Chapter 63

Chapter 63

The family of four returned to the mountain shack as the last rays of the setting sun faded.

In just one day, two new shacks had been added beside the cellar, and a new stove had been built right next to them. With a pot placed on it, they could boil water or cook meals; remove the pot, and it became a ready-made fire pit, without worrying about sparks flying onto dry grass and causing a forest fire.

Country folk couldn't stay idle. Zhao Dashan woke up at noon, the shacks were built in the afternoon, and the stove was finished by evening. Old Man Zhao and the rest returned just as the evening meal was being cooked, carrying a bundle of candied haws on their shoulders and holding a jar of wine in their hands. Their shadows stretched long in the slanting sunlight, looking perfectly at ease.

They were a mess, covered in dirt, and upon closer inspection, their calves were trembling.

The moment the boys saw the candied haws, they whooped and rushed over, practically going wild with joy: "Grandpa, why did you buy so many candied haws? Are we not farming anymore? Are we turning into peddlers?"

"The few coppers earned from peddling wouldn't fill your bellies." Old Man Zhao smiled and handed the bundle of candied haws to his eldest grandson, letting the brothers share them. "After all the trouble of going to town, I had to bring you some snacks." Before Zhao Xi could surround him with sweet talk, he continued, "After you finish eating, each of you will take turns clearing land in the Immortal Field. What else can we peasants do besides farming? Only with full granaries can our hearts be at ease."

So it was a carrot and a stick. Zhao Xi grumbled, "I knew there was a catch when Grandpa brought us snacks. You just want us to work. Clearing land is exhausting, and I'm still too young to do it."

"I didn't see you eating any less at mealtime." Old Man Zhao retorted, "If you're strong, work longer; if you're not, work less, but you must work. You should be grateful to have land to clear, yet you still want to slack off? Our family doesn't tolerate lazy men, and we certainly don't tolerate lazy children!"

Zhao Xi was scolded and nodded sheepishly, not daring to talk back at all.

Old Man Zhao waved them away, casually placed the wine jar aside, took off his straw mat, and lay down on it, groaning and moaning as if utterly exhausted.

"Did everything go smoothly? Did you give the things to them?" Wang Shi reached out and hugged her daughter, who had rushed into her arms, and felt her back. There was a bit of sweat but not soaked through. Still, she took out a hand towel and tucked it in place for her.

"They left yesterday. We made the trip for nothing." The old couple didn't keep secrets from each other. Old Man Zhao recounted the day's events from start to finish, even admitting he'd splurged three taels of silver on a jar of good wine, showing just how upset he was.

He couldn't hold anything back in front of his wife, not even his embarrassment.

"Was it because Jin Yu was close to us, and his aunt felt uncomfortable seeing it, so they left in such a hurry, wanting to completely separate us from Jin Yu? These few months of interaction were just a fleeting connection. When the bond ends, it should be completely severed." He thought about how yesterday, after Jin Yu returned to his aunt's home, he addressed him as "Grandpa" and his third son as "Third Uncle." What kind of status did the Yu and Chen families have? They had merely happened to save the child's life. Money had been given, repayment made, and from now on, they should stay out of each other's way, each returning to their own places, never to interact again.

Since the child was nostalgic, it was better to stay far apart. Over time, this affection would naturally fade.

As for taking them to the borderlands—that was just an offhand remark. In truth, he never really had such an idea.

It was precisely because he thought of this that the other party's actions, like shaking off a sticky bandage, made their eager, heartfelt effort to deliver the longevity lock seem so foolish and laughable.

He felt uncomfortable, as if his old face had been trampled on.

Having shared a bed for half a lifetime, how could Wang Shi not understand him? A country old man's back might be bent from a lifetime of labor, but everyone cares about their own dignity, and the old man was no exception. After putting the towel in place for her daughter and sending her off to share the candied haws with Xiao Wu and the others, she waited until only the two of them were left before speaking slowly, "We just need to mind our own business. What others do has nothing to do with us. There are many coincidences in this world, so don't overthink it and assume they look down on us. Even if they did, so what? We were worlds apart from the start. You should be wary if someone is nice to you for no reason—wonder if we have something they covet. You, at your age, are suddenly becoming thin-skinned."

"What thin or thick skin? Don't talk nonsense, old woman." Old Man Zhao's face flushed, feeling a guilty conscience at having his inner thoughts exposed.

"Too much pride brings nothing but trouble. I think killing a few refugees has gone to your head!" She laughed and kicked the old man, amused as he kept dodging unhappily, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes crinkling together. This old miser had been frugal for most of his life. Usually, a trip to town where he used his private money to buy two sticks of candied haws for his daughter was the biggest splurge. But today, he actually brought back a whole bundle of candied haws and bought an expensive jar of good wine. Clearly, it had really gotten to him.

