Just after early morning, Li Yuan opened his eyes, and there was light visible through the paper windows.

There are eight people on the big bunk, but there are only seven people at the moment.

"Niu Gui wakes up so early?"

It was already a bit chilly in late autumn, and Li Yuan was used to sleeping in his clothes, so he put on his cattail shoes and came to the door.

The sky was nearly bright, and all four big moons were gone. Under the thin light, Niu Gui stood on a white ape stand. It was quite chilly in the early morning of late autumn, but he was covered in sweat.

"This guy is really hardworking!"

Li Yuan rubbed his wrists and felt that his shoulders, arms, wrists, waist and legs were all sore.

This is because the amount of exercise yesterday was much greater than usual, and Niu Gui, he remembered that he was still practicing when he went to bed last night?

Is it so early again?

Are you really afraid of destroying yourself?

Li Yuan was stunned, but he didn't say anything. After Fatty Sun got up, he informed him and left the middle courtyard.

…

The blacksmith shop occupies a large area in the outer city. Outside the central courtyard are several warehouses where iron materials and charcoal are piled.

Further forward, there is an open space pressed down by yellow mud, where a group of blacksmith masters and guards usually work out their strength.

Across this open space, there is a chain of forging rooms, where the furnaces are open day and night, and the fireworks are lingering.

Li Yuan glanced a few times, but saw nothing but the sound of clanking. He was still very curious about blacksmithing.

However, even though he had been an apprentice for more than a month, his impression of blacksmithing was still the 'Knife Forging Competition' in his previous life.

The utility room is right next to it.

Li Yuanxiao waited for a while before withdrawing his monthly payment and one day's leave from Manager Lin, who was walking slowly over.

Although the rituals in the half-volume Taoist book are simple, they do not require anything.

“Come back before the sun goes down, and you’ll have two days off if you stay out for the night!”

Manager Lin with a mustache said something later.

"……Um!"

With a dark face, he put thirty copper plates into his arms. More than a month after arriving in this world, Li Yuan left the gate of the forging shop for the first time.

"This is the 'ancient city'."

The street paved with large bluestone slabs extends in both directions, separating various shops, restaurants, and inns on both sides.

Gaoliu County has two cities, the inner and outer cities. Eight streets divide it into sixteen urban districts. The "Rongsheng District" where the forging shop is located is the busiest district in the outer city.

Looking left and right, I saw scattered houses, amidst the sounds of vendors selling their goods, and people wearing all kinds of clothes seemed to be endless.

In the real ancient city, there are no endless streams of young ladies and young masters, but only people running around for daily necessities.

Dangdang~

There were government officials patrolling the streets beating gongs, causing people to give in wherever they passed.

A tall government official with a mole at the corner of his eye held up a portrait and shouted:

"This is the ninth year of a lone thief. Anyone who discovers his traces will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver. Those who capture him will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver. But those who conceal it and fail to report it will be punished with the same crime once discovered!"

"Fifty taels?!"

Many people in the crowd gasped and leaned their heads to take a look.

When the government officials passed by, Li Yuan glanced at the ferocious thief in the portrait, but didn't pay attention, lowering his head and thinking about his own business.

"The 'receptor ceremony' recorded in half a volume of Taoist scriptures requires five animals. In my previous life, I used the meat of five animals. Now..."

In front of the butcher's shop, the guy who was chopping meat with a knife quoted the price without waiting to ask:

"Twenty-eight copper coins per pound of pork..."

Glancing at the wooden sign in the butcher's shop, Li Yuan couldn't help but twitch his eyelids.

He had already expected that his family could only afford one pound of pork a month. After all, other apprentices could not even see a single copper plate in three years.

"Brother, is there any pig blood?"

"Pig's blood? If you want it, I'll give you eight coppers per pound..."

"Is pig blood so expensive?"

Li Yuan felt a little sick, after all, he only had thirty copper coins in total.

"How many kilograms of blood does a pig cost? How expensive is eight copper coins? Go ahead, what trouble can you make if you don't have money?"

"Cheaper..."

