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Not long after, he heard a faint noise outside the house.
A chill ran through his heart—it seemed someone was spying on his every move!
Wang Haikun was a cunning and suspicious man, and indeed not so easily fooled.
But on second thought, it didn't seem right. If it were Wang Haikun outside, he would never sneak around like a thief. He would simply break in.
That was something Wang Haikun had done many times before.
While eating the 'poor man's meal', Qin Niu silently pondered the identity of the peeper outside.
Since it wasn't Wang Haikun, then who was spying outside his house?
The timing of this surveillance at his home was absolutely no coincidence.
It was likely another one of Wang Haikun's 'informants'.
Such is the baseness of human nature.
Even though everyone despised Wang Haikun, every ordinary villager had been bullied and exploited by him. Yet some, with a deep-seated servility, were willing to serve the devil, ingratiating themselves with Wang Haikun by acting as his 'informants'—a low-cost method to please him.
Their goal was simply to avoid being bullied by Wang Haikun.
Or at least not to be bullied too harshly.
Qin Niu continued to eat the hard-to-swallow food as if oblivious to the watcher outside.
After an hour or so, that prickling sense of being surreptitiously watched disappeared.
He guessed that the person had probably left.
He immediately got up, moved behind the door, and peeked through the crack to check outside.
The man had a liquor gourd tied to his waist, a slightly hunched back, and a skinny figure. He staggered along the road, gradually moving away.
It turned out to be the village's old drunk, Zhang Banzui.
Unexpectedly, this man was secretly acting as an informant for Wang Haikun.
It just goes to show that you can know someone's face, but not their heart!
Zhang Banzui, like Xie Laizi, was a bachelor.
The only difference was that Zhang Banzui had been married. It was said he had fled to this village from another place, where he had then settled.
Xie Laizi wasn't skilled at anything and only worked odd jobs for the wealthy families like Wang Furen and Xu Zhenchang.
As for working for the Yan Family, he couldn't even get in.
The Yan Family was akin to a modern corporation, and even if you wanted to work their fields, you couldn't just join as you pleased. You had to go through rigorous screenings and be the best among candidates.
Only when you met the Yan Family's hiring standards could you enter.
The Yan Family rarely recruited temporary workers, mostly permanent ones.
They provided food and accommodation, bonuses during festivals, and pork during the New Year.
Their wages were also secure, never delayed.
So, to many peasants, landing a job as a long-term laborer for the Yan Family was considered a highly desirable position.
Xie Laizi was ugly, and in the summer, he would get boils on his head, which would scab over in the winter, but the hair would never grow back. Thus, he became known as Laizi.
It was the same year after year.
No one could say exactly what strange illness Xie Laizi had.
Whenever Xie Laizi ran out of money, he would do odd jobs for the wealthy to earn a living. In the winter, when there was less work, he would go into the mountains to chop wood to sell.
In any case, he managed to make sure he was fed, even if no one else was.
Zhang Banzui, on the other hand, never did such rough work, as he was addicted to alcohol. He did have a skill, though, such as telling fortunes.
However, his predictions were not accurate, and often, you could see his face bruised and beaten.
He never admitted to being beaten up.
Whenever someone asked him about it, he would say he "fell" or "tripped."
Moreover, he developed the habit of only speaking in half sentences after learning Buddhist chants for fortune telling, earning him the nickname Zhang Banzui.
Apart from telling fortunes, Zhang Banzui had a unique skill: treating diseases in livestock and poultry.
If someone's animal fell ill, he could almost certainly cure it.
This skill was much better than his fortune telling.
However, the instances of sick livestock and poultry were not many, and even when cured, the payment was similarly meager.
When Zhang Banzui needed money for his drinking, he would return to his old trade, risking being beaten to tell fortunes. Eventually, everyone knew he was inaccurate, and people from nearby villages stopped seeking his services.
Then he introduced two new services: divination for auspicious or ominous outcomes, and selecting auspicious dates for weddings and funerals, along with a bit of feng shui consultation on the side.
