Free Web NovelChapter 40: Chapter 40: Destroying the Rice
March. The Qingming Festival.
In the blink of an eye, it was nearly time for the annual planting season.
Chen Li began to deal with the three hundred mu of farmland he had purchased from Wang Shizhang’s family.
Since the land had belonged to the Wang Family, farming it rashly would inevitably stir up trouble.
Chen Li’s first move was to visit the Wang Family’s clan leader, Wang Shiming.
The man was in his forties, with a dark, weathered face. He looked more like an old farmer who toiled in the fields every day than a landlord who owned over five hundred mu of prime farmland.
Over the years, Chen Li had hardly interacted with him, their encounters mostly limited to brief meetings at banquets.
The man was rather surprised by Chen Li’s visit, but what astonished him even more was that Chen Li had actually bought the land belonging to his clansman, Wang Shizhang.
After examining the deed, Wang Shiming’s expression immediately turned cold. He frowned and asked, "When did the Government Office sell this land? Why wasn’t I informed?"
Chen Li explained, "Just a few days ago, the County Magistrate’s Office sold off a batch of ownerless land. There was a notice posted at the entrance."
"Didn’t government constables used to come to the village to inform us?" Wang Shiming demanded, his tone laced with displeasure.
"That I wouldn’t know." Chen Li shook his head. "Clan Leader Wang, you can ask the County Magistrate’s Office."
Qian Yiqian had given Chen Li his word, so of course, he hadn’t notified the village.
But this was something he couldn’t reveal.
The Wang Family certainly had their eyes on these three hundred mu.
Even if no single family could afford it all, a few of them could have pooled their money to buy it.
For him to have snatched it from under their noses for no apparent reason, they were naturally resentful.
Wang Shiming’s expression shifted several times. He stared silently at Chen Li for a moment before finally speaking. "I will make this matter clear to my kinsmen. However, my Wang Family has many mouths to feed and little land. Our grain supply is insufficient. I hope Younger Brother Chen will take this into consideration and rent these three hundred mu to my people."
Chen Li shook his head. "To be frank, Clan Leader Wang, my family has an ancestral rule: our land is never rented out. I hope you can understand." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"In that case."
Wang Shiming’s small eyes narrowed, and his tone turned bone-chilling. "Then do as you please."
Chen Li knew exactly what Wang Shiming was scheming.
The claim of ’many people, little land’ was purely an excuse. The Wang Family owned over 3,500 of Lingxi Village’s 8,000 mu of prime farmland.
If Chen Li had agreed, Wang Shiming would have found dozens of Wang families to rent the land, a few mu each. They would use the rental agreement as a pretense to get their hands on the fields first.
As for the rent payments, with the entire Wang Family backing them, Chen Li might not even be able to collect them on time.
Even if Chen Li tried to force the issue, they could stir up trouble, banking on the principle that the law doesn’t punish a crowd.
They might even find a couple of destitute families and have them threaten suicide. If Chen Li cared at all for his reputation, he’d be unable to make a single move in Wang Family territory.
Chen Li wasn’t about to fall for that trap.
Besides, if he kept renting out the land, based on the standard thirty-percent annual rent, the yield would be less than one stone of grain per mu.
But if he farmed it himself, it would only take two or three years to increase the yield of each mu to seven hundred jin—more than six stone of grain.
On one hundred fifty mu, losing over three stone of grain per mu meant a difference of nearly five hundred stone.
Even after subtracting costs and other necessary expenses, that was still a net gain of at least four hundred stone of grain.
This was no small amount.
Soon, news that Chen Li had purchased the land from Wang Shizhang’s family spread among the Wang Family. It was like a drop of water in a hot wok—the situation instantly exploded.
’Someone from the Chen Family farming Wang Family land?’
’It’s against all tradition!’
However, with the deed in Chen Li’s hands, they had no choice but to swallow their resentment and bide their time, no matter how unwilling they were.
For the next several days, Chen Li was incredibly busy, leaving home early and returning late every night.
Including the one hundred twenty mu he had acquired the year before last, Chen Li’s household landholdings had more than tripled in just over two years, reaching a total of six hundred twenty mu.
