parentshiftbook Chapter 1 The Grain Merchant's Son
Chapter 1 The Grain Merchant's Son
It was June, early summer, the sky was cloudless, and the sun was blazing.
The scorching sun stung the skin, and the swirling, molten heat spread throughout Bailiu Village.
At the village entrance, on the boundless, cracked, brownish-yellow earth, a hundred or so rough, thin men, wearing sun hats and holding pickaxes and hoes, were gathered in small groups, talking quietly, their eyes filled with resentment and indignation.
Nearby, several young children dressed only in simple T-shirts were playing and frolicking, reaching out their little hands to dig into the cracks in the parched earth, trying to catch a few mud tigers.
The young children played so intently that they didn't even notice the scorching light or the fine sweat covering their ruddy faces.
"Blackie is here!" A childish, excited voice rang out from among the children.
West side of the village.
A yellow horse galloped by, its hooves pounding the cracked earth. A child digging a hole couldn't dodge in time and was scratched on the face by flying chunks of dirt, crying loudly.
The crowd was startled, their eyes sweeping over the portly man on horseback before fixing their gaze on the exquisitely carved two-horse carriage at the end of the road.
As the horse's speed gradually decreased, a commoner jumped off the yellow horse and tied the reins to a white willow tree.
He then respectfully responded to a few more questions into the carriage.
"Don't worry, Young Master Feng, you can rest assured about what I'm doing."
"Um."
Inside the carriage, Feng Xiu lifted the curtain, revealing a handsome face with fair skin, and nodded slightly.
Immediately afterward, Blackie turned around and walked towards the crowd.
"Hey Blackie, how's it going?"
Before he could even enter, a farmer asked him anxiously.
"Hehe, you guys really hit the jackpot this time."
"Old Master Feng knows that the heavens are not on your side this year, so he specially found an old immortal from Yulin County who can summon wind and rain to borrow rain for you."
Blackie grinned confidently, revealing several gold-plated teeth.
"immortal?"
Inside the carriage, Feng Xiu paused slightly as he played with the jade, his expression subtly changing.
Having traversed this world for two months, he was naturally aware of the flourishing martial spirit of the Great Liang Empire, a fact he was quite impressed by.
So what if he's a rich young master? If you push your tenants too far, they're really willing to risk their lives.
As for immortals and the like, he had never heard of them.
"Really?" came the farmer's question from outside the car, sounding skeptical.
"Of course we've prepared everything for this year's spring planting; all we're missing is this rain."
Blackie patted his chest and made a bold and confident promise.
"When is that person arriving?"
"Ten days? If we wait ten days, the daylily will be too late!" A commotion arose in the crowd, and some people stared wide-eyed.
"If we miss the initial planting season and delay this year's harvest, are we all going to starve to death?!"
"Big shot, don't talk nonsense. The new guy just waived six months' rent for Dendrobium Village last month."
"What does it have to do with the Feng family if God doesn't grant them a favor?"
An elderly man took a couple of puffs of his pipe, and sighed helplessly beneath the wrinkles around his eyes.
He glanced at the young man in the carriage, a stiff smile appearing on his slightly worried face.
"You're eating the Feng family's salary, yet you're taking their side like this. I'll tell you straight, if the Feng family doesn't get the water from the Jade Belt Pond Reservoir, hmph~"
Suddenly, a violent shout erupted from the crowd.
The man snorted coldly, revealing an extremely robust physique beneath his coarse cloth clothes.
Although the words were a reprimand to Hei Ye, the slightly fierce gaze was fixed on Feng Xiu, who had lifted the carriage curtain. Feng Xiu nodded slightly, and his expression softened a little.
Despite being spitting in the face by the man's retort, Blackie's smile remained unchanged.
"Don't be angry, it will definitely not delay spring planting in ten days!"
The crowd remained unconvinced, their expressions filled with suspicion, but they couldn't resist the confidence and charisma of Blackie, considering his connections to both the legitimate and underworld worlds.
