novelapdf Chapter 104 A Dream of Yellow Millet
Chapter 104 A Dream of Yellow Millet
Chapter 104 A Dream of Yellow Millet
After these good deeds began, the incense value, which had been constantly being depleted, began to increase positively.
Each donation from restaurants, steamed bun shops, and clothing stores yields over a hundred points of incense.
Every day, poor families come to the pharmacy seeking medicine; sometimes one or two, sometimes three or five.
Basically, each person can contribute a little incense value, which may not seem like much, but it is long-lasting.
All things considered, with nearly ten thousand taels of silver invested, plus the feedback from the tenants, at least a thousand points of incense value can be obtained.
But that's still not enough.
After all, the money in hand is limited; if it only goes out and doesn't come in, it's hard to maintain.
Soon it was time for heavy snow to fall.
More than 200 miles away from Songguo Village, there is a place called Songshan.
A small hill of three or four hundred meters isn't considered very high.
Young hunters, clinging to tree trunks, struggled to move forward in the wind and snow as they went up the mountain to hunt.
The sudden heavy snow made the already difficult mountain roads even more slippery.
With the two rabbits he had finally managed to hunt on his shoulder, they were one of the few meals he had left before the end of the year.
He gritted his teeth and tried his best to encourage himself.
My wife and my newborn baby are waiting at home!
No matter what, I have to go back.
However, several green lights appeared from the woods ahead, and the hunter was startled, exclaiming inwardly, "Oh no! Wolves!"
Wolves are most difficult to deal with in winter.
Food was scarce, and they were so hungry that their eyes gleamed with hunger that they were willing to fight tigers to the death.
If it's a group of three or five people, it's better.
But now he was all alone, and with the wind and snow raging, the arrows would be blown off course and lose their power.
The young hunter gritted his teeth, put down the prey on his shoulder, and drew his machete from his waist.
He didn't want to die, and he couldn't die.
If the mountains are blocked by heavy snow and we can't bring back any prey, our families will go hungry.
"Come on, let's see if you die, or if I take you away as my prey!"
He cried out in his heart, yet he also knew that this time the odds were against him.
Just then, several hungry wolves suddenly let out a mournful howl and ran away with their tails between their legs.
The young hunter was stunned for a moment, then quickly picked up the rabbit from the ground and ran down the mountain.
Even if they stumbled and fell several times along the way, they didn't care about anything else.
When they finally made it back down the mountain in a disheveled state and saw the lights of the village in the distance, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Braving the wind and snow, I returned home. As soon as I entered, my wife, who had just finished breastfeeding, quickly pulled up her coat and looked at me.
Seeing that he had brought back two rabbits, she exclaimed with delight, "What plump rabbits! We can eat them for several days!"
The young hunter, still shaken, said, "We should eat sparingly. There were a few hungry wolves on the mountain; we almost didn't make it back."
Recalling the perilous situation he had just faced, he rubbed his frozen hands and face, and couldn't help but look at the sleeping baby on the bed, a hint of relief at surviving the ordeal and doting affection for the child showing in his eyes.
His wife's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly pulled him over to look him over, asking, "Are you injured?"
"I just fell a few times and got some minor scrapes, nothing serious. Luckily, I don't know what happened to those hungry wolves, they actually ran away. What a close call!"
The daughter-in-law's eyelids twitched, and she said, "Could it be the mountain god's blessing?"
"I don't know, maybe so." The young hunter shook his head.
"Then hurry up and kowtow to the Mountain God." His wife quickly pulled him down to kneel.
The young hunter didn't say much, obediently kneeling down with his wife and kowtowing in gratitude towards the mountains.
Chu Xun appeared a hundred meters outside the house, sighing helplessly, "I was hoping to help you stop the snow, why did you run so fast?"
I glanced at the message.
The incense value increased by three points.
It seems this person was destined to live, but my intervention made things easier for him.
"It wasn't all for nothing." Chu Xun shook his head, took a step, and was instantly enveloped in a blizzard.
Helping others to earn incense points to offset the consumption of karmic fire has become a must for Chu Xun lately.
At first, he was simply looking out for his own benefit, but when he saw the survivors returning home to reunite with their families, he was deeply moved.
A beggar child who has no food or clothing is happy when he is full.
Chu Xun felt the same joy.
But I always feel like something's missing.
On the way back from the mountains, we passed by a house in Pingshui Town.
An argument could be heard coming from inside.
"Why don't you want to pass the imperial examinations! What's the use of studying medicine! If you dare to keep any more medical books, I'll beat you to death!"
Chu Xun looked in the direction of the sound, his gaze piercing through the wall, and saw an elderly man with gray hair angrily carrying a stack of medical books as he came out of the house.
The face looked somewhat familiar. After a brief examination, I recognized Li Chang'an, who had moved away from Songguo Village a long time ago.
Even now, Li Chang'an has never forgotten his time as an official.
However, he realized that as a mere scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, he would have to buy his way into officialdom if he wanted to become a government official.
But taking the imperial examination with money was already the bottom line; if he were to buy his way into an official position, he would rather not do it at all.
