Things Are Different Now

Zhang Xuan's voice grew more and more choked, and tears slipped one by one from his eyes.

"I truly can't scrape together a single coin right now. My mother raised me for sixteen years, yet in the end, I can't even afford a simple coffin for her. I've failed the kindness my parents showed in raising me."

The more he spoke, the more grief-stricken he became, until he could only sob quietly.

Lin Xuan fell silent.

When the sobbing had eased a little, he finally asked softly, "Did you have any luck borrowing money elsewhere?"

Zhang Xuan wiped the tear tracks from his face, his expression desolate.

"I couldn't borrow much. These days, every household is struggling. I understand that.

They told me to borrow from my clan, but they said, 'It's not your father who died. Just wrap her in a straw mat and bury her in some pit. Instead of working yourself ragged begging for money, you'd be better off going home and carrying loads.'

"I spent two days running around and gathered only three hundred coins in all."

When Lin Xuan heard the amount, he let out a long sigh.

"Take me to your home."

A moment later, the two arrived at Zhang Xuan's home. It was a thatched hut, and there was a hole in the roof that let light pour into what would otherwise have been a dim room.

In the middle of the main room, a dead woman lay on a mat, lifeless.

Seeing that Zhang Xuan had told the truth, Lin Xuan continued, "Can you farm?"

"I can. I can do any kind of farm work." Zhang Xuan nodded repeatedly.

Lin Xuan slowly replied, "In that case, I'll take care of the old woman's funeral for you.

"From now on, you can help my family tend our fields and work the land."

"Really?" At his words, a trace of joy finally appeared on Zhang Xuan's face, so long weighed down by sorrow.

Lin Xuan nodded. "Really."

He took out two taels of silver and handed them to Zhang Xuan.

In Liang City, two taels of silver were enough to hold an ordinary funeral. A simple coffin, burial clothes, and a modest ceremony—all of it could be covered.

Overcome with emotion, Zhang Xuan immediately dropped to his knees and bowed deeply to Lin Xuan, his voice full of gratitude.

"Thank you for helping me, benefactor. May I ask your name?"

"A man's knees are worth their weight in gold. My name is Lin Xuan, and I live in that house. Once you've finished the funeral, come find me there. If no one's home, just come back another day." Lin Xuan pointed toward his home, surrounded by many other houses in the distance.

"Your surname is Lin too, benefactor? Could you be related to that Lin family?" Zhang Xuan asked curiously.

"Mm. Their current head is more or less my second grandfather, but I don't have much to do with them." Lin Xuan nodded slightly.

"You truly have the heart of a bodhisattva, benefactor. I heard that the Lin Family lends money to people, so I went to borrow from them. I never thought I wouldn't get the money and would nearly be beaten for it."

Zhang Xuan sighed. It felt as if these two Lin families weren't related at all!

Even as Lin Xuan left, Zhang Xuan kept thanking him.

He looked at the dead woman in the middle of the main room. His face, which had not smiled in a long time, finally wore a forced grin.

"Mother, I'll be able to live on."

Over the next two days, Zhang Xuan buried his mother in a simple coffin. It was neither lavish nor shabby, and it fulfilled one of his heartfelt wishes.

"What's going on?" Chen Fang watched the boy diligently watering the field and tugged Lin Xuan by the sleeve, drawing him aside to speak quietly. "So from now on, you don't have to farm anymore, and he'll work this field instead? If there's a harvest, we'll split it? You should just enjoy an easy life. Are we short on money?"

"Can that boy handle it?" Chen Fang asked doubtfully.

Lin Xuan replied, "Just keep an eye on him. If he makes a mistake, correct him."

Zhang Xuan watered the field with great care, as if he were tending his own land. He showed no sign of slacking off or doing a halfhearted job.

The harvest would be split seven to three: Lin Xuan would take seven-tenths, and Zhang Xuan three. The arrangement was based on the fact that the Lin Family had already been farming this land, and had done much of the heavy work in the beginning.

If Zhang Xuan did most of the work the following year, they would use a different split.

Lin Xuan had Zhang Xuan do this work because he wanted to cultivate trusted aides of his own. Before long, if he passed the martial arts competition, he would become an officer at the Garrison. How could he manage without trusted people of his own?

Was he supposed to do everything himself from then on, or have Lin An do it? He couldn't go on working alone forever, could he?

Until the crops were ready to harvest, the Lin Family would also provide Zhang Xuan with food.

When mealtime came that day, Chen Fang brought Zhang Xuan a bowl of food.

When Zhang Xuan saw the meal Chen Fang had brought him, he bit his lip slightly and his breathing grew heavier as he fought to hold back his tears.

With nothing much to do during this period, Lin Xuan took Lin An to Rou Mountain to hunt.

Drawing on his past life's experience, the strength he had in this life, and the excellent dynamic vision Sharp Eyes had granted him, he could now hit every shot.

But there were no challenging prey left at the foot of the mountain, so he could only venture deeper inside.

Before long, several wild boars appeared in Lin Xuan's field of vision. The largest one, a sow, was unmistakably the leader of the group he had hunted piglets from before.

They had been gone for nearly a month, and the piglets had grown considerably. But their numbers had dwindled by almost half. They had probably been killed by other beasts or hunters.

Lin Xuan drew his bow and aimed at the largest sow. It looked to weigh around a hundred and fifty pounds. When he had hunted this group of wild boars before, he had been on tenterhooks. Now he could hunt them openly. Back then, a single charge from this sow would have nearly taken half his life.

Now he could subdue it with his bare hands, probably without much effort.

As for it hurting him, that was practically impossible.

His strength was nothing like before!

"Whoosh!" The Armor-Piercing Arrow pierced the wild boar's eye and went straight into its brain, then burst out through the back of its skull. It lost the ability to move almost instantly and collapsed, twitching on the ground.

"Should I shoot the other wild boars too?" Lin An wondered, trying to figure out why Lin Xuan had called her along.

"No need. Leave them be. In two or three months, they might be fully grown."

Lin Xuan ignored the other boars. After all, hunting couldn't be like draining a pond to catch all the fish. If he killed them all now, he might get a hundred pounds of meat at most. Hunting gradually would surely bring greater returns over the long term.

Watching Lin Xuan kill a wild boar with one arrow but refuse to let her keep hunting, Lin An could only sigh in exasperation.

"So you bring me along, but won't let me do anything. You just want me to watch you shoot, huh?" Lin An punched Lin Xuan on the shoulder.

Lin Xuan shook his head. "No. I called you here to be my pack mule. A wild boar this big would be hard for me to carry back by myself."

They had actually brought a handcart, but it was waiting at the foot of the mountain. Getting the boar down from the mountain would still take some strength. They couldn't exactly carry it on their shoulders, could they?

Each of them tied a length of hemp rope around one of the boar's legs, then fastened the ropes to a wooden pole and carried it down the mountain. It took less effort that way, and kept their clothes from getting dirty.