Zhuang Yan carried the bags of food back and forth, so tired that his face streamed with sweat, while Wan Tianning was so cold that he sat on the sheltered side. However his hands were not idle, he had sorted out the cloth he had bought into the size of a kerchief worn by scholars of the Ming Dynasty. The embroidery threads were also all sorted by color.

After about two or three hours of work, past 5-7 pm (in the system of two-hour subdivisions used in former times), the steward called out that it was time to receive the pay for the work, and only then did Zhuang Yan stop doing his work. 

Zhuang Yan’s hands were somewhat shaking when he took the 20 or so copper coins. The work was much more tiring than he had expected. Although he was used to farming, he hadn’t done such heavy physical work for years.

He was physically exhausted to the utmost point but Zhuang Yan was so happy and satisfied that he could earn money.

By the time the two of them got home, it was already dusk. Based on the time of darkness, Zhuang Yan reckoned that it would be October, so he was lucky. If it was a severe and cold winter month here, it would be even harder to survive but at least now he had some time to save up for the winter.

As soon as he got home, Zhuang Yan gave all the money he had earned today to Wan Tianning. Instead of accepting the copper coins immediately, he stared at Zhuang Yan for half a day before accepting the money. When he took the money, he buried his head so low that only the tips of his red ears could be seen.

Now that he had accepted the fact that he could no longer go home, Zhuang Yan was ready to take stock of the things he had brought with him after he checked it, which were now the only possession he had.

Zhuang Yan called Wan Tianning to his side. The two of them squatted on the ground, opened their backpacks and took out a small medicine box. After putting it on the ground, he took out an electric torch from the side pocket of the pack. He was about to use it to shine a light but the object in his hand scared the person beside him.

“Ah!” Wan Tianning was so frightened by the sudden light that he stumbled backwards and fell straight to the ground, after which he tried to hide behind Zhuang Yan, but found that person laughing ‘ha ha’ instead.

Zhuang Yan didn’t think a torch could scare a person, so after he hurriedly turned it off, he couldn’t help the laughter on his face and explained to him as he helped him up, “Tianning, this is called a torch, it can emit a bright light, it can be used to shine a light at night, we don’t seem to have oil lamps or candles at home, having this, it’s very convenient at night, and my torch is high-tech, no need to change the batteries, it can be used for such a long, long time.”

After showing off the torch with the others, Zhuang Yan hurriedly took out the rest of the things one by one.

The first thing he took out was a medical kit.He inspected it and found that none of the medicines inside was soaked and he laughed out loud; after that, he took out many more things one after another.

“Tianning, this is a raincoat to keep your body from getting wet when it rains.

And this, this is a sleeping bag, by having this, it’s very convenient to spend the night outside.”

“And this also, this is a pair of underwear to keep you warm. Beside that, protective gear, water bag, and some food! There’s a lot of good food in there, so you can eat it later. You’ve probably never seen any of this stuff before, so I’ll show you how to use it, so put this bag away for now, except for the snack bag, you must hide everything else well, so that no one can find it, ” Zhuang Yan gave Wan Tianning two chocolate bars and two Snickers bars that night. He was able to follow Wan Tianning back without any problems because of the Snickers (candy bar), Wan Tianning’s face eased up after just one bite, then after giving him two more chocolates, he agreed to take him home with him. 

Thinking that they can’t buy such snacks in this place, Zhuang Yan smiled at Wan Tianning, “Forget it, hide the snack bag too, ba.  All the ones you hide are yours, you can take it out whenever you want to eat it, but remember to finish it as soon as possible so that it doesn’t expire and go to waste. Oh yeah, also that set of clothes you must put away well, it’s for you to wear in winter, very warm.”

Zhuang Yan was packing up his things

while introducing them to Wan Tianning, who was excited to have quite a lot of meat in his backpack, while on the other side of the room, Wan Tianning was dumbfounded. But perhaps the torch had stimulated his heart too much, and he was now just too amazed so he was much more calm than before.

After packing up, it was time to hide his things. Zhuang Yan took out two slices of toast and a box of luncheon meat, but he was at a loss for the rest of his things. He didn’t know where to put the rest of his things, this room was not a good place to hide them. But these things are not meant to be seen by anyone.

Zhuang Yan was having a headache. Next to him, Wan Tianning took his torch and went to the thatched wall, so after a few tries, he hid the torch inside, so that no one could see it at all.

Wan Tianning’s method immediately gave Zhuang Yan inspiration. He thought that the wall was a good place to hide something. He then took the torch out then he hid all the food stuff in the wall, and a bunch of things for use and the big stuff was hidden on the roof and the small stuff was put in the wall. When they had finally finished, a little more than half an hour had passed.

After the two of them had hidden everything in the darkness of the night, Zhuang Yan was also ready to cook their dinner. Today they had collected eggs so he was going to make a simple version of a sandwich for Tianning to eat. 

