Starting from the Greyhound, seventy-two changes.

Chapter 1 Bitterness

In the early morning, the sun has not yet risen, and only a white line can be seen in the east.

The Sanqing Mountain in Sheyu Town was shrouded in a layer of gray fog before the night fell.

Sanqing Mountain is about a hundred miles away from the county seat. It has three peaks. Because the peaks are steep and look like the Three Pure Ones sitting upright, they are named Sanqing Mountain.

A strange-looking green plant swaying in the forest breeze and morning mist.

Different from other weeds, it has a crystal color, carries a drop of dew, and sways slightly...

call!
A hoe came down from the air without warning, and instantly dug up the one-foot-tall "grass" with its roots.

But the roots were not damaged at all, which clearly showed that he was very experienced.

Shaking off a lot of smelly black soil, a young man who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old was holding the herb.

"Two taels of snake bone grass is worth about two hundred copper coins. The fluctuation won't be too big. This time I followed the team into the mountains and finally got the biggest harvest."

Chen Ku raised the herb called snake bone grass to his forehead and looked at it in front of him.

The roots of the herb were one section after another, resembling snake bones, which confirmed once again that he was not mistaken.

Only then did he solemnly put it back into the bamboo basket behind him.

There were also some other common herbs lying quietly in the bamboo basket, but none of them was as valuable as this snake bone grass.

"Two hundred coins, if converted to purchasing power on Earth, is roughly equivalent to two hundred yuan. In this world, you can buy twenty kilograms of rice, seven or eight kilograms of pork, and about one hundred kilograms of firewood..."

"All the herbs in my medicine basket, including the snake bone grass, can probably be sold for around 400 coins. After deducting the 50 coins required to enter the mountain as a toll and the half tax that individual traders have to pay... that is, half of my income, the remaining 100 coins is my income for the day! I am so poor!"

Chen Ku felt helpless.

Unexpectedly, when I woke up, I became a herbalist in Sheyu Town, Baojiao County, a border area in the 153rd year of the Ji Kingdom.

Here, every mountain belongs to someone, a big landlord.

Just like in the previous life when you went to pick strawberries from someone’s field or fish in a fish pond, you had to pay!
Not only do you need to pay to go into the mountains to collect herbs, but you also need to pay to chop wood.

The saying "I opened this mountain and planted these trees" is indeed not without reason.

If anyone dared to sneak into the mountains to collect herbs or chop wood and was caught by the landlord, he would be beaten to death on the spot by the servants without even reporting to the authorities.

What's more, he is a retail investor who has been expelled.

You can only grit your teeth and save up some money to pay the toll to be eligible to come in.

Without a household registration, one is a retail investor and is deregistered.

The imperial court did not recognize the citizenship of this kind of people.

There was a saying in the court that a certain prince had committed a crime, was expelled from the clan, and demoted to a commoner.

Individual investors are even more miserable than common people. Even their household registration is removed, and they become like refugees.

In order to punish these people, higher taxes are imposed on them, such as prostitutes are taxed more.

The reason why Chen Ku became a retail investor was because of the brother in this body.

He is also a herbalist.

However, in the process of collecting herbs, he sneaked into Yuan State outside Ji State, smuggled herbs from there and sold them to make a profit.

As a result, the incident happened only the second time. He was blocked on the mountain road and was finally forced to jump off the cliff and fell into the Yuan Dynasty's river. He must have died.

After the elder brother was recognized on the spot, the whole family was implicated. Not only were their properties confiscated, but even their family members were expelled from their hometown and demoted to wanderers.

Individual investors, on the other hand, need to be driven out of the town and turned into refugees.

In order to avoid becoming even more miserable refugees, the family of four had no choice but to entrust their identities to the home of Brother Zhao, with whom they had relatively good relations in the village. With the help of their mother helping to take care of the children and their sister-in-law doing the laundry, they were able to continue living in their original home.

If my sister had not been married, she would occasionally send someone to bring back some rice and grain from the county to help out.

In addition, Chen Ku himself needs to go into the mountains to collect herbs frequently, so it is really difficult to maintain the livelihood of this family.

"Only about 100 yuan a day, but I have to support myself and my family..."

It's not like he hasn't thought about leaving this home on his own initiative.

But as mentioned before, refugees are even more miserable than individual investors. They may die on the road at any time, just like those who lived in bridge holes and slept on park benches in their previous life.

And in this world, there is no kind-hearted person to give him free bread and mineral water...

In general.

