Tao and Heaven

Chapter 1 Gu Wen
Bianjing, the divine capital of Daqian.

Recently, this divine capital has not been peaceful, with ghosts and strange things happening frequently inside and vassal kings being restless outside.

On the twenty-third day of the first lunar month, at the hour of Chou, outside Longqiao, Gu Wen, who was working in the Qingxi Water House, was summoned by his master.

Gu Wen sat in the carriage, and the servant meticulously spanked the horse's butt. The slapping sound revealed a pattern. The carriage was very stable, and the slight shaking made people sleepy.

The streets outside were crowded with disaster victims, huddled on both sides of the road and shivering. Although it was not freezing cold enough to kill people in Bianjing in March, the nights were still unbearable.

He asked as usual, "There are a lot of disaster victims recently. I remember you said there was a good harvest a few days ago."

"Master, a good harvest is useless. Even if gold grows in the fields, it is not enough to pay the taxes."

"That's right. Ten years of arrears of taxes were collected in the first ten years, and ten years of land tax was collected in the last ten years. The money was collected ten years later, but the fields didn't grow enough food for ten years."

Daqian was originally peaceful, the emperor succeeded to the throne legitimately, and there were bumper harvests year after year. However, the people of the world were forced to survive due to heavy taxes and levies. The two national policies of changing rice to mulberry and horse policy directly led to unrest among the people in the two counties and endless banditry.

Gu Wen wanted to say something, but a sudden cough made him speechless.

This person was weak and often sick. If he hadn't gotten a job in the palace, he would have died long ago. But fortunately, he was just weak and didn't have any serious illness.

"Master, are you okay?"

“An old problem.”

He waved his hand and said nothing more. The only sounds in the air were the shivering of the hungry people in the cold wind and the faint joy coming from afar.

Exit the Suzaku Gate and walk straight to Longqiao, and walk more than a hundred steps into the night market.

There were crowds of people and thousands of vendors. There were jade buildings on both sides, and the lights were bright red every time the sun set.

The watermen pushed their wheelbarrows through the alleys, shuttling between the back alleys of various restaurants, transporting buckets of water to restaurants, teahouses, brothels, residences of high-ranking officials, or brothels in Changlefang and other red-light districts.

The restaurant sells sea cucumbers, shark fins, bear paws, scallops, fish maws, deer tails, deer tongues, and bird's nests.
Behind the rolled-up curtains of the brothels were the skinny horses from Yangzhou, the girls from the music troupe, and the prostitutes.

Changlefang is a place of extravagance and decadence, with dice, cockfighting, quail fighting, and money being spread out on the gambling table.

Although it was past midnight and most people had gone to sleep, the night life had just begun for the rentier class in Bianjing. They neither got up early for work nor rested for tomorrow's work. They were born to enjoy themselves.

The mountains of grain and forests of meat in the family would turn two meals into three, four, or even twelve. Some had gold, silver, and jewelry to feed beautiful maids, concubines, servants, and slaves. They had sedan chairs for traveling, maids for food, concubines for living, and even specialized personnel to clean out excrement.

Some have candlelight and oil fire that cut through the night, and some have curtains and gauze that block out the morning sun.

Bianjing has been in turmoil recently, but it has nothing to do with these dignitaries. Prosperity is never about a particular place, but about the path you take.

He rode his horse in the busy city, disturbing countless dignitaries, literati, and children of wealthy families along the way. A drunkard was unable to dodge, and the guard who was leading the way in front of him raised his hand and whipped him, and his howling attracted more people's attention.

People from the brothels and villas on both sides kept looking over and glimpsed the ordinary face sitting in the carriage. Those who entered Longqiao for the first time all asked which family the young man was from and how grand he was.

Those who had been in Dragon Bridge for a while only dared to answer after the carriage went farther and farther away:

"Marquis Wen of the Ninth Prince's Mansion, Thousand Years Old of Dragon Bridge."

