Fearsome Farmer - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Aunt, I don’t want to work hard anymore

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

There was no need for Overseer Sun Tieshi to come after him. Li Siwen successfully filled the green orb at around 4:30 PM and added the Vitality Point to his Stamina without hesitation.

Currently, he still possessed 3 points of Stamina. Deducting the 2 points which belonged to the red zone, he still had 2 points of Stamina to spare.

After only half an hour, he had caught up with the other farmers even while weeding sloppily.

Actually, the two weeding methods didn’t seem much different on the surface.

The former could only remove the leaves of the weeds on the ground, and the depth of penetration of the ground was only two to three centimeters. At first glance, it did look as if there were no more weeds.

The latter was the method of removing the weed with its root, penetrating the earth to a depth of five or six centimeters. Li Siwen managed this because he used a lot of strength, coupled with his familiarity and the increased sharpness of the hoe. Unless one was an experienced farmer, one could not understand the significance of his actions.

Before the sunset, Overseer Sun Tieshi came with four militiamen. As expected, he looked carefully at the progress of Li Siwen’s weeding but didn’t say much. After all, to important people like them, it was a waste of energy for them to talk to lowly farmers unnecessarily. As long as the farmers were not skiving and did not get eaten up by wild beasts, they were like weeds: unworthy of much attention.

The smell of the meat broth was still wafting through the territory. There was a freshly skinned animal pelt on the ground. It was a deer, probably shot down by the four hunters because it allowed them to eat a large bowl of broth today. As for the others, only the ten militiamen got to drink it. The meat, naturally, went to the Feudal Lord and Overseer Sun Tieshi.

The ten farmers, including Li Siwen, and the other six loggers, could only drink wild vegetable soup and a piece of dry ration.

“This will not do. I have to think of something.”

Sitting at the door of the thatched house, Li Siwen still chewed his food properly before swallowing it. The environment was already terrible. He could not allow his stomach to be adversely affected, because his digital body could still fall sick.

After he had finished the wild vegetable soup and the ration, Li Siwen still felt hungry. He was only half full. Undoubtedly, this was related to his 12 point Stamina. Without sufficient energy replenishment, it didn’t matter how much Stamina he had. He would not be able to restore it to max value.

“So—”

Li Siwen glanced quickly at the two cooking aunties. The food left over by the Feudal Lord would be handled by them. It was the job with the most benefits in the territory.

Standing bravely in front of them and saying, “Aunt, I don’t want to work hard anymore [1. A man asking a lady to take care of him, to be his sugar mummy].” was not a difficult task for Li Siwen. Unfortunately, this was no longer feasible.

That was right. From what Li Siwen observed, at least five militiamen have sent amorous looks at the cooking aunties. Four loggers had openly tried to get on their good side, and no less than ten farmers were secretly pining. Just the night before, there was a young farmer who wanted to sneak out to confess, but in the end he tossed and turned until dawn because he dared not.

So, he had better think of some other way.

Li Siwen swiftly dove back into the thatched hut and soon fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, there were sudden shouts. Something seemed to have happened, and it had awakened almost everyone. A bold farmer slipped out to check. He soon came back and gestured in extreme horror and excitement.

“I—I can’t see clearly. I can’t see anything clearly, but there’s a fire. I can’t see clearly. The Feudal Lord is yelling. I also heard the roar-like thunder, but I didn’t see clearly…”

Li Siwen lay still and did not move. In fact, he could determine that the situation was under control just from listening to the shouts. No matter what had attacked that night, it had nothing to do with him, a farmer.

So while other farmers were still immersed in the boring description of the horror, he fell asleep again. He didn’t snore, because he maintained a good sleeping posture all the time. He even picked up a piece of wood, wound a piece of rag around it, and made a pillow. He spared no detail to ensure a good sleep. A good sleep would be able to restore the most Stamina.

At dawn the next day, hunger awakened Li Siwen. His stomach was growling. Fortunately, his stamina had fully recovered to 12 points after a good night’s sleep.

On the contrary, the other farmers, including the loggers, were yawning and in low spirits. Some people were still in a state of shock. In gaming terms, morale had fallen.

What happened if one’s morale dropped?

Simple. Use food to improve it.

After relieving himself, Li Siwen came to the two fat aunties’ cook room. As expected, today’s breakfast was generous, well, literally.

Everyone had an extra bowl of wild vegetable soup, and an extra portion of that black-colored dry ration. The benefit would last until dinnertime.

It was unknown if the others had their morale boosted, but Li Siwen was indeed excited.

It was really a blessing to be able to fill his stomach at this time, even though this blessing would only last for one day.

He didn’t care about what happened last night, or when the territory would go bankrupt or make a profit. What was most important was his survival.

Hence, on the way to the wheat field, Li Siwen began to think about what attributes he should add to that day.

Stamina was very important, but it was very dependent on the availability of food. Before finding an additional source of food, 12 Stamina was actually already enough to extract a little Vitality Point every day.

What if he encountered danger? Should he rush to get first blood, or turn around and run?

The answer was obvious. He would run, of course. He might not be able to escape the ferocious beasts, but it was enough if he could run faster than the other farmers.

“In that case, I’ll add Agility. I have 12 Stamina. If others can run 1 KM at full speed with 10 Stamina, I can run 1.2 KM. If I add to Agility, while it takes 6 minutes for others to run 1 KM at full speed, I may need only 5 minutes.”

With clear goals and clear plans, Li Siwen even had extra energy to observe other details such as the weather, wind direction, the humidity, insects jumping around in the grass, the soil, weeds, trees, and many more.

All these observations were summed up by him, becoming a detailed and informative field survival report.

Of course, it was still very safe on the whole, because Overseer Sun Tieshi had specially escorted the ten farmers here that day and at the same time escorted the six loggers to a place about 2 KM away to the south to cut logs. Eight militiamen accompanied them. The Feudal Lord, as usual, stayed behind in the territory to catch up on sleep and keep watch.

Overseer Sun Tieshi did not linger in the wheat field, and he didn’t even have the intention of admonishing him. His eyebrows knitted in a frown, as if the attack the night before had stressed him out.

However, Li Siwen didn’t think too much about it. First, he sat on the ground and ate the extra portion of ration, then carefully polished the hoe with a stone. After ten minutes, he started weeding.

However, all the farmers were in a bad state that day. He estimated that their Stamina was at most 8 to 9 points.

This was a good thing. Li Siwen could exterminate the weeds with his hoe in an orderly manner. Without the pursuit of speed and progress, he could exchange the maximum number of green light points with the minimum amount of physical exertion.

In the flash of an eye, at about 10 AM, Li Siwen had only consumed 4 points of Stamina, but had harvested more than one-third orb full of the green light points. The most important thing was that his weeding had not fallen behind the other farmers.

When Overseer Sun Tieshi rushed back from the logging area in the south to check on them, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. After all, the ten farmers’ weeding progress was about the same. Although there was a difference between that day and the day before, it was understandable considering last night’s unexpected attack.

So, he hurried on.

By about 11 AM, some farmers were unable to continue working. At this moment, their stamina had fallen below 5 on average, which was the yellow zone. In this zone, work efficiency was lower than when it was in the green zone by at least 30%, so they all took a break and ate.

Li Siwen certainly would not try to show off at this time. After all, if he had eaten and rested before the others, the other farmers would simply laugh at him, and no permanent damage would be done.

But if all the farmers took a break while he continued working hard, humph, did one really think that the NPC uncles would not get angry?