It was June, the beginning of summer. The sky was cloudless, and the scorching sun blazed overhead.
The searing sunlight stung the skin, while waves of shimmering heat spread across the entirety of White Willow Village.
At the village entrance, on a boundless stretch of dry, cracked, brownish-yellow earth, a hundred or so lean, weather-beaten men stood in groups of three or five. Wearing broad-brimmed straw hats and carrying iron picks and shovels, they murmured among themselves, resentment and indignation plain in their eyes.
Nearby, several young children in nothing but simple undershirts played and tussled. They pried open the cracks in the parched earth with their little hands, rummaging around to see if they could catch a few mole crickets.
The children were absorbed in their game. Though the sunlight was dazzling and sweat covered their ruddy little faces, they didn't seem to notice at all.
"Master Black is here!" a child cried excitedly, his voice high and innocent.
On the western side of the village,
a yellow-brown horse galloped toward them. Its hooves pounded the cracked earth. One child, who had been digging in a hole, failed to dodge in time and was struck in the face by a flying clod of dirt. He burst into tears.
The crowd stirred. Their eyes swept over the portly man on horseback, then fixed once more on the exquisitely carved two-horse carriage at the end of the road.
The horse slowed. A man who looked like a street tough jumped down from the yellow-brown steed and tied the reins to a white willow tree.
Then he turned to the carriage and respectfully called out a few words.
"Don't worry, Young Master Feng. I've got this. You can put your mind at ease."
"Mm."
Inside the carriage, Feng Xiu lifted the curtain, revealing a handsome face with fair, smooth skin. He nodded slightly.
Then Master Black immediately turned and headed toward the crowd.
"Master Black, how did it go?"
Before he could draw near, a farmer asked anxiously.
"Heh heh, you've really struck it lucky this time."
"Old Master Feng of the Feng Clan heard that Heaven hasn't let a drop fall this year, so he specially found an old immortal from Yulin Prefecture who can summon the wind and rain. He's going to pray for rain on your behalf."
Master Black spoke with utter confidence, grinning to reveal several gold-capped teeth.
"An immortal?"
Inside the carriage, Feng Xiu's fingers paused as he toyed with a piece of jade. His expression shifted.
He had been in this world for two months, and he knew full well how deeply martial customs ran through the Great Liang Empire. He had felt that firsthand.
So what if he was a rich young master? Push the tenant farmers too far, and they really would risk life and limb.
As for immortals and the like, he had never heard of them.
"Really?" a farmer asked doubtfully from outside the carriage.
"How could it be false? We've already prepared the spring seeds for you. All that's left is to pray for rain."
Master Black patted his chest and promised grandly.
"When is that person coming?"
"Ten days? If we wait ten days, the daylilies will have gone cold!" The crowd began to stir. Someone's eyes widened.
"If we miss the spring planting season and this year's harvest is ruined, are we all supposed to starve to death?!"
"Danao, don't talk nonsense. The new master who came last month waived half a year's rent for Dendrobium Village."
"If Heaven won't smile on us, what does that have to do with the Feng Clan?"
An old man took a couple of puffs from his dry pipe and sighed helplessly, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening.
His gaze drifted toward the young man in the carriage. A worried face forced out a stiff smile.
"Are you on the Feng Clan's payroll or something, sticking up for them like this? I'll tell you straight: if the Feng Clan can't get us water from Jade Belt Reservoir, then, hmph—"
A voice thick with menace suddenly erupted from the crowd.
The burly man who spoke gave a cold snort. Though he wore coarse cloth, he was built like a bull.
His words were directed at Master Black, but his fierce gaze was fixed on Feng Xiu, who had lifted the carriage curtain. Feng Xiu gave a slight nod, and only then did the man's expression soften a little.
The man's spittle had sprayed across Master Black's face, but his smile didn't falter.
"Don't get angry. Ten days. In ten days, we absolutely won't delay the spring planting!"
