Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 54

The villagers who were thinking about how to divide the pork were stunned.

     “Huang Laocai?” The villagers recognized him.

     “Is he Huang Laocai? The rich man from the neighboring village? The one who forced the tenants of his family to death a few days ago? I heard that his family has some relationship with the county officials.”

     An Yinong couldn’t help but take a second look: Was this the protagonist’s father?

     The village chief’s beard stood up: “Huang Laocai, how come there are so many mountains coming down from your mountain?”

     “Then you can say these didn’t come down from my mountain? Can you guarantee that?” Huang Laocai stroked his beard and said proudly, “I said they came down from my mountain. I have seen them.”

     The village chief choked and was so angry that he almost couldn’t breathe: “Huang Laocai, don’t go too far!”

     “Excessive?” Huang Laocai laughed, “Do you want me to go find an official to comment on it?”

     The village chief was furious, but there was nothing he could do. If the official comes, if the pork cannot be saved, there may be a lot less.

     Officials were worse than locusts. Locusts only eat food, but officials and servants also eat people.

     As soon as the word official came out, the villagers present seemed to be naturally suppressed and could no longer speak. Even the old village chief, who has always been shrewd and decisive, just trembled and cursed: “Huang Laocai, you will be punished for doing such a derogatory thing!”

     “Retribution? Haha, I have never been afraid of retribution in my life.” Huang Laocai waved his hand, “Carry it away, carry it away!”

     The thugs came over to lift the pig, but the surrounding villagers wanted to stop but did not dare.

     “But this is obviously our pig.” A villager burst into tears with sadness, “Our family is running out of food, ahhhhhh-“

     He seemed to want to rush out, but was stopped by his wife who came with him. His wife patted him on the shoulder several times, crying and shouting: “You are crazy. What if you leave us two mothers alone?”

     “But this is the pig I killed, my pig!”

     Who doesn’t know? It’s just that Huang Laocai has a dozen thugs with weapons. Whether he is rational or not, the knife can turn him into rational.

     An Yinong in the crowd watched Landlord Huang proudly ordering people to carry away all three pigs. The villagers were filled with hatred, but there was nothing they could do.

     He remembered that in that plot, the protagonist did eat wild boar meat one day. But he didn’t like the smell and taste, so he ate a small piece and threw it away to feed the dog. It turns out that this was where the piece of wild boar meat came from.

     The incident with the wild boar is over, but life continues. The farmers could only continue to eat grass roots and chaff, while hoping that the court would distribute relief grains. But instead of waiting for food relief, they heard news of tax increases.

     “I heard there’s a war going on and we’re raising military supplies.”

     Increase taxes? The villagers who heard the news were completely stunned and had no idea who they were, where they were, and what they were doing. But their confusion did not prevent everything from moving in the direction they did not want – the general who was raising supplies for the army had already arrived, taking his team with him.

     “If you don’t keep my soldiers well-fed, how can they defend their homeland and country?” This sentence was circulated in private, and it was said by the general, but no one knew whether it was true or not.

     The only thing that is certain was that tax collectors really started collecting grain everywhere. All the big families in the county were visited, and cartloads of grain were hauled out. After that, it got worse and worse. Except for beggars on the roadside, everyone was taxed. There are even rumors that the next step was to recruit soldiers and go to war.

     When people are in panic, the tax collector comes. The officials, who were tall and powerful, carrying whips and knives in their hands, started from the entrance of the village and collected them one by one.

     Tian Xi’s home was located at the entrance of the village.

     An Yinong stood by the fence. When he saw them driving the carriage, he opened the door first.

     “You two officers,” he said, with a good face that he would never have seen before, “Thank you for your hard work on a hot day. Drink some water.”

     The tax collector looked at him in surprise. The villagers nearby trembled when they saw the official’s legs. It was rare to see someone so calm.

     “No need to bother,” the tax official pulled out the document, “Your name is Tian Xi? You are the only one at home? Two acres of low-grade farmland… Well, the payable grain is thirty kilograms.”

     One acre of low-grade farmland can produce 150 kilograms of grain in non-disaster years, and the tax collected is ten to one compared to non-disaster years. For farmers who are now without food, it is no less than a natural disaster.

     “Sir, can you convert it into tax money?” However, An Yinong could not reveal his anger. He lowered his head and asked respectfully.

     The tax official looked at him and sneered: “You think so, but unfortunately this time the superiors ordered us to use grain as compensation.”

     These days, you can’t buy food if you have money.

     “Sir, don’t be angry. It’s the common people who are ignorant, so bring the grain here.” An Yinong smiled and stuffed a persimmon for him, then turned around and brought over the cloth bag containing the old grain.

     Someone on the other end held the scale and opened the bag to see that it was serious food without sand, so he nodded.

     The grain was collected without crying or fussing, and there was no shortage of jin or liang. The tax collector showed mercy and stopped using his little tricks to deal with the “unruly people” and waved: “Who is the next household?”

     The tax collector went to the next house, and soon there were sounds of crying and smashing from that house.

     An Yinong saw soldiers beating the men of that family with sticks while the women knelt on the ground crying. An Yinong felt sad. As long as they still had enough grain to pay taxes, they would not refuse to pay it.

     The people in the troubled times of the old days lived like this.

     When the tax collector left, the man had been beaten to death. An Yinong walked over and helped carry the man into the house.

     While the woman wasn’t paying attention, he used the ‘healing halo’ on the unconscious man. The man’s brows relaxed, but he did not wake up. An Yinong, who was worried, breathed a sigh of relief.

     “Auntie, I’m leaving first.” An Yinong said goodbye. Today’s move was a bit risky. If the other party hadn’t been unconscious, he wouldn’t have done it anyway.