I had no choice but to give up.
"Okay, Uncle Hei, we believe you, we'll wait ten days." In the end, it was the elderly villager who made the final decision.
Ten days, in the middle of the month, it's a bit late, but it's not a big deal.
Bai Liu Village had no chance to bargain with the Feng family, and it was enough that Master Hei could still make a promise.
"Sure, sure. If they don't show up, I'll change my name!"
After a few words, Blackie calmed everyone down effortlessly.
The crowd gradually dispersed.
Watching the departing figures of the group of men, Blackie wiped his face and spat out a mouthful of phlegm with a disdainful expression.
"What the hell~" He stomped his boot on the ground again.
Then, they walked toward the carriage that was parked under the white willow tree and proceeded along the path.
He then tidied his clothes and appearance as if he were doing something proper, slightly bending over with a smile on his face.
"Young Master Feng, everyone's gone, what do you think...?"
Upon arriving at the carriage, Blackie rubbed his hands together, his tone slightly ingratiating, a departure from his previous bold and generous manner.
"Go back and collect your reward; the travel expenses from last time will also be refunded."
"Alright, young master, you're very generous~"
Blackie grinned, unable to contain his joy.
In the front compartment of the carriage, the accompanying coachman, seeing that the matter was settled, cracked his whip and drove along the bumpy path towards Qingyan City.
Blackie followed closely behind, walking side by side.
"If you ask me, Young Master Feng, your methods are too lenient. To deal with a group of troublemaking tenants, you could just send a few servants to fend them off."
"There's no need for you to personally take action."
Along the way, Blackie was not idle either, his words revealing the slickness of a gangster.
"You mean, I did something wrong?"
"Of course."
It's not raining; the entire Qingyan City and its many subordinate counties and towns are in the same situation.
So many years have passed, and the result is nothing more than a reduction in the yield of golden wheat.
There are no immortals here; it's just an excuse to fool people.
Feng Xiu remained noncommittal and did not respond. He turned his gaze to the cracked fields outside the window and couldn't help but shake his head.
excuse?
Arguing with him about the rules of how this era works is pointless.
As the eldest son of the Feng family, he naturally could not have direct contact with the tenants of the farm under the family's jurisdiction.
Blackie is a broker who specializes in this field. He has extensive connections and influence, and he can deal with both minor officials in government offices and low-level tenant farmers.
However, Feng Xiu found his remarks extremely uncomfortable.
He believed that his own moral values had been reduced to the bare minimum.
But every time, you can always hear some unique principles of conduct and interpersonal relationships from Hei Ye.
"Young Master Feng, let me remind you, even if there's no rain during spring planting and it ruins this year's harvest..."
"Even if you don't get water from the reservoir, you absolutely cannot reduce the rent; in fact, you must raise it!"
Seeing that Feng Xiu remained silent, Blackie thought he had listened to him and earnestly advised him again.
Young Master Feng paid the money readily, and Blackie really didn't want to see him do anything foolish, so he said a few more words.
Inside the carriage, Feng Xiu was rubbing two shiny, jade-like walnuts.
Then, the movement stopped.
Suppressing his emotions, Feng Xiu ignored it and turned to ask Blackie.
"You mentioned before that there's an old hermit in Yulin County. Is that true?"
"You mean this?" Blackie's tone was taken aback. "It's true, but that old guy's temple is just a dilapidated one, and he doesn't get many worshippers."
"Twenty taels, go and invite him over."
Feng Xiu knew perfectly well that the rain-seeking stunt was most likely nonsense.
Ten days it is, we can only wait and see what happens.
Blackie's eyes darted around, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Rich young masters are just different; they really have too much money to burn."
However, adhering to the principle that "a fool wouldn't pass up a chance to make money," he immediately patted his chest and guaranteed:
"Alright, just you wait and see. Even if it means tying him up, I'll bring him here." He immediately beamed with joy and made his promise.
"Young Master Feng, farewell!"
