You're the Fastest Man

Gu Cheng blinked. What darkness? What light?

Oh-

His master meant that he had fished him out of the darkness, and he should keep his eyes sharp and follow him as he would follow the light.

Yes, that had to be it.

Gu Zhengchen hardly expected this Gu Cheng to understand that other Gu Cheng.

Gu Shi was delighted by Chen Shi's arrival and showed extraordinary concern for her. She even took out money and sent Gu Cheng to buy some medicinal tonics, moving him to floods of grateful tears. Gu Zhengchen had no objection to his mother's actions. He had only purchased Gu Cheng; the contract had said nothing about buying one and getting one free. Chen Shi was a commoner.

As a commoner, she naturally was not bound by the distinctions of rank between master and servant. Gu Shi treated Chen Shi like a sister and, pitying her frailty, shared a room with her to look after her.

Meals, however, were something of a problem. Gu Shi, Chen Shi, and Qingqing ate together, while Gu Zhengchen sat alone on the threshold with his bowl. As for their steward, Gu Cheng, he could only squat outside the door...

There was no helping it. Servants could not eat at the same table as their masters. That rule could not be broken.

Servants were lowborn. If a master shared a table with them, he was lowering himself. As Old Zhu put it, "It's not that I want to kill you. You brought yourself low..."

That was no joke.

While the Gu Family's new thatched hut was being built, Gu Cheng had to make do with sleeping in the courtyard. Fortunately, it was summer. A mat on the ground and some burning mugwort to repel mosquitoes were all he needed to sleep.

Gu Zhengchen took Gu Cheng to visit the Liang Family and the Sun Family, then collected the custom-made long sickle blades from the smithy. Aunt Wang had already woven the large, mesh winnowing baskets for the Reaping Scoops, and Uncle Wang, a carpenter, had helped make their curved handles.

By the middle of the fifth month, the wheat was fully ripe.

After Elder Yan prayed that Heaven would show them favor and refrain from making trouble, Dayan Village's able-bodied men and women picked up their sharpened sickles and headed for the fields.

Gu Zhengchen, Gu Cheng, and Gu Qingqing each shouldered a Reaping Scoop. Gu Shi and Chen Shi watched with rueful smiles, giving the carrying baskets full of sickles on their backs a shake.

"Oh, the candidate is going to harvest wheat! Is that a-a mat on his back?"

"Whiskers Wang, what nonsense are you talking? The candidate's carrying a winnowing basket. Though the holes in that basket are a bit big..."

Gu Zhengchen laughed heartily and called to Uncle Wang and Uncle Zhang, "Care to race? Whoever finishes harvesting one mu last has to provide dinner tonight."

"Candidate, you'd better prepare plenty of corn buns tonight. Your Uncle Wang has a big appetite."

Whiskers Wang flexed his wrists.

"You'll eat your fill."

Gu Zhengchen smiled.

Uncle Wang's and Uncle Zhang's fields lay west of the Gu Family's.

Whiskers Wang spat twice into his palms, rubbed his hands together, and picked up his sickle. "You've never done farmwork, so I won't take advantage of you. I'll give you a three-tenths-of-a-mu head start."

Gu Zhengchen secured the blade to his Reaping Scoop, checked it, and asked Uncle Wang, "Are you sure?"

"Heh, I'm not boasting, but when it comes to harvesting wheat, I'm the fastest man in Dayan Village."

Whiskers Wang was brimming with confidence.

Gu Shi gave Gu Zhengchen a reproachful look, then told Uncle Wang, "Zhengchen has never harvested wheat. Even if you gave him an eight-tenths head start, he still couldn't beat you."

Her words sent Uncle Wang, Uncle Zhang, and the others into hearty laughter.

Gu Zhengchen bent down to examine the wheat ears before him, then straightened and gazed across the stretches of golden fields, his heart brimming with emotion.

The ears were nowhere near as plump as those of later generations, nor did the wheat grow as densely. Even the stalks stood two or three inches shorter.

How much grain could this one mu of wheat yield?

The answer was about two shi.

One shi in the Ming dynasty weighed one hundred and fifty jin, so that came to roughly three hundred jin.

And this was what they called a good year!

On land like this, their ancestors had worked themselves to the bone, cradling their meager harvests and tightening their belts, ensuring their people endured and passing on the flame of civilization!

These people bent over their harvesting were the most ordinary, most stubborn lives in the world!

