Chapter 76

Jiang Xingchen finished cooking and returned to the room, where the old man was tightly gripping his hair, deep in thought.

On the other side, Meier was at ease, smiling and looking very relaxed.

"Advance the pawn!" The old man hesitated for a long time before weakly saying.

"Are you sure, old man?" Meier asked without moving.

"Y-Yes, I'm sure!" The old man's tone was extremely uncertain.

"Are you really sure?" Meier asked again, her eyes curved into crescents.

"Of course I'm sure!" The old man, angry and puffing, made Xuan'er laugh.

"You can't take it back now, brother said a gentleman never takes back his move, and you've already taken back dozens of moves!"

"Dozens of moves!" Jiang Xingchen's lips twitched, and his hand holding the plate trembled: "This old man..."

"What gentleman, do you think I would go back on my word?" The old man, blushing and flustered, shouted.

"Alright! Check!" Meier said with a smile, making a move.

"Uh!" The old man was stunned: "Where did her horse jump from..."

At this moment, Jiang Xingchen said: "Stop, let's eat first!"

The old man, as if he had found a savior, reached out and swept the chessboard, shouting: "I'm hungry, this game doesn't count, we'll play after eating!"

Meier, Xuan'er, and Jiang Xingchen were speechless, amazed at how much he could cheat.

Shaking their heads, Meier and Xuan'er ignored the old man and came to help Jiang Xingchen set the table and serve the food.

During the meal, the old man was still sulking, his eyes often vacant, and he would mutter to himself while chewing on a bun: "Where did that horse jump from..."

"Ah!" Jiang Xingchen sighed, thinking to himself: "I shouldn't have set up the chessboard, the old man is so obsessed, and he's so bad at it, he's even like this during meals, how can he go out to find pheasant eggs!"

After the meal, the old man wanted to continue, but Meier refused to play with him, as playing with a bad player was no fun.

The old man's hands itched, but he could only watch as Jiang Xingchen sat back down.

When they started again, Jiang Xingchen found that Meier's chess skills had improved significantly, and it was no longer easy to win as before.

"This girl, she learns so fast, not just in Gomoku, but even in chess!" Meier's intelligence amazed him.

The old man, however, showed the typical trait of a bad player: giving advice!

"Advance the pawn! Kid, advance the pawn, cross the river... sink the chariot, hurry up, it's a check... jump the horse, you should jump the horse!"

"Old man, don't give advice!" Xuan'er said softly from the side.

"Ah!" The old man, feeling the blow, finally turned red and fell silent...

Over the next two days, heavy snow fell, and the temperature dropped again. Jiang Xingchen estimated it was at least minus thirty degrees, the coldest time of the year.

In such weather, no one went out, and the whole village stayed at home, huddled around the warm kang.

The old man didn't go anywhere either. He had Jiang Xingchen make another chess set and spent the whole day running to the Sky-Shaking Mercenary Group. "If Meier can't beat me, I'll find a new player!"

As a result, on the second evening, Han Xiaowu found Jiang Xingchen, almost in tears.

"Your Excellency, please do something about the old man, he keeps dragging us to play chess... It's not that it's a problem, but his chess is so bad... We can't win, and when we do, he cheats, either taking back moves or flipping the board... Sometimes when our team members play, he gives advice, and he's more anxious than we are, it's impossible to play... This life is unbearable..."

Jiang Xingchen's lips twitched, realizing how much resentment the old man had caused, forcing Han Xiaowu to say such things.

However, before he could go to the old man, Du Roshan, who had been out for three days, returned.

"Your Excellency! We've searched the three surrounding towns, but we couldn't buy any grain..." Du Roshan reported, his expression unusually serious.

"No grain!" Jiang Xingchen was stunned, his expression darkening.

"We found out that the snow is too heavy, and it has been overcast for a month! This is a once-in-a-century disaster, which will definitely affect next year's spring planting... meaning next year's grain will definitely be reduced..."

Jiang Xingchen narrowed his eyes and said, "Is someone hoarding grain?"

"Yes!" Du Roshan nodded, "Two days ago, the news of the once-in-a-century disaster spread from Hongyuan City, and people started to buy grain, causing the price to skyrocket. Now, grain merchants are rationing supplies and only selling to residents of their own territories, even at high prices... even salt, oil, and meat prices have risen, and charcoal has tripled!"

"Human intervention!" Jiang Xingchen immediately thought of this possibility. Unstable grain prices would cause panic, and the Duke of Northern Defense would certainly try to control them, so it was clear that someone was doing this intentionally.

After a moment of thought, Jiang Xingchen exhaled and asked, "Did you buy charcoal? What about other necessities?"

"We bought a lot of charcoal, and the rest as well... but the cost was quite high!" Du Roshan said.

"No problem! Money is not an issue, as long as we get what we need. You've worked hard, go rest now!"

"Yes!" Du Roshan nodded and bowed out.

Jiang Xingchen sat alone in the room, deep in thought. After a while, he wrote a letter and called for Meier.

