Chapter 163: The Eighth Temporary Worker
What he excelled at most was carrying heavy loads, running long distances, farming, and hunting.
Thinking up to this point, Da Hei presented the items he had hauled over like a dog showing off its treasures for Jian Xingxia to see.
“The seeds have all grown up and borne a whole abundance of fruit!”
It had been a long time since Da Hei first carried the seeds back, and there had been intermittent gaps in between—sometimes as long as ten days to half a month, and as short as seven days or so. During their last meeting, Da Hei had already been farming for nearly two months. Now that another month and a half had flown by, the vegetables were fully ripe.
Da Hei lifted the two mesh sacks high into the air. “The seeds Master gave are wonderful! Eggplants, so many grown!” Da Hei gestured with exaggerated motions.
Jian Xingxia smiled and said, “Hurry up and set them down! Are they heavy?”
Da Hei shook his head. “Not heavy.”
This minor weight was nothing to Da Hei. He had once carried an injured horse on his back, and a horse was far heavier than these vegetables.
Jian Xingxia hurriedly led Da Hei toward the old house. She stopped near the overgrown weeds and said, “Wait here for a bit. I’ll go ride the tricycle over.”
Da Hei’s skin tone and physique were simply far too conspicuous. As for the other temporary workers, she could always claim they were local villagers whom no one had noticed, having slipped in via the back seat of a car. But Da Hei was so eye-catching that even if he sat in the back seat, he would still tower a head above the rest, making him clearly visible right through the front windshield.
Fortunately, she had an electric tricycle.
Jian Xingxia rode it over bumpily. When Da Hei loaded the items onto the vehicle, it unexpectedly couldn’t hold everything at once! Jian Xingxia delivered one load back, emptied it, and then rode back bumpily to transport a second load.
Once all the items were safely delivered to the old house, Da Hei rubbed his hands together, his eyes entirely filled with anticipation. “Master, what labor are we performing today?”
Jian Xingxia led Da Hei deeper into the mountains. “There are guests over at the old house right now, so how about you clear wasteland deep in the mountains from now on?”
Da Hei carried absolutely no objections to this.
Guests—he understood them perfectly well. His previous master had treated him decently enough; although he didn’t give him clothes or shoes to wear, he would always feed him his fill of rice. But guests were an entirely different story. Back when he was at the estate, whenever a guest paid a visit and caught wind that the host family possessed a Kunlun slave standing over nine spans tall, they would invariably request the slave to come out and “put on a show.”
(Note: In ancient measurement, “over nine spans” equated to roughly two meters, as a span was not equivalent to the modern 33 centimeters. For example, an “eight-span man” did not mean a man over two meters tall, nor did a “span-and-a-half monk” mean a monk over three meters tall.)
This show was mostly full of malice. At best, they would make him lift rocks or massive vats weighing two to three hundred catties, or pit his strength against seven or eight men. At worst, they would directly stack or hurl heavy objects exceeding a hundred catties onto his body, or lock him in a cage with fierce beasts to see who was superior. There were even guests who expressed a desire to slice open his skin and flesh just to see if the blood inside was also red…
Da Hei had always harbored immense dread toward the scholar-gentry class and distinguished guests. Hearing now that Jian Xingxia wished for him to clear wasteland deep in the mountains, he felt highly delighted and didn’t feel slighted in the least.
His only concern was: “Then I won’t be able to see Master.” With his master present, his mind was at ease.
Jian Xingxia smiled and said, “You can’t go to the old house, but I’ll come down here to visit you!” Her words were genuine. “Out of these several mountain peaks, we’ve only walked through one so far, and we haven’t even finished exploring this single one yet! Once I find some free time, I’m still going to patrol all the peaks, and I’ll definitely call you to join me then.”
Da Hei’s loyalty and strength were beyond question. When entering the mountains, Da Hei was an absolute must-pick.
Only then did Da Hei set his mind at ease.
The two quickly selected a spot—virtually any area uncovered by tree shade could be cleared for cultivation. However, the terrain deep in the mountains wasn’t like the wasteland behind the old house. Those plots had merely fallen into neglect due to a lack of maintenance, but they had indeed been arable land previously, making them relatively easy to restore. These patches deep in the mountains, besides featuring rugged topography, also possessed entirely different soil types. Some areas were as fertile as black earth, while others were as rigid as solid bedrock.
