NABC Chapter 21 Famine Years, No Escape (Part 2)
Chapter 21 Famine Years, No Escape (Part 2)
That evening, after dinner, Zhang Maolin busied himself in the thatched hut deep in the mountains, acting like a full-fledged family cook.
After finishing my chores at home, I went to feed my uncle's free-range chickens. Don't chickens usually walk on the ground? I don't understand.
Zhang Daping and the system watched the amnesiac male protagonist's daily life together, only to find that the plot had gone off track again.
In the story, the male protagonist is on his way to his maternal grandfather's house when he is injured and falls unconscious. He is found by the youngest daughter of the village chief of Dashu Village, who is fleeing famine. When he wakes up, he has amnesia and is named Zhang Dazhuang. The system discovers a key point: the village chief has no daughter, only a son of the same age.
In other words, the romantic storyline between the male and female leads is over...
In reality, the person who picked up the man was the village chief's youngest son. On the way, Zhang Dazhuang was also very cunning and recognized the village chief as his godfather. Before the group even reached Ancheng, they were recognized by Zhang Dazhuang's maternal grandfather, the Hu family, so they asked an old doctor to cure the male protagonist.
Afterwards, the male protagonist asked his maternal grandfather to settle the villagers of Dashu Village, and then took the village chief's youngest son to the capital to pursue his future, which led to the plot turning into a dual male protagonist storyline.
This is only possible because of the protagonist's halo; otherwise, the villagers would definitely have gone back to Big Tree Village.
The only acquaintances living in Dashu Village now are the villagers who didn't go too far back then, and those who came back to spread the news.
After Zhang Daping and Zhang Maolin both practiced martial arts, they built a house with their nephew under the guidance of the system.
After all, living in a cave all the time wasn't ideal, and he preferred to sleep alone.
After the house was built, they had to clear land and plant crops. Once the drought was over, they consulted doctors at the clinic down the mountain and then took Zhang Maolin to the mountains to learn how to collect and process medicinal herbs to earn money.
Over the years, Zhang Maolin would be considered a wilderness survival expert even by today's standards.
Zhang Daping was quite pleased. He heard that Mr. Gu from the school down the mountain was going to take his students on a study tour, so he brought a small ginseng root and sent it over, so that Zhang Maolin could bring his own money to the group and broaden his horizons.
After the group left, Zhang Daping used a concealment array to hide the cave and thatched hut, bought a donkey cart, and left as well.
Because it's a fictional world, the scenery is different from other mission worlds, so there's no risk of getting tired of it for now.
He didn't bring Zhang Maolin along because he didn't want to make things difficult for himself. Now that he was alone, he could use whatever he needed in the space for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, so he didn't have many concerns.
Zhang Maolin has an honest supervisor helping to monitor him, and he also carries safety charms bought wholesale from the system store, so there shouldn't be any major security issues.
He played outside alone for a long time, and only when the system said that Mr. Gu and the others were going back did he rush back, carrying the donkey cart up the mountain as well.
The system also said there was a surprise waiting for him. When Zhang Maolin returned home, his dark face turned red as if he was shy, and he spoke in a bashful manner, which made Zhang Daping feel nauseous.
"Uncle, the master said he has something to discuss with you."
"Maolin, tell me honestly, what could Mr. Gu possibly want from me?"
You'll see when you get there.
After saying this, his face turned bright red, as if he had been boiled. Zhang Daping reasonably suspected that Mr. Gu had played matchmaker for him.
The system explained to him that Mr. Gu had found the young man to be a decent person after spending time with him, and then discovered that although he lived in the mountains, he was not as poor as people thought, so he decided to arrange a marriage for him.
The woman's name was Gu Xiao. She lived with her grandmother and was an orphan. She had a reputation for bringing bad luck to her family, and her fiancé had used this to break off their engagement. Zhang Daping and Zhang Maolin didn't care about any of this, since Zhang Daping's parents had also passed away long ago.
Moreover, judging from Zhang Maolin's expression, he seemed quite satisfied, and the system couldn't find anything wrong with him.
Judging from Mr. Gu's plans, if this marriage goes through, he will urge Zhang Maolin to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar before making any other arrangements.
Without hesitation, Zhang Daping took a basket of small peaches, which Zhang Maolin had disguised as wild fruit, and went down the mountain.
