Chapter 45: Premonition
Li Qi, leading Shen Shuibi and the old horse, entered the village.
There was nothing particularly unusual about it; it was just an ordinary village. The entire village only had one ox, but... Li Qi figured it wasn't an ordinary ox.
Then again, it seemed there were no ordinary oxen in this world either.
Just as most horses were likely spiritual horses, oxen also had their unique aspects.
Li Qi knew that his Bull Strength Art granted him "the strength of one bull."
This meant that, under normal circumstances, an ox possessed a colossal strength of six thousand jin.
Are you kidding? What kind of concept was six thousand jin?
As a researcher, Li Qi knew that in his world, one horsepower was equivalent to 75 kg, or one hundred and fifty jin, meaning a horse could pull a hundred and fifty jin at a speed of one meter per second.
In other words, this ox had 40 horsepower, and a 40-horsepower tractor could pull fifteen tons of cargo with ease, even with a wagon.
During World War II, the Soviet T-37 tank only had 40 horsepower.
This ox was, in every sense of the word, a small tank.
Upon entering the village, Li Qi set down his backpack and began exchanging goods with the surrounding villagers.
The old horse stayed by Shen Shuibi's side and Shen Shuibi seemed a bit shy, so she leaned against the old horse, trying to hide herself in the corner.
How strange... Why wasn't she shy when she first met him?
Oh, she probably was. She seemed terrified of him back then, but when they met again, he managed to trick her with his words the first time and after that, she seemed to get used to him and wasn't afraid anymore.
Then he was quite lucky not to have encountered this rabbit when she was feeling shy.
The old horse stayed with her. Although he was weak and old, as a dragon steed, it was unlikely that ordinary people, even those who practiced cultivation techniques, would dare approach him.
Meanwhile, Li Qi went off to trade.
The villagers had mountain goods and grains but lacked money. Normally, merchants would come to the village to trade for mountain goods, then take those goods to shops in the city to exchange for money, and then use that money to buy goods to bring back into the mountains.
Li Qi had originally planned to do the same, but it wasn't suitable now.
"Folks, I'm not trading for mountain goods. Do you have any beans? I'd like to trade for some beans and dried meat," Li Qi said to the approaching villagers.
There were about a dozen villagers around, all carrying mountain goods such as wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, wild peppers, and wild chestnuts.
"Beans? Don't you all want mountain goods? Why do you want beans?" a farmer's wife asked curiously.
"We're not here to trade for money; we want to gather some provisions for our journey!" Li Qi shouted to the people around him.
"Oh, no wonder you brought a horse and a young wife. So you're not a proper merchant. That's fine then, I'll go get you some beans." A farmer's wife put away her family's mountain goods and went back to get beans.
"My family slaughtered a pig this year and has some cured meat, but what's the price for exchange? Don't cheat me, now," another farmer's wife asked suspiciously, watching Li Qi cautiously.
"Don't worry, I won't let you suffer a loss! We'll calculate it by money! My goods are worth this much, your goods are worth that much, we'll make sure the numbers match before we trade!" Li Qi called out.
"Then why do you want beans?" another villager asked.
"My horse is sick; he needs something good to eat," Li Qi explained.
"My goodness, the horse eats better than people! So precious!" another villager exclaimed, seeing that Li Qi's backpack was filled with rice cakes.
It was evident that he himself was eating rice cakes, yet he was feeding beans to the horse.
Beans were not cheap; they were much more expensive than rice!
"I can't help it. If the horse eats them, he runs fast. If I eat them, I just fart!" Li Qi joked.
The surrounding villagers laughed heartily. After a round of conversation, they seemed to have become familiar with Li Qi.
In this way, he chatted with the villagers while exchanging goods, trading all his spare salt, farming tools, cloth, woks, and some headache and fever medicine.
He traded for a few bags of dried beans, roughly fifty to sixty jin, as well as some yams and sweet potatoes, which were used to make up the difference when there weren't enough beans.
There were also some mountain goods.
One farmer's wife had someone sick at home and was desperate to trade for medicine, but they had no beans and couldn't afford meat. She pleaded with Li Qi to trade for mountain goods, so Li Qi's heart softened and he exchanged for a bag full of shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms.
That person also knew how to be grateful, so she gave Li Qi a lot more than what was fair. Li Qi probably came out ahead, though he couldn't use it immediately.
However... he could eat them on the road, right? He'd just consider it an improvement to his diet and be a bit kinder to himself.
He couldn't distinguish mountain goods himself, so he usually didn't dare to forage indiscriminately. If he ate something poisonous, no one would be responsible.
Who knew if that thing only looked like a shiitake mushroom?
It was better to be honest and not be greedy for small advantages that might lead to big losses.
There was also some dried meat, which was the main expense. These few pieces of dried meat cost Li Qi two hoes and a small bottle of coarse salt.
Meat was indeed expensive.
After finishing the exchanges, the contents of Li Qi's backpack had completely changed.
And he wasn't idle; he was helping the villagers pull stones.
Li Qi packed his backpack and saw this when he was about to leave.
It seemed that there were stones in the fields, hindering cultivation, but these stones were too heavy and too large, firmly stuck in the ground. Even the ox couldn't budge them.
A group of villagers pulled with hemp ropes, while others pried with wooden poles from behind, but the stones remained completely unmoving.
Seeing this, Li Qi simply went up and took charge.
"You're not pulling heavy objects like that," he walked up. "Come here, put it on your shoulder, learn my posture; that's how you exert force!"
Li Qi was an experienced boat hauler; he could even pull large ships. What was a mere stone?
With his and the ox's help, plus some boat hauler's chants to rally the farmers to pull together, the stone was finally yanked out of the ground.
Such stones were valuable. Once pulled out, not only did they create more usable land, but they could also be broken down to make millstones or other useful items, making them very valuable resources.
Li Qi said his goodbyes, lending a hand wherever he could along the way.
By the time he returned, it was already noon, and the sun was beginning to set.
His easygoing nature during the trade and his willingness to help the villagers meant that even though he had only been there for half a day, he had already integrated with everyone. Some people even started calling him "little brother."
As for the other side...
Shen Shuibi and the old horse were huddled against the wall.
Just like someone with social anxiety.
Perhaps that's just how rabbits were.
They remained there until Li Qi finished his afternoon tasks and returned with his backpack.
"What are you two doing, hiding like this?" Li Qi said, carrying the large backpack, addressing the two.
"You're finally back!" The constantly nervous Shen Shuibi quickly rushed out and grabbed Li Qi's sleeve: "Are the trades done? Then let's go!"
"Yes, the trades are done, but why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Li Qi was very curious.
Social anxiety couldn't be this severe, could it?
"I have a premonition, something bad is going to happen!" Shen Shuibi said in a panicked tone.
(Chapter End)