Chapter 24: The Village Chief’s Intervention 

How could she let her own children eat alone? Thanks to them, they now had a temporary place to stay. 

“Ah, thanks to Sister-in-law’s kindness, we’ll have a good meal today.” 

“Don’t make it sound like I starve you every day. Sit down quickly—Dashu, take a seat.” 

As they sipped white rice porridge and chewed on cornbread, the Village Chief said, “Dashu, the house at the edge of the village isn’t fit to live in. You’ll stay here for now until a new one is built.” The place was crooked and looked ready to collapse at any moment. The Village Chief had even urged Old Master Zhao to tear it down earlier, fearing it might crush passersby. 

“I never planned to live there, nor do I intend to build a new house on that spot.” Zhao Dashu had no desire to construct a home only for his shameless father to claim it as his own. After all, the deed had never been handed over to him the night before.

“Right now, you can’t start construction yet. If you begin now…” 

There would definitely be an uproar, with accusations that he had been hoarding secret savings. 

“Later, I’ll discuss it with the Village Chief. I’m thinking of moving into his old house for a while first.” 

“Why not just stay with us?” 

“Exactly, why move? It’s more convenient to stay here while we’re harvesting bamboo shoots anyway. What, is our place too shabby for you?”

“Honestly, it’s not that, Sister-in-law. I’m just worried the neighbors might come and make trouble—bad luck, you know.” 

Madam Zheng fell silent. 

Liu Shunzi waved it off. “With the Village Chief here, they wouldn’t dare. Oh, right—now that you can work again, do we even need the Village Chief? Should I go cancel?” 

“No need. Let him stay as a safeguard. I’ll just help sort the bamboo shoots in the courtyard with the others. If you’re short-handed, I’ll pitch in too.” 

It was out of the question—they’d already asked the Village Chief for help. There was no backing out now.

He still needed the Village Chief’s protection right now! 

“Guard the house?” Lihua’s father was really going all out now! 

Breakfast had barely been cleared when villagers arrived with bamboo shoots to sell. The Village Chief hadn’t arrived yet, so Zhao Dashu took charge. 

“Seventeen catties in total—seventeen coppers.” 

Once the money changed hands and the deal was confirmed as fair, the villager left happily, already planning to take his whole family out early to harvest more shoots. 

Monkey see, monkey do—as one left, others trickled in one after another. Unsurprisingly, the amounts varied—some brought a couple of catties, others five or six, and a few even over ten.

“Shunzi, I’m here! Oh, you’ve already started! With Dashu helping, you’ve got enough hands, right? I’ll head back now!” He might as well go harvest bamboo shoots himself. 

“Who says we don’t need you? We absolutely do!” Zhao Dashu grabbed the Village Chief’s arm before he could leave. “Uncle, you and Shunzi handle things outside—I’ll stay in and help process the shoots. If you’re swamped, just call for me!” With that, he pushed open the courtyard gate, ready to head inside. 

“Wait—” 

“Uncle Village Chief, we’re genuinely short-handed. Dashu and I still have deliveries to make every day.” 

“Really that short-handed?”

“Really short.” 

With that, the Village Chief set his mind at ease and settled in to help collect the bamboo shoots. 

On the first day, the low quantity of shoots was expected—the entire village was up in the mountains harvesting them, even the children. They were so busy gathering that they barely had time to strip the leaves. 

“Let’s skip the wages for today. I’ve just been sitting around half the day with nothing to do.” 

“Sure, thanks, Uncle.” Liu Shunzi didn’t stand on ceremony. He knew the Village Chief well—even if he insisted on paying, the old man wouldn’t take it.

“Dad! Dad! We’re here!” 

As darkness fell, the Village Chief’s eldest son pushed a cart piled high with sacks of bamboo shoots. 

“Wow, you’ve gathered quite a haul!” 

“After you told me yesterday afternoon, I sent everyone out to harvest. These were all processed last night—today’s batch hasn’t even been sorted yet.” He’d urged them yesterday to gather as much as they could, even until it was too dark to see, then sort them at home in the evening. 

“Dad, the villagers worked crazy fast today. Our village and the mountain bamboo groves were completely stripped bare in just one day.”

“What’s there to worry about? These things will grow back in a few days. Did you tell them not to pick the small ones—to wait until they’re bigger?” 

“I did.” But most people ignored him. They only cared that each shoot meant more money—if they didn’t pick them, someone else would. 

His son’s expression said it all—words didn’t matter. Well, everyone had their own way of thinking. No point forcing it. 

“Come on, unload the cart. I’ll weigh them for you.” 

The Village Chief stood to the side. Since these were his own family’s goods, it was better not to get involved. Boundaries—he knew exactly where to draw them.

Eight sacks, each weighing around 120 ‘jin’—976 ‘jin’ in total. Good heavens! Had the Village Chief stripped the entire mountain bare yesterday? Zhao Zhenyu couldn’t help but admire the Village Chief’s boldness. No wonder they said the first to seize an opportunity reaped the greatest rewards. Yesterday, while the rest of the village hesitated, the Village Chief’s family had practically been picking up gold from the ground. Today? No doubt it would be a mad scramble. People might even come to blows over a single shoot. 

“Village Chief, do you have 24 coppers on you? I’ll give you one tael of silver in exchange.” 

Liu Shunzi stared enviously at the Village Chief. ‘He’ had been the first to know about buying bamboo shoots, yet he’d dawdled and earned nothing. Truly, a village chief’s foresight was beyond ordinary folks. 

The Village Chief’s son pushed the empty cart away, his head spinning as he clutched the silver tael tucked in his robe. If you looked closely, his steps were even unsteady. ‘Silver’—when had it ever been this easy to earn? His hand pressed over the hidden treasure, the spot burning against his chest. His father had told him to take it straight home to his mother. He needed to hurry back and hand it over to her! 

‘Heavens above! So much silver!’ This was the first time he’d ever held so much money in his life.

After nightfall, villagers trickled in one after another to sell bamboo shoots. The Village Chief and Liu Shunzi were soon swamped with work. Inside, the water in the cauldron bubbled nonstop—blanching, blanching, and more blanching. Zhao Dashu set aside the shoots to be delivered to the restaurant tomorrow, while the rest were blanched and then spread out in the courtyard to dry. 

His daughter had said that once the fresh shoots were sold out, they’d start selling dried ones. 

“Xiaoyu, you were so clever to have us snack on something earlier. Look at us now—who knows when we’ll even get to stop!” 

“Rest if you’re tired. We can continue blanching tomorrow. From now on, it’ll be like this: villagers harvest during the day, hastily sort them at night, and then bring them over. But Father, remind the Village Chief and Uncle Liu—when it’s dark, some might try to slip in old or subpar shoots. They need to check carefully. If the shoots are too big, there’s definitely something fishy going on—they’re probably old and tough.” 

“Don’t worry, they’ve lived long enough to know these tricks.”