The consequences of this rapid expansion gradually began to surface.
He began to face numerous problems with his farm work.
First was seed selection. Lacking preparation, he could no longer pick the best of the best as he had before. Now, he was forced to choose the best of a mediocre lot.
Next were the draft oxen. Previously, Chen Li’s household had kept thirteen oxen, which was barely enough to plow the fields. Now, that was clearly insufficient.
It wasn’t that Chen Li didn’t want to raise more, but he only had so much dried rice straw and silage each year. In this flat region, finding other fodder for cattle was difficult.
It was too late to raise more this year, so his only option was to borrow from other families for the time being.
Then there were the issues of fertilizer, temporary laborers, and so on—all presented challenges.
To make matters worse, as part of Wang Shiming’s retaliation, many of the Wang Family members who had previously worked for Chen Li as day laborers suddenly refused to come.
Fortunately, the nearby Shangba Village was only seventeen li away from Lingxi Village, and their fields were adjacent.
Lacking manpower, Chen Li raised his wages for day laborers and hired many workers from Shangba Village. Only then was he able to complete the spring planting on schedule.
Chen Li was truly run ragged during this period.
...
It was a sultry, windless night at the end of summer.
In Lingxi Village, most families had already extinguished their lamps and gone to bed.
Chen Li sat cross-legged in his study, his Heart Spirit sinking into the Spirit Realm as he silently contemplated the mysteries of the True Intent of Qiankun Qi Wandering Dragon Staff.
His Inner Breath flowed like a gentle stream through his meridians, and his Spirit Platform was perfectly clear.
After entering the Spirit Realm, Chen Li’s Cultivation had slowed considerably.
The Second Level of the Spirit Realm, the Profound Acupoint Pass, required one to open all 365 Acupoints in the body, transforming them into reservoirs for storing Inner Qi.
At this level, refining Inner Qi was still crucial.
However, the effects of both the Mysterious Black Tortoise Tribulation Secret Medicine and the Nine-Turns Essence Rejuvenation Marrow Heart Pill had plummeted drastically.
A single dose of the Secret Medicine now produced less than half the Inner Qi it used to.
So, Chen Li began to focus all his energy on studying the mysteries of the True Intent Map.
Each time he immersed himself in it, he gained new insights, and the rewards were substantial.
Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps shattered the night’s tranquility.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The door was being pounded on.
"Master, Master, something’s wrong!"
The voice of his hired hand, Zhao Gui, was filled with obvious panic.
Chen Li ceased his cultivation, snapped his eyes open, and rose to open the courtyard gate.
He saw Zhao Gui, his face pale and covered in sweat, pointing breathlessly toward the Lingxi Stream. "Master, our... our fields by the stream... more than ten mu of rice... they’ve been destroyed!"
Chen Li’s brow furrowed instantly. "What happened? Speak slowly."
"I drank too much cold water this afternoon and my stomach’s been acting up. I just got up to use the outhouse when I heard people talking at the village entrance. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I wondered what a group of people was doing out so late. I had a bad feeling, so I went to take a look at the fields. And then I saw it. Several mu of rice, all knocked over, lying flat on the ground in huge patches. The way the stalks are broken, the trampled marks... it’s definitely not wild boars or badgers. It was clearly done on purpose by people."
Zhao Gui was both frantic and furious, his voice trembling. "That’s over ten mu of fields! It’s almost time for the harvest! Those bastards, damn them to hell..."
Chen Li’s face darkened instantly.
Without another word, he sprinted toward the rice paddies by the Lingxi Stream.
Zhao Gui froze for a second, then hurriedly trotted after him.
The moonlight was dim, but with the enhanced vision from his Spirit Realm cultivation, the devastating scene in the fields was perfectly clear.
The once orderly rows of ripening, greenish-gold rice were now a complete wreck. It looked as if a herd of wild boars had rampaged through—stalks were snapped, unripe grains were scattered everywhere, and the ground was a muddy, trampled mess.
The damage was concentrated, the methods crude, and it was all done with an undisguised, malicious intent.
Chen Li took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm.
