Anyang County, Jinliu Village of Yu Country.
In August, the scorching sun blazes down on the earth.
On the village path, Shen Yuan, wearing a straw hat, dressed in hemp short clothes, with pants legs rolled up, is heading towards the threshing ground under the blazing sun.
Behind him follow two naked children, one big, one small.
"Ah Die is lying, there isn’t even a cloud in the sky, how could it possibly rain?"
Shen Wenxing, about seven or eight years old, holding a wooden box, shields his eyes with his dirty little hand, tilts his head to look at the cloudless sky and mumbles.
In the distance, the little one, only about three or four years old, is pinching his little water hose, aiming at an anthill and watering it wantonly, laughter ringing out.
Shen Yuan stops, looking at the mischievous little one with a helpless smile.
"Ah Nu, don’t be naughty!"
"Be careful when you sleep at night, ants crawl into your bed and bite your butt!"
The stream of water suddenly stops, the little one looks back a little scared, takes two steps back, then turns to spray a circle at a big tree nearby and, satisfied, shakes himself before running to catch up.
"Ah Die, will it really rain today?"
Shen Yuan takes off the straw hat from his head, places it on the little one’s head and nods, "It will rain, so we need to hurry and harvest the grains, so they aren’t washed away by heavy rain."
The breeze blows, the straw hat too big, the little one quickly presses it down with his hand, then excitedly turns to Shen Wenxing beside him and says, "Big brother, after the rain stops, take Ah Nu to the pond to catch frogs!"
Shen Wenxing, avoiding Shen Yuan’s gaze, quickly shakes his head, "No, mother doesn’t allow playing with water, if she finds out, my butt would be whipped!"
Ah Nu, pressing the straw hat with one hand, pulls Shen Wenxing’s hand and whispers, "Then let’s go secretly..."
Before he finishes speaking, a slap lands on his little butt, "You little brat, do you think your dad doesn’t exist?"
"Stop dawdling, hurry up and gather the grains."
The little one, having received the slap, doesn’t cry, and naked, scampers off to the threshing ground.
Seeing this scene, Shen Yuan can’t help but raise the corners of his mouth, his thoughts somewhat drifting.
Sometimes he feels like he’s dreaming, a very real and long dream.
In his previous life, after graduating from university, he entered a major company. To settle in Hang City, he worked overtime desperately, and at the age of thirty, with his parents’ help, scraped together enough for a down payment.
Sadly, before the promised housing was delivered, he died suddenly from overwork, unexpectedly arriving in this place, becoming not quite an ordinary commoner.
He is not considered ordinary because, compared to other villagers, the Shen Family is relatively affluent.
His great-grandfather joined the army back then, beheaded three Barbarian Race warriors, and was granted a title.
The Great Yu Dynasty employs a military merit title system similar to the Qin Dynasty in his previous world.
On the battlefield, killing three enemies grants the title of Jue Zanniang, with rewards of two houses, two hectares of fertile land (1 hectare = 100 mu), and forty mu of mountainous land.
The title inheritable, downgrading with each generation.
By Shen Yuan’s generation, the family’s title has already been stripped, but fortunately, sixty mu of fertile land and ten mu of mountainous land were left.
To the west of Jinliu Village, two hundred miles away, lies an immense mountain range stretching for thousands of miles, named Hidden Dragon Mountain.
Hidden Dragon Mountain acts like a natural barrier, keeping the Western Wilderness Barbarian Race at bay.
However, even with such geographical barriers, small bands of Barbarians still cross Hidden Dragon Mountain, raiding and pillaging within Great Yu’s territory.
Therefore, Emperor Yu ordered the establishment of Mountain Patrol Captain Camps along Hidden Dragon Mountain a few years ago, and since then, Barbarian invasions on neighboring villages and towns have been rare.
His wife, Hu Yufen, originally a young lady from a wealthy family, accidentally ended up in Jinliu Village eight years ago due to a barbarian calamity. After being rescued, they fell in love over time and became husband and wife.
In the years following their marriage, Hu Yufen gave birth to two sons.
The eldest, Shen Wenxing, nicknamed Shi Tou, is now seven years old.
The second, Shen Wenyan, nicknamed Ah Nu, will turn four after this year’s festival.
With a wife and children, guarding sixty mu of fertile land and ten mu of mountain forest, Shen Yuan feels that living such a simple life is quite good.
Yet, half a month ago, while fishing in the big river with villagers, he accidentally picked up a mysterious turtle shell like white jade, and inexplicably activated a daily divination system bound to the family.
