Chapter 760: Mushroom Wheat Porridge and the Bird-Headed Human Wooden Carving

As evening approached, the people in the open space had basically all eaten a full dinner.

During the day, some young people had teamed up and, with the permission of Xueya Site and Bata'er Jiaoshi, taken a small amount of coins to a cheap market in town, bringing back some edible mushrooms for everyone.

Therefore, tonight's wheat porridge had some thinly sliced, delicious mushrooms added to it, causing the people to hold the wheat porridge—which they never grew tired of—in even higher regard.

Where else would they have had the opportunity to eat their fill at every meal like this? In previous years, back in their respective villages, even during the harvest, the elders in their families would have to knit their brows while calculating how many copper coins the season's grain could be exchanged for from the treacherous merchants.

That was still considered the "happy" trouble of self-sufficient farmers who owned their own land; villagers who migrated to the village late often had to rent land from the village's wealthy families, not only needing to pay grain taxes to the lord every year but also suffering exploitation by the landowners.

Even the grain harvested from the fields could only be sold to the owner of the land; if they didn't sell it to them, the land would not be rented out to the new farmers for the following year.

In order to make a living, everyone often had to swallow their pride and endure it.

The priests of the God of Agriculture often didn't care about such matters; after all, to them, as long as the farmland was well-tilled and there was a harvest, that was enough. Whether someone was being exploited in the process was merely a matter between the farmers.

To many grassroots priests, there was actually not much difference between self-sufficient farmers and those who lived by renting farmland.

Many young people in the group really hadn't expected that after experiencing so many hardships, there would actually come a day when they could live such a "wealthy" life, eating their fill at every meal.

Perhaps, could Bata'er Jiaoshi, who bestowed this god-given food upon them, be? Perhaps? Probably? A bit different from the God of Agriculture priests people had seen before?

Bata'er Jiaoshi was fine in every way, except that he seemed unhappy every day, his tightly locked brows seemingly never having relaxed.

Hey, it was just the villagers of one village being abducted, right? How many people could a remote village have at most? Were there as many as there were in their group?

It couldn't possibly be more people than them, right?

Although Jier was not hungry, when a familiar-looking villager brought over wheat porridge with many mushroom slices in it, he still smiled and accepted it, and in front of everyone, blew on the piping hot wheat porridge to cool it down before eating it.

"Not bad! It would be even better if some green vegetables could be added!"

Jier commented like this.

A young farm girl who had spoken to Jier a few times immediately said excitedly: "Alright, my lord! Next time we will find a way to get some vegetables! Actually, there are farmlands full of vegetables near the open space. Originally, during the day, we girls wanted to go over and buy some from the people working in the fields, but the Priest and Mr. Siter wouldn't let everyone go out."

Jier nodded: "Yes, although it is a pity, those people working in the fields are not the true owners of the land and the crops on it. They are just debtors who have been bought to work for a forced duration and are being watched. As for not letting everyone go out, hah, seeing those debtors being driven by people with whips, you know that this Duoen Town is not a good place."

The familiar girl was a bit confused, but still nodded and accepted Jier's explanation.

Also, don't ask why the people had money to buy things; previously, when Jier led people to sweep through the bandit lair, he tacitly allowed the young people who acted with him to keep for themselves the small amount of wealth found in the bandits' beds, clothing, and wall cracks, in addition to the large items that were turned over to the public and under his control.

The desire for wealth not only brought the courage to act to many young people who picked up weapons at that time, but also made many people barely forget the terror and fear they felt when fighting the bandits earlier. Otherwise, people who were scared out of their wits probably wouldn't even have been able to move their feet.

In the days on the road afterward, these small amounts of wealth that fell into the hands of the young people were basically circulated and dispersed among the people of the entire group through means including, but not limited to: gifting to friends, currying favor with the opposite sex, trading items, betting chips, exchanging for necessities, and so on.

Moreover, Jier occasionally motivating people to work in the group was the same as Bata'er Jiaoshi's god-given food; he brandished coins and food, using authority and profit to drive people to do some troublesome work.

Of course, considering that the safety of the entire group relied almost entirely on Jier, although he also used money to drive everyone, the people would follow his instructions for most direct verbal orders.

