Chapter 16 Hidden Utopia

On a rare sunny day, Li Da got up early to wash his clothes. He now lives in the employee dormitories——a name that Boss calls it with. At first they felt awkward but after getting used to it, it became natural. He used a wooden basin to fill with water and brought it over to the balcony to wash his clothes. The balcony is hanged with a tough string that can hold a lot of clothes although they don’t have many. Even the old cotten shirt they wear is given by Boss.

So what he is currently washing are under clothes, which are basically a couple of ragged pieces.

“What are we eating this morning?” Next to him old Zhang asks.

Li Da:”How do I know? I’ll go to the dining hall after I finish washing.”

The dining hall is a grass shack but it is made sturdy. The women cook the meals in the back where the stoves are. The food is cooked in large pots, the only good thing is that there is no lack of salt or oil. Just this is already extremely tasty for them.

The women are all the female family members of Yang Zi’an’s friends. They were brought over after the autumn harvest and as a result escaped the disaster at Wu city.

Old Zhang laughs at Li Da:”Look at how you wash, it is going to rip.”

Li Da looks at the raggedy cloth in his hands and could not deny what old Zhang said. He looks at the forest not far away:”Boss is going out?”

He saw an ox cart.

Old Zhang looks in the same direction and also discovers Lin Yuan getting into an ox cart. He thinks a bit and says:”Maybe Boss is going to Wu city to have a look?”

Li Da shocked:”Go to Wu city for what? To lose your life for nothing?”

Old Zhang gives Li Da a slap:”Quickly shut your crow’s beak (TN: expression for a person making unlucky remarks). Boss has boss’s own plans.”

Next to the forest Lin Yuan says to the others seeing him off:”You all go back, once I have finished I will come back.”

The place where they will be heading is a bit far away. Wu City is affected by disaster and the nearby willages would not be much better off. He and Jiang Gui will be traveling lightly, bringing nothing else but money.

“No matter if it is of good or bad quality, as long as it is edible buy them all back.” Old father Lin advises repeatedly.

Lin Yuan:”Dad, I know. This period that I am not here, if you have any problems ask big brother Li and second brother Yang.”

Old father Lin also knows that Lin Yuan has three sworn brothers. He feels that his son is very smart, in a unfamiliar place having sworn brothers is a very good thing. His attitude towards Li and Yang and Jiang is very warm, treating them as his sons.

Li Congrong says:”Little brother, don’t worry about this side, as long as I am here I won’t let your heart’s blood (TN: expression for an expenditure or project that took a lot of effort) be wasted.”

Lin Yuan:”Big brother, it is our heart’s blood.”

Li Congrong laughs:”Yes, I said the wrong thing again.”

Yang Zi’an on the other hand says:”Don’t take the main roads, make detours if you have to. Abandon the cart and hide if you sense something wrong.”

Jiang Gui responds:”Second brother, don’t worry, we know the score.”

Lin Yuan knows that when the time comes he must hire people or buy people in order to cart all of the food stuff back. Just relying on him and Jiang Gui, forget about carting the food back just walking on the road without being robbed or killed would be fortunate.

The turbulent times will not easily end soon, at least there will be many years until then, in fact it would be about 10 years time.

If the man power is too little then it will be very difficult to be self-sufficient. Farming the land might be possible but other necessities will continue to be used up. Once the positive cycle he set up is broken and a vicious cycle takes its place, then his small base will easily disintegrate from the inside.

Compared to hiring, Lin Yuan prefers buying people. Most of the ones not willing to become slaves or servants have already fallen into becoming bandits.

And the ones willing to become slaves or servants, they have already brainwashed themselves and will not easily betray their master.

He would have liked to bring people from the farmstead with him but the problem is that they only have one ox and one donkey. And because they are afraid the donkey would die on the way, they could only use the ox cart.

Jiang Gui however has a lot of confidence. He had went to the village that is their destination before. The people there are quite valiant and stalwart but also hospitable. Most of them are farmers but a few are hunters.

