Chapter 030 - Lawless

With a group of villagers in tow, Li Yuan brought Uncle Ma from Little Ink Village straight to the county.

He remembered that there was a blacksmith shop along this road, which sold not only farming tools but also ordinary knives and swords.

Last year, when he went hunting to sell his catch, he had vaguely seen a bow hanging inside the blacksmith shop, but he hadn't gone in... Firstly, his archery skills were mediocre; he couldn't even pull back a strong bow. Second, he was short on funds.

But times had changed. Li Yuan now had 100 large coins, which was a full 10 taels of silver!

Normally, he would have gone straight to the government office and then checked out the blacksmith shop after the matter was settled.

However, as Li Yuan reached the entrance of the blacksmith shop, he suddenly said, “Please wait for me for a moment.”

Then he asked, “Who can help me hold the rope?”

No one responded.

Li Yuan was about to offer more money when suddenly a voice said, “I'll watch it for you.”

Li Yuan looked over. It was a tall, thin young man called Tian Bao, a kid from Uncle Youcai's family in the village. He was usually very quiet and didn't interact much. This time, he wasn't drafted because he still had an older brother.

Each family had one person drafted; his brother went, so naturally he didn't.

As for Uncle Youcai, he had a broken leg and was bedridden, so he wasn't included in the draft.

Perhaps due to various stresses, this reserved youth was beginning to come out of his shell.

“Alright.” Li Yuan handed the rope to Tian Bao, then walked into the blacksmith shop.

For him, sending Uncle Ma to the officials was just a secondary matter.

His real priority was buying a bow.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Inside the blacksmith shop, after some haggling, Li Yuan spent 20 large coins to buy a decent iron bow.

Because of the famine, grain prices had almost quintupled, but weapon prices hadn't risen much.

A year ago, buying an iron bow cost about 16 large coins.

After purchasing the bow, he naturally needed to buy arrows; he bought a small tube of arrows, about ten in a set, totaling another 20 large coins.

The blacksmith threw in a decent quiver for free.

In the blink of an eye, his 100 large coins had decreased to 60.

Li Yuan held the bow, glanced over his combat power indicator. It had increased quite a bit! Originally, with his old bow, his overall strength was 24~25, but now it had increased to 39~40.

In an instant, Li Yuan felt a surge of confidence. He shouldered the bow, and his entire demeanor seemed to shift subtly. However, he quickly adjusted his stance, ensuring he didn’t appear overly showy as he walked out of the blacksmith shop.

But he knew that from this moment on, he could freely display his strength, even if it was below 10 in overall combat power.

And this strength was nothing short of the pinnacle among low ranked martial artists.

Once Li Yuan stepped outside, everyone stared at him in stunned silence, utterly speechless.

Tian Bao spoke up, a hint of admiration in his voice. “You can actually draw this bow...?”

Without a second thought, Li Yuan flipped his left hand, swiftly taking down the large bow. With his right hand, he grabbed an arrow, nocked it, and drew back the string in one smooth motion...

In an instant, a dangerous aura radiated from his entire body.

The villagers accompanying them could only gape in amazement.

Just a few days ago, Li Yuan was barely holding on, and today he was so formidable?

Some of the onlookers had been harboring ill intentions, but seeing this, their thoughts scattered away.

Even Uncle Ma looked on with a sympathetic expression. He was also utterly bewildered.

Damn it, if I had known you’d recover so quickly and become so strong, I would've never tried to break into your house in the middle of the night!

After drawing the bow, Li Yuan calmly put it away. The act of lowering the bow without shooting actually required considerable strength.

“Li Yuan, I was wrong...” Uncle Ma no longer acted tough; he was ready to apologize. “We’re all neighbors here, and I’m getting old. Maybe we should just forget about it?”

Li Yuan glanced at him and said, “When you brandished the knife yesterday and tried to drug me, why didn’t you think it through then?”

“Spare me, please... Li Yuan...” Uncle Ma continued to plead.

Li Yuan's voice turned cold. “Yesterday, you drew a knife. If I'd still been recovering and crippled, what would have happened? If it hadn’t been me, but my wife, what would you have done?”

Uncle Ma fell silent.

Li Yuan took the rope from Tian Bao’s hands and led Uncle Ma towards the county office.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Li Yuan walked down the streets of the township, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

This county town was much livelier than Little Ink Village.

Along both sides of the street, vendors were setting up their stalls, selling all sorts of goods. There were stands offering fruit and tea drinks, others selling fabrics and making clothes on the spot, some with steamed buns, meat, and soup, others with alcohol, women’s hair accessories, children's toys, and candy sculptures and candied haws on sticks...

