Royal City.
This year's snow caught everyone in Royal City off guard. Even the Yi family did not foresee such a disaster. At most, they predicted that it would snow early and snow heavily.
These were all predicted. Even the approximate time of the snow was announced.
However, no one would've thought that the so-called heavy snow was actually such a situation.
Everyone was frowning all day. In the fields outside the city, a large number of crops had died. Recently, every field owner's mood was like a blizzard. The slaves were trembling in fear, afraid of being beaten to death or thrown out of the Royal City fields. Beating them to death was fine. But if they were thrown out, they would be tortured by the cold. How could they survive in the snow outside that was half the height of a person?
Inside the Golden Grain fields, it was also gloomy.
The field owner, Ji Ju, had thrown a few tantrums recently. The senior and junior stewards all shrunk their heads and did not dare to make a fuss.
Ji Ju's anger was not directed at his subordinates. Although he complained about the weather, the ones he scolded the most were the Yi family.
"A bunch of trash!!"
Pa, an exquisitely designed teapot with colorful patterns was thrown out and smashed to pieces. Two copper plates were also smashed to the ground with a clatter.
The junior stewards outside trembled. They did not dare to step in. They just stood there like ostriches.
Inside the house, the senior steward waited for Ji Ju to calm down before lowering his head to tidy up the things on the ground. There were no other servants here. Only the senior steward came in and out often. The junior stewards had to stay far away unless they were permitted.
The house was warm with a stove burning. Ji Ju sat cross-legged on a thick furry cushion. He was in a bad mood because another crop in the field had frozen to death.
Even though they were prepared for the cold, they still could not withstand this kind of weather. How many times had this happened since winter?
Seven times? Eight times?
In the past, even if other fields had crops frozen to death in winter, it rarely happened in the Golden Grain fields. Ji Ju saw this as a mistake. As long as he did the right thing, he could avoid it.
Ji Ju had always felt that he had done a perfect job. The Thousand Grain Gold incident was a little depressing because the Yanjiao people had planted it first, but it passed quickly. Now, the eighth mistake had occurred! How could he, who had always pursued perfection, remain calm?!
Although it was due to the weather, it was a fact that something had happened. It couldn't be denied.
"Trash!" Ji Ju scolded again.
The 'trash' he was referring to was still the Yi family. Usually, those people would raise their chins to the sky, but now? He couldn't even answer when asked when the weather would improve!
What a piece of trash!
Ji Ju wanted to ask the most powerful old man in the Yi family. Unfortunately, the old man had been in seclusion for years. Even if Ji Ju went personally, the old man would not come out and help with the divination.
"What's going on outside?!" Ji Ju drank some hot water to moisten his throat and asked.
The chief steward quickly glanced at the few figures shivering in the cold outside. He bowed and replied, "I heard that they are here to deliver a message."
"What message?" Ji Ju's tone was getting worse.
The chief steward bowed even lower, not daring to look at Ji Ju's face. "They say … someone wants your grains …"
Bam!
Ji Ju slammed the copper cup in his hand on the ground. "Tell them to scram!"
The chief steward paused and did not leave immediately. Instead, he said, "I heard that another tribe came to seek refuge in the Royal City. The king asked the other nobles to give some grains as a loan to the new tribe."
"They didn't come before. Now that there's a snow disaster, they all came quickly!" Ji Ju's tone was sarcastic, but he didn't take it to heart. "No. If the others want to give, let them. Our Golden Grain Fields won't give!"
The nobles of the Royal City did intend to take advantage of this snow disaster to take in a few more tribes. It was fine at first, but now, the snow showed no signs of stopping. More and more tribes came to seek refuge. Settling them down was difficult. There was a serious shortage of food. The higher-ups were troubled. Even the grains in the hands of the nobles were not enough. Knowing that the fields had a bountiful harvest today, they all came to Ji Ju, hoping that he would provide some support. After all, the more people who came to seek refuge, the bigger the kingdom would be. It would be far from the influence of the tribes.
Receiving Ji Ju's message, the chief steward did not speak. He only listened to Ji Ju. As for the others, it was none of his business.
A few junior stewards who had been given important tasks by the other nobles were called in by Ji Ju and scolded. Two of them were even stripped of their duties. No matter how much the junior steward cried and begged, Ji Ju ignored him.
Just as the two junior stewards were feeling gloomy, someone rushed in from outside. It was a guard from the fields, one who was in charge of guarding the Thousand Grain Gold.
Seeing someone rush in without notifying him, Ji Ju was about to explode in anger. But when he saw who it was, he suppressed his anger and asked nervously, "Did something happen over there?!"
"It's … No, no, it's not!" The person panted. His face was red, either from excitement or from the cold.
"Is it 'yes' or 'no'?!" Ji Ju was angry.
"Master, over there, it's ripened!" The two words jumped out of the guard's mouth.
As soon as he heard 'ripened', Ji Ju rushed out.
The junior steward who was still sobbing in the room thought quickly. If something good happened over there and the master was in a good mood, would he be able to plead for leniency?
