Quick Transmigration: Underdog Turns out to be Untouchable

Chapter 1031: Chapter 942: Official of the First Rank 3

This is a time of chaos, and the first thing Murong Shuangshuang needed to do, besides learning medicine from her father Murong Ting to justifiably showcase her medical skills, was to practice martial arts. In such turbulent times, lacking martial power is incredibly dangerous.

Medicine and poison are inseparable. Previously, Murong Shuangshuang relied on her self-made poisons to roam the world. To protect herself, she devoted considerable effort to the technique of poisons, yet she faced numerous dangers. If only she had martial arts skills before, combined with her mastery of poison, she’d not find it so perilous to travel anywhere she wished.

Wanting to practice martial arts is not an easy task, as the saying goes, ”Literature thrives in poverty, martial arts thrive in wealth.” Practicing martial arts is even more financially demanding than studying, because it requires a lot of meat consumption. Those who practice martial arts have vigorous blood circulation and high energy expenditure.

Especially when practicing profound martial arts, finishing a meal that costs several days’ worth of rations for a family is not an exaggeration. In these times of barely getting enough to eat, it is difficult to be full, let alone have enough meat.

This world is devoid of any divine power, so Murong Shuangshuang’s powers were sealed once again. The result was that she couldn’t cheat by using divine power to enhance her physical fitness.

Because this seal was quite tight, any power that could penetrate through was scant and difficult to summon. These powers could only speed up the martial arts training process if she ate well, but improving her physical condition with little nutrition was impossible.

Thus, the urgent task now was to quickly find food to fill her stomach, find meat to nourish her currently malnourished body, as she couldn’t practice martial arts without proper nutrition.

The Yu Family Village was located in a remote area, but this remoteness had its benefits. It was far away from bustling towns, surrounded by mountains and water, making hunting large prey a task requiring professional knowledge and physical prowess. Other than hunters, it was difficult for most people to hunt. However, catching some wild chickens or little fish to have a feast wasn’t so hard.

Yet, the adults were so busy with various harsh taxes day in and day out that they had no time to go hunting for meat to improve their meals.

The laws of this dynasty were becoming increasingly harsh. If the common people couldn’t pay their taxes, they would be penalized into slavery, and once enslaved, they’d be auctioned off in human markets by the government. Under such pressure, everyone was toiling relentlessly in the fields, with no time to think about eating meat.

During these times, agriculture completely depended on manual labor. The crops were not yet domesticated over years to yield the high outputs of the modern era. Crop yields per mu were very low, weeds in the fields thrived as well, and there were no herbicides.

Weeds would rob nutrients from crops, and farmers would have to constantly clear these weeds. Farmers had to practically live in the fields year-round to ensure they could pay the taxes with the harvest. It wasn’t just adults; even slightly older children had to help in the fields.

The Murong family had no land. Don’t think that not having land meant no taxes to pay. Those without land had to pay ten times the poll tax and an additional leisure tax—a tax concocted by the court. The court believed that those not farming were lazy slackers who had to be taxed more as punishment.

Murong Ting earned several times more than the farmers, yet lived a similarly hard life because of this situation.

It was inevitable that the court would be overthrown, with oblivious Emperors and greedy officials squeezing every drop from the people. When pushed to the limit, when facing family separation and enslavement, the common people had no choices left but rebellion.

Just as now, despite a year of favorable weather, there was not a single smile on people’s faces. Even with lush mountains and rivers nearby that could easily improve their meals, the people were so burdened by taxes that they dared not even spend a little time on such pursuits.

If Murong Ting didn’t have the skills to earn money, Murong Shuangshuang wouldn’t have time to even think about improving meals. The first thing that Murong Shuangshuang thought of was to fish along the water.

Of course, Murong Shuangshuang had no intention of fishing herself. She was only seven years old and physically weak. A careless fall into the water could easily be fatal. So, Murong Shuangshuang chose to dig for some worms and craft a simple fishing rod to fish. Whether the fish bites or not didn’t matter, as her main hunting focus was on the mountains.

Due to the proximity to the village and numerous traces of human activity, many fierce animals of the mountains would avoid places where humans congregate, except when gravely hungry. Only then might they come down from the mountains.

Now, with a season of lush growth, animals could easily hunt their prey and live well, so they wouldn’t risk descending the mountains. Murong Shuangshuang felt assured to go to the foot of the mountains, even boldly venturing a short distance up.

For those unfamiliar with the mountains, they might only feel the dense vegetation and find the scenery pleasant, but to Murong Shuangshuang, the flourishing vegetation held many traces of small animal activity.

Not only were there traces of small animals, but there were also many plump wild vegetables ready to be picked for meals. As for hunting, with her tiny arms and weak legs, Murong Shuangshuang couldn’t practice bare-handed hunting tactics; she didn’t have the skills or strength yet.

Murong Shuangshuang chose to set traps. She laid a few traps along some small animal paths, then left the area to dig wild vegetables a bit away from the traps. Before going into the mountains, Murong Shuangshuang had carried out a small basket, which was now quite handy for collecting wild vegetables.

After digging a few wild vegetables, Murong Shuangshuang fortunately discovered a small bamboo grove and dug up several bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots are very versatile for cooking; simply grilling them with salt and pepper makes them a delicious treat.

Excitedly, Murong Shuangshuang dug up plenty of wild vegetables and bamboo shoots. Returning to check on the traps, she found one had caught a plump rabbit and another contained a noticeably large-bellied female rabbit.

Murong Shuangshuang even reached out to feel the belly of the female rabbit, confirming that it was pregnant. Rabbits possess two uteruses and have a strong reproductive capability.

If left unchecked, a rabbit could produce up to twelve litters in a year. However, such frequent reproduction isn’t healthy for either the mother rabbit or the young. So in modern farming, rabbits are usually allowed to only produce six to eight litters a year.

Having seen the pregnant female rabbit, Murong Shuangshuang decided she would raise it. Conveniently, the other rabbit was a male. With two rabbits raised together, even if they produced only six litters a year, there would be a continuous food source.