Gu Wen had a blank expression on his face. The dim light from the car window shone on his face. His expression was ordinary and unremarkable. If he were to fall into a crowd, it would be difficult for him to attract other people's attention.

He naturally enjoyed everything that power brought him. He had long been accustomed to stepping on other people's heads, tired of other people's awe, and had long since turned into a man-eating monster.

The morality, civilization and concepts of the previous life will only harm others and oneself.

Feudal ethics has never been as simple as a concept. He is a god that cannot be disobeyed. You can only curse Him when He dies.

He was just a slave under the throne of this great god, a half-class person who could stand under the lights and wine. He was not a high-ranking official, not a royal relative, and not a powerful official in the capital.

He was the operator of a water house and a retainer of a prince.

The population of Bianjing and its inner and outer cities was over 3 million, 60% of whom depended on the tributaries of the Taojiang River flowing through Bianjing for their livelihood, and the rest depended on digging wells. However, there were only 2,000 wells in the huge Bianjing, of which 1,600 were bitter water wells, most of which were used by ordinary people.

There are more than 300 clean water wells, which are used by officials and well-off families, and they have to pay for water every month.

There are only a hundred or so sweet water wells, but they are all “water gold mines”.

Many private people in the city who dug wells and found sweet water run water-selling businesses. The shopkeepers would place a wooden wheelbarrow with a wooden barrel on top. After the clerk filled the water, he would push it to the buyer's house, pour the water into a water tank, take the money and leave.

Therefore, Gu Wen made a living from this and occupied the largest water room near Longqiao, which half of the shops in Longqiao relied on.

The money that goes through my hands every month, if not ten thousand taels of gold, is at least eight thousand taels.

He was nicknamed "Wenhou".
-
Ninth Prince's Mansion.

"Marquis Wen, we have arrived at the palace."

Gu Wen got off the carriage and looked up. It was a tall and wealthy house with towering stone lions, surrounded by high walls and covered with green glazed tiles. There were beasts on the roof. It was obviously the residence of the prince.

He did not let servants lead the way and walked quickly into the mansion. The guards who were standing every ten steps on the road ignored him and no one tried to stop him.

This was not the first time that Gu Wen came here, but it was the first time that he was summoned into the mansion late at night. This made him very surprised. What on earth was the matter that required him to come to the palace so late at night?

Urged by his eagerness to uncover the mystery, he quickened his pace.

The palace was still immersed in the slow night, and everywhere was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop, making Gu Wen's footsteps even clearer and more obvious. Even before he arrived at the study, the noble sitting in it had already noticed it.

The eunuch lifted the colorful pearl curtain and Gu Wen walked into the study. A faint scent of incense wafted from the beast stove. The nobleman was leaning over the table writing calligraphy and painting. His bright yellow robe reflected slightly in the candlelight, and his facial features were handsome and noble.

The ninth prince, Zhao Feng, is also a strong contender for the crown prince position.

The crown prince fell into the water and died ten years ago. The current emperor has not appointed a new crown prince. Until now, the emperor is old and the court is in turmoil.

Gu Wen stepped forward and knelt on one knee. In Daqian, there was no need to perform kneeling rituals except in extremely formal occasions, and ministers in the court did not need to kneel when meeting the emperor.

There is only one kind of people who need to kneel down: house slaves.

There are different levels of hierarchy everywhere, and where there are people, there are high and low. There are two types of retainers: one is the children of aristocratic families who bring money into the group, and the other is ordinary people like Gu Wen who have no support but are capable.

The former is a minister and needs to be treated with courtesy by the master, while the latter is a slave and can be killed or cut at will.

But a smart master would tacitly approve the rule of the servants kneeling, while being friendly and not fussy about it.

"Thank you for rushing to the palace in the middle of the night."

Zhao Feng put down his pen and ink and showed appropriate intimacy. This was another advantage of being a retainer, it was easy to gain the master's trust and become his confidant.

Gu Wen is one of the Ninth Prince’s confidants. He would be consulted on all matters concerning business, but this was the first time he had consulted him in the middle of the night.