     “Oh my God, we just want to live without starving to death. Why is it so difficult?” The woman from that family looked at her husband, turned her head and covered her face in tears.

     An Yinong returned home and sent out 30 kilograms of grain this time, leaving only more than 70 kilograms left. Adding the grass roots and kudzu powder collected before, it can last for four to five months, that is, until next year. At the beginning of spring.

     At this moment, it was less than ten days before the great escape.

     An Yinong squinted his eyes and looked at the sky: “I have to go to the pond again and go deeper to see if there is anything to eat there.”

     It was only around three or four in the afternoon. If we go to Hulutan now, we can probably come back before dark.

     He took a hoe and a backpack, avoided the tax collection team, and took the path to Hulutan. He searched around several times and dug out everything edible. This time, An Yinong found nothing.

     “After escaping, we won’t come here again. Regardless of whether there is something inside, we’ll look for it first.” After thinking about it, he decided to continue walking inside, tapping the ground with a hoe to drive away snakes and insects, and observing the surroundings.

     He was still alone in the quiet valley.

     “Good luck.” He found a patch of kudzu in a damp place.

     I don’t know how long these kudzus have been growing. The dug kudzu roots were thick and hearty, and they could produce a lot of kudzu powder. An Yinong dug more and more, and before he knew it, he dug until dusk.

     A crow stood on a dead tree and called, a gust of wind blew through the deserted valley, and something in the dark was about to move: “It smells so good… That boy, it smells so good…”

     The soil surged silently, and a red centipede’s head rolled out. But before it did anything, a shoe embroidered with a golden python stepped on it.

     The stretched out vines, crawling insects and snakes, and the churning soil all stopped, motionless as if they were dead.

     An Yinong, who was not far away, did not notice any of these abnormalities at all. He carefully dug out the fat kudzu roots one by one. These kudzu roots almost seem to have been improved in modern times, and they can produce a lot of powder just by looking at them.

     The more he dug, the happier he became, and he almost lost track of time. It wasn’t until an unknown bird chirped in the valley, with a shrill sound, that An Yinong realized that it was already dusk.

     “It’s getting dark.” An Yinong quickly put all the dug kudzu roots in the basket, then put the basket on his back, picked up the hoe and walked out.

     The sunset outside the valley was like blood, but he had no intention of admiring it.

     An Yinong lowered his head, and the young boy’s tiny shadow walked from far to near on the path. The little beasts around him poked their heads, their glowing eyes appearing and disappearing behind the vegetation.

     After dusk, the world was covered with a layer of red light, and it became a bit strange. Even the paths that have been walked many times outside were hard to recognize. It always feels like there was something hidden behind the big trees and in the shadows.

     The vegetation on both sides of the trail outside the valley was sparse, and the wind blows, making a strange whirring sound, mixed with hoarse bird calls. He saw a gray-black shadow flash past quickly, but when he looked carefully, there was nothing.

     An Yinong, who always stayed away from the talk of ghosts and gods, accelerated his pace back.

     “This little brother is walking in a hurry, where are you going?”

     The wind blew, and a girl wearing bean pink clothes appeared on the empty roadside.

     Her hair was thick and black, her skin was as white and delicate as snow, her lips were rouged, and she was wearing gorgeous clothes with a layer of hazy gauze outside. She was as beautiful as a fairy.

     An Yinong stopped and even took a step back.

     “Brother, I got separated from my servant. I don’t know… where is this place?” She stood sideways and only glanced shyly when An Yinong looked over.

     He took a quick glance and saw that the shadow at the woman’s feet merged with the darkness. He didn’t know whether there was one or not.

     But the hem of the woman’s clothes was very long. If it had been dragged on the ground, it would have left traces. However, there were no traces of any clothes being dragged on this road.

     Cold sweat rushed to his forehead, and An Yinong stiffened: “…Xiao Qi, will you explain?”

     The system that once guaranteed the ticket has shut down: “I don’t know how this could happen.”

     “Then what do you think we should do?” An Yinong held the hoe tightly in his hand. The fact that his legs were not weak at this moment fully demonstrated his bravery, but what’s the use of being brave in such a situation? Can he subdue demons physically or verbally?

     The system rubbed its hands. There were a lot of good things in its mall, but it just couldn’t be taken out: “Otherwise, host, would you pretend not to see it and rush over with your eyes closed?”

     “Hehe.”

     It’s such a useless system, just uninstall it.

     “Wow!” The crow on the tree called, and the birds in the forest suddenly became silent.

     It’s that crow again, he didn’t know when it appeared.

     The woman looked behind An Yinong, her face changed slightly, she stood up straight and said with a smile: “I didn’t know that this man had an owner. He who doesn’t know is not guilty. I hope you won’t blame me.” After saying that, she turned into blue smoke and ran away.

     “Ah -” only a scream was heard, and the smoke that could vaguely see the shape of a woman in the air dissipated instantly, and no trace was found.

     The valley fell silent. An Yinong almost suffered cardiac arrest. Sweat broke out on his forehead, and he pinched his palms tightly to suppress his instinct to look back.

     There was something behind him. He didn’t know what it was, but he could feel its presence. At the same time, he also smelled a very nice aroma, as if it had been chilled by the snow on the pine branches, making it cool.

     There was no movement for a long time. An Yinong licked the corner of his mouth and smiled stiffly: “Sorry to bother you…!”

     A cold hand touched his, accompanied by a slightly cool fragrance. An Yinong was startled and subconsciously retracted his fingers. However, that cold hand gently but forcefully opened his fingers one by one, then stuffed something into his hand and closed his fingers.

     An Yinong’s heart was pounding and his breathing was rapid. He lowered his head carefully and saw an exquisitely crafted paper lantern, with a light cyan flame burning in the white wax inside.