Chapter 22: Repel External Threats by First Securing Internal Stability

  Something came up and I just got back, so today's update is late, sorry! Please give me your support, everyone! Don't forget to recommend and collect.

  "Master, your body is much stronger than before, you must have gone through a lot of hardships." Tina gently massaged Li Junshan's shoulders with her soft and delicate hands, feeling that Master's body was not only darker than before, but also had subtle muscles bulging everywhere.

  Li Junshan smiled slightly and said, "It's nothing, men are supposed to suffer a bit too. By the way, Tina, do you know where I can find a high-ranking priest?"

  Tina's hand hesitated for a moment, then continued to gently massage. She sighed and said: "Young Master, you want to treat your wife's eyes, right? The old master has tried before, but it was no use. Those high-ranking priests are even more arrogant than magicians, and the old master can't afford their expensive diagnosis fees. Now that he's lost his title, there's no way to invite them."

  "Nowadays, the servants in our mansion all work outside to earn money to support their families, otherwise..." Tina said half of it and stopped.

  Gently patting the water with his hand, Li Junshan coldly smiled and didn't say anything else. After a while, after finishing his bath, Tina brought over a new set of clothes, which Li Junshan put on before heading outside.

  Kraul was still sitting in the living room, saw Li Junshan coming in, pointing to the bread and pastries on the table: "Hungry, right? First eat something casually to fill your stomach, I also had someone send some to your companion. Later when the people working outside come back, we'll have dinner."

  "What a truly good old man, in this world which noble would wait to have dinner with their servant together, even if it's a noble who has lost his title." Li Junshan said in his heart, but Klaul's words made him feel a warmth in his heart.

  Li Junshan asked after eating a few pieces of bread, "Father, where in Florence can we sell the demon beast's skin, fur and bones?"

  Kraul hesitated for a moment, recalling the carriage in the courtyard before reacting and saying: "If there's a large quantity, you can go outside to find people to come back and collect it. Most commercial firms will buy them. Do your companions have any magical beast hides or bones to sell?"

  Crowl didn't believe his son could hunt down the magical beast and thought it was Fate's doing, even though he had no idea what rank of magician Fate was.

  Seeing Li Junshan nodding, Klauss got up and called in a servant, gave him some instructions, and the servant went out.

  Li Junshan ate by himself, while Krael sat on the side watching him with a satisfied look in his eyes and a gentle smile on his face, which made Li feel a bit awkward.

  Before long, after Li Junshan had eaten his fill, the gate was pushed open and the servant led two people in.

  "Excuse me, sir. Do you have any monster hides or bones for sale?" The first of the big fat men spoke with an attitude that was neither arrogant nor humble, but a hint of regret could be seen between his eyebrows.

  "He thought it was a big deal, but it's just a declining noble family, what good things could they possibly have." The fatty thought to himself.

  "Take a look at how much these are worth." Li Junshan gestured to his servant to close the large gate, walked to the middle of the courtyard and rubbed his spatial ring with his finger.

  Suddenly, a large pile of demon beast hides and bones appeared in the empty courtyard, without any signs of decay, most of them were intact. These were the ones Li Junshan had hunted down at Luoyue Vein, he almost forgot about them, but remembered just before departure, so he went to that mountain cave and brought everything back with his spatial ring.

  "A level 5 Flame Giant Python! And there's also the skin of a level 5 Violent Bear." The fatty was an expert, his eyes widened instantly and he rushed over to start rummaging through it.

  The servants and soldiers in the palace were shocked, even Crawley was stunned on one side.

  "A fifth-level magical beast! A spatial ring! Is this still Nicholas?" Craw's mind was in a mess.

  Li Junshan saw the fat man with a joyful face taking out the demon beast's skin, hair and bones to sort and place them. He estimated it would take some time, so he let Tina move two stools over and sat down on one side with Klaul to wait.

  "Nicholas, what's with these magical beasts?" Krowl couldn't help but ask: "Is that a space ring on your hand?"

  Li Junshan smiled and said, "Father, those magical beasts were all hunted in the Luoyue Mountains. As for this spatial ring, I'll tell you about it later."

  "Luoyue Mountains!" Krael's brain twitched again, and after a while, he said: "Nicholas, you'd better put this space ring away, it's best to string it up with a rope and wear it under your clothes. It's not good if someone sees it."

  It's no wonder Krowell was so tense, the Seven-degree Gold is a rare mineral on the Yalan continent, and those who own a spatial ring are either rich or noble. In the city of Florence, there are absolutely no more than ten people who can own a spatial ring.

  "This old gentleman, young master, I've counted them up. There are eleven intact pelts of fifth-level magical beasts, fourteen lightly damaged ones, and thirty heavily damaged ones. As for the fourth-level ones, there aren't many, and the extent of damage varies. How about this: I'll give you all the fourth-level beast pelts at a discounted price, calculated as if they were moderately damaged? What do you think?"

  The fat man had a flattering smile all over his face and stood with a cat waist.

  "I asked you to come and collect, it doesn't mean I must sell to you." Li Junshan saw Klaul hesitating on the side, knowing he wasn't good at this, so he said: "You make an offer first, let me hear how it sounds."

  "Five-level demon beast skin, intact ones are one thousand gold coins per piece, slightly damaged ones are four hundred gold coins per piece, and severely damaged ones are fifty gold coins. As for the fourth-level demon beasts, they are moderately damaged, a total of 52 pieces, all at the price of 50 gold coins per piece. What do you think, young master?"