Especially since Jier had made almost no mistakes or oversights these days.

"How about this, bring me another bowl; a friend probably hasn't eaten dinner yet."

Jier handed the empty wooden bowl to the other person, and the girl immediately ran off and brought back another bowl.

Nodding, Jier carried this bowl of steaming mushroom wheat porridge, walked out of the gate of the open space, and headed toward the side near the town, avoiding the dark areas illuminated by torches.

There, a middle-aged man was lowering his head with wide eyes, using almost the faint illumination and the tactile sensation of his fingers to cautiously move a small knife on a wooden statue.

He was so focused that he didn't even notice the sound of Jier deliberately making heavy footsteps.

There was no other way, so Jier had to shift his body, using his black-red cloak to block the light from the torch at the gate of the open space.

But he didn't expect that this middle-aged Woodcarving Craftsman would be completely unaware, only widening his eyes further and making his hand movements more cautious and slow. Yet, the carving work didn't stop at all.

Seeing this scene, Jier couldn't help but sigh.

"Craftsman Kake, Craftsman Kake? If you still don't notice me, the dinner I brought you, heh heh, will get cold."

Jier's words, spoken in a normal voice, indeed gave the craftsman a start.

He was stunned for a moment, as if he hadn't reacted to someone talking to him just now, and then the next moment, he realized something. As soon as his lowered head lifted, he saw Knight Jier, whom he had met not long ago, standing in front of him holding a steaming wooden bowl.

"Ah, ah, it, it is, Knight, my lord! Sorry, sorry. This lowly one didn't notice you; it is my sin, my sin."

Craftsman Kake wanted to get up and salute in fear and trepidation, but he had been squatting on the ground for too long. When he stood up suddenly, coupled with his physical weakness, he fell to the ground in a sorry state.

Jier saw that he was in a sorry state but uninjured, so he chuckled and placed the wooden bowl in his hand on the ground in front of the craftsman: "Eat something. I guess you didn't eat dinner, right?"

The craftsman was stunned for a moment, then twitched the corners of his mouth and smiled reluctantly: "Thank you, Knight, my lord. You guessed right, you guessed right. Just as you see, in order not to miss the delivery time, I came over before dark. I even made an extra wooden carving on the way!"

Jier didn't expose the other party's words, just smiled.

Seemingly smelling the aroma of the mushroom wheat porridge, the middle-aged Woodcarving Craftsman's stomach rumbled loudly, which made the middle-aged man awkwardly press his stomach and belly with his hands, while also wanting to reach out to take the wooden bowl, but not daring to.

Jier waved his hand: "Please, go ahead. This is dinner prepared by the young girls in my group. They added some fresh mushrooms bought from your town's market, sliced and boiled in the wheat porridge. Please drink it while it's hot; consider it my treat."

"Thank you, thank you, my lord. Then I will eat."

Hearing that it was the people's dinner, the middle-aged craftsman dared to pick up the wooden bowl. He didn't dare to use a spoon, instead holding the bowl directly and pouring the wheat porridge into his mouth. In order not to make Knight Jier uncomfortable, he didn't even dare to touch the edge of the wooden bowl with his lips.

The mushroom wheat porridge had been carried by Jier all the way from the center of the open space, and by this time, the temperature was no longer as piping hot as when it had just come out of the pot; the temperature was just right for a human to swallow.

Craftsman Kake gulped down the wheat porridge poured into his mouth. The plump, boiled wheat grains, when lightly bitten by his teeth, expanded and burst with the rich, wheaty fragrance of grain.

And the sliced, crisp, and tender mushrooms were even more slippery; if he wasn't careful, they would slide down his throat into his esophagus, forcing Craftsman Kake to use his tongue and teeth to find these delicious mushrooms and then use his teeth to stir and grind them.

The delicious taste of the mushrooms surprised him a bit; it had been quite a while since he had eaten something this good.

Soon, the whole bowl of mushroom wheat porridge was eaten by the craftsman. When the other party finished, Jier pointed to the large bag beside the craftsman and said: "Since you've finished, let me see how your work is?"

"As you wish, as you wish, my lord."

