Chương 1: Before the Sudden Storm

Nine Provinces Kingdom, Willow County, Golden Willow Village. In August, the blazing sun hung high overhead, scorching the earth. On the small road at the village entrance, Jiang Huanyu, wearing a straw hat and a short hemp shirt, with his trouser legs rolled up, walked toward the grain-drying field under the fierce sun. Behind him followed two bare-bottomed children, one older and one younger.

"Father is lying. There isn't even a single cloud in the sky. How could it possibly rain?" The seven-or-eight-year-old Jiang Wenfeng carried a wooden box, shielding his forehead with his dirty little hand. He tilted his head, looked at the cloudless sky, and muttered. Far behind them, the little fellow who was only three or four years old was currently holding his little water pipe, aiming at an ant nest and wantonly watering it. His giggling laughter drifted over.

Jiang Huanyu stopped and looked at the mischievous little fellow with a helpless smile.

"Anu, stop making trouble!"

"Be careful when you sleep tonight. The ants might crawl into your quilt and bite your butt!" The pouring stream of water suddenly stopped. The little fellow turned his head and glanced back. Somewhat afraid, he took two steps back, then turned and sprayed a circle around a nearby big tree. Only then did he shake his body in satisfaction and jog all the way over.

"Father, will it really rain today?" Jiang Huanyu took off the straw hat on his head, placed it on the little fellow's head, and nodded.

"It will. So we have to hurry and collect the grain. Otherwise, it'll be washed away by the heavy rain." A breeze blew over. The straw hat was too big, so the little fellow hurriedly pressed it down with his hand. Then he excitedly looked at Jiang Wenfeng beside him and said, "Big brother, when the rain stops, take Anu to the pond to catch frogs!" Jiang Wenfeng glanced at Jiang Huanyu evasively and quickly shook his head.

"No. Mother doesn't let us play in the water. If she finds out, our butts will be beaten rotten!" Anu pressed down the straw hat with one hand and pulled Jiang Wenfeng's hand with the other, whispering, "Then let's secretly go…" As soon as his words fell, a slap landed on his little butt.

"Stinky brat, do you think your father doesn't exist?"

"Stop dawdling. Hurry up and collect the grain." After receiving the slap, the little fellow did not cry. Bare-bottomed, he ran like a wisp of smoke toward the grain-drying field. Seeing this scene, Jiang Huanyu could not help but raise the corners of his mouth. His thoughts also became somewhat dazed. Sometimes, he felt as if he were dreaming. A very real and very long dream. In his previous life, after graduating from university, he entered a big company.

In order to take root in Hangzhou, he desperately worked overtime. At the age of thirty, with the help of his parents, he finally emptied his family's savings and paid the down payment. Sadly, before the pre-sale house was even delivered, he suddenly died from overwork and unexpectedly came here, becoming a commoner who was not exactly ordinary. The reason he was said to be not ordinary was because, compared with the other commoners in the village, the Jiang family counted as a wealthy household.

His great-grandfather had joined the army back then, cut off the heads of three barbarian warriors, and obtained a noble rank. The Great Yu Dynasty used a military merit nobility system similar to the Qin Dynasty in the history of his previous life. Kill three enemies on the battlefield, and one would be granted the rank of Steed, rewarded with two residences, about 13 hectares of fertile land, and about half a hectare of mountain land. Noble ranks were inherited, but lowered with each generation.

Now, by Jiang Huanyu's generation, the Jiang family's noble rank had already been reduced until nothing remained. Fortunately, about 4 hectares of fertile land and about 1 hectare of mountain land had still been left behind. About 100 kilometers west of Golden Willow Village was a huge mountain range stretching for 5, 000 kilometers, named Hidden Dragon Mountain. Hidden Dragon Mountain was like a natural barrier, blocking the Western Wilderness barbarians outside.

However, even with this natural danger blocking the way, there would still be some small groups of barbarians crossing Hidden Dragon Mountain and wandering into Great Yu territory to plunder and slaughter. Because of this, a few years ago, the Emperor of Yu issued an order to establish Mountain Patrol Commandant Camps along Hidden Dragon Mountain. Since then, barbarians had rarely harassed the surrounding villages and towns. His wife, Hu Yufen, had originally been the young lady of a wealthy family.

Eight years ago, because she encountered a barbarian disaster, she unexpectedly wandered to Golden Willow Village. After being rescued, the two developed feelings over time and became husband and wife. In the years after their marriage, Hu Yufen gave birth to two sons for him one after another. The eldest, Jiang Wenfeng, whose childhood name was Stone, was seven years old this year. The second, Jiang Wenyan, whose childhood name was Anu, would be four after the Year Sacrifice.

