Fearsome Farmer c1-60

by Lazy Bird

  If it was minor, he would get a heatstroke. If it was serious, he would hurt his body. If it deducted his Health Points as a result, or if he fell ill, it would not be worth the gain.

  Hence, he could only use 3 points of Stamina—three points less than other farmers.

  Fortunately, this was enough.

  Taking advantage of the noon break, Li Siwen, who had sharpened his hoe over and over again with a stone, walked into the wheat field confidently. HE could almost guarantee that he would catch up with the progress of other farmers when the Feudal Lord came to inspect around 5 PM. Even if he fell behind by little, it wouldn’t matter.

  chapter 3

  Before the sunset, under the escort of four militiamen, Li Siwen and nine other farmers returned to the territory from the wheat fields. The distance between the two places was only 500 to 600 meters. Even so, there was still a possibility of sudden unexpected danger.

  Li Siwen had developed a deep tan under the sun. Sweat had crystallized into white crystals on the rough burlap material of his clothes and he smelt sourish and stinky. He looked no different from other farmers. But this afternoon he had succeeded in extracting a Vitality Point from the little green orb as planned and added it to his Stamina.

  If he could get through that night, he would have an advantage tomorrow with 11 Stamina, regardless of how small that advantage was.

  Dinner should be something special that day. Now and then, the cool evening breeze brought with it the aroma of meat that made the militiamen and farmers speed up subconsciously. The smell made Li Siwen’s stomach growl, and he wished he could rush back immediately.

  At this moment, he even thought, for the sake of the broth and being appreciated by the Feudal Lord, he would try his best to work hard and prove his worth.

  Reality, however, was a disappointment. When he saw an unfamiliar burly man sitting in front of the fire and chatting happily with the Feudal Lord, Li Siwen knew that the broth was not prepared for him. He had been happy for nothing, and all his worrying was in vain. The Feudal Lord neither paid attention to nor cared about the speed and quality of weeding, so there was naturally no acknowledgment or reward.

  The farmers were a little disappointed, but they showed nothing on their expressionless faces. One by one, they received a bowl of salted wild vegetable soup and a piece of blackish dry ration from the fat cooking aunt. That marked the end of a hard and tedious day.

  Li Siwen sat in front of the thatched cottage, drinking wild vegetable soup while trying his best to chew up the hard dry ration. Every bit of food was precious now.

  The sun had set and a dark blue mist moved in from the big river. The sky was still relatively bright, like a mirror of light blue crystal. It was probably enough to satisfy the simplest longing of a wanderer from another world.

  He did not ask for poetic scenes, all he wished for was just to have a pleasant dream.

  As he entered the low thatched cottage, Li Siwen could not help but glance at the campfire tens of meters away. The broth bubbling on it was so, so fragrant.

  So the Lord was recruiting an Elite unit or a Hero? He even cooked meat for him.

  —

  To a farmer of the lowest caste, changes in the territory had little to do with him.

  He still had to start work at dawn. With no one overseeing him, he would work independently.

  Such a situation was desirable for Li Siwen, because it meant he could do things in his own way.

  Practice makes perfect.

  For example, he could now make his hoe sharper by skillfully sharpening it on a stone.

  Another example, his movement, strength, and angle of swinging the hoe had become more natural. This reduced the strain on his muscles, lowered the required amount of Stamina, and caused more damage to the weeds. En, it was now easier for him to completely exterminate the weeds.

  His goal today was to accumulate a little more vitality in the little green orb before the sun set in the evening.

  In the time just after sunrise, the rays burned when it shone on the body and the temperature rose rapidly. The weeds in the wheat fields were also rapidly spreading. The roots intertwined fiercely, guarding the land they occupied.

  To these weeds, were the wheat seedlings terrible invaders, and the farmers murderous executioners?

  Occasionally, such self-serving random thoughts flashed through his mind, and Li Siwen wielded the hoe more cruelly than usual.

