"Sister-in-law." Chen Mo’s Adam’s apple rolled a few times.
Han Anniang had an excellent figure and beautiful appearance, and a charm typical of a newlywed woman. At this moment, their bodies were close together, and she was holding his hand, which made him, having "experienced adulthood" but not having been with a woman for a while, a bit tempted.
Especially in these chaotic times, where survival pressure was high and entertainment scarce, his yearning for female companionship was even stronger as a young, strong lad.
Noticing Chen Mo’s slightly heated gaze, Han Anniang’s heart raced, and her face turned hot. She then realized she was still holding his hand, and their bodies were too close, so she quickly let go and stepped back two steps.
Chen Mo hurriedly shifted his gaze. Although his original mother had implied the custom of marrying the widow of a brother, and he wasn’t the original, so he didn’t feel the inhibition, he wasn’t sure whether the original mother had discussed this with Han Anniang.
After all, she was technically his sister-in-law, with the ethical norms in place, so Chen Mo suppressed that restless feeling in his heart and said, "Sister-in-law, you didn’t get hurt just now, did you?"
Han Anniang shook her head, dusted off the flour on the grinding stone, and suddenly thought of something. "Uncle, will Lu San report it to the authorities?"
Even though Wang the Pockmarked also kicked Chen Mo, the government didn’t intervene, but there’s always a slim chance.
Being from another village, Han Anniang could only rely on Chen Mo and didn’t want anything to happen to him, so she was very sensitive about this matter.
"Sister-in-law, didn’t you say earlier that the government office is understaffed, and unless it’s a murder case, the government won’t even regulate the security outside the city? The Lu Family isn’t wealthy; they came to borrow grain, so they definitely don’t have any connections, and the government won’t go out of their way to handle this."
Before transmigrating, due to the battlefield circumstances, he didn’t deal with the "government" any less, and whichever dynasty it was, as long as it didn’t result in death, fighting was just a trivial matter.
"That’s good." Han Anniang nodded, inexplicably remembering Uncle’s previous words, "Dare to bully my sister-in-law, you want to die or something?"
She felt it particularly domineering, her face flushed, fearing Chen Mo might see, so she lowered her head again.
In the following days, Chen Mo finally understood why Han Anniang prepared so much firewood for winter; it was not even mid-November, and the cold wind slicing across the face felt like knives.
The number of people coming to borrow grain increased, and although Chen Mo refused them all, he couldn’t resist the belief that the Chen Family had grain but just didn’t want to lend.
So, Chen Mo took out two pounds of millet from the cellar and placed it in the rice jar, and when people came to borrow grain, he openly displayed it and explained that he truly didn’t have enough to eat.
Yet, even , they still hoped Chen Mo would lend them some.
Chen Mo, with a stern face, chased them away.
Indeed, in these times, one cannot treat others with kindness.
Chen Mo shaved a long wooden handle for the wood-cutting knife, removed the original short handle, and installed the long one.
Just like that, the originally half-meter long wood-cutting knife extended to over a meter.
The wood-cutting knife, originally like a farm tool, now with a long handle, was akin to a battlefield weapon.
[Cultivation Technique: Blood Nourishing Technique (Entry Level 11.5/100).]
[Skills: Celestial Harmony Saber Technique (Top Level 7320/10000).]
"After installing the long wooden handle on the wood-cutting knife, the power has enhanced a bit."
Chen Mo raised an eyebrow.
Swung a knife with great force.
[Number of knife swings +1, Celestial Harmony Saber Technique experience +1.]
The chopping became much more fluent.
He decided that once the Celestial Harmony Saber Technique reached the top level and his strength increased to around 8, he’d go hunting for meat. Latest content publıshed on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝕟𝕖𝕥
was the normal human level, so surpassing the baseline a bit shouldn’t be hard.
These days, he consistently swung the knife over a thousand times each day, spending the rest of the time on exercise.
He didn’t have much else to do.
Chen Mo took off his shirt and started his push-up training as usual.
After completing a hundred push-ups, Chen Mo gasped heavily.
These past few days, without the taste of meat in his mouth, he felt the training effects weren’t as noticeable as before and particularly dull.
After a short rest, Chen Mo began lifting stones to train his arm strength.
At this moment, Han Anniang, after washing clothes outside, burst into his room.
"Uncle, something’s wrong... Ah, Uncle, why aren’t you wearing clothes..."
Han Anniang covered her eyes and exited quickly.
Chen Mo quickly put on clothes and walked out: "Sister-in-law, what’s wrong?"
Han Anniang’s face was still flushed, and seeing Chen Mo come out, her face turned even redder as her mind was filled with the image of Chen Mo not wearing clothes earlier. She couldn’t see clearly but could vaguely make out the contour of those strong muscles, so she instinctively clenched her fist.
Her breathing paused, seemingly realizing her visual impact, her earlobes felt somewhat hot, she mumbled, "Uncle, better to be cautious at home..."
"What?" Chen Mo didn’t quite catch it.
A hint of bashfulness flashed in Han Anniang’s eyes, momentarily forgetting this matter, she said, "Uncle, Uncle Da Lin went fishing at Dadong Lake and was found by the Qinghe Gang. He was beaten badly, and after being carried back, he passed away."
Upon hearing this, Chen Mo’s mind recalled the honest face he had seen some time ago.
What impressed Chen Mo about him was that after that time, Chen Dalin sought to borrow grain once more, looking very restrained and unlike others who, after refusal, kept requesting persistently. Chen Dalin left immediately after being refused.
"Uncle, weren’t we too harsh? If we had lent him grain earlier, perhaps Uncle Da Lin wouldn’t have gone fishing, and then..." Han Anniang’s voice carried a hint of sadness, she appeared remorseful, believing Chen Dalin’s death was partially her responsibility.
Chen Mo remained silent.
In a way, he and Chen Dalin were related, but the two families seldom interacted.
Given that Chen Mo was a transmigrator, he was somewhat indifferent by nature, coupled with the fact that the cellar didn’t store much food, naturally not wanting to lend.
After a long while, Chen Mo exhaled lightly: "How could this happen?"
The two methods he considered earlier for acquiring meat, besides hunting, was going fishing at Dadong Lake.
Han Anniang thoughtfully began explaining.
It turns out that besides the outside mountains, these lakes were government property, under government jurisdiction.
Dadong Lake was vast, spanning hundreds of miles, with rich aquatic resources, supporting the local fishermen. However, fishing required paying taxes.
And since Dadong Lake stretched across two counties, not solely under Pingting County’s jurisdiction, submitting tax payment wasn’t mandatory; instead, those wishing to fish had to pay.
For management convenience, ensuring neither county suffers a loss, they jointly commissioned the Qinghe Gang to handle jurisdiction, and the government took profits from it.
The gang, to make money, would enforce extra taxes, extorting the fishermen.
Uncle Da Lin clearly couldn’t afford the fishing taxes, so when he went fishing, he was caught, considered poaching...
Naturally, a beating ensued.
"Damn, these pressing times..." Chen Mo remarked.
"Uncle, didn’t we wrong Uncle Da Lin?" Han Anniang continued.
"No, sister-in-law, it wasn’t our fault. We owe nobody; refusing to lend is not wrong. If there truly is a fault, then it’s this pressing era," Chen Mo closed his eyes.