Chapter 24 Strange Events on the Snowy Road, The Support Relationship
Once you leave the village, there is a road leading up the mountain.
The path was covered in snow, and there was a precipice on the right. Every step had to be taken with utmost care; one wrong step and you could slip and fall off the cliff.
Li Xian brushed the snow off her shoulders, shook her hair, and gazed into the distance. The mountains and fields were covered in a blanket of white, a truly beautiful sight.
Further away, there are vast stretches of farmland.
The accompanying guard told him that almost everything he saw belonged to Madam Zhuang.
Every blade of grass and every tree bears the surname "Wen".
"Madam Zhuang" refers to the mistress of the manor. Her surname is not "Zhuang," but Wen.
"Who is this lady? She's far too rich."
Li Xian expressed his feelings more than once.
Having lived two lives, both past and present, I have seen quite a bit of the world.
This world is far more vast in terms of population size and everything else.
A low-ranking guard, shivering, was not very skilled, had little internal energy, and was not very good at keeping warm. He was getting irritable and fussy from the cold, and grumbled:
"These lowly farmers, really. Can't they just come to the village to pay their rent honestly? They make us go there ourselves."
Then Qiao Dashou immediately chimed in, "Yes, yes, the key point is, we went to great lengths to visit them. Even if they didn't greet us with a good meal, they still cried and wailed. Who are they trying to impress?"
"Hahaha, when I encounter these kinds of people, I just slap them twice. They're shameless, they won't behave unless I hit them," another person laughed.
The guards chimed in, each offering their own opinion. Li Xian, unfamiliar with them, didn't want to join in and simply kept his head down, hurrying on his way.
"You guys are lucky."
They walked another three or four miles. The snow showed signs of lessening, and Feng Huo's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. He finally had the leisure to chat and joke with his brothers.
"Master Feng, you've been a veteran bodyguard for quite a while now. I've heard you've encountered quite a few strange things?"
"Yes, everyone's bored on the road, so you can keep things lively by talking."
Someone started the commotion, clamoring to hear interesting stories from the mountains and countryside.
Feng Huo shuddered, recalling some unsavory deeds, and shouted, "What are you listening to! Hurry up and get back quickly, do you think this is a trip?"
This loud shout immediately created an awkward silence. Feng Huo thought to himself that he still needed the brothers to do things later, and it wouldn't be good to let things get too tense. So he gave a brief explanation:
"It's not that I don't want to talk about it, it's just too creepy. If you all want to hear it, we can talk about it when we get back to the village."
...
We came to a fork in the road, with a signboard by the roadside. The road on the right led to Longevity Village, while the road on the left led to "Tiger Bear Mountain".
"This Tiger Bear Mountain also belongs to the lady."
Zhao Dachun looked to his left.
The mountain ranges stretch endlessly, and the roars of beasts can be faintly heard.
"Every winter, the lady enjoys going into the mountains for winter hunting."
"I reckon the winter hunting season will start again soon."
"We low-ranking guards are just going through the motions."
"Winter hunt?" Li Xian's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What is this winter hunt?"
All the guards suddenly turned to look at him. Along the way, everyone had been chatting and joking, but he alone had kept his head down and kept walking. Now that he had suddenly asked a question, no one wanted to pay him any attention.
Zhao Dachun coughed twice and tried to explain:
"This winter hunt is a village event, and the guards can participate, but..."
Halfway through his sentence, Qiao Dashou deliberately interrupted, saying, "Let's go, let's hurry up. Why bother with all this useless talk?"
Zhao Dachun gave an awkward smile and then changed the subject to other topics.
...
Outside the Longevity Village.
Li Xian and the others finally arrived.
“I told you to practice martial arts diligently every day, but you slacked off and took shortcuts. Now look what’s happened, you can’t even beat a newbie.”
Ye Xiaoluo, a low-ranking guard, suddenly caught a chill on the way and broke out in a cold sweat. When she arrived at Changshou Village, her complexion looked rather strange.
