Chapter 2: A Way to Survive
The next morning, Chen Yuan woke up from his sleep, got dressed, and pushed out the door.
It was still early at this time and the sun was rising. The Chimang Mountains in the distance were covered with a thin layer of morning mist. The green mountains were faint and the ancient trees were lush, just like a fairyland.
According to old legend, someone once saw an immortal in the Chimang Mountains, flying to the sky and escaping from the earth, moving to the mountains to reach the mountains.
To this day, there are still old people who worship the immortals in the mountains every year and ask for their blessings.
There was smoke from cooking in the village, and the voices of people could be faintly heard.
The excitement of yesterday's wedding has dispersed, and the villagers have begun a new busy day.
Ms. Chen Li was busy working in front of the stove in the courtyard. When she saw Chen Yuan coming out, she greeted:
"Er Niu, wake up the little girl. It's time to eat."
“Okay.”
Chen Yuan agreed and went back to the house to wake up his little sister.
The little sister does not have a real name, so she is called Chen Xiaomei.
This is the case for girls from villagers’ families. They only have a nickname for easy addressing.
After Chen Yuan woke up his little sister, he moved the yellow wooden table out of the big thatched hut and placed it in the courtyard.
Ms. Chen Li brought four bowls of freshly cooked porridge. Chen Tiezhu took out the thick flour pancakes from the cabinet and scooped out a bowl of pickles from the pickle jar in front of the house. The family sat around the table , start having breakfast.
After Chen Yuan accepted the starlight infusion, his appetite increased and he ate more and more. He spent another night half-starved and half-full. He was already very hungry. He picked up the thick flour pancake and ate the pickles and wolfed it down.
Not long after, one pancake was eaten, and Chen Yuan reached for the second pancake.
But when he touched the pancake, he paused and turned to look at Chen Tiezhu.
Only half of the pancake in Chen Tiezhu’s hand has been eaten.
When he saw Chen Yuan’s movements, the wrinkles on his face seemed to be deeper and he said:
"Eat it."
Chen Yuan then picked up the second pancake and ate it.
When he finishes the second pancake, the other three will be full.
Chen Tiezhu ate a pancake, Chen Li ate most of the pancake, and the younger sister had the smallest appetite and only ate less of the half.
Ms. Chen Li picked up the porridge in front of her and said with concern:
"Er Niu, are you full?"
Of course Chen Yuan was not full, but he did not ask for more. He also picked up the gruel and said:
"Mother, I am full. . ”
He knew that if he opened his mouth, his parents would definitely not let him go hungry.
But eating three thick flour pancakes without doing anything in the morning was too appalling.
He could only endure the hunger in his stomach and pretend to be full.
……
After the family finished breakfast, Mrs. Chen Li cleared the stove and washed the dishes.
After Chen Yuan finished feeding the only old hen at home, he picked up the farm tools and followed Chen Tiezhu to the fields to tend the crops.
The Chen family cultivates five acres of land and digs food in the land all day long.
The younger sister was not idle either. She went out with Chen Yuan and Chen Tiezhu to find familiar children of the same age, and then went to the river to hunt pigweed together.
Chen Yuan's family is too poor to afford pig seedlings, but there are several wealthy families in Chenjia Village who raise pigs.
My little sister helps the children of those families to hunt pigweed, so that they can have some food at noon and reduce the burden on the family.
Chen Yuan sent the little girl to the river, and then went to the fields with Chen Tiezhu. Taking advantage of the cool weather, they began to weed and loosen the ground.
Chen Yuan has great strength and endurance, and can work much faster than Chen Tiezhu.
A quarter of an hour later, Chen Li also came to the field, picked up farm tools, and joined the two men.
The three of them worked until almost noon, before the sun rose above their heads, they finished their work and went home.
During lunch, Chen Yuan ate three pancakes.
The wrinkles on Chen Tiezhu’s face became deeper.