In fact, these two new services seemed to have a much lower risk of failure, and he got beaten less often.
Qin Niu thought Zhang Banzui was a clever man, but it was truly disheartening that he had become an informant for Wang Haikun.
He opened the door, ready to check the extent of damage to the 'alarm trap' outside.
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He simply scattered some dry twigs on the ground at random.
Anyone stepping on them would make a noise.
If he heard a disturbance from inside the house, he would immediately know that someone was coming.
A small piece of yellow paper fluttered into the house.
It must have been wedged in the crack of the door; when the door opened, it fell and drifted directly inside.
Qin Niu, with his sharp eyes, noticed a few small characters written on it.
"Wealth must not be flaunted!"
Was this written by Zhang Banzui?
He picked it up and was stunned for a moment.
It couldn't be mistaken.
There weren't many people in the village who could write, and Zhang Banzui was somewhat of an exception for his ability to write and draw.
Zhang Banzui peeped from outside the door and left behind this note. What did this mean?
Could it be that working for Wang Haikun as an informant was against his will?
Qin Niu tore up the note and tossed it away. He went outside to fix the damaged 'alarm mechanisms,' ensuring they could continue to serve their warning purpose.
Night gradually fell, and Qin Niu boldly took out a large chunk of bear meat, chopped it up, and cooked it in a pot.
Time to eat.
Even though it was game he had hunted himself, he had to sneakily eat only at night.
He hoped this way of life would end as soon as possible.
To solve this, the best method was to have greater strength, and preferably some social status, so that he naturally wouldn't have to fear plunder from Wang Haikun.
While eating the bear meat, he checked his cultivation level.
Mortal Realm Onefold 39.8/100.
It's increasing so rapidly.
It's almost breaking 40.
So far, the rapid rise in cultivation level had all come from drinking a bellyful of bear blood the previous night.
In just one day, it had increased by 3.2, which was utterly fascinating.
Unfortunately, bears and tigers were not easy to hunt in the mountains.
Because hundred-mile radius of mountain ranges could only sustain one tiger.
Black Bear fared a bit better, as they are omnivorous animals, eating anything from insects to wild boar.
They would often climb trees to steal honey, not caring even when stung all over their head.
Qin Niu speculated in secret that the blood of an adult Black Bear should increase one's cultivation by about 5 points.
Since he wasted some, the bear blood he drank probably helped him increase his cultivation by about 3.5, which should be the limit.
His current level of cultivation was already far stronger than that of an ordinary adult man, and it was even likely that he had surpassed Wang Haikun.
After finishing the bear meat, he cleaned up any traces.
Only then did he start to sleep.
He had to be well-rested, as he was planning to set off for the city before dawn the next day.
The village he currently lived in was called Shuangfeng Village, which was about fifty miles away from Black Tiger City. Even if he walked eight or nine miles in one hour, it would still take six hours to arrive.
One hour is equal to two hours, which means it would indeed take six hours.
He would have to make a round trip to the village within one day, and just the time spent on the road would total six hours.
Therefore, he had to leave early.
The next day, before dawn, which he estimated to be around the Hour of the Tiger, he set off with the bear skin on his back.
Country folk entering the city carried nothing but a woven rattan backpack and relied solely on walking.
Qin Niu was especially careful when leaving the village, and fortunately, he was not seen by Wang Haikun.
At this hour, Wang Haikun would definitely be lying in bed bullying his wife or sleeping soundly, and would not possibly be getting up.
Once he left the village and was on the official road, Qin Niu was not afraid at all.
Heading in the direction of Black Tiger City, he strode forward confidently.
The bear meat he had eaten the night before had only been digested a little, and his cultivation level had now reached Mortal Realm Onefold 40.1/100.
Finally breaking 40.
This also meant that he was stronger than ninety-nine percent of men.
Compared to the effects of bear blood, bear meat was clearly weaker, and the speed of cultivation increase had slowed down a lot.