Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 21 Taking Over the Land
Beijiwu hesitated for a second, then quickly squatted down and reached out to lift the woman's chin.

Gao Conglian nervously raised his head and met Bei Jiwu's gaze, forcing out an obedient and well-behaved smile.

The girl next to her didn't cry either. At this moment, she looked at her father, who was standing there in the distance, and then at the person in front of her who wanted to buy her and her mother.

Beiji Wu let go of his hand, stood up and said to the man in the distance, "I'm not that kind. I don't have that much food to lend to anyone. What can you give me? You have to give me something."

Ai Dake carefully walked over, and when he was three or four meters away, he knelt down and said, "Grandpa! There is really nothing of value left in my family. If you like, Grandpa, we have twenty acres of land. We will sell them all to you. I just ask that you give me some food to eat."

Beijiwu asked, "You have twenty acres of land, how did you end up like this?"

Ai Dake replied, "Because there are four children in the family, things were okay a few years ago, but we suffered a lot last year and this year. My sickle was stolen by someone, and I couldn't borrow one from anyone. I had to use a stone knife for several days to harvest two acres of wheat. Now we really can't survive."

Beijiwu laughed and asked, "How did a good-for-nothing like you manage to marry a beautiful woman and have children for you?"

No one spoke up for Ai Dake; nobility couldn't solve the problem of hunger.

Ai Dake replied, "It is arranged by the government. Anyone who comes to this border town and is over sixteen years old can get a woman to marry."

Arctic Martial Arts didn't encounter this kind of thing, and after thinking about it, he felt relieved.

He beat up his brother last year, and his brother certainly wouldn't care about such a thing.

Where are your fields located? Are they near water?

Seeing that things were going well, Ai Dake excitedly said, "It's only five or six hundred steps from the water source, not far."

"Not far, my ass! You're still lying to your grandpa!" Beijiwu cursed. "Six hundred paces isn't far? There are only thirty households in the village. Whose fields aren't near the river?"

Ai Dake hurriedly kowtowed, "Grandpa, please calm down...Grandpa, please calm down...These are all good fields, the millet is growing well. I was greedy and planted twenty acres back then, and now there's really no way to make a living."

Beijiwu definitely wanted land; there wasn't anyone in the village who didn't want land.

However, land in the village cannot be traded casually.

First, they must be villagers, then relatives, such as brothers or other blood relatives. Only after these people are no longer needed can they be considered members of the clan. If the clan is no longer needed, then the neighbors should be consulted. Only if the neighbors are no longer needed can they be considered villagers.

Otherwise, they will be boycotted. Nobody wants their neighbor to be a bully or a malicious person.

Whose land surrounds your fields on all sides?

Arctic Martial Arts is buying land, not a house; they are mainly asking about the location of the land.

Ai Dake quickly said, "There are roads and weeds all around, with Li Niu's house on one side and Bei Gong's house on the other."

Beijiwu smiled and said, "That makes things easier. I know both of these families. Do you still have crops in your fields?"

Ai Dake looked at Beijiwu excitedly and said, "There are still some. It rained a while ago but it wasn't a big deal. It's just that now that the wheat is ripe and falling to the ground, all the good wheat is ruined. The villagers are not willing to help and are busy drying the wheat."

Beijiwu said, "I'll go harvest wheat after I finish eating. You can take the harvested wheat home and keep it for yourselves. Pack up everything on the twenty acres of land. I won't do anything that would cut off your lineage. You also have a wife and children to support. I'll take three acres of good land, and you can cultivate the remaining dozen or so acres to support your family."

“I’ll give you another sixty catties of rice. Take it back and cook for yourself. After your wife and daughter finish eating today, go back. From now on, just call me when I need to do some work here.”

Ai Dake's hands and face were covered in blood, but he happily kowtowed, "Thank you so much, Grandpa!"

Gao Conglian, who lives nearby, kowtowed again with his daughter, saying, "Grandpa is kind! Thank you, Grandpa!"

He came here with the intention of selling his wife and daughter, keeping his son to barely survive.

Now his wife and daughter have been sold, and he has lost three acres of good land, but at least he can survive.

Beijiwu said, "I've been too busy these past few days to sign and seal the document. I'll do the work on twenty acres of land and earn at least two taels of silver. I'm giving you some extra rice as a favor because we're from the same village. Don't be ungrateful. If you ever touch those two again, I'll break your hands and feed them to the dogs!"

Ai Dake hurriedly said, "Yes! Grandpa, don't worry, Grandpa, I will never touch Grandma again."

Gao Conglian, who has already given birth to five children, is no longer suitable to have any more. In such a poor family, having more children would only make things worse. They simply cannot support their family and cannot even solve the basic problem of eating. Why would they want to have any other women?
Beijiwu picked up a carrying pole to fetch water, shouting, "Li Hong! Bring out five bushels of rice! Who is this person?"

Beijiwu didn't know the names of the two men. "What are the names of the three of you?"

Ai Dake replied, "My grandson's name is Ai Dake. He is originally from Sichuan. He fled famine with his father to many places and was driven here. In the end, he came here alone and had no one to rely on, so he married and had children. This is my wife, Gao Conglian. She was captured by government soldiers when they broke through the city and was given to my grandson."

Beijiwu said impatiently, "Stop calling me 'grandson,' I don't have a grandson like you. Just call me whatever you want. Take the food and leave. I get annoyed just looking at you."

"Yes! Yes!" Ai Dake followed the Arctic Martial Arts Academy, eagerly awaiting the life-saving food.

