Chapter 66: Bai Xiaofeng Possesses Quite a Few Fine Medicinal Herbs

Tunan Village.

In the afternoon, Su Liang was carried back.

He was sent back by the servants of the Wan Family Manor.

When he left, he was in fine shape, having specifically put on freshly washed and ironed clothes. When he returned, his body was covered in injuries and bloodstains, and his legs—whether sprained or broken—hung limp and lifeless, unable to support his weight.

"Liang'er! My son, what happened to you? Don't you dare scare your mother!" Lady Su led the family rushing out from the shed, her face pale and tears streaming down her old face. She glared furiously at the Wan family servants and demanded, "What did you do to my son?!"

The Wan family servants tossed the man they were carrying onto the ground, acting arrogant and overbearing. "Our Manor Lord said that you people couldn't even handle a small task you were given, proving that the entire primary branch of the Su family is a bunch of trash! Since you can't get anything done even when favors are promised to you, there's no need to treat you with courtesy anymore. The Manor Lord has ordered that the tenant rent for you greater Su family members will be raised from sixty percent to seventy percent! A lowborn background is a lowborn background, born with cheap skins. Good days were handed right to you, yet you couldn't even hold onto them. Bah!"

Before the greater Su family could recover from their anger, a wave of panic and despair immediately washed over them.

"Seventy percent?!" A female family member shrieked, a mix of shock and fury, "Are you people from the Wan Family Manor trying to eat us alive?! We labor hard in the fields all year to grow grain, and besides paying the tenant rent, we still have to set aside a portion for seeds. When the rent was sixty percent, our whole family barely survived half the year eating bran and digging up wild herbs! Now you want to add another ten percent to the rent? You—you are trying to drive us to our deaths!"

The greater Su family had once been farmers too, and they were far from strangers to agricultural affairs.

Later, when their family rose in status, they had also acquired quite a few fields and manors, so they knew the ins and outs of tenant farming inside out.

The Wan family servants sneered, sweeping their gazes over the large crowd of the greater Su family. "If you don't want to do it, you can leave at any time. As long as you pay the breach of contract penalty according to the agreement, the wide road is open to all, and our Wan Family Manor will certainly not stop you!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the greater Su family felt as though they had plunged into ice water, and the rising agitation instantly froze and collapsed.

They had signed a contract to tenant the fields from the Wan Family Manor, and if they failed to meet the contract's requirements, they would have to pay a penalty of one hundred silver taels per mu of land!

Because their family had many members, they had tenanted as many as thirty mu of paddy fields! That amounted to a penalty of three thousand silver taels!

In addition to these, there were the rice and grain they had borrowed from the Wan Family Manor to tide them over, all of which had to be repaid double!

Thinking of this, the greater Su family no longer dared to speak.

"Hmph! A bunch of ungrateful things! Let me tell you, with the likes of you, if you don't work as tenant farmers in this place of exile, you won't even last half a month! Mud chickens sticking feathers in themselves, thinking you're some kind of phoenix!"

After severely humiliating the greater Su family, the servants strode away arrogantly.

Only then did Old Lady Su's crying resume, as she hugged her eldest son, who was half-conscious on the ground, weeping breathlessly.

"Mother..." Su Liang endured the pain all over his body, gathering his breath to speak. "You—you must find a way... to win over... Su Xiang... Only then... can we resolve this crisis!"

"Alright, alright, alright! Whatever you say goes! Mother will send someone to the lesser Su family right away and make sure to invite them over!" Old Lady Su nodded indiscriminately and turned to call someone to help Su Liang into the shed first. "Liang'er, don't waste your energy talking, just rest properly. Healing up is what matters most! If you collapse, our family's backbone will be gone! Those murderous bastards from the Wan Family Manor, how could they beat you like this, wu wu wu! If I had known it was a den of wolves, I shouldn't have let you go when they came to invite you that day!"

"Mother!" Su Liang's closed eyes snapped open again, and he mustered all his strength to squeeze out a sentence. "Su Xiang... that... don't go yet, wait for me... to plan carefully—"

With that, his head lolled to one side, and he passed out completely.