The crowd still didn't believe him. Doubt was written all over their faces, but Master Black spoke with such confidence, and he was a middleman who could work both sides of the law.
In the end, they could only let the matter drop.
"Fine, Master Black. We'll trust you and wait ten days." At last, an elderly villager settled the matter with a decisive word.
Ten days would bring them to the middle of the month. It was a little late, but not disastrous.
White Willow Village had no leverage to bargain with the Feng Clan. Master Black had at least made a promise, and that was enough.
"Of course, of course. If the man doesn't show up, you can write my name backward!"
After a few more words, Master Black easily calmed the crowd.
The villagers gradually dispersed.
Watching the men walk away, Master Black wiped his face and spat disdainfully.
"What a bunch of clowns." He ground his boot hard against the earth.
Then he headed for the carriage waiting beneath the white willow tree. Halfway there,
he straightened his clothes and appearance with studied care, bent slightly at the waist, and put on a smile.
"Young Master Feng, everyone's gone. What do you think...?"
At the carriage, Master Black rubbed his hands. Unlike his earlier swagger, his tone now carried a hint of ingratiation.
"Go back and collect your reward. Include the travel expenses from last time, too."
"You're generous, Young Master!"
Master Black grinned, unable to hide his delight.
Once the matter was settled, the coachman seated at the front of the carriage flicked his whip. The carriage rolled down the bumpy road toward Green Rock City.
Master Black rode close beside it.
"If you ask me, Young Master Feng, you're just too soft. When you're dealing with a bunch of unruly tenant farmers, you could just send a few servants to put them in their place."
"There's no need for you to come in person."
Master Black kept talking all the way, his words slick with the oily cleverness of a man of the underworld.
"So you're saying I was wrong?"
"Of course not."
It hadn't rained. The entire area under Green Rock City's jurisdiction, including its many counties and towns, was in the same predicament.
Year after year, the result was always the same: the Golden Ear Wheat harvest dwindled.
Immortals? There were no old immortals. It was just an excuse to fob the people off.
Feng Xiu neither agreed nor disagreed. He said nothing, gazing out at the cracked fields and unable to stop himself from shaking his head.
Argue?
There was no point in debating how this era worked.
As the Feng Clan's eldest young master, he naturally couldn't deal directly with the tenant farmers on the family's estates.
Master Black was a middleman who specialized in this sort of thing. He had connections everywhere and could get anything done, whether dealing with low-ranking clerks at the prefectural office or tenant farmers at the bottom of society.
Still, listening to him talk like this made Feng Xiu deeply uncomfortable.
He considered his own moral standards to have already sunk about as low as they could go.
Yet every time, he heard from Master Black some principle of conduct unique to this era.
"Young Master Feng, let me give you a word of advice. Even if it doesn't rain in time for spring planting and this year's harvest suffers,
and even if you can't get water from Tang Reservoir, you absolutely must not lower the rent. Not only must you not lower it, you should raise it!"
Seeing Feng Xiu remain silent, Master Black assumed he had taken the advice to heart and spoke earnestly again.
The Feng Clan's young master paid promptly, and Master Black truly didn't want to see him do something foolish. That was why he had said a little more.
Inside the carriage, Feng Xiu rubbed two jade walnuts polished to a gleam.
Then his hands stopped.
He put his thoughts aside and paid no more attention to Master Black, instead asking him,
"Earlier, you mentioned an old immortal in Yulin Prefecture. Was that true or not?"
"You mean him?" Master Black faltered. "It's true enough, but the old fellow only lives in a run-down Daoist temple. Hardly anyone burns incense there."
"Twenty taels. Go invite him here."
Feng Xiu knew perfectly well that praying for rain was almost certainly nonsense.
Ten days, then. They could only take things as they came after that.
Master Black's eyes shifted as he inwardly grumbled. Rich young masters really were different—so much money it burned a hole in their pockets.
But with the principle that only a fool would pass up a chance to make money, he immediately thumped his chest and promised,
"You got it. Just you wait and see. If I have to drag him here by force, I will." His face lit up with a beaming smile as he guaranteed it.
