In the fourth year of Taixi, the impact of the disaster finally passed.
Jiang Shouyi returned to his hometown of Tea Mountain Village and resettled. Because he had the money to acquire land, he regained his status as a law-abiding citizen.
He took his grandson and diligently tilled the fields, thinking naively that peaceful days were finally about to arrive.
Yet it was also this month that the founding emperor of Great Jin suddenly passed away due to a severe illness, receiving the posthumous title Emperor Wu!
The imperial princes were young, but only Crown Prince Sima Zhong was the eldest, so he immediately ascended the throne and changed the era name to Yongping.
The imagery implied eternal peace.
However, the new sovereign Sima Zhong was born simple-minded and incapable of handling affairs. A year later, various feudal lords and imperial clansmen successively rebelled and launched military campaigns against one another.
In an instant, warlords carved up the realm, with this one establishing a state and that one proclaiming himself emperor! Just a decade after Great Jin ended a turbulent era, the world plunged back into great chaos!
The nine provinces were entangled in endless warfare, with beacon fires rising in all directions! Famine and conflict continued without pause, leaving the people with no way to make a living.
The third year of Yongping.
Langya Commandery continuously increased its taxes to supply King Qi's Elimination of the Ruler's Side, leaving every household ruined, with people either selling themselves into servitude or turning to banditry.
Tea Mountain Village first suffered extortion from tax collectors, and then encountered rampant bandits.
Jiang Shouyi stepped forward, united the villagers, built a stockade to defend themselves, and after days of bitter fighting, finally forced the bandits to retreat, preserving their last reserves of grain and successfully surviving the winter.
To save enough grain seeds for tilling the fields the next year, four-year-old Yan Nu survived entirely on wild grass.
"Yan Nu'er, Grandpa has failed you. Once things are peaceful next year, Grandpa will make you flour soup to eat." In the bitter cold of the twelfth lunar month, Jiang Shouyi held Yan Nu and wept bitterly.
"Mm-mm!" Yan Nu chewed voraciously on grass, eating with great relish, not knowing what there was to be sorry about.
A very distinct blood scar still circled his waist.
Outsiders all assumed it was a birthmark, but only Jiang Shouyi knew that this was the wound from when he had been cut in two as a toddler, which had not yet fully healed.
It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone, and if one cuts a hand while gathering firewood, it still takes ten-odd days to mend. Being severed directly at the waist, he guessed it would probably take at least a few years to heal completely.
Even though a severed waist was considered an injury—a strange matter indeed—Yan Nu was simply like this.
"Grandpa is always talking about peace. What is peace?" Yan Nu's large eyes were filled with curiosity.
A yearning smile appeared on Jiang Shouyi's face. "It means the world is tranquil without chaos, and we ordinary people can all live good lives without being bullied by others."
"Will it come next year?" Seeing Grandpa, who always wore a worried expression, actually smile, Yan Nu thought it must be something extremely, extremely wonderful, and couldn't help wanting to see it himself.
Hearing his grandson's words and recalling the wartime chaos of his youth—before Great Jin, the world had been in turmoil for a century, and now they had enjoyed over a decade of unification—Jiang Shouyi felt the prosperous era was bound to arrive.
Thus, he nodded firmly. "Of course, next year it will definitely be peaceful."
The fourth year of Yongping.
The displaced rebels of Donglai ran amok within the territory of Langya.
Their leader styled himself 'Duke Tianyi', attacking cities under the banner of 'Old Immortal Tianyi, boundless magic power, saving the world, eternal peace'.
Major magnates successively strengthened their troop recruitment, while the garrison troops in the various cities of Langya defended their strongholds. After a month of unsuccessful attacks, the rebels shifted to plundering various villages and ultimately headed west.
Tea Mountain Village was already suffering from poor harvests due to having too few seeds and excessive wasteland at the start of spring. Having also been pillaged by mutinous soldiers, the villagers were entirely left without food or clothing.
Jiang Shouyi took Yan Nu and dozens of fellow villagers to flee into the mountains, surviving on wild roots.