Every day just past midnight, the system randomly refreshes a new hexagram.
[Today’s Hexagram · Peace]: Rain at Shen time, starts sufficiently at You time, 2 feet 3 inches 41 points of water gained.
The hexagram clearly displays in his mind.
Sometimes Shen Yuan thinks, with this system, he could totally play the part of a shaman or minor deity, just talking and earning loads of money.
But unfortunately, for half a month, the hexagrams given by the fortune-telling system had no pattern, and wanting to specially deduce a particular matter required consuming his longevity.
In his previous life, he exchanged his life for money, ultimately ending up with neither wealth nor life. In this life, he definitely didn’t want to do something so foolish.
After the initial excitement passed, life continued on in this mundane way.
For half a month, the system did bring him quite a few little surprises.
For example, a few days ago, the hexagram showed that there was a nest of wild boars in the forest of his family, and Shen Yuan immediately set traps in the forest according to the hints, capturing seven piglets and one adult boar, which counted as a small fortune.
And today, with a clear sky, no one could see that there would be a heavy rain in two hours.
The large threshing ground was drying the newly harvested grains of his family. If he waited for the rain to come and then scrambled to collect them, the grains would not only be washed away by the rain but also become moldy and sprout, which would be considerable damage.
"Boss, the grains have just been turned over."
The old voice interrupted Shen Yuan’s thoughts, as a bent, bare-chested, skinny old man hurriedly greeted Shen Yuan upon seeing him.
The old man was named Fu Gui, a short-term laborer he had hired.
Fu Gui was an ordinary common person from the neighboring village. Years ago, his only son went hunting in the mountains and accidentally fell. To gather money for his son’s treatment, he sold all his family’s fields.
Although his son’s life was saved, he was left disabled. Without land, Fu Gui could only earn a living by working as a short-term laborer for others.
"Uncle Fu, bring the things over, and let’s hurry and collect these grains."
Fu Gui was a bit astonished, looking at the sky.
"Boss, the sun is shining bright, and it’s the best time to dry the grains. If we collect now..."
Shen Yuan bent down, scooped up a handful of grains, and examined them in his hand, smiling: "It’s about time already. Go ahead and collect them quickly."
Although Fu Gui was puzzled, the boss had spoken, and he dared not delay. He immediately fetched tools like sieves and brooms and began working busily.
Nearby, two little ones also each picked up a wooden push, helping to gradually push the grains from the outside toward the center.
Shen Wenxing was already seven years old. Although pushing was somewhat strenuous, he still gritted his teeth and persisted.
But Shen Wenyan was under four years old, with clearly much less strength.
The little one pushed two steps, and when the grains piled up in front of the wooden push, he simply couldn’t push anymore.
"Eeh—yah—"
"Ouch—"
With small hands wrapped around the wooden push and little feet kicking in vain, he lost balance and the wooden push slid off the grains.
The little one fell right onto the ground.
"Young master, are you okay?"
Seeing this, Fu Gui hurriedly ran over to help him up.
"Uncle Fu, don’t mind him, let the brat have a fall and toughen up."
Shen Yuan spoke, the tears swirling in the little one’s eyes slowly withdrew, and he got up, dusting off the grains and dirt sticking to his body. He picked up the wooden push again to help.
After trying several times, he realized he could only push two steps at a time. The little one stood there in contemplation for a while, then suddenly laughed.
He stopped insisting on pushing all the grains to the center, instead pushing two steps each time before changing position.
Seeing this, Shen Yuan smiled reassuringly.
Fu Gui, observing this from the side, clicked his tongue in wonder.
"How clever the young master is; the boss is truly fortunate."
After the four of them labored for over an hour, all the grains on the threshing ground were piled up in the center.
By this time, the sky was no longer as clear and windy; large clouds were swiftly drifting over from the distance.
Shen Yuan and Fu Gui hurriedly fetched a large amount of thatch and rice straw to cover the grain pile, then surrounded it with mud levees to prevent rainwater from seeping into the pile.
Before they were done, the sky turned ominously dark. After several rumbling thunderclaps, large raindrops fell with a pitter-patter!
The two sheltered themselves from the rain, checked carefully to ensure there wouldn’t be leakage, and then hurried into the nearby cooling shed by the threshing ground.
Fu Gui wiped the rain off his face, looked at Shen Yuan in astonishment.
"It’s truly incredible, how did the boss know it would rain today?"
Shen Yuan smiled silently, already planning in his heart to hire more short-term laborers for summer plowing and sowing as soon as the rain stopped.