After finishing his necessary morning exercises, he decided to visit the fields first. It took him just over ten minutes to walk there.
The village's farmland was fairly concentrated, spreading out in vast stretches on either side of the main road through the village. It was May, and at this time of year, the early rice would be ready to harvest in about another month, while the late rice might have to wait until autumn.
Rong Zheng looked out over the rice plants, which were ripening one after another, their heavy ears drooping low. A breeze swept across the paddies, turning them into a shimmering sea of green and gold, a sign of a bountiful harvest.
He walked on for a while and reached his family's three mu of adjoining paddy fields. He had expected them to be in poor shape, but not this bad!
Uh... the rice plants were wilted and uneven in height, with sparse ears. Some had withered and died, while weeds grew everywhere, far more vigorously than the rice.
The weeds had sucked away all the rice plants' nutrients. No wonder most of them had died.
One look was enough to tell him this rice was beyond saving. Perhaps he could grow vegetables instead; if he tended them well, they would be enough to feed him.
He got straight to work, deciding to hoe up the rice plants, turn the soil again, and plant seasonal vegetables.
Uncle Liu, who had come to work in the fields, saw him as he passed and hurried to stop him. "...Hey, why are you hoeing them all up? You don't want any of these rice plants? How will you pay this year's land tax?"
Yes, this world had a land tax too. From the original owner's memories, he knew it was fifteen percent, which was no small amount.
Those with the rank of xiucai or higher, however, enjoyed tax exemptions on around fifty mu of land.
So whenever someone passed the examination to become a xiucai, the other villagers would all try to curry favor with him, hoping to register their fields under his name and become his tenant farmers.
Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants-sure enough, nothing ranked higher than studying. This was also part of the reason the original owner's parents had supported his education despite tremendous financial pressure. It was a chance to escape being mere mud-legged peasants.
People in the countryside knew that studying mattered, but they had no money. Supporting a scholar was expensive, and when a family could barely afford to eat, they naturally gave it no further thought.
Rong Zheng thought it over. When the tax was due, he could buy some grain from the other villagers to hand over. That was what the original owner had done before, so it probably would not be much of a problem:
"Uncle Liu, look at these rice plants. There's no saving them."
Uncle Liu walked into Rong Zheng's field and bent his head to examine them for a while, sighing repeatedly in distress:
"Ah, ah, they really are all ruined. Even the ones with ears probably won't ripen. What a shame, what a shame!"
Rong Zheng kept swinging his hoe and wiped his sweat with a towel. "I didn't tend them properly for a while, and they all went bad. I'm hoeing them up so I can plant some vegetables while there's still time. Oh, right, Uncle Liu, can you recommend a good vegetable seed shop?"
Uncle Liu knew about the upheaval in Rong Zheng's family too. Sympathetic toward him, he eagerly offered a recommendation:
"The East Market Vegetable Seed Shop on the town's main street has a very good reputation and fair prices. Everyone in our village likes buying seeds there. It's right at the corner at the end of the street, easy to find."
"Thank you. I'll go have a look in a few days."
"If you grow the vegetables well, you can sell them too. They don't fetch much, but at least they'll bring in some income. You can't go wrong tending them carefully."
Uncle Liu worried that Rong Zheng, a scholar who had hardly ever worked in the fields, might well fail even at growing vegetables. He repeatedly reminded him of what to do and patiently gave him some guidance...
Seeing how eager Uncle Liu was to help, Rong Zheng put down his hoe and earnestly asked him for advice. After all, the original owner had barely done any farming and had only buried himself in his books, so no one would find his lack of basic farming knowledge suspicious.
Once Uncle Liu saw that this scholar was actually asking him for advice, he became even more eager to talk, forgetting that he had come to work in the fields himself.
After Uncle Liu left, Rong Zheng hoed the ground while considering his recommendations and thinking about which vegetables to grow. He only had three mu, and selling vegetables from it would not bring in much money, so he might as well grow them for himself.
For this season, there were pumpkins, tomatoes, beans, garlic chives, radishes, scallions, and so on.
He worked in the fields until noon, then went home. His most urgent task was to master hunting so he could catch good game to sell in town. He was still counting on that money to buy grain to cover his land tax.
Tax collection here was extremely strict. Failure to pay could land him in prison. Once he had a criminal record, how could he take the imperial examinations?
When he reached his door, he found a basket containing a few eggs, fresh wild greens, and some homemade pickled vegetables.
Auntie Zhang had probably brought it over. Rong Zheng smiled and carried the basket inside.
After resting for a while, the thought of the land tax spurred Rong Zheng to muster all his energy and head up the mountain to hunt again. He had to handle both farming and hunting, though hunting was naturally the priority. He could not let the work in the fields hold him up.
After yesterday's practice, he had discovered that hunting was not as simple as he had first imagined. His martial arts foundation only made his movements more agile. For instance, he could use qinggong to leap into a tree for a broader view, but hunting was not fighting; it depended more on technique.
First, he needed to familiarize himself with the terrain and learn where game often appeared. He also needed to learn camouflage to avoid being detected by his prey.
Second, he had to pay close attention to animal tracks and traces to determine what kind of game they belonged to, then use targeted hunting methods to improve his chances of success.
Finally, he needed to learn to set traps so he could catch game even when he did not go up the mountain.
Drawing on yesterday's failures and the original owner's memories, Rong Zheng distilled and summarized the scattered remarks his father had made, putting together a list of things to watch out for.
Rong Zheng was very good at reflecting on his mistakes. In his view, the process of failing was also an opportunity to refine a plan. Nothing could be accomplished in a single leap.
And so, for the past month, he had followed a three-stop routine: turning the soil in the morning, returning home to rest at noon, and heading up the mountain in the afternoon to practice his hunting skills.
To his disappointment, he had not encountered Ye Yun on the mountain again throughout that month. Perhaps he was busy working in the fields.
It was June now, and the early rice was ready to harvest. There had been many more villagers in the fields lately, all with smiles on their faces-the joy of a bountiful harvest.
Rong Zheng did not know what spell had come over him. Ever since his first glimpse of Ye Yun, he seemed unable to forget the young man's features. They always surfaced in his mind whenever he went up the mountain. He could not help it; everything about those features suited his tastes, making them hard to forget even if he tried.
At their last meeting, Rong Zheng had noticed that the young man's hands were covered in calluses. Clearly, he had to do plenty of work at home. Life under someone else's roof surely could not be easy.
At that thought, he grew a little worried about Ye Yun. No, I need to find an excuse to check on him in a few days. Ye Yun gave me something to eat when I first transmigrated here, after all.
As the saying went, a kindness as small as a drop of water should be repaid with a gushing spring.
He had to repay that kindness. If Ye Yun needed any help, he would certainly lend a hand.
Rong Zheng found himself reasons for wanting to see Ye Yun again. Vaguely, something seemed about to break through the soil in his heart, but he did not dwell on it. He shook his head and cast it aside.
He had never liked anyone before, and for now, he could not yet recognize what these hazy thoughts really were.