Yan Nu was still eating grass, not understanding why the people of the village and Grandpa had to eat those hard-to-swallow wild roots. He had tasted them once and felt they weren't as good as grass!
"Are they peace?" Yan Nu pointed at the armies carrying packs and bundles down the mountain, having heard this group shouting something about eternal peace.
"No! They aren't! They are all rebels! Robbers!" Jiang Shouyi's eyes were bloodshot. Their village had been pillaged clean, and countless familiar faces had been coerced and taken away.
"Those who don't give us a way to live are all villains. The government will definitely pacify them. Once the government's great army arrives, we will have peace."
The fifth year of Yongping.
General Huwei of Great Jin, Gou Xi, commanded an army of thirty thousand to pacify the rebels, with the two armies deadlocked at the border of Qingzhou and Xuzhou.
Among the rebels were demon persons skilled in transformation, who sneaked into the army to disrupt military orders, spread rumors, and burn grain stores, causing a disastrous defeat for the Jin army.
Gou Xi gathered his defeated troops and roamed the commanderies of Qingzhou. When marching to Langya Commandery, because morale was low and the local magnates were unwilling to provide provisions, he allowed his troops to pillage the countryside at will.
Tea Mountain Village did not retain a single grain of food, and the sound of wailing shook the heavens. Shortly after, the entire village threw themselves under the patronage of local magnates, reduced to serfs, and all the farmland of Tea Mountain Village was transferred to the Zhang clan of Hua County, being renamed Tea Mountain Fort.
Six-year-old Yan Nu now stood half the height of an adult, the scars on his body reduced to faint marks and basically healed.
Now barefoot, chewing voraciously on dried grass, he also went down to the fields to help with the labor and clear land for the magnate.
He asked innocently, "Grandpa, is this peace?"
With a bitter and grief-stricken expression, Jiang Shouyi said with intense resentment, "Good child, this is not peace..."
"Although it is the government's army, they are even more detestable than the rebels, and the imperial court will surely punish them severely."
Yan Nu was very curious. "Will there be peace after the imperial court punishes them severely?"
How would Jiang Shouyi know? Wielding his hoe, he thought for a moment and said, "King Qi raised troops to eliminate the ruler's side a few years ago. All the chaos in the world is because treacherous ministers rebelled. Once King Qi succeeds, there will be peace."
The sixth year of Yongping.
King Qi defeated the usurping King Zhao. After succeeding in eliminating the ruler's side, he issued a general amnesty to appease military generals and commanders.
This left the much-maligned Gou Xi, deemed meritorious rather than at fault, promoted to General Pingdong and transferred to Yanzhou to continue pacifying the rebellions...
Yet before leaving, Gou Xi forcibly conscripted people's strength, snatching away sixty thousand laborers from various counties to build roads, construct bridges, and transport supplies.
Jiang Shouyi and Yan Nu endured extreme hardship along the way, while soldiers whipped them like driven prisoners.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, has peace come?" Hearing the cries shaking the heavens around his ears, Yan Nu couldn't help asking.
Jiang Shouyi shielded Yan Nu in his embrace and said through clenched teeth, "They don't give us a way to live, so we must find a way out ourselves..."
The great battle commenced. Amidst the chaotic troops, Jiang Shouyi took Yan Nu and seized the opportunity to flee.
Along the way, Jiang Shouyi desperately dispatched four soldiers, while Yan Nu took over twenty knife slashes to his body yet remained completely unharmed.
Ultimately, with the help of seven-year-old Yan Nu, the grandfather and grandson escaped back to their hometown.
The seventh year of Yongping.
King Nansha once again eliminated the ruler's side, captured the imperial city, and killed King Qi amid the chaotic melee.
An immortal executed the demon persons among the rebels, whereupon the imperial court issued an edict of pacification, pardoning the rebellious army and executing only the ringleaders. A month later, Duke Tianyi was killed by his subordinates, and one hundred and twenty thousand rebel troops were converted into Jin troops, falling entirely under Gou Xi's command.
