Seeing that Lin Yu was angry, the fat man quickly got up and hid beside Fang Chen, wondering: "Two heroes, I am just working below. If I can't get the money, I won't be able to explain it in front of the master."
Hearing what the fat man said, Fang Chen frowned and asked, "How much does this old man owe your master?"
"One hundred taels..."
The fat man obviously felt guilty when he spoke.
"One hundred taels?"
After hearing the fat man's words, Lin Yu immediately stared at the fat man with burning eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I remembered wrongly, it was fifty taels! Fifty taels!" The fat man was a little embarrassed when Lin Yu glared at him like this.
Fang Chen frowned, it was obvious that the fat man was not telling the truth.
However, he would not stay here for long, otherwise the fat man would come back to cause trouble for the father and daughter. He could only nod.
"I don't care whether what you say is true or not, I will give you fifty taels of silver. If I see you causing trouble for this old man again..."
Seeing that there seemed to be a benefactor willing to pay, the fat man quickly assured him: "Don't worry, sir, I, Yu Dahai, am definitely not this kind of person!"
After all, if he can receive money, he will be less scolded when he goes back.
"Humph——" Lin Yu was also a little disdainful of the fat man's remarks.
Fang Chen gently touched the space bracelet in his hand, took out a piece of fifty taels of silver, and threw it to the fat man.
The fat man took the silver and just weighed it. Without even looking at it, he put it directly into his arms. Then the fat man quickly fled with a group of thugs.
After sending the fat man away, Fang Chen's expression softened slightly.
"Ahem - thank you so much - thank you so much."
The old man who was lying on the ground came out with the help of the girl.
The old man was about to bow down and thank Fang Chen, but Fang Chen stopped him first.
"The old gentleman has not recovered yet, so there is no need to be polite."
"My old bones will be dead if they die, but if my benefactor and his friends hadn't taken action, my daughter would have..."
The old man seemed to have a thousand words to say, but in the end he only had time to sigh.
"Old sir, there's no need to say much. Since the road is rough, it's natural to help." Fang Chen said with a smile.
"By the way, why does the old gentleman owe such a huge sum of money?"
The old man lamented and said, "Oh, my benefactor must be from out of town."
Fang Chen nodded: "Yes, I came from Nanfeng City."
"Oh, what a natural and man-made disaster!" The old man looked desolate and helpless.
Fang Chen asked again: "Old sir, where do you start?"
"Since the beginning of this year, the heat has been constant. Until now, there has been no rain in the entire Yong'an City, and the crops in the fields have long since withered because they could not withstand the drought." At this point, the old man choked up in his words.
"We were so hungry that we had no choice but to borrow some rice from Mr. Liu, and we were able to survive until now. But the interest rate charged by Mr. Liu was too high, so we borrowed thirty kilograms of rice, which was only a few pounds. I didn’t expect that the interest rate on the money would be as high as fifty taels with him.”
"Fifty taels, this is a huge amount of money that I can't even imagine. If my benefactor hadn't helped me in time, I might never see my daughter again."
Fang Chen was also a little confused and asked: "Doesn't the local government have any means of disaster relief?"
"The government in Yong'an City did distribute disaster relief grain, and also exempted land rent from taxes. However, our place is different."
While speaking, the old man seemed to be worried about something. He looked around first, and then deliberately lowered his voice and said: "Our place is the fiefdom of King Zhennan and is not under the jurisdiction of the local government. Although the crops have withered, the excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the fields Still, people will come to ask for money every once in a while. Now that there are droughts, it is a problem for us to even survive. How can we still have money to pay taxes and rent!"
"Under the rule of King Zhennan, it turned out to be such a miserable situation." Lin Yu also said angrily from the side.
King Zhennan had achieved many successes in previous battles and was the most powerful general in his dynasty.
Whether it is regaining lost territory or guarding the border, both are matters that win the hearts of the people.
Unexpectedly, the fiefdom under his rule...
"By the way, my benefactor, I, my father and my daughter, have received such great kindness from my benefactor today, and there is really nothing we can do to repay it. Xiuxiu, come here!"
Old man Wang called his daughter over and pulled her in front of Fang Chen.
"My benefactor, old man, I will hand over Xiuxiu to my benefactor today. Whether my benefactor wants her to be a slave or a maid, I will let her do whatever I want. If you don't mind, you can take Xiuxiu as a concubine."
After hearing the old man's words, Xiuxiu glanced at Fang Chen's handsome face and immediately blushed.
"What?" Lin Yu was confused when he heard what the old man said.
"This is not necessary." Fang Chen had a strange look on his face and immediately waved his hand to refuse.
Then, Fang Chen changed the topic and said, "By the way, your future rations haven't been settled yet, right? I still have some broken silver here, so you can take it first."
While talking, Fang Chen took out a bag of silver from his arms and handed it to the old man.
Seeing that Fang Chen wanted to give him some silver, the old man quickly refused and said, "How is this possible? Our benefactor has just repaid the loan for us. How can we accept any more silver from our benefactor?"
