Liu Xiaolou counted them with mounting worry. More than twenty Rogue Cultivators had already gone down into the fields, and his heart sank. In previous years, the manor only recruited twenty hands. With more than twenty Rogue Cultivators before him already, where would there be an opening left?
Then another thought struck him, and amid his unease, hope stirred again. They had recruited four extra people this year—why?
Had they made an exception?
Since they had made an exception, adding one more person... shouldn't be much, right?
Zang Baili was the head of the Zang family and possessed the cultivation of a Paragon of Qi Refining tenth layer. Yet limited by his talent, he could advance no further, and thus had never had the chance to enter the inner sect. Still, in the more than two hundred years since the Zang family's rise within the Zhanglong Sect, they had remained a fairly significant branch of power. Nearly every generation had produced disciples who entered the inner sect, and three had once held high positions as elders of the Zhanglong Sect.
It could be said that the Zang family was a great cultivation clan of western Xiang. Even across the whole land of Jingxiang, they ranked within the top hundred, possessing far deeper foundations than the Zhang family of Jinping Mountain Villa.
Liu Xiaolou's chances of obtaining an audience with Village Master Zang Baili were naturally slim, and that proved to be the case. The one who received him was Steward Zang of Goose-Goat Mountain Manor, a fat man in his fifties. He was fat beyond all bounds, his entire face flushed red, and he always stood with his hands on his hips. No one knew whether it was a habit or whether something was wrong with his spine.
Steward Zang had just returned from inspecting the spirit fields and met Liu Xiaolou at the edge of the fields outside the manor entrance. Hands on his hips, he asked, "You look somewhat familiar."
Liu Xiaolou hurriedly replied, "This junior helped out three years ago. For a steward burdened with a thousand affairs each day to remember this junior is this junior's good fortune."
Steward Zang nodded thoughtfully, the fat around his neck trembling. Then he asked, "Three years ago? Indeed... Then why didn't you come these past two years?"
Liu Xiaolou froze for a moment, somewhat unable to follow the steward's train of thought. He could only smile ingratiatingly. "There are too few openings for helpers at Goose-Goat Mountain, while applicants gather like clouds. This junior truly could not seize the opportunity."
Steward Zang gave an "Oh," his tone falling rather than rising, signaling that he accepted Liu Xiaolou's explanation. He then asked, "Since you knew opportunities were scarce, you should have arrived early. Why have you come late again this time?"
Liu Xiaolou had already prepared his excuse on the road. He answered, "This junior came down from the mountain two days early, but a sudden heavy rain fell in the mountains. Flash floods blocked the roads, delaying this junior for two days. I beg Steward to forgive me."
Steward Zang asked, "Which mountain?"
Liu Xiaolou said, "From Wulong Mountain, Qianzhu Ridge. Liu Xiaolou."
Steward Zang gestured to the farm overseer beside him, who stood bent at the waist and constantly clutched an account book in his hands. The overseer opened it, checked it, and replied, "Wulong Mountain, Qianzhu Ridge. Three Xuan Sect Rogue Cultivator Liu Xiaolou. That's right."
The account book contained the roster of Rogue Cultivators hired as helpers by Goose-Goat Mountain. Those who had helped before and received the Zang family's approval would be registered after verification. Rogue Cultivators not listed in the roster would not be recruited. Who knew whether they might bundle up all the harvested spirit rice and steal it away in one go?
Steward Zang stood with his hands on his hips, pondering for a long while. No one knew what he was thinking. Liu Xiaolou blinked as he waited for his decision. After what felt like an eternity, he finally received an answer. "Stay."
Overjoyed, Liu Xiaolou thanked him again and again. He watched Steward Zang leave with his hands still on his hips, then followed the farm overseer to collect a sickle and bamboo basket. Some dry rations were piled inside the basket.
Spirit rice was not ordinary rice, and harvesting it was no ordinary farmwork. The rice ears were highly spiritual and could sense danger, attacking the harvesters with the needle-like awns upon them. Their stalks were also tough, beyond the ability of ordinary farmers to handle, so only cultivators could be recruited as helpers. Even the sickles had been specially forged. They could not be called magical artifacts, yet they could withstand minor surges of true essence.
