Chapter 256 Traitors in Chaotic Times (Thirty-Two): How to Become a Super Strategist...

Zhou Renrong chuckled, "I've unfortunately gotten lost in the mountains. It's getting late, and I'd like to ask if you could do me the favor of staying the night?"

The young man was taken aback, his expression showing some hesitation. "This..."

Zhou Renrong smiled as he took out two taels of silver from his sleeve pocket. "I dare not take up your room for nothing. Here is some travel money. I hope you will accept it."

The young man waved his hand firmly and refused when he saw the man take out his money. “Sir, it’s common for people to ask for lodging in the mountain farmhouses. Why bother? But… well, never mind, please come in, sir!”

Zhou Renrong nodded her thanks and followed the young man into the house.

"Hey, sir, don't stand, please sit down!" the young man said.

"Okay, thank you, young man."

A moment later, the man brought over a bowl of water, looking embarrassed. "We only have well water in the mountains. Please forgive my poor attempt to impress you, sir. May I ask your surname?"

Zhou Renrong smiled amiably, "My surname is Zhou, and my given name is Gongquan. What is your honorable name, young man?"

The young man scratched his head. "Oh, my name is Shi Dashan."

"Hmm, Dashan, that's a sturdy name."

Shi Dashan nodded. "When my father was still alive, he told me the same thing. Mr. Zhou, look at me, I'm twenty years old this year, but I've never been sick once! Everyone in the village says it's all thanks to my good name that I'm as strong as a mountain!"

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Shi Dashan asked, "May I ask what kind of business Mr. Zhou does? Why did you come all alone to these mountains?"

Zhou Renrong smiled slightly and pointed to the bundle he carried with him, "I'm just a traveling doctor. This morning I was just going into the mountains to collect herbs, so..."

Before he could finish speaking, Shi Dashan suddenly put down his rice spoon, looking surprised. "Mr. Zhou, you are a doctor?"

"yes!"

"That's wonderful! That's truly wonderful! There's always a way out! Mr. Zhou, you..."

Before he could finish speaking, a little girl rushed out of the inner room across the way, grabbing Shi Dashan's sleeve anxiously. "Second Brother, something terrible has happened! Come quick and see! My sister... she's bleeding so much!"

"ah?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Dashan quickly wiped his hands and hurried towards the inner room.

Given the gravity of the situation, Zhou Renrong disregarded the traditional separation of men and women and immediately got up to follow Shi Dashan into the inner room.

At this moment, on the wooden bed by the window in the inner room, lay a young woman with a dark complexion and bloodstains on her chest. If members of the Song family were here, they would recognize her at a glance as none other than Wenxiu.

"Brother, look... what should we do?" Shi Ermei asked anxiously.

Shi Dashan exclaimed "Hey!" and quickly made way for Zhou Renrong, "Mr. Zhou, you're a doctor, come and take a look at this young lady. Is there any hope for her?"

Zhou Renrong nodded slightly, whispered "excuse me" to Wenxiu on the bed, and then stepped forward to lightly press down on her wrist.

"Mr. Zhou, how is this lady? Is she still alive?" Shi Ermei asked.

"Alright, Second Sister, be quiet and don't disturb the doctor's treatment!"

After a moment, Zhou Renrong removed his hand and said with a faint smile, "Although this young lady's pulse is still weak, she is still alive."

Upon hearing this, the Shi siblings immediately relaxed.

Shi Dashan rubbed his hands together and asked cautiously, "Sir, can her illness still be cured?"

Zhou Renrong nodded. "This person's face is dark and his pulse is weak, it seems... he has been poisoned. Fortunately, the poisoning is still recent, there is still a glimmer of hope. Dashan, go and get my bundle."

"Yes!"

A short while later, Shi Dashan handed over the bundle.

Zhou Renrong took out a set of silver needles from her bundle, carefully inserted them into Wenxiu's arm, paused for a moment, then pulled them out and smelled them.

"Hmm... It smells fishy, ​​with a rusty and rotten smell, it's snake venom. This person must have been bitten by a venomous snake in the mountains and did not receive proper treatment, which is why he vomited blood and fainted."

As he spoke, he took out a palm-sized box from his bundle, opened it, hesitated for a moment, and then fed the last remaining grayish-brown antidote pill into Wenxiu's mouth.

"This is Wu... my homemade antidote pill. If all goes well, she should wake up tomorrow."

The Shi siblings were overjoyed upon hearing this, exclaiming, "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"

Zhou Renrong: "No need for that. Let's all go out and let her get a good night's sleep tonight!"

"Yes, yes! We'll do whatever you say, sir!"

After the group came out of the inner room one after another, Shi Dashan secretly winked at Shi Ermei. After seeing her leave, he smiled and brought out a bowl of vegetable soup from the kitchen in the side room.

"Come on, Mr. Zhou, this farmer's family is poor and doesn't have much to offer, so please make do with this!"

Zhou Renrong smiled and took the bowl. "In this weather, it's already very good to have a bowl of hot soup. Thank you, Dashan."

"Sir, please don't be shy, please have your meal!"

Zhou Renrong calmly took a big gulp of the vegetable soup, and instantly, the unique bitter taste of the wild vegetables spread in his mouth.

"This is... wild vegetables?"

Shi Dashan was taken aback. In his opinion, this Mr. Zhou was the most respectable person he had ever met. He never expected that Mr. Zhou had also eaten wild vegetables!

"Yes, this was picked by my second sister this morning. Please rest assured, sir, it's very fresh."

Zhou Renrong paused for a moment, then said, "Wild vegetables are poisonous and can cause diarrhea if eaten in large quantities. It would be best if you ate them less in the future."

