In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 496 Zhu Butcher, Li Er

Although duck eggs are not considered meat, they are still a rare source of meat for ordinary people.

Therefore, when she saw that Cao Shui had boiled nearly 20 duck eggs in one morning, Yin Xiaoniang was very surprised and even felt that it was a bit wasteful.

"What's the big deal?"

Jiang Xiaobai said with a smile, "Chicken and duck eggs are relatively cheap in Chenjia Village, so many people choose to eat them for breakfast. We used to eat them like that too."

"This……"

Cao Qiang and Yin Xiaoniang looked at each other in disbelief. The fact that they ate chicken and duck eggs for breakfast every day had once again refreshed their understanding of the wealth of Chenjia Village.

"Father, Mother, please sit down and eat these chicken and duck eggs while they're still hot."

Cao Shui led his family to their seats, and then everyone ate the two duck eggs that Cao Shui had prepared in advance.

To be honest, boiled duck eggs aren't very tasty, since they're boiled in plain water, which makes them rather bland and tasteless.

However, for Yin Xiaoniang's family, who had never eaten much meat, even boiled duck eggs tasted delicious.

"The duck eggs are delicious."

As Cao Yun ate, he shook his head and praised, "This is the second best food I've ever eaten."

"is it?"

Jiang Xiaobai asked with a smile, "Then what's the first thing to eat?"

"Chicken, of course."

Cao Yun and Cao Zhu said in unison.

"Ha ha!"

The adults all laughed.

After breakfast, Cao Shui, Jiang Xiaobai, and the other three hurriedly went out to work, while Yin Xiaoniang and the others planned to take a walk around the village after cleaning up the dishes to learn more about Chenjia Village.

Meanwhile, in Qingzhou Prefecture, as the sun rose, the entire prefecture began to awaken.

After a night's rest, the exhausted people came out of their homes. Farmers went to the fields to cultivate the land, workers went to their workplaces to work hard, and the city guards opened the city gates to begin inspecting merchants and pedestrians entering the city.

Since the news spread that the Green King had a large quantity of Python Blood Grass and Python Bone Grass, the number of people pouring into the city has increased significantly, and the checks upon entering the city have become much stricter.

After all, those who need Python Blood Grass and Python Bone Grass are all martial artists, and they are all high-level mid-grade martial artists.

However, the law has very little binding force on martial artists who possess great power. In order to prevent these martial artists from causing damage, the number of soldiers guarding the city gates of the prefecture has been greatly increased.

Previously, a city gate would typically have only two to four soldiers responsible for guarding it and inspecting road permits and goods, but now that number has increased to 10.

Furthermore, if one looked up at this moment, one could see fully armed soldiers on the city wall. Judging from their fierce demeanor, one could tell that they must have been transferred from the Qingzhou army.

It was precisely because the city was on high alert that the large number of martial artists who recently entered the city did not cause any major trouble.

Of course, there were no major problems, but there were quite a few minor ones.

After all, martial artists are different from ordinary people. For them, it's commonplace to fight and use swords at the slightest disagreement.

It goes without saying that they oppress the common people. There are also bad people among the martial artists. Not only do the powerful and noble do things like bullying the common people and raping women, but some martial artists do the same. However, in the eyes of the Qing King, who controls the city, these things are not a big deal, so he is too lazy to care.

"Alright, you can go in now."

A city guard meticulously inspected the goods of the caravan in front of him, confirmed that there were no contraband items, and then, with a smile, accepted the bribe from the caravan manager before waving him into the city.

"Thank you, Master."

The caravan manager breathed a sigh of relief and quickly instructed the caravan's guards to drive the wagons into the city.

Behind them, a long line of people waited to enter the city. One by one, people and caravans wanted to enter the city showed their travel permits to the guards, underwent inspection, and then entered the city smoothly.

Of course, a bribe to the soldiers guarding the city was a must before entering.

As the long procession moved slowly forward, a burly man leading a horse soon appeared before the city guards.

Looking at the burly man with thick eyebrows, a face full of scars, and a not-so-tall but very strong build, the soldiers guarding the city couldn't help but feel a chill.

At a glance, they knew that this big man was no ordinary person.

"Please show me your travel permit."

When faced with the burly man, the soldiers guarding the city became much more polite in their tone.

As soldiers guarding the city, we have to deal with all sorts of people every day, so we need to be observant.

They could exploit the weak common people, or even small caravans, with impunity, but they would be more flexible and humble when dealing with people they couldn't afford to offend.

After all... in Xia Kingdom, offending the wrong person could mean losing your head.

A few days ago, a clueless city guard offended a powerful martial artist and even demanded a large sum of money from him. The martial artist was furious and beheaded the soldier with a single stroke before leaving. He is still at large and has not been found by the authorities or even the Qingwang Mansion for some time.

Since that incident, the city's garrison soldiers have become much more restrained. They no longer dare to ask for money indiscriminately as before, but only ask for money from suitable targets.

"for you."

The burly man took out his travel permit and handed it to the city guard.

After carefully examining him, the city guard asked, "Are you from Qingzhou? And your name is Butcher Zhu?"

The word "butcher" is generally used to describe a profession and can also be used as a nickname, but very few people are named "butcher".

"What? What's the problem?"

As Zhu the butcher spoke, the fat on his face twitched, giving him a very fierce appearance.

"This……"

The soldiers guarding the city exchanged glances, and one of them said, forcing a smile, "Your name is a pseudonym; I'm afraid you cannot enter the city."

"Go to hell."

Butcher Zhu immediately cursed and shouted, "My travel permit was issued by the government, why can't I enter the city?"

"Ha ha!"

Behind Butcher Zhu, a thin, wiry man couldn't help but laugh and said loudly, "You little pawn really have no sense of propriety, you don't even recognize the famous Butcher Zhu."

After saying that, the capable-looking man continued, "Butcher Zhu, whose real name is Zhu Dachang, was born in Qiongzhou. He was a famous martial artist in Qiongzhou. In Qiongzhou, the name Zhu Dachang was as well-known as thunder!"

However, because he dislikes his original name, Zhu Dachang prefers to be known as Zhu the Butcher. Am I right, Brother Zhu?

Butcher Zhu turned to look at the capable-looking man and couldn't help but laugh: "Who do we have here? It's none other than the famous Thousand-Mile Ear in the martial arts world!"