blueteamnovel Chapter 21 Subsidy
Chapter 21 Subsidy
Chen Luo was somewhat surprised by everything he saw in the inner courtyard, and at the same time seemed to be deep in thought.
At this moment, a waiter dressed in a butcher's robe came up to her. He clearly knew Li Jiangwei and greeted her warmly with a cupped-hand salute.
"Honorable Manager Li, what can I do for you?"
"Master Liu," Li Jiangwei smiled, "I remember Donglan Lane received a batch of blue-blooded deer a while ago, I wonder if there are any left?"
"Yes, yes." Master Liu nodded repeatedly and laughed. "There are still four or five left, but we can't sell them. Those things are too useless; basically no one wants them."
"Give me one ounce each of deer antler and deer blood, and remember to boil them on the spot," Li Jiangwei said. "Also, try to keep the remaining deer for me, as we may need them later."
"Okay, I'll go right away!" Master Liu's face lit up with joy, seemingly delighted that he could finally sell the venison. He immediately called out to several of his men, "Quickly, quickly, start the fire and stew!" He then turned to Li Jiangwei, "This venison has a strange smell, please wait in the side room."
Thank you for your trouble.
Led to a side room, Chen Luo couldn't help but ask, "Is all that meat outside demon meat?"
The meat he saw did not look like it came from ordinary animals at all.
"Yes, this is a butcher shop, a demon meat shop." Li Jiangwei nodded.
"Hiss..." Chen Luo was somewhat surprised. In his mind, monsters were all strange and ferocious creatures, but he never expected that they could be eaten.
Seeing his surprise, Li Jiangwei couldn't help but smile. "I heard you cooked and ate the Huan beast before, I thought you wouldn't be surprised."
"A Huan beast?" Chen Luo appeared puzzled, but a thought stirred within him.
"It's that cat demon you encountered." Li Jiangwei's eyes were smiling, with a hint of teasing. "I heard from my father that you stewed and ate that cat demon."
Sure enough, they also knew the name Huan Beast. Chen Luo's mind raced. He hadn't expected that the name of the demons in this world would match the one in his previous life, the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
"Hehe, I was really starving at the time," he chuckled sheepishly.
"I can see you are indeed hungry. You must know that you can't just eat demon meat." Li Jiangwei's expression turned serious. "Many demon meats contain powerful essence, which can easily cause your blood and qi to swell and lead to sudden death. Some demon meats are also poisonous and can kill you. You should be glad that the Huan beast you ate was not seriously injured."
"I won't do it again next time." Chen Luo smiled sheepishly, then casually asked, "By the way, what exactly is going on with that cat demon called Huan Beast? Does Steward Li know anything about it?"
Li Jiangwei shook her head. "I don't know either. I just heard my father mention it."
"I see."
Seeing that she wasn't hiding anything and genuinely didn't know, Chen Luo had no choice but to give up and instead asked curiously, "Are all the demon meat in the shop obtained from the Northwest and South Three Mountains?"
Although Qingshan County suffers from a demonic disaster almost every year, he believes that the number of demonic beasts is still not large.
Surprisingly, in some alleyway he was unaware of, even a demon meat shop had opened up.
"Only a small portion of the demon meat here comes from the Three Mountains," Li Jiangwei explained. "The vast majority of the demon meat was transported from Lan County."
"It was transported from the county seat?" Chen Luo was even more surprised. "Does the county seat also have mountains nearby?"
Although the predecessor never left Qingshan County in his entire life, he had heard from others that Qingshan County was a lower county, and there was an upper county above it called Lan County.
But judging from Li Jiangwei's words, Lan County seems to be surrounded by mountains, otherwise where would so much demon flesh come from?
But Li Jiangwei shook her head. "As far as I know, there are no mountains in Lan County, but I don't know where this demon flesh came from. It might have just been passed through Lan County."
"I see." Chen Luo seemed thoughtful, then hesitated for a moment, "Manager Li, how much did you pay for those two ounces of deer antler and deer blood you ordered earlier?"
Li Jiangwei smiled and held up three fingers, "About three taels of silver."
"Hiss..." Chen Luo gasped, not expecting demon meat to be so expensive. "I didn't bring enough money."
"This isn't about whether you brought enough money or not." Li Jiangwei's smile deepened. "The two taels of deer antler and blood you bought are only enough for five days. After that, you need to come here every five days to buy two taels, for a month. If you pay for it yourself, it will cost a total of eighteen taels of silver."
Eighteen taels of silver?
Chen Luo was startled. He had been truly poor in this world and knew what eighteen taels meant. It was enough to marry three or four wives. Was this meat from the Green Blood Deer made as a dowry? It was so expensive.
However, he understood the unspoken meaning behind Li Jiangwei's last sentence: "Don't I need to pay for these eighteen taels?"
"Yes." Li Jiangwei nodded. "This expense will be covered by my Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy."
"A martial arts academy?" Chen Luo was taken aback. "Is it funded by Instructor Li's private funds, or is it subsidized by the county government?"
As far as he knew, Zhengyang Martial Arts School was a free school subsidized by the county government. Could it be that the money for buying meat was public funds? If it wasn't public funds, then wasn't it Li Jiaoxi's personal contribution?
"Neither," Li Jiangwei shook her head. "This money was provided by the Finance Department of Lan County."
"Actually, I don't know the specifics either. I've only been to Lan County once. As far as I know, the Department of Revenue is in charge of tax collection and national treasury expenditure. Every year, a fixed amount of silver is allocated to local charitable schools, specifically for cultivating outstanding disciples discovered by the martial arts schools." She looked at Chen Luo. "Of course, this amount is limited, about thirty taels of silver per year."
The Ministry of Finance, local schools... this means that Zhengyang Martial Arts School was not unique to Qingshan County.
The annual quota of thirty taels of silver...
Does that mean I spent eighteen taels of silver on myself?
Chen Luo was surprised; he hadn't expected that his seemingly simple guidance yesterday would contain such profound meaning.
In other words, Instructor Li actually spent more than half of Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy's entire annual budget on himself.
"But why?" Chen Luo couldn't help but ask. Was it just because he had broken through to the second level of strength in half a month?
Don't forget, it took him a whole year to master the Nine Yang Force, so breaking through to the second level in half a month could be a coincidence.
Logically speaking, even if Instructor Li wanted to sponsor him, it should have been done only after he had achieved minor mastery of the Nine Yang Strength.
Providing financial assistance now seems a bit hasty and risky.
"I'll tell you about that later." Li Jiangwei knew what Chen Luo was asking, "It's hard to explain in a short time."
Chen Luo nodded, then asked with a hint of doubt, "Since the funds for the free school are now in my possession, is there anything I'm expected to do to repay them?"
There's no such thing as a free lunch, and he wasn't really at ease accepting this kind of free benefit.
"I won't force you to do anything." Li Jiangwei shook her head, her answer unusually specific, her expression slightly complicated. "You'll find out in the future."
She clearly didn't want to say more, so Chen Luo didn't ask any further, but he became even more worried.
The original body had never left Qingshan County, and had very little knowledge of this world. It only knew that it was currently under the rule of a feudal dynasty called "Dalin", but it didn't even know the emperor's surname.
However, what circumstances and what kind of situation did such a feudal dynasty face that led to the creation of such a subsidy system?