  "Depressing." Li Junshan thought to himself: "The price difference between a complete demon beast pelt and a damaged one is so huge, no wonder La Yi Xing only trains deformed creatures, the damage to their pelts is too great." He didn't know what this price was like, but Li Junshan glanced at Fa Te, who nodded at him.

  "Master." Raymond, the old butler, was standing behind Crowell at some point. He leaned forward and said to Li Junshan: "The price is about right. Florence is a small border town, not like those big cities, basically it's this price."

  "That's it then." Li Junshan said: "Remember, I only want gold coins, no magic crystal cards. You'd better find someone to move them away quickly, they're too ugly to be left in this courtyard."

  That fatty saw that the business had been settled, and he was overjoyed, his face beaming with delight. He hastily gave some orders to the attendants behind him, and one of them quickly ran out, probably to fetch a carriage.

  "Monster bones, don't you want them?" Li Junshan saw that he had picked up all the fur to one side, stacked neatly, but didn't touch those bones, and couldn't help but feel a little strange.

  These bones are all from fifth-level or higher magical beasts; he threw away all the lower-level ones.

  The fatty smiled and said, "Young master, if it were a sixth-level one, it would be good, can sell for several thousand gold coins. The fifth-level bone refining masters and alchemists don't even look at them, so these are useless too. This pile is worth only a few silver coins at most."

  Li Junshan only then remembered that Anna had said that the beast's bones were useful, so he kept them. At the time, Fate seemed to have a very indifferent expression, but in Anna's eyes, several silver coins were also money!

  White white wasted so much energy collecting the bones of the magic beast, Li Junshan only felt that it was not worth laughing or crying, and said: "Then I don't want the money, take it all away."

  "No problem!" Fatso replied with relish, just as a massive carriage pulled by three fierce oxen came rushing in, and several sturdy men got down to unload it.

  "There are a total of 20,700 gold coins here." The fat man brought over a person pulling several cloth bags and put them in front of Li Junshan, opening them up and saying: "Young master, take a look. One small bag contains 100 gold coins, and the two large bags contain a total of 207 bags."

  The old steward stepped out in time and went over with two servants to check.

  "Twenty-seven thousand gold coins." Krow stood to the side, his brain momentarily oxygen-deprived. From a young age, he had been infatuated with art - poetry, chess, painting, and more - he was proficient in them all, but strangely, he had no concept of money. When he was young, there were his parents to take care of him, and after they passed away, Linda managed the household, until a huge change occurred at home, and Linda's eyes cried out with illness, this unqualified noble finally understood the importance of money.

  "This old gentleman, young master, if there's anything else to sell in the future, please feel free to contact us at any time." The fat man, seeing that his men had loaded all the goods onto the horse cart, walked up to Kaul and Li Junshan, bowing and scraping.

  "Ah, let's go." Krael's eyes were fixed on the pouch of money beside the old steward, and he listlessly waved his hand.

  The fat man led the way out. Li Junshan stood up and asked the old steward, "Have all the servants who went out to work returned?"

  Raymond nodded and said respectfully, "The fifteen guards who went to the Dong Street grain depot to move goods, as well as the thirteen maids who went to the Xicheng clothing store to work, have all returned. I saw that something was going on here, so I had them enter through the back door."

  "Let's call everyone from the mansion over."

  Although the old steward did not know what the young master was up to, he followed his orders anyway. Before long, the courtyard was filled with servants and guards, most of whom had just returned from working outside and were excitedly greeting Li Junshan.

  "Everyone is here." The old steward counted the number and said to Li Junshan, "There are sixteen servants and thirty guards in total."

  "Everyone be quiet." Li Junshan shouted loudly, and those servants and guards stopped their discussion, staring at him.

  "Our family has encountered a major event, and I don't need to say it, everyone already knows." Li Junshan's face was solemn as he said: "At the most critical moment, you didn't leave this family, not only did you stay, but also went out to work for this family. I can imagine how much hardship you've endured outside, and how many cold eyes and insults you've suffered. On behalf of Father and Mother, I want to say thank you!"

  The eyes of those servants and guards began to well up with tears. In the past, even if they were just servants, they were still associated with the nobility. Now, running out to work, the guards who carried large packages in the granary had been ridiculed by people countless times; the female servants were even more miserable, not only having to do a lot of chores every day but also being ostracized and scolded by their fellow workers at the clothing store. Now, hearing their young master say those two words "thank you", many of the female servants began to sob.

  "I'm back." Li Junshan clenched his fists and said, "All of this will end from now on. From today onwards, you all don't have to go out to work anymore. I guarantee that your lives will get better and better. No matter how much commission you had before, starting from today, each person's monthly salary will be increased by two gold coins. This is what you deserve, and it will continue forever."

  The monthly salary of the servants was only fifty silver coins, and the guards were slightly higher, with one hundred silver coins. One hundred silver coins could be exchanged for one gold coin. As soon as they heard that they could get two more gold coins every month, the whole house was in an uproar.

  "Grandfather Raymond." Li Junshan said loudly to the old butler: "First take out some gold coins, give ten to each person, and consider it as a compensation for everyone's hard work during this period of time."

  "Long live the young master!" Everyone shouted excitedly.

  He waved at everyone and smiled, then Li Junshan looked over at Klauss.

  From the time Krowl took out that pile of monster hides from Li Junshan, until his speech just now, he only felt that he suddenly didn't recognize this son of his.

  "Dad." Li Junshan apparently knew what was on his mind and said, "In the past six months, I have indeed suffered a lot and learned many lessons. Don't worry, this family, from now on, please let me and you support it together."

  "Come on, hold on... Nicholas, you've grown up." Kroll muttered to himself, his eyes reddening, but a warm feeling in his heart.