In the afternoon, when the hottest period passed, Chen Yuan followed his parents and continued working in the fields.
It wasn't until sunset that the three of them returned home.
My little sister has already made rice. It is the same as in the morning and lunch, including porridge, thick flour pancakes and pickles.
The villagers can’t afford better food, so it’s not easy to survive.
Chen Yuan ate two pancakes, and the feeling of half-hungry and half-full that lasted for a day finally disappeared.
Ordinary people only eat one thick flour pancake for one meal. Chen Yuan ate seven today and five more last night.
It would take an ordinary person four days of food intake to fully digest the harvest brought about by starlight infusion.
After dinner, Chen Yuan went to chop wood as usual, feeling a little stronger than yesterday, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
Click! Click!
Chen Yuan split firewood one after another without feeling any fatigue.
The little girl watched with interest and told the interesting things that happened during the day:
"Second brother, look, do the flowers I picked look good..."
Chen Yuan looked over and saw the little girl with a smile and tilted her head. There was a flower stuck in her slightly dry hair. Bright red flowers.
Chen Yuan felt a little distressed, but he praised:
"It's good-looking. My little sister is the prettiest. Even if she has a dog's tail grass on her head, she still looks good."
< br>"Huh, second brother is lying, the dog's tail grass is the ugliest..."
In the big thatched house, Chen Tiezhu sat at the yellow wooden table, watching the brothers and sisters laughing in the courtyard, silent.
He held the dry tobacco bag in his hand, opened the mouth, took a deep breath of the smell of dry tobacco leaves, and then slowly exhaled a long breath.
The Chen family was so poor that he only smoked dry tobacco every few days. He could only smell the tobacco leaves and get addicted. Mrs. Chen Li sat on the other side of the yellow wooden table, eyes wide open, taking advantage of the last ray of skylight, holding the soles of her coarse shoes.
Chen Tiezhu suddenly said:
"My dear, when I went to Dahua's house for dinner yesterday, I sat at the same table with his second son and talked for a while. Chen Laoer is doing well in the county and specializes in finding apprentices for the shop. Why don't we let him Help Er Niu find a job..."
Chen Li stopped moving, rubbed his eyes, and said:< br>
"Let Erniu go to the city? No! He is so young, what should he do if he is bullied?"
"It is because he is young that others accept him. When he gets older, his temper becomes wild. They don’t want it yet.”
Chen Li still refuses:
"The shopkeepers and managers in those shops are all evil-hearted. The third son of Chen Huaishu's family went to the county to be an apprentice and was beaten half to death. How can Er Niu endure this suffering?"
Chen Tiezhu knocked. Dry tobacco stick, sighed:
"Er Niu's appetite is getting bigger and bigger, today is the day I just ate seven pancakes and didn’t let him go out to find a way to survive. He followed us to dig for food in the fields and couldn’t even get a full meal. That’s called suffering!”
Ms. Chen Li’s face darkened. , after a long while he said:
"Is he willing to accept Erniu as an apprentice?"
When Chen Tiezhu saw his mother-in-law relenting, he felt relieved:
"Take it! Chen Laoer knew that Er Niu was very strong, so he made a guarantee with me. As long as Er Niu was handed over to him, he would not have to worry about finding a job. ”
Chen Li held the coarse cloth soles full of patches in her hands and said softly:
“Then give it a try.”
“Okay, I will go find Chen Laoer tomorrow and tell the matter to him. Set it down..."
Chen Li was silent, suddenly stood up, took a wooden box from the bedside, counted twenty clean copper plates from it, handed it to Chen Tiezhu, and said:
"You put these Give the money to Chen Laoer and ask him to find a good job for Erniu so that Erniu will suffer less. "
Chen Tiezhu took the copper plate and put it in. In the coarse cloth bag he carried with him, he said:
"This time Dahua's son got married and built a house. Erniu and I did a lot of work. Chen Laoer is his uncle. I have to recognize this affection and give him some more." Money, he will definitely not treat Erniu badly."
