Chapter 123 - 56: Trickle (2)
Be that as it may, the story still had to be told.
"Don’t be hasty, I’m getting to it..."
Fang Rui stretched languidly and sat down in the wicker chair.
The two little girls scurried to grab stools and sat on either side of him, like a pair of flanking guardians.
"The story begins with Jiang Ziya’s descent from the mountain..."
Fang Rui’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he narrated softly, savoring the peace, contentment, and comfort. He cherished it from the bottom of his heart.
He was not like the protagonists from the novels of his past life. The higher their Realm, the more eager they were to stir up trouble, constantly living on a knife’s edge... It was just one crisis after another, one problem after the next, without a single day of peace.
What was the point?!
’I never increased my strength to fight or kill anyone. It’s always been about self-preservation. If people don’t provoke me, I can’t be bothered to provoke them!’
’Days as peaceful as this... they really are wonderful!’
Fang Rui mused.
Perhaps in the distant future, he would become the Eternal Life Immortal Venerable, the Master of All Worlds. But what did that have to do with the man he was today?!
Each stage of life has its own scenery. Often, the final outcome holds no great surprises; it’s the process that is most worth cherishing.
It’s like dating—the most captivating part isn’t hitting a home run, but rather that hazy, ambiguous period...
...
RUSTLE!
Under the bright sun outside, dappled light flickered through the trees. The breeze drifting through the hall seemed to slow, calm and undisturbed.
In this small courtyard, the surging tides of the era and the great river of time had branched off into a tiny tributary, flowing like a mountain stream—TRICKLE, TRICKLE—gently on its way.
...
Telling stories to the two little girls, occasionally finding a chance to be intimate with Third Sister, eating, sleeping—life’s trivial matters...
Two days passed by in a flash.
During these two days, Fang Rui and Jiang Ping’an both kept an eye out for news about Fang Baicao, but none came.
Outside, the Taiping Bandits had begun to clean up Changshan City, investigating past wrongdoings. Many of the local thugs and hooligans who had recently been running rampant were rounded up, killed, and publicly executed.
The city’s prominent families, who were hardly clean themselves, were unerringly rounded up one by one through both overt and covert investigations, and their assets were confiscated.
Normally, this would not have been so easy.
However, one of the city’s two most powerful families—the Xia Family—acted as a turncoat. Having fully defected to the Taiping Bandits, their betrayal led to the swift downfall of the other prominent families.
There was no news about the Lin Family, but in such a climate, they were surely not faring well either.
If the past had been a tribulation for the common people, then the present was a tribulation for the great families!
This ’Tribulation’ targeted only the great families and the upper class—the ’masters’ of old. The common folk, in contrast, were largely unaffected.
If anything, the effect was that they got to watch the ’masters’ meet their downfall, an event they celebrated with glee. There was an endless supply of drama to gossip about day and night.
Truth be told, Fang Rui’s family was something of an ’anomaly’.
Secretly, they possessed strength far beyond that of an ordinary family, but on the surface, they had always been just one of the common folk.
Naturally, the Fang Family was not affected in the slightest and remained safe and sound.
After seizing the assets of these prominent families and acquiring their money and grain, the Taiping Bandits used a portion of it to benefit the populace, in addition to rewarding their own.
For example:
Abolishing various exorbitant taxes and levies;
Establishing multiple relief stations to serve gruel;
Distributing grain to ordinary households—though it was mostly coarse bran;
Beginning military recruitment, giving new soldiers a family settlement allowance, and then a monthly stipend;
...
Everything proceeded in full swing.
The city soon stabilized, and order was restored.
With order stabilized and the populace’s hearts at ease, all of Changshan City was like a tender sprout breaking through the soil after a harsh winter, gradually radiating new vitality.
...
「Noon that day.」
The Fang Family’s lunch consisted of a large bowl of stir-fried bean sprouts, a basin of boiled eggs, a basin of cornmeal buns, and cornmeal porridge.
The wholesome fragrance of grain rose with the steam, filling the small house.
"Mother, Third Sister, Ling’Er, Nannan... come on, have an egg, everyone."
As the head of the household, Fang Rui looked after them, serving food to each person.
The atmosphere was warm and pleasant.
...
After the meal, Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family and Third Sister washed the dishes; the two little girls, Fang Ling and Nannan, wiped the table and swept the floor.
Fang Rui sat in the wicker chair, rubbing his belly with a troubled expression.
The city had largely returned to a state of peace. Basic grains were manageable, but scarce goods like meat, eggs, and beans... were hard to find on the market.
The Black Market?
The Lin Family could barely fend for themselves, and the Black Market had remained closed ever since the recent turmoil.
’These days, my bowl has gone from large to extra-large, and now to a basin... but the nutrition I can extract from food still isn’t enough to keep up.’
’It’s fine for ten days or half a month, but in the long run...’
Any other Fifth Grade Martial Artist who abused their body like Fang Rui would feel the effects in just three to five days, let alone ten, and their combat power would plummet.
But he was a special case!
’The number of Tribulation Points required for each of my breakthroughs is actually based on my body’s condition... Not only must the breakthrough be completed, but a portion must also be stored in my body to compensate for my Innate Body Weakness...’
To use an analogy, Fang Rui’s body, with its Innate Body Weakness, was like a leaking water vat. His normal life would only be affected after it had lost forty percent of its water.
Each breakthrough in his Martial Arts would patch some of the vat’s leaks and add more water to it.
Because he broke through so quickly, the water was added much faster than it leaked. Each time, before even ten or twenty percent was lost, the vat was filled to the brim again.
As a result, his daily life was completely unaffected.
’Even better, because of my body’s deficit, my organs instinctively hoard the excess. After each breakthrough, my body’s ’water’ isn’t at one hundred percent, but at one hundred and twenty, or even one hundred and fifty percent—a state of super-overflow!’