With a wife and sons, guarding about 4 hectares of fertile land and about 1 hectare of mountain forest, Jiang Huanyu felt that it would also be quite good if life continued plainly like this. However, half a month ago, when he went fishing in the great river with the villagers, he unexpectedly activated a Daily Divination System bound to his family for some inexplicable reason. Every day, just after midnight, the system would randomly refresh a new divination result. Ding!

[Today's Divination · Ordinary]: Rain at around 2: 15 p. m. By around 4: 00 p. m., the rainfall will be sufficient. Water level obtained: about 80 centimeters. The divination result in his mind was displayed clearly. Sometimes Jiang Huanyu even thought that with this system's existence, he could completely play the role of a charlatan half-immortal. Just by moving his lips, he could obtain a large amount of money.

But unfortunately, for the past half month, the divination results given by the Divination System had not shown the slightest pattern. And if he wanted to specifically deduce a certain matter, he needed to consume his lifespan. In his previous life, he exchanged his life for money and ended up losing both person and wealth. In this life, he was unwilling to do such a stupid thing again. After experiencing the initial excitement, life continued to pass so plainly.

For the past half month, the system had actually brought him quite a few small surprises. For example, a few days ago, the divination result showed that a nest of wild boars had appeared in his family's mountain forest. Jiang Huanyu immediately followed the prompt and laid traps in the forest. In one go, he caught seven little piglets and one adult male boar, which counted as making a small fortune. And today, the sky was clear for thousands of kilometers.

No matter who looked, no one could tell that there would be a heavy rain about four hours later. The vast grain-drying field was filled with his family's newly harvested grain. If they waited until the heavy rain fell before hurriedly coming to collect it, not only would the grain be washed away by the rainwater, but the grain soaked by rain would also grow mold and sprout. That would be no small loss.

"Master, the grain has just been turned over." An aged voice interrupted Jiang Huanyu's thoughts. A thin old man with a stooped figure and a bare upper body hurriedly came forward when he saw Jiang Huanyu and spoke. The old man was called Xi Fu. He was a short-term worker Jiang Huanyu had hired. Xi Fu was an ordinary commoner from the neighboring village. In his early years, his only son went up the mountain to hunt and accidentally fell.

In order to gather money to treat his son's injuries, Xi Fu sold off all his family's farmland. Now, although his son's life had been saved, he had become disabled. Without farmland, Xi Fu could only rely on working as a short-term laborer for others to maintain a livelihood.

"Uncle Fu, bring everything over. Collect this grain as quickly as possible." Hearing this, Xi Fu looked at the sky somewhat astonished.

"Master, the sun is still strong. This is exactly the best time to dry off the moisture. Collecting it now…" Jiang Huanyu bent down, scooped up a handful of grain, and examined it in his palm. Then he smiled and said, "It's more or less enough. Hurry and collect it." Although Xi Fu was very puzzled, since the master had spoken, he did not dare delay. He immediately brought over tools such as winnowing baskets and brooms and began busily working.

The two little fellows beside them also each picked up a wooden pusher and helped push the grain little by little from the outside toward the center. Jiang Wenfeng was already seven years old. Although pushing it was somewhat strenuous, he still gritted his teeth and persisted. But Jiang Wenyan was not even four years old, so his strength was clearly much smaller. The little fellow pushed two steps. After the grain piled up in front of the wooden pusher, he completely could not push it anymore.

"Yi—ya—" "Aiyo—" His tender little hands held the wooden pusher, and his little feet kicked chaotically. In the end, because his center of gravity became unstable, the wooden pusher slipped away from the grain. The little fellow directly fell flat onto the ground.

"Young master, are you all right?" Seeing this, Xi Fu hurriedly ran over, wanting to help him up. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Uncle Fu, don't mind him. This brat needs a few falls to become sturdy." Jiang Huanyu spoke. The tears swirling in the little fellow's eyes slowly withdrew again. He climbed up, patted off the grain and dust stuck to his body, then picked up the wooden pusher again to help. After trying several times in a row and discovering that he could only push it two steps, the little fellow stood there in a daze and looked for a while. Suddenly, he smiled. He no longer insisted on pushing the grain to the center.

Instead, each time he only pushed two steps before changing to another position. Seeing this, Jiang Huanyu smiled with relief. Xi Fu, who was at the side, also clicked his tongue in wonder when he saw it.

"The young master is so clever. Master is truly blessed." The four of them worked busily for more than an hour, and all the grain in the grain-drying field was piled up in the center. At this time, the sky was already no longer as clear as before. Gusts of strong wind had also begun blowing across the grain-drying field. Large patches of clouds quickly drifted over from the distance.

Jiang Huanyu and Xi Fu hurriedly carried over a large amount of rain grass and rice straw from the side, covered the grain pile, then used mud to build a ridge around the middle of the grain pile to prevent rainwater from seeping into the grain pile from below. Before they had even finished, the sky had already turned terrifyingly gloomy. After several muffled thunderclaps, bean-sized raindrops fell with loud pattering sounds! The two of them braved the raindrops and carefully checked everything.

