At the beginning of June, the sun was shining brightly.

The golden rapeseed flowers bloomed all over the field ridges. From a distance, they looked like a sea of gold, swaying in the wind. This rapeseed field was located at the west entrance of Zhao Family Village, next to a school with two rooms.

The Zhao Family Village was not originally called so. Many years ago, for the first time in the village, there was a man who scored the title of juren (TN: successful candidate in the imperial provincial examination). In order to rub against some of wenquxing‘s talent (TN: the constellation in charge of scholarship and exams, a term used to call those good at studying and academics), the village elders took the lead and changed the village name to the Zhao Family Village, which was the surname of that juren laoye (TN: respectful address meaning lord/master).

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

At this moment, there was a lively scene outside the school.

Two middle-aged men in short tunics carrying a wooden box walked into the school. The atmosphere in the school was also very solemn. Sitting at the front of the room was Zeng fuzi (TN: old form of address for teachers, scholars), and to his left stood a handsome boy.

After the two men carried the wooden box into the school, a woman leading a boy of seven or eight years old followed them in.

The woman raised her head carefully, glanced at Zeng fuzi, but soon looked away. Her gaze slid over to the handsome boy next to him, and uttered a noise of surprise. Before she could speak, Zeng fuzi said loudly: “Kneel down to the sage.”

The woman hurriedly said: “Son, hurry and kneel down to the sage!”

That young boy didn’t know what a sage was. But his mother said to kneel down, so he knelt down unconsciously. He obediently kowtowed to the memorial tablet of Confucius three times according to the instructions of Zeng fuzi and his mother, and then kowtowed three more times to Zeng fuzi.

Zeng fuzi nodded with satisfaction and stretched out his hand.

Tang Shen immediately stepped forward, took a cinnabar pen from the hands of the boy’s mother, and handed it to Zeng fuzi. Zeng fuzi held the cinnabar pen in his right hand and a volume of “The Analects of Confucius” in his left hand. He drew a circle around the first sentence with the cinnabar pen, and at the same time recited loudly: “Confucius said: “Is it not a pleasure to study and constantly apply the lessons that you have learned?”

The woman didn’t understand this sentence, but she had reiterated it to her son many times before coming over today.  So when the young boy heard this, he quickly repeated it fluently.

Zeng fuzi stroked his long beard and said, “The child is promising and worth teaching.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Tang Shen took the cinnabar pen and book from Zeng fuzi.

In this way, today’s “opening a pen to break the fog” was over. (TN: known as the first writing ceremony, an old tradition when children first start learning literacy and etiquette in ancient China)

There were more than 70 households in Zhao Family Village, which was considered a big village among the eight villages in this area. This month, two young children will enter the school. Before they enter the school, Zeng fuzi would personally hold the first writing ceremony. Every time at this time, Zeng fuzi would ask a student to help him and conduct the ceremony together. This was a coveted task.

In the past, this candidate was always his distant nephew, but these two times, it somehow turned out to be Tang Shen.

The woman pulled her son up from the ground and looked at Tang Shen strangely. Before she could speak, her brother spoke.

One of the men who was carrying the wooden box said: “Mr. Zeng, why do you always ask the Tang family boy to help conduct the ceremony? I don’t mean any harm, but the Tang family boy is no longer studying in the school and he won’t be a scholar in the future. We respect you, so we ask you to hold the ceremony, and not…” A rascal who doesn’t study anymore!

Zeng fuzi was the only scholar in Zhao Family Village and possesses a scholarly title and achievements so he did not even need to kneel down when meeting the county magistrate. The man didn’t dare to finish his objection, but his disgust was clearly expressed in his words.

Zeng fuzi: “Am I the only scholar in Zhao Family Village?”

The man said: “That’s right.”

Zeng fuzi snorted coldly: “That was not the case a year ago. Let me ask you, although Tang Shen is no longer studying with me, is his father also a scholar or not?”

The man looked embarrassed: “This…”

“When Tang xiucai (TN: a person who has passed the county level imperial exam) was alive, you all fawned over him and asked him to help your son conduct the first writing ceremony. Now that he has only been gone for a year, you all have completely forgotten about it. With Tang xiucai‘s son to help your son conduct the ceremony, yet you are not happy?”

The man had nothing to say and glanced at Tang Shen with shame.

Tang Shen still had the same calm expression, with bright eyes and a slight smile on his face, without a single flaw to be seen.

After the ceremony was over, the family handed a red envelope to Zeng fuzi and Tang Shen respectively, and then also gifted a box of cold cakes and a basket of sweet rice dumplings, which together meant “cake rice dumplings”, and symbolized “passing the exam brilliantly”.