Thinking of their current family savings, she wasn't angry. Oh well, she figured, let it count as his payment for two days of hard work—a jar of good wine. She wouldn't argue with him.

"If there's no bond, then so be it. They tread on jade steps, we walk on mud underfoot. We were never on the same path to begin with, old man, don't get the wrong idea." Seeing her daughter-in-law setting out bowls and chopsticks, Wang Shi pushed herself up from the ground. "You've worked hard these past two days. Eat early and rest. Tomorrow we need to go to Huaixiawan. That's the most important matter for our family right now."

"Understood." Old Man Zhao muttered sullenly.

Wang Shi couldn't help but kick him again.

Today, when Zhao Sandi went down the mountain, he happened to meet clansmen from the Zhao family carrying hoes into the mountains. Upon asking, he learned they were going to Zhao Youcai's cellar.

Nowadays, the funeral suonas kept wailing in the village, one family finishing and moving to the next, leaving cheeks sore by the end of the day. All the bodies thrown into the village chief's manure pit had been retrieved. Each family hung their own white mourning banners and mourned their own dead. Zhao Youcai's family had been wiped out, but they shared the same ancestors. The clan couldn't just watch them lie exposed in the wilderness. So, now that they had some time, they planned to retrieve the family and dig a new grave for them. Country folk had certain superstitions about matters of life and death, believing that burying someone where they died was terribly bad luck and could affect intangible things like reincarnation.

Naturally, they didn't succeed—it was simply impossible to proceed. Zhao Youcai's family's bodies had been exposed to the sun for a day, bitten by insects until they were unrecognizable, then a heavy rain fell. Unfortunately, their cellar had no waterproofing. Zhao Sandi went with the clansmen, intending to help, but when he peered into the cellar entrance, he almost vomited on the spot.

The bodies had bloated from soaking, emitting a foul stench.

Who would dare reach in to retrieve them then? No one dared. Everyone was nauseated. Finally, after discussion, they decided: all that talk about affecting reincarnation was just nonsense from wandering Taoists trying to make money!

...Just bury them like this.

They filled the cellar with soil, erected a tombstone, and that became the grave mound for Zhao Youcai's family.

As for his wife, she was buried together with the dozens of bodies burned to charcoal. It was impossible to tell who was who. Even those thrown into the latrine had soaked for days until their original appearance was unrecognizable. They could only be roughly identified by build and clothing. Those recognized were taken back by their families for burial; those unrecognized were buried together with those burned in the pigsty.

The village had been busy with this matter for the past two days, unable to tend to the crops in the fields or the damaged houses. The weather was hot, and corpses couldn't be left for long. After a day, the stench spread for three li, enough to make anyone retch.

There weren't enough coffins to go around. Even straw mats were pooled from various households—if available, the bodies were rolled in them; if not, they were buried as is. Coming into this world for a journey, arriving with nothing and leaving with nothing—a lifetime just ended like that.

Zhao Sandi also spent a day digging graves. They chose a flat spot on the back mountain, dug a huge pit, and borrowed lime powder from the village chief's house, using almost half a bag. With so many bodies buried at once, they had to guard against epidemics.

Especially the experienced Village Elders repeatedly urged them to dig the pit deep and pack the soil firmly, to prevent wild animals from digging them up. They lived off the mountains. The river water was for washing clothes; their drinking water usually came from the back mountain. If wild animals ate the corpses, got sick, and contaminated the water source, and then they drank it, that would truly be a disaster.

Worse than refugees entering the village.

During the meal, when Zhao Sandi brought this up, the whole family glared at him. Zhao Xiaobao held her bowl, wanting to eat but feeling nauseous, her lips trembling pitifully: "Third Brother, stop talking. Xiaobao can't eat anymore."

Under his parents' angry stares, Zhao Sandi chuckled awkwardly, "One last thing. Uncle Da He and Yong Zi pushed down those walls of ours. Coincidentally, Bai Zi found a good piece of timber in the mountains last year, said he was saving it for our house's ridge beam. Now that the old walls are down, we can start digging the foundation tomorrow. Stones are readily available. If there aren't any major requirements, the house could be built in about ten days." They were all strong men; if they really put their backs into it, progress would be visible day by day, very quickly.

Old Man Zhao nodded. Regardless of conscription, they couldn't abandon their old house at the foot of the mountain. The house definitely had to be built. When he and his wife passed away, this would become their ancestral home, their roots—something that must never be lost. Even if it were just two dilapidated thatched huts, they had to be passed down.

"Da He and the others have worked hard. Once the house is built, we'll host a pig-slaughtering feast and invite their families for a meal." There hadn't been many happy occasions lately. Coincidentally, they had hunted two wild boars. Everyone should relax and have a good, merry time.