Only after making sure there would be no water seepage did they hurriedly hide inside the cool shed beside the grain-drying field. Xi Fu wiped the rainwater from his face and looked at Jiang Huanyu in surprise.

"This is truly divine. Master, how did you know there would be rain today?" Jiang Huanyu smiled without speaking. In his heart, however, he was calculating that once this rain stopped, he could hire a few more short-term workers to carry out summer plowing and sowing. The heavy rain poured down. Jiang Huanyu glanced at the wooden box beside him and said, "Stone, take out the flatbread your mother baked for Grandpa Fu."

Jiang Wenfeng hurriedly ran over, opened the wooden box, and took out two flatbreads, a small dish of side vegetables, and a bowl of thin porridge, handing them to Xi Fu.

"Grandpa Fu, hurry and eat." Seeing this, Xi Fu's eyes grew a little moist. Ever since his farmland had been sold, he had always worked as a short-term laborer for others. The masters he had worked for in the past basically did not treat people like him as human, let alone provide meals.

"Many thanks, Master." Xi Fu bowed, carefully took the food, and began eating. Jiang Huanyu looked at him and shook his head slightly. This old man was also a pitiful person. His wife was kind-hearted. After learning that Xi Fu only ate one meal at home in the morning and relied entirely on cold water to get through noon, she would bake two extra flatbreads every time and have Jiang Huanyu bring them over.

Jiang Huanyu had originally wanted to advise against it, but thinking that Xi Fu worked very seriously and responsibly, never slacking off, he did not say much. After eating and drinking his fill, Xi Fu carefully put away the bowl and dishes and placed them into the wooden box. The two chatted idly, one sentence here and one sentence there. At the beginning of the evening hour, the rain gradually stopped, and the dark clouds in the sky also slowly drifted away.

"Summer rain comes quickly and leaves quickly too." Looking at the sun emerging from the clouds, Xi Fu went barefoot and hurriedly came to the grain-drying field to check.

"Master, no water seeped in!"

"Once this place dries a little, it can be pulled back home and stored." Jiang Huanyu nodded. This year was a good harvest year. After paying the taxes, quite a lot of this grain should still remain. At that time, selling some and storing some would make life much easier again.

"Stone, go back home and have your mother bring the ox cart over."

"Okay!" Jiang Wenfeng answered and ran toward the village. Not long after, an old ox slowly pulled a flatbed cart over from the village. Sitting on the cart was a woman wearing a long floral cloth dress, her hair coiled into a bun. Although she had given birth to two children, Hu Yufen's figure had not gone out of shape at all, and her appearance was still very delicate and pleasing to the eye. When the ox cart came near, Hu Yufen got down from the flatbed cart and looked at Jiang Huanyu with a smiling expression.

"Husband, when did you learn the ability to observe heavenly signs?" Jiang Huanyu raised his chin proudly and said, "Your man has many abilities."

"Smooth talker…" Hu Yufen rolled her eyes at him, then turned to Xi Fu and said, "Uncle Fu, thank you for today."

"Madam, what are you saying?" Xi Fu hurriedly cupped his hands.

"It is all this old man's duty."

"This old man should also thank Madam for thinking of me every day and having Master bring food over." After exchanging some polite words, his tone changed and he said, "Master and Madam, please rest first. This old man will load the grain onto the cart now."

"I'll help you," Jiang Huanyu said. The two carefully lifted the rain grass and rice straw from the grain pile. Looking at the dry grain inside, they used winnowing baskets to carry it little by little onto the flatbed cart. Hu Yufen also did not go rest. Carrying a bamboo basket, she stood to the side and picked out all the grains that had been stained by rainwater. The group remained busy until nightfall, around 7 p. m. to 9 p. m., before they finally transported all the grain back home.

After drawing some well water and simply washing their bodies, Jiang Huanyu looked at his wife.

"Yufen, it's the end of the month. Go get some money and settle Uncle Fu's wages." Hu Yufen answered and walked toward the house.

"Madam, please wait." Seeing this, Xi Fu hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Master, Madam, this old man has an unreasonable request."

"I would like to use these wages to buy Master's grain. What do you think…" Buy grain?

"Master's grain has full kernels. It is superior grain. This old man…" Xi Fu was somewhat embarrassed and also somewhat guilty. With his eye, he could tell that the rice hulled from the Jiang family's grain would be comparable to polished rice. Rice porridge cooked from polished rice was much more nourishing than those inferior grains.

