Chapter 4 Troubled Times

After a two-hour rest, the sun rose to the top of the sky.

Fang Zhixing felt his body and found that his strength had almost recovered.

Humph, as expected of an eighteen-year-old body, his physical fitness recovers quickly.

"Let's go and catch some more food from the river to make sure we have enough for lunch." He picked up the broken bamboo basket and walked back to the river.

The little dog followed closely, wagging its tail and running in happy little steps.

Soon, Fang Zhixing entered the turbid river again and groped along the weed-covered shore, with the thin dog running in front to find out the situation.

One clam, another clam...

Fang Zhixing soon discovered that there were actually quite a few clams in the mud, and they were all relatively large, and it seemed that no one usually caught them.

After thinking about it carefully, Fang Zhixing discovered that in the memory of his original body, Danniu, he had never eaten clams, nor had he ever seen anyone else eat clams.

"Don't people in this world know that clams are edible?" Fang Zhixing pondered.

Just like that, more than half an hour passed in a flash.

Fang Zhixing had a good harvest, catching more than twenty clams and snails, filling half a basket. During the process, he also dug three holes, but unfortunately all of them were empty.

"I can't keep touching it. I can't lift it."

Fang Zhixing took great pains to pull the broken bamboo basket ashore and looked at the harvest with great joy on his face. It was enough to satisfy him.

He had previously thought that in a year of famine, it would be extremely difficult to find food, and that he might have to eat grass and tree bark. He never expected that there would be so much food in the river.

But why didn’t the other villagers come to fish? Why did they all run into the mountains?

Just as he was thinking about it, the little dog came up and looked inside the broken bamboo basket. He said with satisfaction, "We did a good job. It's a pleasure to work together."

Fang Zhixing said disdainfully: "With or without you, the result is the same."

The little dog immediately shouted, "What are you talking about? Didn't I help you find a few holes? Didn't I help you keep watch? You are turning your back on me. If you keep going like this, your conscience will turn black sooner or later, and even dogs won't eat you."

"Haha, with your eyesight, you only found three holes, and there's nothing inside them. And you still have the nerve to say that. You're really shameless!"

Fang Zhixing looked down on him.

The man and the dog quarreled until noon, then they lit a fire and barbecued again and had a delicious meal.

It is very rare to have two full meals in a row.

Fang Zhixing was full of energy. At three quarters in the afternoon, he went down to the river to fish again with a clear goal: to catch clams.

Time passed little by little, the sun set and dusk approached.

"Hey, what is that?"

The little dog suddenly raised his head and looked towards the river upstream. Amid the rolling waves, there was a faint black shadow rising and falling.

Hearing this, Fang Zhixing also looked up, his eyes narrowed slightly.

A dog's eyesight is much weaker than a human's. The thin dog only saw a dark shadow, but Fang Zhixing clearly saw a large ship swimming downstream.

It looked far away at first, but the big ship soon arrived.

The waves grew larger and hit the river bank.

Fang Zhixing hurriedly climbed ashore.

"Hey, that young man on the shore!"

Someone on the deck waved his hand and shouted at the top of his voice: "Excuse me, is Funiu Village ahead?"

Fang Zhixing quickly took a look at the boatman, who was very sturdy, dark-skinned, and had a big beard, and replied, "Yes."

"How far is it?"

"Not far, two miles downstream."

"Okay, thank you!"

The boatman made a bowing gesture.

Fang Zhixing watched the large ship pass by and saw two tall figures on the other side of the deck. They were about 1.81 to 1.9 meters tall, with bare chests and backs, well-developed muscles, bronze skin, sharp eyes, prominent cheekbones, and thick veins around their temples.

There is a knife on the waist!

There was a flag hanging on the mast, with a word or symbol written on it using a silver hook and an iron pen.

Unfortunately, Da Niu is illiterate, and Fang Zhixing has never seen this kind of writing before, so he can't understand it.

At this time, Xigou sent a message: "What is such a big ship doing going to Funiu Village?"

Fang Zhixing was silent for a moment, then whispered, "Let's go back and take a look."

Thin dogs are also very curious, so there's nothing wrong with that.

Fang Zhixing first found a secluded place, hid the broken bamboo basket, and then took a shortcut back to the village.

As soon as the man and the dog returned to the village, they saw that the big ship had docked and three people came down from the deck.

The one walking in the middle was a middle-aged man with a mustache, a big belly and a greasy face. Although he looked a bit wretched, the clothes he wore were very gorgeous, inlaid with gold and jade. At first glance, he was a wealthy man who had no worries about food and drink.

He was playing with two iron lumps in his hands, and they were making a crackling sound.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

The other two people followed behind him. They were the two strong men Fang Zhixing had seen before.

Under the dim sky, the three of them went straight to the east end of the village.

"Hey, Boss Qian, you're here!"

Under the crooked tree at the east end of the village, a white-bearded old man smoking a pipe stood up and bowed. It must be the old village chief.

"Village Chief Zhao, right?"

The greasy uncle looked at people with his nose up, and said with his hands behind his back: "How about it, are you ready?"

"We're ready, everything's settled!"

The old village chief turned around with a smile on his face and shouted to the village: "Everyone come out, Boss Qian is here."

In this situation, Fang Zhixing's eyes flickered slightly, and he was a little confused.

Obviously, the old village chief did not tell Daniu that Boss Qian was coming.

Not long after, Fang Zhixing saw Grandpa Song walking out of the house with his two granddaughters. The two granddaughters were less than ten years old and they were sobbing with their heads down.

Then, Aunt Wang came out with her daughter. Both mother and daughter had stiff expressions and extremely cold eyes.

There are also Uncle Li and Uncle Bai...

There were about a hundred households in Funiu Village, and suddenly more than forty of them ran away, all of them were elders with their girls.

At this moment, Fang Zhixing vaguely guessed what was about to happen.

"Line up and come over here one by one." Boss Qian rolled up his sleeves and looked at the little girls with a smile.

Then he walked up to Grandpa Song's two granddaughters, touched their heads, arms and fingers, asked their ages, asked them to open their mouths and checked their teeth.

"Well, these two children don't have any major problems and they look good. I see it's not easy for you to raise them, so I'll offer a higher price. How about 30 kilograms of rice for each of them?" Boss Qian said with a smile.

Uncle Song didn't show much expression on his face. He just held up five fingers and said through gritted teeth, "I won't sell it for a penny less than this."

Boss Qian immediately frowned and snorted, "This year has been full of disasters. The autumn harvest must have failed. Without food, how will your family survive the cold winter?"

He glanced at the villagers and said confidently, "Do you know what the situation is like outside? There is a war going on, chaos and plague everywhere, and bandits are rampant. Maybe one day your Funiu Village will be wiped out by bandits."

After a pause, Boss Qian's tone softened again and he said with a smile, "I came here to buy your daughters and granddaughters and send them to wealthy families as maids so that they can have food to eat. I am doing good deeds and helping you, do you understand?"

The scene was completely silent. Everyone was starving and had no energy to argue, nor the culture to speak out any big truths.

After Boss Qian finished speaking, he looked at Uncle Song again and said with a smile, "How about this, I'll add a little more, 35 kilograms of rice per person."

Uncle Song nodded painfully and let out a long sigh.

(End of this chapter)