Chapter 191: Meeting Chen Qi’an Again in Yunzhou

Chapter 191: Chapter 191: Meeting Chen Qi’an Again in Yunzhou

For Chu Fan, returning to Yunzhou City was something of a trip down memory lane.

It was here, after meeting Chen Qi’an, that he had truly begun to plot against the Red Blood Mansion.

Here, he had killed Yan Qi’s son, Yan Ji (though Chu Fan was still unaware that Yan Ji had been resurrected). Afterward, he had sent Chen Qi’an to the Zi Wu Gate and even given them the Midnight Mandarin Duck Sword and its complete Sword Manual.

As for the Lü Family, who had been targeted by the Red Blood Mansion, one could say he had indirectly brought about their ruin.

Yunzhou City was a County City within the Celestial Qi Kingdom.

After Chu Fan and Yun Xi left Yunmeng Mountain and parted ways with Ji Bufan and the others, the two of them altered their appearances. Though they still wore simple clothes, they looked much more ordinary than before.

Upon returning to Yunzhou City, he noticed the figures of the commoners hurrying to and fro were clearly much more frantic than the last time he had been here.

Especially when they saw Chu Fan and Yun Xi, two strangers, they would give them a wide berth, their eyes filled with vigilance.

Chu Fan only needed to briefly extend his Divine Sense to understand the reason.

Three days ago, the Celestial Qi Kingdom had been defeated in battle. The Monarch Celestial Qi had initially sworn to fight to the death, but just yesterday, Nan Chuting, the Sect Leader of the Mixed Element Sect, had visited the Celestial Qi Royal City with the Great Elder, Lin Kangbo. They had persuaded the Monarch, and the Celestial Qi Kingdom issued a decree ordering all County officials to travel to the Royal City. The Monarch would lead his civil and military officials in surrendering to the imperial envoy from the Great Xia Kingdom.

And so, the officials of Yunzhou City had rushed to the Royal City overnight.

It would have been one thing if the officials had simply left, but what caused the real unrest was that they had arranged for their families to pack their belongings and go into hiding.

This act plunged the commoners of Yunzhou City into a state of panic.

Once chaos erupted among the city’s populace, and with no Government Office to maintain order, many local rats and city foxes came out of the woodwork to cause trouble.

As a result, the atmosphere of panic in the city escalated once again.

At this moment, the commoners rushing through the city were doing so only to sell off their property, hoping to flee with their entire families.

As for where to flee, the commoners themselves had no idea. Gripped by panic, all they knew was to follow the crowd.

Amidst this, there were also many unscrupulous merchants profiting from the disaster.

These merchants secretly sent people to spread panicked rumors. On the surface, they acted like great philanthropists, reluctantly buying up the commoners’ homes and belongings that couldn’t be carried away at low prices. In reality, they were hiding in the shadows, gloating endlessly.

After understanding the cause of the situation, Chu Fan’s expression instantly darkened.

"What’s wrong?"

"In the end, my eagerness for quick success made me thoughtless," Chu Fan sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought that with the unification of the Eastern Domain, there would be some growing pains, but they would pass quickly. Now, it seems I was too naive. I underestimated the depths of human greed. In this transitional period between the old and the new, the worst of human nature has been unleashed."

Chu Fan didn’t need to explain much. Not far ahead of them, Yun Xi saw a shabbily dressed commoner being beaten out of a shop by a pair of vicious servants wielding clubs.

From the commoner’s shouts, it seemed the shop had bought something from him at a low price, and when he changed his mind and no longer wanted to sell, he was beaten and thrown out.

Upon seeing this, Yun Xi’s face frosted over, and she was about to rush forward.

Just then, a furious roar stopped her in her tracks.

The roar wasn’t directed at Yun Xi, of course.

A young man was seen striding toward the shop. When he reached the commoner, he helped him up and brushed the dust off his clothes.

Then, the man turned to the two vicious servants and rebuked them, "You animals! Has your conscience been eaten by dogs?"