  Due to the various improvements, weeding that day proceeded more efficiently than the day before.

  Similar to the previous day, at around 9 AM, and having also consumed 5 points of Stamina, the green points of light that Li Siwen harvested had already filled over one-third of the little green orb.

  Therefore, he stopped, rested, ate, drank some water, and sharpened his hoe using a stone. He had to stop. Firstly, because the Feudal Lord was sleeping. Secondly, it was so he could most efficiently allocate his Stamina. Maintaining his Stamina in the green zone would enable him to recover it quickly.

  Well, this was Li Siwen’s plan.

  Stamina values from 6 to the highest value was the green zone. 3 to 5 was the yellow zone, 2 and below was the dangerous red zone.

  This seemed very simple, but in fact it was not simple. For example, running 1,000 meters in one breath would be exhausting, but walking slowly would be extremely easy.

  Stamina was the same.

  After half an hour, Li Siwen’s Stamina quickly recovered to 9 points, close to full value. This was the benefit of the increase in Stamina value.

  Next, Li Siwen slowed down a bit, because according to the Feudal Lord’s attitude during yesterday’s inspection. He felt that even if he fell behind a little temporarily, it would not be dangerous. This way, he could save some Stamina for the latter half of the day.

  At about 10:30, the Feudal Lord came as expected. The strange burly man from the night before came with him. The two talked and laughed. They seemed to be in a good mood. Li Siwen quickly concluded that he might really be a Hero.

  Weeding as normally as possible, Li Siwen strained his ears but heard nothing specific.

  One thing he could be rest assured of was that his lag of over ten meters in distance did not attract the Feudal Lord’s attention.

  Next, Li Siwen slowed down his weeding speed according to the plan. However, because he sharpened his hoe with stones every five or six minutes, coupled with the implementation of his strategy of cutting the weeds and removing the roots of each weed completely, the number of green light points he harvested did not decrease. A few days ago, three weeds had to be exterminated to get three green light points. Now, one was enough.

  However, when he was taking a break at noon, the burly man whom he suspected was a Hero patrolled over carrying a wooden shield and a short axe. Li Siwen and the other farmers quickly stood up and greeted him.

  “My name is Sun Tieshi. From today, I will be responsible for your daily protection and monitoring to make sure you do not skive. You, I’m talking about you!”

  The burly man pointed at Li Siwen with an evil smile and stared at him like brass bells. “You learned to be lazy so soon, you can be considered a talented person. The Feudal Lord may be indifferent, but I won’t. I’m giving you one last chance. I’ll give you until the end of today to make up for your mistakes, understand?”

  Li Siwen nodded fearfully.

  Sun Tieshi smiled again, then turned and left. For him, this was just a scene. He didn’t really want to be an overseer, but he was willing to lay down his life for the patron who recognized his worth. He was responsible for managing the territory for the Feudal Lord, to make sure nothing was overlooked and ferret out the workers who were skiving.

  When the Overseer Sun Tieshi left, Li Siwen sat down. Outwardly, he looked like a frightened quail, but secretly he was relieved because he could finally be sure of the way the progress of work was determined in this territory. It turned out that it was not that advanced. It just depended on visu
al inspection.

  However, he still could not be careless.

  chapter 4

  There was no need for Overseer Sun Tieshi to come after him. Li Siwen successfully filled the green orb at around 4:30 PM and added the Vitality Point to his Stamina without hesitation.

  Currently, he still possessed 3 points of Stamina. Deducting the 2 points which belonged to the red zone, he still had 2 points of Stamina to spare.

  After only half an hour, he had caught up with the other farmers even while weeding sloppily.

  Actually, the two weeding methods didn’t seem much different on the surface.

  The former could only remove the leaves of the weeds on the ground, and the depth of penetration of the ground was only two to three centimeters. At first glance, it did look as if there were no more weeds.

