Chương 96: Back to the Village

"Oh, so Zhu Youchang was from your Zhujia Village..." Fang Cheng nodded in understanding, a thoughtful look on his face. Zhao Old Eight cut in, "Old Six, you've got some nerve bringing that up. Zhu Youchang barely lasted a few days before a Heavenly Demon got him. What difference does it make if he was City God or not?"

"I wasn't talking to you, Old Eight. Can you shut up?" Zhu Old Six was getting annoyed. Zhao Old Eight spread his hands.

"I'm just stating the facts."

"Fine, fine, fine. Forget Zhu Youchang. Let's talk about Sikong Shang, the City God of Jishui City. He was from Zhujia Village too. He was City God for what, fifteen, twenty years?" Zhu Old Six dropped another name. Fang Cheng nodded again, even more enlightened.

"Oh, so Sikong Shang was from your village too. Quite a lot of famous people come out of Zhujia Village..." Zhao Old Eight wasn't having it.

"He just took a woman from Zhujia Village as a concubine. That doesn't make him from the village. You're really reaching." Zhu Old Six shot back, "As the saying goes, a son-in-law counts as half a son. He's from Zhujia Village, and you can't argue otherwise!"

"Fine, fine, Sikong Shang is from Zhujia Village." Zhao Old Eight shrugged.

"But unfortunately, just like Zhu Youchang, he's dead too. He's gone. What else is there to say?" Zhu Old Six was furious now. He pointed at Old Eight and scolded him, "Old Eight, Old Eight, listen to yourself. You ungrateful bastard. The only reason we got to work for that great cultivator in the prefecture city, getting a silver ingot every day for doing odd jobs, was because we were related to Sikong Shang through that village concubine. Now that he's dead, you start talking like this?

How can you be so ungrateful?" Fang Cheng nodded again, finally understanding why these two old men sometimes spoke in such odd ways. They didn't sound like farmers at all. They'd picked up their manner of speaking from the cultivators they'd worked for. Zhao Old Eight replied, "It's not about being ungrateful. That's just how things are. Look at Sikong Shang, once he died, that great cultivator kicked us out. What could we say? Who could we complain to?

Hah, we just tucked our tails and crawled back to Zhujia Village, that's all." Zhu Old Six sighed.

"That's true enough. But still, you should at least be grateful for what we had." Zhao Old Eight scoffed.

"Grateful? Grateful for what? You sold your daughter into a rich family as a maid. She gets paid every month. Does she thank you for it?"

"Zhao, you've gone too far!" Zhu Old Six was shaking with rage. This was the last straw.

"You're even worse than me! You sold your daughter to a brothel for an extra ten taels of silver. How dare you point fingers at me? When those men are on top of her, working her like a plow ox, you think she's not cursing your name a thousand times over? What kind of sin did she commit in her past life to end up with a father like you?" Zhao Old Eight wasn't fazed. He shot back even more boldly. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Zhu, don't act so high and mighty. You think your daughter's any better? You think she's just a maid? She warms the old man's bed at night too. She's selling herself just the same. What's the difference between one man and a hundred?"

"What do you mean, no difference?" Zhu Old Six countered.

"The difference is, my daughter serves her master well, and he might take her as a concubine. She'd go from servant to mistress. Your daughter will always be a whore, passed around by a thousand men and still nothing but a servant."

"A concubine? Hahahaha, that's rich!" Zhao Old Eight burst out laughing." You think becoming a concubine is that easy? Some low-born village girl, and you think a master would actually want her? And even if she did become a concubine, she'd still just be a servant waiting on the mistress, getting slapped around whenever the wife felt like it. Where's the glory in that? My daughter's better off. I signed a live contract for her. Once she saves enough, she can buy her freedom and marry a decent man.

But your daughter? She'll be a servant her whole life. When she dies, she'll be buried in the master's family plot. Hahaha. See? I take better care of my girl than you do!"

"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable."Zhu Old Six shook his head, sighing."The world's gone mad. A good girl like that, and she ends up with a cold-hearted bastard like Zhao Old Eight for a father." Zhao Old Eight kept laughing.

"Old Six, Old Six, you've been hanging around those cultivators too long. You sound like you've swallowed a dictionary. The Heavenly Dao? You think the Heavenly Dao cares about a couple of farmers from a backwater village? Hahaha, who the hell are we?" Those words hit home for Zhu Old Six. He didn't argue. Instead, he agreed." You're right. We're nobody. The Heavenly Dao doesn't care about us. We have to rely on ourselves. Our own hands to farm, our own bodies to make more children, more money.

Hah, with money, we can live like kings."

"Can't say we sold our daughters on purpose, though." Zhao Old Eight had a contrary streak, the moment Zhu Old Six agreed with him, he started arguing the other side.

"Those famine years, the heavens didn't send rain, the fields didn't grow anything. We'd eat one meal and not know where the next was coming from. The mountains were bare. We stripped them of grass and bark. When the pot was empty, what could I do? She should be glad she was a girl. If she'd been a boy, she'd have starved to death."

"Starved to death? Or ended up in the pot instead?" Zhu Old Six let out a dry laugh, his face pale. As someone who'd lived through those dark days, he knew better than anyone. When people get hungry enough, there's nothing they won't do. He remembered the meat boiling in the pot back then. Young, innocent children. Hahaha. Funny thing, though. Why did boys' meat always smell sweeter than girls'?

"Hey, Old Six, watch your mouth. We've got a young man here." Zhao Old Eight pointed at Fang Cheng, giving Zhu Old Six a knowing look. Zhu Old Six laughed and nodded.

"Right, right. That's all in the past. No point dwelling on it. We should look to the future. Once we're rich, we'll be great benefactors too. We'll toss a few scraps to the poor and let them worship us for it." Zhao Old Eight agreed.

"Exactly. When we get back to the village and make general agent, we'll set up Brother Fang here as a first-level agent too. Haha, we'll all lie around counting gold bars, then scatter a little cheap grain to the poor and bask in their gratitude. Living the good life." Fang Cheng chose that moment to ask the obvious question.

"So once you two have money, have you thought about buying your daughters back?" Zhu Old Six fell silent. Zhao Old Eight answered, "As the saying goes, a married daughter is like spilled water. The same goes for a sold daughter. They have to make their own way. We can't support them forever. Right, Old Six?" Zhu Old Six shrugged.

"Sure, if you say so. But those gold bars are for me. Gold bars, shiny, heavy gold bars. First time in my life I've ever seen them. They're so beautiful. I can't bear to part with them. I just can't."

"Right, you are, both of you. I feel the same way. Just like I feel about sweet potatoes." At the mention of sweet potatoes, Fang Cheng's mouth started watering. He had to thank those sweet potatoes. They filled people's bellies back then, sparing his own hide from ending up in the pot. Hahaha... As the three of them chatted, the bearded team leader outside let out a shout, and all the carts began to move. The oxcart under Fang Cheng lurched forward, slowly rolling west along the dirt path through the fields....

The setting sun cast its orange-red glow over the yellow earth, leaving a long trail behind the wheels. From a distance, it looked like a winding stream, flowing with blood-red water.