Chapter 14: War Approaches
"What a good thing! The blade is not stained with blood. Only the handle needs to be cleaned."
"What is amethyst? A special metal? Very rare?"
"Why does Quan Guanqing care so much about this dagger? There must be some secret. It's a pity that the guy suddenly went crazy, otherwise he should be able to get something out of it."
"Haha, if he can practice authentic Taoist exercises to such a level, it would be strange if he didn't go astray. He even calls himself a jade-faced scholar. What kind of books did this guy read before? It must not be the Four Books and Five Classics? Could it be all pornographic books? Otherwise, how could he practice Taoist exercises as an evil one?"
Liang Zifeng was playing with and studying the amethyst dagger while complaining in his heart.
"Majiaji, Majiazhuang, Mazhuang Master, 4th-grade strength. 4th-grade strength is so amazing, what would st-grade strength be like? It feels like this world is a little dangerous."
He collected his messy thoughts, thought for a while, flew down from the balcony, and then ran quickly into the depths of the mountains. The corpse on the ground suddenly flew up, followed Liang Zifeng, and disappeared in a few breaths.
……
On July 18th, Liang Zifeng went to the market again. This time he did not bring the little guys with him, but only took Dahei, the buffalo.
When he arrived at the market, he found that Hong Medical Clinic was closed. After some inquiries, he learned that Master Hong's family had an accident a few days ago. Two servants died in the clinic, but fortunately they were rescued by Master Ma who had returned from outside.
Liang Zifeng had a good impression of Hong Medical Clinic. He didn't know whether Hong Medical Clinic had betrayed him this time. Although the possibility was very high, he still had to confirm it.
Due to the difference in status, Liang Zifeng, who was at the bottom of the society, took the initiative to visit Master Hong and his family and apologize to them for the secret book. His main purpose was to find out whether the other party had betrayed him.
"Young friend, you don't have to blame yourself. When I dared to buy the secret book, I had considered the possible problems. However, young friend, you should be careful of that jade-faced scholar. It's best to go out and hide for a while."
Master Hong was obviously injured and was a little surprised at Liang Zifeng's arrival. It was this surprised look that made Liang Zifeng confirm his guess.
Although Master Hong seemed to be very sincere in what he said later, Liang Zifeng had already decided not to have close relations with this family in the future.
When leaving the Hong family, Liang Zifeng received a piece of news from Master Hong, that is, the neighboring county was occupied by bandits, and many people were said to have died. Their place would no longer be safe, and the Hong family might have to move away.
Originally thought that Majiaji would be safer with the presence of Master Ma, a 4th-rank expert, but learned from Master Hong that the leader of the bandits was actually a 3rd-rank expert.
Liang Zifeng already knew that the gap from 4th grade to 3rd grade in martial arts was a natural chasm. One hundred 4th grade warriors might not be a match for a 3rd grade master. The gap between upper grade and middle grade stopped too many people.
Liang Zifeng, who originally had no plan to buy much, made a large purchase, especially of grain and coarse salt, when he learned that there would be war here.
"Sigh~" When leaving Majiaji, Liang Zifeng looked back at the market which was obviously not as crowded as in previous times, and sighed in annoyance.
……
After returning from the market, Liang Zifeng informed several village leaders of the impending war, and then stopped paying attention to it.
Liang Zifeng's life returned to its usual peaceful routine of cultivation, raising children, and building houses. He believed that instead of worrying about the possible war, it would be better to practice hard. Only when he became strong would he have hope of survival.
The incident of Quan Guanqing and the news about the bandits prompted Liang Zifeng to incorporate the practice of swordsmanship into his daily life. He also consciously guided his two younger brothers to practice swordsmanship diligently in preparation for possible future accidents.
Ever since the news of the capture of the neighboring county spread, more villagers have been practicing standing meditation together every morning, but the expected panic did not occur. It is probably because they have become accustomed to it, and Yuanshan Village is too remote, so it may be able to avoid the war.
The weather at the end of July was still very hot. Even in a village like Yuanshan Village deep in the mountains, the temperature was 30 degrees during the day, and it was only relatively cool at night.
In the past, summer in mountain villages was the most uncomfortable for adults, because they not only had to avoid the heat, but also had to keep an eye on their children at all times, otherwise accidents might happen.
Unable to bear the hot weather, some children would secretly run to the small river at the foot of the mountain to play in the water. Although the river was not big, it was more than 1 meters deep in some places. Occasionally, some wild animals would go there to drink water, so the river was still quite dangerous.
Since waking up, Liang Zifeng often warned his younger brothers and sisters not to play in the river. However, the fourth child and the youngest sister were too young after all, and the weather was really hot, so they could not resist the temptation and ran to the river to play with the children in the village.
It is really inconvenient to have no running water, because I have to fetch water every day, which is too troublesome, especially on rainy days.
If there was a constant supply of tap water and a swimming pool, the fourth child and the youngest sister would not go to the river to play.
After dealing with Quan Guanqing last time, Liang Zifeng was already preparing to bring water from the mountain behind the mountain. There was a small waterfall in the mountain behind the mountain, which was also one of the sources of the small river.
The waterfall is a bit far away, more than two miles away from the bamboo house, and it is not all downhill to the bamboo house, so no one has dug a canal to bring water here before.
The original idea was to use cement to build a canal to the village, but unfortunately the cement production was too low, so in the end they had to resort to the crude method of using bamboo relays to divert water.
On July 22, Liang Zifeng successfully brought the water from the waterfall on the back mountain to the courtyard of the bamboo house. At noon that day, the third and fourth children took a cold shower without having to fetch water.
As for the swimming pool, Liang Zifeng plans to build a rectangular pool on the ground with bricks and cement, which will facilitate drainage and prevent people from falling directly into it.
The swimming pool was originally planned to be built in the yard of the bamboo house, but when some villagers with children heard about it, they came running over to help, leaving Liang Zifeng speechless.
Considering that it would be impossible to prevent other children from playing in the swimming pool after it was built, Liang Zifeng built the swimming pool outside the yard and increased its size a lot.
Building a swimming pool was much faster than building a house because the other children’s parents came to help. It was completed in just 5 days. We just had to wait for the cement to dry.
Fortunately, the weather was good and it was sunny until the cement dried. On the evening of August 2nd, Liang Zifeng began to fill the swimming pool with water.