Although I am under a lot of pressure now, at least I can go home and have a hot meal cooked by my mother, which is better than begging on the street and becoming a corpse on the roadside with no one paying attention to me.

Chen Ku was used to comforting himself, saying:

"It's just poverty, but it's also a fine traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. Work hard and good days will come."

This statement is both self-deprecating and actually contains a hint of hope.

His hope came from the time travel itself. Looking back on the time before the time travel, there was indeed a big doubt, that is, he had just returned from a business trip to Guanjiangkou, Qingcheng Mountain that day, and he inevitably went to worship Erlang Zhenjun at Guanjiangkou.

"Is this related?"

We have been in the mountains for a day and a night. We have finished our dry food and are about to go back. Chen Ku muttered to himself:

“Grandpa Zhenjun, please show me your spirit… Even if I don’t have any skills, you can keep me by your side and serve tea and water to Grandpa Zhenjun…”

Muttering to myself, I have already walked out of the mountain.

When I got to the foot of the mountain, I found that several people from the same village who had entered the mountain with me were already waiting there.

Old Li is the leader of the Chen brothers who goes to collect herbs. He loves to smoke dry tobacco. Next to him is his grandson Li Ji Yang, who is slightly stout but has small eyes, and looks clever and shrewd.

Seeing Chen Ku coming down the path with a backpack on his back, Old Li knocked his head on the bottom of his shoe to tap the bowl of his pipe. He didn't stand up, but asked with concern, "Ku boy, didn't you encounter any snakes?"

In Sheyu Town, there are many snakes in the mountains and many fish in the water.

Chen Ku told the truth: "No, but I picked a two-liang snake bone grass, so I came back late."

Old Li was relieved, and then whispered: "Two taels of snake bone grass, your trip into the mountains is worth it."

Chen Ku looked at Li Jiyang and asked about his gains.

But he was slightly proud and said, "I'm not bad luck either. I picked a chicken blood orchid, which is worth two or three hundred coins. My grandfather is even more amazing. This time he encountered a wild ginseng that is about to become a 'treasure grass'."

"Treasure grass."

Chen Ku was excited when he heard this, because that item was worth dozens of taels of silver, tens of thousands of dollars.

It is also something that warriors need to practice martial arts.

He looked at the old boss.

But there was a look of pity in Li Lao's eyes: "The timing is not right, it happened too early. Otherwise, with this wild ginseng, if it was given to Yaowang Hall, Ji Yang could be a handyman there."

Li Jiyang also drooped his eyelids.

Chen heaved a sigh of relief.

With all kinds of religions and professions, the ancient world was sometimes more orderly than the modern world.

The medicine shop, the firewood shop, and the fish shop are actually the medicine gang, the firewood gang, and the fish gang...

It is an industry and also a gang.

It almost monopolizes a certain industry, has a giant status, and has enviable income and status.

But he knew clearly that the reason why Boss Li wanted to send Li Jiyang to Yaowang Hall was not only because he could practice martial arts and learn skills that could really help him survive in this chaotic world.

The most important thing is that there is said to be a huge force behind Yaowang Hall, with the backing of a powerful mountain.

After entering Yaowangtang, the Li family’s household registration is expected to be changed from “registered household” to “county household”.

There is hope that the fate of living in the mountains and eating dirt for generations will be changed. The next generation may have better conditions to study, practice martial arts, and change the fate of the family.

Only when your grandfather became famous in the village could he send your father to the county, and only when your father became famous in the county could he send you to the city...

There is a saying that goes: To change the fate of a family, it takes at least three generations of hard work.

The channels for social advancement in ancient times were more difficult and more painful than they are today.

Chen Ku thought about his current situation. Not to mention county household registration, what he had to get first was a registered household registration. He felt depressed and worried.

The future is bright, but invisible.

The road is winding and endless.

Bitterness.

After a brief chat, the few people stopped chatting and set out on their way home with their own thoughts.

"Poor boy, come with me to the town tomorrow to sell the herbs and buy some household supplies."

"Ah."

He responded.

Back to the village, everyone goes home.

He crossed the path and walked to the end. Soon, a small courtyard with three rooms surrounded by a fence came into view. There were also a few houses not far away. They looked similar and were neighbors.

The smoke was coming out of Chen Kujia's kitchen, and there was a blurry figure busy at the stove.

There was a kid in the yard with a runny nose poking at an ant nest.

From time to time, the old woman's coughing could be heard in the room.

"Mom, sister-in-law, I'm back."

(End of this chapter)