"How much for this kitchen knife?"
Chu Mu weighed a kitchen knife in his hand and looked at the stall vendor before him.
The vendor immediately put on a broad smile. "Lord Official, you have a good eye! This one is..."
"Cut the crap. How much!"
Chu Mu glanced at the fawningly smiling vendor, his voice growing a bit heavier.
"Lord Official, what are you saying? If you want it, just take it. Why would I ask for money? Just consider it a little gift from me to you, Lord Official..."
Though he said that, the pained look on the vendor's face was quite clear.
"Name a price. Don't worry, I'm not going to take your knife for free."
Chu Mu replied without looking up, still examining the kitchen knife in his hand.
"Four... no, Lord Official, two silver will be fine."
"Two silver?"
Chu Mu's brow twitched. "So you mean you sell it to others for four silver?"
"Lord Official, it's really not that I'm overcharging. The price of iron on the market has already risen to thirty copper a catty. There's waste when forging a knife, and I have to hire help. I'm barely making a profit. It's all hard-earned money!"
'Iron is that expensive now?'
Chu Mu's gaze flickered. He glanced at the thick smoke still billowing from the mountainside and asked, seemingly nonchalant, "If iron on the market is so expensive, are there no other sources?"
Hearing Chu Mu's words, the vendor's expression changed. He quickly glanced around, then moved a little closer to Chu Mu and said in a low voice, "Lord Official, if you can get your hands on some, I'll give you this price!"
Chu Mu glanced down. The vendor's hand gesture was very clear: a one and a five.
"Taking half? You're a bit greedy!"
Chu Mu stepped back and casually tossed the kitchen knife onto the vendor's table.
"Lord Official, it's not like you don't know. All the iron in the county is controlled by a few masters here. There's only a tiny bit on the market. Even if we get some, we don't dare process it in our own county. We have to ship it to the neighboring one!"
"Between the round trip, feeding the men and horses, and greasing palms high and low, there's really not much profit in it."
Chu Mu remained silent, just watching the babbling vendor with a cold gaze.
"How about this, Lord Official? If you have a large quantity, I'll give you twenty. If it's a small amount, I can give you sixteen..."
"Alright. If I hear anything, I'll come find you."
Chu Mu patted his Armor, and without waiting for the vendor's reply, he turned and strode away. He left the vendor standing there, stunned and seemingly unable to process what had just happened.
'So my understanding was too narrow after all...'
Chu Mu pursed his lips. His conversation with the vendor had already formed a clear picture in his mind.
Without a doubt, no one was willing to do business at a loss. And no one, knowing they were losing money, would stubbornly press on time and again. If they did, there had to be a reason.
And here in Qinghe County, the high-and-mighty masters were clearly not losing money.
Even if the Commandery City took the lion's share, the rest was more than enough for those masters to gorge themselves. Besides, the Commandery City taking the largest cut also had the effect of making a rare commodity even more precious.
And all it cost the county's masters was a written order.
Those at the top ate the meat, so naturally, those at the bottom drank the soup.
What the vendor had just said undoubtedly proved this point.
The mines, the Iron Refinery—all were guarded by Inspectors. Clearly, some bold individuals had long been using their authority to get a sip of the soup!
And he could be certain that this "soup-drinking" was definitely not an isolated incident. Otherwise, the vendor would never have spoken of it so easily.
After some thought, Chu Mu began to understand.
A great web of interests had long since formed around the Nanshan Iron Ore, entangling everyone in Qinghe County from top to bottom.
The meat-eaters ate their meat, the soup-drinkers drank their soup. Everyone, high and low, was in cahoots, and the system was deeply entrenched.
It was obvious that unless there was a major upheaval from the bottom up, this web was virtually unshakable.
If he wanted to slowly climb the ranks in Qinghe County, he couldn't possibly avoid this web.
Lost in his thoughts, it wasn't long before his own courtyard came into view.
Just as Chu Mu had expected, Xu Yuan was already waiting at the courtyard gate.
"Brother Mu, where'd you go? What took you so long?"
"Just went for a walk around the streets."
Chu Mu gave a casual reply, took out his key, and unlocked the courtyard gate.
"I bought a fish. Brother Mu, can you make braised fish for dinner tonight?"
"Sure. Put it in the kitchen, then go wash some rice and start cooking it. I'll be over in a bit."
Chu Mu waved his hand and went straight into his bedroom. He put down the book he was carrying, took off his Armor and Sword, and only then went into the kitchen to get busy.
Before long, three dishes and a soup were on the table. As usual, that kid Xu Yuan was wolfing down his food as if he hadn't eaten in eight lifetimes.
This time, however, after the meal, the kid didn't linger like he usually did. He put down his bowl, wiped his mouth, threw out a sentence, and rushed off.
"Brother Mu, the Squad Leader told me to go to his place and help with some work after dinner. I'm heading over now."
"Alright, take it easy."
Before Chu Mu could finish speaking, Xu Yuan had already bolted out the gate and disappeared.
'That kid...'
Chu Mu shook his head and put down his bowl and chopsticks. He leaned back in his chair for a long while before finally rising slowly. After tidying up the post-dinner dishes, he stepped out of the kitchen to find that the sky had completely darkened.
Chu Mu's time for leisure had obviously not yet arrived. He picked up the satchel containing his ink, brush, paper, and inkstone, and headed out again into the night.
Chu Mu knew the route to the private school by heart. He didn't dally on the way, heading straight for the school after leaving his house.
For his nightly studies after dinner, Elder Mr. Chang of the private school naturally didn't have the stamina to tutor Chu Mu alone. After the first two days with Elder Mr. Chang as his teacher, Chu Mu had been taught reading and writing by one of the elder's disciples.
Though only a disciple, he was a scholar who had studied the classics since childhood with aspirations for official recognition. He was more than qualified to teach Chu Mu how to read and write.
After more than two hours of focused study that night, Chu Mu had learned about thirty new characters.
With the addition of these new characters, the primer that Chu Mu had stumbled through countless times was now clearly much smoother to read.
When Chu Mu walked out of the private school, it was already nearly time for the curfew.
The alley was pitch-black. Lanterns hanging from the neighboring houses swayed in the wind, and while they added a bit of light, they also created an inexplicable sense of horror.
"Hurry up, move it!"
A faint voice drifting from the darkness immediately made Chu Mu slow his steps unconsciously.
The alley was narrow, a maze of passages. Though it was difficult to get one's bearings in the darkness, Chu Mu was, after all, used to walking at night. He quickly pinpointed the direction the voice was coming from.
Chu Mu leaned against the corner of the alley wall, turning sideways to watch the cart parked at the gate of a courtyard down the alley, and the figures hoisting wooden crates and burlap sacks.
In the darkness, the sound of iron chunks clanking inside the burlap sacks was very clear.
Add to that the distinctive Inspector Armor they were all wearing...
It was undoubtedly very clear what was happening before his eyes...
...