The craftsman let out a rare burp, then carefully glanced at the Knight. Not finding the Knight angry or furious, he then carefully but deftly took out the completed wooden carvings from the bag.

One, two, three, four, row by row, one by one, they soon filled the ground.

Jier squatted down, picked one up, and carefully examined the wooden carving in his hand, borrowing the faint light coming from behind him.

This was a palm-sized God Wood Carving with a bird's head and a human body.

It was basically exactly the same as the pattern he provided, whether it was the height, the crude and primitive human clothing, or the subtle expression of the bird's head.

What was very surprising was that on the sketch Jier originally provided, the bird's head part of the god actually had no expression, while the wooden carving in his hand at this moment had a bird-headed god with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, and it carried a natural, high-and-mighty expression.

It was very vivid, especially since Jier felt that this expression portrayed the way the Great Bird God would put on airs when it was already at its wit's end and had no way out, capturing it perfectly.

This made a mischievous smile appear on Jier's face.

"How is it?"

Jier whispered.

Woodcarving Craftsman Kake thought Knight Jier was speaking to him and immediately replied: "My lord, I feel this batch of wooden carvings can only be called average. The main reason is that you were in too much of a hurry. If the time were more generous, I could have found someone to paint these statues of the gods for you! As long as they were painted, they would be very beautiful and outstanding, guaranteed to make the believers of this unknown god love them so much that they would have to worship the statue every day."

At the same time, Jier also heard a voice: "Caw, very good, very good! I am very satisfied! Whether it is the new image or the quantity of these wooden carvings! Caw! I am very satisfied!"

After listening, Jier put down the wooden carving: "This level is fine, I am very satisfied~"

He deliberately imitated the answer of the big bird god he had heard, using it to tease the other party.

"As long as you are satisfied, my lord, satisfied is good."

Jier stood up, pointed at the wooden carvings placed on the ground, and counted their quantity: "Thirty-five wooden carvings, so according to the price discussed earlier, three gold and five silver, plus another gold coin for the confidentiality fee. How about that?"

Jier took out several Gold and Silver Coins from the inner pocket of his clothes, shook them in his hand, and made a crisp, beautiful clinking sound of precious metals.

Woodcarving Craftsman Kake's eyes went straight; he could not believe he had so easily obtained such high-value coins from a Noble. The other party not only kept his promise but also took the money out without any deduction.

Honestly, let alone the price of one silver coin per wooden carving, he would have been willing to do it for one iron coin. To tell the truth, if he could make twenty wooden carvings a day and earn twenty iron coins, his and his family's life would not be as desperate as it is now.

Even if he didn't rest, earning more than three gold coins a year would be considered a high-income job in Dorn Town.

Really.

Woodcarving Craftsman Kake, trembling, carefully held his hands out to Jier.

Jier deftly turned the coins in his hand over into the other's hands: "Take them, this is not a small amount of money, don't lose it tonight."

"I won't, I won't." Realizing the importance of these coins, Woodcarving Craftsman Kake immediately stuffed them into the inner pocket of his chest clothes without even counting them.

He cautiously checked the inner pocket of his clothes for any holes one last time. After finding none, he subconsciously blocked his chest with his left arm and hesitantly pointed to the other unfinished wooden carvings at hand.

"My lord, what about these?"

Jier waved his hand: "These certainly don't count, and for the sake of confidentiality, I have to take them away and destroy them. Any objections?"

"No, none." The Craftsman looked regretfully at these half-finished wooden carvings, annoyed that if he had been a bit faster during the day, these four or five wooden carvings could have turned into four or five shiny silver coins.

"I want your bag too, any objections?"

"The bag, the bag is borrowed." The Craftsman answered this sentence very quietly, because the gorgeously dressed Knight Jier was staring at him.

He dared not say anything more, so he finally muttered a few words timidly, so softly that even the sharp-eared Jier did not know what he had said.

"I'm taking it even if it's borrowed. Otherwise, should I play the jester like in the Noble court and juggle them back?"

Jier smiled, then threw the wooden statues, which were unpainted and still the original color of the wood, one by one into the large bag beside him.

While packing, Jier chatted as if making small talk with the middle-aged Craftsman, who had an excited look on his face.

"Looking at you, business hasn't been good lately, has it?"