"That's fine. Calculate it according to the market price." Jiang Huanyu saw through his little thoughts, but did not feel anything was wrong with it. The reason his family's grain had superior quality was entirely because enough fertility had been supplied. And these fertilizers were all fermented using the composting method from the memories of his previous life, made from withered grass, tree leaves, river mud, and human and livestock manure. This old man worked honestly and had good judgment.

He was a decent person. Letting him take a small advantage was no problem.

"Many thanks, Master!"

"Many thanks, Master!" After hearing this, Xi Fu cupped his hands again and again. He had actually planned to buy it at a price ten percent higher than the market price. But estimating that the Jiang family's grain, if sold to the grain shop in town, would be at least thirty percent higher than the market price, he had been somewhat conflicted and embarrassed to speak. He had not expected Jiang Huanyu to be so generous, willing to calculate it for him at the market price.

After some calculation, Jiang Huanyu had Hu Yufen find a cloth bag and fill it with grain for him.

"Uncle Fu, there is no need to come over these next few days. Come help with plowing and sowing after a few days. The wages will remain the same." Xi Fu, carrying the grain on his back, was slightly stunned. He had thought that his attempt to take a small advantage would make Jiang Huanyu dissatisfied, and that Jiang Huanyu would no longer use him in the future.

"Good! Good, good!"

"When it is time to plow, this old man will come over immediately!"

"Master, this old man will go back first." After seeing Xi Fu off, Hu Yufen went to the kitchen house and busied herself preparing dinner, while the eldest, Jiang Wenfeng, helped tend the stove fire. The family simply finished dinner. After washing up, they lay down on the bed. In this era, there was no television and no phone. Eating one's fill and then sleeping had already become the norm. Late at night, when all was quiet, the two little fellows had been busy all afternoon and had fallen asleep early.

The husband and wife lay on the bed, leaning against each other.

"Stone is seven this year. Husband, do you have any plans?" Hu Yufen moved slightly and rested her head on Jiang Huanyu's shoulder.

"During the day, I ran into Sister-in-law from the rear courtyard preparing the entrance tuition. She said that when autumn begins, she will send her family's Daniu to the teacher in town for basic education."

"When you go to town to sell grain later, do you want to ask about it?" Jiang Huanyu gave a soft hum. At seven years old, in his previous life, it would already be time to go to primary school. These years, the husband and wife had relied on hard work and had saved some money. Their days could be considered passable. It was indeed time to plan some future path for the children. They could not let them be farmers for their entire lives too. Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.

The Great Yu Dynasty also had social classes. Only, within the scholar class, there was also a parallel "martial" class. Great Yu revered martial strength. After laying a foundation in childhood, one could join the army in the future, kill enemies on the battlefield, and also be enfeoffed as a marquis or appointed as a general. He understood his own children. Compared with the second child, Jiang Wenyan, the eldest, Jiang Wenfeng, had more than enough endurance but insufficient cleverness.

Such a person was more suitable for the martial path. If he followed the literary path and luckily entered officialdom in the future, it might not necessarily be a good thing.

"How much silver does the family have?" The literary path was poor, while the martial path was rich. Practicing martial arts was something that burned money. He had to calculate carefully.

"One hundred and sixty taels."

"This season's grain can still sell for quite a bit." Hu Yufen managed the household, and she handled these matters in a very orderly manner. Hearing this, Jiang Huanyu frowned slightly. One hundred and sixty taels was probably somewhat insufficient. He had privately asked around before. In the martial arts school in town, just the initiation gift for accepting disciples cost twenty taels. Three medicinal meals each month for conditioning would also cost ten taels of silver.

Although the money for medicinal meals was not mandatory, Jiang Huanyu felt that since he had chosen this path for him, he definitely had to give him the greatest support. If he only trained half-heartedly, then it would be better not to train at all.

"Let me think about this matter. It's late. Sleep." He turned over, and his large hand became dishonest as it wandered over Hu Yufen's body. When their passion grew intense, Hu Yufen suddenly turned over on top of him, her voice charming as she said, "Husband worked hard during the day. Let me." After the clouds and rain ended, Hu Yufen fell into a deep sleep. Jiang Huanyu looked at the system panel in his sea of consciousness and fell into deep thought. The Divination System was bound to the entire family.

At present, the Jiang family's direct bloodline only consisted of the three of them, father and sons. On the system, it was displayed as [Beginner Family]. He also did not know whether the system would undergo any changes if the Jiang family's bloodline increased in number. Listening to the summer insects chirping, holding his soft and warm wife, and thinking about future matters, time soon arrived at midnight. Ding! [System Notification: Divination has refreshed.] [Today's Divination · Auspicious]: When you pass by Blackwater Pond, you will unexpectedly discover a hundred-year-old Blood Toad shedding its skin. The shed skin of a hundred-year-old Blood Toad has extremely high medicinal value. Selling it can earn two hundred taels of silver.