Chapter 28: Complacent Old Zhao
Editor: Atlas Studios
As the sky brightened, Li Siwen mingled amongst the farmers like a mudskipper, routinely got up, relieved himself, collected food, and had breakfast.
Mm, everyone was mudskippers, after all, they'd slept in the mud last night.
The over a hundred big fish in the territory had already disappeared as if nothing had happened at all.
But he knew, last night, under the lead of the two Fire Guards Zhang Ye and Qin Fen and Sun Tieshi's direction, the hunter team set out overnight and swept through a good half of the river bank. They'd probably brought back another few hundred big fish in total.
So today the hunter team could naturally take a day's break.
The boorish Feudal Lord was nowhere to be seen in the territory, only the Overseer Sun Tieshi was patrolling with an aloof face. There was no way to guess his current thoughts. On the other hand, Song Hu was extremely spirited.
Yes, just as Li Siwen had expected last night, the boorish Feudal Lord had summoned the statue once more. After offering a few hundred big fishes as a sacrifice, he used the exchanged resources to promote Song Hu, but instead of a Hero, he was a high-level soldier, the same level as Zhang Ye and Qin Fen.
But this was enough too. At least Sun Tieshi would have to weigh things when he wanted to point at Song Hu's nose and rebuke him again.
In addition, the boorish Feudal Lord had also summoned 10 lumberjacks and handed all of them to be supervised by Song Hu. It seemed like he was going to do a heavy reconstruction of the territory?
Song Hu very jauntily set off first with his logging team. The 18 lumberjacks were equally jaunty, because they'd switched to new axes, even sharper and also heavier.
While Old Zhao also held 10 new hoes and distributed them to each of them.
It seemed like this was the effect of sacrificing hundreds of big fish yesterday. That boorish Feudal Lord was finally willing to spend some resources to replace their tools.
The hunter team should have received new hunting forks and bows too. Was the territory going to rise up?
Arriving at the wheat field, Old Zhao, as expected, had forgotten about the talk of building a dam from yesterday. He only happily sat in front of the farmer's hut and wiped a steel knife that was chipped in two places.
This was awarded to him by the boorish Feudal Lord. It was one of the weapons on those five mercenaries who'd died previously.
Beyond doubt, with this chipped steel knife, Old Zhao had grown complacent. It seemed like he'd forgotten about being picked on and scolded by Sun Tieshi this morning.
Now that he could not rebuke Song Hu, would he not be able to rebuke you, damn Zhao Da?
Seeing this, Li Siwen wasn't even interested to say a word more. He did his weeding obediently, not giving Old Zhao a chance to pretentiously eat his words.
The new hoe was great, forged from wrought iron, it was sharper than the previous iron sheet one and also slightly heavier.
This was something worth rejoicing over to Li Siwen.
Given his current 13 points of Strength, he could shovel the hoe 10cm deep into the soil without effort, tearing every stalk of weed by the roots while separating the soil at the same time and hilling small amounts at the roots of the wheat plants. Completing two tasks at the same time, no delay at all.
Even so, his weeding speed and quality was also something the other farmers could not compare to.
In just one morning, even though it had stormed yesterday, leaving the ground very damp and requiring more effort to swing the hoe, Li Siwen had easily weeded 0.7 acres of land and successfully gained one Vitality Point.
As for the depletion of his Stamina, he'd used up merely six points, among which one point was because of the weather.
"So this is playing cheat, 13 points of Strength, 17 points of Stamina, coupled with a hoe of pretty good quality and this is the outcome created. And even if my Strength now cannot match up to that of a cow, it can definitely win a donkey."
He quietly added this one Vitality Point to his Stamina. After making it 18 Stamina Points, Li Siwen came to the farmer's hut. Old Zhao was still seated there, leisurely wiping the steel knife. The sight had all the farmers shuffling and holding their breaths.
Yet this fellow was wearing a smile. His gaze swept past all the farmers and landed on Li Siwen's face at last. Letting out a dry cough, he announced with feigned lordliness:
"The Feudal Lord's order, today's weather is hot, so we will take a two-hour break in the afternoon. If it rains, permission is given to take shelter. However, make sure behavior like yesterday's fishing without authorization is not seen again. Everyone is strictly forbidden to use any excuse to leave beyond a thousand feet range of the wheat field, even if it's taking a dump. Those who disobey, while I, Zhao Da, recognize you as my brother, this steel knife in my hand does not. Alright, let's eat."