Li Hong and Li Bing together carried another bag of grain out of the house.

Beijiwu said to Ai Dake, "Don't eat so much. Two bowls of porridge each is enough. Eat sparingly, or don't blame me if you choke to death."

Ai Dake bowed deeply, "Yes! Thank you, Grandpa! Thank you, Grandpa!"

Despite not having eaten his fill for a long time and having done heavy labor for several days, Ai Dake still managed to unleash tremendous strength, carrying sixty pounds of rice outside.

Gao Conglian and her daughter watched him walk out of the courtyard, then nervously looked at Beijiwu.

Beiji Wu glanced at the mother and daughter, who were practically orphans, and said irritably, "Go wash your faces, get ready to eat, have some porridge before you go back." Gao Conglian and her daughter were about to kneel down to express their gratitude again when Beiji Wu stopped them, saying, "Don't kneel, save your energy."

"Thank you, Grandpa!" Gao Conglian said gratefully.

Beijiwu looked at the sun outside. He had returned early today. Summer days are long, and there was still some time after dinner.

"Get ready to eat."

Arctic Wu took off his sweaty clothes and sat under the grape trellis.

Li Bing and Xiulan served mixed flour buns and thin porridge, while Li Hong brought over a soup pot.

"I didn't have much to do today, so I just picked some wild vegetables nearby. The wheat is almost ready, so I don't need to husk the rest yet. I'll dry it when the sun is out and I have some free time."

Listening to Li Hong's work report, Beijiwu also said, "Tomorrow I'll lend my sickle to Ai Dayong so he can harvest some wheat himself. I'll harvest the rest after I come back from work this afternoon."

“I currently have fifteen mu of wheat fields and two mu of millet fields. If I take another three mu, I’ll have twenty mu. After the autumn harvest, I’ll take ten mu of wasteland in the village to make it thirty mu. Then I’ll have enough to eat and drink next year.”

Hearing Arctic Martial's reassuring words, Li Hong glanced again at Gao Conglian and the child who had washed their hands and were standing outside the grape trellis.

Beijiwu also said to the two of them, "We don't have any extra bowls here. We'll give them to you after we finish eating."

Gao Cong quickly replied, "Okay! We're not hungry."

It would be a lie to say they weren't hungry. The mother and daughter watched as Beijiwu and the four girls ate steamed buns and drank porridge with gusto, their mouths and throats constantly swallowing along with theirs.

After drinking two bowls of thin porridge, Beijiwu picked up the bowl and said, "I'll give one bowl to the mother and daughter to tide them over."

Li Hong said with difficulty, "The food I made today is the same as yesterday, there's nothing extra."

Gao Conglian and her daughter were deeply saddened upon hearing this.

Beijiwu said directly, "Then make four more. Besides the two of them, you guys should eat some more too. You're all so skinny, how will you have children in the future?"

Li Hong was already aware of Arctic Martial's ability to make money, and she also knew that by following Arctic Martial, she wouldn't have to worry about making a living.

"Okay, I'll make some more." Li Hong swallowed the steamed bun in her mouth and got up to get to work.

Beijiwu continued, "Xiulan, give your bowl to the mother and daughter. They can eat it after it's cooked."

Xiulan looked at Beijiwu with a hint of reluctance.

Arctic Martial said sternly, "Go back if you don't obey!"

"Listen to me!" Xiulan quickly stood up and handed the bowl of porridge she hadn't finished to Gao Conglian.

Gao Conglian didn't refuse; she was really hungry.

The daughter, standing to the side, also looked up at the bowl of thin porridge. The family had been without food for two days, and they had been eating wild vegetables and picking wheat from their own wheat field.

They won't let us pick from other people's gardens, but we can't finish picking from our own, yet we can't bear to let them eat it.

Gao Conglian and Ai Xidan shared a bowl of thin porridge. Although they were still very hungry, they found some hope for survival.

The girl licked the bottom of the bowl clean, leaving not a single grain of millet.

Beijiwu sat down to digest his food and then struck up a conversation with Xidan, who was even smaller than Xianglan.

"come over."

Xi Dan walked over and obediently knelt down in front of Bei Ji Wu.

Beijiwu nodded and said, "I have no official rank or status, so I cannot take in servants or concubines. These few are my sisters. If I had more sisters, it would be hard to say. From now on, you can call me Father. In name, you are my adopted daughters. You still have to do your chores. There is no other difference."

Gao Conglian, fearing the child wouldn't understand, quickly knelt down as well, saying, "Thank you, Father! Quickly say thank you, Father!"

Xidan kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Father!"

Beijiwu said to Gao Conglian, "You can stay where you are and take care of the children for now. I won't let you be separated from your family. You can come over after the children at home are old enough to work."

Gao Cong kowtowed repeatedly, crying, "Thank you, Grandpa!"

The generational order is messed up. Beiji Wu said helplessly, "You are older than me, so it's not appropriate for you to call me grandpa, nor is it appropriate for you to call me sister or brother. Just call me brother like everyone else. You are a generation older than Xidan."

"Yes! Thank you, Brother Wu!" Gao Conglian said gratefully.

Beiji Wu also knew that his moral standards were a bit too high, so he said to Li Bing and Zhang Xiulan, "If there are any more of these kinds of things in the future, refuse them all. If there are too many people, they will all go hungry!"

The girls all nodded in agreement, and none of them wanted to take on any more people.

(End of this chapter)