"Hey~~ time to harvest the wheat~~"

A work chant drifted over from afar. Family after family took it up, shouting at the tops of their lungs, "Time to harvest the wheat..."

Gu Zhengchen drew a deep breath and joined the shout. Then he picked up his Reaping Scoop, stepped up to the wheat, and swung it lightly. The long sickle blade at the bottom sliced through the stalks in an instant, and the cut wheat fell straight into the basket-shaped net. He swung the Reaping Scoop behind him to his left, lifted the cord to tip out the wheat, then began another swing...

Having come from a farming family in a later age, Gu Zhengchen handled the Reaping Scoop with practiced ease.

Whiskers Wang was stunned by how quickly Gu Zhengchen harvested, his eyes wide. Second Uncle Wang put down the wheat in his hand and looked up at Gu Zhengchen. Good heavens, he was faster than an old hand like him...

What the hell!

"Wh-what's going on?"

Whiskers Wang and Second Uncle Wang were thoroughly bewildered. Gu Shi could make no sense of it either, nor could Gu Cheng or Gu Qingqing...

Before long, other villagers from Dayan Village came running over to watch Candidate Gu harvest wheat.

Elder Yan tottered over. Watching Gu Zhengchen harvest with each swing and sweep, all while standing upright, he saw that it was not only fast but saved a great deal of effort. He stepped forward. "Zhengchen, you're the fastest man in Dayan Village. Could you lend my family a Reaping Scoop...?"

Gu Zhengchen wanted to throttle the wretched old man. What kind of way was that to put it!

It was over. He had run into bandits.

The people of Dayan Village snatched up all the Reaping Scoops, leaving Gu Zhengchen without a single one...

Unable to harvest any more wheat, Gu Zhengchen took Xue Cheng to the county town to haggle with Blacksmith Sun, Blacksmith Wang, and Blacksmith Zhang, placing an urgent order for more than thirty long sickle blades. Seeing a profit to be made, the smithies naturally hurried to forge them.

News that Dayan Village had produced a Reaping Scoop capable of harvesting six mu a day spread as though it had sprouted legs, causing a stir at the county office.

County Magistrate Li Yi could hardly believe such an effective harvesting tool existed. He hurried to Dayan Village with Registrar Sun Ang.

Li Yi could not afford to take his time. Household registration, land and grain, farming and sericulture, education, and pacification were all key criteria by which the Great Ming court assessed county administrations.

The sooner ripe wheat was harvested, the better. If Heaven refused to cooperate, a single rainstorm or strong wind could cause a serious drop in yield. Getting the wheat harvested early meant safeguarding the crop. With land and grain, farming and sericulture, and his prospects for promotion all at stake, how could Li Yi not be anxious?

"So this is the Reaping Scoop. It really is much faster than a sickle."

Li Yi walked over to Gu Zhengchen, who was sitting at the edge of the field, and spoke as he watched the villagers rapidly harvesting wheat.

Gu Zhengchen took off his bamboo hat, glanced at Li Yi, and yawned. "With a sickle, you can harvest two mu a day at most. With this Reaping Scoop, you can harvest six."

"Such a fine tool should be promoted for the people's use."

Li Yi's expression was solemn.

Gu Zhengchen chuckled. "That's a matter for the county magistrate and the emperor."

Li Yi reproached him in a low voice. "Couldn't you do something for the people of Teng County? Had you brought this out sooner, wouldn't it have been a great boon to them?"

Gu Zhengchen paid no heed to Li Yi's criticism.

One of the principles of officialdom was this: if you did not hold the position, you did not concern yourself with its duties.

Whatever post you occupied, you did the work belonging to that post.

If a job was not yours and you rushed to do it anyway, that was neither the glory of labor nor the joy of helping others. It was making a mistake and asking for a beating.

The technical term: overstepping.

Gu Zhengchen could do something practical for the people of Dayan Village, but there was no way he would do this sort of thing for the people of Teng County.

Registrar Sun Ang brought over a Reaping Scoop and handed it to Li Yi. "Your Honor, take a look."

Gu Zhengchen's palm-leaf fan stopped moving at once. He turned his head toward Li Yi, his gaze sharpening. "Your Honor?"

Li Yi gave Gu Zhengchen a calm smile, picked up the Reaping Scoop to examine it, then tried a few motions. "This Reaping Scoop should be sent to Jinling for the emperor to see. We should petition for an imperial decree to have these made and promoted throughout the north. Candidate Gu, what do you think?"