He had heard that in the earlier days the entire village were experienced hunters, learning how to set traps and use the bow and arrow from a young age. They even know how to blow poison arrows which were made from using the poison secreted from a toad specie common to the area. Only using just a bit and it could paralyze an entire full grown ox.

Jiang Gui says:”The area on that side is fertile with few people and a lot of land so their old grains stock will definitely be abundant.”

Lin Yuan does not know how to drive a cart, so the task was given to Jiang Gui. Lin Yuan sits on the cart and takes a sip of water. He looks at the trees and bushes, if he was here to tread the green (TN: phrase that describes going for a walk in the spring when the grass has turned green especially during spring hike season around Qingming festival 清明, 4th-6th April), perhaps he would praise the scenery and the fresh air. But unfortunately he is not so instead he only felt fidgety.

They traveled for five days on the road. During the time they only ate dried cake with water to wash it down and slept on the cart at night.They had the ox cart stop deep in the forest and set up a fire next to it.They dare not sleep too deeply and took turns staying awake.

After all, with the fire wild animals would not come close but it cannot scare away people.

Only 5 days but Lin Yuan felt like he lived a month. Jiang Gui’s beard even grew out a lot, looking more weather beaten than five days ago. Lin Yuan was much better off since his body is only 15 and has yet to secrete as much hormones as Jiang Gui. Only a few hairs popped up——which he pulled out.

Growing a few whiskers on his chin…..is that any proper?!

“Almost there!” Jiang Gui became excited, shaking Li Yuan at his side. Lin Yuan rubs at his sore behind, widening his eyes at the road which became open spaced and wide.

On the side of the road he even sees a tea shop set up by the locals for passing travelers and merchants to use, of course, for a fee.

It was as if the place had not been affected by refugees at all. They are living their self-sufficient days. No matter if they are men or women they all have the ability to protect themselves, even young children who has yet to learn to walk must learn to hold a bow.

Lin Yuan also asked Jiang Gui in detail and found out that most of the people here are Han Chinese, only a small part are Mongolian.

The Mongolians here are not officials, just common people who had intermarried with the Han Chinese, completely assimilating into the area.

“Da niang!” (TN: a friendly way to refer to an older lady) Jiang Gui stopped the cart just outside the tea shop on the side of the road.

Da niang looked to be in her forties but her physique is strong and sturdy. Without looking at her face it would even be believable to say she was in her early thirties.

“Feed it bean mash or hay?” Da niang looked at their ox.

Jiang Gui looks towards Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan says:”Feed it some bean mash.”

The beans here are actually used to feed cows, Lin Yuan feels as if he has discovered a treasure chest.

Da niang served them tea, a dish of appetizers and two bowls of porridge. At this time there were no other customers so da niang held her grandson and sat on one side singing to him the local lullabies.

Lin Yuan finished his porridge and finally feels alive again. He then asks:”Da niang, we are from another region, and want to buy some grains back.”

He is not afraid that this is a black shop (TN: literally means an inn that kills and robs guests esp. in traditional fiction), no black shop proprietor is a woman, and not only is she a woman but she also has her grandson with her.

Besides, the shop could even afford to use bean mash for cows and even provide white rice porridge, so they would not take risks for money.

Da niang turns her head, her face with an expression of delight:”Are old grains alright?”

Her family just harvested new grains and the granery can no longer fit. But old grains are unable to be sold without it being too cheap. Her husband in a fit of pique decided not to sell. Now they are stuck with grains no one wants to eat. Old grains has a moldy taste so both adults and children dislike eating it. Their village is also remote, with the nearest village taking three days of travel by ox cart. There is no main road so it is difficult to cart the food elsewhere and there’s the possibilty of bandits. Da niang had for quite a while a headache on what to do about that stock of old grains.

Almost every family in the area has the same headache.

Outside people are dying from hunger, but here they are fretting about having too much foodstuff. When Lin Yuan found out he didn’t know what kind of expression to put on.

In a sense, this place can be considered a hidden utopia.