The taverns in town only opened for business at noon. Ren Xiaosu returned to town and waited. He watched as the refugees got up early to go to work and went to the factories in groups to earn their food for the day.
It was very difficult for refugees to save money. Not only did they not earn much every day, there were also meat soup shops, beer, tobacco, and casinos in town that were specially prepared for them by the consortium. Alcohol was not banned in the Central Plains. It was probably because the Central Plains was relatively rich in food.
Every day after work, the entertainment shops would advertise for business at the entrance. After a day's work, the workers would want to reward themselves, so they would spend the money they had just earned.
In this town, there would always be a shop that suited their tastes.
Zhang Jinglin had once said that this was a world carefully designed by the consortium, and he was not wrong at all.
Looking at the refugees coming and going, Ren Xiaosu even recalled the days when he and Yan Liuyuan lived in Stronghold 113. Although those times were more difficult than they were now, they were exceptionally beautiful in his memories.
So much so that he would deliberately forget some of the hardships of that time. He would forget that he did not have enough to eat, that he was ostracized, and that he used to sleep in fear.
Then, all that was left in his memories would be happiness.
Humans were optimistic.
Ren Xiaosu was an unfamiliar face in this town. However, there had been a lot of stronghold refugees fleeing from the Northwest recently, so no one paid attention to his arrival.
The stronghold residents were hiding in a corner and worrying about their future.
Suddenly, a young girl ran out of the tavern's back door with a notebook and pen in her hand. She was looking for these Northwest refugees to ask them about something.
Ren Xiaosu leaned over to listen. This young girl was asking these refugees from the Northwest about the war in the Northwest.
For example, how the war started, if there were any heroic deeds in the war, and if there were any particularly powerful figures in the war.
Of course, the young girl was not asking the refugees to tell her stories for free. She would get a steamed bun for each story, and it was an equivalent exchange.
Although a steamed bun sounded cheap, in the eyes of these refugees who had been starving for countless meals, this steamed bun was their life. Of course, they would tell her everything they knew.
A middle-aged man said, "The Soong Clan's frontline commander, Zong Ying, is still very powerful. He used his schemes to make Fortress 178 …"
However, the 17-year-old girl shook her head and said, "Didn't the Soong Clan lose? I don't want to hear about the Soong Clan. I only want to hear about Fortress 178."
This time, the middle-aged man's face was pale, and his heart was bleeding. He was originally a bureaucrat under the Soong Clan's wing. His family had to leave his hometown after he lost the war. This was bad enough, but now he had to talk about the enemy's heroic deeds …
'Is this girl here to deal the finishing blow …?'
The little girl looked at him and said seriously, "If you don't have a story, I'll go ask someone else. Grandpa is still waiting."
The middle-aged man hurriedly stopped him. "I'll talk, I'll talk. Besides, I have a high position, so I know more than them. I was there when Stronghold 146 was breached!"
The little girl was overjoyed. "Really? Then hurry up and tell me. If you tell me well, I'll give you an extra bun! "
When the middle-aged man heard that he would get an extra bun, he did not care about his previous status and immediately started telling the story. He was even afraid the other escapees would steal his job.
The story went on for more than two hours. Ren Xiaosu also leaned over to listen. However, as he listened, his expression became more and more odd.
At the beginning, the middle-aged man's story was quite standard. He talked about why Fortress 178 had started a war against the Soong Clan and why the Soong Clan had been provoking Fortress 178 over the years. This middle-aged man was quite eloquent, and his story was very entertaining. Even Ren Xiaosu did not know about some of the stories.
But when he talked about the war, from the attack on Mt. Guan and Mt. Dingyuan to the destruction of Shichuan Village, the Beiwan River being penetrated, and finally Stronghold 146 being destroyed, everything was related to Ren Xiaosu.
In any case, everything was inseparable from Ren Xiaosu. Then when he talked about how Stronghold 146 was breached, the middle-aged man started talking about how the mysterious young supernatural being had pulverized the entire Zong Consortium's combat brigade.
As the girl listened to the story, she took notes in her notebook. She wrote very quickly, and the more she listened, the brighter her eyes became. She asked curiously, "Is there really such a brave person in this world?"
"He's far more than just brave." The middle-aged man sighed and said, "I was at the manor of the Soong Clan's third branch at the time. I saw him wearing steel armor and dodging three RPG missiles with my own eyes. Right after that …"
At this point, the middle-aged man looked at Ren Xiaosu and said in surprise, "Have we met somewhere before?"
The Soong Clan had made a wanted portrait of Ren Xiaosu back then, and almost all of the Soong Clan's higher-ups had seen it. However, it was not this middle-aged man's responsibility to hunt down Ren Xiaosu, so he only glanced at it. When he saw Ren Xiaosu, he found him surprisingly familiar, but he could not remember where he had seen him before.
Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, "I also escaped from the Northwest. Who knows, we might have met somewhere before."
"That's true." The middle-aged man nodded.
The girl next to him urged, "You're not done yet. Hurry up and finish what happened next."
The middle-aged man was stunned. When he looked up again to look for traces of Ren Xiaosu, he realized Ren Xiaosu had already left.
Ren Xiaosu did not want to be recognized right now. It was better to keep a low profile now that he was in the Central Plains. After all, even though the Central Plains was prosperous, the undercurrents here were no less than those in the Southwest and Northwest.
At this moment, he understood that although the war in the Central Plains had not started yet, the intentions of several consortiums to vie for power in the Central Plains were already known to everyone. He did not want to get involved in these matters.
Furthermore, the Pyro Company was here as well.
The Central Plains was the Pyro Company's home ground. Here, the Pyro Company would not be as easy to deal with as before.
Ren Xiaosu suddenly realized these people who had escaped here seemed to be stronghold residents. Some of them even had quite a high status, so why weren't there any refugees who had escaped here?
No, that wasn't right. Ren Xiaosu realized he had gotten the wrong idea. Of course, only the stronghold residents would be fleeing here. It might even be those high-ranking stronghold bureaucrats who were affiliated with the Soong Clan.
The refugees in the Northwest welcomed Fortress 178. When Fortress 178 arrived, they would definitely lower their taxes and improve the living conditions of the refugees. So why would the refugees flee here? They couldn't wait for Fortress 178 to attack their stronghold.
Meanwhile, the normal stronghold residents did not have to worry about the war affecting them. Only the high-ranking officials and dignitaries would worry about being punished!
After all, during the Soong Clan's rule, these high-ranking officials and dignitaries had harmed many stronghold residents and refugees. Ren Xiaosu had been to so many strongholds, and the Soong Clan's bureaucrats were definitely not any better than the Li Consortium, the Kyung Clan, or the Yang Clan.
Thinking of this, Ren Xiaosu put away his sympathy for these people. Anyone who could come here with a guilty conscience was definitely not a good person.
With a creaking sound, the waiter inside the tavern pushed open the wooden door. Ren Xiaosu got up and walked in.
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