Chapter 15: Life is cheap as grass

Can Yun Ye tell the suffering in his heart to the old thief? If I tell you that I have only taken 200 hours of courses at the emergency center, and this is the first time I have given someone a blood transfusion and stitched them up, you still want to take my life. The doctor said it well, that people are actually just that. The more you don’t treat them as people, the more likely they are to be saved. People are strong.

The origin of Western medicine is barbers. If you can give someone a haircut, you can be a doctor. I’m afraid that the ancestors of Western medicine still regard bloodletting as a cure for all diseases. If you have a headache, there’s nothing you can do. If you can survive a beheading, then those great ancestors must have been very kind to your head. Lao Tzu knew how to use alcohol to disinfect, which was an invention that opened up the world. In later generations, he would have to be worshipped as a ancestor.

Even the car fanatic said, “What’s so special about a car? It’s just an engine, four wheels, and an iron shell. This is such wisdom. Anyway, I heard that his car company is quite popular, and I haven’t heard of any major problems. Similarly, what is there to a person? It’s just a head, two arms, two legs, a head, and a body of carbohydrates. Once you know the cause of the disease, you can fix it at will. Haven’t you seen Zhuang San Ting come back to life? This proves that my theory is correct and should be promoted and expanded.

“Zhuang San Ting was cut nine times, lost too much blood, and found someone with the same blood type to give him a blood transfusion. With blood, the person will live, so why ask?” Yun Ye felt like he was playing the lute for a cow, and discussing blood types with the ancients was purely a waste of time.

“Kid, did your master teach you all this? What else do you know?” Old Cheng was still probing Yun Ye’s background.

“My master is a scholar and a man of the world. These things are just trivial. There is a lot of knowledge that my master doesn’t teach. He says that life’s troubles begin with learning to read. Being able to read is enough to not be deceived by others. The more you learn, the more trouble you will have. He hopes that I will live a simple life. The world has its own rules. Imposing interference will only add new troubles. Just let nature take its course. Most of what my nephew understands is what he saw his master do. He just copied what he saw.

There was nothing he could do, so Yun Ye had to make his master look bigger again. Old Cheng pointed angrily at Yun Ye, unable to speak. In his opinion, Yun Ye had learned a lot from his master, who was a genius, and all of these skills were earth-shattering. After pointing for a long time, he didn’t know who to blame, and he let go of his hand.

“My brother has such great skills. If I have any difficulties in the future, I will come to you. I don’t care where he learned it. If my brother learns it, it’s my brother’s. What my brother has is mine.” Cheng Chumo was very happy for his brother. Today, he saw his brother use his strange skills to save his subordinates. He was in a good mood and hugged Yun Ye and laughed. As for the technique of saving people with blood transfusion, he had already forgotten it. In the future, if he needs to find Yun Ye, he will.

Old Cheng kicked the two out of the tent in a depressed mood and studied Yun Ye’s strange blood transfusion equipment by himself. In fact, it was just a rubber tube with two needles. Old Cheng pulled the tube and looked at the needles and gave up. Listening to Yun Ye and Cheng Chumo’s laughter outside the tent, a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

He felt younger, and his heart seemed to have also become younger. There was no generation gap between Yun Ye, who was 34 or 35 years old in terms of psychological age, and Cheng Chumo, who was 17 years old. Cheng Chumo’s carefree and heroic temperament made Yun Ye very happy to spend time with him. He was extremely relaxed both mentally and physically, and Yun Ye couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so openly with someone.

Finally, he figured out what had happened.

Because during this time, a large number of carts of salt from Lanzhou were constantly being transported to various places in Longyou, this situation attracted the attention of the Qiang people who were wandering around the camp.

They also lacked salt, and the price of salt in Longyou was kept high by Cheng Yaojin at one guan per catty. To avoid causing public discontent, Cheng Yaojin also opened up the supply of vinegar cloth. Although it was not delicious, it at least had a salt flavor. Anyway, ordinary people could not eat much salt anyway. The Turks retreated, and the salt road was about to be opened. A few days of forbearance would be over.

But the Qiang people couldn’t do that. Since they had rebelled with the young king of the Changle Kingdom, they were considered rebels, and naturally, Old Cheng wouldn’t care about their lives. Vinegar cloth was for the people of the Tang Dynasty, not for rebels.

Without salt, people cannot survive for more than a few days in high-intensity activities. There was no other way, so they took a risk to survive. Taking advantage of the opportunity when Cheng Chumo was leading an army to deliver salt, they gathered more than 400 horsemen to attack the salt delivery team. Cheng Chumo quickly lit a signal fire, and more than 100 guards rushed to fight. They didn’t expect that these Qiang people were so brave as to fight to the death to seize the salt, and they surrounded Cheng Chumo and the others in the middle and fought relentlessly.

Zhuang San Ting, as Cheng Chumo’s escort, did his best to protect him from harm, but he was mortally wounded by nine swords.

Seeing the smoke signal, Cheng Yaojin personally led a group of people to the rescue. After killing the Qiang people, only 37 of Cheng Chumo’s 100-odd people were left. Old Cheng went crazy and gave the order to kill all the Qiang people. Soon, only 11 of the Qiang people’s 400-odd riders survived, and the rest were all killed. Then there was a scene of Cheng Chumo going to the camp to find Yun Ye.