But Da Hei wasn’t picky in the slightest, raising his hoe to strike straight into the ground.
The moment his hoe was about to land, a person suddenly materialized out of thin air right before his eyes—perfectly silent, standing directly beneath the descending hoe, not even attempting to dodge.
Fortunately, Jian Xingxia’s reaction was swift: “Da Hei, stop!”
Da Hei frantically diverted his hoe. It was a good thing his physique was highly flexible, or he would have twisted his waist and strained his arms. Holding his hoe horizontally, Da Hei blocked the space in front of Jian Xingxia, his gaze full of hostility.
“Who goes there! How dare you offend my master!”
The person looked up blankly. Upon catching sight of Da Hei, a flicker of astonishment crossed his face. But it vanished in a flash, and his gaze quickly reverted to a dull, stagnant pool of dead water.
Jian Xingxia had watched this person pop out from beneath the ground with her own eyes just now, nearly scaring her to death. She knew the channels through which the ancients arrived were highly bizarre, but most emerged from mountain caves, while individuals like the plump auntie climbed out from willow tree hollows. But a person emerging from a hole in the ground was a total first.
“Are you here to perform labor?” Jian Xingxia asked, entirely well-acquainted with the routine.
The person’s gaze slowly focused, but only for an instant before returning to that half-dead, half-alive state. “I’m not dead yet? Then I suppose I must perform labor.” As the man spoke, he slowly stood up, facing Jian Xingxia with his head bowed low. “I will labor.”
He didn’t even ask what kind of chores they were. He bore an entire air of resigning himself to fate.
Staring at this man, Jian Xingxia felt as if he might draw his last breath in the very next second. From his eyes to his posture, he appeared mostly dead already.
After a moment of deliberation, Jian Xingxia unearthed a sweet potato she had prepared long ago from her bag. “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” Jian Xingxia handed the sweet potato to Da Hei, signaling him to pass it to the man.
Da Hei was somewhat reluctant. This person hadn’t even performed labor yet, yet he was eating first—he lacked manners! But turning his thoughts back to himself, when he had first arrived starving to that extent, he hadn’t performed much labor either before his master showered him with an abundance of food.
The moment the man’s gaze caught sight of the sweet potato, a trace of rigidness finally loosened. He raised his head, looking at Da Hei and then at Jian Xingxia, his eyes holding half deathly stillness and half profound astonishment.
“Giving it to me to eat?”
“Yes.” Jian Xingxia knew most of these ancients had encountered immense hardships, finding themselves driven into a corner before triggering the mystical affinity to arrive at the manor. She had prepared food, water, and medicine long ago, enough to at least let the temporary workers navigate their immediate crises.
The man before her froze for two seconds, then suddenly snatched the sweet potato from Da Hei’s hand, cramming it into his mouth as if his life depended on it.
Jian Xingxia quickly called out, “Slow down! Careful not to choke!” This sweet potato was highly dry and dense, weighing over a catty. Cramming it down in this manner would cause a mess if he choked to death.
As Jian Xingxia shouted, Da Hei delivered a hard slap to the man’s back.
The man hadn’t actually choked yet, but this strike sent him face-first straight onto the ground. His face scraped against the dirt, and the entire sweet potato was literally squeezed all the way into his mouth. The man began rolling his eyes from choking. Yet he didn’t forget to grope around on the ground, scooping up the broken sweet potato scraps that had fallen off to cram them into his mouth as well.
Jian Xingxia slapped her forehead, hurriedly telling Da Hei to lift the man up, pat his back, and give him a moment to recover. She glared at Da Hei—
With that single slap of yours, who on earth could possibly withstand it!
Da Hei turned his head to look at the sky. Master told him to slow down, yet he still ate fast, so he had to interrupt him to make him slow down.
Jian Xingxia simply stopped talking, waiting for the man to finish eating.
The man ate exceptionally fast. With his mouth packed to the brim, he swallowed it in two or three gulps without even chewing. It was as if he was deeply terrified that someone might pry open his mouth and steal his food away. Only when the entire sweet potato—including the broken scraps dropped onto the dirt, swallowed along with leaves and grass debris—vanished down his throat did the man finally snap out of it, regaining his reason.
“Do you require someone to build houses here?”
