I began to understand the myriad things by chopping wood

Chapter 9 Quiet changes
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Xie Yuan chopped down with his axe, breaking the thick wood into two pieces, and the progress just increased a little.

[Chopping wood: (479/1000)]

Looking at the subtitles in front of him, he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand and nodded with satisfaction.

Although it's not as fast as splitting a piece to increase a bit, it's not much slower either.

At this rate, it would probably take less than twenty days to advance to the next level.

Xie Yuan put the axe aside and prepared to rest for a while.

He sat on a pile of firewood, took out a few strings of copper coins from his bag, and counted them carefully.

Five ropes were strung with copper coins, each containing a mixture of ten-cent, five-cent, two-cent, and one-cent coins. Each rope contained exactly one hundred coins, making a total of five hundred coins.
There was another rope with fewer copper coins on it, sixty-three coins.

"Five hundred and sixty-three coins, that is the net profit during this period."

Xie Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

If he continued like this, he could make a net profit of more than one or two taels of silver a month.

In the mountain village, his saving speed is definitely not slow.

After all, he is the only one here who can cut down the iron poplar as if it were a bald tree.

Tie Yang, the wealthy man in the village, was free. He sold his firewood to the restaurant in town who came to collect firewood, and only then did he clear out all his stock.

Compared to when he just woke up and was penniless, Xie Yuan is much better off now. He has enough food to eat, even if it's not very good; he can eat meat every now and then, even if it's just dry and tough pheasant or rabbit.

But compared to most people in the mountain village who couldn't even get enough food to eat, Xie Yuan was definitely a member of the upper middle class in the mountain village.

“But it’s not enough.”

The ten taels of silver entrance fee to the martial arts school is still a long way off.

This is enough to barely get by, but if you really want to move forward...

We can only wait for [Splitting Wood] to transform and see the effects afterwards.

Therefore, after Xie Yuan had deducted money from himself for two days, he stopped tightening his belt.

You have to continue eating when you are full, and have meat every two days, otherwise you will not have enough energy and it will affect your efficiency. Now the progress of chopping wood is the most important thing.

Other thugs in the village also came to look for him in the past few days, but were all scared away by Xie Yuan's tough attitude.

After dealing with Li Mazi, Xie Yuan's mentality changed when he looked at these thugs who used to give him a headache.

It seems that apart from the people behind them, they themselves are not a big problem.

If it doesn't work, see you in the woods.

The invisible chill made the thugs tremble with fear. After being humiliated one by one, they banded together and went to the door again.

Xie Yuan repeated his old trick and performed a show of splitting a piece of wood on a plateau with one axe, then asked who wanted to go first.

The thugs pondered for a moment about who had a harder head, Tie Yang or themselves, and since no one was willing to take the lead, they dispersed after swearing at each other, and there was silence for a long time.

Xie Yuan did not really attack them with the axe blade, not because he was soft-hearted, but because a beating would not matter. If he really hurt or killed people in public, there would be too much trouble afterwards.

Although the mountain village is wild, it is not a completely lawless place.

Fortunately, no one cared about Li Mazi, and no one came to find him...

"Yuanzi, stop chopping wood! Why are you so excited these days? The trees on the mountain won't move. Come over and have dinner!"

Li Lan's voice rang out from outside the fence.

"coming!"

Xie Yuan walked to his brother and sister-in-law's house next door. On the table were a plate of stir-fried chicken nuggets, a plate of squishy wild vegetables, and a plate of fragrant scrambled eggs. Sitting at the table were Wang Lei and Hu Wa.

It's winter now, and there are fewer vegetables. Instead, there is more meat than vegetables, which is very rare in the village.

Li Lan served the hot brown rice, and the three adults and one child gathered around the table and devoured the meal.

Xie Yuan was chatting with his brother and sister-in-law about family matters and asked:
"Brother Shitou, do you want to go to the city to find a job?"