The Ninth Prince's attitude today was a little strange, more friendly than before, even with a little more "respect"? I am just a commoner, and my ability is mostly in business, and for the rich and powerful, business is just a respectable way to eat. Zhao Feng asked in a tone of discussing family matters: "My dear, you have been worshipping in this palace for five years, right?"

Five years.

Gu Wen was a little dazed before he realized that five years had passed. It had been five years since he traveled through time.

Five years ago, he traveled through time and space and became a beggar in Daqian Bianjing. He carried an ancestral stone jade pendant, which was said to have a connection with the immortals. Before Gu Wen could figure out what he was doing, the eunuch of the Ninth Prince came to him and asked for the jade pendant.

The man brought a dozen fully armed soldiers and revealed his identity. Gu Wen knew that he could not keep the treasure, so he put forward a condition. He wanted wealth and glory. He had been suffering as a beggar for half a year. If he could not keep the treasure, at least he could take the opportunity to get rid of poverty.

The other party agreed and brought him into the Ninth Prince's Mansion, where he has lived until today.

When Gu Wen first heard that "the Ninth Prince has the legacy of Taizu", his first reaction was to run away. With this title, he would inevitably be involved in the struggle for the throne. But when he saw all kinds of feudal society, he found that the power struggle for the throne was not scary, but being an ordinary citizen was scary.

Even if you have tens of millions of dollars in assets, you will be nothing but a fat pig under the butcher knife of officials in the next second, and they have plenty of ways to eat you up.

So Gu Wen stayed in the Ninth Prince's Mansion, and using some modern corporate management experience, he became the other party's right-hand man, responsible for the Ninth Prince's Mansion's largest cash flow water room, "Marquis Wen".

Gu Wen replied, "If it weren't for Your Highness, I would have starved to death on the roadside. Your Highness's kindness will be remembered by me."

"Have you heard about the strange things happening in the city recently?"

"Of course. Someone saw a dragon swimming under the Dragon Bridge. A ten-foot-tall tree grew overnight on Zhuque Road in the south of the city. The Buddha in Baiyun Temple glowed with golden light. Someone in Bianjing saw a white deer at night. These are auspicious signs. Everyone said that Daqian could have a ten-thousand-year reign."

There have always been many stories about ghosts and gods in ancient times, especially in recent times, and they are all very detailed and convincing.

Gu Wen had someone go and inquire about it, and it turned out that a tree had indeed suddenly grown on Zhuque Road, and the government had called in hundreds of civilians but they couldn't pull it out or push it down, so they had no choice but to leave it alone. Now Zhuque Road is blocked all day long because of this tree.

"You should know that these are all true."

Zhao Feng took off the stone jade pendant from his waist and placed it on the table where Gu Wen could see it. He also changed his address to Gu Wen and said, "This is your heirloom."

"You are His Highness now."

"What if I want to return the things to you?"

Zhao Feng leaned forward slightly, his tone calm and light, as if he was really going to return it to Gu Wen, but he didn't know how much sharpness had already emerged in the dark.

Gu Wen answered without hesitation: "Then I need to repay your kindness. Last year alone, I have spent three thousand taels of silver. In five years, I am afraid it will be ten thousand taels. I can't repay it even if I give my heart and soul to it."

"Your Highness, are you going to let me eat for free?"

Zhao Feng was stunned for a moment when faced with the rhetorical question, then he chuckled a few times, and the laughter instantly made his murderous intent fade a lot. He put away the jade pendant and scolded with a smile: "My dear minister, you are very generous. You can spend three thousand taels of silver a year. It only costs less than a thousand taels to buy a mansion in Bianjing. If I don't count the money allocated by the clan government, I'm afraid my annual expenditure will not be even half of yours."

"Your Highness's Holy Virtue."

Gu Wen complimented him, knowing that he had escaped danger again today.

Serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. Although Zhao Feng is only a prince, he is worse than the current official than the current manager. He has more authority over Gu Wen and everyone in the Ninth Prince's Mansion than the emperor.

Seeing Zhao Feng nodding with great satisfaction, Gu Wen laughed in his heart. This move was nothing more than a combination of kindness and power, constantly hitting the people below, while also enjoying the pleasure of using power to suppress others.

This is not a clever trick, he is in this position so he can overwhelm himself.

The so-called heaven is neither holy nor noble.

The so-called nature of an emperor is nothing more than thinking of ways to turn people into ghosts.

Having grown up in such an environment, he might really be grateful to Zhao Feng, but Gu Wen has a soul from another world in his heart. His mind is full of cognitions that do not belong to feudal ethics, and he will never give up these cognitions.

But people have to eat after all. How can they turn the world around if they don’t endure it?
After saying so many heartfelt words, Zhao Feng stopped wasting time and got back to the point: "These visions are all true. There are indeed immortals in the world. What you have seen and heard recently may be a great god."

Gu Wen's breathing choked and his heartbeat slowed down.

Because of the heirloom, he often suspected that there was a supernatural power in this world. But he has been unable to verify it over the years, and Zhao Feng, who got his heirloom, did not necessarily fly into the sky or hide in the ground.

But now he said that there are immortal cultivators in the world, and they have been appearing around him in recent days.

Gu Wen asked, "Why have I never heard of this before?"

"Because it's not the right time yet. This world is like an orchard. Only when the fruits are ripe will people come to pick them." Zhao Feng's expression became serious. He didn't finish his words. He turned around and said in a commanding tone: "Those outsiders are not something that Daqian can contend with, but Daqian can benefit from them."

"This king has contacted an immortal, and the immortal originally wanted to see you."

After digesting the huge amount of information, Gu Wen asked, "How can I, a mere mortal, be so worthy and capable?"

"The ancestors of the Gu family should have had a predestined relationship with an immortal, and that immortal should have been looking for you. Now you have sold the token to me." Zhao Feng's words were as sharp as a knife, making people feel particularly pierced. Then he showed appropriate intimacy: "Besides, among the hundreds of people in this mansion, only you and your companion can make this king feel at ease."

Gu Wen caught a glimpse of the master's calm expression, which contained an unquestionable meaning. He lowered his head and replied, "Yes."

As a retainer, I have no choice.

"Go, get one thousand taels of silver from the treasury."

Zhao Feng casually threw out enough money to feed and clothe tens of thousands of disaster victims outside for half a year, but for the prince it was just a casual reward.

Gu Wen left the palace with a large pile of banknotes, got on a carriage and returned to the Longqiao Night Market where the water room was located.

The cold wind in the early morning was still biting. The victims gathered in front of the porridge shop set up by the government, holding bowls of white water.

Looking at the color, I thought it was porridge.

Gu Wen got off the carriage and took a look, then he secretly sneered in his heart: "There are so many people in the world who want to be this slave."

If it were five years ago, he would have helped the disaster victims because he came from a civilized era. He might be just an ordinary person, but in Daqian, his moral level, empathy, and compassion are higher than this society.

He traveled to this ancient feudal dynasty precisely to save all living beings, spread the fire of civilization, and eliminate the nobles and officials who had formed "reproductive isolation" from the common people.

Everyone has a stage in his heart, and the stage and reality are like different barriers. For some people, it may be just one step away, while for others, it may be the abyss.

It took Gu Wen five years to climb down from the stage before he fell to his death.

Back to providing relief to the disaster victims.

If he is the good man, then does that mean that the government that does nothing is “bad”? Are the officials bad? Is Zhao Feng bad?
He is a household servant and a businessman, why is he trying to show off?
If I am good, the world will not be good.

Gu Wen, escorted by servants and maids, walked into the mansion shrouded in candlelight and draped curtains.

　I have updated the book three times to show my sincerity. This is my first time writing a fairy tale. I am a new author and I hope you will read my new book and collect it.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)