Reclaiming Wasteland and Farming: My Haunted Fields Are Spawning Monsters Infinitely

The next morning, Li Qingshan walked out of the dilapidated house, looking somewhat listless, still thinking about the mourning ghost from the previous night.

"Does Li Qingshan, the land reclamation farmer, live here?"

A voice interrupted Li Qingshan's thoughts. He looked up and saw several soldiers driving a large cart loaded with grain.

"Who are you...?"

Before Li Qingshan could finish speaking, he was interrupted. The leading soldier said coldly, "We are here on the general's orders to return your grain."

"My little matter has alarmed the general." Li Qingshan was somewhat surprised.

Sacks of grain were unloaded and dumped in front of the wooden house, forming a small hill that blocked Li Qingshan's view.

"Too much, this is far too much." Li Qingshan roughly calculated that the amount of grain delivered this time was no less than the amount promised yesterday.

"Sign your name here. If you can't write, drawing a circle will do."

The other party had a cold face and said very little. He waited for Li Qingshan to finish signing before driving away in his truck.

Li Qingshan thought to himself, "The general is a very open and honest person."

There are many rumors about the King of the North, but now it seems that most of them are just rumors.

If I hadn't had close contact with the King of the North, how would I have known he was so reliable?

Just then, another group of people came from a distance.

Li Qingshan glanced at it from afar and saw that it was Zhou Ergou leading a group of people, with a large cart behind them carrying all kinds of building materials.

They came too?

Li Qingshan was taken aback. He had just told them yesterday that he wanted to build a house, but they had come today.

They came so fast.

Oh no, this dilapidated house of mine has many secrets; I need to deal with them beforehand.

Li Qingshan immediately took action, taking out the copper coins from the earthenware jar, the silver he had obtained the day before, and the black meat from under the water vat, and hiding them behind the big locust tree.

Almost as soon as he hid the things, Zhou Ergou arrived with his men.

"Qingshan Lang, I listened to what you said yesterday, so I got up early this morning and specially found a group of people to build a house for you."

"So many people?" Li Qingshan asked.

"There was no other way, everyone was hungry. I just told them, and they all came."

A group of poorly clothed, emaciated pioneers stared at Li Qingshan with their desperately hungry eyes.

"Is food provided?"

"I'll take care of it," Li Qingshan agreed with a heavy heart.

"Don't make the food too good," Zhou Ergou said in a low voice. "I'm afraid there will be too many people coming, and you won't be able to manage it."

Li Qingshan understood this principle: when everyone is starving, it's a serious offense to make loud smacking noises while eating.

Upon hearing that meals would be provided, the land reclaimers who had come from far and wide perked up, rolled up their sleeves, and joined the work team.

The original three dilapidated houses were demolished, and the plan was to rebuild three mud-brick houses on the same site.

For farmers, building a house is something they will do at least once in their lives, so everyone is familiar with the work of building houses.

Some people were marking lines, some were digging foundations, and some were starting to mow the grass.

Because so many people came, everyone worked very efficiently. Li Qingshan estimated that the three rooms might be completed in less than a day.

Li Qingshan was in charge of cooking at this time.

The grain delivered to the military camp included sorghum, corn, soybeans, and wheat.

Anyway, Zhou Ergou said it didn't need to be too delicious, so Li Qingshan just mixed everything together and steamed a pot of mixed grain rice.

On Tuesday, Gou specially brought over a large iron pot; otherwise, Li Qingshan's small pot simply couldn't have cooked for so many people.

After the grains are steamed, their aroma slowly spreads, instantly energizing those working.

"It smells so good."

"I haven't had a proper meal in days."

"Are you really going to feed us properly?"

Some people sniffed, noticing that there was another flavor in the aroma, making the steamed rice even more tempting.

Li Qingshan knew that there was also the aroma of black meat in it, but it would have been even more noticeable if it were from a distance.

"Hey, what are you two doing? Get back to work." Li Qingshan noticed that two people had gone around to the back of the locust tree.

"Let's take a piss." The other person chuckled and squeezed back into the work group.

Li Qingshan kept a close eye on the big locust tree to prevent his hidden belongings from being discovered.

The two people who had just been there came back and squeezed into the line of people ramming the wall.

The two looked at each other, but neither spoke.

They waited until lunchtime when the crowd suddenly gathered around.

Everyone took out their own bowls and chopsticks, each filled a bowl with mixed grain rice, and wolfed it down before getting a second bowl.

Li Qingshan seemed lost in thought. Just then, Zhou Ergou came over and said with a smile, "How's the person I found for you? He works fast, right? He just eats a lot."

"It's alright, it's alright." Li Qingshan nodded, then suddenly asked, "Have you ever heard of mourning ghosts?"

"A mourning ghost?" Zhou Ergou's eyes widened. "You encountered one?"

"No, I just heard about it by chance and was just asking."

"This mourning ghost is no ordinary creature," Zhou Ergou said. "I heard that it likes to squat at the crossroads and burn paper money. Once it has burned enough, it will call your name, and then it will take away your soul, turning you into a walking corpse."

Li Qingshan recalled the three thugs with green eyes from last night; they looked like people whose souls had been stolen.

I wonder if I'll end up like them.

"If we encounter a mourning ghost, is there any way to deal with it?" Li Qingshan asked.

Zhou Ergou stuffed another mouthful of rice into his mouth, shook his head and said, "How would I know? I'm not a professional ghost hunter."

Li Qingshan fell silent, wondering if he should make contact with professional ghost hunters.

However, even if I wanted to contact them, I couldn't find them anywhere.

After lunch, everyone continued working.

First, they rammed earth to build the walls, then erected roof beams, laid mats, and finally stacked the blue tiles that Zhou Ergou had brought over layer by layer.

Because so many people came today, the three mud houses were erected in just one day.

The foundation is three steps above the ground to prevent it from being soaked by rainwater, and the eaves extend three feet out to prevent the earthen walls from being blown by wind and rain.

Inside the house, there was also a stove and a heated kang (a traditional heated bed), which could be used for heating in winter.

In the evening, Li Qingshan treated everyone to another meal. After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they left satisfied, braving the night breeze.

Li Qingshan was left alone in front of the earthen house again.

He had a hunch that the mourning ghost would appear again tonight, and what he should do when it did.

……

Wang Dahu had been holed up by the river not far from the dilapidated house.

Soon, two workers were separated from the laborers and went to the riverbank to meet up with Wang Dahu.

They were Wang Dahu's two brothers, Wang Dabao and Wang Dagou.

"Brother, we saw it clearly. There's an earthenware jar hidden behind the locust tree. We didn't see what was inside, but it must be very valuable."

"There's still so much food, sacks piled up one after another. My God, how long will it take to eat this?"

"What a disaster!" Wang Dahu said. "How can we possibly eat all this food?"

"Big brother, what are you planning to do?"

Wang Dahu's face darkened: "Firstly, it's to pass on martial arts and avenge our family; secondly, it's to seize some grain to get through the winter. As long as we kill him, all that grain will be ours."