"Brother! Are we using the message birds again?" Meier was hesitant; the temperature was too low, and the birds were not suitable for long flights. However, seeing her brother's expression, she knew it was urgent and quickly brought the birdcage.

As the pink message bird flew into the sky through the wind and snow, in Hongyuan City, the Duke of Northern Defense was also troubled by the grain issue.

Encountering a once-in-a-century severe winter, he had long been worried about such an event. Some people had indeed mentioned it before, so he had been trying to stabilize grain prices and avoid panic.

However, the news spread too quickly, almost instantly reaching every street and alley and spreading to all the towns in the territory, leaving no time to react.

He then discovered that just before the news broke, many external forces suddenly appeared, buying up grain, followed by the major families in the territory, causing this grain crisis.

Although he had already joined forces with several major nobles to bring out their stored grain and sell it at a fair price to the common people, it was still not enough to meet the demand, and panic had already set in, with countless people queuing up every day to buy grain.

"Someone must be behind this, I hope you don't get caught!" the Duke of Northern Defense thought angrily. The sudden attack by external forces, buying up most of the grain on the market, had left the territory severely short of grain, and the stored grain was not enough! If the nobles and the rich were forced to hand over their hoarded grain, it might cause another panic.

"Where can we get more grain!" The Duke of Northern Defense walked back and forth in the room, hands behind his back.

At this moment, a subordinate reported from outside the door: "Your Excellency, the young master of the Wang family from Linshui City in Qi Yue's territory requests an audience!"

"The young master of the Wang family, one of those who kept pestering me to buy the secret recipe... I remember he even had Duke Qi Yue write a letter to me, what does he want, could it be..."

A thought flashed through his mind, and the Duke of Northern Defense instructed his subordinate to let the young master of the Wang family in.

"Your Excellency! I apologize for the intrusion, but..." The young master of the Wang family smiled, showing no sign of his previous frustration.

"Cut the nonsense, speak directly!" The Duke of Northern Defense waved his hand, cutting him off harshly. "What do you want, a junior, don't act so cocky with me."

The young master of the Wang family paused, his lips twitched, and he smiled again: "I noticed that the major restaurants in Hongyuan City are not doing well, probably due to the lack of grain, so I came to discuss a business deal with Your Excellency..."

"How much grain do you have?" the Duke of Northern Defense asked.

"Hehe!" The young master of the Wang family's eyes gleamed with satisfaction, "Enough to ensure the operation of two major restaurants and a bun shop. Without grain, the reputation of this city of delicious food might... My conditions are simple..."

"Discuss this with Mo Hongxian!" The Duke of Northern Defense waved his hand again, cutting him off, and said coldly, "Dismissed!"

Don't joke with me, if you only have enough grain for the restaurants and the bun shop, what are you talking about with me. What I need most now is to stabilize the panic among the common people.

"Uh!" The young master of the Wang family was stunned, his face turning red. He thought that with his grain, he would have the upper hand, but he didn't expect the Duke of Northern Defense to ignore him.

"Your Excellency! Can Mo Hongxian make the decision?" The young master of the Wang family had to ask again, as the last time the secret recipe was sold, it was the Duke of Northern Defense who made the decision.

"Yes!" The Duke of Northern Defense only said one word, unwilling to say more, and turned away. He was already troubled enough and didn't have the patience to deal with this.

"Fine! I'll go find Mo Hongxian!" The young master of the Wang family said angrily, turning to leave. "It's you who are short of grain, yet you act so arrogantly."

The Duke of Northern Defense turned around, looked at the young master of the Wang family's back, and coldly snorted. He knew that the young master was one of those who had bought up the grain, but there was nothing he could do. The grain they bought, he couldn't just forcibly take back, and the nobles in his territory had also bought and hoarded grain.

"I'll settle accounts with you later!" The Duke of Northern Defense thought to himself, his gaze returning to his thoughts.

This heavy snowfall affected half of the empire, and the surrounding territories were also short of grain! Moreover, the snow blocked the roads, making it difficult to transport large amounts of grain. Even if other territories had grain, it would be too late by the time it arrived.

As the Duke of Northern Defense thought, the situation indeed developed as he had predicted. In the surrounding territories, the areas most affected by the snow disaster all burst with the same news, and the cheap grain on the market was quickly bought out.

The once-in-a-century severe winter and the expected reduction in next year's grain production were news that spread everywhere, and the excitement caused by Jiang Xingchen and the old man curing the disease was quickly overshadowed.

[bookid=3149033, bookname=《The Great Family》]

Twenty years ago, the Lin family was plotted against and declined!

Twenty years later, Lin He, who came from the mountains, possessed extraordinary skills!

Thinking he was like a floating weed with no background, he never imagined he was a descendant of the fallen Lin family!

To revive the glory of his family, Lin He, without hesitation, threw himself into the turbulent world to fight for survival!

A friend's new book, with deep literary skills, is very enjoyable, and I recommend it to all book friends!

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