Wang Shi nodded, "Living in the mountains all the time is inconvenient. We should hurry and build the house, aiming to have a good meal before the autumn harvest. Everyone needs some extra nourishment to have the strength for the rush harvest."

"Yay! Xiaobao wants to eat at the pig-slaughtering feast!" Zhao Xiaobao clapped her hands happily. Pig-slaughtering feasts were so lively, and she loved attending banquets.

Wang Shi smiled and rubbed her little head, "When the time comes, Mother will fry pork ribs for you. They're delicious to gnaw on."

After the evening meal, it was completely dark. Having been on the move for two days, Old Man Zhao was so tired he started snoring as soon as he lay on the cool mat. Wang Shi had her daughter take the wine and candied haws into the wooden house. Mother and daughter were too lazy to fight him for space, so they spent the night in the wooden house.

For this house-building, Wang Shi thought they should add an extra room. Their daughter was growing up and shouldn't always sleep with her parents. Even if she rested in the wooden house at night, the home should have a room of her own.

The next day, before dawn, Old Man Zhao woke up.

After the morning meal, he took Zhao Sandi to Huaixiawan.

Li Dahe and Wu Dazhu had already arrived. Old Man Zhao greeted them, found a stone slab, brushed off the dust, sat down, and began chatting with them about village matters and their house-building.

"Old Brother, what's the important matter? We need to hurry. The village is burying people today, and every household needs to send help." Li Dahe sighed. Usually, when someone died, the men would help carry the coffin, let alone this time. If there was a coffin, they carried the coffin; if not, they carried the straw mat; if even that was lacking, they had to find a way to transport the bodies into the mountains.

Before leaving home, he had run into that troublesome old man Li Laiyin. Knowing he was going out, the old man had criticized him in roundabout ways—annoying. He couldn't be bothered to argue about such things, thinking he should go down the mountain early to lend a hand.

"Bai Zi and A Song are here." Er Lai's father raised his hand and waved, "Hurry up, we've been waiting for you two."

"Big Brother insisted on coming. I told him to rest at home, but he wouldn't listen." Zhao Bai couldn't help but complain. In the fight with the refugees, Zhao Song, Wu Erzhu, and Zhao Dashan were the most seriously injured. The Wu family had Wu Dazhu attending the small meeting in the mountains. Zhao Song and Zhao Bai were only distant relatives; even if they were close, they were two separate families. He insisted on coming personally.

Once everyone was gathered, they inquired about Zhao Song's injury. Old Man Zhao even took out a bottle of medicinal powder from his person—it was from the gifts of thanks given by Yu Linlang. Xiaobao said the bottle was labeled "Hemostatic Powder." They had tried it on Dashan, and it worked better than what they bought at Ping'an Clinic. He had casually tucked a bottle into his clothes.

"This is hemostatic powder. It works better than what we used last time. Take it and use it with Er Zhu. Dashan said it feels cool when applied and also has anti-inflammatory effects." After all, they were his juniors. Even though his relationship with their long-great-grandfather had been bad, people were complex. Relationships and personalities changed over time and with experience. He no longer held any resentment or hatred toward those branches.

As the youngest son, it was fine while his parents were alive. Once they passed, his older brothers had already married and had children. The farmland and houses were limited, and the division of property led to bloody fights. He suffered greatly in his youth—driven out of the house by his sisters-in-law, sleeping on stone slabs in the mountains, stealing others' crops to eat raw, beaten and bloodied by grandnephews, looked down upon, cold-shouldered. That he grew up and even married a wife was entirely due to his own resilience, Zhao Dagen's toughness, that he managed to endure.

Why did his family live at the foot of the mountain?

Because there was no place for him in the village.

Old grudges fade with the wind; one must live in the present. Letting go of hatred is, in a way, freeing oneself. When it came to Zhao Song and Zhao Bai, his heart was at peace, treating them as ordinary relatives. After all, these two youngsters weren’t bad—they came from good stock.

A group of men sat on a large stone slab. There was no time for small talk—they still had to hurry down the mountain to carry coffins—so Old Man Zhao got straight to the point.

“Yesterday, I went to town and got word: the government plans to conscript soldiers after the autumn harvest, right here in our Qingzhou Prefecture, to conscript a local militia to drive out the refugees.”

“Except for scholars with official titles, everyone else is eligible for conscription. And unlike before, this time you can’t pay silver to avoid service.”

“We’ve just had run-ins with the refugees. We know how fierce and ruthless these people are. Ordinary folks who go up against them will just end up as corpses stuffed in a latrine pit.”

“This is a serious matter, nothing like the usual forced labor for dredging canals, repairing roads, or digging waterways in past years. You all need to be clear on this.”

“Whether to flee, hide, or answer the conscription—you need to think it through clearly and make preparations early.”