owlsbooks Chapter 1 3-Legged Ding
Chapter 1 3-Legged Ding
Crunch... crunch... crunch...
Yang Silang's face was flushed, his body was covered in a layer of sweat, the veins on both sides of his neck were bulging and reaching his temples, his body was swaying rhythmically, and he was holding his breath...
A woman's sweet, coquettish voice reached my ears.
"We're almost there... just hang in there a little longer..."
"call……"
Yang Silang stepped onto the last step, quickly turned into a half-squatting position, took the pole from his waist, and used it to support the goods on the bamboo carrying pole, thus temporarily relieving himself of the heavy burden on his shoulders.
He felt his legs trembling, his feet feeling like cotton on the ground, his chest heaving as he greedily inhaled air, his lungs burning and aching, and sweat pouring down his head, flowing into his eyes, causing both pain and soreness.
"Hey buddy, why are you so useless..."
"Who boasted that they were the brave Shiro, a man as swift as the wind?"
The woman with the thick waist who had just told him to persevere a little longer now spoke in a rough voice, hands on her hips, spitting as she complained that he was climbing too slowly, making her suffer in the sun, and that she would deduct 10% of his wages, and so on.
Yang Silang was still catching his breath and didn't have time to retort. He picked up the tattered handkerchief around his neck to wipe his sweat and struggled to straighten up.
He was tall and slender with regular features, bright black eyes, and a pale face from exhaustion.
In addition, his skin was tanned dark, his body was rather thin, with some barely visible muscles, and he wore a faded gray vest with the words "Sanshui" embroidered in yellow on it, which was distorted and twisted by sweat stains.
Yang Silang looked back and saw that the hundreds of blue stone steps he had just climbed were winding and twisting downwards, like a blue snake crawling out.
On both sides of this "green snake" are rows of low shops and houses, with a few carved and painted pavilions scattered in between, from which the sounds of string and wind instruments can be heard, as if a woman is singing softly in accompaniment.
On the bluestone steps, a bustling crowd gathered, including scholars in flowing robes, wealthy merchants in silk garments, women in flowing skirts, and servants in short jackets—a diverse array of people, all dressed in ancient attire.
Many others were dressed like him—black shirts and shorts, straw hats, straw sandals, thick shoulder pads sewn from colorful rags, vests, and bamboo carrying poles of varying thicknesses and lengths, carrying goods as they struggled to climb the mountain.
This is his profession: a porter, earning a living by his labor.
Commonly known as three-legged nail.
Two fleshy feet plus a hairy carrying pole, that makes a total of three feet.
Looking into the distance, this is a mountain city surrounded by water, with undulating terrain and almost no flat land. At the foot of the mountain, outside the city wall, the mighty river flows around the mountain city, carrying countless boats to dock at the city's wharf.
Yang Silang regulated his breathing and looked away.
Although he had awakened his innate wisdom for over a month, he still couldn't believe it in his occasional daze that he had transmigrated to Gongzhou Prefecture in Jiangdong Province of the Great Shun Dynasty and become a porter at the very bottom!
Although I was also a workaholic in my past life, at least I had enough to eat and drink and my safety was guaranteed.
However, based on his exploration over the past month, the Great Shun Dynasty was probably in the period of "the development of nascent capitalism" in textbooks, a period of feudal turmoil, and had nothing to do with the word "safe".
Occasionally, one could see starving corpses lying on the ground in the city; the death of a servant in the mansion of a powerful person would go unnoticed; and even on the roads outside the city, there were bandits who robbed and killed people!
Not to mention the frequent natural disasters.
Yang Silang was originally an ordinary villager in Huang County, under the jurisdiction of Gongzhou Prefecture. In addition to his eldest sister who had married out of the family, he had four brothers and a younger sister who was not yet married.
He was the fourth among his brothers, hence the name Silang. He was born to toil in the fields, unlike the Yang Silang in the play who married a beautiful and wealthy woman.
Although the Yang family was poor, they were large and prosperous, so at least they wouldn't lose out in a fight.
But fate is unpredictable. One day, it was said that a several-hundred-year-old demon dragon in the river went berserk, stirring up storms and waves, breaking through the dikes. A huge wave swept the village away, and most of the villagers were swept into the river.
The Yang family's courtyard was destroyed, and the entire family was instantly swept away by the water.
Yang Silang was swept into the water, surrounded by waves, unable to distinguish east from west. He held onto his fifth sister with one hand and a wooden beam that seemed to have drifted in from nowhere with the other, drifting with the current. In the end, he was injured and coughed up blood after being hit by floating logs and rotten branches in the water, but managed to get ashore by sheer luck.
With no one else from the Yang family surviving, he and his fifth sister fled to Gongzhou Prefecture to seek refuge with relatives.
