1940s: I supported my wife and sister-in-law by hunting.

The Li family compound is a three-courtyard house, with one courtyard inside another.

The place where Chen Gaoshan and the other two lived was in the back room near the main gate.

He had been on guard during the day; there were people guarding the watchtowers on both sides of the gate, and the gatekeepers were also armed.

They were all guards hired by Li Banjie, and the security in the compound was even tighter than he had imagined.

Before long, an old man with a fierce face, who was in charge of odd jobs, came over carrying three hoes. He shouted in a gruff voice and led the three of them toward the wasteland behind the mountain.

Once they started working, they didn't get a break and worked until dark before being told to stop and head home.

Dinner was arranged in the servants' dining hall next to the back room, which wasn't very nice.

Two kinds of steamed buns made from a mixture of flour and water are always better than sorghum rice and cornbread.

In the middle was a large pot of stewed cabbage, and a plate of radish strips. The Li family kept their word; no matter how good or bad the food was, everyone was full.

Chen Gaoshan had been doing heavy physical labor all afternoon, and his stomach was growling with hunger. Without being picky, he grabbed a steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth, wolfing down four large steamed buns before he was about 80% full.

He also became familiar with the two day laborers he worked with.

The tall, thin one is called Xu Laifu. He looks frail, as if a gust of wind could blow him over, but he is a typical person who can eat a lot without gaining weight, with an astonishingly large appetite.

The other one was short, stout, and stocky, named Zhou Suotou. He was quiet and didn't like to talk much, but he was a decent worker.

Xu Laifu could really eat. He ate four steamed buns on the table in the blink of an eye, and then quickly reached out and grabbed a fifth one.

Seeing Chen Gaoshan looking over, he asked indistinctly while chewing on his steamed bun.

"Hey bro, which area are you from?"

He knew he was there to do something important, so he couldn't reveal his real name. His stage name was Wang Gouzi.

"My family lives in a turtle shed, Brother Laifu, your appetite is truly amazing! You can still eat another one?"

"Yes, of course I can!" Xu Laifu puffed out his chest.

"Don't let my skinny appearance fool you, I can eat a lot. If I eat my fill, six steamed buns wouldn't be enough. After that, I'd have two bowls of hot cornmeal porridge to cleanse myself up. That's what I call comfortable, and I'd have the energy to work!"

Chen Gaoshan gave him a thumbs up.

"Wow, that's impressive, bro! Most people can't eat like that!"

After the three of them had eaten and drunk their fill, they wiped their mouths and went back to the small house in the back row.

Inside the room was a large kang (heated brick bed). The three men took off their shoes and lay down on the kang one by one, their feet, armpits, and heads covered in oil.

The flavor hit right away.

After lying down for a short while, Xu Laifu, who loved to chat, couldn't hold back any longer. He lowered his voice and spoke mysteriously.

"You two know why that old geezer Li Banjie absolutely forbids us temporary workers from just wandering around the yard? Let me tell you the inside story!"

Chen Gaoshan and Zhou Suotou also got excited and pricked up their ears to listen.

Tell me about it.

"Of the seven concubines in Li Banjie, only the eldest wife was married to him by his family. The others were all married to him at great expense, and they were all very attractive! But it's strange, of all the women in the courtyard, only the seventh concubine, who came in last, had never given birth. The first six concubines..."

All the babies born were girls; not a single boy was born. If the Li family compound lacked anything else, it certainly had the most women. Seven concubines, plus thirteen young ladies—the whole family was women. That old man only had one key; he definitely couldn't open all the locks. How could he trust us men to look around freely?

Chen Gaoshan's eyes widened instantly upon hearing this.

"Damn, so many? Can that old geezer Li Banjie's body handle it? With all this going on every day, how can he get any sleep?"

Xu Laifu touched his head, which had just been forcibly shaved short by the hospital staff today. It felt prickly to the touch. He chuckled lewdly.

"Whether they can sleep or not is their own business. Even if they don't sleep, just having them there is pleasing to the eye. This is not something we should worry about. Hurry up and close your eyes and go to sleep. You can dream about anything. If I could dream about the Seventh Concubine I saw during the day, I would wake up laughing even if it meant bringing her water to wash her feet and rubbing her feet!"

Chen Gaoshan had no particular feelings for the seventh concubine; only one impression remained in his mind.

Fair-skinned, with long legs.

Before long, Xu Laifu's snoring came from beside him, so loud it was like thunder. Zhou Suotou was grinding his teeth from time to time and occasionally let out a loud fart, which was already smelly enough, but now it smelled even worse.

Sleeping on the same kang (heated brick bed) with these stinky old men is nowhere as comfortable as sleeping in my wife's arms.

They had just soaked in the bathhouse that afternoon, worked all afternoon, and were covered in sweat. Their breath smelled awful, making people dizzy.

He lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), eyes open, waiting for the night to fall silent so he could make his move in the middle of the night.

They held on like that until after midnight, when the entire Li family compound fell silent, and even the footsteps of the night patrolmen disappeared.

Chen Gaoshan held his breath, moved his body, and slowly climbed up from the kang (a heated brick bed).

He put on his cloth shoes, felt his way to the doorway, pushed it open a crack, and was about to peek out to check the defenses in the yard when he heard two gatekeepers complaining from the direction of the gatehouse.

"Damn it, in the middle of the night, we two brothers are stuck here freezing and suffering, working the whole night guarding the gate. Meanwhile, those bastards are taking their tips and going to brothels to have fun with women. Why should they?! They're really despicable, this job is unbearable!"

"Do you think someone might come in the middle of the night? They've all left, what will we do if someone does come?"

"What a jinx! What a load of crap!"

He looked in the direction of the pillbox several times, but there was no movement in the dark pillbox, not even a single guard could be seen.

The two gatekeepers were telling the truth; all the guards in the courtyard had indeed slipped away to the brothels in town to have some fun, leaving only these two unlucky fellows to guard the gate.

Taking advantage of the moment when the two gatekeepers were yawning, rubbing their eyes, and being relaxed, I crouched down, passed through the hanging flower gate, and slipped into the second courtyard.

This two-courtyard house also has two side courtyards to the east and west. All the rooms have glass windows, unlike the rural farmhouses with their broken paper windows, which are drafty and don't keep you warm.

That old geezer from Li Banjie really knows how to enjoy life!

He looked at the first locked room on his left, and peered inside. The room was filled with large, bulging sacks, clearly a granary for stockpiling grain.

Chen Gaoshan simply reached out and placed his hand on the brass lock on the door, and it was immediately stored in his spatial dimension.

He glanced warily at the outside of the courtyard, and to make sure no one was watching, he immediately pushed open the door, slipped into the granary, and closed the door behind him.

Looking at the grain in the house, there were sacks filled with millet, wheat flour, rice, and sorghum, and baskets filled with dried dates, walnuts, and various other dried grains and goods.

Without hesitation, Chen Gaoshan took everything he could see into his spatial storage.

He pushed open the door and then closed it again.

These local gentry and wealthy landowners are all cunning and resourceful. They don't just have granaries; they must also have cellars. Their gold, silver, and valuables are definitely hidden in more concealed places. We'll have to search them slowly.

Then, he looked at the house across the street and immediately recognized it as the Li family's kitchen, and went straight in.

He took everything that could be used, from the oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, jars and pots on the stove, to the cutting board, knife, and chopping board, and even the large water tank, pots and pans in the house. He put everything into his space, and the kitchen was emptied in the blink of an eye.