Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 135 Dinner as a Guest
Shi Pusa followed Ah Qi all the way to her home, but Ah Qi's mother Ah Chi was not at home. He didn't care, just found a place to sit down, and looked at the simple wooden house again, guessing that it should be the work of the coolie team. When he first came to Wanjin, he also built such simple houses for a period of time - only basic resettlement functions. If you want to have a better life, you need to apply for land with your own merits or money and build a new house yourself.

Ah Qi found some water for the stone Buddha and explained, "Amu has gone to work and should be back soon. Brother Buddha, please wait for a while."

"Okay!" Stone Bodhisattva took the water and started drinking it, then asked, "Which workshop is your mother in now?"

"My mother is helping the dry algae workshop to look after the pond, and she hasn't entered the workshop yet." As Qi spoke, he ran to get a bowl of dark green and slightly brown dry algae powder and asked enthusiastically, "It's salty and delicious. Brother Bodhisattva, do you want some?"

Shi Bodhisattva recognized what it was at a glance. He had to eat this unfortunate thing every now and then in the military camp, and he would treat it as a kind of necessary portable ration when going out for training. He was forced to eat it every day and had lost interest in it a long time ago. This thing was used to supplement protein. With the breeding technology of that era, hundreds of soldiers who trained every day could eat the livestock in Wanjin to extinction in less than a month. The wilderness could not supply so much meat, and they could not afford to spend that much money. But they could not not supplement them with protein. Such a high training intensity would make people urinate blood.

Therefore, he had to rack his brains and search everywhere for something that could supplement protein, and it had to be very cheap, so as to avoid too much military expenditure pressure in the future. After much thought, he finally set his sights on algae, the ancient overlord of the earth.

Algae are natural aggregators of protein in nature, whether they are river algae or sea algae. For example, the well-known Spirulina has a maximum protein content of 50%. In this era, algae is not worth much at all and is easy to collect. You can just catch it in the sea or dig a small pond on land and put in edible algae species collected from the wild. It will grow on its own and you don't have to worry about it.

It is precisely relying on these processed algae, coupled with the large purchase of cheap fish from the islanders, and some bean products, that the new army of Wanjin can have enough protein to support high-intensity training and avoid the situation that is common in the army of that era, where one day of training requires seven or eight days of rest.

Now Aqi's mother Achi is responsible for watching the pond and collecting river algae. This kind of work does not require much strength, but only requires enough patience, which is suitable for women. The only difference is that the salary is average and can only guarantee basic living.

Shi Bodhisattva was completely fed up with dry algae powder, mainly because it tasted like medicine and had a terrible taste. In his eyes, it was not food at all. He did not like it, so he declined Xiao Qi's offer of the strange taste and sat there waiting quietly. After waiting for a while, he saw a dent on the ground. He looked up and suspected that it would leak on rainy days, so he called Xiao Qi over to ask about it, then rolled up his sleeves and went to repair the roof - the resettlement houses built in batches by the coolie team were inevitably defective in quality, and there would always be some minor problems.

He had built houses before and was a skilled worker. He repaired the roof in no time. Just after coming down, he heard someone outside shouting to sell firewood. He hurried to take a look at the firewood pile, but found that there was not much firewood. He immediately went out and stopped the guy selling firewood to ask about the price. He found that the chopped firewood was more expensive, but the large pieces of wood were very cheap - they were all miscellaneous wood left over from the large-scale logging and charcoal burning by the coolie team, which was just right to serve as fuel for the residents and to collect currency at the same time.

Of course, if residents want to burn charcoal, they can do so, but the price is very expensive. During this period, charcoal is mainly supplied to the military, for iron and steel smelting, and for making military equipment.

Shi Bodhisattva looks a little silly in daily life, as if his brain was damaged by a burn when he was a child, but he is actually very good at living. After careful calculation, he did not want the coolie team to earn money from him for chopping firewood, so he directly asked for a large pile of wood blocks, then went out to the grocery store to buy an axe, spat into his palm, and started chopping firewood in the yard.

He had built up a good physique in the new army, and as he had often been beaten with pots and pans and by the military police in the past, he was good at mechanical work. He focused on his work, chopping away, with wood chips flying everywhere. He soon built a small wall with firewood, but then he felt that it was not a good idea to place the firewood like this, and he should build a bamboo shed.

Without thinking too much, he started to work on building the bamboo shed. Ah Chi had already inspected the pond he was responsible for and delivered the algae he had collected. He was coming back to see his daughter, but when he came back, he saw a strange man struggling in his yard. He was so scared that he almost went straight to the military police. The widow was afraid of being harassed. She was considered to be good-looking among the village girls. She had encountered a similar thing when she first came. A man insisted on staying with her and refused to leave, making all kinds of noise. Fortunately, Wanjin attached great importance to order, and soon a patrolling military police was alarmed. The guy was knocked down with two sticks by the military police and dragged away.

She had already developed the habit of rushing to the street to find the military police whenever she saw any danger. Just as she was about to call for help, Ah Qi came running back from outside with a large bundle of straw. When he saw her, he said happily, "Mom, Brother Bodhisattva is here!"

