The Fantastic Little Farmer

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Mysterious Personal Space

The large Shantang nestled in the hollow of Bijia Mountain was contracted by Zhang Yun’s family for fish farming. On the hillside stood a small wooden cabin used for storage and resting.

Right now inside the cabin, Zhang Yun had stripped down to his underwear!

It was an unprecedented heat! Taking off his clothes was useless. Downing a whole pot of cold water was useless. His entire body felt so hot that it was about to explode!

After a while, unable to endure it any longer, he rushed out and leaped right into the fish pond, submerging his head and face into the water.

”Who’s there!”

Hearing the exclamation, Zhang Yun poked his head out of the water. He saw a young woman with a graceful figure standing by the edge of the pond. Some water seemed to have splashed onto her. It was young Sister-in-law Xiuqin from his village.

Xiuxun, who was squatting by the water washing things, had just been startled. ”Whose kid is this? Do you have a death wish? Didn’t your parents tell you that the Shantang is very deep?”

Zhang Yun wiped the water from his face and greeted her. ”Sister-in-law Xiuqin, it’s me.”

”Zhang Yun?” Xiuxun picked up a broken branch and threw it at him. ”You jumped in just to scare me, didn’t you? Haven’t you grown up yet?”

Zhang Yun almost blurted out, ”I’ll come up and let you see if I’ve grown up,” but remembering Xiuxun’s status, he hastily held his tongue.

Not long after Xiuxun got married, an accident occurred at the mine where her husband and father-in-law worked. Both of them passed away, leaving her and her mother-in-law to rely on each other for survival. As a young, beautiful widow with a great figure, it was inevitable that many men liked to joke around with her. For the sake of her reputation and self-protection, whenever she encountered flirtatious remarks, Xiuxun had no choice but to put on a stern face and scold them back. Over time, the once-shy girl gradually became fierce.

Zhang Yun smiled and shook his head. ”I really didn’t do it on purpose. I had no idea you were here.”

”Behave yourself! Don’t pick up those bad habits!” Since Zhang Yun was usually very polite to her, Xiuxun figured he wasn’t intentionally teasing her. She didn’t say anything more and squatted back down to continue her work.

Don’t pick up bad habits? Zhang Yuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What did that even mean! He really felt like he was burning up just now; it wasn’t like he was streaking on purpose.

”Are those medicinal herbs you dug up?”

”Mind your own business!” Whenever she wasn’t busy, Xiuxun would often go up the mountain to pick herbs, drying them to exchange for some money.

Zhang Yun chuckled. ”I really do have to mind. I contracted this Shantang, so please don’t poison my fish.”

”Do you even have any fish left? Haven’t their numbers been dropping the longer you raise them?” Xiuyun asked in reply.

Zhang Yun was left speechless. He didn’t know if it was a problem with the fish fry, his breeding methods, or if the heavy metals in the mountain water exceeded the standard. The fish had indeed been dwindling. He had asked many people about it but never received a definitive answer.

As Xiuxun lowered her head to wash the herbs, Zhang Yun, who was bare, found it inappropriate to get closer to chat. To avoid suspicion, he simply swam toward the deeper water.

Soaking in the water, Zhang Yun looked at a pitch-black Iron Ring on his finger. He had picked it up on his way back from feeding the fish the previous evening and had slipped it on casually. This morning, finding it ugly, he had prepared to throw it away—only to find that it seemed rooted to his hand! After struggling for a while without being able to take it off, he discovered that it contained a Personal Space! Inside, there was a small pool of water, some plants, and about a hundred square meters of open land.

The ring hadn’t come with an instruction manual. Recalling the miraculous properties of Personal Spaces he had read about in novels, Zhang Yun decided to plant something to test its effects. Common herbs were plentiful around Bijia Mountain, and it was also an area where ginseng grew. Although aged wild ginseng had been harvested to the point of rarity, wild seedlings were still not hard to find.

Zhang Yun had dug up ten seedlings that morning and transplanted them into his Personal Space. When he was done, he noticed a plant blossoming inside, so he casually plucked a petal and tasted it. The petal melted in his mouth instantly. Soon after, he felt his body start to heat up. Zhang Yun hadn’t paid much attention to it—it was just a single petal; even if it was poisonous, the dose would be minuscule, right? As a result, by the time he returned to the small wooden cabin, it felt like he was on fire!

Zhang Yuan shook his head to himself. He had no idea what the origins of this Iron Ring were, nor whether it had any other special functions. He could only explore it slowly over time.

With a man swimming here, Xiuxun found it inconvenient to stay for long. She hastily washed the mud off her herbs, slung her basket onto her back, and left. Once she was gone, Zhang Yun could swim freely without any restraint. He felt as if the burning heat and sweating had flushed the impurities from his body, leaving him entirely relaxed and comfortable!

”Go away! Don’t come near me!”

Just as he was soaking so comfortably that he didn’t want to get out, Zhang Yun heard Xiuxun’s scolding voice in the distance! He assumed someone was joking with her and didn’t think much of it. But a moment later, he heard her hurried footsteps returning, and her words sounded a bit off!

”Li Bing! If you keep following me, I’m going to call for help!” Young Sister-in-law Xiuqin’s voice was filled with anger, along with a trace of panic.