Fang Chen said again: "That's it, think of it as something I lent to you, and you can return it to me when I return to Yong'an City next time."
"This..." The old man was still hesitant.
"Dad!" Xiuxiu on the side also tugged on the old man's sleeves and motioned for the old man to accept the silver.
"Old sir, just accept it." Lin Yu also advised from the side.
"The old man accepted it shamelessly. We, father and daughter, will remember your kindness for the rest of our lives!"
The old man knew very well that without this silver coin, his father and daughter would probably not be able to survive this month. After repeated inner struggles, the old man accepted the silver coin.
Seeing the other party accept the silver, Fang Chen also smiled and nodded.
…
The west gate of Yongan City.
It happened to be noon, and the scorching sun was in the sky. It was the hottest time of the day. The pace of the crowd coming down from the city gate became hurried, not wanting to be exposed to the hot sun for too long.
Among the crowd, three young people, two men and one woman, walked slowly. They were Fang Chen, Lin Yu, and Rong'er who came with them.
After a long journey all morning, Lin Yu and the others finally arrived at Yong'an City.
"Is this Yong'an City? It's so majestic!"
Looking at the majestic and huge tower in front of him, Lin Yu sighed sincerely.
Seeing Lin Yu being so excited, Rong'er on the side was also curious.
"Brother A Lin, is this your first time in the county?"
"That should be it, right?" Lin Yu scratched the back of his head and said with a silly smile.
"Haha, you have been here before." Fang Chen said with a smile.
"Been here?" Lin Yu was a little confused.
Fang Chen smiled and said, "I brought you here ten years ago, but you were less than five years old at that time, so you probably don't remember clearly."
Lin Yu slapped his thigh and suddenly realized: "Yes, yes, I remembered it. I have been here before. No wonder this place looks familiar to me."
"Okay, let's go in." Fang Chen said.
After entering the city, Fang Chen led the two of them to Jia's inn, with the three characters "Qingfeng Pavilion" written on the signboard.
"Master, you are here!"
Seeing Fang Chen approaching, a middle-aged man in rich clothes quickly came forward respectfully.
"Shopkeeper Sun, help me arrange three guest rooms, preferably three adjacent ones." Fang Chen ordered calmly.
"Yes, I'll do it right now." The middle-aged man responded, returned to the counter and checked the guest room book.
"Sir, what is this inn?"
Lin Yu was quite surprised to see the shopkeeper being so respectful to Fang Chen.
"This inn was founded by my father when he came to Yong'an City seven years ago."
"Oh I got it."
No wonder the shopkeeper is so respectful to Fang Chen. It turns out that this place is also the Fang family's property.
At this time, a man slowly walked out of the stairwell and was surprised when he saw Fang Chen in the hall.
"Brother!"
"Fang Ping!" Fang Chen was equally surprised when he saw this man.
This man's appearance is somewhat similar to Fang Chen. He has a beard on his mouth. He obviously looks much older than Fang Chen, but he calls him big brother.
"Why are you here?" Fang Chen was also a little confused about the man's appearance.
"I know you have gone home. I guess you will come to Yong'an City."
"In order to welcome you as soon as possible, I have been eating and lodging here these days."
At this time, Lin Yu also recognized that this man was Fang Ping, the second son of the Fang family.
"Second Young Master..." Lin Yu quickly saluted the man.
"Hey, isn't this A Lin? Why did he come out with you?" Fang Ping was really surprised when he saw Lin Yu.
"Haha, take him out and learn a lot." Fang Chen said with a smile.
Fang Ping nodded and said, "Young people should indeed come out and broaden their horizons."
Seeing Ronger on the side, Fang Ping asked again.
"Who is this little girl?"
"Her name is Ronger, she is the little girl I rescued on the road." Fang Chen explained, "Speaking of which, I have something else I want to ask you to help me with."
"What's going on?" Fang Ping asked.
"This little girl has just experienced the pain of losing her father. Find some people to deal with her father's funeral affairs, and then see if you can arrange an errand for her to solve her future livelihood problems."
"Okay, leave this to me."
"Then I'll trouble you."
"Brother, have you finished your meal? I asked the kitchen to prepare a table of wine and food for you."
"No need, we just ate on the way." Fang Chen shook his head, "Alin and I still have some important things to do, so we should go out first."
Knowing that Fang Chen had something to do, Fang Ping had no choice but to say.
"That's it. Then let me go and get busy first. Then I'm going to have a dinner for him. Let's have dinner together when he comes back in the evening."
Fang Chen nodded in agreement, and then led Lin Yu out of the inn.
"Arin, how are you feeling now?"
After walking out of the inn, Fang Chen suddenly spoke.
"My left hand is still numb and I have no feeling." Lin Yu answered truthfully.
"let me see."
Lin Yu nodded and extended his hand to Fang Chen.
"The pulse has stabilized and returned to normal. This poison is really strange..."
After Fang Chen's investigation, he found that except for some blackening of Lin Yu's left arm, other conditions were normal.
"Okay, I'll take you to see the doctor first."
"Um!"