Wang Lei nodded:

"I have nothing to do in the winter, so I'll find some work in the city and save some money for Tiger Boy's private school."

"When are you leaving?" "In two days."

Wang Lei wiped his mouth and looked at Xie Yuan:

"Yuanzi, I'm not at home, so please come and look after your sister and Hu Waer more often."

"Brother Shitou, what are you talking about?"

Xie Yuan smiled and said:

"If I don't come here, where can I eat?"

Everyone at the dinner table laughed together, and the warmth dispelled the chill of early winter.

At the other end of the village, in a mud house that was obviously much larger.

Zhang Laoer was lying on the kang with an old man smoking a pipe, on which there was a pile of peanuts and a pot of wine.

The old man exhaled a puff of dry tobacco, which made Zhang Laoer frown. Then he picked up the small wine glass, took a sip, and made a hissing sound with his mouth, "smack, smack", looking very comfortable.

In the mountain village where food is scarce, wine is a rare commodity.

"Village chief, this wine is from the Buzui Lou in the county town, Qianbeidao. One pot costs five taels of silver. Is that okay?"

Zhang Laoer tilted his mouth and boasted.

Upon hearing this, the old village chief sighed slightly, reluctantly put down his wine glass, and said with a frown:
"Xiaoshan, occupying farmland is a capital crime. How many heads do you have to dare to do this?"

Zhang Lao Er, also known as Zhang Xiaoshan, snorted:
"As long as they sign the contract voluntarily, it won't be a seizure! Of course, the land deeds in the village still need your approval."

Seeing that the village chief remained silent, Zhang Laoer moved closer and said slowly:

"My brother went to the county school and talked to the teacher. He said that Xiao Wenzi is a good student."

The pipe in the village chief's hand shook slightly.

"My brother is highly appreciated by the county lieutenant and will soon be promoted to a higher position. When he has a say in the county government and can meet the county magistrate, I will let Xiao Wenzi learn writing from the county magistrate and train him well. Maybe he will become a scholar, no, a juren in the future!"

"Master Juren! This brings honor to our family!"

Zhang Laoer gave a thumbs up, as if the village chief's grandson had already achieved success.

The village chief puffed on his cigarette and remained silent for a long time.

After a while, when the dry tobacco was almost burned out, the village chief put down the pipe which seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, picked up the wine glass, and slowly drank it all.

Zhang Laoer smiled:

"Then I won't bother you anymore."

He filled the village chief's glass, then left the pot of wine, which had only a little wine in it, there and was about to leave.

"and many more."

Zhang Lao Er turned around and saw the village chief frowning and said:
"There's a big beast in the mountains. People in the next village have been bitten to death. Ask your brother if he has time to come back."

Zhang Lao Er said without comment:
"I'll ask him, but he's very busy with his official duties and probably won't be able to spare the time."

Seeing this, the village chief just sighed and shook his head.

Zhang Laoer strode out of the village chief's house with his head held high. He happened to run into one of his thugs and pulled him over to ask:
"Hey, how are you guys doing? Also, why haven't I seen Li Mazi for a long time?"

"Second brother! Are you back from the county?"

The ruffian greeted him, then said with a bitter face:

"I haven't seen that lazy fellow for a long time. I wonder if he went to that widow's house! As for the matter... that, that..."

He stammered as he described the tremendous changes in Xie Yuan, especially the axe, which he described as the best in the world, like a warrior master.

When Zhang Laoer heard this, he knew his subordinate was exaggerating, so he slapped him directly:

"waste!"

But then again, Zhang Laoer himself had seen Xie Yuan's axe, and it was indeed quite powerful, so it couldn't be entirely blamed on these men.

He stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and then sneered:
"Okay, it's a tough bone. But no matter how hard a bone is, it will turn into soft mud when it touches me.

"It just so happens that Wang Lei and Xie Yuan are close, so I'll attack you both."

(End of this chapter)