My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

Inside a newly built earth wall outside Lijia Town, Jiang Li, with a smile on his face, was preparing a gift for his apprenticeship, which was a few pieces of dried meat and some coarse grains such as corn, sweet potato and pumpkin.

As for who this gift is for, it is naturally Lin Fengjiao, who is known as Uncle Nine.

This brings me to Jiang Li. He is a delivery man from a village in the 21st century. He is a 28-year-old young man with no car, no house and no wife. His hobbies are reading novels and watching videos.

That day, he was riding his bike on the road home from get off work when he was suddenly hit by a speeding truck. As soon as he landed, he lost consciousness before he could even see whether the driver was a human or a ghost.

When he woke up again, he found that his soul had merged with that of a six-year-old farm boy named Jiang Ergou.

How could Jiang Ergou, who had integrated the memories of an adult from his previous life, accept the name Ergou? So after a lot of throwing a tantrum, he finally changed his name to Jiang Li.

At first I thought I was reborn, but later I found out that I had traveled to the Republic of China. And it was not an ordinary Republic of China, but a Republic of China filled with all kinds of monsters and demons. Let's call it a parallel world.

As for how they knew there were monsters and demons, it was from the original body's father, Jiang Kaishan, who invited a young Taoist priest with straight eyebrows and a righteous face from the neighboring Renjia Town to help dig a well.

When Jiang Li saw the Taoist priest, his eyes widened on the spot, because this Taoist priest was too similar to Uncle Nine in the movie world of his previous life.

After many attempts, Jiang Li learned that this was the Republic of China in the movie world, and this person was none other than the famous Uncle Nine Lin Fengjiao. Only then did he become convinced that there really were ghosts in this world. After all, he had not watched so many zombie movies in vain.

However, Jiang Li was still young at that time and his family was very poor. He had an older brother, Jiang Daniu, who was two years older than him, and a younger sister, Jiang Xiaohua, who was two years younger than him.

There was no way his parents would let him become a Taoist priest, so he did not make it public. Instead, he thought about making sure his family had enough food and clothing first and then finding a way to become a disciple.

After searching for the system over and over again without success, Jiang Li decided to rely on himself to live a good life in this familiar yet strange world. The first step is of course to make money first, have enough food and clothing, and then think about other things.

After much thought, Jiang Li decided to first persuade his mother to start by raising earthworms to feed chickens, then use a hotbed to hatch eggs and buy chicks to earn some start-up capital for the family.

Afterwards, I begged my father to use the money earned from raising chickens to buy a barren mountain, and then hire people to reclaim the mountain and plant drought-resistant corn, potatoes, pumpkins and other coarse grains, so that this barren mountain, which no one valued and was not conducive to irrigation, could also produce something.

Then, after five years of snowballing, Jiang Li's family's ten acres of thin land had turned into eighty acres of mountain land. Because they dug a lot of wells and planted drought-resistant grains, these lands did produce some output.

Now the Jiang family not only owns 80 acres of mountain land, but also has two tenant farmers, which can barely be considered a small landlord family.

But the embarrassing thing is that coarse grains such as corn and sorghum that have not been optimized in variety have a yield of only a few hundred kilograms in newly reclaimed land, so they are not planted in large quantities.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes, which can produce up to 700 to 800 kilograms, are also planted in small quantities because the newly reclaimed land is not fertile enough.

So the most planted crop by the Jiang family is pumpkin, which does not require high soil fertility and can produce up to 600 kilograms. However, pumpkin has too much water and low starch content, so it is not filling at all when eaten.

Therefore, even in the Republic of China where food production was scarce, the output from the land could not be sold at much price.

The above yields are based on the fact that the Jiang family has enough chicken manure and makes a lot of homemade organic fertilizer. Fortunately, the climate in the south is mild, and various crops can be planted alternately to achieve two harvests a year.

He had no choice but to open a mixed grain porridge shop in the town. This way he could earn two dollars a day by adding some pickles, and he didn't have to sell the grains at a low price.

At the same time, the family's chicken farming and egg hatching business has also expanded a lot. The family now has fifty hens and a dozen roosters, and can hatch dozens of chicks every day. Selling the chicks is also a relatively stable source of income.

...

Now that his family had enough food and drink and had money, and he was of the right age, he took great pains to convince his parents to agree to let him take Uncle Jiu as his teacher.

After packing up, Jiang Kaishan drove the donkey cart with the gifts and went to Renjia Town with Jiang Li.

The two towns are adjacent to each other, only about twenty miles apart, so the father and son quickly arrived at Renjia Town. After some inquiries, they learned where Uncle Jiu was staying, the charity cemetery outside the town.

This charity cemetery actually existed for a long time, but it had fallen into disrepair due to lack of care. Five years ago, Uncle Jiu had set his eyes on it and wanted to use it as a Taoist temple, but due to lack of money, the plan ended up falling through. It was only last year that he managed to gather enough money to renovate it and fulfill his wish.