The lunch meat was cut into thick slices for richness. Zhuang Yan also wanted a few slices of green vegetables, but he knew there was none at home so he had to give up. There wasn’t much oil in the pan, so Zhuang Yan had to fry the eggs first, then the meat, and finally fried the toast a little bit.

When the result came out, Zhuang Yan was very satisfied. The wild eggs had a strong egg flavor, and the fact that they were fried in a wood-fired iron pan made them taste even better. The luncheon meat was already rich in flavor, which made up for the lack of salt in the eggs. The meat was slightly browned because of the lack of oil, and the flavor of the meat seemed to seep out even more.

Just two simple items, sandwiched between the lightly browned bread, made people’s fingers tingle. Zhuang Yan didn’t hesitate to take a big bite.

“Hn, delicious!” Perhaps it was because the taste of his own cooking was just delicious, or perhaps it was because Zhuang Yan hadn’t eaten anything good for a few days. Even though he had eaten a lot of food, he still felt that what he was holding was so delicious.

Zhuang Yan was satisfied, but Wan Tianning didn’t take a bite yet. Instead, he looked at the item in his hand with both caution and curiosity.

“Tianning, quickly eat it! It’s delicious, and it’s even better to eat it when it’s hot.” Zhuang Yan pouted his mouth towards Wan Tianning, and kept nodding his head to indicate that the item in his hand was delicious.

Wan Tianning felt the hot thing in his hand, carefully biting down, the taste of the thing in his mouth was complicated. He didn’t know how to describe it, so he could only take another bite and savor it again. Then he took another bite again, after which he smiled at Zhuang Yan with a mouthful of deliciousness in his mouth.

Looking at Wan Tianning’s expression, Zhuang Yan then knew whether he liked it or not, “I didn’t lie to you, did I? Big brother Zhuang will make many more delicious dishes for you to eat later.” With his mouth full of delicious food, Zhuang Yan’s mind was full of food images, and he couldn’t help but swallow his own mouthful.

The two of them sat crouched in front of the broken gate, with a bowl of cold water in front of them, and when the food in their hands was finished, the bowl of water was almost finished. Zhuang Yan stretched out his lazy waist contentedly, looking at the thousands of stars in the night sky. The panic he felt had disappeared during a day of hard work. He was now full of the desire to earn money to support his family and to feed himself and the people around him.

Today, Zhuang Yan was tired after a long day, since he was already tired, moreover it was getting late too, so after dinner they washed up and went to bed. After lying down on his simple bunk, Zhuang Yan used both his hands and slept on his shoulders. Afterwards, he stretched out his body and felt even more comfortable.

Thinking that tomorrow would be another tiring day, Zhuang Yan silently let out a long breath. He himself knew how hard and tiring it was to do manual labor. He also wanted to earn money just by writing a letter, but such a thing, one, required a lot of capital, and second, he did not always get paid every day. However he was desperate for money now.

Zhuang Yan did not believe in the ability to turn silver into money with empty hands, nor did he believe that he was favored by God to make a fortune when he went out of home. After all, if God really cared for him, he would not have come to this other world, even more, he would not have come to this poor mountain village.

He also didn’t expect that he could rely on the skills he had learnt in his original world to make any major step and its execution in this world and become a novel-like protagonist, calling on the wind and stirring up a world. He knew in his heart that even in his old world, he was just really an ordinary man, and in this place where class was solidified, it was even more unlikely that he would be able to do much. He would be able to live a small life and live a life without worrying about food or clothing, that’s probably the best way to end up.

If you want to live without worries, you have to have money, and if you want to make money, you can’t hate being too tired. Tomorrow, we will continue to fight and bring the big bags.

With a firm mind and a goal in mind and by putting aside all the distractions and worries in his mind, Zhuang Yan became very sleepy. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he seemed to hear someone talking.

“Mother, father.” The voice of a young man calling out to his loved ones reached his ears. Zhuang Yan did not make a sound and kept listening quietly, and only after he had make sure that the source of the sound was indeed coming from Wan Tianning, only then did he crawl up in the dark and head for Wan Tianning’s bed

He didn’t think that Tianning, he was not mute, that he unexpectedly could speak.

“Tianning.” He touched the clothes he was wearing, Zhuang Yan knew why he was dreaming of his parents, he must have been ‘seeing an object makes one miss its owner’, seeing him in his father’s clothes and reminded him of his deceased parents once again, the so-called a day is what one think and a night is what one dream ah.

Zhuang Yan could not say anything to comfort him, because he knew better than anyone that there were no words to comfort him for this kind of longing.It might be better to let the emotions off.

He did not say a word of comfort, but Zhuang Yan kept gently following the top of the person’s hair and patting the person’s shoulder and arm until he felt that the person in the bed was sleeping peacefully, only then he went back to his own makeshift bed.