TGDW – Chapter 42 Thrusting a pile

The General's Delicious Wife Chapter Chapter 042: Thrusting a pile

The river that was passing through the Seng Head Village did not even have a formal name, it was only casually referred to as the Old Song River by the people in the village. This section of the river had a considerably gentle current, the river width was wide but shallow.

If it was not in the flooding season, people could simply cross it by walking over. It was a good thing that even when drought hits, this river had never stopped flowing.

For the entire village to drink water, water the crops, washing clothes, it was all credited to this river.

Following the river by walking upstream for approximately three miles in distance, it was the intersection of Old Song River and Hun River (Hun meaning: muddy, it is literally a muddy river), there was another small village over at that side – Double Headwaters Village (Meaning: the water source of two rivers, the Chinese translation is "two river mouth village").

That village was much closer to the deep mountains than Seng Head Village, and most of the people living there were the lumberjacks and the laborers who transported the logs with the river. The village was not too big but there were three to four lumberyards.

Hun River was deep and wide, the water current was also vigorous. Every year during this season, the lumberyard would have to rush to make use of the river.

The thrusting a pile activity that Auntie Chen mentioned just now occurs upon the Hun River.

Both of them continued walking up the stream, Qin Zheng becomes bored with nothing else to do so he asked. "Sister-in-law, you gave me a signal just now, is there a taboo we need to avoid around Auntie Chen? Can you tell me about it, so that I can take note for the future."

So Xia Yue Chu told him about what had happened to Auntie Chen's family.

"Auntie Chen is a really good person, there is no one in the village who doesn't praise her. But it is a pity that she has a hard life, her man is gone too early, leaving behind her and their four sons. At that time, the eldest son in the family is only ten years old, the youngest is only one week old. She is also stubborn in nature, refusing to remarry. For a madam to raise up all four children singlehandedly, the days are truly hard on her."

Qin Zheng agreed with her as he listened. "There is a common saying that a half big young lad will eat poor his dad*, not mentioning there are four. No matter how capable she is, for a single madam, surely it must be difficult to bring up four rowdy kids?"

"Exactly so!" Xia Yue Chu sighed. "It is also fortunate that their family condition used to be great when her man was still around, they have extra savings, and she is also willing and not afraid of working hard. She will root herself in the fields all day long during the harvest season and go foraging for wild greens or mushrooms in the mountains during the low peak times. If there are really no more chores, she will go up to the mountains and chop some firewood, never making herself idle. On top of that, the people in the village would give her some practical support from time to time, thus helping her in getting over the toughest times. It is just that although her children are old enough to help out in chores and work now, they will not be starving to their death, new problems have risen before them. The eldest is eighteen years old now, the family is so poor in such conditions that the matchmakers are not willing to go to their house. So she has been worrying over this for the past two years."

"Could it be that her man has died from thrusting the pile in the river?"

"Isn't that right!" When Auntie Chen's husband had encountered his mishap, Xia Yue Chu had yet to marry and moved into this village. These were things that she had overheard from the neighbours in parts and pieces.

"Her man used to be the supervisor of the workers in the lumberyard. Although there were only about twenty lumberjacks under him, but because he has outstanding etiquette unlike other supervisors who does not pay and abuses the workers. So his lumber business was doing considerably well. I heard that at that time, there were two new lumberjacks who came working under him. They were so drunk that they made a mistake, not patrolling during their rounds along the river and missed out in resolving potential danger hazards in time. A few wooden logs were jammed up by the river rocks. The people up in the mountain did not know about it and continued thrusting the logs, and soon enough, the jammed logs were piling up as tall as a grown man. At that time, he saw that it wasn't too dangerous, so he did not go up the mountain to find the specialist who would unsnarl the pile, he took off his outer clothes and jumped into the river himself. The river was unraveled successfully, but who knew that he couldn't get out of the way fast enough and he was hit at the back of his head by the wooden logs coming from behind him. They lost sight of him in an instant and they couldn't even recover his corpse in the end. His tomb in the mountain is a burial of his clothing."

Qin Zheng became solemn as he heard the story. "No wonder when we were talking about thrusting a pile just now, her face looks so terrible, so it is because there was such a history behind."

"As a couple, they grew up together since their childhood and their relationship has always been very good. Who knew that something like this would happen. She couldn't overcome the void in her heart, and she would feel terrible for a long time every time she thinks about it. It is good that she is busy making a living for the family every day, becoming so tired that she can fall asleep whenever her head hits the pillow, so she doesn't have much time to think about it regularly."

