novelapdf Chapter 37 Public sentiment is high, momentum is building!
Chapter 37 Public sentiment is high, momentum is building!
August 15th
The Liu family's floating cloud boat landed on Tianmu Mountain.
Hidden in the crowd, Chen Chunan shook his head slightly. This Liu family was truly unscrupulous, choosing to collect tributes only during the Moon Worship Festival.
Purely disgusting people have come.
This time, it wasn't Liu Ruyan who disembarked from the floating cloud boat, but an old man dressed in green robes, whose aura indicated he was at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining.
Chen Chunan recognized this person as someone who had been with Liu Ruyan back then.
"Chen Daoping, along with the Chen clan, respectfully welcomes the envoy."
The old man gave a soft "hmm," not even glancing at Chen Daoping. "I am Liu Yun, and this time I will represent the Liu clan to collect tribute! You should be ready, right?"
Chen Daoping didn't take it seriously and turned to order, "Mingchuan, bring everything over so our envoy can inspect it."
Soon, earthenware urns filled with spirit rice were carried up.
Chen Daoping said, "This is 20520 jin of spirit rice, which is more than the standard set last time."
Liu Yun scanned the area with his divine sense and nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, your Chen clan is quite sensible~"
Chen Daoping smiled apologetically and agreed.
Those clansmen who hadn't felt anything in previous years now found Liu Yun particularly repulsive.
Next came the spirit peaches and spirit fish; each payment made the hearts of the clansmen present bleed.
These are the fruits of their hard work throughout the year.
As a result, ninety percent of them ended up in Liu's pocket!
Many young people had their heads down, their eyes filled with anger.
But it's not over.
After examining the offerings, Liu Yunyan said directly, "I have gone to the trouble of examining your offerings, so I will charge you 200 spirit stones for the examination fee."
As soon as Liu Yun said this, even Chen Daoping's expression changed!
I've seen people demand bribes and kickbacks, but I've never seen anyone do it this brazenly.
In the past, the most money given to the tribute collectors of Liu Guisheng's lineage was a dozen or so spirit stones, but that was a bribe to get them to turn a blind eye to things!
This year, they've been so exploitative, yet they still dare to ask for so much. Even the elders looked at Liu Yun with hostility.
Chen Daoping, abandoning his previous caution, looked at Liu Yun expressionlessly: "The envoy should return!"
Upon seeing Chen Daoping's reaction, Liu Yun's expression immediately changed: "Clan Chief Chen, are you serious?"
Chen Daoping revealed a sinister smile: "I said, it's time for the envoy to go back! Are you deaf? Or has your brain stopped working and you can't understand human language?"
A flash of dark light appeared in Liu Yun's hand, and a heavy black fan materialized: "Does the Chen family intend to resist paying tribute?"
The hot-tempered Chen Heting retorted, "Fuck your mother my ass! You little bastard, how dare you ask for such an exorbitant amount? Are you trying to buy a coffin lid?"
Then, five streams of energy locked onto Liu Yun.
Chen Daoping reached out and summoned a mirror of reflection: "The whole story has been recorded. If this 200 spirit stones is the will of Patriarch Liu, please formally inform the twelve families of the Southwest, and we will present them to you. If not, Envoy Liu, please return!"
Seeing the clan leader's firm stance, the clansmen below could no longer bear it: "Get out of our Chen clan!"
"Fuck your mother, you old bastard, get out of the Chen family!"
".,.."
Liu Yun, who was being closely watched, was determined to crush those Chen ants who dared to insult him.
But looking at Chen Heting's unfriendly expression and the hint that he wanted to make a move.
His face flushed red, then turned purple, then purple, then green, before finally bursting into laughter in a fit of rage: "Fine, fine, I'll give the young lady a proper report when I get back!"
"Go ahead!"
Liu Yun angrily put the tribute into his storage ring, then steered his floating cloud boat back without looking back.
At this moment, Chen Chunan secretly transmitted his voice: "Clan leader, won't there be any problems with doing this? 200 spirit stones is a lot, but it's not a big deal to give them away. We should play it safe for now."
