"It's you, kid. What's up?" After a short wait, Brother Li walked out of a stone house in the Guard Battalion's camp.
Tang Wen took out a burlap sack. "Got lucky and bagged two wild pheasants. Brought them for Brother Li to try."
"Wild pheasants." Brother Li glanced at them and smiled. "So, what's up?"
"Well, I'd like to move to a new house. I'm not sure if there are any empty houses in the camp. I was hoping you could help me keep an eye out."
"Simple enough. I'll take these. Come on in." Brother Li turned and walked into the stone house behind him, leading Tang Wen through it to one of the rooms—the housing selection office.
After a brief greeting, Brother Li asked, "Xiaoliang, are there any residences deeper inside? Get this young brother here set up with one."
The young man surnamed Liang stood up and pointed to a map on the wall. "Brother Li is here, so of course there are. The little houses marked in white are all unoccupied. He can pick any of them."
Brother Li chuckled and pointed a finger at him.
He turned and gestured for Tang Wen to come forward and take a look.
The map on the wall was a huge sheet of Kraft Paper. Tang Wen first looked for the camp entrance he was familiar with, his eyes following a path to the grain shop he often visited.
This grain shop was near the city proper. 'If I could live around here, it would definitely be safe.'
Perhaps noticing Tang Wen's gaze, Xiaoliang said, "The closer you are to the city, the more expensive the moving fee. If you move to the city entrance, you can open a shop and do business, but you have to hand over a thousand jin of grain."
After hearing this, Tang Wen leaned back slightly and said with a forced smile, "I was just looking."
Moving from the inside of the camp to the outer perimeter, as long as you were willing, didn't require you to hand over a single jin of grain.
Tang Wen and Tangtang hadn't originally lived at the camp entrance either. Before Tang Wen transmigrated, a family had offered over a hundred jin of grain to swap houses with them.
It couldn't be helped. The two of them were weak and could only barely earn enough to fill their stomachs by working in the fields.
They couldn't save up any surplus to pay rent, so they had no choice but to sell their residence.
The map on the wall only depicted the layout of the camp's outer perimeter. For the city area, only one word was written—Queen.
After a quick scan, Tang Wen pointed to a section and asked, "How much grain would it cost to move to this area?"
He was pointing to the area near the blacksmith's shop.
That area was a good few hundred meters in a straight line from the camp's city wall, so safety should be guaranteed. Plus, he could look out for the blacksmith, Li Daniu, and vice versa.
Xiaoliang glanced at Brother Li. Seeing he remained silent, Xiaoliang said, "The moving fee is 300 jin of grain. The residences there all have courtyards, so they're spacious. Rent is paid annually. It's 240 jin of grain per year."
'So expensive!'
300 jin of grain is enough for one person to eat for a whole year.
The rent had also doubled.
But Tang Wen had no other choice. He lowered his head, made a quick calculation, and agreed. "I can do that."
"Alright, there are three empty houses here. Pick one."
"Uh, do you have a recommendation?"
On the map, the three empty houses showed no discernible difference; they were all identical white squares.
Xiaoliang looked down at his documents. "Then take the middle one. It has a water well, and the previous resident even dug a sweet potato cellar. It has a woodshed and a latrine too. You can move in after a quick cleaning."
"Thank you for the recommendation. I'll take that one."
The clerk said in surprise, "As expected of someone Brother Li brought. You're certainly decisive."
Brother Li also glanced over. Several hundred jin of grain was no small sum for an ordinary person or family in the camp.
Tang Wen just smiled. 'Decisive? If I had come here by myself today, I would have definitely brought my sister to check the place out in person before making a decision.'
'But Brother Li brought me here. Out of respect for Brother Li, this clerk wouldn't recommend a terrible place.'
"Do you have enough grain at home? This has to be paid in one lump sum."
"Thank you for your concern, Brother Li. It should be enough."
"Good," Brother Li turned his head and asked again, "How much grain can we exchange for one jin of meat?"
The clerk smiled. "One jin of meat can be counted as 15 jin of grain at most."
"Mm. Then arrange for a cart."
The clerk colored in the house Tang Wen had chosen, turning it black on the map. He handed Tang Wen a sheet of paper with the simple words "Rental of House 6, 5th Street" and stamped with the red seal of the "Guard Battalion - Housing Selection Office." "Keep this safe. It's not busy now, so I'll go with you. Let me go call for a cart."