Chen Li picked up the coarse cloth sole again, sighed and said:
"It depends on Er Niu's life. I just beg him not to blame me for being such a cruel mother."
......
Kacha - Kacha -
Yard Inside, Chen Yuan lowered his head, pursed his lips, and chopped firewood much slower.
Although Chen Tiezhu and Chen Li deliberately lowered their voices, he still listened to their conversation word for word.
After twenty-two starlight injections, Chen Yuan's physical body was improved in all aspects. Not only was his strength greatly increased, but his five senses were also far superior to ordinary people.
When Chen Yuan heard that his parents were going to send him to be an apprentice, Chen Yuan had mixed feelings in his heart.
Since time traveling, Chen Tiezhu and Chen Li have been very good to him, and he really regards them as his parents.
In the past three years, Chen Yuan has repeatedly wanted to change his destiny and let his family live a prosperous life.
The first thing he thought of was naturally doing business, but the Chen family was poor and had no capital.
Computers and finance, which Chen Yuan is most proficient in, have no use in this era.
He also doesn’t know how to make glass, liquor, and soap. Even if he knew, he wouldn’t dare to use them.
All profitable businesses have been taken over by powerful landlords and official gangs.
Chen Yuan is a commoner, don’t get involved, otherwise you will definitely be eaten alive.
After failing in business, Chen Yuan thought of studying, literacy, and becoming an official in the imperial examination, which was also his strength.
There is a private school in Chenjia Village, which was funded and established by Chen Rongcai, the only landlord in the village, and an old boy over fifty years old was hired to teach.
Chen Yuan went to ask Lao Tongsheng to teach him how to read and digit.
But he couldn't come up with Shu Xiu, and the old boy was unmoved.
The Chen family is too poor. After paying the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, it is difficult to maintain food and clothing, let alone repair.
Chen Yuan wanted to learn Chinese writing secretly when he couldn't get into private school.
But he couldn't afford books, and it was impossible for anyone to lend them to him.
Later, after being immersed in starlight, Chen Yuan became light and healthy, and climbed over the wall in the middle of the night to steal old Tongsheng's books.
But there was no one to help him get started, and there was no auxiliary reference book such as a dictionary. He couldn't pass the threshold, and he still couldn't learn to write.
There is no way to study, and it is even less feasible to learn martial arts.
The poor scholar is rich in martial arts, and the money he pays to practice martial arts as a disciple is far more than Shu Xiu. It often costs dozens of taels of silver, and Chen Yuan can't afford it at all.
In feudal society, there was a strict hierarchy, and poor people had no choice but to accept their fate.
However, Chen Yuan actually has one last way to change his destiny, which is to become a bandit in the Chimang Mountains and block roads.
With his strength, he should be able to get through even if he doesn't know martial arts.
But he is too young, just a child. Even if he wants to be a bandit, no one wants him.
With all roads blocked, Chen Yuan once again thought of going into the mountains to hunt in order to fill his stomach.
But hunting is not that simple. Although he is extremely powerful, he cannot trace the traces or set up nooses. This is the key to whether he can catch the prey.
The wild animals are hidden in the vast mountains and forests, and they are extremely vigilant, making it extremely difficult to find them.
There are only a few hunters in Chenjia Village, and they will not spread their eating skills to others.
There are only so many wild animals in the nearby mountains and forests. They can't catch enough by themselves, so how can they allow others to get involved.
In desperation, Chen Yuan could only put aside all his thoughts and wait until he grew up in a few years before making any plans.
Given the chance to live a new life and the magical jade, he would never be willing to farm the land for the rest of his life.
When he heard that his parents were going to send him to be an apprentice, he felt reluctant to leave his family, but at the same time he was also looking forward to it.
No matter what you do, it is better than staying in Chenjiacun and farming.
At the very least, he needs to have a full meal first so that he can safely perform starlight injection.
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(End of this chapter)