Chapter 28: Beast of Burden, Laborer
The workers didn’t pause for a second, behaving as though they hadn’t heard Jian Xingxia’s question at all.
But since Jian Xingxia was intent on probing, how could she not pay attention to their expressions? Sure enough, two of the less experienced workers exchanged a subtle glance, but still, no one uttered a word.
Jian Xingxia understood. If they weren’t answering, it was either because they didn’t want to or because they weren’t allowed to say anything, much like when she questioned Da Hei about his ratings.
She dropped the matter and stopped prying. The workers wrapped up their labor quickly, and once they verified everything was operating properly, the massive 100-kilowatt-hour battery that came with the solar power system immediately showed a charge of 1%.
Without a single word, the workers produced a document resembling a delivery receipt and gestured for Jian Xingxia to sign. The moment she finished signing, the workers clutched the receipt and piled onto the vehicle in unison. The truck, outfitted with specialized tires, navigated the rugged mountain paths without any trouble.
Right as the workers climbed into the vehicle, Jian Xingxia noticed that the two younger-looking workers let out a long sigh of relief, flashing the only actual expressions they had shown all day—a look of ease.
They were real people, not NPCs. They were actually laborers from another dimension!
Jian Xingxia felt a surge of excitement over this hypothesis, turning back around to inspect the reward the system had issued her.
The solar panels were different from the photovoltaic panels she had seen before; they were much lighter, sturdier, and far more efficient at generating electricity. The daytime sun was intense, and within this short window, the 100-kilowatt-hour storage battery had already reached a 3% charge.
Jian Xingxia estimated that it would take only four hours to fully charge. Since there weren’t many electrical appliances in the old house, 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity would easily last her over a month. Although it wasn’t the kind where she could sign a contract to sell the electricity back to the grid, it at least resolved her utility bill issues.
With electricity freedom achieved, Jian Xingxia desired an electric three-wheeler more than ever. Once she repaired the stretch of mountain road, she would be able to ride an electric vehicle down the mountain to the village or town—that would be absolute bliss.
Living in the mountains was truly wonderful; the old house required no rent, utilities didn’t cost a cent, and she could venture into the mountain to harvest wild goods…
Speaking of wild goods, these chestnuts were truly delicious. Though small, having been stored for over six months, the rich flavor of the chestnut was highly concentrated. Jian Xingxia peeled one to eat, licking the sweet syrup off her fingers.
Then, she suddenly remembered something—
“Oh my god! I completely forgot about Da Hei!”
When the villagers arrived earlier, Jian Xingxia had driven Da Hei into the mountain. What had she said to him again?
“Don’t you dare come back until they are full!”
Holy smokes, with two massive woven sacks and a large bamboo basket, how long would it take Da Hei to fill them all by himself?
Jian Xingxia quickly slung her bamboo basket over her back, grabbed her sickle, and dashed toward the mountain.
She had barely walked a little over a kilometer when a dark, bizarre human silhouette appeared far ahead. His upper body was exceptionally broad, making his two legs look spindly and long by comparison.
“Da Hei!” Jian Xingxia called out in a hurry.
Da Hei lifted his head in pleasant surprise. His master had actually come looking for him!
But at this moment, he carried a heavy bamboo basket on his back, and a massive woven sack was wedged under each of his armpits. This heap of items weighed well over two hundred jin.
“Good heavens! So many things… are they all chestnuts?”
Da Hei suddenly looked a bit guilty. He nodded, then shook his head, momentarily at a loss for words. Ultimately, he simply spun his body around, letting Jian Xingxia inspect the contents herself.
Dangling from the outside of the bamboo basket were several pheasants. The top of the basket was lined with dry grass, and nestled safely within the grass was a heap of wild bird eggs!
Jian Xingxia was dumbfounded. “How… how did you get these?”
Da Hei hung his head in guilt. Standing at over 1.9 meters tall, he nonetheless exuded the exact aura of a child who had misbehaved and didn’t dare look an adult in the eye.
“I was gathering chestnuts. These chickens came to steal them. I drove them away, but they kept coming back…”
Da Hei had found them incredibly annoying, and since Kunlun Slaves were naturally adept at hunting, he simply culled the flock of pheasants. Only after the deed was done did he remember the time Jian Xingxia had chided him over capturing the squirrel.
Da Hei felt anxious in his heart, desperately attempting to explain, “The chickens were eating the chestnuts. I drove the chickens away, and the chickens pecked at me…”
Even Da Hei himself felt his excuse was a bit weak.
But when he lifted his eyes, what he saw was Jian Xingxia’s face beaming with joy. Jian Xingxia patted his shoulder. “Exactly! The chickens pecked at you, which means you were facing a dangerous situation! It was entirely proper for you to kill them.”
