Chapter 99 What I fear most is that you guys are truly content to just drift through life like this...
Aunt Xu chimed in with her husband's sneer, "Exactly! Even if those nutritional supplements can fill you up, can they compare to the value of beef? People treat you like cheap labor and you're grateful to them? They're probably laughing at you for being stupid behind your backs."
Some of the helpers frowned as if they disagreed, while others recalled how Lu Chen and the other children were frequently called over by Lu Qing to taste the beef during the processing, and the amount of beef they ate was much more valuable than the reward they received. They couldn't help but feel uneasy and their minds were a little unsettled.
The next day, when they returned to the Lu family to continue the work they hadn't finished the day before, someone tentatively asked if they could exchange beef for the nutritional supplements as payment.
Lu Qing was a little surprised, but she agreed without thinking too much about it.
The value of the nutritional supplements cannot be compared to the value of the beef used as payment, so the helper who traded the beef would only receive half a pound of beef.
Lu Xuan didn't say much after learning about it.
Whether someone wants to live for the moment and enjoy the present, or is influenced by someone else, they will never amount to anything.
Instead of trying to guess what outsiders are thinking, it's better to coax the sullen Lu Chen.
Lei Tianbao from Leishan's family, I don't know who he followed, came to the square today. After seeing Lu Chen sharing candy with the other children in the village, he became envious and rushed over to try to snatch it.
Lu Chen has always had a bunch of little brats around him, so he hasn't suffered any losses, but when he encounters something unpleasant for no reason, the little guys are naturally not in a good mood.
It was only after Lu Xuan took him on a hoverboard for a spin outside the square that Lu Chen's smile returned, and he forgot all about the incident from earlier that day.
But he forgot, Lei Tianbao wouldn't forget.
·
Inside a cave belonging to disaster victims.
When Zhao saw her son return disheveled with a bruise on his face, she instantly exploded, "Who?! How dare they hit my son?!"
Lei Tianbao burst into tears and angrily complained, "It's Lu Chen! He has so much candy but he won't give me a single piece, and he even made the other kids hit me! Help me fight back! And take all of Lu Chen's candy and give it to me! I want candy! I want candy!"
The noise made the other refugees in the cave frown and look impatient.
Zhao was furious and cursed, "It's just a little candy! How dare you instigate those other brats to beat you up! None of the Lu family members are any good! Husband! You have to avenge our son!"
Lei Shan, slumped in a corner of the cave, looked terrible.
He didn't know what happened, but after falling in the so-called immortal palace of the Lu family, he had been completely unable to move for the past few days. His whole body was numb and he couldn't exert any strength.
This is why we didn't join the Xu and Fang families in making trouble before.
Today, my son went with the other helpers, which was actually at his instigation. He thought that Lei Yan couldn't be indifferent to a child, especially his own nephew, so he wanted my son to get some benefits to make up for the loss of not being able to go fishing with the others and share the catch.
Unexpectedly, instead of getting any benefits, her son was bullied!
Lei Yan and the Lu family have really gone too far!
Lei Shan's gaze swept over the other disaster victims in the cave.
Seeing several people preparing dinner using water drawn from the waterfall pool, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed into my mind.
"Are you really content to just drift through life like this, living off the scraps that slip through the fingers of the people of Yunlu Village?"
The disaster victims, who were busy with their own affairs, suddenly heard Lei Shan say this out of the blue. They paused for a moment, frowned, and looked at Lei Shan.
Fang Dahe, the family's breadwinner, was unable to work due to a broken leg and was feeling anxious and frustrated. Seeing Lei Shan's expression, which clearly indicated that he had come up with a brilliant idea, he immediately asked, "What's your idea?"
Uncle Xu also said, "Isn't what you said nonsense? Everyone wants to live a good life! Given the chance, who wouldn't want to eat and drink well every day? We're no worse off than anyone else."
Lei Shan wasn't in a hurry when he saw that the others weren't reacting; he simply continued to patiently guide them.
"It's not that I necessarily want to go against Yunlu Village, it's just that they've gone too far."
They went into the mountains first and looted most of the supplies they could find, making it difficult for us to even have a full meal now, while they have meat to eat every day. They didn't suffer at all during the drought and even got fat!
They've even started raising cattle and sheep! Those who went to help out today saw it, didn't they? They're even feeding the cattle and sheep soybean dregs!
Soybean dregs can indeed be considered a type of animal feed, but some families with limited means also use soybean dregs as a staple food.
Lei Shan said angrily, "When we went into the mountains, some people died from the heat, and some even starved to death. Do you think animals are more important than living people?"
The faces of the disaster victims, whose relatives had lost all their food and starved to death in the earthquake, were somber.
Lei Shan: "They are already so rich, and we just want to borrow tools, yet they demand thirty kilograms of supplies. Don't they know we don't have that many supplies? They are clearly making things difficult for us, and even want to see us die!"
The disaster victims, feeling disappointed at not being able to plant crops, pursed their lips.
The lives of the disaster victims in Yunlu Village were so different from theirs that they were not unmoved, but they always restrained themselves.
Lei Shan's summary inevitably stirred up those suppressed but not eliminated feelings of imbalance.
What people fear most is comparison.
Even some of the helpers who were originally grateful to Yunlu Village began to feel uneasy.
The others, impatient with Lei Shan's long-winded explanation without getting to the point, urged him, "Just tell us what you want to do."