"Young Master Feng, I'll take my leave!"
Having received a new commission, Master Black didn't linger. He clasped his hands to Feng Xiu.
With a twenty-tael job in his pocket, he had enough to live it up for a while. How could he afford to waste time?
Master Black turned, gave the reins a light tug, and rode straight toward Yulin Prefecture without even entering Green Rock City.
Inside the carriage,
Feng Xiu lifted the curtain with one hand as the surrounding scenery drifted slowly backward.
The ancient air, familiar only from historical dramas, washed over him.
The carriage hadn't even left the territory of White Willow Village. The road was uneven, yet countless people still hurried about, struggling to make a living. Looking at the farmers bent over as they dug the land, Feng Xiu sighed.
After confirming there was no way back, Feng Xiu had gradually gotten used to his identity. He was getting better and better at playing the eldest young master of the Feng Clan.
But this world was nothing like the dramas he had watched in his previous life.
His predecessor, a rich young master, had left him a fairly generous "inheritance."
But as Feng Xiu carefully played the part of a merchant's son, he found that things were not quite as he had imagined.
There was no such thing as a rich young master lounging around doing nothing. Whether inspecting the estates, calming the tenant farmers, or handling the family's affairs, he had to be involved.
As luck would have it, those were precisely the areas Feng Xiu hadn't yet gotten familiar with. That was why he had asked Master Black to handle things.
In truth, Feng Xiu couldn't stand men like him.
During the time they had dealt with each other, Master Black had always used other topics to hint that Feng Xiu was incapable. Today, he had been more direct than usual.
"Young Master, would you like to stop and rest for a while?"
As Feng Xiu was lost in thought, the middle-aged coachman at the front lowered his whip. The carriage gradually slowed.
The stretch from White Willow Village to the main road was rough. Holding the reins through the jolting ride had left his backside aching on the wooden seat.
"No need. Keep going."
The coachman had no choice but to continue on.
After Feng Xiu finished speaking, he didn't feel a thing from the jolts.
"Good thing the Eight Sections Vajra Skill has reached minor mastery and strengthened my body a little. Otherwise, after a ride like this, my bones would've been shaken apart."
Feng Xiu sighed. A purple screen flashed through his vision.
[Life: 3] [Spirit: 0] [Strength: 0] [Agility: 0] [Technique Record: Eight Sections Vajra Skill (Minor Mastery, Life +2)]
Feng Xiu felt a little more at ease. No matter how uncomfortable this world made him, at least he had brought something with him.
It was just that the synthesis option in the Technique Record had stayed greyed out. He didn't know when it would light up.
"Old Master Zhang's Eight Sections Vajra Skill really is the gold standard."
"I just don't know how much of a difference martial arts in this world can make."
Once they reached the main road, the carriage's pace picked up noticeably.
An hour later, a magnificent city crouched on the plateau before them. Its towering gray-white walls rose more than ten zhang high.
The walls had weathered countless years of wind and sun, and large patches of plaster had flaked away. Outside the city gates, the scene was noisy but orderly. Lines of people and carriages waiting to enter wound away like a long dragon.
Ox carts loaded with sacks of Golden Ear Wheat creaked along. Merchant caravans led highland packhorses, their backs piled with furs, mineral salt, and all sorts of rare goods from the inland regions.
There were also farmers carrying shoulder poles and packs, while burly martial artists galloped past on horseback, their hooves thundering.
Before eight enormous vermilion gates stood thick ironwood desks. Gate officials seated behind them swiftly examined all manner of entry documents.
The guards on duty wore leather armor, their eyes sharp as hawks and their temples slightly bulging.
The Feng Clan was a local merchant family. The moment the guards saw the Feng character hanging prominently from the corner of the carriage roof, they let it pass.
The carriage entered through a side gate and wound through the streets and alleyways. After another quarter of an hour,
the familiar gate of the Feng residence in the inner city came into view. He was home.
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