Upon hearing this, Shi Dashan gave a wry smile. "Sir, we know that eating too many wild vegetables can make us feel unwell, but... we have no choice. No matter how bad wild vegetables are, they're still better than going hungry, aren't they?"

Zhou Renrong: "...Do you usually just eat these wild mountain vegetables to fill your stomachs?"

Shi Dashan sighed, pulled over a low stool and sat down. "Yes! A few years ago, after King Liang sent people to take over the village, the taxes became heavier year by year. Almost all the grain harvested from the fields had to be handed over, leaving less than one-tenth. The remaining grain was not enough to feed a family. So, from spring to autumn harvest, the villagers could only barely fill their stomachs by digging up wild vegetables and picking wild fruits."

Zhou Renrong tightened his grip on the soup bowl. Since becoming a staff member under Xiang Wende and living in the camp for a long time, he hadn't eaten such coarse food in a long time. Although he had heard about the Liang King's harsh policies, for the sake of the overall situation, he only advised Xiang Wende to deal with him. He never expected that the people under the Liang King's rule would suffer to such an extent.

He took it all for granted and forgot the suffering of people during times of war.

"And now? After General Song of the Dali era took over the Qi region, have your taxes been reduced or exempted?"

Shi Dashan: "General Song? What General Song?"

Now it was Zhou Renrong's turn to be stunned.

"Does Da Shan not know that a few days ago, this General Song defeated the King of Liang, captured him alive after the city was breached, and then brought back to the imperial city to be beheaded and displayed to the public!"

Upon hearing this, Shi Dashan's eyes widened immediately. "Mr. Zhou, are you telling the truth? Is King Liang really... gone?"

Zhou Renrong nodded slowly, "It's absolutely true. The entire Qi region is now under the jurisdiction of the Dali Dynasty, and the one in charge is General Song."

"Good! Good! Good death! Good death! Heaven has eyes, Heaven has eyes!" Shi Dashan slapped his thigh, his voice full of excitement. "No matter who it is, as long as they are even slightly better than that King Liang, and preferably behave themselves for a year or two, then the villagers will have a way to survive!"

Seeing Shi Dashan's discomposure, Zhou Renrong felt a surge of emotions.

It turns out that for ordinary people, it doesn't matter who is in power; what matters is whether they can fill their stomachs and live a peaceful life!

The next day, Zhou Renrong and the Shi siblings shared a bowl of wild vegetable soup. Just as the three of them put down their bowls, they heard a slight noise coming from the inner room.

Shi Ermei was the first to react, and she immediately got up and ran into the house. "Could it be that my sister has woken up?" Zhou Renrong and Shi Dashan exchanged a glance and quickly got up to follow her.

On the wooden bed, Wenxiu, who had lost a lot of weight, slowly opened her eyes. Looking at the three people surrounding her with a confused expression, she asked in a hoarse voice, "Who... are you?"

Shi Ermei quickly moved closer to the bedside, revealing a shallow dimple. "Sister, don't be afraid! My brother and I are good people! And this Mr. Zhou, he's the one who saved you!"

Wenxiu looked at Zhou Renrong gratefully after hearing this, and struggled to sit up to thank him, but he pressed her down. "Young lady, you've just woken up and are still weak. You should lie down and not move. By the way, young lady, where do you live? How could your family let you, a young girl, come all alone to this remote mountain, especially after being poisoned by a snake?"

“Yes!” Shi Dashan chimed in, “Luckily, Mr. Zhou gave you the antidote in time, otherwise it would have been dangerous! Young lady, do you remember what happened?”

Wenxiu was stunned for a moment, trying her best to recall how she got injured, but she only felt an unbearable headache, and the memories in her mind were blurry and fragmented, and she couldn't recall any useful information at all.

"I...I don't seem to remember..." Wenxiu's eyes darkened, and she stammered.

Shi Dashan: "Don't you remember? Mr. Zhou, what's going on?"

Zhou Renrong frowned slightly. "Little girl, do you really not remember anything?"

"yes……"

Zhou Renrong reached out and felt Wenxiu's pulse again. After a moment of contemplation, she said, "Perhaps the poisoning has lasted too long and damaged your mind. After you recover for a while, you might be able to remember."

"Mr. Zhou, how long will she need to recover? Should we get some medicinal herbs to help her recover?" Shi Dashan quietly pulled Zhou Renrong aside and asked with a worried expression.

Zhou Renrong shook his head helplessly, "No need for supplements, but how long it will take to recover... is hard to say. It could be ten days or half a month, or it could be ten or eight years. Of course, the worst outcome is that it will never recover."

"I see..."

Over the next two days, after confirming that Wenxiu was no longer in any danger, Zhou Renrong packed her bags and prepared to leave after Shi Dashan returned from town.

As evening fell, Shi Dashan, with a smile on his face and carrying a worn-out bamboo basket, finally returned from outside.

"Mr. Zhou, look, I had a really good day. I caught two fat rabbits in the mountains and sold them for a good amount of money!"

Zhou Renrong replied with a smile, "That's a pleasant surprise."

Shi Dashan proudly boasted for a couple more minutes before putting down his bamboo basket and drinking three large bowls of water in one go.

"By the way, sir, today when I was on my way to sell rabbits in the county, I passed by the government office and heard about the General Song you mentioned."

Zhou Renrong's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly asked, "Oh? What specific news is it?"

Shi Dashan put down his bowl. "Those yamen runners said that General Song ordered that all the nearby villages, towns, and counties would be exempt from taxes for the next year. After a year of recuperation, all farmers would pay only one-fiftyth of their taxes! If there is a year of disaster, the tax would be reduced by half! Sir, this General Song is truly a great man!"

Zhou Renrong shuddered and stood there, completely stunned.

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Author's note: I can rest tomorrow and save up more drafts [crying emoji]