04 Turbulent Times

After resting for two hours, in the blink of an eye, the sun was already three poles high.

Fang Zhixing felt his body, his strength had mostly recovered.

Hum, worthy of being an eighteen-year-old body, the energy recovery was indeed quick.

"Let's go, catch some more in the river to ensure we have lunch," he said, picking up the battered basket and stepping back towards the riverbank.

Xigou followed closely, wagging his tail, and scampered off with joyful little steps.

Soon, Fang Zhixing re-entered the muddy river water, groping along the weed-infested shore as Xigou ran ahead to scout the area.

One clam, then another clam...

Fang Zhixing soon realized that there were quite a few clams in the silt, and they were all quite large; it seemed like no one usually harvested them.

On closer thought, Fang Zhixing also realized that in the original Daniu's memories, he had never eaten clams, nor had he seen anyone else eat them.

"Could it be that people in this world don't know clams are edible?" Fang Zhixing pondered.

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

Fang Zhixing had a good harvest, gathering over twenty clams and snails, filling more than half a basket. Meanwhile, he also dug three holes, but unfortunately, they all turned up empty.

"Can't continue foraging, I can't carry anymore."

Fang Zhixing exerted all his strength to pull the bamboo basket onto the shore, looking at his haul with delight, enough for him to feast on.

Previously he thought that in a year of famine, finding food would be extremely difficult, perhaps having to eat grass or tree bark, but he never expected the river to be teeming with ingredients.

But why hadn't other villagers come to harvest, all heading to the mountains instead?

While he was pondered this, Xigou approached him, looked inside the battered basket, and said with satisfaction, "We did well, pleasant cooperation."

Fang Zhixing disdainfully replied, "With or without you, the result would be no different."

Xigou immediately protested, "What kind of talk is that? Didn't I help you find a few holes? Didn't I keep watch for you? You're turning your back on me. If it continues like this, your conscience will eventually turn black, a dog wouldn't even eat it."

"Heh, with your eyesight, you found only three holes, and there was nothing in them. You still have the nerve to say that, shameless dog!"

Fang Zhixing was unconcerned.

The man and the dog bickered until noon, then made a fire for roasting and feasted joyously once again.

Eating well for two consecutive meals was quite rare.

Filled with energy, Fang Zhixing went back to the river to fish in the afternoon, with a clear target to catch clams.

Time passed bit by bit, and as he saw the sun setting, it was gradually getting dark.

"Hey, what is that?"

Xigou suddenly raised his head, looking upstream on the river where amidst the rolling waves, a shadow moved erratically.

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

Dogs have much weaker vision than humans; Xigou only saw a shadow, but Fang Zhixing clearly saw a large boat coming downstream.

It appeared very far at first, but the large boat quickly approached.

The waves grew larger, beating against the riverbank.

Fang Zhixing hastily climbed up the bank.

"Hey, young man on the shore!"

Someone on deck waved and shouted, "Asking for directions, is Funiu Village up ahead?"

Fang Zhixing quickly sized up the boatman, who was very burly with dark skin and a big beard, and replied, "Yes."

"How much farther?"

"Not far, downstream about two li."

"Great, thanks!"

The boatman made a gesture of clasping his hands together.

Fang Zhixing watched the large ship pass by in front of his eyes and saw two tall figures on the other side of the deck. They were about 1.8 to 1.9 meters tall, bare-chested and back, with well-developed muscles, bronze skin, sharp eyes, protruding cheekbones, and thick veins around their temples.

Tucked at their waists were knives!

There was a flag hanging from the mast, inscribed with a word or symbol in silver-stroke iron-script.

Unfortunately, Dani could not read, and Fang Zhixing had also never seen such writing; he couldn't understand it.

At that moment, Xigou whispered, "What is such a big ship doing going to Funiu Village?"

Fang Zhixing was slightly silent, then said in a low voice, "Let's go, let's go back and see."

Xigou was also curious, seeing no problem with that.

Fang Zhixing first found a hidden place to stash the broken bamboo basket, then took a shortcut back to the village.

Just as they returned to the village, they saw that the large ship had already docked, and three men came down from the deck.

The one in the middle was a middle-aged man with a goatee, pot-bellied, his face greasy. Although his appearance was somewhat sleazy, the clothes he wore were very luxurious, adorned with gold and jade, clearly someone who never worried about food or drink.

He toyed with two iron balls in his hand, making a clicking sound.

The other two who followed him were the burly men Fang Zhixing had seen earlier.

Under the dim sky, the three men headed straight to the east end of the village.

"Oh, Mr. Qian, you've arrived!"

Under the crooked-neck tree at the village's east end, a white-haired old man smoking dry tobacco stood up, bowing and scraping, none other than the old village chief.

"Chief Zhao, right?"

The greasy uncle looked down his nose at him and said with his hands behind his back, "So, is everything ready?"

"It's ready, all settled!"

The old village chief, smiling broadly, turned and shouted into the village, "Everyone come out, Mr. Qian is here."

At this scene, Fang Zhixing's eyes flickered slightly, somewhat puzzled.

Clearly, the old village chief had not told Dani about Mr. Qian's visit.

Soon, Fang Zhixing saw Old Man Song leading his two granddaughters out of their house; the girls, both under ten, were hanging their heads and sobbing.

Then, Auntie Wang came out pulling her daughter; the mother and daughter looked stiff, their expressions particularly cold.

And also Old Man Li, Uncle Bai...

Out of the 100-odd households in Funiu Village, suddenly more than forty households emerged, all elders with the young girls in their families.

At that moment, Fang Zhixing faintly guessed what was about to happen.

"Line up, one by one," Mr. Qian rolled up his sleeves and watched the girls with a grin.

He first went to Old Man Song's two granddaughters, touched their heads, their arms, their fingers, asked their ages, and made them open their mouths to check their teeth.

"Hmm, these two kids aren't bad, good looking too. Old man, I know it's not easy for you to raise them, so I'll offer a high price, thirty kilos of rice for one, how about that?" Mr. Qian said, smiling.

Old Man Song's face showed little emotion, but he raised five fingers and said through clenched teeth, "This number, not one less."

Mr. Qian's face fell at once, and he snorted coldly, "With all the disasters this year, the harvest is certainly ruined, no food, how will your family survive the winter?"

He glanced at the villagers and argued vehemently, "Do you know what's happening outside? There's war, chaos everywhere, epidemics spreading, bandits rampant; any day now your Funiu Village could be wiped out by bandits."

Pausing, Mr. Qian's tone softened again and he smiled, "I'm here to buy your daughters and granddaughters, send them to big households to be maidservants, give them food to eat. I'm doing this out of charity, to help you, understand?"

The scene was eerily quiet, everyone was starving, lacking the energy to argue or the education to make a solid argument.

After his long speech, Mr. Qian looked at Old Man Song again and said with a smile, "How about this, I'll add a bit more, thirty-five kilos of rice for one."

Old Man Song nodded painfully, sighing deeply.