However, this obsession was never relinquished; it was simply placed on the shoulders of their descendants.
His son was forced to study and pass the imperial examinations.
Unfortunately, he wasn't cut out for it. He took the exams for many years but never even passed the lowest level.
Li Chang'an then placed his hopes on his grandson, Li Changping, who was quite intelligent.
But somehow, I was born with an interest in studying medicine.
Whenever I was forced to study, I would outwardly obey, but in reality, I would secretly read medical books.
They said they were going to school, but in reality they all went to the clinic.
After discovering this several times, Li Chang'an was furious.
You've spent hundreds of taels of silver, but you've become an apprentice at the clinic?
He was almost driven mad with anger!
He immediately found all the medical books his grandson had hidden away, took fire from the woodshed, and lit them in the yard.
Standing by the window, a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy watched the raging flames rise, his eyes filled with stubbornness and grievance.
He didn't understand why his grandfather insisted that someone in the family become an official.
When the refugee army came, they chopped off the county magistrate's head. What's so good about being an official?
Doctors, regardless of the era or their circumstances, are always respected by others. Isn't that better than being an official?
The middle-aged man beside him gently placed his hand on his son's shoulder and sighed, "Your grandfather only has this one wish, he's thought about it his whole life, don't blame him."
The boy wiped away his tears and looked up at his father: "But I still want to study medicine."
The middle-aged man offered quiet words of comfort, but a bitter feeling welled up inside him.
When he was young, he also wanted to study medicine.
It was this fire that burned all my ideas to ashes.
In the courtyard, Li Chang'an burned the medical books, and dragged a medicine grinder, cleaver, and other tools along, opening the door to throw them out.
When he looked up, he saw Chu Xun standing there.
He paused slightly, instinctively wanting to call out Chu Xun's name.
Upon closer inspection, however, it became clear that the young man in front of him only bore a slight resemblance to the person he had been comparing himself to for the rest of his life.
Li Chang'an didn't look at it again, threw the things onto the street, turned around and went back, slamming the door shut.
"If you dare buy any more of that junk, I'll burn the clinic down!"
boom-
The bedroom door was also slammed shut, and the courtyard was completely silent.
Chu Xun hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and passed through the courtyard wall.
I glanced at the side room where two figures were staggered, illuminated by candlelight.
Then he slowly walked to the main room.
All that could be heard from inside was Li Chang'an muttering curses, lamenting how he had worked hard all his life, accumulating so much silver to support his son and grandson's education.
They're all useless and disobedient!
He had wanted to become an official his whole life, and this obsession only intensified after the passing of his grandmother, wife, and uncle.
I don't know how long they cursed before the candles in the room finally went out.
Chu Xun reached out and pointed, and a wisp of spiritual light fell into the room.
"A dream of wealth and glory, a dream that may bring fortune or misfortune—"
Then, Chu Xun drifted away.
Inside the room, Li Chang'an felt drowsy and quickly fell asleep on the bed.
He woke up in a daze and found himself back in Pinecone Village, as a young boy.
My grandfather, Li Tianjian, my grandmother, my uncle's family, and my parents were all present.
After several days of astonishment, Li Chang'an suddenly realized that he had returned to his youth.
Although he didn't know how he got back, he was full of ambition and couldn't contain his excitement.
Based on his understanding of the decades to come, he persuaded his family to raise money for him and donate again to become a student of the Imperial Academy.
After the Lin family was exterminated, Li Chang'an had his family buy several shops while prices were low.
When Magistrate Tang Shijun took office, he had already passed the autumn imperial examination and became a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination) ten years earlier than before.
And he was even the top scholar in the provincial examination!
Even Tang Shijun was amazed by the boy's talent and summoned him to ask him a few questions.
Using his title of Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations), Li Chang'an followed the same method to help farmers and merchants evade taxes.
The money earned was then used to buy shops in Pingshui Town.
At the same time, I went through the few imperial examination questions I could remember over and over again.
He had done this many times before, fantasizing about competing with other successful candidates in the imperial examinations. He never expected it would come in so handy now!
Relying on his "predictive" abilities, Li Chang'an overcame all obstacles in the imperial examinations and even became the top scholar in both the provincial and imperial examinations.
He achieved the highest honors in all three categories, which greatly pleased Emperor Taizu, who praised him as the greatest talent of the dynasty.
He was granted the position of companion reader in the Hanlin Academy, and rewarded with a thousand acres of fertile land and several thousand taels of gold and silver.
The granddaughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, young and beautiful, was arranged to marry Li Chang'an.
For a time, the Li family enjoyed unparalleled prestige.
At this time, Li Chang'an was only seventeen years old.
Chu Xun of Songguo Village is still just an ordinary farmer.
Although he possesses some assets, they are no longer comparable to his.
In the thirty-second year of the Jing Kingdom, Li Chang'an was appointed as the principal officer of the Ministry of Revenue.
Over the next three years, Jing Guomin's livelihood improved significantly.