Thinking of this, the two junior stewards did not care about their fur coats and rushed out as well.
Ji Ju's Thousand Grain Gold had ripened in the middle of the snowstorm, much earlier than he had expected.
In the snow, the golden husks were dazzling. Even the guards outside could smell an extremely fragrant smell. The smell was not strong, but it made people drool.
Ji Ju personally harvested the grains and carefully peeled off one of them.
After removing the golden husks, the grains inside were white.
Ji Ju's eyes narrowed. He remembered something he had asked Shao Xuan before.
[Shao Xuan, what color do you think the grains in my field will be in the end?]
[White.]
White. That was what Shao Xuan had answered back then.
"It's really white."
Ji Ju felt that the ripening of the Thousand Grain Gold was a hint to him.
Just one grain of white Thousand Grain Gold was enough to fill a person's stomach for at least a day. It was not an illusion either. They were truly full.
When the Royal City needed grains the most, the Thousand Grain Gold had ripened.
Ji Ju looked at the snow outside in silence. After a while, he said to the senior steward, "Call them over."
"They" referred to those small stewards just now.
Ji Ju decided to open the barn to sell the grains. He did not have a good impression of those who only came to seek shelter now. But he was willing to follow the hint of the Thousand Grain Gold. Even if he was wrong in the end, at least he had tried.
At that moment, a few special guests came to the Royal City's Yi family.
Because everyone was talking about the new tribe, they did not pay much attention to these people. They thought they were from the same tribe.
The people who came to the Yi family were the Fox chief and the flirtatious woman.
When they escaped from the salt flats, there were only a hundred of them left. They did not manage to escape back to the tribe. Because of the king beast's pursuit, they changed directions at the last minute. Otherwise, they would have been in a worse state. The rest of the Shen tribe became 'bait' to lure the king beast away. That was the only way they could escape.
After leaving the salt flats, the Fox chief led the rest of his people away. They did not return to the tribe. Instead, they left the forest. If they returned to the tribe like this, they would lose the salt mine, the fire crystals, and so many people. They would despise him and he would lose his position as chief.
That was why the Fox chief decided to find a solution before returning to the tribe.
The woman beside the Fox chief was half Yi family blood. However, her divination skills were not outstanding. She would not be treated well if she stayed with the Yi family. That was why she spent most of her time in the Fox tribe. However, the Fox tribe and the Yi family still interacted frequently.
The Fox chief knew roughly when the weather would change because of the Yi family's help.
This time, the Fox chief came to ask for help.
He wanted to work with the Yi family to deal with the Yanjiao tribe.
The Yi family might not agree to deal with the Mountain Wind and Taihe tribes. Even if they won, it would be a devastating victory. It would not be worth it. However, if they were going to deal with the Flaming Horns, they would have to reconsider.
Because the Yanjiao were outsiders. The Yi family and the other families in the Royal City were wary of them. The Fox chief heard this from the woman beside him. She had learned this when they came to the Royal City in winter. This was the perfect time to make things worse.
Although the Fox chief wanted to get rid of all three tribes, he had to do it one by one. First, he had to deal with the Yanjiao tribe. Along the way, the Fox chief had thought about many things. The more he thought, the more he hated the Yanjiao people. That was why they were in such dire straits.
That was why when he spoke to the Yi family, the Fox chief made many guesses.
"The Yanjiao people seem to know when the weather will change. They are even more accurate than you. They came at the right time and left just as the storm stopped …" It was just a guess and the Fox chief did not believe it himself. But in order to instill fear in the Yi family, he had to be sure.
"Also, I heard the king beast roar at them but I didn't see their bodies! Even if they were eaten by the king beast, it shouldn't have eaten them all. There wasn't even a trace of blood. They also brought a lot of salt and fire crystals … "The Fox chief added fuel to the fire.
When they heard that someone was more accurate than the Yi family, the faces of the Yi family members changed. When they heard that someone could leave alive after being eaten by the king beast, they became even more fearful. The fire crystals were not as attractive.
"Are you telling the truth?!" The person sitting at the head of the table asked in a low voice. He did not want to pursue the matter of the Fox hiding the salt. It was just salt. The Yi family did not care about it. But the other things were different.
"It's true!"
The Fox chief looked at the woman beside him. She hurriedly stood up and bowed. "It's true." When she lowered her head, a strange light flashed in her eyes. The Fox leader probably did not believe his own words, but she knew that it was the truth. The Yanjiao people seemed to have an even bigger secret.
The Yi family did not believe everything the two of them said. But when they questioned the other Fox tribesmen who came with the Fox chief, they believed most of it.
The Yi family asked questions skillfully. They did not believe that the tribesmen could lie to them. That was why even if the Fox chief's words were not entirely true, most of it was the truth.
A few of the Yi family's most powerful people gathered for a discussion.
"I told you, we have to be careful of the Yanjiao people."
"The Yanjiao people cannot be allowed to live!"
"I will go to the king tomorrow and discuss this with the other families," said the person sitting at the head of the table.
The Yanjiao people had to be dealt with. Perhaps, this change in the weather was a hint from the heavens?
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