Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1365: Chapter 442: Slave Village, No Way Out, Su Xing’er’s Ingenious Mind

Caiqiu Calendar year 297, January 25, daytime

The Nine Towns of the South Slope are essentially transparent to the Four Vassals along the Moao River, especially in front of the Caiqiu and Chencang Feudal Towns.

Moreover, the Northern Three Towns’ high-level officials maintain close ties with the two feudal towns.

These aspects, Xia Hong was aware of even before he arrived.

However, what he thought was evidently a bit simplistic.

During his time in Evergreen Valley, he discovered that the yearly calendar used by Caiqiu and the Nine Towns, apart from the year being different, was completely synchronized in dates.

The Moao Calendar was initially used in the Northern Three Towns and later adopted by the other six towns following trade integration.

It’s normal for camps to develop over different periods, so the year difference is expected. Dates might be extremely close due to the growth patterns of vegetation or other coincidences, but being completely identical is somewhat strange.

For instance, the Great Xia’s calendar has a four-day difference in dates with the Nine Towns, which is a normal phenomenon. The case with Caiqiu implies one thing: it started influencing the Three Towns long ago.

From this, one can infer that the relationship between the Three Towns and Caiqiu is much deeper than Xia Hong previously imagined.

Despite reaching this conclusion, the mountains are high, the roads far, and there is no means to send messages back, so Xia Hong could only silently keep it in mind and plan to respond when he returns to the Nine Towns Territory.

Much like when he was in Xia City, he initially went into seclusion for cultivation, essentially ignoring the outside world.

At his residence, Zhou Qing and the other servants, though curious about their new master, were constrained by status and Xia Hong’s instructions, and thus did not dare casually disturb him in his quiet room. For any matters, they had to seek instructions from Su Jing and the other three.

This matter, as it happened, was somewhat peculiar.

Xia Hong arrived in Qinghua City on the night of January 18th. Although he became the mansion’s master upon arrival, he was immediately invited by Cai Yunzhou to the City Lord Mansion for a banquet, then returned to his quiet chamber to begin seclusion.

Therefore, Zhou Qing and the other servants, in seven days, had only seen Xia Hong once on the night he returned from the banquet.

Fortunately, they saw him that one time, or these servants might not even recognize their master, which in the strictly hierarchical Cai Qiu Feudal Town would be unimaginable.

"Our new master, he’s too diligent. So young, yet so powerful, and still trained so tirelessly. In seven days, neither of the Deputy City Lords nor the Four Great Commanders who’ve repeatedly set banquet invitations got a response..."

"Not just that, last night, another maid from the City Lord Mansion came, sought Housekeeper Zhou, said Miss Mengya invited, but was similarly declined."

"Tsk tsk... Others might desperately wish for such opportunities, but our master has remarkable willpower!"

"What willpower... Haven’t you hardly left the mansion these days?"

"Indeed, I haven’t gone out, what do you mean?"

At the Hong Mansion entrance, Du He and Wang Long were chatting during their duty today.

Wang Long evidently knew more about the situation, asking Du He if he hadn’t left the mansion for several days. Hearing Du He’s reply, he looked around, then approached to whisper:

"It’s not willpower; our master simply doesn’t regard the Deputy City Lords and the Four Great Commanders. I heard outside that when the master entered the city seven days ago, he had a duel with the City Lord, both having equal strength."

"What?"

Du He immediately retorted upon hearing, then seeing Wang Long nod to confirm, his pupils filled with astonishment, his face instantly full of disbelief.

To duel the City Lord, without a clear winner...

"Not just strength, you saw how young the master is, right? When he entered the city seven days ago, he claimed to be the Daqin Prince. At the City Lord Mansion’s banquet seven days ago, the master depicted the majesty of Great Qin, which not only stunned those present at the banquet but even the City Lord. The noble circle in the city is now discussing how the Great Qin Feudal Town’s strength is unfathomable and possibly far superior to Caiqiu."

Du He listened with trembling pupils, then suddenly recalled the night when Xia Hong returned to the mansion seven days ago, immediately realizing: "No wonder, Miss Mengya’s Purple Bell Sedan, among those qualified to sit in it in the whole Qinghua City, you couldn’t even count up to the number of both hands. I’ve been puzzled these days how our new master could have such great influence."

Not only young, strong, with such a grand background, no wonder he has the confidence to refuse invitations from so many prominent figures, even the City Lord sent his beloved young daughter to ingratiate herself, what are the Deputy City Lords and Four Commanders compared to that?

Opportunities, the chance to ascend in one leap!

All confusion cleared simultaneously, Du He immediately responded, looking up at Wang Long with gratitude all over his face.

"Hehe, Hezi, not many in the mansion know this yet, we all came from the slave village together, don’t say I didn’t look after you!"

Du He’s face full of gratitude, he thought for a moment, then solemnly bowed to Wang Long with excitement in his voice: "Brother Wang, great kindness, Du He will remember forever. If fortune allows the slave status to be transferred under the master’s name someday, Du He will surely repay Brother Wang."

Nujie Village, as the name implies, is the village where those in slave status, essentially slaves, reside.

Slaves in Cai Qiu typically come from three sources: firstly, people of no status or lowly status voluntarily sell themselves into slave status, which is the largest proportion; secondly, those originally with a fourth-degree citizen status, degraded to slave status due to crimes; thirdly, new populations captured during Caiqiu’s conflicts with the outside world or when exploring new territories, usually also relegated to slave status or lowly status.