Chapter 9: A Piece of Trash

At this moment, the drool at the corner of her mouth hung like an icicle in the dead of winter; clutching a broken piece of tile, she had come charging over with a happy expression.

But a yellow-haired bandit nearby kicked her, sending her flying half a zhang away; she rolled several times on the ground before stopping, and as she slowly crawled up, the skin on her tender face had been scraped raw, with fresh blood quickly pooling into a clump over the wound...

Before the little girl could even crawl up, she discovered the tile in her hand had shattered and began to wail loudly; this was, after all, the bowl she used to eat.

"Shut up!"

Shi Jiuen roared in disgust and raised his foot to stomp, but Li You reflexively jumped over and pulled the little girl into his arms.

Perhaps startled, the little girl instantly fell silent.

A few slightly older children pulled her up from in front of Li You and retreated.

Li You’s heart twitched with pain; although he had been mediocre and lived an unsatisfactory life in his past existence, he simply could not bear to witness human suffering.

"Second Master, if you ask me, this Wu Ying is long dead; the little brats he took in might as well be sold off to Third Master’s father-in-law early on."

A subordinate named Xu Lifang said fawningly to Cao Er; although Zhang Zhuanggen was a bandit, he had taken a wife, and his wife was the daughter of Xing Youdao, the former post station master of Qingyang Post Station.

Cao Er ignored him; these nine children were far more useful than people like Huang Mao—they were needed for everything, from chopping wood and boiling water to picking up coal balls and gathering wild vegetables.

He cleared his throat and addressed the miners and salt slaves in front of him: "Don't be in a rush to eat today; I have a few words to say..."

He pointed to the dozen or so new able-bodied men and the seven, including Gao Conglong and Wu Dading, saying: "These people were newly recruited by the Great Leader; from now on, they will work with you. Everyone, work hard! As long as you get enough iron ore and salt produced soon, the Great Leader will not only give you wages but also let you go home early!"

After these words, the miners and salt slaves below showed absolutely no reaction, merely staring at the two buckets of rice in front of Cao Er’s feet.

Li You noticed that only a few men had looks of disdain in their eyes and at the corners of their mouths; there was no need to guess—these words had surely been spoken countless times.

"Hmph, don't think about running away; those three heads hanging on the walnut tree haven't even dried out yet... If you get caught, that is the outcome. Besides, with chains on your feet, even if you aren't caught, if you crawl into the surrounding mountains, you’ll just be feeding the tigers and wolves for nothing!"

Cao Er seemed to find it boring as well and went straight to threats.

Finally, he pointed to Li You beside him and said to Shi Jiuen and the others: "This one here is the accountant clerk invited by the Great Leader... Look closely, he is a genuine scholar from Qingjian County!"

This sentence of his did indeed attract many gazes; even the previously numb miners looked toward Li You one after another.

After all, in this Great Ming era where the world was governed jointly with scholars, a scholar was considered part of the privileged elite; to the poor wretches digging for a living in the dirt, he was a "Master Official."

Out of the politeness habitual to a modern person, Li You subconsciously brushed aside his messy long hair and smiled gently at the crowd, revealing his white teeth.

Yet he then discovered that the looks the miners and salt slaves gave him were mostly disdain and contempt, far more disdainful than the nonsense Cao Er had spoken earlier.

Li You could not help but smile bitterly in his heart: a "scholar" like him had already become a partner in crime with the mountain bandits!

After Cao Er finished speaking, he gave Shi Jiuen a few instructions and then got up to return to the small courtyard.

Shi Jiuen nodded to Li You and made a gesture of invitation, but he followed behind Cao Er into the courtyard first, and the group of guarding bandits followed as well.

Li You had only turned around for a few steps when he heard a thumping sound of footsteps and suppressed roars behind him; looking back, he saw a crowd of miners already swarming toward the rice buckets, a sea of dark heads, with some directly scooping with their hands to stuff into their mouths, while others were desperately dragging and pulling...

The group of guarding bandits, including Huang Mao, laughed and cursed, occasionally kicking the miners on their upturned backsides; once they grew bored of the game, they walked into the courtyard with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Li You quickly turned his head back; he dared not look more, fearing he would see those children who used tile shards and stone chips as bowls, especially that little girl with blood beads on her face...

"Damn this ghostly world!" Li You cursed with puffed-out cheeks before entering the courtyard.

The main room of the small courtyard was Cao Er’s residence, and the side chambers on both sides were not large, all built with stone, yellow mud, and wheat straw.

The roof was a hip-and-gable style rolled-shed roof, with a small amount of grey tiles, but mostly thatch and bamboo strips.

As Cao Er entered the courtyard, he was about to go into the main room with Shi Jiuen’s support; Li You hurried up and said busily: "Second Master, my page boy is injured; could he be brought in as well..."

"Oh... I’ve never seen a scholar’s page boy with a full beard on his face? Or does Master Li just happen to like that kind of look?"

Cao Er looked back at Li You and sneered: "The Great Leader said to keep him, but he didn't say to pamper him. My Nanshan never keeps anyone who eats for free!"

Li You’s heart skipped a beat, and a chill ran through his body: Could it be that Cao Er had long known he was a fake scholar?

But why didn't he expose him just now?

And... what is a "full beard"?

For a time, he was left cold in the courtyard, with no one paying him any mind.

Li You was somewhat unable to fathom it, but his stomach was already growling; that dog meat could not sustain the consumption of these past two days.