The father and son arrived at the door of the charity cemetery. Jiang Li went forward and knocked on the door. After a while, the door opened. Jiang Li saw a short but anxious-looking teenager.

"Who are you looking for?" the child asked.

Jiang Li said, "I'm looking for Uncle Jiu. Is he home?"

The child stuck his head out and looked at the donkey cart and the things on it. When his eyes fell on a pair of big roosters, his eyes widened.

He immediately said, "Yes, yes, I'll go call my master right away" and ran inside without looking back.

When Jiang Li heard his words, he guessed that the child must be Wencai, so he went back to the donkey cart and waited. Jiang Kaishan had already tied up the donkey cart.

After a while, Wencai came out with Uncle Jiu. When they reached the door, Wencai quietly said behind Uncle Jiu, "See, I told you they brought two big roosters."

Uncle Jiu turned around and glared at him, then invited the father and son into the charity cemetery. After entering the door, he said to Wencai, "Wencai, you stay here and help Master Jiang watch the car."

Originally, Jiang Kaishan's level was not worthy of the title of master, but there is a saying that goes, a fancy sedan is carried by people.

As soon as Jiang Kaishan heard the title of Master Jiang, he immediately smiled so hard that his teeth were showing.

The three of them sat down, and Uncle Jiu asked, "I don't know why Mr. Jiang came this time. If Lin Jiu can help, Mr. Jiang just ask."

Jiang Kaishan put away his smile when he heard this, but he couldn't hide the curve of his mouth. He said, "To be honest, I have heard about Uncle Jiu's great Taoist skills in the neighboring Lijia Town."

"I saw it when I was digging the well before. My son admires Uncle Jiu very much, so he brought some gifts to become his disciple. I hope Uncle Jiu will not despise his son for his mischievous behavior."

Of course Jiang Kaishan couldn't think of this. Jiang Li taught him this word by word before he came.

When Uncle Jiu heard that the person came to become Jiang Li's disciple, he looked Jiang Li up and down. Jiang Li also straightened his chest and looked at Uncle Jiu eagerly.

At this time, Uncle Jiu said, "How old are you this year? Your father said that you want to be my disciple. Is that true?"

Jiang Li said, "In reply to Uncle Jiu, I am eleven years old this year. A few years ago, you took a compass and made a few random gestures to find the location to dig a well. I admired you very much. I hope Uncle Jiu can accept me as your apprentice."

Uncle Jiu looked at Jiang Li and said, "Do you know what kind of skills I have and what kind of abilities I have? Just because you see that I can find wells, you come to become my disciple. Isn't that too hasty?"

Jiang Li said, "No matter which sect you belong to, it is enough for me to learn how to dig wells. My family is a farmer, and the skill of digging wells is just right for me. Of course, if you have other skills, that would be even better."

Uncle Jiu said, "Since you don't know, I'll tell you and then make a decision."

"I am a disciple of the Maoshan Sect, and I belong to the Zhengyi Sect. My lineage has a long history and strict rules. The first rule for joining my sect is to fight against good and evil for the rest of your life. You can abide by this rule."

Jiang Li was about to say yes, but Jiang Kaishan at the side spoke first, "Uncle Jiu, may I ask if you in the Maoshan Sect can marry and have children?"

...

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(Let me first explain the background of the story. This book is set in a parallel time and space, the Republic of China. It is a combination of the original work and the movie world. This can avoid touching on some sensitive topics and bypass some unreasonable settings.

Realm setting: Taoist child, Taoist priest, human teacher, earth teacher, heaven teacher

...

Price reference: In the movie Mr. Vampire, Qiu Sheng spent five dollars to buy 50 kilograms of glutinous rice.

The value of the dollar varied greatly in different periods and regions of the Republic of China. In Beijing in 1912, one dollar could buy 60 kilograms of ordinary rice; in Shanghai in 1914, one dollar could buy 44 kilograms of rice; in the suburbs of Guangzhou in the spring of 1931, one dollar could buy 25 kilograms of rice.

Therefore, for the convenience of calculation, this book assumes that the purchasing power of one dollar is equivalent to one hundred RMB.

The currency below the ocean is the copper coin. One ocean can be exchanged for about 200 copper coins, and one copper coin is worth about 50 cents.

I checked some information and found that the salary of an ordinary clerk in the Republic of China was about 20-30 silver dollars per year. The clerk who managed the accounts or purchases for the store owner was called "Shiye" or "Counter Master". His salary was slightly higher than that of the clerk, and he could get 40-50 silver dollars per year.

...

In response to readers' request for explanation, the spirit beasts in this book eat ordinary food, but can slowly and independently absorb spiritual energy. The level of the spirit beasts is calculated directly according to their years of cultivation.