From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 4 Learning Arts
It is not a shame to be born in a humble family; only one who can bend and stretch can be a real man.

Now that things have come to this, there is no need to say more. One only needs to be humble and do one's duty, conserve one's energy and wait for the right time. There will always be a day when one will succeed.

"Manager Liu, I'll be leaving first." The donkey-faced man flattered the middle-aged man and took Meng Yuan and the other two out of the door. He straightened his back and said, "I'm the head of Muzhuang. My surname is Li. You will follow me from now on!"

Old Mr. Jiang quickly said a few nice words, and then got on a donkey cart driven by a young man holding a knife.

The five people went out of the door, but did not enter the city. They just walked around the long city wall and went west.

The wheels crushed the snow. Seeing that Li Zhuangtou was indifferent, Meng Yuan and Old Man Jiang did not rush to talk to him.

"Stop!" After driving for a while, Li Zhuangtou suddenly called for a stop, got off the cart, scooped up a handful of steaming dung balls from under the donkey's butt, and carefully placed them on the cart. He also scolded the young man driving the cart, "Li Dabiao! Why did I give birth to a spendthrift like you? If I hadn't noticed, wouldn't this dung have been thrown away in vain?"

Meng Yuan and Old Man Jiang looked at each other, and even the little girl Jiang Tang was at a loss.

The north wind was strong and the snow was slippery. We walked for about forty miles until it was dark before we finally arrived at the pasture village.

The farm was vast, with several sheds and the cold wind brought the stench of rotten manure. From time to time, there were the bleating of cows and sheep and the cry of deer.

It was just time for dinner, and Meng Yuan and the other two all had a bowl of hot porridge.

The three were arranged to live in the old veterinarian's former residence, next to the cowshed, with a fenced yard and two dilapidated thatched houses filled with farm tools.

The beddings were old and filled with hay. Although they were a bit prickly, they were warm enough.

"Li Zhuangtou will test your abilities tomorrow morning, so you should be prepared. Also, don't go out at night if you have nothing to do, and don't tie up your dogs at night." The man who led Meng Yuan and the other two was a big-headed man named Zhao Datou. He was a very honest man and also lived next to the cowshed.

"Thank you for letting me know." Uncle Jiang started chatting with Zhao Datou and asked about the host's family.

It turned out that the princess had several farms, all of which were private property as dowry, and this farm was one of them. The farm had a wide pasture and two large mountains, and was very vast.

The princess was also very kind. Villagers living near the pasture could go into the mountains to collect firewood and hunt, and they were free to come to the pasture for breeding.

The reason why Meng Yuan and the other two were able to enter the village was mainly because the old veterinarian of the village was gored to death by a deer.

After hearing these words, Meng Yuan and Old Man Jiang felt relieved knowing that they were indispensable.

After fleeing for a long time, I finally settled down.

There were two shabby thatched houses, Jiang Tang lived in one, and Meng Yuan and Old Man Jiang lived in another.

Mr. Jiang relaxed now and began to tell Meng Yuan about the science of castration of animals. "Why do we have to castrate these animals? If you don't castrate them, the males will either fight or push their buttocks; the females will pee and make a lot of noise. If you only think about breeding, none of them will grow meat. But as long as you castrate them, the meat will not smell bad, grow faster, and even their temperament will become gentler."

When Meng Yuan heard this, he always felt that those refugees who were bought and sold at will were like castrated. But if there were more refugees, the power would grow violently and sweep across the area.

On the second day, the rooster crowed three times. Meng Yuan and the other two had just gotten up when Zhao Datou came to them.

I thought I would start working right away, but I didn't expect to go to the canteen to eat first, and the food was just porridge and pickles. Ordinary tenant farmers didn't have such treatment.

"The princess came to the village once before. Seeing how hard the villagers worked, she established the three-meal system. Village head Li could at most deduct a little, but he dared not skip a meal." Zhao Datou said in a low voice.

After dinner, Zhao Datou took Old Man Jiang and Meng Yuan to the pigsty.

The main animals raised in the village were cattle, sheep, and deer, which were sold outside. There were also some chickens and ducks, which were produced for the royal palace. As for pigs, there were not many raised, but they were eaten by the villagers during festivals.

Arriving at the pig pen, Zhao Datou took out a worn leather bag clip, which was the old veterinarian's tool.

When I opened it, I saw a circle of thin thread and two needles. The most conspicuous thing was the two knives, both about the length of a palm, one with a narrow blade and the other slightly wider.

"The small knife is used to castrate chickens and ducks. This handle should be used for pigs and sheep." Old Man Jiang taught Meng Yuan while sharpening the knife with water.

He sharpened the knife in no time and went into the pigsty.

There are several pens in the pigsty, but there are not many pigs. This time, two sows gave birth together, a total of seventeen piglets.

Old Man Jiang took Meng Yuan for a walk around the pig house. He even picked up two piglets to take a look, which made the old sow very angry.

"Generally speaking, it's best to perform the surgery within half a month. If it's more than a month or two, you might need stitches." Old Man Jiang was very experienced. He asked Meng Yuan to fetch a basin of clean water and bring in some firewood.

After a while, Li Zhuangtou and his son Li Dabiao came. Meng Yuan then lit the firewood, and Old Man Jiang took the castration knife and set it on fire.

