Free Web NovelChapter 241: Chapter 197: Silent Affection (Part 2)
This was the first time Feng Ling had heard about Ling Xiao from someone else, and she couldn’t help but ask, "Lord Ling Xiao... Is he any different from the other nobles?"
"Any... different?"
Boss Wang drew out his words. He looked at Feng Ling, shook his head slightly, and sighed. "One look is all it takes to see you’re the child of some noble family who doesn’t care about the common folk. It’s not just a matter of being ’different.’ Lord Ling Xiao is, quite simply, the best noble lord this Empire has had since its founding!"
"Uncle Wang, I don’t know about that," Feng Ling said dismissively, her eyes darting around. "Even if he’s good, you can’t just call him the best, can you? That’s quite an exaggeration!"
"Heh, and you don’t believe me! Lass, let me tell you, Penzes City now is a world of difference from a year ago!" As he spoke, Uncle Wang watched several magnificently dressed Messengers gallop past on fine steeds. He waved a hand in front of his mouth to clear the dust, then continued, "Take our caravan, for instance. Before, just entering and leaving Penzes City cost money! What’s more, they charged a tax of ten silver coins for every single Turtle Shell Beast cart! They charged on the way in... and they charged on the way out! That’s twenty silver coins for one cart to go in and out! And we had no choice but to enter, otherwise we couldn’t haul our goods! Our caravan used to only take five carts in at a time. Why? Because the former Lord and City Lord was just that corrupt! So we’d try to pack the carts as full as possible. *Sigh*, a lot of the seafood would die from being cramped like that every time. But it’s different now. Lord Ling Xiao doesn’t charge any fees whatsoever! Even if you bring in a hundred carts, he won’t say a word! Just from this alone, lass, you see..."
Boss Wang gestured to the caravans in front of and behind them. "These folks might not say it out loud, but in their hearts, they’re all deeply grateful to the Lord!"
As Feng Ling listened, a sense of happiness welled up in her heart, but then she thought, ’Pah! That little thief imprisoned me for over half a year and forced me to take a poison that stripped me of all my strength. There’s no way I’m going to be happy for him!’
Just then, the caravan of Turtle Shell Beasts began to move forward again. Boss Wang was on a roll and continued, "And then there’s the way the Lord dealt with those nobles in Penzes City. His methods were so swift and decisive, we were all beyond impressed! Everyone was thrilled that those major noble families were finally taken down!"
"They were taken down, so what are you all so happy about? Are you gloating over their misfortune?" Feng Ling said, deliberately teasing the old man. freewebnσvel.cѳm
Just as she’d expected, Boss Wang got worked up. "What do you mean, gloating? For years, those major noble families smuggled all sorts of goods, sold slaves, and committed every evil deed imaginable! The seafood trade used to be entirely in their hands. We had to buy our stock from them, and the price was fifty percent higher than it is now! You tell me—with them taken down, don’t we have every reason to be happy?"
Feng Ling chuckled. "It sounds like he’s a good person, then."
"What do you mean, ’sounds like’?" Boss Wang shook his head with a wry smile. "Lass, ask any commoner in Penzes City. Whoever speaks of the new Lord gives him a thumbs-up in praise! I saw the Lord from a distance once. He’s a young, handsome man! Lass, if you saw him, I guarantee you’d be smitten!"
A blush rose on Feng Ling’s cheeks. She scoffed, "I would not!"
Just then, a wave of complaints came from up ahead. Boss Wang looked up and sighed as well. "We’ve reached the Southern King’s territory. *Sigh*. We get rid of one Lord who was a Royal Family Member, and now we have to deal with the Southern King. The Southern King never used to be like this. It’s like he’s become a completely different person. If this keeps up, it looks like we’ll have to find a new route in the future."
Feng Ling, however, knew all about the bad blood between Ling Xiao and the Southern King. She knew that the Southern King had been making frequent moves against Ling Xiao lately, so she asked, "Uncle Wang, what’s wrong?"
"*Sigh*..." Boss Wang heaved another sigh. "A little while ago, for whatever reason, the Southern King suddenly set up a checkpoint here to block caravans. Anyone passing through his territory has to pay a toll of ten silver coins per cart. It’s got everyone grumbling. Just when Penzes City finally stopped charging fees, he starts up..."
"He wouldn’t be doing this to drive you all toward Cameron Town, would he?" Feng Ling muttered to herself. "Cameron isn’t his territory, but it has a port too, right?"
"Oh! Now that you mention it, I hadn’t even thought of that!" Boss Wang slapped his forehead. Of course! You could take another road back to the Imperial Capital from Cameron, one that doesn’t pass through the Southern King’s domain! Cameron Town isn’t that far from Penzes; it’s one of the main routes to get there. Its prosperity used to be even greater than Penzes City’s!
But recently, after Ling Xiao took charge, he implemented various new policies that immediately caused Penzes City’s economy to surpass Cameron Town’s. Even many of the caravans that used to do business exclusively in Cameron Town have started coming over to Penzes City.
This was something the Southern King could not accept.
Boss Wang sighed. "It looks like we really might have to go to Cameron Town next time. It’s just... the seafood there isn’t as good as what you get in Penzes City. *Sigh*, it’s a tough trade-off." freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Just then, a tax collector came to their large cart. Boss Wang was paying for the entire caravan himself.
The tax collector was a soldier, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with slicked-back hair and a powdered face, dressed in garish finery. Feng Ling thought with a hint of malice, ’Isn’t he afraid of overheating? Dressed in so many layers? What a poser!’
"You have thirteen large carts in total. Let’s just round it up to one hundred and fifty silver coins. Right, that’s one gold coin and fifty silver coins!" The young man’s eyes swept over Feng Ling, and a look of stunned amazement crossed his face. He clearly hadn’t expected to find such a delicate beauty in a caravan full of coarse men. Though she was dressed like a village girl, this young man was a seasoned womanizer. He could tell with a single glance that her skin was incredibly fine and smooth. The mere sight of her, let alone the thought of a touch, was enough to make his blood race.
