Chapter Five Worries about Livelihood

  When Lin Chunhong fainted, he merged a memory of the 21st century.

  In the 21st century, Lin Chunhong, after years of hard work, relying on his diligence and thrift that ordinary people could not bear, finally accumulated a small amount of capital and opened a small software company. After the software company was established, he, who was familiar with human relationships, received a large order from government agencies through various means. Just as his career was booming, a car accident occurred on the highway, and he left the 21st century where he had lived for nearly thirty years and returned to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century.

  Good morning! In more than a decade, the Qing dynasty will enter the Central Plains, almost cutting off the hope of development for the entire Chinese nation: through the shaving order, the Han nationality, the main body of the Chinese nation, lost the spiritual realm of pride, self-esteem and self-confidence; Through the deletion and alteration of the content of ancient books, a major disruption and destruction of the spiritual heritage of the Han nationality was caused... These shocking historical facts often make people unbearable to read, with indignation in their hearts.

  Lin Chonghong not only bore the pain of losing his father, but also found himself on the eve of a great historical change, which made him feel suffocated. He felt that he must do something to change the fate of the entire Chinese nation.

  However, ideals are ideals, and Lin Chunhong had to face the reality of life. Not long after he finished his father's funeral, Wu Gan declared that he would wipe out the Lin family to eliminate future troubles. Wu Gan was powerful, and the authorities were powerless to do anything about it. Whether it was Zhou Wang or Lin Chunhong, they had no choice but to bow their heads in the face of reality and avoid Wu Gan from afar.

  After some discussion, Zhou Wang and Lin Chunhong took Li's widow and Chen Gouz's orphaned children, as well as Zhou Wang's wife and daughter, to move to the city of Yiling. The cost of living in Yiling was high, and after buying a place to live, they had very little silver left. Moreover, there were many people to support, so Lin Chunhong and Zhou Wang had no choice but to go to the docks to do odd jobs and earn some labor money.

  The lives of the three families were increasingly falling into difficulties, which made Zhou Wang and Lin Chunhong anxious. Lin Chunhong thought of his father and two brothers who used to dive into the Yangtze River to salvage logs, so he discussed with Zhou Wang about doing the same thing. Zhou Wang was a bit hesitant, after all, he grew up in the north and although he could swim, he wasn't very good at it. Lin Chunhong took out four sheepskin bags, Zhou Wang saw them and was overjoyed, and they immediately set out to salvage logs. However, the logs that came floating down the river were hard to come by, and the lives of the three families didn't improve much.

  Many days of hard work made Lin Chunhong realize that no matter how grand the ideal is, the first step must be to make a living. When he was retrieving the logs, he had been thinking that these logs were obviously the leftovers of the loggers, and it would be better for him to gather his men and go deep into the mountains to cut down trees rather than risking his life in the Yangtze River.

  On this day, Zhou Wang and Xiao San retrieved a log, the two of them waded into the water to support the wood and float downstream, waiting for an opportunity to push the wood towards the shore. Seeing that they had made some gains today, Lin Chunhong and Zhou Wang were both in good spirits. Lin Chunhong touched the water droplets on his face, panting heavily, and said to Zhou Wang: "Uncle Zhou, look at how fewer logs are drifting down from upstream, shouldn't we also go into the mountains ourselves to cut some?"

  He pinched the sheepskin bag beside him, ensuring that it did not leak air, and said: "The good wood is all in the deep mountains. How can we transport it out? Entering the deep mountains also poses a great risk of being bitten by snakes and insects to death. Moreover, those are all indigenous people there, and it's possible to bring unnecessary disaster. Now very few people enter the deep mountains to cut down trees, that's why."

  Lin Chunhong said, "It's easy to transport them out. We'll follow the stream upwards, cut down trees by the creek, and then push the logs downstream. It shouldn't be too difficult. To avoid snake bites, it's best to do this in winter. In summer, when there's plenty of rain, we can transport them out again. Even in summer, spraying huangjiu wine on ourselves can keep snakes away. As for other insects like mosquitoes, wearing thick clothes and covering our skin should prevent them from biting us. And as for fierce beasts, we can just kill them to make a good wine."

  Zhou Wang smiled slightly and said: "I was wondering why you pushed that rotten log into the stream when we were hunting last time. It turns out you had planned it all along."

  Lin Chunhong smiled and gave a default response.

  The two of them fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts. After a long while, Lin Chunhong spoke up: "Now all we lack is manpower. Once we have that, we can begin. As for the locals, if they behave themselves, then so be it. But if they dare to provoke us, we'll slaughter them until not even chickens and dogs are left!" Lin Chunhong's hand sliced downwards with force, a bloodthirsty glint flashing in his eyes.

  Zhou Wang was shocked and felt that Xiao San had changed a lot after suffering a family upheaval.