For his meritorious service in pacification through edict, Gou Xi was promoted to General Zhengdong! He was placed in command of the four commanderies of Taishan, Langya, Pingchang, and Beihai!
Jiang Shouyi finally returned to his hometown, but Gou Xi subsequently ordered the second and third-rate magnates of various commanderies to fund troop provisions and supply men to repair the city walls.
This caused the various magnates to grumble with discontent and the common people to suffer bitterly.
Eight-year-old Yan Nu had a blade of grass clenched in his teeth, his upper body bare and his feet naked, running back and forth at the base of the city wall to deliver water to the laborers.
When he reached Jiang Shouyi and delivered the water, he asked, "Grandpa, Grandpa, is this peace?"
Jiang Shouyi stroked Yan Nu's head with one hand, chugged down a large bowl of water, and forced up his spirits, saying, "Good child, wait a little longer, wait a little longer... Peace will be here soon..."
"Once this city is repaired, we can go home and farm. A little hardship doesn't matter, next year things will get better."
The eighth year of Yongping. A great drought struck Qingzhou, scorching the earth for a thousand miles.
Tens of thousands of displaced refugees battered magnate estates, besieged fortified manors, and plundered grain storehouses.
The Zhang clan of Hua County distributed weapons to tenant farmers and ordered all fortified manors under their name to defend to the death. Jiang Shouyi also picked up a blade and fought desperately on the walls of Tea Mountain Fort.
Ten days later, they finally awaited the arrival of Gou Xi's army. After slaughtering and driving off the refugees, Gou Xi demanded that the army enter Tea Mountain Fort to rest and reorganize.
The Zhang clan inside the fort refused to open the gates. Enraged, Gou Xi ordered an attack, and Tea Mountain Fort was slaughtered and annihilated.
A great fire burned the entire village, and of the former villagers of Tea Mountain Village, only a few households managed to escape to various places by sheer luck.
Gou Xi claimed a great victory over the roving bandits, taking over ten thousand heads in decapitation!
Jiang Shouyi desperately took Yan Nu to flee into the mountains, escaping disaster. When they returned, the place was already a scene of utter devastation with corpses lying everywhere, and countless familiar faces had been murdered.
"Grandpa..." Yan Nu found a few blood-stained blades of grass and stuffed them into his mouth, but before he could finish speaking,
Jiang Shouyi collapsed to his knees, sobbing as he grabbed the scorched earth on the ground and whimpered, "Nothing... There is nothing left..."
"Everyone is dead... Everyone is dead..."
Yan Nu squatted to the side. "Grandpa, what actually happens when someone dies?"
"It means you can never see them again..." Jiang Shouyi stood up and embraced Yan Nu.
Yet Yan Nu pointed at the mutilated corpses hanging not far away. "Uncle Datou, Aunt Tea, Ah Lian, and Little Quanzi, aren't they all right there?"
"But they will never speak again, they will never call you Yan Nu'er, and they will never, ever move again." Jiang Shouyi wailed in despair.
Seeing Grandpa in such grief-stricken agony, Yan Nu couldn't help crying as well.
Jiang Shouyi wiped away his tears with rough hands. "Yan Nu'er, don't cry... Don't cry..."
Yan Nu was very obedient. Wiping away his tears, he asked, "Does Grandpa feel unhappy when I cry?"
"Yes, Grandpa likes to watch you smile."
Yan Nu immediately bloomed with a captivating smile, warm and radiant.
Jiang Shouyi also revealed a bitter yet resilient smile, a surge of tenacity rising in his heart once more.
"Good child, you smile so prettily, Grandpa likes it." As an old wretch, he didn't know how many times he had wanted to die, but for Yan Nu, he still had to live desperately.
He seemed to live solely for this smile.
"Let's go, we're heading into the mountains! Yan Nu, you eat grass, and Grandpa will dig for wild roots! Once there is peace, we'll come back..." Jiang Shouyi said firmly.
He couldn't help feeling a pang of gratitude that Yan Nu was so easy to provide for, spending these years basically eating grass... and surviving the winter by using it for warmth too.
