Cultivation System: Stronger with Age Chapter 1417 - 619: Honored Guest of the Huang Family

For Lin Xuankong, the most critical thing was that

now that he had the backing of Sima Dongming’s faction, he no longer cared that much about the powers in a small place like Qingyuan City!

Still, from a certain angle, what Third Miss Miao of the Miao Family, Miao Wan’er, said could be considered well‑intentioned, so Lin Xuankong couldn’t very well argue back.

"Alright, I’ll keep it in mind." Lin Xuankong nodded, then fell silent and looked through the glass at the stream of people out on the street.

Seeing that he didn’t seem to care much, Third Miss Miao, Miao Wan’er, immediately felt a bit stifled. She knit her willow brows, wanting to say more, but when she saw that Lin Xuankong was just staring out the window and not even glancing at her anymore, she grew even more depressed.

This Third Miss of the Miao Family, though her heart was higher than the sky and her ambitions immense, always dreaming that she could use certain connections in the future to bring the entire Miao Family up with her, no matter how lofty her aspirations, in the end she was still a young woman of eighteen or nineteen, at the age of loving beauty, the age of enjoying the admiration of her peers, and the age of having a bit of vanity!

So,

when she saw Lin Xuankong casually brush her off with a single sentence and then not even look at her again, Miao Wan’er couldn’t help grumbling to herself inwardly.

Is this Lin Qiang a complete block of wood or what!

I was being kind here, not wanting you to make a fool of yourself at someone’s birthday banquet, and even hoping you’d be able to stay comfortably in our Miao Family in the future, but just look at you, clearly not taking what I just said to heart at all!

And what, does this white dress I’m wearing today not look good or something!

Didn’t you see that even that guy Liang Yucheng was staring until his eyes went straight? Yet you didn’t even bother to say one word of praise,

you didn’t even spare me an extra glance. You’re either blind or totally devoid of any sense of aesthetics, a complete bumpkin from some rural backwater!

After muttering about Lin Xuankong in her heart for a good while, Miao Wan’er simply scooted over to the other side of the seat, turned to look out the opposite window, her cheeks puffed up in anger.

Lin Xuankong, on the other hand, stared at the scene outside the car window, his brows slowly knitting together.

Ever since he was reborn into this Absolute Spirit Little World, he had spent most of his time either in Cultivation or in the Miao Family, never walking the streets of Qingyuan City, much less carefully observing the common folk of this county town of the Great Yan Kingdom! Now that he finally planned to relax a little, to feel some of the worldly smoke and fire of the mortal realm, he discovered, in stark contrast to the Miao Family’s young lady who changed into pretty clothes every day, never worrying about food or drink and always being picked up and dropped off by car, that the ordinary commoners outside were living lives that barely counted as human!

Among those commoners outside, sixty to seventy percent didn’t even have a single clean, intact set of clothes. Most were in rags, patched who knew how many times, the surface of their garments covered in dust and mud! Their faces were likewise pitch‑black with grime, and their hair was a dirty, tangled mess like bird nests, who knew how many days it had been since they’d last washed!

Most of the commoners were so thin and weak it was pitiful. With their ragged, loose clothing, they looked like sticks with clothes draped over them; the hands and feet exposed outside the clothing were all filthy beyond belief!

As the car moved along,

when those commoners saw this pristine white car of the Miao Family, they all hurriedly stepped aside, hiding by the two sides of the street that were full of filth and excrement, their eyes filled with respect, fear, and even a hint of panic as they watched the car drive through the street.

Besides that, there were quite a few commoners who couldn’t even afford an upper garment, wearing only an ill‑fitting pair of pants, squatting by the roadside! And every ten or so meters, there would be one or two listless beggars sprawled at the edge of the street, constantly shaking chipped or half‑broken bowls, praying that passersby would give them something to eat! Unfortunately, most of the people walking the street were themselves so thin and weak that they looked too poor to even feed themselves, let alone have the spare ability to help those beggars!

After pulling his gaze back, the originally relaxed Lin Xuankong, who had planned to savor a bit of the mundane smoke and fire of this Absolute Spirit Little World, found his brows knitting ever tighter.

The commoners outside, though so gaunt they were barely human, all had black hair, black eyes, and yellowish skin. This suddenly gave Lin Xuankong the feeling that he had truly crossed over to the Nanjing Government era of Blue Star Huaxia, to that chaotic, miserable time when the common people suffered endlessly!

Especially in this Absolute Spirit Little World, the Great Yan Kingdom was currently under attack from the allied troops of seven or eight countries. War smoke rose everywhere along the borders, and internally, clans stood like forests and warlords all harbored their own sinister designs. It was practically identical to that era!

"What’s wrong? Why did your face suddenly look so awful?"

Sitting in the seat beside him, Third Miss Miao, Miao Wan’er, noticed the change in Lin Xuankong’s expression and asked in surprise.

Lin Xuankong remained silent, but some thoughts were quietly taking shape in his heart.

Miao Wan’er studied him for a moment, then glanced out the window on Lin Xuankong’s side. She seemed to understand, and lightly shook her head as she said, "Qingyuan City nowadays is indeed far from as prosperous as it was four or five years ago. On top of that, with the years of drought, most of Qingyuan City’s commoners can only barely fill their stomachs! But this is a time of chaos—who has many options? Maybe in a few years, when the fighting on the borders ceases and most of the young men and able‑bodied fellows return to their hometowns to work the land again, things will get a bit better."