Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 24 Change
Arctic Wu carried 60 jin of rice on his shoulder and dragged a wild boar weighing over 100 jin into the village.

Weighing over 100 pounds, it's about the size of a wild boar baby less than a year old. Unfortunately, it encountered the ruthless Arctic Wu.

As Aunt Song was tidying up the wheat at the village entrance, she saw Bei Jiwu and called out, "Master Wu! Why aren't you riding your horse today?"

Beijiwu replied, "I finished the work, settled the bill, and came back."

Aunt Song asked, "Master Wu, do you still want a maid?"

“No, we don’t even have enough food for our own family.” Beijiwu resolutely refused.

Aunt Song and several other women quickly approached Beijiwu and looked at the wild boar behind him.

"Master Wu, you've wasted all this pig's blood. Why didn't Master Wen give you a good pig? This pig's head has been chopped off."

Arctic Martial looked back and saw a broken trail of blood behind him.

"Oh, I didn't notice that." Beijiwu put the wild boar down, grabbed its front legs and pulled its drooping head to prevent it from touching the ground.

"This wasn't given to me by Old Man Wen. I encountered this pig on the road while carrying rice. It came by smelling the rice and started biting people. I stomped on its head and broke its brain."

Ignoring the annoying old women, Beijiwu continued to leisurely drag the pig's trotters towards the village.

Although the pig's head didn't touch the ground, due to the angle adjustment, a lot of blood still flowed onto the ground.

Especially that pig's head with its head tilted to the side and its face covered in blood, it looked just like a human.

Everyone knew that Beiji Wu had killed six bandits who were robbing people on the road. The reason why no one reported it to the authorities was that as long as the dead were not from their own village, everyone tacitly agreed not to disturb the government, so as not to get implicated.

The Northwest region has barren land and little rainfall, and the scale of arable land is usually smaller than that in the south. There are countless people who turn to banditry. It is not necessary to report the death of a few bandits to the authorities, so as not to invite retaliation from their accomplices.

Seeing how easily Arctic Wu could kill people, as if slaughtering pigs, the old women dared not provoke this god of death.

After returning home, Mrs. Kitada started nagging her husband and son, who were making farm tools.

"Don't mess with that plague god from the Arctic family. He crushed the head of a wild boar with one stomp, and there was blood all over the ground! You can't beat him, so don't fight him."

Kitada frowned. "What pig?"

Kitada Ne didn't want to see Kita Takeshi, so it was almost afternoon when he took his son to the yard to repair the rake and plow used for tilling the land.

Grandma Kitada quickly embellished her story, repeating how Beiji Wu killed a several-hundred-pound pig with a single punch.

The son asked, "Didn't they say it would be stomped to death?"

The old woman glared at him, "He killed him in one go! Don't fight him. He can carry rice and lead pigs all the way back from Tiger Head Town. Do you have that kind of strength? You'll die if he just touches you with his fist! Don't fight him!"

Kitada and his three sons didn't actually want to fight the Arctic Warriors. Ever since they learned that the Arctic Warriors had killed six people, they had no way to outnumber them.

On the other side, Beijiwu brought rice and meat home, but before he even got home, more than a dozen children followed behind him.

A little boy looked at the big pig that Beijiwu was dragging and shouted, "Grandpa, do you want me to sell my sister?"

Without turning his head, Beijiwu said, "Get lost! If you follow me again, I'll slap you!"

His declaration to hit the children quickly instilled fear in a group of young boys, who then dared not follow him anymore.

Xianglan and Xidan were drying wheat at the door when they saw Beijiwu return and shouted happily.

"Sis! My brother's back!"

"Mother! Father is back!"

Two girls, four or five years apart in age and a generation apart in seniority, ran barefoot to Beiji Wu. Their eyes lit up when they saw the dead pig that Beiji Wu was dragging.

Xianglan quickly said, "Brother! Let me help you with your things!"

Xi Dan chimed in, "Father, let me help you with the bag."

Arctic Martial Arts refused, saying, "You two can't carry that."

Zhang Xiulan and Li Bing came out, and when they saw Beiji Wu and the wild boar he was dragging, they opened their mouths slightly, revealing expressions of surprise. "Why is there another boar?"

