Great Liang, seventh year of Jianping.
Yunzhou suffered a devastating drought. For a thousand miles, the land lay barren; not a single grain was harvested, and the people could barely survive. Rebel armies rose up, and the dynasty was thrown into turmoil.
Qingzhou.
Gu Family Village.
The orange-red afterglow of the setting sun spilled over a thatched cottage at the edge of the village, casting mottled shadows across it. The summer breeze blew gently, barely dispelling the stifling heat.
"Mmgh..."
A muffled groan of pain came from within the thatched cottage.
Gu Sheng clutched the back of his head, his face pale and his gaze somewhat vacant as he sorted through the final strand of information in his mind.
"So I really... transmigrated? More accurately, after I suddenly died fourteen years ago, I transmigrated into this world. And now, my past-life wisdom has merely awakened?"
For several days in a row,
Gu Sheng's mind had been a complete mess, leaving him dazed and muddled.
Others assumed he was grieving over his father's death, unaware that this was only one reason. More importantly, far too much information had suddenly flooded into his mind.
Blue Star, automobiles, smartphones, nine years of compulsory education.
Strange yet familiar, novel yet mysterious.
To an ordinary farm boy, it was like stepping into an immortal realm, impossible to tell dream from reality.
Not until today,
when he had absorbed all the information, did he understand that he had awakened the wisdom of his previous life.
That so-called Blue Star was precisely where he had lived in his past life.
And the reason his past-life wisdom had suddenly awakened
was the shock of his father's death. After fainting and waking up, he had become like this, only returning to normal today.
"My fate in this life... truly has been full of hardships."
Gu Sheng's eyes dimmed slightly.
Awakening his past-life wisdom had made him more mature overnight. He was no longer the ignorant farm boy he once was, but the past fourteen years of his life had been real.
He had been born into this dynasty in troubled times. All he knew was that the dynasty was called Great Liang, and the farthest place he had ever been was Canghe County, which Gu Family Village belonged to.
Though the dynasty remained unified for now, chaos had already begun to emerge. Bandits and roving outlaws ran rampant, and ordinary people could be stripped bare after traveling less than ten miles.
He had lost his mother in childhood and depended on his father for survival. Their bond had been deep.
Now that his father had passed away, he was the only one left in the household. A wave of loneliness immediately surged through him. Fortunately, Gu Sheng had now changed; otherwise, he truly might have gone mad.
Even so, Gu Sheng felt terrible.
He still remembered what his father often told him. "Sheng, no matter how bitter or difficult things get, you must live well. As long as you're alive, there's hope!"
Gu Sheng clenched his fist hard.
"I'll live well! No matter how hard this world becomes!"
If Gu Sheng had not awakened his past-life wisdom, then as a fourteen-year-old farm boy, surviving alone in this world would have been incredibly difficult.
But now, with the wisdom of two lives combined, his chances had greatly improved.
More importantly,
a glimmer of light flashed in Gu Sheng's eyes—
"Proficiency Panel."
With that silent call in his heart, a translucent panel visible only to him appeared before his eyes.
Name: Gu Sheng Age: 14 Realm: None Martial Arts: None
"This is the game panel I developed before suddenly dying in my previous life!"
Gu Sheng was thrilled. This was the only thing he had brought over from his past life.
"The function of this game panel is simple. It helps players cultivate martial arts. Once a martial art has been initially learned, it can be displayed on the panel. Then, as long as I keep grinding proficiency, I can advance without bottlenecks!"
At the thought, he could not help but grow excited, only to slump in dejection the next moment.
"Right now, I don't even know a single martial art. This panel isn't much use."
"I'll set martial arts aside for now. I should first figure out how to survive."
This world had martial artists. The powerful could slice through metal and jade, lift cauldrons with their strength. But learning martial arts was not easy; the saying that the poor studied literature while the rich practiced martial arts was no empty phrase.
Now that Gu Sheng's father had died,
there were still some savings at home, but he could not simply sit around and spend them all.
He had to find work to support himself.
It was rather tragic. Gu Sheng's family had originally rented several mu of farmland from the main branch. After rent and taxes, it had been enough to feed the two of them, with some surplus in good years.
But some time ago,
wild beasts from who knew where had charged into the fields and completely destroyed the crops belonging to Gu Sheng's family and several nearby households.