Thinking of this, Jiang Shouyi felt a deep ache in his heart. He, this useless grandpa, had never given Yan Nu any good days, and instead relied on Yan Nu to pull through many difficult moments.
"Will it be peaceful when we come back?" Yan Nu asked.
Jiang Shouyi nodded heavily. "It will! That Gou Xi has offended the noble clans and great families, his good days won't last much longer!"
The ninth year of Yongping.
King Donghai raised troops to eliminate the ruler's side, and Gou Xi led his army in response.
To prevent trouble from breaking out in his rear, King Donghai invited the leader of the literati, the Wang Clan of Langya, to step forward and temporarily suppress the resentment of the magnates, easing the tense relationship between Gou Xi and the noble clans.
Shortly after, because of his meritorious service in battle, Gou Xi was promoted to General Zhengdong.
The various clans thereupon reined themselves in, recruited refugees, drilled local braves, reclaimed wasteland, and recuperated.
The forests of Tea Mountain were logged to bare earth, and Jiang Shouyi could no longer make a living, forced to go down the mountain to reclaim land and return to servitude under a magnate's name.
Ten-year-old Yan Nu labored to pull the plow, swallowing grass all the while.
Beside him, Jiang Shouyi plowed the land with equal sweat, his skin withered and blackened like smoked preserved meat.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, when will the world be peaceful?"
"Wait a little longer... Once those feudal lords all settle down, the good days will come."
The tenth year of Yongping.
King Donghai captured the imperial capital, executed King Nansha, and seized control of the court.
He campaigned east and west, pacifying the rebellion of the feudal lords, while immortals came to offer congratulations. For a time, the dukes and marquises submitted in obedience.
For his meritorious service in pacifying the rebellions, Gou Xi was promoted to Governor of Qingzhou! He was made governor-general over the nine commanderies of Qingzhou!
He grew increasingly arrogant and domineering, preying upon the people, filling his treasuries with gold and jade, and worsening his relations with the magnates once more, leading to constant minor conflicts within his territory.
Old folk and children like the grandfather and grandson could only work desperately, clearing wasteland by day, splitting firewood and firing bricks for the magnate by night, and rising early in the morning to fetch water before continuing to clear land.
Yet even so, come autumn, they still had to go build fortified manors for the magnate.
Amidst the bitter winter, Jiang Shouyi relied on Yan Nu for warmth as he repaired the outer wall of the 'New Tea Mountain Fort' on a snowy night.
"Grandpa, is peace still going to come or not?"
Jiang Shouyi said almost numbly, "The warfare has already ended, the world is going to be peaceful, next year... next year things will get better."
The eleventh year of Yongping. Hu Barbarians rebelled.
The various clan tribes that had originally attached themselves to Great Jin to help pacify rebellions, growing stronger in the process, successively raised troops, ran amok across the northern lands, and engaged in massive slaughter and pillage.
Fierce and unstoppable, possessing monstrous strength and evil techniques, within a few short months they swept across the lands north and south of the Yangtze River, roaming through various provinces.
Yongzhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, Jizhou, and Yuzhou fell into chaos one after another, with dozens of commandery cities overrun.
Countless starving people were forced into rebellion, forming armed groups to protect themselves and fleeing everywhere in search of food to stay alive.
Stationed in Qingzhou, Gou Xi continuously increased taxes, while the various magnates frantically repaired manors and drilled troops, the heavy and grueling corvée labor making the lives of the grandfather and grandson increasingly difficult.
One day, Jiang Shouyi fell gravely ill and could not rise. Panicked, Yan Nu heard that there were good medicines in the martial arts training ground's storehouse, so he directly broke in to retrieve medicine to feed to Grandpa.
Afterward, he was flogged to near-death by order of the nobles within the fort, almost drawing his last breath.
Looking at his grandson's miserable state, Jiang Shouyi felt a piercing heartache, secretly regretting having let him live as an ordinary person. "Never be so rash again next time, angering the nobles... If something happens to you, how is Grandpa supposed to live?"