  The latter was the method of removing the weed with its root, penetrating the earth to a depth of five or six centimeters. Li Siwen managed this because he used a lot of strength, coupled with his familiarity and the increased sharpness of the hoe. Unless one was an experienced farmer, one could not understand the significance of his actions.

  Before the sunset, Overseer Sun Tieshi came with four militiamen. As expected, he looked carefully at the progress of Li Siwen’s weeding but didn’t say much. After all, to important people like them, it was a waste of energy for them to talk to lowly farmers unnecessarily. As long as the farmers were not skiving and did not get eaten up by wild beasts, they were like weeds: unworthy of much attention.

  The smell of the meat broth was still wafting through the territory. There was a freshly skinned animal pelt on the ground. It was a deer, probably shot down by the four hunters because it allowed them to eat a large bowl of broth today. As for the others, only the ten militiamen got to drink it. The meat, naturally, went to the Feudal Lord and Overseer Sun Tieshi.

  The ten farmers, including Li Siwen, and the other six loggers, could only drink wild vegetable soup and a piece of dry ration.

  “This will not do. I have to think of something.”

  Sitting at the door of the thatched house, Li Siwen still chewed his food properly before swallowing it. The environment was already terrible. He could not allow his stomach to be adversely affected, because his digital body could still fall sick.

  After he had finished the wild vegetable soup and the ration, Li Siwen still felt hungry. He was only half full. Undoubtedly, this was related to his 12 point Stamina. Without sufficient energy replenishment, it didn’t matter how much Stamina he had. He would not be able to restore it to max value.

  “So—”

  Li Siwen glanced quickly at the two cooking aunties. The food left over by the Feudal Lord would be handled by them. It was the job with the most benefits in the territory.

  Standing bravely in front of them and saying, “Aunt, I don’t want to work hard anymore [1. A man asking a lady to take care of him, to be his sugar mummy].” was not a difficult task for Li Siwen. Unfortunately, this was no longer feasible.

  That was right. From what Li Siwen observed, at least five militiamen have sent amorous looks at the cooking aunties. Four loggers had openly tried to get on their good side, and no less than ten farmers were secretly pining. Just the night before, there was a young farmer who wanted to sneak out to confess, but in the end he tossed and turned until dawn because he dared not.

  So, he had better think of some other way.

  Li Siwen swiftly dove back into the thatched hut and soon fell asleep.

  In the middle of the night, there were sudden shouts. Something seemed to have happened, and it had awakened almost everyone. A bold farmer slipped out to check. He soon came back and gestured in extreme horror and excitement.

  “I—I can’t see clearly. I can’t see anything clearly, but there’s a fire. I can’t see clearly. The Feudal Lord is yelling. I also heard the roar-like thunder, but I didn’t see clearly…”

  Li Siwen lay still and did not move. In fact, he could determine that the situation was under control just from listening to the shouts. No matter what had attacked that night, it had nothing to do with him, a farmer.

  So while other farmers were still immersed in the boring description of the horror, he fell asleep again. He didn’t snore, because he maintained a good sleeping posture all the time. He even picked up a piece of wood, wound a piece of rag around it, and made a pillow. He spared no detail to ensure a good sleep. A good sleep would be able to restore the most Stamina.

  At dawn the next day, hunger awakened Li Siwen. His stomach was growling. Fortunately, his stamina had fully recovered to 12 points after a good night’s sleep.

  On the contrary, the other farmers, including the loggers, were yawning and in low spirits. Some people were still in a state of shock. In gaming terms, morale had fallen.

  What happened if one’s morale dropped?

  Simple. Use food to improve it.

  After relieving himself, Li Siwen came to the two fat aunties’ cook room. As expected, today’s breakfast was generous, well, literally.

  Everyone had an extra bowl of wild vegetable soup, and an extra portion of that black-colored dry ration. The benefit would last until dinnertime.

  It was unknown if the others had their morale boosted, but Li Siwen was indeed excited.

