Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 20 Begging
Wealthy families value keeping their wealth hidden, but Beijiwu deliberately flaunted his silver reserves.

"The money we got before can now be used legitimately."

Arctic Wu was happily thinking about the good things.

"Last year, I was robbed on the road. After fighting back, I got five taels of silver, which could buy quite a lot of things. But wouldn't it be too ostentatious to buy a cow?"

"Buy some hoes, sickles, winnowing baskets, hampers, or grain."

Arctic Wu easily returned home.

In these terrible times, Arctic Warrior, who liked to wander around, did indeed encounter robbers.

Then they turned the tables and killed these people.

At first I was very nervous, but I gradually got used to it. I found that I could leave the body in someone else's field without reporting it to the authorities, and the body would disappear for no reason, as if it had been refreshed.

In this era with little rule of law, as long as one doesn't provoke officials, soldiers, or wealthy households, and pays taxes and grain on time, everything else is basically self-governed.

"elder brother!"

Li Hong and the others who were working at the door saw that Bei Jiwu had returned and came over to greet him.

Beijiwu put down the grain and hoe and had them carried by others, then went to feed the horses.

Li Bing looked at the little bit of stuff in his hand. "Brother, is there no work today?"

Yesterday we had grain, salt, and a piece of cloth; today we only have a hoe and grain.

Beijiwu said, "There's too much stuff to carry, and the grain is already quite heavy, so I paid the bill with silver. I'll go to the county to buy some grain to get through the winter when I have some free time in a few days."

"Great!" Li Bing and the others happily entered the house, their faces full of joy.

Li Hong went inside to cook, while the Zhang sisters were still working outside.

Zhang Xiulan said to her younger sister, "Yesterday's rice can last for half a month if we eat it sparingly. Today we got another bag, which will last for a month. If we get two more bags tomorrow and the day after, we won't have to worry about food for two months."

Xianglan swept the floor with a large broom, wiped her sweat, and looked up with her dirty face to ask, "So we have to hold on until next year?"

Xiulan laughed and said, "Adding five mu of wheat will be enough!" Xiulan glanced at the yard and whispered, "If we didn't spend ten mu of wheat to buy those two money-losing things, we could have enough for four bowls of porridge per meal!"

Xianglan nodded happily, "Two bowls are enough. My brother is capable; there are still two acres of rice left to harvest."

Beiji Wujin saw that the water tank was almost empty, so he picked up two buckets and went outside.

Seeing this, Li Hong quickly said, "Brother, you rest. Just let Li Bing and Xiulan fetch water."

"No need, I'll get it done faster." Beijiwu went out to fetch water.

There was no well at home, so fetching water was quite difficult.

The well issue isn't a high priority; making money and land reclamation are the top priorities.

Just as I was carrying water home, I saw a family of three come to the door.

Two people, a man and a woman, both around 23 or 24 years old, and a little girl around 5 or 6 years old.

Beijiwu remembered that this was someone from the village, but he didn't have much of a presence and they didn't meet often.

Having been here for over a year, Beijiwu never wanders around the village when he has nothing to do; instead, he goes out to check on things.

He had no contact with the people in the village, and he didn't even have a close relationship with his own brother.

The older brother tried to take advantage of his age to beat him up, but after being beaten to tears by Arctic Martial Arts, he never came back.

Kitada Gen and Kitamiya Teiben were just looking for trouble, insisting on provoking Beiji Wu. They were both beaten so badly they had to kneel and call him "Grandpa," and even had to call another brother or accomplice "Dad." If they didn't, they were beaten to death. In the end, they all submitted. In fact, for over a year, they hadn't encountered a single one with a backbone.

Surrendering and begging for mercy is very common in border areas; whoever has the strongest fist is the boss.

Arctic Martial sized up the two men and women who looked like a couple, as well as the little girl who looked like she was about to be sold.

The couple looked incredibly weak. Let alone Beijiwu, even the three Beitian brothers and cowards like Beigong Dingbian could easily take on four or five of them.

Moreover, he looked like a spineless coward, with a hunched back and a humble expression on his face. His first impression of Arctic Martial was that of a piece of meat on a chopping board.

"What are you doing in my house? I'm not lending money to anyone."

Beijiwu asked a question, and although his attitude was not good, he was not as arrogant as he had been towards the Beigong Dingbian and Beitian brothers.

Ai Dake and his wife quickly knelt down, and his wife, Gao Conglian, pulled their daughter down to kneel as well.

Ai Dake knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Beiji Wu Xian before saying, "Grandpa Wu, my family can't survive. We want to pawn my wife and daughter in exchange for a bag of rice."

Beijiwu laughed and said, "I don't even have enough rice at home. You good-for-nothing can't support a wife, so what's the point of getting married? Go find a rock and kill yourself!"

Ai Dake didn't have the courage to commit suicide, and pleaded, "Please, Grandpa, have mercy! Please, Grandpa, have mercy!"

Arctic Martial shouted, "Get out! If you don't get out, I'll kick you away and send you to meet your dead grandfather!"

Ai Dake looked at Beijiwu in fear, trying to move, but his knees felt like they were rooted to the spot.

Gao Conglian cried and grabbed her daughter's hair, kowtowing with her, "Grandpa, spare us! Grandpa, please have mercy! I still have two young sons to feed, we really can't survive this year... Grandpa, please have mercy!"

Looking at the mother and daughter kneeling on the ground and kowtowing, Beijiwu cursed, "Go to hell! My family already has four mouths to feed, you want to eat... eat your mother's food!!"

Zhang Xiulan and Zhang Xianglan came out when they heard the shouts outside. Seeing that the three people were still there, they quickly came over to drive them away.

"Go, go, go!"

"We don't have enough food at home, so you'll have to figure it out yourselves."

Gao Conglian knelt on the ground, holding her daughter, and refused to leave.

Arctic Martial frowned. "Fine! Fine! You're determined to cling to me, aren't you? I'm going to hit you!"

Beijiwu put down the carrying pole, looked at Ai Dake, and in three quick steps, picked up the man with one hand and threw him out.

The man was thrown heavily into the air, flung seven or eight meters away by the North Pole.

A neighbor, fifty meters away, watched this scene from behind a tree in front of his door, too frightened to show his face.

The nearest neighbor to Beijiwu is more than 50 meters away. The village has few people and lots of land, and the houses are all quite far apart.

It's inconvenient to work if the houses are too close together, and it's easy to fight over building houses. It's also not suitable for dividing up houses for the sons in the future.

Gao Conglian and her daughter saw Ai Dake thrown far away, his body scraped and bleeding on the ground, and his hands covered in blood when he stood up.

Despite the fact that her husband was being beaten, and possibly even killed, Gao Conglian still dared not run away.

Gao Conglian continued to kowtow to Bei Jiwu, pleading, "Grandpa, please have mercy! Please have mercy!"

Arctic Wu has killed people before, but those were robbers who wanted his life. Now, these three people in front of him are also people who want his life.

They're begging for food like crazy; what else could it be but a death wish?
If the fighting continues, the man will definitely die, and then the mother and daughter, as well as their children, will most likely die as well.

(End of this chapter)