He went out the door, and Tang Wen quickly thanked Brother Li again.
The latter waved his hand, looking at the two wild pheasants with considerable interest. "How did you catch them?"
Tang Wen was taken aback for a moment, but then answered honestly, "I know the Stone-Throwing Skill."
"Oh. Throwing stones? Are you accurate?"
"Uh, since Brother Li is asking, I won't lie. Within 30 paces, I'm 90% certain I can hit whatever I'm aiming at."
This was Tang Wen's modest way of putting it. In reality, within 50 paces, he almost never missed.
Brother Li's eyes narrowed as if he had just recalled something. "Recently, several grain shops have received Red-beaked Sparrows. They said a young man brought them."
"Th-that was me. I didn't dare sell too many at once, so I went to several different grain shops."
"Not bad, not bad." The pieces fit together. Brother Li looked at him with a hint of admiration. "You've seen the Guards, right? Do you know why they're all so robust and strong as an ox?"
Tang Wen shook his head, looking at Brother Li with anticipation, waiting for him to explain.
Brother Li continued, "Once you pass the selection and become a Guard, you can do Martial Arts Training and practice the Breathing Technique passed down by Her Majesty the Queen. You train during the day and get meat with every meal. It doesn't take long to become strong."
As he spoke, he watched Tang Wen, who cooperatively showed a look of longing and blurted out, "Brother Li, I want to be a Guard too!"
'This kind of treatment... it's like being a civil servant in a chaotic world!'
'What? Being a Guard is dangerous?'
'Isn't hunting dangerous?'
'Which is more dangerous: going out hunting alone, or being a Guard, going out in groups, fully armored, with long sabers and riding big horses?'
"Guards have to risk their lives. It's not exactly peaceful outside the camp."
"Brother Li, I'm willing to risk my life." 'As if I'm not already risking my life every day just by living in this goddamn apocalypse!'
Brother Li chuckled. "You're still young and not tall enough. You won't make the selection next spring. Go back and build up your strength. If not next year, there's always the year after."
"Yes, alright."
A look of unwillingness flashed across Tang Wen's face, but he still nodded repeatedly, just like a defiant teenager.
He truly felt it was a pity.
Brother Li smiled. "If you need anything in the future, you can always come find me."
RUMBLE RUMBLE, the sound of rolling wheels echoed.
Outside the window, Xiaoliang was sitting on a donkey cart parked at the door. Brother Li led Tang Wen outside.
"Xiaoliang, I won't go along for Young Tang's move. I'll leave it in your hands."
"It's nothing, Brother Li. It's my duty."
Brother Li nodded and went back inside. Xiaoliang pulled Tang Wen onto the donkey cart.
Sitting on the donkey cart, Tang Wen was filled with emotion. He had ridden in a cart like this before, as a child, back in his hometown on Earth. In the local dialect, it was called a "flatbed cart."
It could be pulled by a person or a draft animal, making its power source very flexible. Its fuel consumption for a hundred li was just a bundle of hay or two meals.
"Young Brother Tang, what's your relationship with Brother Li?" Xiaoliang asked, beaming.
"Ha! There's no relationship. Brother Li is just a good person and has looked out for me."
"A good person? Ah yes, yes, Brother Li is famously good." Xiaoliang's smile didn't fade, but it was clear he didn't believe a word of it.
Tang Wen gave directions to the old man driving the cart. A few minutes later, they arrived at the camp entrance, in front of the small, mud-walled hut.
"You live here?" Xiaoliang's smile slowly faded.
"I do. Please wait a moment, you two. I need to talk to my family."
He walked to the door, which opened from the inside. Through the crack, Tangtang had seen them arrive.
"How much maize?" she asked, getting straight to the point.
"What?" Tang Wen was stunned for a second, then he understood. He said gravely, "Sis, safety is the most important thing. Even if it costs all our maize... Aigh, aigh, aigh! Sis, what's wrong?"
Hearing the words "all our maize," Tangtang's eyes flew wide open, and she tilted her head back and began to fall.
Tang Wen was startled and quickly caught her.
Her eyes were vacant and her body was stiff. She kept repeating, "All the maize... all of it... all..."