The death of Old Zhu and his family of three was like a stone tossed into a deep pond.
Although it stirred some ripples in the alley, after a few days, hardly anyone mentioned it; when neighbors occasionally did, it was merely with a sigh.
As for Hou Zheng, who rented the dilapidated house, his disappearance went entirely unnoticed.
Who would care about the life or death of a second-rate cultivator who liked gambling?
What everyone was more concerned about now was the continuously rising grain prices.
The matrons and aunties would always discuss the daily-changing prices of Spirit Rice or Tribute Rice when they met, their faces tinged with a faint worry, full of anxiety about the winter that had arrived.
When the first snow fell, Old Zhu's house was taken by a new family.
This family of five, the patriarch surnamed Duan, was at the fifth level of Qi Cultivation and had a wife, a concubine, and two children.
