I Am Immortal in Great Yu

Chapter 202: Chapter 84: Two Years

In the Thirty-Third Year of Emperor Shizong’s reign, the Fang Family spent the better part of the year traveling.

From carts and horses to boats, then back to carts and horses; from plains and great mountains to wide rivers and vast lakes, then to hills and basins... along the way, they switched between countless caravans.

Some legs of the journey were spent just circling within a single county; others spanned two or three counties, even passing through a State City.

Along the way, they met all sorts of people and encountered numerous dangers—Exotic Beasts, mountain bandits, rogue soldiers, unscrupulous inns... But with a Third Grade expert like Fang Rui, protecting his small family was more than manageable.

Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family, Third Lady, Fang Ling, and Nannan all fell ill several times, but with Fang Rui’s Medical Skill, he managed to pull them back from the brink each time.

In short, the hardships and bitterness of the journey were simply innumerable.

One could say that if it were any other family, one without someone like Fang Rui who was practically cheating the system—someone not as all-powerful as him—they probably wouldn’t have made it halfway before being completely wiped out.

In fact, even Fang Rui faced no shortage of problems along the way.

As a Third Grade Martial Artist possessing the Extraordinary Network, his body required a massive supply of energy. Combined with frequent combat, his consumption of Great Medicine was extremely fast. Left with no choice, Fang Rui hunted many Exotic Beasts along the journey to exchange for resources. When he encountered notorious wealthy families in small county towns, he would sometimes pull a job on them. Only by doing so could he barely manage to sustain their journey.

In terms of money, their expenses along the way flowed out like water, but this was the least of their problems.

Compared to the high-level resources a Martial Artist needed, the ways to acquire something like money were simply far too numerous.

It was just as Fang Rui had thought: in this world, for someone possessing great power, money was not difficult to come by and never something he would be in dire need of.

On the road, what Fang Rui saw and heard with his own eyes and ears confirmed his earlier suspicions: the Three Southern States were indeed plagued by drought and chaos everywhere—they were either on the verge of revolt, in the midst of turmoil, or had just gone through one round of chaos and were about to start another.

Passing through the Three Southern States, the scenes of natural disasters, man-made calamities, and a dynasty in its final days left an extremely deep impression.

Until—

After more than half a year of travel, they finally left the Three Southern States completely.

Fang Rui still remembered it: upon first arriving in Wunan, a torrential downpour soaked him to the bone. It was the first heavy rain he had seen in this world since he’d transmigrated.

So, the thousands of miles of parched earth... it was really just limited to the Three Southern States?!

’I may not be the most educated, but don’t try to fool me! Aren’t disastrous climate events like droughts supposed to be widespread? Like at the end of the Han or Ming dynasties—they were massive in scale, covering more than half the realm.’

’But what the hell is up with this drought in the Great Yu affecting only Three States and then just stopping dead in its tracks? Did the heavens pull off some kind of extreme micromanagement?’ At the time, Fang Rui had been plunged into deep self-doubt.

Afterward, Fang Rui led his family deeper into Wuzhou with a caravan. The further they went, the more the scent of smoke and chaos from the Three Southern States faded.

Through his observations, he discovered only this: within Wuzhou, the weather was favorable, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. It was a scene of tranquility and harmony.

Can you believe this goddamn contrast?

Even worse, after asking around, Fang Rui found that the people of Wuzhou only knew that the Three Southern States were suffering from a major drought and disaster. It was like hearing about death tolls in foreign countries during a pandemic—they felt no empathy whatsoever. At most, it was just idle gossip to pass the time.

It was as if the people on either side were not living in the same country, under the same sky.

This gave him a tremendous sense of temporal and spatial dislocation.

...

After entering Wuzhou, Fang Rui, now psychologically scarred by the Three Southern States, didn’t stop in Wunan. Instead, he pushed deeper into Wuzhou, entering the Wuzhong region.

Not until they reached Huaiyin Prefecture—

Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family, Third Lady, Fang Ling, and Nannan had all grown thin, and their health no longer permitted long-distance travel. Only then did they settle down.

After settling in Huaiyin Prefecture, the Fang Family, like a colony of ants in a new environment, began to cautiously and discreetly extend their feelers into the outside world.

Time flew by in the blink of an eye.

The riverbanks by the Huai River turned white with frost again and again, and another year passed in a flash.

...

”Another day as a slacker, another day coasted by!”

Inside the room, the charcoal fire burned red-hot, creating a drowsy warmth. Fang Rui calculated the time, removed the travelogue that had been covering his face, and got up, preparing to get off work.

Outside, his three subordinate Chief Constables were chatting idly.

”Another day with no cases. I’m so bored my balls ache!”

”Li Dadan, are you sure you’re bored, or is it because of that wife of yours?”

”Bah! Niu Bajin, a dog’s mouth can’t spit out ivory! Let me show you my fists!”

”Li Dadan, don’t you think for a second that I’m afraid of you... Hey, what are you doing? Li Dadan, we can talk about this... Old Gou, help me!”

”Alright! Alright!”

A steady-looking middle-aged man in his forties or fifties with a drinker’s nose, sitting by the brazier, lifted his eyelids. ”Niu Bajin, you’re a Chief Constable, after all. What would your subordinates think if they saw you? And you, Dadan, what’s wrong with some peace and quiet? I hope it stays this quiet forever, and we can just keep collecting our salaries!”

”Yeah, Old Gou has a point. Whether we handle a lot of cases or a few, we get paid the same salary, don’t we?” Niu Bajin sat down to the side, picked up a case file, and began flipping through it lazily.

”What ’Old Gou’? Call me Old Xun!” the middle-aged man huffed, his beard bristling.

”Sigh, I have nothing in common with you Chief Constables who are just waiting around to die...” Li Dadan said, shaking his head.

Just as the three of them were joking and laughing, Fang Rui emerged from the inner room.

They immediately stood up, their expressions turning serious. ”Chief!”

”Alright, no need to be so serious. I don’t remember you all being this respectful when I was temporarily a Silver Seal Chief Constable,” Fang Rui said with a wave of his hand.