Once he was ready, Liu Xiaolou followed the farm overseer around the perimeter of the spirit fields. The Rogue Cultivator helpers in the fields had long since been working in full swing. Some honestly used sickles to cut the ears, while others used their own magical artifacts to gather them. Cultivators skilled in the Five Elements arts even directly burned the rice stalks with flames, or battered the rice ears with ice blades and water dragons. There were all kinds. For a time, blade light crisscrossed the spirit fields, water and fire surged like dragons, and brilliant colors flashed everywhere. It was a lively sight indeed.
Following the farm overseer through the spirit fields, Liu Xiaolou not only did not enter them but instead took a detour, circling down from the northern slope of Mountain Hollow and leaving the spirit fields behind.
After traveling two li along the mountain path, Liu Xiaolou could no longer hold back. "May I ask, Farm Overseer, where are we..."
"Just follow."
"Yes."
After rounding another small hill, the view suddenly opened up. Below, he could look down over a valley winding through the mountains—the western valley of Goose-Goat Mountain.
The valley had originally been thick with flourishing trees. Yet at some unknown time, patches of rice fields had been carved out among the trees and shrubs—half a mu, one mu, two mu, three mu—of varying sizes, scattered amid the dense forest. Quite a few cultivators were likewise sweating in the fields. A cursory glance showed at least twenty of them.
Only then did Liu Xiaolou finally understand why Goose-Goat Mountain had recruited more helpers than usual this year. They had opened new fields, and the usual number of workers was no longer enough.
"There are also remnants of a Spirit Spring vein here?" he could not help asking in astonishment.
The farm overseer shot him a sideways look. "Don't ask so many questions. Just work." Pointing toward the valley below, he said, "See that patch of woods? The old sandalwood grove... to the left! Beside that huge boulder at the foot of the mountain! See it? Good... Follow the woods to the right until you reach Shang'e Creek. Follow the creek southward. Do you see that shallow ditch?"
"The ditch full of wildflowers?"
"That's right. Wild chrysanthemums. Up to that ditch, the thirty-eight spirit fields inside are all yours. I've calculated it already. Big and small combined, they total seventy-eight mu and seven fen. You arrived two days late, so you only have seven days left. Can you finish harvesting them?"
"No problem." Liu Xiaolou immediately declared his resolve.
The farm overseer said, "The old rules still apply. Hand over thirty jin of unhusked rice per mu. The rest is yours."
Liu Xiaolou hesitated. "These spirit fields..."
The farm overseer cut him off. "Their yield will only be greater, not less. You'd better worry about whether you can finish harvesting them on time. If you miss the proper season, you can't afford to compensate for the losses."
Liu Xiaolou nodded. "Rest assured, Farm Overseer. I understand the rules."
He had to finish harvesting this allotted land within seven days and hand over two thousand three hundred and sixty-one jin of unhusked spirit rice—the master's household still needed to select spirit seeds. For every hundred jin short, he would have to compensate with one spirit stone; those without spirit stones would have to pay two hundred taels of silver. In truth, after consuming one hundred jin of spirit rice, the spiritual energy that could be refined into true essence was far less than that contained in a spirit stone, at most half of one. Therefore, when compensation was truly required, no one would use spirit stones. They would generally choose to pay silver.
Goose-Goat Mountain Manor also knew that the Rogue Cultivators who came to work could not afford to pay spirit stones, so they allowed silver compensation. How much of that was false compensation and a true purchase was a matter of different strokes for different folks.
Time could not be wasted. Liu Xiaolou immediately went down the mountain and soon reached the spirit fields assigned to him. He began work with the spirit field on the far northern left.
This spirit field was roughly one mu and three fen in size. Liu Xiaolou took several pieces of cowhide from his bamboo basket and tied them around his ankles and wrists as simple protection against being pierced by the rice awns. Then he stepped into the mud, raised his sickle, and reached with his left hand to grasp the rice stalks.
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