Ergouzi returned to Snake Mouth Mountain and immediately began preparing for the long journey.
First, he moved stones and thorny brush to block the already difficult path up Snake Mouth Mountain, making it even harder to traverse.
Even he had to rely on a rope to get up and down the mountain.
He took all his valuable belongings—the hoe, the wood-chopping knife, and the iron pot—and stowed them inside the gourd.
While he was at it, he took stock of the rough rice and copper coins inside.
He currently had over one hundred and fifty shi of rice stored in the gourd, along with one dou of Great Strength Pills.
However, the copper coins and silver he needed most urgently right now were pitifully scarce. His entire net worth amounted to just over five strings of cash.
At the current market price, a single mu of land sold for twenty strings of cash. Just the three mu he was currently farming would cost at least sixty strings.
Moreover, Old Moneybags Huang might not even be willing to part with it.
Ergouzi planned to find a chance this time to ask Old Moneybags Huang if he would sell the land on Snake Mouth Mountain to him.
After all, this place was nothing but rocks. The mountain path was difficult to walk, and fetching water was inconvenient.
To anyone else, the land on Snake Mouth Mountain held little value, but for Ergouzi, it could not be more perfect.
He only hoped that on this trip into the city, he would meet someone who knew their goods. If he could sell the Great Strength Pills for a good price, he would have the money to buy land.
For this trip into the city, Ergouzi took off his only set of thin hemp clothes a day early and washed them.
He carefully used needle and thread to mend the unraveled seams at the cuffs and armpits.
He also jumped into Snake Creek for a cold bath, scrubbing all the grime off his body until he was thoroughly clean.
Then he combed his hair neatly and put on a brand-new pair of straw sandals. His whole person looked full of vigor, as handsome as a new bridegroom.
When Ergouzi carried five dou of rice to Old Moneybags Huang’s house to pay his rent, he could feel Old Moneybags Huang’s Second Daughter’s eyes brighten as she looked his way.
The moment their gazes met, Ergouzi’s face flushed red all the way down to his neck. He lowered his head, no longer daring to make eye contact with her.
Old Moneybags Huang’s Second Daughter had a round face, a round waist, and round buttocks. She was one of the finest beauties in the village, making many of the local idlers drool over her.
Such a woman would be highly capable, whether doing farm work in the fields or staying home to bear and raise children.
But she was the daughter of the wealthiest man in the village. For these tenant farmers, it was like a toad lusting after swan meat; she was far beyond their reach.
“Yo! If it isn’t Ergouzi!”
“At first glance, I thought someone’s bridegroom had arrived.”
“The lad’s growing more handsome by the day!”
“Getting this tall, it’s about time he took a wife.”
Over a dozen strong men had already gathered at Old Moneybags Huang’s house, all of them his tenant farmers.
They were idling about with nothing to do, and seeing Ergouzi arrive gave them the perfect excuse to tease him.
“The kid is blushing!”
The tenant farmer Laifu patted Ergouzi on the shoulder. “On this trip into the city, your big brother here will take you to the hidden doors to play! For just a few copper coins, you can get a taste of being a real man!”
“Go a few times, and I guarantee you’ll never blush again.”
“Uncles, I’m still young. I haven’t reached the age to take a wife yet.”
“What do you know, you brat!”
“As the old saying goes: sleep with a woman, and you’ll grow three inches in a night! Take a wife and you’ll grow even taller!”
“Hahaha…”
Just as these rough men were laughing and joking around, a door to the inner rooms creaked open.
Ergouzi turned to look and saw his cousin Zhang Youliang stepping out from Old Moneybags Huang’s inner room with an ashen face.
Zhang Youliang saw Ergouzi as well, but he merely glared at him before looking away, ignoring him.
Seeing the Martial Scholar, several of the tenant farmers hurried forward, wanting to offer a few words of flattery to curry favor.
“Master Zhang!”
“Master Zhang…”
But his cousin only let out a grunt through his nose and walked away, without so much as glancing at the crowd again.
“We’re all fellow villagers, what’s he putting on airs for!”
Only when the man had gone far away did one of the tenant farmers complain with dissatisfaction.
A friend beside him hurriedly stopped him from saying any more.
“Shh! Don’t speak carelessly. He’s a scholar master now. We tenant farmers can’t afford to offend him.”
At this time, Old Moneybags Huang also walked out from the inner rooms.
“Sorry to keep everyone waiting! Let’s eat breakfast first. You need a full stomach to have the strength to work!”
Old Moneybags Huang was a man who cared about his reputation, so he treated everyone to breakfast. The meal consisted of steaming white rice with shredded pickled vegetables.
Normally, when eating at home, they wouldn’t even be able to fill their bellies on New Year’s. Now, everyone opened their jaws wide and ate to their hearts’ content.