After all, pheasant meat was incredibly fragrant.
Jian Xingxia poked through them; these five pheasants didn’t seem to be the same variety as Dahua. They were smaller, their plumage wasn’t nearly as vibrant, and they looked dusty and gray, resembling domestic chickens that had been left free-range for a long time.
Jian Xingxia wasn’t surprised that there were pheasants in the mountain; after all, on her very first day pulling weeds, Taoya had gathered wild bird eggs from the overgrown grass. She just hadn’t expected Da Hei to bag five of them in one go.
Jian Xingxia carefully transferred the wild bird eggs and the grass lining to her own basket, hung the five pheasants from her basket frame, and led Da Hei back.
She asked Da Hei, “Da Hei, do you know how to slaughter a chicken? Not just killing it like this, but eviscerating it, plucking the feathers, and processing the organs.”
Da Hei observed Jian Xingxia’s expression, sensing that she was likely speaking in earnest this time, rather than displaying a joyful face only to completely flip it a moment later.
“I do. When I traveled across mountains and rivers with my master… my late master, we often hunted, and I would always cook for him.”
“Alright then, we’ll keep two to eat ourselves, and I’ll sell the remaining three!”
Da Hei had no objections whatsoever. In his understanding, he was a Kunlun Slave and Jian Xingxia was his master; the prey he captured naturally belonged to his master to handle as she saw fit. To put it bluntly, even if his master wanted to handle him—by killing, striking, or selling him—it was entirely up to her whim.
But Jian Xingxia was, after all, a modern youth raised under the red flag, growing up in the sunshine of a socialist society, and had never been exposed to slavery. However, she had worked corporate jobs and served as a beast of burden herself. The only difference now was that she had become the boss, and Da Hei was the laborer.
As the saying went: As long as the employees work hard enough, the boss will drive a Bentley sooner or later… That was stretching it, but achieving a dynamic where the boss ate the meat while the laborers drank the broth was well within her grasp.
By the time they returned to the old house, it was only two-thirty in the afternoon. Jian Xingxia left two pheasants behind, instructing Da Hei to clean them.
“Don’t dump the dirty water in the courtyard; pour it into the drainage ditch from the opening. Bury the feathers and unwanted internal organs into the plot you turned over—bury them deep. Leave the rest for me to handle when I get back.”
Jian Xingxia confidently left the old house in the hands of her honest laborer, Da Hei. “I’ll whip up a delicious meal for you when I return this evening!”
Reminiscing about the chilled millet porridge cake, Da Hei licked his lips. “Yes, Master!”
Jian Xingxia waved her hand, slung her basket over her back, and headed out toward the village.
Outside the mountain lay more mountains, though the peaks were smaller and the fields were more abundant. Jian Xingxia walked briskly, covering the two to three kilometers in just over half an hour.
She headed straight to Auntie Lu’s house, where only Fangfang was inside watching television. “My parents went to the fields to work. I’ll take you to find them!”
At this time of year, farmers were easy to locate. Although massive tracts of land used agricultural machinery nowadays, things were different in the mountains. The terrain rolled up and down unevenly, leaving fields scattered in isolated plots here and there. It was difficult enough for actual humans to scale the slopes, let alone heavy machinery. Consequently, most of the residents of Lu’an Village still had to rely on manual labor to sow and harvest.
The reason the village had stagnated and even regressed over the years was precisely due to geographical limitations, causing it to fall behind technological advancements. Fortunately, they could live off the land, so the people of Lu’an Village never suffered from a lack of food; they simply couldn’t save any money.
Uncle Lu and Auntie Lu were currently helping another household in the village harvest wheat. Due to the mountain terrain, the wheat in the area didn’t ripen simultaneously; whichever family’s crop matured first, everyone would pitch in to help them out.
Jian Xingxia was highly fond of this atmosphere.
When Auntie Lu heard Jian Xingxia was looking for them, the sickle in her hand nearly sliced her own flesh. “Xiaxia? Is something wrong?”
Jian Xingxia held up the pheasants by their feet, dangling them upside down for her to see. “The delivery men disturbed some pheasants while working, so they helped out and I caught five!”
Jian Xingxia fully channeled the thick skin of a boss from her part-time retail days.
“The old house doesn’t have a refrigerator, so they won’t keep well. I kept two to eat myself, and I wanted to see if I could trade the remaining three for some grain.”
They lived off the land, but everyone’s luck and ability differed; some farmed, while others hunted, trading their captured prey for grain.
“Oh, so you managed to catch pheasants!” Auntie Lu let out a sigh of relief, quickly calling over several wives and older women working in the same field. “Xiaxia caught some pheasants in the mountain and wants to trade them for grain. I’ll take one myself. Take a look at the remaining two—who wants to trade for them?”