While the greater Su family was in chaos, over at Mount Tunbei, the lesser Su family had finished building their new house with the help of everyone.

After setting up the beds, cabinets, tables, stools, and other household items, the whole process took only three days.

"Good, good! This room is mine, and that room belongs to Broken Saber! Hahaha! The main room isn't big, but it's enough. Oh my, look at this bed of mine! Ever since coming to this damn place, I've either been sleeping in tree forks or ruined temples. I'd almost forgotten what it feels like to lie on a bed..."

Du Buqing was as excited as a child, running back and forth around the new house to inspect it, as if he could not get enough of it.

He would touch the low table made of pieced-together wooden boards, then test the small stool polished from a wooden stump, his large triangular eyes crinkling happily into small triangular eyes.

The house was thatched.

But it was built specifically for him and Broken Saber, truly and genuinely their own territory.

The feeling was simply different.

In the glow of the setting sun, the old man with a bird's nest of hair put his hands behind his back and continued pacing around the courtyard, chattering endlessly.

"Aha, didn't I say there's no need for a kitchen? Broken Saber and I don't know how to cook, so having a kitchen is useless. Let's remodel it later and turn the kitchen into a pharmacy!"

"The courtyard is still a bit too small. We should mark out two more zhang outward, otherwise there won't be enough space to walk the baby."

In the small courtyard of the Su family, Su An stood with his two younger brothers under the thorn fence, shouting across it, "Old Grandpa Du, hurry over here, it's time to eat!"

"Coming, coming!"

Based on Du Buqing's strong demand, the houses of the two families were built almost right next to each other. Whenever the old man muttered even slightly loudly over there, people in this courtyard could hear him clearly.

The Su family members and others heard every bit of the old man's self-talk and couldn't help laughing.

Dinner was a bit early today, and the sky was still bright. The dark golden light of the setting sun leaked into the kitchen through the small window and gaps, casting a warm, floating glow over the space inside.

A dozen people sat around the table, eating, talking, and chatting casually.

"Today, I specially asked Xiu'er to make two extra dishes to celebrate Old Du and Lord Broken Saber moving into their new home. Eat up," old man Su said as he took out several clean, empty bowls, poured cold boiled water into them, and raised his bowl. "It's a pity there's no wine, so this old man will substitute water for wine. Come, let's toast!"

Du Buqing showed a look of disdain, but still picked up a bowl of water and clinked it against the old man's. "What moving-in party? You guys didn't tell me earlier. Otherwise, I could have gone to Fengyun City to swipe a couple of jars of good wine. What a waste!"

The Su family members, "..."

You make that word "swipe" sound even more natural than buying them.

Broken Saber also raised his bowl for a silent toast and drank the water quietly. "I'll bring wine tomorrow."

"You're going into the city tomorrow?" Du Buqing remembered something and immediately said, "Great, I'll go with you."

Broken Saber glanced sideways. "?"

"Bai Xiaofeng has quite a few good medicinal herbs in his possession. I'll go scout the way tomorrow first and figure out where he's hiding the good stuff."

The Su family members didn't want to join this conversation.

All in all, ever since Old Du got his new territory, he had been single-mindedly eager to get medicinal herbs and fire up his cauldron to brew poisons.

Tianbao had been obediently snuggled in her grandmother's arms eating egg custard. When she heard the three words "Fengyun City," her eyes lit up slightly. She hurriedly parted her small mouth, looked up, and stretched out her little hands toward Broken Saber and Du Buqing. "Wo, qi!"

Old Lady Su calmly gathered the baby's little hands and pressed them down. "Hasn't Tianbao eaten enough yet? Ah—Grandma will feed you."

Tianbao looked up. "Bu, xi—"

The old lady was sharp-eyed and quick-handed. She thrust the spoon forward just in time, blocking the baby's little mouth.

"A-wuwu! Bao'er is such a good girl!"

Tianbao, "..."