After distributing the rations to all the farmers, Zhao Da then carried his steel knife and came before Li Siwen. He let out a helpless, bitter laugh. "Sigh, Brother Wang Er, it is difficult to go against orders from the higher-ups. You've got to understand. Of course, you don't have to worry, we're friends until death, I definitely will not intentionally make things difficult for you, brother."
Li Siwen then smiled. "Don't worry, I won't put you in a spot either. Can I go inside and take a nap?"
"Of course, Brother Wang Er, please do not stand on ceremony with me. So long as it's within a thousand feet range of the wheat field, you can go anywhere." Old Zhao laughed exaggeratedly.
Li Siwen also smiled, as if nothing had happened. He picked several pieces of relatively flatter stones and headed into the farmer's hut.
The inside was still all humid and after being bathed in the sun for the entire morning, it was as stuffy as a steamer. Even those nine farmers weren't willing to come in. After all, it didn't seem like there would be rain today, how comfortable it was sitting under the shade of the trees, and feeling the cool breeze.
But Li Siwen just didn't care. Spreading the rocks out, he sat there and chewed on his rations quietly. After eating, he laid down and slept, with zero intention of creating trouble.
Old Zhao sat outside, continuing to clean the long knife. There was still a smile on his face, only it was a little distorted.
Whereas inside the hut, Li Siwen quietly opened his Attribute Bar and looked at the bottommost small yellow orb. There were already 15 Spirit Points being lit up here, of them, 4 points had been left from before while the other 11 points had been earned from killing those 22 big fishes yesterday.
"The level 3 farm does not need to be leveled up for now. This place is ultimately not the place for a long stay. Once autumn arrives and that wheat field is ripe for harvest, I will find a chance to go solo."
Li Siwen finally decided.
Moments later, he let out steady snoring, seeming like he'd fallen asleep.
Zhao Da who kept guard outside hesitated for a few minutes. He ultimately couldn't stand the blazing sun above his head and moved to the tree shade tens of meters away. He could still watch the chap's movements from here.
It wasn't a must for him to make things difficult for Li Siwen, but last night after encountering Sun Tieshi face to face at close range, Sun Tieshi who'd become somber and full of murderous intent for some unknown reason had startled him. He knew himself well enough; he did not have Song Hu's guts. He didn't even need to think about lifting his head in front of this person in this life, not to mention resisting against him.
So last night, this Wang Er actually bewitched him into opposing Sun Tieshi. That was truly vicious, he should be killed for his motive!
However, Zhao Da still didn't have the courage to kill Li Siwen right away. That was why he came up with such a compromising way, to monitor Li Siwen, not allowing him to run about or create trouble, in case he offended Sir Sun.
Sign, it was tough being a sub-chief too.
At the same time, inside the stuffy farmer's hut, a hint of a smile flashed across the lips of Li Siwen, who'd originally fallen asleep. Opening the Attribute Bar, he drew some Spirit Points from the small yellow orb and added the points to his Spirit attributes.
In this instance, a thread of coolness bloomed in his mind. It was extremely comfortable. And accompanying this coolness, all the minute thoughts from the past few days presented themselves in perfect clarity, allowing him to analyze, manage, and even learn from mistakes within a very brief period.
However, such a miraculous state only lasted several seconds before it turned into terrifying dizziness. Even his soul almost collapsed.
Laying on the stone, Li Siwen's body shivered violently, as if he'd suffered all kinds of excruciating torture. He only recovered after a long while. Opening the Attribute Bar, his Spirit Development had indeed made a breakthrough to 16% while his Stamina that had already recovered to 12 points had had two points expended.
"Heck, how tough!"
After cursing, Li Siwen took in a breath and tried to allow his mind to enter a quiet and still state. He'd unknowingly crashed into such a state during the rainy night a few days ago. In the end, he'd increased his Spirit Development to 15% within a night's time, there wasn't even any negative effect at all.
But such a state truly depended on luck. Moreover, he still had to avoid Zhao Da and the rest. It couldn't be carried out in the territory. The conditions were much harsher than that rainy night. Hence, he could only toughen his scalp and push forward. It was just going through suffering. Would he be afraid?
-- Gift
received