"Long time no see, brothers…!"
When Yan Liqiang jumped off from the horse carriage, the eyes of both soldiers who stood guard at the entrance of Huanglong County"s Weaponsmiths Quarter widened as though they couldn"t believe it was Yan Liqiang who was walking towards them.
However, after Yan Liqiang"s greeting, both of them finally responded.
"Ah! Young Master Yan, Young Master Yan is back...!" The two soldiers were suddenly excited and quickly jogged forward.
During Yan Liqiang"s stay at the Weaponsmiths Quarter a few months ago, his relations.h.i.+p with everyone was great and everyone loved him. When they found out later that he got first place among top three in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination of Qinghe County and could enroll in the Pingxi Prectural Martial Arts Academy, everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter was happy for him. Little did the two soldiers expect Yan Liqiang to actually return to the Weaponsmiths Quarter once again during such a bitterly cold time like this.
"Brothers, I bought some stuff and they"re on the carriage. Can I trouble both of you to help me unload them…?"
"Sure thing!" The two soldiers laughed heartily. They went behind the horse carriage with the coachman, opened the carriage door, and took out the things Yan Liqiang had put inside there.
There were four big jars of wine, each weighing about fifty jin. A thick rope made out of straws was tied around the wine jars, holding them securely together like a net. In an era without styrofoam or plastic, this was the way to package wine jars to be transported over a long journey. Although it looked old fas.h.i.+oned, it was very effective. The wine jars were still perfectly undamaged though they knocked against each other during the trip.
Yan Liqiang specially bought the four jars of wine from Pingxi City. He requested for people to deliver it on a s.h.i.+p to Huanglong County"s wharf and hired a carriage to transport them here.
"Ah, Jade Luo Spring…" One of the soldier"s nose twitched when they unloaded the four jars of wine from the carriage, instantly recognizing the faint aroma of the wine which had leaked out from the jars.
"I know everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter enjoys wine. So this time, the only souvenir I brought from Pingxi City is their local specialty, Jade Luo Spring, for brothers to try. We shall drink them tonight. Just in time to warm everyone up!" Yan Liqiang laughed.
"I didn"t expect Young Master Yan to still remember us…" The soldiers were extremely happy and were totally moved upon hearing how Yan Liqiang had taken the trouble to visit everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter with wine from Pingxi City.
"Of course I remember. How can I possibly forget?" Yan Liqiang said. He made his way over and was about to lift two jars of wine up.
"Young Master Yan, just leave them to us!"
"No need to be so courteous, brothers. Doesn"t matter who carries them!" Yan Liqiang single-handedly lifted a jar of wine and then walked toward the Weaponsmiths Quarter together with the other two soldiers. "Oh right, is Uncle Qian around?"
"Of course he is. Quarter Master Qian just returned not more than two hours ago. He"s not out yet…"
"Why? Uncle Qian didn"t go drink and fool around in the county town these few days?"
"Young Master Yan, we won"t dare to answer that question. You should ask Quarter Master Qian yourself when you see him…"
"Hahahaha…"
Not too far past the entrance of Weaponsmiths Quarter, he spotted another few soldiers with familiar faces. When those soldiers saw that Yan Liqiang had arrived, they seemed to be quite surprised. Yet as soon as they saw the things Yan Liqiang was holding, they knew that he had brought some souvenirs from Pingxi City for everyone and all of them instantly surged with excitement. They hurriedly took the wine jars from Yan Liqiang and excitedly led him inside.
"Young Master Yan has returned! Young Master Yan is back to visit everyone…!"
The few soldiers shouted while they walked. Many people in the Weaponsmiths Quarter came running out to greet Yan Liqiang when they heard them and made some good-natured jokes.
"Aha, our champion among the top three in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination of Qinghe County has returned…!"
"How many wives do you have now, Young Master Yan? Hahaha!!"
After fighting and scheming against others in Pingxi City for a few months and escaping danger by a hair"s breadth, Yan Liqiang truly felt as though he had reunited with his family when he saw the friendly and warm familiar faces back at the Weaponsmiths Quarter. A warm sensation mysteriously flowed in Yan Liqiang"s heart as he greeted everyone with a bright smile.