"I dare not hide it from you, Knight. It's not just lately; ever since I heard that Dorn Town was prosperous and managed to move here from my hometown, business has never been good."

"Oh, why is that?"

"It's hard to say. If I say it, the gods and the Priests will be angry."

"Oh, it has to do with the Church of the God of Wealth, right? Strange, as far as I know, the Faith in the Church of the God of Wealth in town is flourishing, isn't that when a Woodcarving Craftsman like you should have work? It couldn't be that the church's statues are all contracted to another Woodcarving Craftsman? That's not right either; I just saw your craftsmanship, it's very good, even clearer and more vivid than an Amulet of the God of Agriculture my companion has."

The Craftsman smiled bitterly after hearing Jier's words: "My lord, you've misunderstood. It's not that my craftsmanship is bad, nor is it that the work was contracted to another craftsman. It's very simple, it's just, just, uh, I'm just complaining to you, you must not tell anyone else."

"Rest assured, I won't say anything."

"Sigh, it's just that the Church of the God of Wealth never uses wood to make statues. The Priests always find jewelers to use gold, silver, and other precious materials to cast and forge statues. If it weren't for the small amount of business from a few other churches to make ends meet, I would have left Dorn Town long ago."

Jier smiled, tilted his head as if listening to something, and then he said: "Although you earned a sum from me this time, this is not a solution. You should leave Dorn Town as soon as possible and go elsewhere to make a living. The longer you delay here, the more of your life you will waste, and the lost opportunities to earn money will make you regret it."

The middle-aged Craftsman smiled reluctantly: "Perhaps I didn't have the money to move my family away before, but now I have the money. However, you also know that now, let alone moving to other towns, even many Merchant Guild caravans dare not hit the road. I don't know when this war will end. Some people in town are in debt, bankrupt, and have completely let themselves go."

Jier finally threw the unfinished wooden carvings and the wooden bowl on the ground into the large bag, then lifted the bag easily and waved at the Craftsman: "Pleasure doing business. Remember, having taken my hush money, you cannot let a third person know about this matter. Understand?"

"Understand, understand, my lord. No matter who asks, I won't say a word."

Jier pointed at him with his finger: "You know what I asked you to make, so be careful, the gods are watching. Also, if some strange things happen around you later, think about the statues I asked you to make, and you will understand."

The Craftsman was a bit puzzled. He watched in confusion as the young Knight, wearing a black and red cloak, walked away and entered the noisy, singing enclosure.

Suddenly, he came to his senses and realized that he was the only one in the vast darkness around him.

The nearest firelight and people were at the entrance of the distant open space. Beside him, there was only the empty Shanglu and the pitch-black stretches of farmland.

He shivered, his left and right hands nervously placed on his chest, tightly covering the precious coins in his inner pocket.

At this moment, he was no longer the poor wretch who couldn't even take out a few iron coins. He used to be poor, so he was never afraid of dark alleys or deserted wilderness; after all, he was poorer than the robbers, and could even shamelessly ask the robbers if they had any work for him.

But now it was different.

He had a huge sum of four gold and five silver on him.

Thinking of this, Woodcarving Craftsman Kake turned and ran toward the town.

He took long strides, relying on the fullness and strength from having just eaten, and ran back home from outside the town in one breath.

When he knocked open his closed, dilapidated door, he let out a heavy sigh of relief, and an excitement of being reborn appeared on his face. It made his wife, who was opening the door in the dark, feel strange.

"Did you work all night yesterday and get confused? Tell me, dear, did you make money on this job?"

When the Craftsman took out the Gold and Silver Coins and let his wife light the oil lamp, which was rarely lit at night, they cheered in low voices together.

The gold coins were round and heavy, and the portrait of the Regent on them seemed to be smiling with satisfaction. Smiling at the desire for wealth and authority of every Kingdom citizen who saw him.

The silver coins were smooth and shiny, and they also bore the portrait of the Regent.

The two danced happily. The sound of their dancing footsteps woke up their son and daughter, who had gone to sleep early at nightfall. The children looked at their parents in confusion, with puzzled faces.

And outside this dilapidated little house, a sound of flapping wings rang out.

A pure black crow landed on the roof of this family's house.

Motionless.