Another young man who was also interested reminded them, "Yunlu Village has a hunting team that is responsible for hunting, and every member of the team is armed."
Lei Shan sneered and said, "So what if they have weapons? Do you think they'd still dare to kill people? If they're really that cold-blooded, we should be making plans for ourselves much sooner rather than later!"
The disaster victims were speechless.
Lei Shan spoke eloquently, “Don’t worry, I’m not stupid. I don’t intend to fight them head-on. I just feel that water is so precious in a year of severe drought. People can’t even get enough to drink, and so many people outside are dying of thirst. How can we let the people of Yunlu Village waste so much water on the fields every day? So I suggest that we do this…”
Lei Shan then explained his plan.
The others were stunned for a moment, and didn't react.
The Fang and Xu families, on the other hand, had their eyes shining, as if they had found the secret to wealth they had been longing for, and their faces were full of ecstatic joy.
"Great idea!"
"How come I didn't think of that?"
Lei Shan said smugly, "In the end, all the resources in the mountains, including the water, are not their private property; we also have a share. If they want to continue using the water, they must agree to our demands!"
He said to the other wavering refugees, "This isn't a bad thing for you, is it? Once it's successful, we won't have to worry about starving anymore, and we can have plenty of meat and fish every day!"
Every meal is filled with lavish meat and fish!!!
Suddenly, the cave was filled with many heavier breathing sounds.
A few people still felt uneasy, but after hesitating for a moment under the gradually changing gazes of others, they ultimately dared not utter a word.
Forget it, the people of Yunlu Village are so powerful, Lei Shan and his group just want to get some food, nothing serious should happen.
If they fail, Yunlu Village will have to deal with Leishan; but if they succeed…
·
Day 24 of the hottest season, morning, real-time temperature 52 degrees Celsius.
Lu Xuan led a hunting team and two gathering teams on another trip.
On the way, Li Tuo excitedly asked, "Brother Lu, is the sweet potato field you found really that big?"
Lu Xuan said, "I haven't measured it specifically, but the valley covers at least twenty acres, and most of it is covered with obvious sweet potato vines."
In other words, at least ten acres of sweet potatoes grow there.
Zhang Chengming excitedly patted Lu Xuan on the shoulder, "You really didn't waste your time going out the other day!"
Not only did they obtain a large amount of beef and bring back cattle and sheep, they also found large areas of wild sweet potato fields.
It is said that each mu (unit of land area) can yield at least 1,800 jin (unit of weight). Even if wild sweet potatoes are not fertile enough and may not grow as densely, it is still about 300 to 400 jin per mu.
Ten mu or more would yield three to four thousand jin!
A bumper harvest!
The sweet potato field was located further away from the area they had explored so far, requiring them to cross a high slope and walk for another hour or so.
To improve the efficiency of sweet potato harvesting, a larger number of people were deployed this time, totaling nearly forty.
With so many people moving together, even after leaving the explored area, large animals simply don't dare to approach.
The hunting party managed to catch some small game without delaying their journey, and the gathering team occasionally found some medicinal herbs that hadn't been killed by the sun.
They found a shady spot to escape the heat and have lunch during the hottest part of the day, then continued their journey. Near dusk, the group finally arrived at their destination.
Everyone stared in astonishment at the countless sweet potato vines growing rampantly in the valley before them, their mouths agape.
"Wow, there are so many!"
"This is definitely more than ten acres! I think it's at least fifteen acres of sweet potatoes!"
Miao Jinfeng dug up a nearby plant and found that the sweet potato buried underneath was pitifully small. Although it had grown quite a few fruits, with five in total, each one was only the size of a baby's fist, not even enough for them to eat in one bite.
This is not surprising; under normal harvest season conditions, it would take at least another month for them to mature.
Wild ones may have a different growth cycle, which may take longer.
Miao Jinfeng clapped her hands and stood up, looking at Lu Xuan expectantly, "Next, it will probably depend on your abilities."
Lu Xuan gestured for them to stand back, and most of his supernatural power surged wildly into the valley in front of him.
Almost simultaneously, the sweet potato vines in the valley, which had been half-dead from the high temperature, visibly perked up and grew wildly. At the same time, the sweet potatoes buried underground also grew stronger in places that were not visible to the naked eye, and even branched out again.
Because so many sweet potatoes were growing at the same time, even the ground was surging, as if some living thing was about to break through the soil at any moment.
The previous journey was too tedious, and the traffic to the live stream dropped significantly, to only half of its peak.
Only when the wood-based superpowers were used on a large scale again did the interstellar viewers, who always had a strong passion for natural food, flock back to the live stream, and the gift effects in the live stream instantly filled the entire screen.
After the gestation was complete, Lu Xuan stopped the gathering team that wanted to rush forward and instead used his earth-based abilities on the valley.
The ground churned violently, the sweet potato vines were uprooted, and the plump sweet potatoes buried in the soil eagerly emerged from the ground, exposed to everyone's eyes.
Lu Xuan smiled with satisfaction and said to the others, "Now we can start digging."
Everyone: "!!!"
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Author's Note: The statement in Chapter 96 that the village chief told the disaster victims the entrenching tools were rented by the villagers was incorrect. The villagers actually acquired them privately by exchanging supplies. This has been corrected. It doesn't affect reading; just be aware that this happened.
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