. In fact, most of the profits would have to be given to the commander, with only a small portion belonging to them.

Even so, Fan Lao Er's profits were still considerable. Qingzhou Prefecture had a population of 500,000, and merchants flocked to the city. The merchants coming and going through the north gate every day were enough to make them very wealthy.

"Not bad!"

Fan Lao Er said with a smile, "I think these few fruits can be sold for at least several hundred taels of silver. After handing them over to the commander, we will definitely get our share!"

"Hehe! We can go out for a drink tonight! I heard that some women from Yuezhou have recently joined the Qinghualou brothel in the city. I must try the taste of these Yuezhou women."

"Let's go together!"

The two burst into laughter.

On the official road outside the city, Qian Wu looked back towards Qingzhou Prefecture, his brow furrowed in worry.

The six fruits, worth a full 60,000 taels, were intercepted by two mere city guards, which made Qian Wu feel extremely aggrieved and also felt very sorry for the head of the family.

"Manager Qian!"

One of the accompanying martial artists said angrily, "Why did you stop us just now? That fruit is so precious, and we just let those two soldiers steal it?"

The loyalty of the martial artists sent by the Zheng family to escort this batch of precious medicinal herbs was beyond doubt. When Fan Lao Er snatched the fruit earlier, many martial artists were about to take action, but Manager Qian stopped them with his finger, which made them very frustrated and they did not understand why Qian Wu did this.

"You can't fight!"

Qian Wu sighed and said, "The city guards are backed by the King of Qing. Once we make a move, we may not be able to leave Qingzhou Prefecture. Even the Zheng family may be affected."

After saying that, Qian Wu said, "Let's inform the family head and young lady about this first. Let's all cheer up and get back to Taicang County as soon as possible."

…………

…………

Ten days later.

Zheng Qiuyan once again led a caravan to Chenjia Village in Taiping County.

After a period of absence, Chenjia Village looked quite different from what Zheng Qiuyan remembered. The last time she entered the village, she could see members of the Chenjia Village Guard Team training on the open space to the right of the village entrance. But now, the guard team had disappeared, replaced by several construction sites that were breaking ground.

On both sides of Chencun Avenue, buildings are springing up one after another, as if they are going to fill both sides of the street.

Zheng Qiuyan led the team forward slowly, and soon stopped outside the Zheng Baolou, which was about to be completed.

At this time, Zheng Baolou was already taking shape, with workers recruited by Manager Wang coming and going, perfecting this shop, which was considered a behemoth in Chenjia Village.

"Miss."

Manager Wang, who was directing operations inside Zheng Baolou, turned around and a look of surprise appeared on his face. He hurriedly ran to Zheng Qiuyan, bowed, and said, "Miss, why did you come here in person?"

"I have something to discuss with Young Master Chen."

Zheng Qiuyan answered casually, then immediately asked, "Manager Wang, has anything major happened in Chenjia Village recently?"

Shopkeeper Wang recalled for a moment and said, "Recently, Taiping County has been relatively peaceful, with nothing happening. If I had to say what happened, it would probably be the army expansion and recruitment in Chenjia Village a few days ago..."

Manager Wang recounted in detail the recent events in Chenjia Village, mainly focusing on the village's expansion of its military and large-scale recruitment of workers.

After listening, Zheng Qiuyan nodded slightly without making any comments, and simply said, "Manager Wang, please help me settle my entourage. I'm going to Qingying to see Young Master Chen."

"Okay, miss."

After handing over the accompanying personnel and goods to Manager Wang, Zheng Qiuyan led Qingying through the commercial area of ​​Chenjia Village, into the residential area, and finally stood outside the door of Chen Dao's house.

After giving a token knock on the door, Zheng Qiuyan stepped directly into the front yard.