With the harvest near, disaster had struck from nowhere.
Gu Sheng's father had been overcome by rage. Combined with years of labor and exhaustion, he had failed to pull through.
At the thought,
his expression could not help but darken.
After exhaling softly a few times, Gu Sheng rolled off the kang bed and carefully felt around beneath the stove. A moment later, he pulled out an old oilcloth bundle.
He opened it.
Inside were ten large coins and thirty-two small coins, totaling five hundred and thirty-two copper coins, barely more than half a tael of silver.
This was every last saving a tenant farmer had managed to scrape together over a lifetime.
Only in years of plentiful harvest could there be any surplus.
If drought struck, there would be no harvest at all.
"If I exchange this for millet, I can get over fifty jin. If I exchange it for rice bran, I can get a little over one hundred and twenty jin."
"There are still around thirty jin of rice bran at home. With only me eating, if I ration it carefully, it should last about a month."
Gu Sheng was at the age when he was still growing.
If he ate his fill, he could consume two jin of grain a day.
But he could not afford such extravagance. If some great misfortune struck, these savings would be all he had to live on.
"I can't spend this money carelessly. When youths in the village turn fifteen, they can train martial arts under an instructor if they pay one tael of silver. This is my chance to change my fate!"
Gu Sheng stuffed the oilcloth bundle back beneath the stove. Still uneasy, he added several stones on top, pressing it down tightly.
In times like these,
bandits ran rampant. Gu Sheng's home was also near the edge of Gu Family Village, so it was better to be cautious.
"I wonder how the matter I asked Brother Erniu about during the day is going."
Gu Sheng sat on the edge of the kang bed, deep in thought.
After several days of muddled confusion, he had consumed quite a bit of rice bran. Once he regained clarity, Gu Sheng immediately asked Gu Erniu to find him a job in the village.
There was only so much grain left at home. If he did not find work, he would sooner or later starve to death. At the very least, he needed to hold out for several months, until the next season's crops were planted.
Otherwise, he would have to borrow from the main branch, or even sell himself to them and lose his freedom entirely.
In this world, ordinary people had to give everything they had merely to stay alive.
Gu Sheng waited silently in the room, moving as little as possible to avoid wasting too much strength.
Before long,
as the sun was about to set completely, a rough, booming voice sounded outside.
"Ah Sheng, come out quickly and meet Steward Gu He!"
Gu Sheng's spirits rose. It was finally here!
He strode outside.
There, two figures stood beyond the fence.
The one in front was a somewhat portly middle-aged man of average build. Though his clothes were not made of fine brocade, they were far superior to Gu Sheng's coarse hemp garments.
It was Gu He. He was one of the stewards of Gu Family Village's main branch, managing affairs both large and small throughout the village.
The man standing half a step behind him was a young man in his twenties. Patches of unidentified animal hide were mixed into his cloth garments. He was muscular and sturdy, with an honest-looking face, and his gaze toward Gu Sheng was filled with concern.
Gu Erniu's ancestors had been close to Gu Sheng's ancestors.
Even now, their families remained in contact. After Gu Sheng's father passed away, Gu Erniu continued to look after this younger brother.
He was skilled at hunting and was a decent archer. He often entered the mountains to hunt, so his family was better off than Gu Sheng's.
Since this concerned his future survival, Gu Sheng did not dare be negligent. He stepped forward and respectfully said,
"Greetings, Steward Gu He, Brother Erniu. Please come in and sit."
Gu Erniu was immediately surprised.
The old Gu Sheng would only stand foolishly at the doorway and grin. He would never offer such polite greetings and invitations.
"It seems Uncle Shun's death has made Ah Sheng grow up quite a bit," Gu Erniu thought.
Gu He, however, merely waved a hand casually.
He looked over the dilapidated thatched cottage, then let his gaze settle on Gu Sheng. His brows furrowed slightly as he said in a deep voice,
"He's so thin and weak. I'm afraid he won't be able to handle chopping wood. He might not even manage to split two hundred pieces of firewood in a day."
Gu Sheng had delicate features and slightly dark skin. Long-term malnutrition had left him somewhat thin and gaunt.
Hearing Gu He's words, Gu Sheng's heart tightened.
Chopping wood truly was strenuous work.
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