Being able to score a full meal each time was one of the reasons the tenant farmers liked working for Old Moneybags Huang.
After eating their fill, Old Moneybags Huang directed everyone to bag the grain and tie it onto the wheelbarrows.
Each barrow carried three shi of rough rice, filling over thirty of them in total.
Only then did Ergouzi realize that more than half the rent Old Moneybags Huang collected had to be handed over as Tax Grain.
Moreover, what lay before him was only a portion of the total tax amount.
They still had to pick the best grain and obediently deliver it to the County Yamen. If payment was overdue, the County Yamen would dispatch a squad of constables down to the countryside to forcefully collect it.
Once the constables came to your door, they wouldn’t be so easy to talk to.
You had to serve them with the utmost care. At the slightest dissatisfaction, they would beat people, smash things, and ransack the house. At the very least, you would lose a layer of skin.
Their group, including Old Moneybags Huang, totaled fifty people pushing over thirty wheelbarrows, with the remaining men acting as reliefs to take turns.
The group followed a small path first to Sanchazi Town, then turned onto the official road.
Over these past six months, Ergouzi had not only grown much stronger, but he had also grown noticeably taller.
Three shi of rough rice weighed over three hundred jin. Pushing a wheelbarrow by himself now, he had walked over ten li and still felt very relaxed. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Whenever he felt his arms getting sore and fatigued, he would secretly circulate his vital energy to his arms, and the soreness would quickly disappear.
On top of that, the strength in his arms would instantly increase significantly.
It was the same when his legs grew tired. As long as he let vital energy flow along his Meridians, the fatigue would immediately vanish, allowing him to continue walking as swiftly as if he were flying.
Along the journey, the others had switched off to rest multiple times, but he still hadn’t needed a replacement.
The fellow tenant farmers on the road just thought he was full of youthful vigor and liked to show off.
In truth, he was using this opportunity to continuously practice secretly circulating vital energy throughout his body while walking.
His master had never taught him these techniques, so he could only slowly figure them out on his own.
Practicing with single-minded focus along the way, he felt increasingly insightful. Not only was he not tired, but the walking actually felt easier the farther he went.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Suddenly, the sound of gongs rang out. From both sides of the official road ahead, a crowd of men rushed out. Wielding knives and clubs, they menacingly blocked the path.
Ergouzi had never seen such a spectacle before. He hurriedly set down his wheelbarrow and stood back among the crowd, secretly gripping the short knife hidden in his robes.
But the accompanying tenant farmers did not seem particularly afraid, remaining completely calm.
At this moment, they saw Old Moneybags Huang walk forward with a smile, cupping his hands and bowing toward a middle-aged man with a pig-kidney face.
“So it is King Zhao! Forgive my lack of manners!”
“I opened this mountain, I planted these trees…”
The pig-kidney-faced man seemed quite fixated on the robbery slogan and valued the sense of ceremony. Keeping a straight face, he recited the entire string of words without missing a single syllable.
Only then did he swing the butcher knife in his hand, chopping it violently into a tree by the roadside.
Several of the trees along the roadside were covered in densely packed knife marks. They were likely all the masterpieces of this pig-kidney-faced man.
“Do you know the rules?”
“I know, I know!”
Old Moneybags Huang piled on the smiles as he cupped his hands and bowed. He fished a piece of silver out of his sleeve and presented it with both hands to the pig-kidney-faced man.
“King Zhao maintains the peace in this area. Braving the wind and sleeping in the dew out here in the mountains is truly difficult. A small token of my appreciation, please accept!”
“No need to make it sound so pretty. I’m just a highway-robbing mountain bandit!”
The pig-kidney-faced man snatched the piece of silver and weighed it in his hand, showing no appreciation whatsoever for Old Moneybags Huang’s flattering words.
“Brothers, let’s go!”
The pig-kidney-faced man yanked his butcher knife out of the tree and gave a shout. The group of mountain bandits hollered in response and disappeared back into the woods by the roadside.
The mountain bandits came quickly and left even faster. The group continued pushing their wheelbarrows toward the county seat.
Having just experienced a highway robbery by mountain bandits, even though they hadn’t been very afraid at the time, everyone still felt a bit of lingering fear.
“This King Zhao may be a mountain bandit, but he’s a man of principle,” Laifu sighed.
“I’ve followed the landlord along this road for over ten years. As long as you hand over the money of your own accord, he never hurts anyone.”
“Not only that, I hear this entire stretch of road is his territory. Once he takes the toll and lets you pass, no one else will rob us along the way…”
Listening to the tone of these tenant farmers’ conversation, this mountain bandit actually had quite a good reputation. The tenant farmers even seemed to aspire to become mountain bandits themselves.