After she finished calling out, she continued to talk very quickly, telling how she met the Stone Bodhisattva, how she invited him to her home for dinner, and how he helped her at home. Only then did Ah Chi take a closer look at the strange man and found that it was indeed the young soldier who had helped them before, except that he had grown a lot taller, and with the scar on his face, his youthful temperament had faded, and he had become an adult man.

The Stone Bodhisattva also noticed her coming. He stared at her for a moment and found that she was different from before. Her hair was combed neatly and her face was rosy. She looked several years younger than before, but the change in appearance was not that big.

After taking a look, he smiled naively, then lowered his head to continue tying knots and tying up his bamboo shed. Achi hesitated for a moment, and did not go over to talk, but went straight into the house to make buckwheat noodles.

The two of them were busy with their own things. Ah Qi was very excited. He helped inside the house for a while, and then helped outside the house for a while. It was not until the meal was ready that Ah Chi showed up and said the first sentence: "Um... Sir, please have your meal!"

Shi Pusa waved his hands and said shyly, "I'm not an adult, I'm not, I'm not even a sergeant now!" Ah Chi was stunned, not knowing what to say. The last time she met Shi Pusa, Shi Pusa looked like a teenager. She felt that her future was miserable, and she was probably going to be captured and sold. She cried and wanted to escape several times, and take her daughter with her to be beaten to death. She didn't talk much to the boy who helped her, and they were not familiar with each other.

It was not until she settled in Wanjin that she realized she had thought too much. Wanjin was safe and well-fed, which was a hundred times better than staying in the village. She began to be grateful to the stone bodhisattva who had sent her and her daughter on the boat, and to the young man who had stopped her from committing suicide many times. She began to think about thanking him in person when they met again, but her daughter brought him home directly...

The two of them were speechless for a while, but Ah Qi was surprised. He looked around, grabbed the stone Buddha and said, "Brother Buddha, didn't you say you wanted to eat buckwheat noodles? Mom has prepared it, go and eat it!"

"Okay, okay!" The stone bodhisattva immediately followed Ah Qi into the house and sat next to the fire pit.

Achi hurriedly followed him in and served him a bowl of noodles. After Shi Bodhisattva shyly said thank you, he started to shovel the noodles into his mouth. In two bites, the bowl of noodles was gone.

Achi quickly continued to help him serve noodles and let his daughter eat as well.

Shi Pusa ate four bowls in a row before slowing down a little. He habitually looked around to see if there was anything in his companion's bowl that he couldn't bear to eat. At this time, Ah Chi hesitated and whispered, "Um... let me help you sew your clothes again!"

Shi Bodhisattva raised his right arm and looked at his armpit. There was a big cut there during the training. It was Guo Talang's small flag that helped him sew it up again. However, Guo Talang was short, clumsy and stupid. When he stretched out his hand, it was like he had five carrots. Naturally, he didn't care about the fineness of the stitches. He sewed it crookedly, just hoping that it would pass the inspection. He didn't expect that he had been hiding it, but it was still seen by A Chi.

But since he was seen, it didn't matter. He hesitated for a moment and took off his shirt and handed it to Achi. However, he was very strong and only wore this thick coat in winter. Once he took it off, his arms were bare, revealing his muscular body.

Ah Chi's face turned slightly red, but there are not so many rules in the countryside. Many people have to pass down their clothes from father to son. The diligent ones will patch them up, while the lazy ones will expose their flesh. If women really want to avoid suspicion in everything, then they should not go out.

She just poked the fire in the fire pit a little more to prevent the stone Buddha from catching a cold, then went to get the needle and thread, and began to undo the thread and carefully sew his clothes again.

Ah Qi had no interest in eating buckwheat noodles. She was no longer the skinny little girl who was hungry every day half a year ago. Her eyes no longer turned red when she saw food. Instead, she began to pester Shi Bodhisattva to ask about things in the military camp, with a hint of envy in her tone. After all, that was the pinnacle of Wanjin's current upgrade system. Only the smartest and strongest people could be selected to enter. Once they entered the camp, the monthly salary was three times that of ordinary people. She had heard about it many times in her daily life, so it was inevitable that she was affected. She planned to find out about things in the military camp so that she could brag about it when she met her playmates.

The Stone Bodhisattva couldn't talk either. He just kept talking about the usual things like eating well, sleeping well, getting clothes and monthly salary. But Ah Qi never got tired of listening to him. He kept asking questions and even inquired about the famous people in the Wanjin Army, hoping to get some inside information.

After finishing his meal and mending his clothes, he put on his clothes and went out to repair the bamboo shed. He worked until the afternoon and finally finished the bamboo shed. He looked at the sky again and thought it was time to go back. Without hesitation, he took out a handful of copper coins and stuffed them into Ah Chi's hand, saying naively, "I'm going back. Ah... uh, this money is for you."

Ah Chi quickly pushed the money back and said repeatedly: "No, no, that... the noodles are for you, thank you for helping us last time..."

"I am just following orders. This is not cash. I see that my family is short of a lot of things. You can go back and buy some." The Stone Bodhisattva said this naively again, then turned and left.

Ah Chi was stunned for a moment holding the money in his hand. He didn't react until he was out of the door. He hurriedly chased after him and shouted, but his voice became smaller and smaller. "Well, then come over for dinner next time you are on vacation..."

The stone Bodhisattva turned around and gave a simple smile, without saying anything else, and walked along the road.

(End of this chapter)