Li Chang'an was promoted to the position of Vice Minister of Revenue. A year later, he was transferred to Mingxiu Prefecture as its prefect.
I thought I could finally unleash my full potential and achieve great things.
Who could have known that the prefect had so many things to deal with?
Despite three years of hard work, Mingxiu Prefecture's tax revenue was not as high as before.
Forced into a corner, Li Chang'an had no choice but to increase taxes on the people in order to achieve merit.
This caused widespread discontent among the people, and the number of bandits and horse bandits also increased significantly.
Many people were watching him make a fool of himself. The top scholar in the country, who became the number one scholar at the age of seventeen, never expected that he would find it so difficult to become a prefect.
Li Chang'an grew angrier the more he thought about it, but he gradually realized that his abilities were limited to this level.
But he didn't want to be looked down upon, knowing that the founding emperor would only have a few years left before his death.
He then made an appointment with the crown prince, who would later become the Yongji Emperor.
In the forty-first year of the Jing Kingdom, Emperor Taizu passed away as he had predicted.
The crown prince ascended the throne, and the reign title was Yongji.
Li Chang'an got his wish and was transferred back to serve as the Vice Minister of Revenue.
That year, he had just turned twenty-nine and was already a third-rank official in the imperial court.
The speed of his promotion is unprecedented in history.
However, after that year, Li Chang'an's good days came to an end.
He was too prominent, and all the officials in the court were jealous of him.
As the saying goes, "The tallest tree in the forest will be felled by the wind."
Someone brought up evidence of his crimes when he was a prefect, including forcibly imposing taxes, falsifying account books, and tax officials causing deaths, which he helped suppress.
The once peaceful Mingxiu Mansion has been turned into a complete mess.
Emperor Yongji was pressured by his ministers and also wanted to use this head to kill one person and make an example of many others.
Thus, in the second year of Yongji.
Li Chang'an, the Vice Minister of Revenue, was sentenced to have his entire family executed and all his property confiscated.
That day, he watched as his grandparents, wife, and children were all bound and dragged to the execution ground.
The executioner's face was full of scars, and the dagger in his hand was as big as a mountain.
His expression was cold and indifferent.
With one stab, he died with his eyes wide open, watching his loved ones' heads fall one by one.
The underworld messengers swept in from afar, carrying black chains and hooks, intending to seize him.
Li Chang'an fled in a panic, and unknowingly ran back to Songguo Village.
He saw that Chu Xun's house still had the plaque sent by the newly appointed prefect of Mingxiu Prefecture, Tang Shijun, hanging there.
His home was sealed off and searched by government officials.
Chu Xun and Zhang Anxiu were weeding in the field.
Li Shoutian squatted on the edge of the field, smiling as he smoked his pipe.
Uncle Li Guangmao, carrying a wine jug, was drinking as he led a group of teenagers fishing by the river.
The village children chased each other in the fields, their laughter ringing out like bells.
At that moment, Li Chang'an suddenly burst into tears.
If he had stayed in Songguo Village back then, he would have been the envy of everyone.
Carefree and enjoying wealth and luxury.
After serving as an official for more than a decade, he had tasted the sweetness of success, but in the end, his entire family was murdered.
He was once wealthy and respected by all.
But so what?
He was only a third-rank official, yet he was targeted and killed by all sorts of schemes.
This is the fate of those who are not worthy of their position.
The black chains and hooks of the underworld messengers finally caught up with him, locking his throat tightly, causing him unbearable pain.
Li Chang'an screamed in terror, "I'm not going to be an official anymore! I'm not going to be an official anymore!"
The underworld official was expressionless and exuded a cold aura.
All he could do was cry and shout.
In an instant, a thunderclap rang in my ears.
Li Chang'an suddenly shouted, opened his eyes, and sat up in bed.
Looking left and right, it was still the same room, unchanged.
He quickly reached up and touched his neck; his head was still there.
The door was pushed open, and Li Zaiming, the son, and Li Changping, the grandson, rushed over.
One lit a candle, and the other came to the bedside, asking with concern, "Grandpa, what's wrong?"
As the candlelight gradually brightened, Li Chang'an, covered in sweat, was stunned.
Was that—a dream?
The dream felt so real, as if I had actually experienced that kind of life.
Seeing his son and grandson's concerned expressions, he couldn't help but recall the scene of his family being beheaded on the execution ground.
Blood was everywhere, and he died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.
What's so good about being an official?
He can name eight hundred good things.
But you could also point out eight thousand bad things about it!
"Grandpa?" Li Changping called out.
Li Chang'an came to his senses and, trembling, reached out to touch Li Changping's head.
It looks very real, and it's still on the neck.
He let out a long sigh and said, "Grandpa will take you to buy medical books tomorrow."
Li Changping was stunned, not understanding what he meant.
Li Chang'an's voice grew firmer: "Our family is no longer in office. Let whoever wants to be an official do it!"
Meanwhile, Chu Xun, who had just returned to Songguo Village, seemed to sense something as soon as he entered the courtyard.
At that moment, the incense value suddenly increased by a full eighty, more than the amount saved from Liao Shouyi.
>