After receiving the new work assignment, Blackie didn't linger and bowed to Feng Xiu.
With twenty taels of silver in my pocket, that's enough to keep me entertained for a while. How could I possibly waste my time?
Hei Ye turned his head and gently pulled on the reins, and without even entering the city gate of Qingyan City, he drove towards Yulin County without stopping.
Inside the train carriage.
Feng Xiu gently pulled back the curtain with one hand, and the surrounding scenery slowly receded.
The ancient atmosphere, which was previously only found in historical dramas, is palpable.
Before the carriage had even left the territory of Bailiu Village, the road surface was uneven, yet there were still many people busy making a living. Looking at those farmers bending over and digging in the ground, Feng Xiu shook his head and sighed.
After realizing that he could never go back, Feng Xiu gradually became familiar with his identity and began to act more and more like the eldest young master of the Feng family.
But the world he lived in was completely different from the TV dramas he watched in his previous life.
As a wealthy young master, the original owner left behind a fairly substantial "inheritance".
However, as Feng Xiu carefully played the role of a wealthy merchant's son, he discovered that everything seemed to be deviating from his expectations.
The sons of wealthy families have no concept of loafing around and waiting to die. They need to be involved in everything from inspecting the farm to appeasing the tenants to handling all the family's affairs, big and small.
Coincidentally, this was precisely the weakness that Feng Xiu was not yet familiar with, which is why he asked Blackie to come and handle it.
In fact, Feng Xiu looked down on this kind of person.
During the time I spent with him, I always used other words to imply that I was not good enough, but today I was more direct.
"Young master, do you think we need to rest for a while?"
Lost in thought, the middle-aged coachman in the front seat of the carriage put down his whip, and the speed gradually decreased.
The journey from Bailiu Village to the official road was quite bumpy, and the strenuous horseback riding had left him with some pain from the wooden planks under his buttocks.
"No need, let's keep going."
Hearing this, the driver had no choice but to continue on his way.
After Feng Xiu finished speaking, he felt no jolt at all.
"Fortunately, I have achieved some success in the Eight Vajra Technique, which has strengthened my physique. Otherwise, with this level of exertion, my body would have fallen apart long ago."
Feng Xiu sighed, and a purple light screen flashed in his vision.
【Life: 3】
【Spirit: 0】
【Strength: 0】
[Agility: 0]
[Technique Record: Eight Vajra Techniques (Slight Success, Life +2)]
Feng Xiu felt a little more at ease. No matter how uncomfortable he felt about the world, at least he had brought something with him.
The only problem is that the synthesis option on the cultivation manual has been grayed out, and I don't know when it will be turned on.
"Grandpa Zhang's Eight Vajra Kung Fu is still too authoritative."
"I wonder just how much change martial arts in this world will bring."
After entering the official road, the carriage's speed increased significantly.
An hour later, a magnificent city sprawled on the plateau, its gray-white, stacked blue rocks towering over ten zhang high.
The walls, weathered by wind and sun, were covered in peeling paint. Outside the city gate, the scene was bustling yet orderly, with long lines of people and vehicles waiting to enter the city.
Ox-carts laden with sacks of golden wheat creaked and groaned, while caravans led packhorses from the highlands carried hides, salt, and many other rare goods from the inland.
Among them were farmers carrying loads on shoulder poles and carrying bags on their backs, and strong warriors galloping past on horseback, their hooves thundering.
In front of each of the eight vermilion gates, there was a heavy ironwood table, behind which the gatekeeper was rapidly browsing through various access documents.
The soldiers on duty around them were dressed in leather armor, their eyes sharp as eagles, their temples slightly bulging.
The Feng family were wealthy local merchants. They only glanced at the Feng character hanging high on the eaves of the carriage before letting it into the city.
The carriage entered through the side entrance of the gate, traveled through the streets and alleys, and then traveled for another fifteen minutes.
In the inner city, the familiar gate of the Feng family mansion came into view; we had arrived home.