In short, the assortment of goods was scattered, but the variety was far beyond what Little Ink Village could offer.

As for public security, just by observing the people walking down the streets, one could get a good idea of the situation...

On these streets, people could at least openly and legitimately trade their goods.

Unexpectedly, despite the county soldiers' significant defeat, the county magistrate being gone, and the county guard also missing, the town's public security remained surprisingly good.

Beyond being baffled, Li Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of longing deep within.

If he could live here, not to mention anything else, at least he could occasionally take Yan Yu for a stroll...or buy her new clothes.

At night, he could still go out for a walk, enjoying a bit of romance—a moment of luxurious relaxation amidst the tensions of chaotic times—unlike in Little Ink Village, where once night fell, all he could do was wrestle in bed.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Soon, the group arrived at the county office.

The place was closed; there was nowhere to submit the complaint papers.

Li Yuan handed the rope to Tian Bao and stepped forward to beat the drum.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

After drumming for a while, the county office remained closed.

Li Yuan waited a bit longer, but there was still no movement.

He grabbed the drum malle again, swung his arms, and started drumming more vigorously.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The sound echoed far and wide.

After a long time, the county office slowly opened, and a young man dressed in a county bailiff's uniform stepped out.

Li Yuan glanced at the bailiff, who was armed with a saber, and assessed his overall combat power as about 7~8.

He took the complaint paper written by Yan Yu and respectfully handed it over, saying, “Sir, yesterday Ma Liu from Little Ink Village came into my house with a knife, intending to steal and assault me and my wife. I have captured him. The villagers can testify.”

The bailiff glanced at the muddy-legged villagers before him, did not accept the complaint paper, but looked directly at Uncle Ma and asked, “Did you break into his house with a knife? Did you intend to steal and assault him and his wife?”

Uncle Ma hurriedly replied, “It's a misunderstanding... I didn't...”

The bailiff turned to Li Yuan and said, “Alright, go back.”

Li Yuan was taken aback and said, “We have both the person and the evidence. Why not investigate? Moreover, deciding whether to investigate should be up to the superior, right?”

The bailiff frowned and responded, “Are you questioning me?”

Next to them, Uncle Ma's eyes were rolling, and he suddenly exclaimed, “Bailiff, bailiff, I have something to report!”

The bailiff, growing impatient, asked, “What is it?”

Uncle Ma fixed his eyes on Li Yuan and declared, “It's him! Exactly him! He's the strongest person in our village, yet he evaded military service! More than a month ago, the authorities came to our Little Ink Village to draft soldiers, and he escaped into the mountains!”

The villagers fell completely silent, but Tian Bao angrily retorted, “You're full of nonsense. When Li Yuan came back looking so injured, who didn't see it? Was that him hiding?”

Uncle Ma snorted coldly, “Isn't he fine now? Then he must have been hiding!"

Tian Bao replied, “No, Mrs. Yan was willing to spend money to buy good medicine for him!”

Uncle Ma ignored him and looked toward the bailiff, saying, “Bailiff, deserting military service is a serious crime. If you report this, wouldn't that be a great achievement...?”

The bailiff gave him a strange look, then glanced at Li Yuan and asked, “Did you flee to the mountains to avoid military service?”

Li Yuan shook his head, “No, absolutely not.”

The bailiff waved his hand, “Alright, everyone go back.”

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Before leaving, he looked again at the iron bow strapped to Li Yuan's back and asked, “Can you pull it?”

Li Yuan nodded.

The bailiff glanced at him and said, “Let's see.”

Li Yuan flipped his hand, took down the large bow, nocked an arrow, and drew the string. He stopped when he felt he had pulled it to about a 10 in combat power.

The bailiff nodded, praising, “Good man! Put it away!”

Li Yuan put away the bow.

The bailiff stepped forward and whispered, “You seem like a real guy, so I'll tell you the truth and consider us friends. The county's main power figures are dead now, and Gemhill County is now basically controlled by two families and one sect. They maintain the public security. If that old man bothers you and you can't stand it, just handle it quietly. No one is overseeing anymore.”

After saying this, the bailiff patted Li Yuan on the shoulder.

Li Yuan smoothly handed over ten large coins and asked, “What's your name?”

“I'm Cai Ze. And you?”

“I'm Li Yuan.”

The two clasped fists, then the bailiff closed the door again.

Behind the door, Uncle Ma was dumbfounded, so scared that he lost control of his bowels and collapsed to the ground.