Chapter Forty: Learning to Throw Knives

In a poor household, every coin is spent with great reluctance. When Tian Dabao saw that Xiao Ding had once again brought home so many things, he felt a pang in his heart, secretly mourning the foolishness of this simpleton who only knew how to spend lavishly, never thinking to save for the future.

For years, their family had never managed to scrape together enough money to buy their courtyard outright. The land was still technically lent to them by Village Chief He, and if the authorities ordered its reclamation or another family came to purchase it, they would have no choice but to move out.

“Sold the bear meat for fifty taels, spent over ten taels on purchases, still have more than thirty taels left…” Xiao Ding replied, omitting the matter of selling the ginseng.

Only Er Niu knew the truth about the ginseng. Last night, everyone's attention had been drawn to the brown bear and the little wolf; no one noticed Xiao Ding still had a ginseng root. Even if they had noticed, they might not have recognized it. In these times, information was scarce; most country folk had heard of ginseng but had never seen what it looked like.

Er Niu saw Xiao Ding put the ginseng in their hut and asked him what he was doing with such a scruffy tree root. Xiao Ding told her it was ginseng; only then did Er Niu examine it carefully and realized it indeed looked different from an ordinary root.

This time, although Tian Dabao was tempted to ask for the silver, he thought it over and held his tongue. Last time, Zhou Shi had snatched all the silver away, and earlier that morning, she had come again. Were it not for Miss Tang’s presence, Zhou Shi might have taken something else. Unable to earn money himself, he also couldn’t let it be stolen right out of his hands.

Tian Dabao wasn’t clever, but he knew that keeping the silver with Xiao Ding was safer; after all, no one liked to provoke a simpleton. Xiao Ding, for all his foolishness, would only spend a bit more—he would never give away silver for nothing.

Seeing Tian Dabao didn’t ask for it, Xiao Ding said nothing either. After all, it was he who bought whatever the family needed. Giving them money would only lead to waste or theft.

After lunch, Xiao Ding handed the new medicines to Er Niu and asked her to help prepare them. The topical remedies he mixed with yellow wine and applied to Tang Yunzhi’s leg. Using his spiritual energy, he examined her bone and found no further dislocation, which put his mind at ease.

Ever since Xiao Ding returned, the little wolf, Hui Hui, had stayed at his side, as if reunited with kin. After being fed bear meat a few times by Xiao Fu and Xiao Zhu’er, it no longer balked at the children, though it wasn’t as close to them as to Xiao Ding.

After chatting with Tang Yunzhi for a while, Xiao Ding called Xiao Fu over and asked him to lead the way to the village chief’s house.

As for Luoxia Village, Xiao Ding only knew the door to Tian Caishen’s house; the only villagers whose faces he recognized were the ten or so men who had twice helped him search for his own.

Xiao Fu led Xiao Ding to Chief He’s home, where the old man had just finished lunch and was about to rest. Seeing Xiao Ding appear, he was a bit surprised; he hadn’t expected the simpleton to pay him a visit.

Xiao Ding explained he wanted to buy land.

He planned to purchase not only his own homestead but also the twenty or thirty acres of wasteland in the west of the village, plus the small hill north of the wasteland.

Chief He was astonished, thinking to himself that this simpleton was always up to such foolish things.

He knew the wasteland out west; even if reclaimed and farmed, it would take five or six years to become fertile, and until then, planting would be futile. If used for building, Tian Dabao’s family had only a few mouths; they wouldn’t need twenty acres for their house.

As for that hill, though small, it covered dozens of acres. The mountain was overgrown with wild grass and trees, scattered with jagged rocks, unsuitable for farming or reclaiming. What use could the simpleton have for it?

Chief He spent half the day persuading Xiao Ding, explaining all the reasons in detail. He advised that if Xiao Ding wanted to farm, he’d be better off reclaiming land south of the village, where the soil was better than the west.

Most of Luoxia Village’s farmland was concentrated at the southern foot of the mountain and in the east. The eastern fields bordered those of Luoyun Village, forming a vast, flat, fertile expanse of over a hundred acres, suitable for two crops a year. This was thanks to a stream that flowed from the northern mountains down the eastern foothills, running east into Luoyun Village. Though small, the stream was enough to irrigate the eastern fields.

In contrast, the southern land was relatively barren, yielding only one crop a year. It had been reclaimed later, so the soil was less nurtured, there was no river for irrigation, and the harvest depended on luck. It was also at the base of the southern hills, where the soil was rocky and sandy.

Despite the poor quality, most villagers’ land was clustered in that southern patch. The eastern expanse, nearly all fertile, belonged to Landlord Xue’s family. Only Chief He’s household owned less than ten acres of good land in the east—said to be a gift from the Xue family due to old ties.

The Xue family not only held the eastern fertile fields but also had twenty acres of barren land in the south. Legend had it their ancestors held office, and all their land was acquired thanks to those official connections.

Tian Dabao’s family had been renting two acres of the Xue family’s southern barren land for years. After taxes, the harvest was split fifty-fifty with the Xues, and they had to reserve their own seed.

Such was the hard life Tian Dabao had endured for years.

But Xiao Ding had no intention of farming. In these times, farming was primitive, with no machinery—a year of toil yielded scant grain, and everything depended on the weather. Only those with vast, fertile land like the Xue family, renting it out, could guarantee steady profit.

Chief He argued for ages, but Xiao Ding insisted. Knowing the simpleton’s stubbornness, Chief He finally relented, saying, “Very well—since you’re determined, I’ll take you to the town tomorrow to register. Those fields, plus the hill, will cost at least several dozen taels. Have you got the money?”

Chief He had heard Xiao Ding sold a wolf and hunted a bear, so he knew the lad had some silver, though he wasn’t sure it would be enough.

“I do have the silver. Thank you, Village Chief Grandpa!” Xiao Ding clasped his hands in gratitude. Chief He was a contemporary of Tian Caishen, a bit older.

After sending Xiao Ding off, Chief He thought to himself: I’d better visit the Tian family later and see what Tian Dabao thinks—wouldn’t want this simpleton doing something foolish while Tian Dabao remains oblivious.

Returning home with Xiao Fu, Xiao Ding found Xiao Zhu’er in the yard practicing horse stance, as if training.

Xiao Ding asked curiously, “Zhu’er, what are you doing?”

Xiao Zhu’er glanced up at Xiao Ding, “Can’t you see I’m practicing martial arts?”

“Practicing martial arts?” Xiao Ding found it amusing.

“Of course! Sister Tang promised to teach me martial arts,” Xiao Zhu’er said earnestly.

“Do you really like learning martial arts?” Xiao Ding asked.

“Yes! I especially want to be like Sister Tang, able to throw knives so accurately and quickly…” Xiao Zhu’er replied.

“Why do you want to learn martial arts?” Xiao Ding asked.

“Silly brother, you really are dumb!” Xiao Zhu’er shot him a disdainful look.

“Oh? Then tell me, how am I dumb?” Xiao Ding teased.

“If you don’t understand such a simple question, aren’t you dumb? I’m learning martial arts and knife throwing for Grandma, of course! Next time she comes to steal our silver, I’ll throw knives at her and scare her off. Let’s see if she dares to come rob us again…”

Xiao Ding: … His face was dark with lines.