Yun Ye lived in a peaceful world, and had never experienced such a tragedy. In the morning, more than a hundred people happily escorted the salt on the road. When they returned at noon, 81 people had already died, and several large trucks returned to the camp with the bodies of those who had lost their arms and legs. This was unbelievable to Yun Ye. Two thousand catties of salt was worth only three thousand yuan in later generations. Four hundred bandits had lost their lives for it. Yun Ye did not think that the other ten people who had fallen into the hands of Uncle Cheng would survive. A human life is only worth five catties of salt, not including the eighty-one guards who died protecting the two thousand catties of salt. It’s too cheap, and human life is like grass.

The scarcity of supplies, widespread poverty, and a defense line that is full of holes all make people not take their own lives seriously, and a big scar on the head is all that is left. Why do rich and wealthy people cherish their lives more? The more money you have, the more you fear death. This is an unbreakable truth. Poor people live in suffering. If they can’t even bear the suffering, and there is no chance to bear it, then they can only rebel by sticking their heads on their waists.

On the tall haystack, Yun Ye and Cheng Chumo looked at the stars in the sky and were lost in thought. The bright Milky Way hung like a jade belt in the sky. The two stars of the Cowherd and the Weaver on both sides of the Milky Way were shining brightly. The unpolluted night sky of the Tang Dynasty was like a pure black brocade, exuding a mysterious sense of vicissitudes of life. Unlike the strange gray-black night sky of later generations, there were only a few stars, which looked weak and powerless.

In June, the Longyou region was on fire, and everyone was suffering in this furnace of heaven and earth. Yun Ye felt like he had entered a Japanese army camp. He found some fine linen and explained to the camp tailor, gesturing to let him understand that he wanted to make a few pairs of underwear. He didn’t want to make bullet underwear, but he was fine with boxer shorts. If there was no rubber band, he would have to use a belt, but fortunately, there was no danger of falling off. Six large and four small pairs were made overnight.

Yun Ye was very surprised at the tailor’s efficiency, and it wasn’t until the tailor respectfully handed Yun Ye the underwear in both hands that he understood why he was treated with such courtesy. This is related to a rumor in the barracks. The newly promoted lord has supernatural powers, can distinguish between yin and yang, communicate with ghosts and gods, and use magical techniques to extend the life of the Qiang man who was supposed to die. Now the Qiang man is able to turn over, and his wound is not swollen at all in the hot weather. It seems that he still has 100 or 80 years to live. If I have such a problem in the future, I can just grab a Qiang man and ask the lord to use his magical powers, and he will also have 100 or 80 years to live. So the soldiers in the camp looked at Yun Ye like they were looking at a god. Now the god wants to make some shorts, which is a great honor for our tailors. Four tailors worked all night and finished them just before dawn.

Yun Ye smiled and expressed his gratitude, and the head tailor didn’t even want a reward. He bowed and left happily. The lord didn’t have an air of arrogance, and he thanked him with a smile. We are the ones who have been praised by the lord, and who dares to give him a hard time in the barracks? Yun Ye didn’t know that he had inadvertently become the tiger in the story “The Fox Pretending to be a Tiger,” and he rushed to the general’s tent with three pairs of fat, four-cornered pants.

In the tent, Lao Cheng was shirtless, wearing a white loincloth and a cloth cap on his head. He was drinking grape wine, and the black hair all over his body made Yun Ye extremely suspicious that this guy had not yet fully evolved.

“Uncle, seeing that you are unable to bear the heat, I have made a few pairs of underwear for you. They are quite cool to wear. I have made three pairs especially for you. Please try them on and don’t be ashamed to wear them.” Old Cheng likes to wear tall hats, so you have to lower your own attitude, so that you can make requests and achieve your goals.

“You’re a good son. Ugly is a crude person. He doesn’t have such delicate thoughts except for stealing wine from me. Come and try it on.” With that, he took off his loincloth and put on his underwear.

“Don’t say it, this thing is cool, you kid, you’ve worked hard. Say it, do you want me to reward you with something?” Old Cheng twisted his butt and felt very comfortable, so he decided to reward Yun Ye with something.

“This is a token of my respect for you, how can I ask for a reward? If you insist on giving me a reward, I would be honored if you would give me the jade pendant you gave to my nephew last time.” Yun Ye had long coveted the jade pendant he had won in a bet, but even though he had won, Old Cheng had not given it to him. He had asked for it several times, but to no avail. He wondered if he would be able to get it this time.

“Dreaming, that is the token I planned to give to the girl when I arranged your marriage. Now that I’m giving it to you, you’ll just lose it again. I’ll keep it for now.” As soon as he finished speaking, Yun Ye flew out of the tent.

Oh my god, not only did he not get the jade pendant, he also got kicked. What’s even more terrifying is that old Cheng is going to find a wife for himself. According to Cheng Chumo, the old man showed him several girls, all of whom were tall and strong, and good breeders. Based on this, Yun Ye felt as if Hua was beckoning to him. At this time, Yun Ye was ready to die.