Feng Huo channeled his internal energy into him, which warmed his body. But this trip would surely leave him seriously ill for three days.
Ye Xiaolu was weak and listless, her legs were trembling. She glanced at Li Xian and cursed him under her breath, "beast."
They walked dozens of miles of mountain road without even breaking a sweat.
It's important to understand that flat ground and mountain paths are not the same thing, and mountain paths are even more different from snowy mountain paths. What looks short can be incredibly tiring to walk.
"I was fine at first, but then a gust of wind blew in and I started to feel more and more uncomfortable."
"Alright, stop arguing."
Feng Huo waved his hand dismissively, too lazy to listen to any of this.
He addressed the crowd:
"Rent collection should be done in pairs."
"The new guy, you'll be paired with Zhao Dachun. If you don't understand anything, just ask him."
The guards scattered in a flurry, each rubbing their fists together as if ready for a big fight.
"Is this entire village entirely comprised of the lady's tenant farmers?" Li Xian asked as he walked alongside Zhao Dachun.
"Hehe." Zhao Dachun pointed into the distance, "It's not just that. The neighboring Changming Village, Fuliang Village, Wangjia Village... every single one of them relies on Madam for their livelihood."
"Tens of thousands of acres of fertile land still need to be tended, don't they?"
Li Xian clicked his tongue in amazement. Zhao Dachun counted on his fingers and then said, "Conservatively speaking, more than a dozen villages are all tenant farmers of the madam."
"What kind of rent are we collecting?" Li Xian asked.
Winter rent.
As they spoke, the two arrived in front of a house. Zhao Dachun straightened his clothes and tidied his hair. "In our village, we collect rent three times a year."
"The lady's fields are all fertile land, yielding two harvests a year, with each mu (unit of land area) producing two shi (unit of dry measure) of grain. Rent is always collected after a good harvest."
"They usually take half of the farmland. In winter, during the off-season, these farmers, though no longer farming, still need firewood. There are plenty of firewood on the hills within a radius of dozens of miles."
"However, it wouldn't be good if these tenant farmers starved to death. So the winter rent is usually half of what it is normally. Madam is kind-hearted, so this is already quite good."
"The Lin family in the neighboring Qingning County is also a large landowner. Although they are not as powerful as Madam, they still have quite a few tenant farmers under their control. They are the ones who eat people without spitting out the bones."
...
Zhao Dachun continued talking incessantly. Li Xian thought to himself, "Your wife isn't much better."
Li Xian said, "Why do you think Madam needs so much money?"
Zhao Dachun shook his head. "This is beyond my imagination. But... I've heard people mention it once. Someone as beautiful as Madam earns a lot, but also spends a lot of money."
“In addition to tens of thousands of acres of farmland, there are other industries, shops and land in the surrounding counties and towns.”
“Yes… If a martial artist doesn’t have a large family business and great wealth, how can he afford to undergo a ‘transformation’ and wash away this ‘mud body’!” Li Xian suddenly realized.
A martial artist who has undergone a complete transformation and transcended the ordinary needs to be "supported"!
Whether it's the thousand-plus servants or these villages, they are all part of the process of supporting the "Madam."
Of course, on the other hand, the existence of that "lady" also brought stability to the village and its surroundings.
Zhao Dachun suddenly whispered in his ear, "Don't say anything later, just watch carefully."
We have arrived at a thatched hut.
He knocked on the door and shouted, "Open the door! It's the guards of Yihe Manor, here to collect the rent!"
"Open the door now! If you don't open the door, I'll kick it down!"
Zhao Dachun was no different from the other guards. When threatening and coercing farmers, his eyes flashed with a fierce light, which was quite intimidating.
"Grandpa, you're here...you're here."
"Cough...cough..."
A hoarse voice came from inside. The door was pushed open, revealing an old man. He had white hair, a hunched back, and seemed to have caught a cold.
"Hey Lao Zhu, are you too old and useless? Why are you opening the door so slowly?" Zhao Dachun flung the door open, letting the cold wind rush in, grinned, and walked straight into the house.
(End of this chapter)
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