I began to understand the myriad things by chopping wood

Chapter 4 Uninvited Guest

Xie Yuan was carrying a pheasant, and the villagers he knew along the way were all a little surprised when they saw him.

"Yuanzi, did you catch a pheasant?"

"Oh! Or did you ask Zhu Dongming to change it yourself?"

"Okay, okay, let's eat some meat. Hey, I haven't seen oily food in a long time."

"Your little dick is pretty big..."

Xie Yuan listened to these words and pretended not to understand. He just smiled politely and walked away, unmoved.

In the days after Xie Lun's death, no one except Wang Lei and Li Lan helped him, not even a single one, sharing some food with him or lending him a piece of clothing.

My eldest brother was popular when he was alive. He was kind-hearted and strong, and helped a lot. But when he passed away...

Xie Yuan did not blame anyone, as no one owed him anything. Besides, the villagers were having a hard time, worrying about their next meal after finishing the last one. Perhaps he was just being willing but unable to do anything.

But it was impossible to expect him to share the meat, as he himself could not even eat enough.

It was not easy to eat meat in the mountain village. Amid the envious eyes of others, Xie Yuan returned home first, packed all the remaining firewood, and then went to the next door.

"Yuanzi is here? The meal isn't ready yet, wait a little longer... What are you holding?"

Li Lan's voice was fast and urgent. After she finished speaking, she noticed what Xie Yuan was holding in his hands and carrying on his back.

"Why is there still a chicken?"

"Sister Lanhua, I cut down a poplar tree and exchanged it with Zhu Dongming for a chicken. There is still some firewood here, you can use it to burn it, don't let Tiger Boy get cold."

As Xie Yuan spoke, he handed the chicken to Li Lan and unloaded the firewood on his back.

Li Lan took the pheasant blankly, looked at the firewood on the ground, and raised her voice unconsciously:

"Tie Yang? Yuanzi, can you still chop down Tie Yang?"

Xie Yuan chuckled:
"It can't be that I picked them up, right? Iron poplars don't drop so many dead branches."

Li Lan smiled:

"Oh, I knew you were just like your brother, you're capable! Just wait, I'll prepare the chicken right now and add a big dish to lunch!"

While Li Lan was cooking, Wang Lei came back from outside carrying a hoe and asked in confusion:
"What's that smell? It smells so good. I can smell it from far away."

"Yuanzi brought back the pheasant! Go wash your hands, it will be ready soon."

"What? Pheasant?"

After the four people sat around the table and looked at the pot of fragrant fried chicken, Hu Wa's saliva was almost flowing. Just as he was about to reach out for it, he was hit by the chopsticks.

Li Lan glared:
"How did you teach me? You move the chopsticks only after the adults have moved them!

"Yuanzi, eat quickly."

She passed the chicken leg to Xie Yuan, who smiled and said:
"I can choose it myself."

Several of them were a little impatient, so they stopped talking and just ate quickly.

To be honest, there was no spice, soy sauce, cumin, chili, or even much salt. The pheasant meat was so dry and tough that in his previous life, Xie Yuan would not even want to look at it.

But now, Xie Yuan's mouth was so full that he almost cried.

It smells so good! Even the brown rice tastes better!

Who would have imagined before that we would only be able to eat meat once in a few days?

Unfortunately, the pheasant was too small, and four of us finished it in one go, leaving everyone feeling a little unsatisfied.

"It's not very profitable... After a while, I'll save some money and buy a fat chicken!"

Xie Yuan smacked his lips.

Li Lan pursed her lips and said:
"Yuanzi, you should spend money frugally and don't waste it. Well, next time you have meat to eat, you can cook it yourself. If you don't know how, let me help you. Thank you today!"

Wang Lei also nodded.

Seeing this, Xie Yuan's face fell:
"Sister Lanhua, why are you being so polite to me?"

"Not really, but the meat is expensive..."

"No matter how expensive the meat is, it's not as valuable as my life. Without you, I would have starved to death. How much white rice have I eaten at your place? Don't say such things in the future. I don't like to hear them."

