Chapter 114: Chapter 105: Rain
Shanyang Prefecture City.
Amidst the sounds of string and wind instruments, the intoxicating scent of rouge and powder filled the air.
Jade Spring House, a private room on the second floor.
"The autumn air is crisp and refreshing. A pity it isn’t raining. If only a shower would fall in this weather, it would be perfect. It would suit the mood, the scenery, and inspire poetry."
Liu Chuanzhi stood up and leaned against the railing, taking in the surrounding view.
Then, he turned to look at the other scholars in long gowns seated at his table.
In the days since he arrived in the Prefecture City, by leveraging his connections and his willingness to spend silver, Liu Chuanzhi had finally managed to connect with the Bai Family.
Today, he was here to host a banquet for the Bai Family’s young master, Bai Xingqiu.
However, the guest of honor had not yet arrived.
"Heh, Liu, what a fine turn of phrase. I hear you’ve come from Xiahe County. To sell your family’s estate and settle here in the Prefecture City—that took some real guts."
One of the men at the table raised his cup and toasted Liu Chuanzhi.
This man was Zhang Wen, from a collateral branch of the Zhang Family. He wasn’t originally supposed to attend this banquet, but when he heard Bai Xingqiu would be present, he had brazenly shown up.
He had heard about Liu Chuanzhi’s situation from others, and that Liu Chuanzhi’s father, Scholar Liu, was very likely to become the treasurer for the newly promoted Bai Shoubei.
’In that case, I should get closer to him. There might be business opportunities between us in the future.’
"Heh, not at all," Liu Chuanzhi said with a chuckle. "If it weren’t for this damned disaster making it so hard to grow crops, I really couldn’t have brought myself to make such a decision."
And that was indeed the truth.
’Wasn’t it good to be a wealthy country squire?’
’Of course it was much better.’
’After all, here in the Prefecture City, unless you were a high-ranking official, a mere Civil Scholar wouldn’t get a chance to enclose any land for himself.’
’All the land around the Prefecture City was already claimed by powerful figures.’
’But there was no other choice. If the disaster continued, that land would sooner or later become worthless.’
"That’s true. It would have rotted in your hands sooner or later. To sell it so decisively... Liu, you are a decisive man!" Zhang Wen said in admiration.
Just then, a burst of mocking laughter came from nearby.
The sound was jarring in the elegant private room.
It was deeply unpleasant to hear. Zhang Wen immediately stood up and went to the adjacent private room.
"What are you laughing at? Are you looking down on us?"
Liu Chuanzhi followed him. On one hand, he wanted to see who was laughing at him. On the other, he wanted to stop Zhang Wen from causing trouble.
’To be able to operate such a brothel in the Prefecture City, the Jade Spring House must have an extraordinary backer.’
"Of course I’m laughing at someone laughable. Just sold off your family’s land? What a prodigal fool. You all claim to be of high standing, but you don’t even know that the disaster is about to pass?"
"And you’re still here flattering each other. Don’t you realize it might start raining outside before you’re even done?"
In the private room, Hui Hengli gnawed on a chicken leg, his greasy mouth turned up in a grin as he watched the two men.
’Alright, I’ve been frustrated this whole trip.’
’After returning to the Prefecture City, he had come to the Jade Spring House to unwind and vent his frustrations.’
’He hadn’t expected to overhear the men next door praising one another, first for how well someone wrote poetry, then for how brilliant another’s essays were.’
’What a bunch of pretentious, rotten pedants. The stench was unbearable.’
’If it had just been that, he would have let it slide. He wouldn’t lower himself to the level of such commoners.’
’But then he heard them talking about selling off land, how clever it was, and so on and so forth.’
’Pfft. They didn’t sell earlier, they didn’t sell later.’
’They just had to sell it right now.’
’Weren’t they fools?!’
’If they had just waited a couple more days, the disaster would have passed.’
’By then, the price of land wouldn’t be what it is now. Even if it didn’t return to its former value, it would at least multiply several times over.’
’Selling now, they had truly lost their shirts. How could he not laugh?’
"Rain? If it rains in this weather, I’ll eat my shoe."
Zhang Wen was a bit of a hothead. Sticking his neck out, he said furiously, "But if it doesn’t rain, you’ll crawl between my legs."
"Fine. You said it. You’d better go buy a new pair of shoes now, so you don’t have to go home barefoot later."
Hui Hengli’s eyes lit up. He looked Zhang Wen up and down, chuckling slyly.
"You..."
Zhang Wen was instantly choked with anger, a breath caught in his throat, unable to go up or down.
For a moment, he couldn’t utter another word.
Hui Hengli didn’t even spare Zhang Wen another glance, turning to Liu Chuanzhi. "Your friend has made a bet. What about you? Do you want in?"
But Liu Chuanzhi just snorted coldly and said with disdain, "A mere commoner dares to be so impudent here."
Liu Chuanzhi was unwilling to take the bet. In truth, regardless of whether he won or lost, it wouldn’t end well for him.
He was a Martial Scholar, while the other man appeared to be just a commoner.
Betting with such a person was beneath him.
"Oh, well, you’ve already played the sucker. If you don’t want to bet, you don’t want to bet," Hui Hengli laughed.
He wasn’t angry. From his perspective, looking at these two was like an adult watching mischievous children.
If a child misbehaves, you just give them a spanking.
He wouldn’t actually take it to heart.
After the bet was made, Zhang Wen and Liu Chuanzhi returned to their private room.
They weren’t afraid he would run off. There were so many of them, and they had their scholar’s attendants and servants waiting outside. If this man really dared to flee...