After these people left, Tang Shen said helplessly: “Sir, you can take care of me for a while, but not for a lifetime.”

Zeng fuzi picked up a piece of cold cake and said while eating: “You also know this? I am already an old man with half a foot in the grave. If you really want to save me from worry, then why don’t you come back to school and score a scholarly title?”

Tang Shen said innocently: “My family is poor, and can’t afford the high price of schooling.”

Schooling, that was, tuition fees.

Zeng fuzi said angrily: “Do you think I lack your tuition fees?” As he said that, he picked up a piece of cold cake and threw it at Tang Shen.

The handsome boy laughed, dodged the piece of cold cake, picked up the red envelope without courtesy, turned on his heel and ran off. Halfway out the door, he seemed to remember that he had forgotten to take something, so he ran back inside and grabbed a box of cold cakes and a basket of sweet rice dumplings.

Zeng fuzi’s eyes widened with anger.

Tang Shen said righteously: “Ah Huang likes to eat.”

“Get out of my sight!”

“Hahahaha.”

After leaving the school and walking in the rapeseed field, Tang Shen took out a piece of cold cake from the box and took a bite.

“Hmm… red dates, glutinous rice, the flavor of dates is a bit strong, a bit like red date ice cream?” After saying that, he smiled and shook his head, “It’s far from ice cream.” Though he said this, he still took another piece out and ate it.

When he walked out of the rapeseed field, Tang Shen looked back at the school.

The sky was blue and the clouds were white, and the fields were filled with yellow flowers.

“It’s been two months…”

Yes, two full months have passed since Tang Shen transmirated to the Zhao Family Village and became this “Tang Shen”.

His name was also Tang Shen.

Two months ago, he was a doctoral student at a top 2 university in China, working under a professor to conduct a new energy consumption testing experiment. This experiment almost drained the energy of all the researchers in the laboratory. Tang Shen didn’t close his eyes for three days and three nights. Just when he finally calculated an important data, the next second he opened his eyes, he found himself here.

Tang Shen, who had just arrived in the ancient times, was bemused. Before he had the chance to pull himself out of the swamp of experimental data, he was faced with a more serious survival problem: no money!

Recalling the bitter memories of two months ago, Tang Shen shed tears in his heart and arrived at the herbal tea shop at the head of the village with his cold cakes and sweet rice dumplings. As soon as he arrived, a crisp feminine voice rang out: “Tang Shen! Where have you been wandering around again!”

A figure wearing a gray tunic rushed in front of Tang Shen.

This was a short and thin little girl with darkly tan skin. She looked about eight or nine years old, but she was a full head and a half shorter than the thirteen-year-old Tang Shen. She stood on tiptoes and looked at Tang Shen furiously. Her forehead was covered with sweat and her clothes were also soaked in sweat. “You didn’t come here all morning but I sold a lot of fruit juice. I sold it all by myself.”

Tang Shen shook the cold cake and sweet rice dumplings in his hands: “Look what this is, I went to see Zeng fuzi.”

The girl’s eyes lit up: “I’m hungry.”

“It’s all yours.”

Tang Huang picked up a piece of cold cake and wolfed it down. “The rice dumplings can wait for when we get home. I’ll heat them up for you to eat.”

Tang Shen: “You can just eat it yourself. How much juice did you sell this morning?”

The little girl was happily eating the cold cake. When she heard this, she stared at Tang Shen warily like a she-wolf guarding her cubs: “What do you want to do? I’m telling you, you are not allowed to touch a single coin of that money. It must be saved to pay for your tuition, you have to go back to study!”

Tang Shen didn’t answer. He looked at the little girl’s clothes that were soaked with sweat and frowned: “Why didn’t you drink some of the juice to relieve the heat?”

“No way, the juice must be sold for money!”

Tang Shen directly poured a cup of juice and handed it to Ah Huang. The little girl was not happy at first, but finally accepted it in the end. She took a cautious sip and squinted her eyes in pleasure.

The proprietress of the herbal tea shop smiled and said: “The Tang family boy is here? Don’t worry, your Ah Huang sold a lot of fruit juice this morning. Those hoodlums wanted to bully your Ah Huang when they saw you were not around. I hadn’t even spoken yet, when the next moment, they were all scared away by your Ah Huang. The little girl looks thin and small, but she is very fierce when protecting the stall.”

Tang Shen’s expression changed when he heard the word “hoodlums”. The corners of his lips curved up coldly, and though he was obviously smiling, it caused goosebumps to pop up despite the hot summer weather.

