Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: An Invitation
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A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Besides cultivating, Chen Jianghe poured a bag of rice bran into the lake every day, letting Xiao Hei supervise the great green fish's feeding.
The rice bran for the fish was ground rice husks, but this wasn't made from ordinary rice husks.
It was ground from the outer husks of Spirit Marrow Rice, which cultivators ate. Although it contained no spiritual energy itself, it grew in a spirit-rich environment for a long time, making it the best food for the great green fish.
Spirit Marrow Rice grew in spirit fields and contained trace amounts of spiritual energy. It was expensive; a single catty could be exchanged for one Fasting Pill, worth eight grains of spirit sand.
Chen Jianghe couldn't afford it at the moment.
The rice bran wasn't cheap either. Fortunately, the Yun Clan provided it for free; otherwise, the fishery farmers' income would be even more meager.
His daily necessities were running out, and the night soil bucket was full.
Chen Jianghe rowed to the port, emptied the night soil bucket, and went into the market to buy his daily necessities. Once done, he didn't linger and headed straight back to his fishing boat.
But just as he was about to board his boat, someone called out to him.
"Fellow Daoist, wait a moment."
The middle-aged man was dressed like Chen Jianghe in the short brown clothes of a fishery farmer, with a white cloud embroidered on his chest. He was also a fishery farmer.
He was burly with a dark complexion, and his face gave off an honest and simple impression.
"What is it?"
Chen Jianghe turned to face the middle-aged man and asked indifferently.
Fighting was forbidden in the Yun Clan's port, though shouting matches were not. Thus, Chen Jianghe wasn't afraid of this burly middle-aged man whose cultivation level he couldn't discern.
"The two-month fish dormancy period is here. Are you interested in earning some spirit sand during this time, Fellow Daoist?" the middle-aged man asked in a simple, honest voice.
Chen Jianghe shook his head.
"It's not mining work. It's helping the Lan Clan plant Spirit Marrow Rice. You can earn three grains of spirit sand in two months. It's not much, but it's safe."
The middle-aged man thought Chen Jianghe had mistaken him for a recruiter for the mines and quickly explained the nature of the job.
The Lan Clan was a Qi Refining family that had leased a fifty-li radius of land from the Yun Clan. They had ten mu of spirit fields, mainly for cultivating Spirit Marrow Rice.
Moreover, the Lan Clan's territory was in Bixia Town, just thirty li south of Mirror Moon Lake, much closer than the mining area.
Three grains of spirit sand for two months' work—it was a good offer.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist, but I don't plan on leaving this year."
Chen Jianghe politely declined with a smile.
"Fellow Daoist, can you take me?" A skinny young man passing by overheard the middle-aged man's offer and was immediately interested.
"Well..."
The middle-aged man looked at the young man's enthusiastic expression and said with some difficulty, "I approached this Fellow Daoist first."
Chen Jianghe chuckled and said politely, "It's fine. You can give the spot to this Fellow Daoist."
With that, Chen Jianghe didn't wait for the middle-aged man to respond. He turned, boarded his fishing boat, and with a light push of his bamboo pole, quickly left the port.
"Big brother, that kid is such a coward."
The skinny young man spat as he watched Chen Jianghe's departing boat and cursed under his breath.
"No, that's caution. It's the only way to live a little longer."
The middle-aged man's expression shifted slightly. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, revealing a hint of approval. As he watched the passing fishery farmers, his eyes returned to their clear state, and the harmless smile reappeared on his face as he continued to search for his next target.
—
More than two months passed quietly.
During the fish dormancy period, Chen Jianghe did nothing but cultivate. He was even spared the task of feeding the fish. He only went to the port market once every half a month to buy some necessities.
Aside from that one time he was invited for short-term work, no one else approached him on his subsequent trips to the port.
This was because the short-term jobs usually lasted for two months, coinciding perfectly with the fish dormancy period. So, there were no more recruiters later on, and even if there were, no one would have taken the jobs.
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
The cry of a letter-carrying egret.
Chen Jianghe looked puzzled. It was only three days until the day to sell fish and receive payment. All the fishery farmers would gather then, free to chat as they pleased.
They could also splurge a little, go to the market with friendly fishery farmers for drinks, and have some fun together.
He walked out of the cabin and took the letter.
Chen Jianghe searched his waters for a long time before reluctantly giving the egret a great green fish weighing three catties and three taels.
"It's from Daniu?!"
Chen Jianghe opened the letter and began to read. His expression gradually turned grave, a trace of lingering fear in his eyes.
"Over a hundred fishery farmers died? How could there be so many!"
The contents of the letter made Chen Jianghe gasp.
Yu Daniu wrote that of the thirty-odd fishery farmers who went to the mines, thirty returned—a casualty rate of less than ten percent.
Compared to the casualty rate of up to thirty percent in previous years, this year was truly a lucky one for the fishery farmers.
Only thirty-two fishery farmers went to the mines, not even a fifth of the number from previous years.
"Hmm? There were over two hundred fishery farmers who took short-term work with the Lan Clan!"
Reading this, Chen Jianghe immediately sensed that something was wrong.
The Lan Clan was a relatively large Qi Refining family in Mirror Moon Lake, but they only had ten mu of spirit fields. They definitely wouldn't need over two hundred short-term spirit farmers.
And the Lan Clan would never have cultivators like the fishery farmers plant ordinary rice.
Sure enough, as he read on, Chen Jianghe understood why so many fishery farmers had died.
The Lan Clan had recruited a large number of fishery farmers for short-term work with the intention of murdering them and stealing the wealth they had accumulated over the years.
Logically, the Lan Clan shouldn't have dared to do this.
The Yun Clan could turn a blind eye to fishery farmers dying during the dormancy period, as they could claim the fruits of the deceased farmers' labor.
But the Yun Clan would never stand by and watch a large number of fishery farmers be murdered. If they couldn't recruit enough farmers at the beginning of the year, it would severely affect the great green fish harvest.
The reason the Lan Clan dared to commit such a heinous act and slaughter over a hundred fishery farmers was that they were planning to flee and had no intention of staying in the Yun Clan's territory any longer.
Yu Daniu knew all this so clearly because he had been one of those short-term workers.
However, Yu Daniu's home was in Bixia Town. He had luckily escaped the slaughter by going home to visit his family midway through the job.
Chen Jianghe crumpled the letter into pieces and tossed it into the night soil bucket.
He hadn't been to the port recently, as he was focused on the upcoming day to sell his fish and get paid. By now, news of the Lan Clan's treachery must be all over the port.
After all, of the more than two hundred fishery farmers who went to work for the Lan Clan, over a hundred had died, but around a hundred had also returned.
"At the year-end fishery farmers' assembly, the Yun Clan will have to give everyone an explanation. Otherwise, if the farmers' safety can't be guaranteed, who would come back to work here?"
Chen Jianghe sat back on his bed, exhaled a turbid breath, cleared his mind of distracting thoughts, and began to cultivate, circulating the Guiyuan True Water Art.
These few months of cultivation had brought a noticeable change to the sea of qi in his dantian; it was now the size of a peanut.
Once it reached the size of a goose egg, the sea of qi in his dantian would be fully established. His cultivation would have reached the third level of Qi Refining, and he would only need to fill his magical power to its peak to break through to the fourth level.
Cultivating by absorbing spiritual energy was also the best way to stave off hunger.
In three days, the Yun Clan would come to collect the fish. He had little food left on his boat, but there was no need to make a trip to the port market in the meantime.