Xie Yuan said with a straight face.

"Oh, you..."

Li Lan wiped her hands on her apron and was touched for a moment, but she didn't know what to say.

"I can chop iron poplars now, so it's not a problem to eat meat occasionally. Tiger boy is small, so he needs to eat more so that he can grow tall and strong." Xie Yuan smiled again.

Wang Lei sighed:
"Yuanzi has become more capable. Is the axe okay?"

"It's okay, don't worry, Brother Shitou. I know what to do."

"That's good."

Wang Lei nodded:
"That's good. You won't starve yourself and you can still eat meat. But I still have to tell you something.

"Earlier Zhang said he wanted to take you to the county to beg for food. With his elder brother taking care of you, you can live well. What do you think?"

Xie Yuan frowned slightly. Zhang brothers?
He suddenly remembered that when his eldest brother had just left, Zhang Laoer found him and expressed a similar idea, but he was in a daze at that time and did not agree, which seemed to make Zhang Laoer a little unhappy.

What do they want to do with me?
To be honest, my eldest brother used to not get along with the two brothers of the Zhang family. If something good really happened, how could it be possible that it would happen to me?

Not right.

Xie Yuan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"I don't know what they are up to, but it's definitely not a good thing, so forget it."

Li Lan and Wang Lei both nodded:
"We think so too, but we also feel that going to the county is always an opportunity."

The county town is prosperous and much better than the poor mountain village. Many people would be willing to go there to make a living if there was a chance.

Xie Yuan kept shaking his head and said firmly:

"It's good to go to the county town, but are the two Zhang brothers good people? If there's a good thing, why would they come to me instead of giving it to their relatives? I'm afraid this is not an opportunity, but a trap."

Xie Yuan knew too much about people who deliberately pitted their fellow villagers, such as blind mountains and blind wells, in his previous life.

Li Lan and his wife nodded repeatedly. They thought so in their hearts, but they also felt that the opportunity to enter the county town should not be given up.

They are uneducated and have not experienced information explosion. Unlike Xie Yuan, they do not understand the truth so clearly and are always wavering.

Wang Lei smacked his lips and sighed:

"Yuanzi seems to have grown up suddenly."

A few days later, Xie Yuan chopped the iron poplar into firewood and went to Zhu Dongming to exchange it for a rabbit.

Zhu Dongming piled up the firewood and nodded:

"Yuanzi, your firewood is burning well, so my son can have a warm winter."

Although his conditions are considered good in the village, he probably wouldn't be willing to buy ironwood.

He exchanged two small pheasants and rabbits for such a big basket. Although he didn't say it, he knew in his heart that he was getting a good deal.

"That's not right, Brother Zhu, this game is delicious."

Xie Yuan sighed in his heart, eating meat is really not cheap. It took him several days to grow this iron poplar, but in the end it was all exchanged for two meals of meat.

But the benefits were immediate. After eating the meat, he was obviously in much better physical condition and had the strength to swing the axe.

"By the way, Yuanzi, you'd better not go too deep into the woods recently. It seems our people have spotted a big insect."

Zhu Dongming suddenly reminded.

"Ah? OK, I understand. Thank you, Brother Zhu."

Xie Yuan was stunned and nodded.

He was a little surprised. Zhu Dongming, who always had a stern face and was rude to others, took the initiative to remind him? It was not easy.

Big insect?

Xie Yuan kept this in mind, but he would not run into the mountains.

A few more days passed.

Xie Yuan was chopping wood in his yard when he cut down another iron poplar tree in the forest.

[Chopping wood: (168/1000)]

"The progress is not slow. In about a month, we will be able to advance to the next level. I wonder what abilities we will have by then?"

Xie Yuan chopped down with his axe, and the wood broke into two pieces.

Just as I was looking forward to the future, the door of the courtyard was suddenly pushed open.

A reckless voice came in:
"Yuanzi, what do you think about what I told you before?"

(End of this chapter)