Chapter 38: I Want to Go to Your Grain Granary

They say that when enemies meet, their eyes turn red with hatred.

When the two of them met, however, their eyes didn't turn particularly red.

"Young Master," Su Yanwen called out, mimicking their mannerisms.

Then, he shook the bamboo pole in his hand slightly.

"I don't have time to spar with you today," he continued. "I still have to go sell my goods."

Upon hearing the word "spar," the expression on Zeng Tianba's face immediately soured.

His face turned a shade paler, and he hurriedly stood up.

It seemed he thought this would make him appear taller and more imposing.

"How much are you selling these things for?" Zeng Tianba asked.

Without missing a beat, Su Yanwen replied, "One silver tael for the lot."

"What?"

A furious roar rang out.

It wasn't Zeng Tianba who seemed overly surprised, but rather the attendant standing beside him, who let out an angry bellow.

"Do you even know how much one silver tael is?"

"I work like a beast of burden for the Zeng family, and I only get one tael a year."

"You expect to get a tael for this miserable little lot?"

Seeing their reaction, Su Yanwen said as a matter of course, "Of course."

"These are game meats, the kind you can't normally buy anywhere."

"Outside, this price would actually be considered cheap."

"After all, I have two fat hares and two large fish here."

The attendant immediately started arguing with Su Yanwen.

Su Yanwen didn't let him walk all over him either. Of course, resorting to physical blows was out of the question; the core issue was how much grain they could exchange for. The two of them argued until their faces were red and flushed.

"Enough!"

Zeng Tianba slammed his hand down on the table.

His expression was dark and gloomy. "Su the Elder, we haven't settled our previous score yet."

"The fact that you dared to step foot into my courtyard means you've already prepared yourself for the consequences."

Su Yanwen's face drained of color.

He stammered in a panic, "What consequences?"

"I'm not prepared at all. I... I think I still have matters at home, so I'll be leaving first."

It seemed he had finally grasped the concept of setting hounds loose upon a visitor, and even his speech became stuttering.

With a darting flick of his eyes, he turned to leave without another word.

"Thinking of leaving now? Too late!" Zeng Tianba declared.

Accompanied by a shout of command, the main gates swung shut.

The Zeng household still had five guards, each holding a wooden club, blocking the exit.

"You... you people!" Su Yanwen panicked completely, his eyes losing focus and his legs trembling slightly. "You're nothing but robbers!"

"And here I thought the Zeng family, being the village head, stood for fairness and justice. You're no different from bandits, desperate enough to rob someone of a single piece of meat."

Zeng Tianba certainly wanted to rob him.

Yet, hearing the stark truth spoken aloud made him feel intensely irritated.

He let out a cold snort.

"Shut your mouth!"

"Stop spouting nonsense."

Walking in a small circle, thinking himself clever, Zeng Tianba said, "I'll give you two catties of grain in exchange for your meat."

"Listen well, I am trading with you."

Su Yanwen immediately roared back, "What? My hares alone weigh five or six catties, not to mention this fish, which is easily ten or twelve catties!"

"Didn't you say before that one catty of meat trades for ten catties of grain?"

"In your dreams!" Zeng Tianba spat contemptuously.

The attendant chimed in as well, "Dream on! A ratio of one to ten is for when you folks trade grain for meat; when others trade meat for it, it's one to three."

*Thwack!* No sooner had the attendant finished speaking than a heavy slap knocked him straight to the ground.

He waized in pain, rolling his eyes toward Zeng Tianba's face, yet not daring to utter a grievance.

Fixing Su Yanwen with a menacing stare, Zeng Tianba bit out every word: "Either you get lost with three catties of grain, or I'll treat you to a serving of meat myself."

The five guards synchronized a step forward.

Their stance was fierce and formidable, their grip on the wooden clubs exceptionally strong. If those blows landed on a body, it would undoubtedly hurt.

"Ah!"

Su Yanwen let out a wretched wail, his eyes filled with absolute despair. "I shouldn't have come in here."

"As if having my goods stolen wasn't enough, now I'm going to get beaten."

"There's simply no law left in this world."

Zeng Tianba thoroughly relished the look of despair on Su Yanwen's face.

This was the expression those lowly peasants ought to wear.

Toying with the teacup in his hand, he continued, "So, what's your choice?"

"I choose neither."

Su Yanwen let out a long sigh, putting on a pitiful, pathetic expression as he slowly spoke, "I thought I could exchange these for a lot of silver this time and buy plenty of grain."

"To think there's only three catties."

"It seems I won't make it through this winter. I have only one wish left: as long as I can lay eyes on a mountain of stored grain, I will die with no regrets."

Without grain, one naturally couldn't survive the winter.

Especially with the snowy season already approaching.

There was no sympathy on Zeng Tianba's face, only the schadenfreude of a spectator watching a good show.

"As long as you let me stay inside the granary for half an hour, I won't even ask for your three catties of grain."

"I'll just make do with this bamboo pole and take away a single pole's worth of rice."

This left Zeng Tianba slightly bewildered.

Such a good deal existed?

"Young Master."

Having just taken a beating and knowing he had spoken out of turn, the attendant scrambled back up to curry favor.

He hurried to Zeng Tianba's ear and whispered, "You don't understand the mindset of poor people."

"For these paupers, let alone mountains of gold and silver, the ultimate luxury they can dream of is a mountain of grain."

"Besides, a single bamboo pole can hold at most half a catty of rice. We'll still be saving two and a half catties."

While speaking, the attendant kept a cautious watch on Zeng Tianba's reactions.

Seeing that the young master truly wasn't angry, he pressed on: "Young Master, this is a win. Think about it: you get the meat, and it only costs you half a catty of rice. Even if word gets out, people will still praise you."