Li Bing? Zhang Yun was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly swam toward the shore. He wasn’t from their village. Li Bing was a thug from the neighboring Wa Village. He drank, gambled, visited prostitutes, fought, stole chickens, and even cut power cables... He was practically infamous in the surrounding area. For him to run into the mountain hollow and corner Xiuxun—that was definitely no coincidence, nor was it a joke!

”Call for help then! It’s noon, time for lunch. You can scream your lungs out in the mountains and no one will hear you! Hahaha!”

As Zhang Yun climbed out of the water, he heard Li Bing’s voice. They were already behind the bushes on the slope.

”Zhang Yun!” Xiuxun screamed.

Li Bing laughed smugly. ”Stealing herbs from our village! I’ve been watching you for days, and this time I caught you red-handed! Zhang Yun? Haha, scream as loud as you want! That dumb dog won’t come to feed the fish until the evening.”

Zhang Yun ran up the hillside, catching sight of them through the bushes.

As Li Bing closed in, his demeanor turned vicious. ”I’m laying it out for you today! Be a good girl and let me have a go at you, and we’ll call it even. If you don’t cooperate, I’m still gonna do it, but then I’ll have to kill you to keep your mouth shut!” He pulled out a switchblade. ”When I’m done, I’ll toss you into the pond! You’ll just be someone who slipped, fell in, and drowned! Or maybe people will think Zhang Yun killed you!”

Zhang Yun charged forward and cursed angrily, ”You’re actually planning to murder someone? Are you itching for prison food?”

Sister-in-law Xiuqin was already trembling all over, terrified that Zhang Yun had left. Seeing him approach, she didn’t care that he was only wearing a pair of soaking wet underwear and hurriedly ran to his side.

Li Bing froze for a second. He had thought Xiuxun was bluffing him; he hadn’t expected Zhang Yun to actually be here.

”Well, well! Look at you two! The pretty widow of Tianxin Village, acting like a chaste and loyal wife, but secretly screwing around in the mountains! I’m going to take a picture and let everyone see!”

Xiuxun trembled with anger and quickly hid behind a tree. Zhang Yun was currently half-naked. If a picture was taken of the two of them together, no one would believe their explanation.

”Nobody beats you in Wa Village, huh? Watch your daddy here knock your teeth out!” Zhang Yun strode right up to Li Bing.

”Stop right there!” Li Bing pulled out his phone with his left hand and brandished his knife with his right. ”Take one more step and I’ll slice your junk off!”

Zhang Yun was young and hot-blooded, not afraid to fight a thug, but seeing the knife made him halt instinctively.

Li Bing smiled sinisterly. ”Piss off and don’t ruin my business! If you dare tell anyone... Humph! I’ll ruin your reputations! I’ll sneak into your homes in the middle of the night and make sure you never have a moment of peace! And I’ll scoop out all the fish you have here!”

Xiuxun was both angry and anxious. Li Bing didn’t care about his own reputation, but if he went around spreading rumors that she and Zhang Yun were having an illicit affair, people would believe that there was no smoke without fire, even without evidence! Moreover, there were no men in her household. If this hooligan sneaked over in the middle of the night to scale her walls and knock on her windows, wouldn’t it scare her to death?

Zhang Yun’s attention, however, landed entirely on the last sentence. ”You... you’ve been scooping my fish?”

”So what if I did? Which eye of yours saw it?” Li Bing looked thoroughly pleased with himself, then pointed at Xiuxun hiding in the back. ”I caught her stealing herbs from our mountain, though!”

Zhang Yun instantly realized the core issue with the fish pond! It had nothing to do with his breeding methods, the fish fry, or the water quality. It was this bastard Li Bing constantly coming over to steal his fish!

Generally, no one stole fish when they were too small, nor did anyone steal them during the day. Because of this, farmers only guarded their fish during the harvest season, occasionally spending a night by the pond. Knowing that someone was guarding the place and being unable to figure out the schedule acted as a deterrent to thieves. But this bastard Li Bing didn’t care whether the fish were big or small; he frequently came to scoop them up right in broad daylight! Even if people from Wa Village saw him, they wouldn’t bother coming to tell Zhang Yun.

This personal grievance made Zhang Yun burn with rage. He roared and charged forward, ”This is our mountain, the herbs are wild, and the fucking fish are raised by me!”

Seeing him coming in so aggressively, Li Bing widened his eyes. ”If you’re looking to die, I’ll grant your wish! I’ve stabbed at least eight or ten people before!”

Swinging his knife, he slashed straight toward Zhang Yun!

Zhang Yun dodged to the side and threw a punch right at Li Bing’s eye!

In a fight between ordinary people, the one holding a knife naturally had the advantage. Although Zhang Yun evaded the brunt of it, the skin on his arm was still slightly grazed. However, the outcome completely shocked all three of them! The speed and power of Zhang Yun’s punch exceeded even his own imagination. Li Bing, despite having a lot of fighting Experience, not only failed to dodge but was sent crashing backward by the blow!

Li Bing was still holding a knife! With no time to overthink, Zhang Yun followed up with a kick to his body. Li Bing, who was already falling backward, was kicked so hard he went flying five or six meters away, landing motionless in the grass!

Zhang Yun looked at his own hands and feet in sheer disbelief. Just... what was going on?