...the consequences would be far more severe than just crawling between someone’s legs.
"I am so terribly sorry, gentlemen, but Miss Xiangjun is already with a guest today. I’ll have Chun Hua and Xia Hua come play a tune for you instead."
At that moment, the Madam of the Jade Spring House came into Liu Chuanzhi’s private room with a smile, giving them an apologetic curtsy.
Miss Xiangjun had only recently arrived at the Jade Spring House, but her fame had skyrocketed due to her exquisite zither playing.
She was on the verge of becoming the new top courtesan of the Jade Spring House. As a result, many young masters, in a show of refined taste, came to the brothel hoping to witness Miss Xiangjun’s elegance for themselves.
These gentlemen today had paid a hefty price—a full one hundred taels of silver—to book Miss Xiangjun for an hour.
But as luck would have it, just as Miss Xiangjun had finished preparing and was about to come over to play...
...someone had poached her. They didn’t pay, but their status was such that the Madam dared not refuse.
Therefore, she could only arrange for two other fairly well-known girls from the Jade Spring House to attend this private room instead.
"How do you run this place, old woman? We’ve already paid our silver taels!" Liu Chuanzhi’s brow furrowed as he suppressed his anger.
To encounter something like this while visiting a brothel would anger anyone.
It was a slap in the face, and not a light one at that.
"Heh, please don’t be angry, young master. I’ll have your silver taels put toward your bill for the meal. Consider it the Jade Spring House’s apology to you all," the Madam said with a placating smile.
’In business, harmony brings wealth. When something like this happened, offering a bit of compensation was a reasonable move.’
’As long as she raised the price of the meal a little when they settled the bill, she might not even take a loss.’
"That’s more like it."
Seeing the Madam concede, Liu Chuanzhi didn’t press the issue further.
’I must maintain my refined and graceful demeanor. If a conflict were to break out here, it would be bad for my reputation.’
’The main guest hasn’t even arrived yet. I can’t ruin the atmosphere.’
~~~~~~
Da Liushu Village.
By the Xiahe River.
Fang Yue was practicing his martial arts on the riverbank. The White Tiger Fist worked in concert with the Secret Medicine he had just taken.
With every move of his fists, power vibrated within his body.
His rushing blood scoured his bone marrow, reforging his very frame.
Every second, the marrow in his body was being purified, undergoing a transformation.
An unknown amount of time passed. Just as the sun was approaching its zenith...
...the sky suddenly darkened, and then raindrops began to fall, one by one.
But as they fell within a foot of Fang Yue’s head, the raindrops seemed to hit a blazing furnace, shattering and turning into a hazy mist.
’It’s raining? Just as I thought, the disaster really is ending by the end of the month.’
Fang Yue sensed the change, stopped his fist forms, and looked up at the sky.
A moment ago, it had been clear and cloudless, but in a brief instant, the sky had filled with dark clouds, and a downpour began.
Even a thunderstorm didn’t move this fast.
If something like this had happened in his past life, the news would be reporting on an abnormally strong convective weather event in some area or another.
’So, what other secrets does this world hold?’
Fang Yue’s gaze seemed to want to pierce through the heavy clouds and see what lay in the heavens above.
~~~~~~
"It’s raining!"
"It’s really raining!"
The villagers of Da Liushu Village, who were working in the fields, also began to notice the change one after another.
Rain fell from the heavens, scattering across the great earth.
The villagers were stunned at first, frozen in place. Then, someone shouted.
The others all began to shout along with him.
For two years, the drought had forced everyone to live in a state of constant fear.
’What would they do when their rations ran out and they still couldn’t grow crops?’
’Abandon their fields and become refugees?’
’Or become like those mountain people and bandits?’
Many of them had entertained these thoughts more than once.
Especially in the last few days, when Fang Yue had them uproot their grain crops to plant tea trees.
This crazy act had made them wonder if Fang Yue had lost his mind.
But they coveted the grain Fang Yue was providing and didn’t want to return the land.
So, they had braced themselves and planted the tea trees.
’They had thought that since things were already so bad, it couldn’t be helped if the saplings didn’t survive.’
’The grain their master gave them was better than anything their own fields could produce anyway.’
They never expected it to actually rain today.
With the rain falling, these tea saplings would be able to survive.
’Did the Young Master know in advance that it was going to rain?’
For a moment, this thought couldn’t help but arise in the minds of all the villagers.
The more they thought about it, the more they believed it to be true.
Otherwise, there was no explaining why the Young Master would plant tea trees at this specific time.
"The Young Master is a Martial Scholar! He’s a star descended from the heavens. His ways are certainly not for us mortals to guess. From now on, anyone who dares to oppose the Young Master is making an enemy of me."
An old man in the village, overcome with emotion, roared at the surrounding villagers of Da Liushu.
"That’s right, that’s right! I’ll never forgive anyone who dares to doubt the Young Master!"
Instantly, the other villagers began to shout in agreement.
~~~~~~
At the same time, in every county and district of Shanyang Prefecture.
Rain fell, alleviating the disaster.
In the Prefecture City, perhaps due to its unique environment, the rain was the last to arrive.
"Hmm, it’s raining. Is that... rain? How can it be raining?"
Scholar Liu was enjoying the cool air in his courtyard when he heard the patter of something on the roof tiles.
He opened his eyes and saw raindrops as large as beans smashing against the green brick ground of the courtyard.
The next moment, he thought of the family land he had sold off for a pittance.
Instantly, the world began to spin around him.
Comments