Upon arriving at the quarters and still not seeing Qian Su in the courtyard that he lived in, Yan Liqiang only found out he was over at the Weaponsmiths Quarter"s coalyard after asking around. He asked the others to put away the wine and told them there was no need to inform Qian Su. Then he personally made his way toward the coalyard.
The Weaponsmiths Quarter had a high coal consumption rate. Therefore, it had a designated place for coal storage. Not far from the blacksmith workshop, the Weaponsmiths Quarter had built a huge warehouse to store coal. That huge warehouse was known as the coalyard. The coalyard was located at the side of the Weaponsmiths Quarter where it was relatively remote so no one had heard the commotion yet.
When Yan Liqiang was outside the coalyard, he could already hear Qian Su"s thunderous voice before he even went in.
"w.a.n.g DEFA, WHAT THE F*CK DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?! How dare you bring coals like these in? Take a look at this five hundred thousand jin of coal, half of them are crushed like fine sand. One-third of the remaining ones are yellowish brown. How is the boiler room going to use them? I usually turn a blind eye to your slightly greasy hands. I can tell exactly just how much grease there is in every ten thousand jin of coal, but I"ve just been too lazy to point it out. Don"t you think I have spoiled you too much? Some nerve you have to be deceiving me with these coals! Are you undermining my capability as the Quarter Master, hm?!"
Just by listening to that voice alone, Yan Liqiang could already almost imagine the furious look on Qian Su"s face. Despite not putting on any airs in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, there was no one in the Weaponsmiths Quarter who wasn"t afraid of Qian Su.
"You have wronged me, Quarter Master!" A shrill, sobbing voice rang out. "I wouldn"t have the audacity to trick you in any way, even if I ate the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard! I"m sure you know that every place that uses coal gets anxious every year especially when winter is approaching. A few days ago, there was a landslide on Mount Xiaolong and the coal couldn"t be transported out. Due to this incident, everywhere else in the county cannot cope with the demand. Not only that but the price of coals is also skyrocketing. A month ago, the price of ten thousand jin of good coal was only eight tales, three maces, and five candareens of silver. But now, the price for the same amount of coal has risen to more than ten taels of silver. Even so, a sale is not guaranteed!"
"The few coal warehouses in the county received orders two days ago from the higher-ups to transport their remaining coal stocks to Pingxi City to deal with the emergency. The people in the Law Enforcement Office explained that Pingxi City mustn"t suffer a deficiency in coal because that is where the Prefectural Governor lives. If there isn"t enough for the citizens of the county, then everyone should just burn firewood, cow dung, or straw. So these are the remaining ones which I went through the trouble of s.n.a.t.c.hing from Boss Guo"s hands using the Weaponsmiths Quarter"s name. Not only that, the quoted price was the old price. The transaction was properly doc.u.mented at Boss Guo"s place, you may go and verify it. If you pay him a visit, I"m sure you will also be informed of the current selling price of coal in Huanglong County. If I, w.a.n.g Defa, didn"t have any morals and took even a single copper coin from these coals for myself, you may chop my hands off. I will never hold it against you…"
"So, are you saying that I have falsely accused you? Tell me then, how will the boiler room use these crushed coals that are as fine as sand?"
"We"d rather have the coals here than run on low on them. Otherwise, the furnace in the boiler room cannot even be ignited and you will be chopping my head off. If it"s really troublesome, you can pa.s.s the coal back to me, I"ll sell it to someone at its original price…"
"Hm, alright then. Let"s just leave it here first. I will see what to do with it later…"
Yan Liqiang stayed outside the coalyard for a while. He waited until both of them were done talking before he cleared his throat and walked in.
"Uncle Qian, Manager w.a.n.g…"
The two people standing in the coalyard instantly turned their heads around and seemed to be quite shocked, especially Qian Su. He almost didn"t expect to see Yan Liqiang here.
"Young Master Yan…" w.a.n.g Defa, who had just been torn off a strip by Qian Su, immediately forced a smile when he saw Yan Liqiang.
"Ah, Liqiang, why are you here?"
"It"s been a long time, Uncle Qian! I"ve come to visit!"