After some haggling, Li Yuan bought half a catty of pork, half a catty each of pig's blood, sheep's blood, chicken's blood, and dog's blood. He only had four copper coins left.

"The meat of five animals is fine, so is the blood of five animals? After all, in ancient times, many sacrifices used blood food..."

As he walked among the crowd, Li Yuan felt a little heavy in his heart.

I'm not only worried about whether the blood can work, but also worried about whether this ritual is really useful.

…

"There is still a shortage of cattle...The imperial court stipulated that those who slaughter cattle will be beaten with a hundred sticks, sentenced to one and a half years, and exiled for a thousand miles..."

More than an hour later, Li Yuan, who had walked through the entire Rongsheng Street, could not find a single thing, so he had no choice but to give up.

"I remember that elk, deer, stag, wolf, and rabbit are also among the five animals in another saying?"

It wasn't until three o'clock in the morning that Li Yuan found a place selling hares. After waiting for more than an hour, he took advantage of someone to kill the rabbit and spent his last four coppers to buy less than two taels of blood.

"Now, everything is ruined!"

Carrying several bottles and cans and half a catty of pork out of Rongsheng Street, Li Yuan could hardly contain his mood.

But it was naturally impossible for him to hold the ceremony on the street. He suppressed the excitement in his heart and walked through alleys and streets to another more remote city.

Chai Yu Fang is no better than Rongsheng District. It got its name because it sells more firewood and fish. In the distance, Li Yuan heard someone exclaiming.

"That boy from the Liangshan family caught the spiritual fish 'Horn Pomfret' in the 'Bishui Lake'!"

"Liang Ah Shui? Is this kid still capable? Weren't all his ships snatched away by Liu Diao?"

"Spirit fish! I haven't heard of anyone catching a spirit fish in at least a year or two, right?"

With an exclamation, almost everyone nearby gathered around the young man carrying a fish basket in the distance.

"Spirit fish?"

Li Yuan was slightly startled, and only then did he know what it was from the comments from people nearby.

Gaoliu County is surrounded by mountains and rivers. The mountain is Fajiu Mountain and the water is Bishui Lake. Therefore, the Chai Gang and Fishing Gang in the city were established.

The so-called spiritual fish is said to be a great tonic. If you catch one, it will be enough for an ordinary person to chew grain for two to three years.

"Everyone!"

The young man had a strong body, slightly dark complexion, and looked at the group of people surrounding him with sharp eyes:

"My 'horn pomfret' weighs twelve pounds. If you can't afford it, don't come here!"

"Twelve pounds of horned pomfret?!"

The crowd was even more uproar, but most of them stopped. Only a few people who looked like they were not ordinary people walked past.

"That seems to be someone from the Chai Gang or the Fishing Gang?"

Li Yuan took a few glances. Although he was a little curious about the so-called spiritual fish, he had no intention of watching the excitement.

As I was leaving quickly, I heard someone behind me seem to be quoting "twelve taels of silver"...

"Thirty cents a month, three years of apprenticeship only one tael, twelve taels of fish..."

Li Yuan was a little stunned, but he didn't stop. He walked quickly through several streets and came to an alley.

There are more than ten households in the alley, and the well-maintained two-story courtyard at the entrance of the alley is his home in this life.

Of course, there were three families living in the small courtyard, and his family, or rather his second brother's family, was just one of them.

"Third brother? You, are you back?"

Before Li Yuan knocked on the door, the courtyard door opened, and a man not seven feet away with a rather rough face came out excitedly and guiltily, holding his hand.

"Second brother..."

Li Yuan opened his mouth not knowing what to say, and allowed the man to pull him into the house.

Memories of my previous life came to mind.

Xiaopo settled in the Li family, which was considered a middle-class family in Chaiyufang in the early years. Three generations of hardworking people had saved up some wealth. The family had fields and a boat, and their life was pretty good.

But after three generations of family, the family was ruined for a while. His cheap old man got involved in gambling for some reason, and the family was ruined in half a year. After being so angry that the old man died of illness, he himself died on the bed.

Only the three brothers were left to depend on each other. A few years later, the eldest brother Li Yue disappeared. It was the second brother Li Lin who brought him up...
To be continued...