"He made the request himself, and you graciously granted it. Who wouldn't say you have a kind heart?"

Once people acquire a little wealth, they become obsessed with saving face.

Zeng Tianba had long since lost any decent reputation in the village.

Upon hearing that this would make him look good, his face immediately bloomed with a smile.

He nodded repeatedly. "Looks like you brat have a bit of brains after all."

He then turned his gaze back to Su Yanwen, taking in his currently submissive, cowed posture. To think someone looking this pathetic had actually frightened him last time.

Just thinking about it felt humiliating.

"Kid, don't think I don't know what you're scheming."

Looking down his nose at Su Yanwen, Zeng Tianba pointed to his own eyes and declared, "My eyes saw right through your little plot long ago."

True to form, Su Yanwen panicked visibly.

Wiping away an invisible sweat, he stammered, "Y-you knew all along?"

"Duh."

Tossing his head back with haughty pride, Zeng Tianba said, "Don't think I'm unaware that you just want to go inside and stuff your face."

"Half an hour, half a catty of grain—that's all it'll take to stuff you full."

Su Yanwen whimpered pitifully, "T-then I won't go in anymore. I'll take the three catties of grain..."

"Do you think my mind changes like the weather? Since you asked to go in, don't even think about backing out."

With a roar, Zeng Tianba ordered the guards to haul him straight to the granary.

The more the fellow wanted to back out, the more it proved his own hunch was right; Zeng Tianba was all the more determined to see it through.

Su Yanwen was shoved directly into the granary and locked inside.

The granary doors slammed shut, and the attendant stood guard outside, starting the timer.

Standing inside the pitch-black granary, Su Yanwen's demeanor shifted entirely.

The Zeng family's granary had originally been designed and built by Big Brother himself.

A granary was never meant for living quarters, so the walls were constructed simply of packed mud.

Su Yanwen looked around; the grain was stacked squarely in the exact center.

Contained within burlap sacks, it filled the entire storehouse to the brim.

With this massive quantity of provisions, even if every person in the village ate their fill every single day, it would still be more than enough to last through the winter.

Su Yanwen had no desire to waste breath on sentiment.

Looking at the vast abundance of grain, his mind was occupied by a singular, pragmatic thought: how to get every last grain of it into his own hands.

In ancient times, half an hour was equivalent to a modern hour.

That meant sixty minutes.

Su Yanwen had sixty minutes to extract as much grain as humanly possible.

Scanning his surroundings, he began tapping softly against the wall near the exterior side.

*Tap, tap, tap.*

*Tap, tap.*

On the tenth tap, a faint response finally came from the other side.

Su Yanwen dared not waste another second.

He had a mere ten minutes to pierce a hole through the wall and locate the exact coordinates of the outside world.

Forty minutes would be dedicated to transferring grain.

The final stretch of time was left as a buffer in case they launched a sudden raid.

Pulling out his small knife, he frantically set to work digging.

Fortunately, the mud wall was far from sturdy than he had imagined; before long, a sliver of external light pierced through.

A breakthrough—that was all he needed.

Su Yanwen hurriedly pushed the narrow bamboo pole so that its tip protruded diagonally outside.

He ensured the pole remained tilted at a steady angle.

Scooping up a load of grain, he jammed it forcefully against the opening of the bamboo pole, using both hands to lift the grain high, ensuring it sat higher than the downward slope of the tube.

*Swish, swish, swish...*

That was the sound of grain cascading smoothly down the length of the bamboo pole.

It was the most magnificent music he had ever heard.

Hearing such a wondrous sound made even the throbbing ache in his hands entirely worthwhile.

On average, it took ten minutes to empty one sack of grain, and each sack weighed at least a hundred catties.

In forty minutes, he could easily channel at least four hundred catties of grain to the outside.

The mere thought made his heart race with excitement.

Forty minutes later, Su Yanwen felt as though his arms were about to snap off at the joints.

Before him lay four completely empty burlap sacks, tossed casually into a corner.

Given the mountain of grain piled inside the granary, unless someone conducted a meticulous inventory, the loss wouldn't even be noticed.

Besides, it was pitch black in here anyway.

Drenched in sweat and dragging his nearly useless arms, Su Yanwen hurried to feed one final batch of grain into the bamboo tube.

He plugged the upper end, desperately forcing the grain inside to overflow.

Hardly had he finished when the heavy doors swung open.

"Time's up! What are you standing there gawking for? Get the hell out!" the attendant barked, standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips.

"Coming,"

Su Yanwen whined weakly, holding up the bamboo pole with both hands as he shuffled out slowly.

"Hmph, what a pathetic wretch,"

Young Master Zeng sneered upon seeing him.

Not daring to slip up, Su Yanwen kept his head bowed and hurried forward as quickly as possible, as if terrified Zeng Tianba would go back on his word.

"Young Master..."

Seeing this, the attendant quickly jogged over to Zeng Tianba.

He whispered eagerly, "I noticed that brat had a handful of rice stuffed right inside his coat pocket."

"Looked like at least a tael's worth!"

Zeng Tianba waved a dismissive hand, letting out a scoff.

"With that pathetic amount of ambition."

"A fellow like that could never make waves."

"Why on earth was my old man ever wary of him?"

"Well, what the hell are you standing around for? Go get that game meat processed and prepared!"

The attendant nodded frantically, laying on the flattery thick: "You're truly brilliant, Young Master."

"When the village head finds out you traded a mere half catty of grain for two hares and two fish, there's no telling how much he'll praise you."

"Naturally."

Zeng Tianba was completely immersed in self-satisfaction.