After Mr. Gu mentioned this matter, he agreed, saying that what scholars say is always right, and that his nephew would be entrusted to Mr. Gu, etc.
The days that followed were filled with engagements and gift-giving. Zhang Daping demolished and rebuilt the old house at the foot of the mountain, carried the donkey cart down, and handed over several acres of fertile land to Zhang Maolin.
It was the following autumn when Zhang Maolin finally married his wife. From then on, the young couple lived down the mountain. At Zhang Daping's strong urging, they even brought his grandmother along.
After his marriage, Zhang Maolin lived a peaceful life, studying diligently under Mr. Gu's strict guidance. Zhang Daping, on the other hand, lived alone in the mountains, only feeding everyone scraps of health-boosting pills on his wedding day. Occasionally, he would come down the mountain to bring them some wild game or free-range chickens, and the monkeys would come to him to exchange things.
Gu Xiao was very satisfied with her current life. She was in charge of the household after marrying into the family, and she didn't have to serve her parents-in-law. Her husband and brother-in-law didn't seem to be muddle-headed, and she also had her grandmother by her side. Although her husband wasn't particularly talented in studying, he was still able to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar. All she had to do was manage this little family.
Zhang Maolin had already taken the initiative to rent out the farmland to the villagers, and with his uncle's guidance, he bought two old women to do odd jobs and rough work.
He was just waiting for him to pass the imperial examination and finally be free so he could return to the village to be a cook and a stay-at-home dad. Mr. Gu was a little disappointed in him, but the fresh bamboo shoots, stream fish, free-range chickens, and plum wine from the mountains were so delicious that he didn't force him.
Gu Xiao was mentally prepared, and her grandmother had also advised her. She knew that her husband was not fond of studying, and whenever he got angry, he would look at the fine leather and ginseng that Zhang Maolin had given her to remind himself to calm down.
Now she understood Zhang Maolin and his nephew's methods: they were unassuming, skilled in martial arts, and knowledgeable in pharmacology. Outsiders only thought they had learned martial arts from hunters they had rescued during a famine and then lived in the mountains as hunters themselves. In reality, their skills were similar to those described in those storybooks, and they were wealthy enough not to worry about the expenses of living in the countryside.
My uncle, Zhang Daping, is used to living in the mountains. I heard he raises rabbits and chickens, and he doesn't plan to get married; he and his wife will take care of him in the future. But that's all in the future. I heard he's in very good health and can still carry a donkey cart down the mountain.
Oh well, what's wrong with this kind of life?
*
Ten years later, Dashu Village remains the same.
Zhang Maolin and Gu Xiao already have two sons and a daughter. Every day, they take their children and Mr. Gu's grandchildren to practice some exercises to strengthen their bodies.
After finishing their studies, they ate breakfast at his house and then rushed to Mr. Gu's place to continue their studies. Currently, Mr. Gu's son is the teacher at the school, while Gu Xiao teaches the girls at home.
Both families' children had the talent for martial arts, and Zhang Maolin would take them up the mountain to learn in his spare time; he didn't force them to.
The two families lived close to each other, and it was Mr. Gu who introduced them, so their relationship was much closer than that of others.
Zhang Maolin only taught his children to recognize characters at home. When the children went to school, he would take his wife to the city to go shopping, which made people very envious.
As for Zhang Daping, he was still as energetic as before, only going down the mountain to have a meal with Zhang Maolin's family during the New Year holidays. However, because his family was related to Mr. Gu, no one pointed at him and called him an old bachelor.
There was a matchmaker who wanted to find him a wife, but she couldn't find anyone. The reason was simple: the mountain roads were too difficult to travel, and over time, the "aura of a passerby" (a term used to describe someone who is just a stranger) influenced him. This man himself didn't want to find a wife, so everyone thought he was an oddball.
……
By the time Zhang Maolin's children had all grown up and started their own families, Zhang Daping had long since stopped going up the mountain and moved down to the village to avoid worrying his nephew as he grew old. Now, that place was occupied by wild animals, and the monkey king had changed several times and moved away.
As soon as he came down the mountain, he distributed the stored hides to his younger relatives and also divided the ginseng among them equally. What a generous old man!
Zhang Daping lived in this world for over sixty years, watching the big-headed doll grow up with a house full of children and grandchildren, and then close his eyes at the end of his life.