allonlinenovel Chapter 403 A Race Against Immortals
Chapter 403 A Race Against Immortals
Lin Xiaotang said, "Big Beard, you first arrange for someone to clean the pot we used to make breakfast this morning. We'll prepare these fish, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. Once your eldest son comes back, we can start making lunch. This meal will definitely be a feast."
Even if Scarface and his group didn't catch any prey, these mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and fish would be enough for everyone to have a hearty meal. They could cook some mushroom soup for dinner, and that would be enough to get through the day.
She and Scarface sold the ginseng they had been carrying to a pharmacy in a nearby town. The money was enough to buy some brown rice, enough to feed them for at least ten days to half a month.
If we organize people to pick mushrooms and dig wild vegetables every day, and eat them with brown rice, we can last for quite a while.
She would then find a way to sustain these people's livelihoods. As long as they could get through one season and sell the medicinal herbs for money, they would no longer have to worry about food and drink.
Perhaps, if she cooperates well with Scarface and makes these people work for her, the scale of herb cultivation will be even larger!
She still remembered what those bandits who beat her father looked like. They were all wicked people with a fierce look in their eyes. She was determined to find a way to send them to the authorities for punishment in the future!
Anger aside, the immediate issue still needs to be addressed.
Today, while picking mushrooms, she had already secretly observed that there was only one path down the mountain. Although it was not steep, she had little chance of escaping. If anyone discovered that she was missing, with her weak physique and leg strength, they would be able to catch up with her easily.
If she failed to escape and was slashed down by Scarface in a fit of rage, she would lose her life.
She still felt that leading Scarface to cultivate medicinal herbs was more promising, but she wondered if Scarface would still be willing to cooperate with her and let her share the profits once the bandits' cultivation of medicinal herbs was successful.
After all, the fact that Scarface could become a bandit proves that he wasn't a kind person either.
The bearded man was furious when he saw the pots and pans that hadn't been washed since he cooked breakfast that morning.
"Damn it, a bunch of lazybones, all they know is eating, and after they're done eating, nobody even cleans up the dishes. Big Brother is worried about getting food to feed everyone, it's like they're raising a bunch of bedbugs..."
He cursed and directed a few good-natured men to unload the pot and wash it in the nearby stream.
Lin Xiaotang felt that although Scarface was loyal to his brothers, he was not good at management. There were many people on the mountain, and many mouths to feed, but not many people actually did the work. Because there was no division of labor, everyone pushed each other around. No one would take the initiative to do anything if no one arranged it. If this continued, the bandits would only decline together.
She shook her head, looking at the uncle next to her who had already started cleaning the fish, Lin Xiaotang was somewhat surprised.
"Uncle Liang, I didn't expect you to be so efficient at cleaning and preparing fish. Did you used to sell fish?"
She joked and picked up a bamboo strip to start scraping fish scales.
"Uncle didn't used to sell fish. It's just that my daughter likes to eat fish, so I often go down to the river to catch fish, keep one or two for her to cook, and sell the rest in the market. Her mother passed away early, and you raised her all by yourself, acting as both father and mother. So naturally you know how to cook."
Uncle Liang recounted the past with a happy expression on his face, but his eyes were red and filled with tears.
If it is said that Uncle Liang committed murder and broke the law, it was clearly the bully who forcibly took the woman first. Uncle Liang's daughter was strong-willed and unwilling to be humiliated, so she threw herself into a well and committed suicide. Uncle Liang's leg was broken by the bully, and he took a knife to kill the bully. He lost his mind in anger. Only the government can judge who is right and who is wrong.
Looking at Uncle Liang's crippled leg, which had become chronically injured, Lin Xiaotang couldn't help but feel some sympathy.
Afraid of stirring up painful memories, she quickly changed the subject with a joke, "So, if Uncle Liang is cooking fish today, we're in for a treat!"
"You little rascal, you have such a sweet tongue. Uncle will show you his skills today. Do you prefer fried or stewed?"
"I'm not picky about food, I like whatever the uncle cooks."
Uncle Liang taught everyone how to kill fish, scale and gut them, while Big Beard led people to wash mushrooms. Some people who were usually lazy started to complain.
"Go, go, the brothers are exhausted, let us rest a little longer."
“Big Beard, we were exhausted from catching fish. We finally got back, and before we could even rest, you made us wash mushrooms. You mushroom pickers have it so easy, you just go out and come back. Our skin is all wrinkled from being in the water. Those fish were like loaches. Do you know how much effort it took for the brothers? Next time, you go and catch some yourself.”
"That's right, that's right. You guys have worked so hard. Since you picked these mushrooms, you can wash them later."
"Yes, yes, you can wash the fish after you've killed it."
"..."
The group that returned from catching fish were taller and more robust than the group that picked mushrooms. They were all of similar age, young and strong, and some of them were prone to forming cliques and bullying others.
Lin Xiaotang glanced around casually and saw that there were the lecherous men who had coveted her and her two daughters yesterday, as well as the few who had hit her father. She made a mental note of them.
Hearing everyone start slacking off again, the bearded man immediately got annoyed.
He retorted angrily, "You guys are tired from catching fish, but it's easy for us to pick mushrooms. Do you think the mushrooms will just run into our baskets by themselves?"
Seeing that everyone remained silent, he continued, "It's because killing fish is troublesome that we took on the job of washing fish. You don't even want to do a job like washing mushrooms, so just leave it until the eldest brother's team comes back and let him wash them for you."
Big Beard is Scarface's most trusted person and the one who has been with him the longest. Although he looks a bit slow, his words still carry weight.
When those people heard that they would wait for their boss to come back and have him help them wash, they were instantly terrified.
They knew their boss's temperament. If he found out that everyone was busy and they were slacking off, he would definitely teach them a lesson.
Forget it, we've already caught the fish, so what's one more thing—washing the mushrooms?
So, those people reluctantly stood up, dawdled, picked up their baskets, and went to the stream to start washing the mushrooms.
The young man named Qu Xiao didn't say a word. He carried two baskets of mushrooms and went to the stream first to wash the mushrooms with Uncle Liang, Lin Xiaotang and others.
Before everyone had finished washing, Scarface returned with a group of men, carrying their prey in high spirits.
When everyone saw that they were carrying a lot of things, they all got up and gathered around.
"My God, boss, you guys are amazing! You've caught so much game. This wild boar must weigh at least a hundred pounds, and you even caught two of them. Plus, you've caught so many rabbits. Not only will we not go hungry today, we've also had our first meat meal."
"There's meat, fish, and mushrooms. This is wonderful!"
"Let's stop robbing people from now on. Let's go hunting every day. This life will be like that of a god."
"I wouldn't trade it for being a god..."
"Haha, I'm so happy, I'm so happy today."
"..."
Scarface wore a rare smile and said with satisfaction, "We've indeed reaped quite a harvest today. If we work hard and are self-sufficient, it's certainly better than robbing. Robbing is risky, but this mountain is unclaimed. We can take whatever we want from it. This kind of life is quite interesting."