He kept feeling that something was wrong, yet he could not put his finger on it.
Before long, the old village chief returned to the room.
The same warm smile remained on his face as he urged them, "Come, come, my lords, have another drink."
Mo Yun looked at him, his expression turning serious. "Village chief, we only came to ask for lodging. Treating us like this makes us feel guilty. Please don't do this again."
He paused, then added, "When people from the Mountain Manor come in the future, just treat them as ordinary guests. Don't go to such extravagant expense again."
The smile on the old village chief's face stiffened slightly, and he sighed.
He set the wine jug on the table and sat on the stool beside Mo Yun. "There's something you don't know, my lord."
"If the Crouching Tiger Manor hadn't leased farmland to Sanyuan Village, more than half of us would probably have starved to death long ago. A mere meal and some wine are nothing. Compared to the manor's great kindness, they aren't worth a single hair."
The old village chief held out his hands. They were covered in dry cracks and thick calluses, with dirt lodged beneath his nails that no amount of washing could remove.
He counted off the benefits on his rough fingers for Mo Yun. "The rent on the fields the manor leases to us is less than half what other places charge. After paying it, we have enough grain left to keep the village households fed."
"The Mountain Manor takes only twenty percent of the harvest. The other landlords nearby take forty or even fifty percent. In disaster years, the manor even lets us delay paying rent. Take that late cold snap this spring-if the manor hadn't given us