"I encountered a wild boar on the road, killed it, and brought it back."

Beijiwu casually entered the yard, threw the wild boar on the ground, and also threw the grain sacks on the ground.

"Li Hong, come here and wash yourself. You're all sweaty."

"Okay!" Li Hong came out carrying a water jug. Her beautiful eyes lit up when she saw the dead pig and grain sacks on the ground. She quickly poured water for Bei Jiwu. "Brother, have some water to quench your thirst. It's hot water that I boiled this morning. I covered it with a saucer and it got cold."

Beijiwu took the bowl of water and drank it, then took off his very uncomfortable sweaty shirt.

Without needing any further instructions from Bei Jiwu, Li Hong brought over a wooden basin that had been heated in the sun in the yard and used her hands to wash Bei Jiwu's body.

Towels are not available, but handcrafting services are offered.

Arctic Wu took off his cumbersome trousers and rested in the shade under the grape trellis.

Gao Conglian came out of the toilet and said politely to Bei Jiwu, "Brother Wu, I'll take the child back so he won't disturb your sleep at night."

Beijiwu said, "If we put you back, you'll probably die. You can stay here with us. There are still more than ten days until the millet harvest. Tomorrow I'll find some things to build a shed next to the house and arrange a place for you. You can squeeze in tonight."

Tears welled up in Gao Conglian's eyes as he knelt down and said, "Thank you, Brother Wu!"

Xianglan ran into the house and soon came out carrying a pair of big, fat rats.

"Brother, I caught two big rats today, and we ate some of the other rats."

Beijiwu waved his hand, "Take it, give it to your family. I don't eat this stuff."

"Okay." Xianglan carried the two large rats. "Then I'll go back."

"Go ahead." Arctic Martial doesn't eat rats, so he's never experienced that kind of predicament since coming to this world.

The area currently has decent wildlife resources, but in a few years, as the population grows, the number of animals will decrease.

Xianglan carried the large rat home. She had four older brothers who were still hungry, and the rat was an outside source of meat for her family.

Li Hong rubbed Beijiwu's back, continuously rubbing his muscular back with her hands.

"Brother Wu, how do we kill this pig?"

Beijiwu sat down and said, "I'll kill it later. We don't have enough rice bowls at home, and we probably don't have enough salt to pickle it. I estimate there will be about 30 or 40 catties of meat, and the rest will be bones, skin, internal organs, and blood."

“I can’t finish it all by myself. Conglian, go to Beitian and Beigong’s house and ask if they will trade one jin of meat for three jin of rice. Ask them if they will. They don’t mind trading one or two jin of meat. You can also trade baskets, straw mats, or earthenware pots and bowls.”

Gao Conglian said, "Okay, I'll go ask."

Beijiwu was too lazy to run errands, and since there were many women in the family, it was good for them to do more things.

Li Bing and Xi Dan were not given any instructions, but they still went to collect the wheat that was drying outside.

Meat will spoil if we can't finish it, and it needs salt to pickle. Right now, we're facing a severe shortage of all kinds of supplies at home. If we don't trade with the villagers, it's impossible for us to make everything ourselves.

In the future, it will be more efficient for the whole village to work together. After thinking about it, Bei Jiwu finally decided to be generous and not so petty.

Rather than having people kneeling and selling their wives and daughters in the village later, it's better to lend a helping hand now.

A strong moral compass makes it difficult to handle certain people and situations efficiently at times, so try to win over those who are on the opposite side.

Rural society is inherently based on mutual assistance among neighbors and villagers.

Previously, Arctic warriors belonged to the lower class, but now that they have influence in allocating resources, they should take advantage of this.

If I don't become the person in charge, then the person in charge will be someone from the Kitada family. What if the Kitada family leads the villagers to bully me?
"Li Bing! Go and call everyone in the village. I'll slaughter the pig and distribute the meat. Each household will get one pound of meat, and we can exchange it back when we become successful."

Now that the company has grown and its business has expanded, Arctic Martial Arts has made some changes and is no longer operating under the lone wolf model of the past.

(End of this chapter)