"Hey, Scholar, if you don't mind, let's eat together!" a slightly shy man in blue said to Li You.

"Good!" Li You agreed without hesitation; this man had a square face and a high nose, which actually resembled the half-grown child soldier from last night somewhat.

The man in blue smiled honestly, as if extremely happy.

He led Li You into the left side chamber; fifteen or sixteen men had already entered, with a row of large shared sleeping platforms against the south side, and two simple wooden boards temporarily set up as tables near the door on the north side.

The man in blue and his group were squatting on the ground to eat; there were four people around, with a rotten door panel placed on the ground, on which sat two bowls of pickled radishes, and in a basket remained five corn buns, plus three steamed yams. In front of each person was a bowl of thin porridge, though the porridge was so thin it reflected one's image, and one could not even see a few grains of millet at the bottom of the bowl.

When Li You entered the side chamber, the two tables went quiet, but no one moved.

Only the three people squatting on the ground eating stood up; one of them, a man with a long face, mumbled as if wanting to say something, but he didn't say it out loud, and in the end, he just squatted down and pushed the basket and the porridge on the wooden board toward Li You.

Those sitting at the tables glanced at Li You’s group and didn't pay much attention; they were all shrewd, best at judging people, and had long discovered that Cao Er didn't care much for this scholar, and was even somewhat cold toward him.

Among the crowd, the yellow-haired youth was also there, laughing: "You damn scholar, why wasn't it good enough to act with authority down the mountain? Could it be that the roving bandits raided your home?"

"Haha... down the mountain, scholars are all our 'Master Officials'!"

Xu Lifang also chimed in; he was actually a bit annoyed, because he himself knew a few characters and was considered a very capable person under Cao Er.

"Huang Mao, Gu Laosan, shut your trap!" the blue-clad youth glared at Huang Mao.

Huang Mao was not intimidated at all, mocking: "Wa Qingyun, Liu Longjin, Ceng Changshun, Lu Yi, no wonder you lot have been old bandits for five or six years and still can't even get a seat at the table... Don't keep favoring outsiders!"

"Hahaha..."

The others all burst into laughter.

"It's fine, it's... fine!"

Li You’s saliva surged, and he couldn't even speak clearly; how could he care about others gossiping? He hurriedly reached out to hold back the angry Wa Qingyun.

"Eat, Master Li!"

Liu Longjin, wearing coarse clothes opposite, hurriedly handed a pair of chopsticks made from bamboo joints to Li You.

"Good..."

Li You could no longer care; holding the chopsticks in one hand and grabbing a corn bun in the other, he stuffed it into his mouth. He didn't even taste it before one bun was down his throat; he stuffed two more in succession, washed down with thin porridge, and devoured them. Only then did he feel a great sense of relief, but he was still hungry.

"Master, keep eating, there's more... there's more..."

Wa Qingyun’s anger had dissipated; he pushed his own porridge over and handed Li You a steamed yam.

The others, Ceng Changshun and Lu Yi, although they also treated scholars with courtesy, were truly hungry themselves; seeing Li You eating like a starving wolf, they hurriedly clutched their own bowls and ate on their own.

Li You knew that Liu Longjin opposite and Wa Qingyun beside him hadn't eaten yet, so he waved his hand to signal he was full.

Yet he was still filled with regret in his heart, because he had completely forgotten about Wu Dading outside; after all, he was still running a fever, and in this ghostly environment, no one could say for sure if he would survive.

"Here, eat another one; I'm not hungry today!"

Wa Qingyun swallowed his saliva, telling a lie, but still firmly gave the yam in his hand to Li You.

Li You naturally could not refuse this opportunity, because he needed to take it to Wu Dading outside, and while he was at it, he pushed his luck and scooped a large bowl of thin porridge from their bowls.

With Wa Qingyun’s help, Wu Dading did not work in the afternoon, though he still wore the simple iron chains that had just been hammered out by the blacksmith on his feet.

Leaning against a large, sun-drenched rock, Li You fed him some food.

By dusk, Wu Dading’s fever had broken, and his energy immediately recovered by more than half, which made Li You marvel at the physical constitution of people in this era.

Li You set his mind at ease; looking at the sunset hanging on the mountain peak to the west, he thought that the tense days of fleeing were finally over. Relaxed, and with the problem of survival finally solved, he decided to set a new goal: first, become a leader, and when the time came, the first thing he would do was clean out all the scum and dregs in the mountain stronghold.

In the blink of an eye, some magical images began to emerge in his mind...

98K, Level 3 helmet, Level 3 vest, RPG, TNT, C4, steam engine, generator, tank, J-11, cannon, aircraft carrier, atomic bomb, nuclear bomb...

"To make a 98K, AK, or something like that, I first have to produce bubble-free steel, seamless steel pipes, and rifling technology? Ugh, even in the modern era, this technology isn't something just anyone can master, right?"

"As for Level 3 helmets and vests, without qualified industrial machine tools, just manual grinding, milling, filing, and planing? Could it be that I have to forge steel by hand?"

"TNT, C4, grenades, nitric acid, nitroglycerin, picric acid—these need to be purified... I have to move the entire industrial system over here, otherwise, I can't build a damn thing..."

Li You thought for a long while, staring at the sky with a look of hopelessness, and cursed: "Damn it, all I know how to do is fold a paper airplane and transmigrate here... Apart from becoming handsome, I'm just a piece of trash!"