  "Uncle Zhou, hurry up and steer to the right, into the small river, we can reach the shore."

  Zhou Wang concentrated his mind and spirit, shouting slogans with Xiao San, desperately paddling to the right.

  ……

  Lin Chunhong thought and did, immediately joining Zhou Wang in the intense preparation. Lin Chunhong's first step was to recruit manpower, he thought of his partners in Xiaowan Village, and immediately set off back to Xiaowan Village, mobilizing his partners to enter the deep mountains to cut wood.

  "His aunt's family, the three of them, really had a miserable life. All of a sudden, three of them died." One of the two women washing clothes by the Zhenzhang River said.

  "Who says it isn't? The little three and his mother are still afraid of trouble from the bandits, they don't even dare to live in Xiaowan Village anymore, they've moved elsewhere. As the saying goes, a golden nest or silver nest is not as good as one's own doghouse, where else can compare to Xiaowan Village?"

  "Didn't Xiaosan say out loud at the time that he wanted to kill Wu Gan?"

  "Wu Gan led several hundred people, how dare he?"

  "I'm telling you, don't tell anyone else, but after something happened at his house, the little three became a bit silly and stupid, sitting by the river for several days without moving."

  "It's not just that, I heard he even vomited blood that day and fainted for a whole night, who knows when his brain went bad."

  "It seems that it's still better to be honest and cultivate the land, like Xiaosan who thought his martial arts skills were superior, but now he's ended up with a broken family. Sigh..."

  Tie Tou was herding cattle and happened to lead them to this place to drink water. Hearing the two of them arguing, he hastily said: "Mother, if you don't know something, then don't speak nonsense."

  "Alright, don't say anything, take the cow somewhere else to drink water, or it will pee in the river again and how can I wash clothes?"

  Iron-headed obedient oxen lead elsewhere, walking and thinking along the way.

  Tie Tou was thinking about going deep into the mountains to cut wood. Lin Chun Hong came to Xiao Wan Village two days ago and Tie Tou was the first one he invited. Tie Tou didn't agree on the spot, saying he would think about it first. Lin Chun Hong invited three old playmates from Xiao Wan Village to go to Yi Ling together. Tie Tou felt a bit annoyed, constantly whipping the shrubs by the river with his whip. Deep down, he really didn't want to live this kind of life where you rise with the sun and rest with the sunset, let alone work hard every day without even being able to fill your belly.

  But is going deep into the mountains to cut wood a good way of life? No need to mention snakes and insects, nor fierce beasts, even cutting wood itself is a hard physical labor, full of all kinds of unknown dangers. Although Lin Chunhong has a detailed plan, Tie Tou knows that it's only when you do things that you know how difficult they are, plans are always just verbal things, the more enticing they are, the greater the possibility of failure.

  Lin Dehai, Lin Chunyi and Zheng Tiancheng followed Lin Chunhong without hesitation. This was another temptation for Tie Tou, as if not going would be a cowardly act. Even if others didn't think so, Tie Tou himself felt a bit ashamed. He kept comforting himself: Lin Dehai, Lin Chunyi and Zheng Tiancheng were all unloved by their parents, that's why they followed Lin Chunhong. Lin Dehai was an orphan who had lost his parents at a young age and grew up eating handouts from others. Lin Chunyi came from a decent family but was born out of wedlock and had long wanted to leave home. Zheng Tiancheng originally wanted to leave Xiaowan Village, after all, the Zheng surname in Xiaowan Village was a small clan that often faced subtle discrimination.

  "Damn it, why are you running away with a good pasture in front of you? Are you crazy?" Tie Tou grabbed the cow trying to cross the river and whipped it. Usually he treated this cow like a treasure, but today he couldn't stand the sight of it and whipped it. The cow turned its head and looked at Tie Tou with pitiful eyes, making him feel a pang of heartache again.

  At this time, someone on the side shouted: "Iron head, Lin Bao's family said that you plowed over the border when you were tilling the land. They called the clan elder to remeasure the field boundary and want you to go over there."

  Tie Tou's face turned red with rage as soon as he heard this. Lin Bao's field and his own were adjacent, and normally Lin Bao would often plow across the boundary. This time, he even went so far as to accuse Tie Tou of plowing his field. Such incidents were common in Xiao Wan Village, where people would often make a big fuss over trivial matters. Tie Tou had long been fed up with these petty squabbles.

  "Laozi won't go, and the clan leader can measure whatever he wants, but that Lin Bao's mother can't be calm for a moment?" Tie Tou said.

  The person who shouted was shocked. The usually good-tempered Tiedou actually didn't give face to the clan leader today? He walked back, thinking all the way.

  At the same time, Tie Tou also made up his mind and followed Lin Chunhong to cut wood.