The two servants glared fiercely at the young man, who was dressed like a scholar. "Kid, I’d advise you to mind your own business."

"Mind my own business? Today, I’m making this my business," the man said without backing down.

The two servants then raised their clubs and swung them at the man.

With a light flick of his right hand, the man sent the two servants flying backward. They crashed heavily to the ground some distance away, unable to get back up after several attempts to struggle.

"Sir, why were they hitting you?" the man asked the commoner.

The commoner stammered, clearly afraid of the shopkeeper’s retaliation and not daring to speak plainly.

"Sir, don’t you worry. I am the son of General Chen. They won’t dare to do anything." This young man was none other than Chen Qi’an.

Chu Fan hadn’t expected to see Chen Qi’an here after his participation in the Tengxing Grand Assembly.

But Chen Qi’an was driven by a scholar’s idealism, and his methods for handling such matters were still too naive.

"General Chen’s family... they all fled overnight..." the commoner said.

"What? Fled?" Chen Qi’an was also surprised.

"Young sir, last night the Monarch issued an urgent summons, and all the city officials went to the Royal City. Every last one of their family members fled overnight. Who is left to care about the lives of us common folk?"

"Alas. I rushed back as fast as I could, but I was still a step too late."

At that moment, Chu Fan walked up with Yun Xi. He gave Chen Qi’an a simple nod before walking directly into the shop.

Chen Qi’an’s earlier move had been ruthless, so no one from the shop had dared to come out. Now, seeing Chu Fan and Yun Xi enter, a portly, pig-faced middle-aged man was about to shout at them.

Chu Fan shot him a glare, and the middle-aged man swallowed his words.

"I don’t want to kill anyone, so it would be in your best interest to cooperate. Bring out what that man sold you," Chu Fan said coldly.

"Kid, do you know whose shop this is? Scram if you don’t want to die!" a shifty-eyed man behind the portly one threatened, pointing at Chu Fan.

Chu Fan had little patience for such villains. He stretched out his left hand.

A force pulled the man toward him, and Chu Fan seized him by the throat.

He struggled desperately.

With a slight squeeze of his left hand, the man’s neck snapped, and he was dead beyond a doubt.

Chu Fan tossed the corpse aside and said, "I don’t want to repeat myself. I feel no guilt whatsoever for killing people like you."

The portly middle-aged man began to tremble in fear. He took a small box from under the counter and handed it to Chu Fan with extreme trepidation.

Chu Fan took the box, turned, and walked out of the shop. Under Chen Qi’an’s astonished gaze, he returned the box to the commoner.

"Sir, don’t listen to those rumors. There’s no need to sell your property. In three to five days at most, new officials will be sent. Believe me, under the rule of the Great Xia Kingdom’s Empress, the lives of the people throughout the entire Eastern Domain will have more and more to look forward to," Chu Fan said reassuringly.

"Sir, is what you’re saying true?"

"Of course, it’s true. I’ve just come from Shuoyue City. Along the way, I passed through cities that surrendered to Great Xia long ago, and the people there are all living well."

"But don’t they say that when a hen crows at dawn, disaster is sure to follow?"

"That’s just a rumor. Some people with ulterior motives are deliberately spreading such lies to make everyone panic and sell their property. That way, they can buy everything up at low prices. Once things settle down, they’ll sell it all back to you at a high price. You can’t believe such nonsense. Besides, this will all be over in three to five days at most. Can’t you wait that long? Even if you sell everything, where could you possibly flee to right now?" Chu Fan said earnestly.

"Sir, what you say makes sense. There’s chaos and war everywhere. Even if we fled, where could we possibly go?" The commoner clutched the box, thanked him profusely, and left.

At this point, Chen Qi’an bowed to Chu Fan. "My name is Chen Qi’an. And you are?"

"We’ve met before. I am Chu Fan. Or you can call me Fan Chu," Chu Fan said with a smile.

"Ah!" Chen Qi’an exclaimed. He then bowed deeply once more. "Chen Qi’an pays his respects to his benefactor!"