Chapter 14: Bringing in New Recruits

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When Lin Xing returned carrying a lamb on his back, the villagers once again began to tease him with surprise.

“Oh, Lin caught himself some prey today!”

“Isn’t that a lamb? Are there sheep in the forest now?”

“Well, looks like Lin’s family is having mutton for dinner tonight.”

“...”

Amid the villagers’ playful banter, Lin Xing stopped in his tracks and solemnly addressed them, “Fellow villagers, I must warn you: there are packs of wolves roaming the forest. Please avoid going near the forest unless necessary, to prevent encounters with the wolves!”

The moment the words “wolf packs” were mentioned, the villagers’ smiles vanished and panic quickly spread across their faces.

In this era, the villagers feared only two things above all: packs of wolves and wild boars.

Wild boars were known to ravage their crops, devouring the grains they had painstakingly cultivated.

But wolves were a different matter altogether. Wolves were carnivores and rarely ventured out of the deep mountains. If they ever entered human settlements, it meant they were starving and desperate enough to come down to hunt people.

There were frequent reports in the past of wolf attacks on villages, with casualties sometimes so severe that an entire village could lose a dozen people overnight, including children.

Lin Xing’s warning stirred genuine fear among the villagers, who began whispering anxiously amongst themselves.

Lin Xing paid them no mind, hoisting the lamb onto his shoulder and heading home.

Back at home, Wu Xiulan and Lin Yiyi were busy organizing firewood in the small courtyard.

Several piles of wood had already been stacked, indicating that while Lin Xing was out hunting, Wu Xiulan and Lin Yiyi had followed his instructions to gather firewood from nearby.

Seeing Lin Xing return, Lin Yiyi immediately ran up to him with a bright smile. “Brother’s back! Brother’s back!”

Then, noticing the lamb on Lin Xing’s shoulder, she grinned even wider. “Mother! Look! Brother caught prey again!”

Wu Xiulan approached and carefully examined Lin Xing from head to toe, worry creasing her brow. “You weren’t hurt, right?”

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“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Lin Xing replied with a smile.

Only then did Wu Xiulan breathe a sigh of relief. Her gaze shifted to the lamb, confused. “A lamb? How could there be a lamb in the forest?”

“I guess it must have wandered away from some nearby village and ended up in the forest where I ran into it,” Lin Xing said as he set the lamb down. “Its fur is really warm. Since our bedding is already worn out, we can make a new quilt from this lamb’s fleece.”

Wu Xiulan hesitated. “But if it ran away from someone’s village, shouldn’t we return it? Taking someone else’s lamb like this doesn’t seem right.”

Lin Xing sighed inwardly.

His mother, Wu Xiulan, was kind-hearted to a fault.

In another time kindness would be a virtue, but in an era where they barely had enough to eat, being too kind was not always wise.

He smiled and said, “We don’t even know which village it came from. There are many villages around the Greater Khingan Range. Should we really go looking for the owner one by one? Since I found this lamb, it’s fate. Besides, they probably don’t need this one lamb. Let’s not waste energy on it—let’s just keep it.”

Lin Yiyi chimed in, “Yes, Mother, I’ve never eaten lamb before. I want to try lamb meat and lamb soup!”

Hearing both her children, Wu Xiulan’s resolve wavered. She was reluctant to give up the lamb, not just for the meat, but more so for its valuable fur.

Though they had deer skin clothes now, nights were still cold. With wool from the lamb to make a quilt, they wouldn’t shiver through the night.

After a moment’s thought, Wu Xiulan agreed, “Alright then, we’ll keep the lamb. But this can’t be a habit—we mustn’t take things that belong to others lightly. That’s a bad practice!”

Lin Xing nodded with a smile and instructed, “Okay, please prepare the lamb. Any meat we don’t eat can be stored frozen outside. We’ll have lamb soup for lunch today!”

Wu Xiulan took Lin Yiyi to the kitchen to process the lamb.

With time still early, Lin Xing planned to tackle the next task: reinforcing their house.

They already had the wood; what they lacked was manpower. Hiring labor would cost money, but Lin Xing had none.

In fact, in this era money was rare. The village used work credits as currency — points earned through labor that could be exchanged for goods.

Lin Xing’s family didn’t work for the commune, so they had no credits. But Lin Xing could donate goods to the commune, exchange the house for credits, and then use those credits to hire workers.

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Lin Xing went to a corner of the yard and dug out about ten jin of venison from the snow.

Ten jin was a considerable amount, enough to earn a good number of work credits and hire help to reinforce their home.

After greeting Wu Xiulan and Lin Yiyi, Lin Xing left with the venison and headed toward the commune.

The commune in Bianxi Village was called Bianxi Commune, located at the village center. The person in charge was Zhao Renyi, known as Captain Zhao.

When Lin Xing arrived, many people were already busy working, their hands occupied with various tasks.

Zhao Renyi was directing a group of people stacking grain reserves.

Zhao Renyi was about forty years old, handsome, wearing a rare pair of glasses, the epitome of a committed young cadre.

Lin Xing stepped forward and greeted him, “Uncle Zhao, busy?”

Zhao Renyi turned, pushing up his glasses, and replied evenly, “Ah, Xiao Lin, what brings you to the commune?”

“Uncle Zhao, I won’t beat around the bush. I’d like to ask for your help,” Lin Xing said frankly.

Hearing this, Zhao Renyi’s expression turned troubled. “Xiao Lin, I know your family’s situation, but the commune is already short on manpower. We really can’t take on new workers. I’m sorry.”

The whole village already knew about Lin Xing’s family separating from the commune.

Zhao Renyi assumed Lin Xing came seeking work because they were struggling to get by.

He wanted to help but with the commune fully staffed, there was no way to hire more people.

Lin Xing understood the predicament but hoped for a solution nonetheless.