Chapter 46: Who Provides Disaster Relief by Serving Pork Stew with Vermicelli?
The morning sun rose.
Wang Xiu opened his eyes, emerging from his meditative state.
Clang~
Clang~
Clang~
The Nether-Blood Immortal-Slaying Sword placed at his bedside was trembling continuously, conveying a 'thirsty' emotion to Wang Xiu.
Wang Xiu: ???
What's gotten into this little sword so early in the morning?
Wait~
Why does the air carry such a thick smell of blood?
Wang Xiu's pupils contracted slightly.
Cultivators in meditative states become oblivious to their surroundings; unless something threatens their safety, their perception of the environment decreases slightly.
Now.
As he emerged from his meditative state, he immediately smelled the thick scent of blood.
"Could the vengeful ghost have lost control and started a massacre?"
This thought arose in Wang Xiu's mind, but he quickly dismissed it himself.
"It's not human blood."
Wang Xiu muttered to himself. As a Daoist disciple who frequently went down the mountain for missions, he was quite sensitive to the smell of human blood.
At this moment.
The thick blood scent permeating the air wasn't human blood—it should be the blood of some livestock.
"You greedy little thing~!"
Wang Xiu picked up the Nether-Blood Immortal-Slaying Sword from his bedside and scolded jokingly: "You're a dignified spiritual artifact—how can you have such low standards, craving even ordinary livestock blood..."
Wait a moment!
Who says spiritual artifacts can't drink ordinary livestock blood?
It was like a thunderclap in Wang Xiu's mind—a sudden epiphany, as if a new world had opened before him.
That's right!
The Nether-Blood Immortal-Slaying Sword can grow stronger by consuming essence blood, but who says it can only consume essence blood from humans and demon-kind?
The blood of pigs, cattle, sheep—although containing thinner spiritual energy and essence, is cheap and abundant!
One bucket not enough?
Then ten buckets. Ten buckets not enough? Then a hundred, a thousand!
Consider this: pig's blood in the mortal world is incredibly cheap—two copper coins can buy a jin. One tael of silver can buy five hundred jin.
1,000 spirit stones equals 1,000 taels of gold, or 10,000 taels of silver.
If used to buy pig's blood, that's five million jin—as long as the supply is sufficient, you could feed this sword thing until it bursts!
Thinking of this.
Wang Xiu's heart grew hot, and he flew on his sword in the direction the Nether-Blood Immortal-Slaying Sword was sensing.
...
Maple City.
At the He family slaughterhouse, plump pigs were being carried onto slaughter tables, bound hand and foot.
Over a hundred brawny butchers, like emotionless killers, repeated the process of slaughtering and chopping pigs, skilled and efficient.
"Men!"
"Work hard!"
Steward He, young but already pot-bellied, walked through the slaughterhouse with a face full of smiles: "My father's seventh day has passed—congratulations!"
"From now on, I am the steward, I am the master of the house."
"This master will open disaster relief stations throughout Maple City for seven days. All city residents can eat and drink for free—white rice, big steamed buns, pork stew with vermicelli."
"Everyone eat to your heart's content!"
"Also, the workers putting in overtime these past few days will have double wages, plus each person gets a big pork elbow!"
As soon as the words fell.
Sounds of grateful celebration erupted from the workers around—the thanks were absolutely heartfelt.
"Steward, how generous!"
"Master Steward, you're a great man!"
"No wonder the He family ranks first among Maple City's four great families."
"With your magnanimity, you deserve to be the richest!"
...
Listening to his workers' flattery and praise, Steward He felt wonderful.
However.
He soon saw a sword light shooting through the sky, and when the light landed and transformed into a white-clad youth, who else could it be but Daoist Wang?
"Hiss~"
Steward He shuddered and quickly said: "Everyone, don't thank me—if you want to thank someone, thank Daoist Wang!"
"Daoist Wang is a true transmission disciple of the Three Pure Immortal Sect, a truly enlightened Immortal."
"He performed the soul salvation and rituals for my late father—noble and unselfish, seeking no reward. Even after I begged repeatedly, he was unwilling to accept a thousand taels of gold."
"Of course."
"Daoist Wang was eventually moved by my sincerity and filial piety, and accepted my He family's thousand taels of gold—but not for himself."
"Daoist Wang decided to use this thousand taels of gold to set up porridge stations, buy medicine, and provide free medical care for the city's poor."
"Come! Let us give three cheers for the Three Pure Immortal Sect, and for Daoist Wang!"
Suddenly.
Cheers erupted from butchers throughout the slaughterhouse.
"Hail!"
"Hail!"
"Hail!"
...
Good heavens.
I told you to set up porridge stations to help poor people, and this is how you help them?
Scanning the slaughterhouse, Wang Xiu's lips twitched. That mountain of densely packed pork—there had to be at least two thousand pigs!
The pig blood being released, bucket after bucket—if all poured into a pool, it would form a small pond.
No wonder the Nether-Blood Immortal-Slaying Sword couldn't help getting excited and ringing.
Truly.
In principle, spiritual artifacts looked down on pig blood, but there was just so much of it here!
"Hold on!"
Wang Xiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He gathered qi in his dantian and spoke like thunder: "Stop the slaughter for now."
Suddenly.
The entire slaughterhouse froze. Everyone looked at Wang Xiu with puzzled expressions.
Steward He also scratched his head: "Daoist, what's wrong?"
Wang Xiu said helplessly: "Is the Steward planning to treat all of Maple City's residents to pork?"
Steward He said with an apologetic smile: "Not at all, not at all."
"I'm just a common mortal—how could I have such charitable intentions?"
"The thousand taels of gold belongs to you, Daoist, so naturally you're the one treating the whole city to pork."
He Daren didn't dare take credit for Wang Xiu's favor.
After all.
Yesterday his father had beaten him quite severely. If Daoist Wang held a grudge and summoned his old father back for another 'family reunion'...
Just the thought was terrifying!
...
Is that the point?
Wang Xiu's lips twitched slightly: "I'm talking about disaster relief!"
"Not treating the whole city to a feast."
Steward He said matter-of-factly: "Exactly! Disaster relief—I'm following your instructions, Daoist, treating all the city's poor to white rice and big steamed buns!"
"Also."
"My He family is the largest pig-raising enterprise within several hundred li. We raise over a hundred thousand pigs and supply pork to several surrounding cities!"
"Daoist!"
"I dare say, among all the cities for dozens of miles around, there's no steward who would be generous enough to serve pork stew with vermicelli for disaster relief!"
"How about it, Daoist—this kind of disaster relief wouldn't disgrace your status as an Immortal Sect true transmission disciple, would it?"
Steward He's face was full of pride as he thumped his chest.
I'm speechless!
Examining Steward He for a while and finding that this fellow seemed to have no bad intentions—he was genuinely just simple-minded.
Wang Xiu sighed: "Disaster relief isn't something to show off about."
"Steward, have you calculated how many permanent residents Maple City has, and how many refugees have fled here from elsewhere?"
Steward He: ???
The old butler standing nearby explained: "Maple City has approximately eight hundred thousand permanent residents, and about a hundred thousand refugees from other areas."
Wang Xiu nodded: "A thousand taels of gold, ten thousand taels of silver—it sounds like a huge sum."
"But at fifty wen per jin of pork, one tael of silver can only buy twenty jin. Ten thousand taels of silver is only 200,000 jin of pork."
"200,000 jin of pork, treating over 800,000 people to pork stew with vermicelli for seven days—Steward, do you think that's enough to go around?"
Steward He counted on his fingers for quite a while, still completely bewildered.
"Not... not enough?"
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