Unlimited employment

Chapter 6 006 [Zhu Chongwu]

"Neighbors, neighbors, stop digging in the dirt!"

"There's a grain loan service at Yuhuang Temple on the northern slope of the mountain. There's also a porridge stall there. You can get a bowl of porridge if you go."

"If you have a beautiful wife and daughter at home, you can even ask the master chef to help consecrate and bless them!"

The shouts for distributing grain had been heard nearby for a long time, but Chen Sheng didn't even raise his head, and was still working hard to peel the bark of a low pine tree in front of him.

He didn't sit down on the ground until all the bark was peeled off, then he tore off the edible innermost layer of the pine bark and handed it to his younger brothers beside him.

After doing all this, he raised his head, his eyes swept across the withered and yellow hillside, and looked at the gray and yellow barren mountains in the distance.

The severe drought that lasted for two years completely drained the food reserves of the people.

As the largest local landlord, Yuhuang Temple is finally going to take advantage of the disaster year to occupy land!

"Brother, let's go and borrow some food. We can even get a bowl of porridge."

The speaker was Chen Sheng's twelve-year-old third brother Zhu Chongliu. The repeated shouting in his ears had already made him so greedy that his eyes were shining green.

His nine-year-old fourth brother Zhu Chongqi, who was standing next to him, looked a little stupid. He was chewing the tree bark. The bitter taste of pine resin made his thin face wrinkled, making him look extremely ugly.

After three months of digging for wild vegetables and dying of illness and starvation, their predecessor gave them most of the grass roots and tree bark he could find, but they still became as thin as skin and bones.

Looking at his two emaciated brothers, Chen Sheng shook his head.

"Yuhuang Temple only lends grain to farmers who own land. For tenants like us who don't have any land, let alone loans, even if we dare to eat the temple's porridge for free, we'll probably be caught and sold by the monks."

Having said that, Chen Sheng's mouth began to water uncontrollably when he thought of the taste of oatmeal porridge.

He could only pluck a handful of pine needles from the pine tree beside him, stuff them into his mouth and chew them vigorously, letting the bitter taste of pine oil spread under his tongue, and only then could he barely suppress the instinctive desire in his heart.

Savoring the bitter taste in his mouth, Chen Sheng sighed softly in his heart.

"Starting with starving people, and with two children, this situation is far more difficult than the mine prison."

It has been half a month since the original owner starved to death and Chen Sheng activated [Reincarnation] and descended into the body of this identical entity from another world whose parents had both passed away.

After receiving the original owner's memories and combining them with what he had seen and heard during this period of time, he has figured out the situation of this world.

There are martial arts, rivers and lakes, and temples. The lives of ordinary people are difficult, knights come and go, and the government levies heavy taxes. It is a typical ancient feudal dynasty.

These days, life is not easy for ordinary people.

Last year, there was a severe drought in Haozhou and the fields were barren. Then, at the beginning of this spring, there was a locust plague and epidemic.

The original owner's father, mother, and elder brother died of the disease one after another, but the Zhu family, as a tenant family, was so poor that they didn't even have a place to bury them.

The original owner first went to ask the landlord Liu De for a piece of land to bury him, considering that the Zhu family had been his tenant for a lifetime.

As a result, Liu De said: I will give the Zhu family as much grain as the land they cultivate, and I have never owed them a cent.

Now that someone in the Zhu family has died, you actually want to ask me for the land, as if I owe you something. How can this be justified?

The original owner could only return home and watch the body rot, helpless.

Finally, it was the landlord Liu Jizu from the same village who felt sorry for their family and gave them a small piece of mountain land for burial.

After his parents and elder brother died, he and his two younger brothers were left at home.

Because natural disasters and plagues had exhausted the family's wealth, and after eating the wheat seeds originally reserved for the next year, the three brothers were left with nowhere to go and could only survive by digging wild vegetables near the village.

Because he gave most of the grass roots and tree barks he dug to his two younger brothers, the original owner finally died of illness and starvation half a month ago.

Only then was Chen Sheng able to take advantage of the opportunity and occupy this body.

Afterwards, he relied on his newly awakened profession of "Hungry Man" to continue digging wild vegetables, eating leaves, and digging grass roots, and he managed to survive until today.

As he thought of the golden finger, he subconsciously glanced at the panel floating in his sight.

[Name]: Chen Sheng (Zhu Chongwu) [Age]: 15/65
[Profession 1]: Yambu Insect
Level: Lv2 (1/200)

Talents: Concealing the secrets of heaven, reincarnation of others

The ratio of time flow between the two worlds: 1:300
[Occupation 2]: Hungry
Level: Lv3 (271/300)

Talent: Cow stomach and horse intestine

skill:
Wild Vegetable Identification Lv2 (67/200)

"What a damned world this is! I'm a perfectly normal person, but I've been forced to grow a cow's stomach and horse's intestines that can digest grass and leaves."

As a time traveler, Chen Sheng knew that most non-toxic weeds and leaves were edible.

But being able to eat doesn’t mean you can eat more.

The human stomach cannot digest plant fiber. If you consume too much, you may be able to excrete it intact if you are lucky. If you are unlucky, it will clump into a mass in the stomach and intestines, suffocating you to death.

One of the important reasons why people starve to death in years of disaster is that humans cannot feed on wild grass and leaves like cattle and horses.

However, after being fortunate enough to possess the talent of [cow stomach and horse intestines], Chen Sheng now gains weight no matter what he eats. In just half a month, he has regained his weight of more than 30 kilograms.

Unfortunately, in this year of continuous natural and man-made disasters, even eating some green leaves requires walking a long way up the mountain.

Otherwise, Chen Sheng would have been fully confident that he could grow a body of beefy tendon meat by eating grass.

While his brothers were gnawing on the pine bark, Chen Sheng had already picked all the pine needles from the small pine tree next to him.

He patted his full stomach and burped.

"Chongliu, Chongqi, let's get going after we finish eating."

It was already late.

Even in years of severe drought, the humidity in Haozhou is very high at night, and people who sleep outdoors are likely to catch a cold.

They had to go home for the night.

"Brother, I'm still hungry. I want to eat some pine needles too."

"Second brother has told us so many times that if we kids eat grass without permission, we'll be poisoned to death. Why can't you remember?"

"I'd rather be poisoned to death than die a well-fed ghost."

……

Accompanied by the weak quarrels of his two younger brothers, Chen Sheng led his brothers down the hillside.

Walking on the narrow path between the loess gullies, carrying half a basket of wild vegetables, I returned to the village before the sun set.

As a result, as soon as he entered the village, Chen Sheng found that the villagers he met along the way looked a little strange.

"Chongwu, go home quickly, someone is coming to pick you up."

"To pick up the bride?"

After hearing the reminder from the busybody, Chen Sheng suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart and turned to his two younger brothers behind him.

"Go hide in the mountain temple at the west end of the village. I won't come looking for you. Don't come back to the village no matter who tells you to!"

Then, he hurried back to the door of his house and saw a wedding procession dressed in red and green crowding in the small courtyard formed by his own fence.

There were also two carrying boxes decorated with red cloth strips placed in the yard.

A breeze blew, blowing up the red cloth covering the box, revealing some leather, cotton, and other clothing made of paper...

(End of this chapter)