“They still dare to come?”

As soon as he finished speaking, several hoodlums happened to walk to the head of the village. They originally wanted to make trouble for Tang Huang, but when they suddenly saw Tang Shen, they were stunned. The leader of the hoodlums cursed something obscene and sat down on a boulder on the side of the road, watching Tang Shen without moving.

Tang Shen smiled.

The hoodlum gritted his teeth and did not dare to make a move.

This scene looked very strange. A group of 17 to 18-year-old hoodlums were actually so frightened by a 12 to 13-year-old boy that they dared not move. No one was able to figure it out and felt it was baffling indeed. However, if they witnessed two months ago, this group of hoodlums being chased by this boy with a kitchen knife from the east entrance to the west entrance of the village, they would not feel strange at all.

The hoodlum still remembered even now what Tang Shen looked like at that time. He was so thin that he barely had much flesh on his body, but his eyes were big and red, like a devil, holding a kitchen knife in hand and chasing them fiercely like a rabid dog. It wasn’t until they were so frightened that they jumped into the river to escape that they finally lost Tang Shen who had been hot on their heels.

Tang xiucai died a year ago, leaving only the Tang family brother and sister, orphaned and helpless. The hoodlums in the village always bullied them, and it was always fine in the past. But two months ago, Tang Shen almost died of an illness. After recovering from the illness, he seemed like a completely different person.

He was no longer so submissive and timid. First, he scared away the hoodlums, and also gained Zeng fuzi‘s favor. The most amazing thing was that he picked fruits from the sour fruit tree that no one wanted in front of his house and concocted a strange “apple juice”. This juice was sour and sweet and was very refreshing to drink in summer so it sold quite well in the village.

The couple at the herbal tea shop felt sorry for the orphaned siblings and allowed them to set up a stall outside their shop to sell juice. It was not like two children could make enough juice to take away much business, and they could also help keep an eye on the two children.

The little girl finished eating the cold cake: “Tang Shen, did you go to deliver fruit juice to the village head this morning?”

“En, what’s wrong?”

“That cup of fruit juice costs two copper coins!” What a loss!

At this time a new customer came to buy apple juice. Tang Shen filled a cup for him and turned around and said, “What do you know, Tang Huang? That’s called advertisement.”

Ah Huang said angrily: “What advertisement? The way I see it, you are the money-spreading boy next to Master Guanyin. Also, I always feel that your expression is weird when you call my name. You used to call me Ah Huang instead of Tang Huang.”

Tang Shen said calmly: “What do children know? This is called art.”

In the afternoon, the weather was extremely hot, and more and more villagers came to drink tea at the herbal tea shop.

Herbal tea was cheap and fruit juice was expensive, but fruit juice was more delicious and relieved the heat better. Occasionally, someone would come to buy juice, and the siblings could make enough money to feed themselves. By evening, the fruit juice was almost sold out, and Tang Shen began to close the stall.

From a distance, a carriage coming slowly from the village entrance appeared, the shaft of the carriage making a creaking sound as it moved.

Zhao Family Village was located at the junction of several nearby villages. Outsiders often pass by, but carriages were rare and could only be seen once a month. Ah Huang leaned over to take a look curiously, and Tang Shen also took a look.

Maybe it was because the weather was too hot, so the carriage actually stopped in front of the herbal tea shop.

The curtain of the carriage lifted, and a young man wearing a long straight green tunic got out of the carriage first. As soon as he got out of the carriage, he turned back to support the people behind him. Behind him, an elderly man slowly stepped out of the carriage.

He was quite old and had gray hair, but his eyes were bright and his back was straight, exuding a sense of majesty.

The villagers couldn’t see deeper, they just thought the old man was very majestic and didn’t dare to look directly at him. Tang Shen once had the chance to meet a senior political leader of the country in his previous life, and he could tell at a glance that this old man had the aura of having been in a position of power for a long time. Tang Shen’s eyes sharpened and he looked at the other carefully.

Tang Shen: “Let’s go home early.”

Ah Huang: “Huh? The juice hasn’t been sold out yet.”

“Then take it home and drink it yourself.”

“…”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“Tang Shen! If you continue to be so extravagant, sooner or later that bit of family savings of ours will be squandered by you!”

Tang Shen thought to himself: Just that bit of private money you have, there is hardly any need for him to squander at all. If you add it all up, you can’t even buy a few taels worth of lamp oil!

AN: Tang Shen: I wonder, our family doesn’t have any money to squander.

Tang Huang: Don’t wonder!

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