My eldest sister married into this area and became a concubine to an oil shop owner.
With the help of his older sister, he then had to find a place to stay, confirm his identity with the government and register his household, take medicine to heal his wounds, and search for a living, running around in various ways.
During this time, Yang Silang's injuries from falling into the water flared up again, and he fell seriously ill. In his delirium, he awakened his past life's wisdom and faced this mess.
At that time, the primary task was to survive and not starve to death.
Through his elder sister's connections and the old porter who delivered goods to the oil mill, coupled with the fact that the government had ordered all guilds to recruit disaster victims at that time, he joined the San Shui Guild.
So he took a bamboo pole and a ten-foot-long hemp rope and gloriously became a porter in a vest.
Yang Silang was originally a farmer with some strength, so he wouldn't have had any problem being a porter.
Unfortunately, he was swept away by the flood, injured, vomited blood, and lost his vitality. Coupled with poor nutrition, he has now become this thin and sickly.
Sanshui would allow him to do some light odd jobs on his own land for the time being, but he had to pay a share of the money every day. He dared not lift heavy objects, for fear of vomiting blood and harming his health again.
He worked hard every day, always greeting people with a smile, but earned very little. He had borrowed money to support his health and had to pay interest every day. In addition to supporting himself, he also had to support his fifth sister. Life was very difficult.
"Madam..." Yang Silang erased his past memories and looked at the woman spitting as she argued, "Don't blame me today, I didn't eat enough..."
"Besides, who told you to deliver peaches today? The smell is so tempting, it's making my mouth water, how can I have any energy left?"
The two engaged in a heated exchange of words, going back and forth several times.
Yang Silang refused to give up a single penny, partly because his family was truly poor, and partly because he had reasons he absolutely could not give up.
His eyes seemed to be fixed on the woman with the thick waist, but his gaze was actually fixed on the void in the air.
Yang Silang: 16 years old
Lifespan: 60.
Force: 55
Fate: Cracked and moldy, a broken bamboo.
Yang Silang frowned; the light screen in front of him appeared when he awakened his innate wisdom.
Lifespan of 60 is so-so among the poor, except for those young children who are prone to premature death. Strength is 55, I don't know if the maximum value for ordinary people is calculated in hundreds? Anyway, it's quite pathetic.
And what does this rotten, moldy bamboo mean?
Is this my fate?
Isn't this just a roadside stall?
Yes, he is also a person with a system.
However, this system is a bit heartbreaking—especially since I'm already living such a miserable life, and I still have to suffer for decades before I can fall into a deep sleep and never wake up again.
That's utterly inhuman!
Fortunately, this system has some other functions.
Below the text are dozens of hexagonal inscriptions pieced together to form a large hexagon.
[10 Wind Inscriptions: Movement Speed increased by 20%;]
10 Fire Inscriptions: Burst Damage Increased by 20%
10 Water Inscriptions: Recovery increased by 20%
10 Earth Inscriptions: Defense increased by 20%
His gaze fell on the last line, and his eyes flashed—10 wooden inscriptions: Lifespan increased by 20%!
Unfortunately, these inscriptions were all dark and did not serve any purpose.
At the same time, there is a gray progress bar below the inscription circle, which is almost at the top and just a little bit away from being full.
There are 993 characters below the progress bar!
Yang Silang remembered clearly that he worked as a porter for more than a month. Because he couldn't carry heavy things, he earned far less than others, making only about thirty coins a day.
These 993 coins were all the money he had earned from his hard work these past few days, though he had already spent most of it on various expenses.
However, all income earned is recorded by the system and converted into a progress bar.
If I earn a few more copper coins today, will I be able to unlock the inscription?
To be honest, when he was unconscious and awakened from his slumber, the inscription bar opened in front of his eyes, and he was completely stunned. He thought that his body had some kind of hysteria and that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
He only became excited after confirming that the light screen was real.
Good news, I have a cheat code too!
Bad news, this program seems to be still loading...
In his previous life, Yang Silang also played mobile games; he was a lowly archer player.
I remember there were dozens of different types of runes in the game, unlike the runes in front of me which seemed to have a rather limited function.
He's just a casual gamer, playing a few games a day depending on his mood, or none at all. After playing for several years, he still hasn't reached the tenth rank in the King of Glory tournament; he's incredibly bad at the game.
Normally, people just use the system's item build directly, and at most they watch the Chinese server live streams on Douyin to see how the Chinese server players dominate or suffer in frustration. Who has the patience to actually study runes?
Li Chi didn't mention this during his live stream!
However, none of that matters. What matters is that today, he must earn more copper coins to unlock these inscriptions.
He couldn't wait a moment longer!
Anyone who tries to bargain with him becomes his mortal enemy!