SWDnovel Chapter 1 Chen Ran
Chapter 1 Chen Ran
Qinghe County.
afternoon.
The scorching sun beat down on the earth, creating a stifling, oppressive heat.
On the bustling street, pedestrians, peddlers and vendors all gathered on both sides of the official road, pointing and commenting on the oxcarts on the road.
The crowd was filled with the smells of feet, urine, and sweat.
On the cart, several corpses covered with white cloth were being escorted back to the yamen by the bailiffs.
"That's terrible. I heard that everyone in Li Family Village outside the city is dead."
"Who says otherwise? I had dinner with Li Si just a few days ago. I never expected him to suddenly disappear."
"Tell me, who did this?"
"They are either bandits from Matou Mountain to the west."
Either it's an evil spirit.
Chen Ran stood in the crowd, listening to the discussions of the onlookers around him.
I watched this scene with a somewhat unpleasant expression.
He wore a gray, patched-up cloth shirt and a pair of tattered straw sandals. His hands were calloused, and he was thin.
After watching for a while, Chen Ran did not continue with the main group, but instead headed towards an alley.
The alleyway reeked of urine and farts. Chen Ran, expressionless, ran quickly out of the alley.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
As he looked, he saw several people blocking the alleyway exit, looking at him with a half-smile.
Seeing this, Chen Ran's heart skipped a beat, and he walked over with a stiff upper lip.
"Master Zhang, Master Liu, Master Gao."
"Kid, did the dockworkers pay you today? Hand it over, or we'll have to resort to violence."
Zhang Yi said with a half-smile.
Hearing this, Chen Ran felt a surge of anger, but reason told him that if he acted now, he would only be the one to suffer.
Suppressing his anger, Chen Ran slowly took out five copper coins from his pocket and said with a somewhat mournful face.
"Gentlemen, as you all know, the dock foreman is a mean man, and I'm not good at dealing with people. Everyone else gets twenty copper coins, but I only get five."
This is today's standard payment.
A hint of frustration flashed across Chen Ran's face as he took three of them and handed them to Zhang Yi.
"Wang Cheng? I heard he has many enemies and is a mean and cunning person. Even if there are no enemies, he will still deduct workers' wages."
"But I don't believe it, Liu Er, go search him."
Zhang Yi tossed the three copper coins in his hand, then ordered his henchmen to search him.
Upon hearing Zhang Yi's order, Liu Er grinned maliciously and stepped forward to search him.
A short while later, Liu Er returned and nodded to Zhang Yi.
"I'm leaving. Remember, next time you need to hand it in on time. If you're late, you should know what the consequences will be."
After saying that, he didn't even look at Chen Ran, and laughing loudly, he led his younger brother slowly out of the alley.
After they left, Chen Ran abandoned his fawning expression and walked out of the alley with a wry smile.
Passing through the alley, there was a row of dilapidated houses, which looked out of place with the bustling street that had been there before.
This is Rat Street, the place where vagrants like Chen Ran, of low social status, live.
Zhang Yi and others were the so-called "buyers".
What is a tax collector? It is a group of people who, in order to facilitate tax collection, entrust the tax collection authority of a place or area to a certain power or group of people. Apart from the fixed amount paid to the government each month, the rest goes into the pockets of these people.
The key point is that these people are legal.
Just like today, if I were to hand over all twenty coins of my wages, they would take away a full twelve coins.
It's practically driving people to their deaths.
But these vampires don't care whether they live or die.
The people of this Rat Street all feared Zhang Yi like the plague.
Soon, Chen Ran, with a long face, arrived at a house by the river.
Taking the key out of his pocket, opening the door, and entering the room, Chen Ran's bitter smile vanished, replaced by a gloomy expression.
"These bastards, we'll kill them sooner or later."
As he spoke, he took off his straw sandals and picked them up.
He slapped the ground hard a few times, and fourteen copper coins appeared on the ground.
Chen Ran picked up the fourteen copper coins from the ground, his face full of worry.
"How did I suddenly end up time-traveling?"
It was just a routine shopping trip, but I was suddenly transported to another world by a stroke of luck.
So what if he's here? In his previous life, he was all alone and had no ties.
Perhaps in another world, humanity's ultimate dream of immortality can be fulfilled.
Chen Ran didn't know if immortality existed; he only knew that this world was very dangerous.
Demons and evil spirits.
These things, which only appear in novels and storybooks, actually exist in this world.
This is not the first time that a village outside the city has been wiped out like today.
Fortunately, he wasn't without support.
"panel."
As Chen Ran finished speaking, a flash of blue light appeared.
Name: Chen Ran
Age: 18/80
[Realm: None]
[Skill: Transporting (Minor Mastery)]
[Talent: None]
At the very bottom of the panel are two energy bars, one red and one blue.
The blue energy bar has accumulated a little, while the red energy bar remains motionless and shows no reaction.
This is a control panel he awakened after transmigrating; it might be the control panel from a game he played in his previous life that he transmigrated with.
After some time of exploration, Chen Ran realized that as long as he focused on one thing for a long time, he could replicate it on the panel.
As for how to improve afterward, it depends on either practice makes perfect or it's related to the two energy bars below.
Ironically, he only learned his carrying skills under the exploitation of the labor foreman.
After mastering the basics, his technique for applying force was less strenuous than that of the average person, allowing him to move more weight.
This is why Chen Ran was able to receive the full twenty coins every day.
As for the two energy bars below...
Chen Ran, who is in red, still doesn't understand how to obtain it.
The blue energy bar was accumulated little by little by Chen Ran when he occasionally ate meat.
"If I could eat meat at every meal, the blue energy bar would probably fill up much faster."
Thinking of this, Chen Ran felt a little regretful.
Upon entering the room, Chen Ran found a box under his pillow and carefully took it out.
There was a string of copper coins strung together.
Ten strings of cash, which is equivalent to one tael.
There was also some loose silver.
All in all, it adds up to five taels of silver.
These were all savings that the original owner had brought with her family when they fled from their hometown.
A large portion of them were stolen during the escape.
Family members were separated, and savings were stolen.
After finally escaping to Qinghe County, he found a job as a laborer at the dock, but then caught a cold.
This completely crushed the original owner.
Chen Ran transmigrated and took over the mess left by the original owner of the body.
"Five taels of silver is enough for now. I'll go to the Tongbei Boxing Academy to register for martial arts training in the next few days."
The hard labor at the docks cannot be put down for the time being.
Chen Ran's thinking was very simple.
Since this world is so dangerous, we should learn ways to save our lives as soon as possible.
After making inquiries over this period of time, Chen Ran also learned that there are so-called martial arts masters in this world.
There are several martial arts schools in Qinghe County.
If you want to quickly obtain cultivation methods, you should start from this aspect.
He believes that with the panel, as long as he finds the right method, he will definitely be able to live a better life.
Thinking of this, Chen Ran took out a sesame seed cake from his pocket in the courtyard and ate it with cold water.
It's summer now, so firewood is a little cheaper, but it still costs ten copper coins.
This was his wages for half a day.
I can't afford it, I simply can't afford it.
Feeling full, gazing at the darkening sky outside, and listening to the sounds coming from afar, Chen Ran lay down on the bed and slowly fell asleep.
The next morning, before dawn, Chen Ran got dressed and headed towards Qinghe Wharf.