Though battered and wretched, Yan Nu stubbornly asked, "Where are the nobles actually any nobler than us?"
Jiang Shouyi was stunned for a moment. "The nobles read many books and possess the great learning of governance..."
Thinking of the chaotic state of the world, he changed his tune. "Most aristocratic noble clans have produced immortals. Immortals live forever without dying, summon wind and call rain, and possess power beyond a mortal's imagination. They are extremely formidable..."
Yan Nu was enlightened. "So living forever without dying and possessing great power makes someone noble?"
Tongue-tied and unable to explain further, Jiang Shouyi could only say, "We are both lowly folk. Once the world is peaceful and you can live a good life, Grandpa will be satisfied."
Yan Nu asked, "Can peace really be waited for?"
"It will..." Jiang Shouyi murmured numbly. "I hear the noble clans and great families are going to invite immortals to manifest in the world, and the immortals will create peace."
The twelfth year of Yongping. In a year of great calamity, monsters were bred; amid great chaos, demons were born.
By now, the great chaos had persisted for over a decade, and the world was gradually filled with arising monsters and proliferating demons!
In Bingzhou, a Great Golden Horned Demon ten zhang in length led beasts to eat humans, treating people like sheep! It devoured three hundred women in a single day!
Countless chivalrous heroes went forth to conquer it, only to become morsels in the bellies of the ten thousand-strong wolf pack under its command.
In Yongzhou, a World-Scorching Drought Demon was undying and unliving, leaving not a blade of grass growing wherever it passed!
The Twelve Loose Immortals of Jiming Mountain descended into the world with sword control to subdue demons, perishing at Tianshui and turning into zombies.
In Qingzhou, Nine Dragons Uprooting Mountains caused a towering blue-white giant peak to rise straight from flat ground, and those who climbed the mountain were struck by tribulation clouds.
Eighteen Demonic Masters dwelt within, establishing eighteen layers of purgatory to torture and oppress all immortals, known as the 'Nine Dragon Demon Cave'.
Seeing this chaotic state, the noble clans were finally jolted into exerting their efforts, inviting their own immortal figures to descend into the world and subdue demons.
Little did they know that among the Hu Barbarians, there were also immortal mighty beings who had submitted to the Central Plains to develop since the previous dynasty and had now grown into a formidable force!
They merged with demons and monsters, extraordinary indeed.
In contrast, the cultivators of the Central Plains had few who responded. The immortal mighty beings all possessed carefree states of mind, elegant and unrestrained, remaining hidden from the world and dwelling far away in mountains and seas.
The rare few who did respond acted entirely on a whim! They drifted in gracefully and departed just as they pleased...
Consequently, the secular situation of Great Jin was also extremely unfavorable. Top-tier noble clans and first-rate noble families all suffered heavy losses, choosing outright to abandon their ancestral homelands and retreat to the undisturbed South of the Yangtze River to recuperate and build up their strength.
The great clans migrated south with the elite, causing the arrogance of the northern Hu Barbarians to grow even more unbridled.
Only a multitude of local small and medium magnates were left behind, inheriting the property of the great clans in the northern lands.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, the nobles are all crying. It seems some old ancestor has died?" Yan Nu chewed on grass as he spoke of the news he had inquired about.
Jiang Shouyi let out a long sigh, knowing that many immortal-like figures among the noble clans of Langya Commandery had all died in that blue-white demonic mountain that had suddenly risen thousands of li away.
His expression was somewhat dazed; this era was becoming harder by the day.
Looking at himself, he was already past sixty years old, with graying hair and a body as withered and thin as firewood, growing weaker day by day, practically a dead man in a tomb. How much longer could he accompany Yan Nu?
He held Yan Nu tightly in his arms, saying feebly, "Remember, one day Grandpa will also die. When that time comes, you mustn't cry. You must live on bravely and strongly."
Yan Nu murmured, "Live on..."
Jiang Shouyi stroked him. "Yes, to live is to eat, to laugh, to miss others, and to protect the ones you love..."