  It was really a blessing to be able to fill his stomach at this time, even though this blessing would only last for one day.

  He didn’t care about what happened last night, or when the territory would go bankrupt or make a profit. What was most important was his survival.

  Hence, on the way to the wheat field, Li Siwen began to think about what attributes he should add to that day.

  Stamina was very important, but it was very dependent on the availability of food. Before finding an additional source of food, 12 Stamina was actually already enough to extract a little Vitality Point every day.

  What if he encountered danger? Should he rush to get first blood, or turn around and run?

  The answer was obvious. He would run, of course. He might not be able to escape the ferocious beasts, but it was enough if he could run faster than the other farmers.

  “In that case, I’ll add Agility. I have 12 Stamina. If others can run 1 KM at full speed with 10 Stamina, I can run 1.2 KM. If I add to Agility, while it takes 6 minutes for others to run 1 KM at full speed, I may need only 5 minutes.”

  With clear goals and clear plans, Li Siwen even had extra energy to observe other details such as the weather, wind direction, the humidity, insects jumping around in the grass, the soil, weeds, trees, and many more.

  All these observations were summed up by him, becoming a detailed and informative field survival report.

  Of course, it was still very safe on the whole, because Overseer Sun Tieshi had specially escorted the ten farmers here that day and at the same time escorted the six loggers to a place about 2 KM away to the south to cut logs. Eight militiamen accompanied them. The Feudal Lord, as usual, stayed behind in the territory to catch up on sleep and keep watch.

  Overseer Sun Tieshi did not linger in the wheat field, and he didn’t even have the intention of admonishing him. His eyebrows knitted in a frown, as if the attack the night before had stressed him out.

  However, Li Siwen didn’t think too much about it. First, he sat on the ground and ate the extra portion of ration, then carefully polished the hoe with a stone. After ten minutes, he started weeding.

  However, all the farmers were in a bad state that day. He estimated that their Stamina was at most 8 to 9 points.

  This was a good thing. Li Siwen could exterminate the weeds with his hoe in an orderly manner. Without the pursuit of speed and progress, he could exchange the maximum number of green light points with the minimum amount of physical exertion.

  In the flash of an eye, at about 10 AM, Li Siwen had only consumed 4 points of Stamina, but had harvested more than one-third orb full of the green light points. The most important thing was that his weeding had not fallen be
hind the other farmers.

  When Overseer Sun Tieshi rushed back from the logging area in the south to check on them, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. After all, the ten farmers’ weeding progress was about the same. Although there was a difference between that day and the day before, it was understandable considering last night’s unexpected attack.

  So, he hurried on.

  By about 11 AM, some farmers were unable to continue working. At this moment, their stamina had fallen below 5 on average, which was the yellow zone. In this zone, work efficiency was lower than when it was in the green zone by at least 30%, so they all took a break and ate.

  Li Siwen certainly would not try to show off at this time. After all, if he had eaten and rested before the others, the other farmers would simply laugh at him, and no permanent damage would be done.

  But if all the farmers took a break while he continued working hard, humph, did one really think that the NPC uncles would not get angry?

  chapter 5

  Li Siwen sat in the shade of the enormous tree and pretended to eat a portion of dry ration. He waited until the four patrolling militiamen passed by and the rest of the farmers were snoring.

  Li Siwen went to the other side of the wheat field by pretending to go to the toilet. There was a small brook with a trickle of water flowing in it. The farmers occasionally drank the water here when they finished the water in their water gourd. Of course, the Feudal Lord must not find out about it. He had strictly ordered everyone to drink boiled water.

  The stream was clear, and a few small fishes swam happily in the water. Li Siwen refused to be distracted and went straight to a fruit tree growing on the edge of the river. He first confirmed that there were no snakes around with a hoe, then he squatted down…

  It should look real, even though he was pretending. He was not one who would allow himself to be easily caught, even though it might be meaningless to pretend.