Dividing the Chicken

What was this?

This had to be a Golden Finger!

Fang Yue was instantly thrilled. He had transmigrated into this world three months ago.

At first, he had tried quite a few methods, attempting to activate his Golden Finger,

but clearly, nothing had come of it in the end.

After three months, he had already given up. Who would have thought that his Golden Finger would activate out of nowhere now?

Time flies; Heaven rewards diligence. With every passing day, aptitude +1.

Fang Yue gathered his focus, and a piece of information immediately surfaced in his mind.

A moment later, he came back to himself.

The function of his Golden Finger was quite simple: every day, it could increase his aptitude by one point.

The higher one's aptitude, the better one's talent. Whatever one learned or did, one would surpass ordinary people.

Given enough time, it would be enough to turn a worthless nobody into an unparalleled genius.

Yet his current aptitude was only 1 point, evaluated as Mediocre talent.

Pah, that had to be slander.

Fang Yue had lived two lives. Never mind being a genius—he certainly was not mediocre talent.

It was just that after adding one point of aptitude, he did not seem to feel anything. There was no change at all.

He could only gain one point per day. Who knew when a change would finally appear?

And even if there was a change, what could he do?

Become an expert at herding cattle, or perhaps an expert at farming?

As Fang Yue pondered this, a worried look unconsciously appeared on his face.

Seeing this, Fang Ergou blinked and said,

"Brother Zhi, as long as you're not going to jump into the river, then come back with me now."

His honest, simple face still wore an expression that said, I don't believe you.

Fine. Even now, he still suspected that Fang Yue had been about to jump into the river and kill himself.

But why did he not think about who had fallen into the river just now?

And who had pulled him back out?

"Pah, you're the one who wants to jump into the river."

Fang Yue rolled his eyes at him, then ignored this fool.

He turned around and led the ox home.

"Brother Zhi, wait for me."

"I won't say you wanted to jump into the river. I promise I won't tell Huang Xiaohua that you wanted to jump into the river."

All along the way, dilapidated houses lay scattered like stars across the broad open ground by the river bend.

People said, those who lived by mountains lived off mountains, and those who lived by water lived off water.

Though Daliushu Village was backed by mountains and bordered by water, under the feudal smallholder economy, land was the source of wealth.

Most people in the village lived bitter, impoverished lives.

Thus, nearly all the houses one could see were thatched cottages or mud-brick homes.

In Daliushu Village, there were only two buildings made of gray tiles and blue bricks.

One was the village's Ancestral Hall, and the other was the residence of Master Liu, the village's only landlord.

When Master Liu was young, his family had been considered wealthy peasants in the village, possessing twenty mu of excellent paddy fields and living rather well.

But he chose to study. After Master Liu entered school, his grades quickly surpassed those of his peers. At sixteen, he took the Imperial Examination for the first time and passed as a Xiucai.

He became the prodigy everyone in Daliushu Village envied. Everyone thought Master Liu would certainly become a Juren.

But over the next dozen or so years, Master Liu failed exam after exam. Not only did he sell off all twenty mu of his family's paddy fields, he also borrowed a great deal of outside debt.

The Liu Family's life went from that of wealthy peasants to poverty.

Master Liu himself gradually went from a genius everyone admired and sought to emulate to Daliushu Village's cautionary example.

Everyone had thought that Master Liu, and even the Liu Family, were finished for good.

But unexpectedly, when Master Liu was thirty-five, he actually became a Juren!

Because Juren could be exempted from taxes and corvée labor and enjoyed all kinds of conveniences, in only a few short years, the Liu Family made a Turnaround and became the largest landlord within a hundred li.

Continuing onward, he soon saw his own mud-brick courtyard.

Because of Fang Ergou's interruption today, he had returned a little earlier than usual.

At this hour, his father Fang Mu and eldest brother Fang Cheng were still working in the fields.

His mother Chen Shi should be helping in the Liu Family's kitchen, while his elder sister Fang Lan should be at home knotting cords.

After returning home, he led the water buffalo into the cowshed, put down some fodder, and filled its trough with water.

The water buffalo was equivalent to a strong laborer. They would need it to work during the busy farming season, so it had to be well tended.

When he entered, he saw his elder sister Fang Lan knotting cords at the edge of the courtyard.

Before he could say anything, his mother Chen Shi came out from the main room.

Half of Chen Shi's hair had already turned gray-white, faint wrinkles creased the corners of her eyes, and she wore clothes faded white from repeated washing.

Though she was only in her thirties, she looked even older than those aunties in their fifties from his previous life.

"Zhi'er, come quickly. Look what this is?"

When she saw Fang Yue return, Chen Shi beamed and hurried over. She took a handkerchief from her bosom and carefully unfolded it.

A fresh, tender strip of meat, as thick as a little finger and about an inch long, was revealed. It was a small piece of chicken.

This piece of chicken had clearly been brought out from the Liu Family's kitchen.

As the saying went, if cooks did not steal, the five grains would not flourish.

What cook did not sneak a bite while making food? It was the natural order of the world; there was simply no stopping it.

One always had to taste the food while cooking to see whether it was too salty or bland.

This had long become an established rule. So long as it was not excessive, masters always turned a blind eye.

"Mother, why did you come back early today?"

"And how could Master Liu's family bear to kill a chicken?"

In these times, chickens were not usually slaughtered, since most were kept to lay eggs.

And speaking of meat, even the landlord Liu Family normally ate pork.

Chicken was delicious and precious, eaten only on important occasions.

"The Young Master Liu returned to the village, so they killed a chicken."

Chen Shi sighed, somewhat heartsore. She normally raised the Liu Family's chickens, and they were all old hens that could lay eggs.

After all, they could lay quite a lot of eggs over the course of a year.

Killing one meant only one meal of meat. What a waste.

Young Master Liu?

At her words, Fang Yue pictured a sturdy, tiger-headed youth dressed in a blue silk shirt, with a silver collar around his neck.

He still remembered that around the New Year, three months ago, the original owner had gone to the Liu Family estate to find his mother.

He happened to encounter Young Master Liu. Perhaps because he rarely had playmates within those deep courtyards and grand residences, when he suddenly saw Fang Yue, he insisted that Fang Yue play with him.

Young Master Liu was at the age when he loved to fool around, and he dragged the previous owner into racing madly through the estate.

Later, feeling that was not exciting enough, he actually led the previous owner to the Ancestral Hall.

Caught up in the fun, Young Master Liu actually smashed a Sacrificial Vessel in the Ancestral Hall.

Naturally, this alerted the Village Elder guarding the Ancestral Hall. Breaking a Sacrificial Vessel was a serious matter. Never mind the compensation—it was certain to earn someone a harsh family punishment.

Yet in the end, Young Master Liu merely received a mild scolding.

The previous owner, however, was whipped twenty times. He could not get out of bed for half a month, and afterward he failed to pull through, allowing Fang Yue to transmigrate into his body.

"All right, Zhi'er."

"I still have to go back and help out. The food is already cooked. After you finish eating, remember to bring meals to your father and eldest brother."

Chen Shi stuffed the strip of chicken into Fang Yue's hand, giving him no chance to refuse, then hurried out the door.

In this life, Fang Yue had an older brother and an older sister.

But his parents seemed to favor him, their youngest son, more. Whenever there was something tasty, they always saved it for him first.

See? She had brought back a small piece of chicken just for him.

Fang Yue darted over to his sister, split the chicken in his hand in two, and handed one piece to Fang Lan.

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