"You are still young. If you live on, you will surely see the day of peace."
Yan Nu nodded forcefully. "I understand, Grandpa. I will keep living!"
In the thirteenth year of Yongping.
A Hu barbarians tribe called the Tu Fa Clan swept into Qingzhou.
Although the entire tribe only numbered thirty thousand, their military might was extremely fierce.
Gou Xi, the Governor of Qingzhou, was greatly alarmed. On one hand, he assembled a large army to meet the enemy; on the other, he ordered the powerful clans of various commanderies to send troops in aid.
However, the various powerful clans deeply resented him and paid lip service while defying him in secret, dispatching only some the old, weak, sick, and disabled. Jiang Shouyi was among them.
"Good child, don't be afraid. Once Grandpa is gone, you must take good care of yourself." With a full head of white hair and holding a weapon, Jiang Shouyi bade farewell to Yan Nu.
Fourteen-year-old Yan Nu was already about as tall as him, with a lean body, slightly tanned skin, and a pair of large eyes as bright as stars.
Yan Nu said eagerly, "I want to go too! Yan Nu has never been separated from Grandpa!"
"No! Don't!" Jiang Shouyi said sternly. "You must be obedient, stay safely in the fortress, and wait for me to return. Above all, don't stir up trouble! Work hard..."
"Those nobles are born superior to us. If they bully you and refuse to give you food, you must secretly go dig up wild herbs..."
"If they beat and scold you, never fight back. But if they want to kill you... you must run! Kill whoever blocks you! Fight for your life and kill them!"
Jiang Shouyi didn't know whether he could still come back from this expedition; he was far too worried about Yan Nu.
Yan Nu was innocent and fearless, with a disposition as fierce as fire. Ordinarily he was also a bit foolish, and always failed to comprehend many matters of common sense.
Conversely, once he figured something out and set his mind on a matter, he would never change it, and not even ten oxen could pull him back.
With himself around, he could still keep him in check, but what would he do once he was gone?
Without Xue'er, Yan Nu's wondrous nature had stagnated, and his bizarre abilities like eating grass were still living off the old capital from his infancy.
Thinking of this, he exhorted him once more, "Remember, child... you still have a family member named Zhu Yanxue, a young lady of the Zhu family in Anqiu..."
Over the years, Jiang Shouyi had kept his promise and never set foot in the Zhu family's territory, nor did he know how Xue'er was doing. He imagined she must have grown into a proper young lady of a prominent family by now.
At this moment he told Yan Nu all about Xue'er, fearing he might not have the chance to speak of it later.
"Family?" Yan Nu scratched his head.
"Yes. Both of you were born to heaven, and it was an old man who picked you both up..." Jiang Shouyi finally revealed his background, and not knowing whether he and Xue'er could be considered older and younger siblings, he simply called them family.
"If one day someone bullies you and you have nowhere to go, go find her. It doesn't matter if she doesn't acknowledge you; as long as you follow her and protect her, even being a servant by her side is fine."
Jiang Shouyi knew that as long as Xue'er was by his side, Yan Nu would become even more wondrous, and would thus have the capital to protect himself in these troubled times.
Although that might make it easier to cause trouble and arouse the covetous desires of many wicked people, when things truly reached that point, there would be no help for it. Perhaps Yan Nu was simply destined not to be a mortal.
Had he known earlier that the world would fall into such chaos, he probably wouldn't have let the two children separate.
"Xue'er grew up in a prestigious family and is certainly more sensible than you. If... if you feel what she says makes sense, listen to her."
"I understand... Grandpa, you must come back early." Yan Nu blossomed into a warm smile.
Jiang Shouyi reluctantly stroked Yan Nu's soft black hair. "Grandpa will come back. Grandpa hasn't taken you to live a good life yet."
Yan Nu grinned. "Oh! Grandpa! When you come back, will it be peace?"
Jiang Shouyi smiled. "When there is peace, Grandpa will come back."
PS: Sorry. Chapters five and six were asked to undergo a few modifications; if it still doesn't work, we'll change them again.
Before you continue