The clan chief glanced at Chen Chunan and said, "This old dog is just testing us. We fed him too much today. If the Liu family sends a few more dogs tomorrow, will we still be able to feed them? We can't afford it. Even if Liu Yun goes back and tells Liu Ruyan, Liu Ruyan won't stand up for him. She's not satisfied with how she handled the tribute issue from the twelve families in the southwest. You don't need to worry."
As expected, Liu did not make any move in the following days.
However, the Chen clan members were not happy about this "victory".
Because Chen Daoping announced the resource allocation from August of this year to August of next year.
There are only 2280 catties of spirit rice left. In order to ensure the cultivation of the immortal seedlings, the six immortal seedlings with three spiritual roots will receive 30 catties of spirit rice per month.
The remaining 120 jin were distributed to children under six years old whose spiritual roots had not been tested.
No one, including the clan leader, received any share.
Secondly, there are the spirit peaches. This year, 4380 spirit peaches were produced, compared to nearly 2,000 in previous years.
There are only 438 this year.
They can barely maintain the basic monthly allowance of 5 for a few people with true spiritual roots.
The remaining 78 spots were mainly allocated to clansmen under the age of 30 who were stuck at the 5th or 6th level of Qi Refining and had made significant contributions.
After the spirit peaches were distributed, the Chen clan members felt even more depressed.
Chen Yunjin, who had been diligently taking care of Lingtao Garden, couldn't help but cry.
She is at the sixth level of Qi Refining, and in previous years she would have received at least 20 spirit peaches, but this year she only received one.
She had originally thought that the Liu family would be exempt from tribute this year, and based on her contributions, she could get at least 60-70 spirit peaches. She might even be able to advance to the seventh level of Qi Refining, and her parents, brothers and sisters could also get a few.
I didn't expect there to be only one this year.
Such a huge difference made her feel that all her hard work in watering, catching insects, and pruning the plants this year had been a joke.
With Chen Yunjin leading the way, many clansmen who had indeed made significant contributions, but had still reaped no harvest this year, could no longer hold back.
A somber atmosphere hung over the Chen family.
Soon, a clansman couldn't help but ask, "Clan leader, how many years will it take for the Liu family to collect 90%?"
"Yes, clan leader, we can't keep collecting like this every year, can we? What's the point of collecting like this every year?"
"Yes, I've worked hard all year and gotten nothing. If it's the same next year, let whoever wants to cultivate this spirit field do so!"
Hearing the chaotic and resentful questions from below, Chen Daoping had a sudden thought: People's hearts can be won over!
But he didn't show it; instead, he looked grief-stricken: "I wasn't home when Liu Ruyan came last time. I was at a meeting at the invitation of the Liu family, Brother Daoxuan. You tell her."
Chen Daoxuan opened his mouth several times but could not utter a sound. At this moment, a clansman below said, "They didn't say how long it would be, they only said that from now on it would be 90%! I wasn't far away at the time, I heard it clearly!"
"I heard that too. It didn't say how many years it would last. It's not like it'll be indefinite, is it?"
These words immediately caused an uproar: "No way! If they keep taking from us, what's the point of having this clan's land? Spirit plant growers outside can earn dozens of spirit stones a year! We're not even as well off as them!"
"That's right, Elder, say something!"
The elder and the clan leader exchanged a glance, then said with a heavy heart, "At the time, it wasn't specified how many years the harvest would last. Liu Ruyan left very quickly. Later, I sent someone to inquire, and they said that the harvest would be 90%, but if she's in a better mood, she might reduce it by 10%."
Chen Chunan's expression turned somewhat strange upon hearing the elder's words.
The rest of the clansmen were in an uproar. They were all in a frenzy, with some saying they would fight the Liu family to the death and others saying they would find another way out.
Some were completely disoriented and could only sob and cry.
But it was impossible to do it; to the Liu family, the Chen family was just a slightly larger grasshopper.
The clan chief and several elders did not comment on this.
Chen Chunan knew that this meant letting the bullets fly for a while.