Meng Yuan grabbed a little black piglet from the pen, then sat on a stool and, as Uncle Jiang had taught him, held the piglet's hind legs upside down, clamped the piglet's head and front legs between his knees, exposing the pig's butt.

Old man Jiang touched the piglet's butt, held the bulge with one hand, and then cut two fingernail-sized wounds with a knife. Then he squeezed the testicles and the testicles slipped out. He pulled them out and cut the spermatic cord. The two testicles were thrown into a basin of clean water. Old man Jiang grabbed a handful of plant ash and applied it to the piglet's wounds, then patted it twice, and it was done.

He cut steadily, quickly and continuously, and the piglet only cried out three or four times before it was castrated.

"You're quite capable!" Li Zhuangtou has been in charge of the farm for many years, and he obviously knows some tricks. When he saw Jiang Shuanyou using a knife, he knew he was a skilled man. He pointed at Meng Yuan and said, "Boy, you haven't finished your apprenticeship yet, so you can't sit around. You have to work in the cowshed! Big Head, you've got the arrangements!"

"You have to work to get food! Do you understand?" Li Dabiao glared at Meng Yuan.

After saying this, Li Zhuangtou and his son didn't look at him any more, and got up and left.

Seeing that the village head approved, Jiang Shuanyou felt a little uncomfortable. He looked at Zhao Datou and whispered, "Our village head seems to be a good person."

Zhao Datou spat on the ground and said nothing, but it seemed as if he had said something.

Meng Yuan grabbed another piglet, this time it was a sow, and the castration method was different. Old Man Jiang also cut very steadily and quickly, while explaining it to Meng Yuan in detail.

It can be seen that he is teaching sincerely.

In less than fifteen minutes, fifteen piglets were castrated, with two left for breeding.

"It's done!" The clear water in the basin had long turned into blood, with strings of things floating around. Uncle Jiang was very satisfied.

According to the rules of the gelder, after the work is done, in addition to receiving some hard-earned money, the eggs also belong to the gelder. However, after all, the person has been sold to the farm, so he can't ask for money, but he can keep the eggs.

After washing his hands, Uncle Jiang scooped up the eggs from the basin, threaded them on a bamboo stick, and roasted them over the firewood.

After a while, he handed the sizzling eggs to Meng Yuan and said with a smile, "You will get what you want by eating them. You are young, and eating them will help you grow taller. You will definitely have many children in the future. Eat them while they are hot!"

It had been a long time since he tasted meat. Meng Yuan took it and although he found it very fishy, ​​he still took a bite.

Without salt to season it, the fishy smell was even stronger. I closed my eyes and swallowed it all in one gulp, not daring to chew it carefully.

Meng Yuan immediately realized that after these things entered his stomach, a trace of nutrients was absorbed by the essence and fire.

The flame, which was as bright as a candle seedling, actually grew a little stronger.

"It seems I still have to eat meat... Once I have recovered, my essence and fire will absorb more nutrients and grow faster. What will happen then?" Meng Yuan thought silently.

In a blink of an eye, a month has passed and it is already deep winter.

Thanks to Uncle Jiang's serious teaching, Meng Yuan learned the skill of castration very quickly and is now able to do it himself.

Meng Yuan was not suffering from hunger and cold. He had not eaten any proper meat in these days, but he had eaten a lot of sheep and cow eggs.

My body has recovered a lot, and the essence and fire in my body are slowly growing stronger and has become the size of a washbasin.

He became more energetic, and his strength not only increased but also seemed to be inexhaustible.

Meng Yuan, who already had outstanding looks, was even more popular. He was also down-to-earth, capable, and easy-going in his speech. Except for the livestock in the village, all the old and young women were willing to chat with Meng Yuan. The wife of the head of the village, Li Dabiao's son, even secretly cast a wink at Meng Yuan.

Before the cock crowed, Meng Yuan got up early in the morning, fetched water from the well, and wiped his body to wash away the heat.

"In two years, Tang'er will grow up and everything will be fine." Old Man Jiang also woke up. He was an experienced person and it was obvious that he wanted to make the marriage a reality.

At this time, Jiang Tang knocked on the door outside, then pushed it open a crack, put his head in, and left his body outside, saying, "Grandpa, I've grown up a long time ago! Brother, why are you taking a shower in the morning again? Be careful not to catch a cold."

The girl is still a little thin, but after a month of care, her face has gradually become rosy and her eyes are very bright.

Meng Yuan taught her to read whenever he had time, but the girl only wanted to do some needlework and didn't learn seriously. Meng Yuan said that he didn't want to marry an illiterate person, and she finally took it seriously.

Jiang Tang looked at Meng Yuan and said happily, "I washed your clothes and sewed your socks for you. I put them under your pillow."

Meng Yuan glared at her, and the girl quickly closed the door and ran away.

Meng Yuan had no interest in this yellow-haired girl. However, as he spent more time in the village, he became more and more interested in the princess.

The princess is the second wife of Prince Xin. She has been married for eight years and has no children. She is only 24 years old now. It is said that the princess is beautiful and of noble birth, so she should not have fallen into the trap of being a second wife. It was the emperor who arranged the marriage.

"I cut off the princess's testicles every day, but I have never even seen her face." Meng Yuan sighed.

(End of this chapter)