Zhang Zhiwei quickly took the soup from the old man with both hands, handed one bowl to Zhang Jingqing, and said with a smile:
"Thank you very much, old man!"
Seeing that Zhang Zhiwei was polite, Zhang Jingqing nodded, which was quite decent.
He immediately raised the soup bowl to his mouth. The so-called soup bowl was actually just a bamboo tube.
It should be the tool that woodcutters usually use to hold water, with some leaves floating in it.
Not minding the dirt, he took a sip.
As the hot water enters your mouth, a light astringency bursts out in your mouth.
After swallowing it, a heat rose in my stomach and my whole body felt warmer immediately.
After drinking, Zhang Zhiwei took Zhang Jingqing's bamboo tube and handed it to the old man, saying, "Thank you for your hospitality!"
The old man waved his hand quickly and said with a smile: "You two Taoist priests are too polite. It's good to drink as long as you are used to it. I wonder if you would like another drink?"
Zhang Zhiwei looked at Zhang Jingqing.
Zhang Jingqing shook his head.
"No need for that!" Zhang Zhiwei handed the cup to the old man with a smile.
The old man was holding a bamboo tube and was about to go back to the fire to warm himself.
Zhang Zhiwei called him and took out a few pieces of wild boar jerky from his bag and handed them to the old man.
"Eat something and fill your stomach!"
Looking at the dried meat, the old man hesitated, worried that it was a scam.
But then he thought again, his net worth was not as much as these pieces of dried meat.
He took it with a grateful look on his face, and then went back to distribute it to other villagers.
Suddenly, another round of thanks was heard.
In recent years, life has become increasingly difficult, and these villagers have not eaten meat for several months.
A group of men were eating the dried meat in small bites. Some of them carefully broke off a piece and hid it in their arms, saying that they planned to take it back for their wives and children to try.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the stone temple became more lively.
A villager invited him: "Master, it's cold in the corner, why don't you come and warm yourself by the fire?"
Zhang Zhiwei was about to refuse.
Zhang Jingqing dragged him over.
Since you are traveling, you naturally have to communicate with people around you. How can you achieve your goal if you always stay alone?
Zhang Zhiwei: “…………”
He wanted to meditate and cultivate his Qi to strengthen his life.
"Where are you two Taoist priests going?" asked the old man.
Without waiting for Zhang Zhiwei to speak, Zhang Jingqing said, "We are wandering Taoist priests!"
The old man stood in awe and said, "Traveling Taoist priests, those two Taoist priests must have real skills. After all, this world is not peaceful!"
Zhang Jingqing waved his hands and said, "No, no, it's just a few fake tricks. I can't make it in one place anymore, so I'm going out to the outside world to make a living!"
"Alas, who says it isn't true? They say that in these troubled times, people are worse than dogs. It's true. The two Taoist priests still have kung fu and can still make their way around, but ordinary people like us can only stay in one place and wait to die!"
The old man sighed and in his heart he had already accepted that Zhang Zhiwei and Zhang Jingqing were capable people.
Zhang Jingqing quickly asked, "Why do you say that, old man?"
Zhang Zhiwei, who was standing aside, watched Zhang Jingqing calling the old man, who was much younger than him, "Brother", and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. He was indeed an old hand who taught the "one person" and "under" the old man. He empathized with them, and with just a few words, he became one of the villagers.
All I could hear was the old man, with a bitter face, saying, "No matter how chaotic and bad things were in the past few years, we just tightened our belts and it got through. But what kind of times are we in now? There's war every day. Today there's Marshal Li, tomorrow there's Marshal Liu. The grain tax is getting higher every year, and every time a new Marshal comes, they have to collect it. I don't know when we'll be unable to survive!"
Zhang Zhiwei listened silently. Although life was peaceful on Longhu Mountain, the people below the mountain were in dire straits.
It was a period of warlords' civil war, with the Beiyang government in the north and the Nationalist government in the south.
A large group of warlords united under these two banners and fought endlessly for territory.
Under this situation, a piece of territory is often fought over by various forces. Today you are a Beiyang person, but when you wake up, you are a Nanguo person. The taxes you paid to the Beiyang people will be invalid and you will have to pay them again.
In some places, it is common to change county governors three or four times a year. Officials are replaced like a revolving lantern. They all know that they cannot stay in office for long, so as soon as they come to power, they want to make heavy cuts. All kinds of exorbitant taxes and levies are as fierce as tigers, and even the roots of leeks are almost cut off.
Zhang Jingqing listened to the villagers' complaints, frowned, and didn't know what he was thinking.
Even though the Tianshi Mansion is the top sect in the world of extraordinary people, it is still powerless to deal with such major world events.
"It will be fine, everything will be fine!" Zhang Jingqing could only comfort him dryly.
"It might get better, but I'm afraid we won't see it!"
The old man in the village sighed and said, "In the past, it was only the officials who oppressed us. Now, even the beasts in the mountains have begun to oppress us!"
"What do you mean?" Zhang Jingqing asked.
The old man in the village sighed and said, "Last winter was tough. We had nothing to eat, so we had to go hunting in the mountains. We disturbed a hibernating blind bear."
"We fought off an angry blind bear that attacked people, but we didn't expect it to hold a grudge. Since then, it has been attacking the village regularly, sometimes killing livestock and sometimes people!"
"We were deeply troubled by it, so we pooled our money to hire a skilled swordsman to kill the bear. The swordsman lived up to our expectations and fought a fierce battle with the bear. He struck the blind bear on the shoulder with his sword, almost slicing it in half. He put an end to the trouble and took away the bear's body."
"We all thought the incident was over, but we never imagined that this was just the beginning. From then on, bears would attack the village late at night every once in a while, and they would specifically eat women and children."
"We all guessed that the last time the swordsman was hired to kill was the bear's offspring. The bear came to seek revenge, so it specifically targeted women and children."
Zhang Jingqing frowned after hearing this, sighed, and consoled him, "That's really tough. What does the county say?"
The old man in the village sighed, "What else can we say about the county? They're very active in collecting taxes, but doing anything? How could that be possible? We in the village were just planning to raise money and hire a swordsman to kill this beast. But we just can't come up with the money right now, so we went into the mountains to chop firewood. We want to sell it in the city to raise money!"
Zhang Zhiwei pondered, wondering if the corpse he had encountered on the roadside had been killed by the bear the old man had mentioned. He had actually thought the attacker was a tiger.
Would you mind taking some time to help deal with this? Judging from the lick marks on the corpse, this bear is quite capable. I'm afraid an ordinary swordsman might not be able to deal with it...
Zhang Zhiwei secretly sent a message to Zhang Jingqing, asking whether he should be allowed to resolve the matter.
Zhang Jingqing told him not to worry and continued talking to the villagers.
Seeing this, Zhang Zhiwei didn't care anymore and just sat in meditation to cultivate his Qi. Instead of listening to other people's sufferings, it would be better to cultivate his life.