While they were talking, the two of them had arrived at the double headwaters. They could hear a ruckus from afar.

Walking along the bend where the two rivers split, just when they turned the corner, they saw a group of people gathering at the riverside. The wooden logs in the river had already piled up as high as a mountain.

Other than the thunderous sound of water crashing, there was also the muted bumps of wooden logs hitting against one another from time to time. Qin Zheng had never seen anything like this, lifting his head up, he was stunned by what he saw.

On this side of the mountain, most of the lumber they harvest were logs of the larch trees, growing tall and strong, some of them were so thick that it could only be encircled by several people hugging it.

If one was hit by such a wooden log, the person could be smashed into a meat pulp.

Almost everyone from the Double Headwaters Village had gathered around the river, looking worriedly at the logs in the river, and many from Seng Head Village came to watch what was happening.

Two men who seemed to be the workers were kneeling at a side, both with their heads down, presumably they were the ones in charge of patrolling the river.

The supervisor's face was livid with anger, he had already scolded the two of them just now, but that was not enough to appease him. He wheezed heavily like a pair of bellows.

"Since you two took my words upon your deaf ears, even daring to drink to your death while patrolling the river. Then I shall arrange for you to go into the water today, unplug this river, whether you live or you die, it all depends on whether the Heavens will give you a way to survive."

The two workers were trembling with fright and kowtowing, begging for mercy. To be going into the water and unsnarl the dam at this point was tantamount to going to die in vain.

The supervisor went up to them and kicked them twice, roaring in his anger. "Then should I go down and clean up the mess for you two?"

One of them took the opportunity of the situation and grabbed onto the supervisor's feet, crying with his snot and tears.

"Supervisor, please forgive me this time, my old mother is still waiting for me to make money and bring her to see a doctor. If something bad happens to me, my mother will starve to her death."

An old man next to him, who was smoking his pipe and pot, heard this and cursed. "Knowing today early, why continued with the cause. (Meaning: Having prior knowledge of what could possibly happen, why did you still do what you have done.)"

After he finished speaking, he turned his head to the supervisor. "Today's incident was indeed all their fault, but when it comes to thrusting the pile, the two of them really don't have that ability. If they were forced into the water like this, they would just be forgoing their lives."

As it appeared, this old man had a very high prestige. When he opened his mouth, the supervisor and lumberjacks listened with their full respect.

The supervisor replied. "Old Gen Uncle, what you said is right, I was only speaking out of anger, I have to teach the two of them a lesson and see if they dare to do it again in the future."

The person next to him hurriedly bowed his body forward and spoke with a smile. "Old Gen Uncle, our supervisor has already sent people to invite the swallow who skids upon water, and I am expecting that they will be arriving soon."

Only then did Old Gen Uncle showed a satisfied expression, taking a puff off his tobacco pouch and affirming the supervisor. "I knew you were a kind honest boy."

As soon as she heard them calling him Old Gen Uncle, she knew who this person was.

This person could be regarded as a legend in the neighborhood. The lumber industry was extremely dangerous. Not to mention the death from frostbite and injury up on the mountain during winter, there were also many people who were accidentally crushed to death while logging. When it was the time to transport logs during the spring season, there would be countless people who would die in the waters, and very few of them could live to their old age in peace.

Only this Old Gen Uncle was an exception. He started lumbering at the age of seventeen and had been doing it for more than thirty years, and then he returned to Double Headwaters Village to retire.

The lumberjacks all said that Old Gen Uncle had a big life** and good luck. Whenever there was something that they were unsure about, they would always seek him for his opinions.

The lumberjacks felt that he had the blessings of the mountain gods and the river gods, and they respected him very much. So much so that they would appoint someone to present them gifts as a duty of filial piety during the yearly festivals and the couple's birthday (Old Gen Uncle and his wife), hoping to bring themselves the same blessings.

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Translator Notes:

*A half big young lad will eat poor his dad, to put it into a better phrasing, a growing boy will eat so much that his father will become poor.

**Big life is the direct translated term used to describe people who continues to live even when they are close to death. They have the fortune in having such a full life that they would miss their death call.

Translated by YellowBean. Yea, I changed my username, just because. And for the sake of being a prim and proper novel, the base tense used for the text is changed to past tense. I will go back and change the older chapters when I have the time.