From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

My thoughts were interrupted.

Liu Wei looked towards the rice paddy beside him and saw a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, but with a robust physique. He couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Uncle, do we know each other?"

Don't you remember me?

The old man laughed heartily, but wasn't angry. He warmly greeted them, "A year ago, I passed by Yinghe Tower with other refugees. I was so hungry I was skin and bones. It was you who gave me a steamed bun, which allowed me to make it to Yuhang..."

"Uh... I really don't remember."

There were too many refugees at the time, and he was only focused on distributing steamed buns and rice porridge. How could he possibly remember what each person looked like?

Besides—

Is the old man in front of me really one of the refugees from back then?

From being skin and bones to now being... robust?

"Haha! I don't believe it myself!"

The old farmer laughed and led Liu Wei to a small village outside Yuhang City. The houses were low, but instead of thatched roofs, they had fish-scale tiles, which looked quite refreshing.

The people in the village were mostly refugees, many of whom had passed by Yinghe Tower and received a meal from Liu Wei. Upon seeing an acquaintance, they all gathered around.

Liu Wei also learned about the refugees' experiences from them—

Since leaving Yinghe Tower, they had been heading east, and many people had died along the way, but they finally made it to Yuhang. The soldiers of the Guo faction in the city wouldn't let them in, but the Confucian Society took them in, provided them with housing and food, and distributed farmland that had been reclaimed outside the city.

of course.

Although these fields were reclaimed by the Confucian Association and belong to the Confucian Association, they are only temporarily rented to them.

The rent is five percent of the quarterly harvest.

Not calculated per person!

It's not just land rent, but also house rent. Furthermore, once the lease is completed for ten years, the land and house belong entirely to them. Members of the Confucian Society's Agricultural Department and the Shennong Hall will also come periodically to explain farming techniques to them…

However, there are conditions: even if the land and houses belong to them after ten years, they cannot be bought, sold, or transferred privately. They must report to the Confucian Association and undergo repeated investigations and confirmations by the association's personnel before they can be transferred or sold.

Regarding this condition, the members of the Confucian Society personally explained to them how powerful gentry and gentry were created through land annexation...

“We collect one hundred units of grain each quarter, and give five to the Confucian Association. We all feel bad about it, so we take more. But guess what?”

The old farmer said to Liu Wei, "That Miss Hong from the Confucian Association is a living bodhisattva. She has discerning eyes. Even without coming here, she knows our grain yield each season and returns any extra we give her. After the first time, she even ordered people to set up a grain collection point in the town, where someone would come to help us weigh the grain and only take five percent!"

The grain seeds that the Confucian Association sold to us also had very high yields, with the last season's yield reaching 900 jin per mu!

These high-yield grain varieties are supposedly all 'hybrids,' and that they're unstable or something. I only understood one sentence: hybrids have high grain yields, but the seeds from hybrids have very low yields, so we need to buy them from the Confucian Association, but the seeds aren't worth much..."

Listening to the old farmer's long-winded explanation, Liu Wei gained a deeper understanding of the Confucian Association, such as its efforts to help refugees.

It wasn't a free aid program; the houses and land were rented to these refugees, and the price was only five percent of what they received, giving them enough hope to survive.

There are also grain seeds; the first generation had high yields, while the second generation had low yields, and they needed to be purchased from the Confucian Association...

This will create circulation!

Considering that the Confucian Society also had branches in other provinces, Liu Wei could already imagine that in the future peaceful era, the Confucian Society would be able to form a huge business system just by using grain seeds as a bargaining chip!

Having started out as a small innkeeper in the Jianghu (江湖, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry), and having also opened Yinghelou (迎鹤楼, a restaurant chain), Liu Wei had a certain understanding of commerce, the key being the word "circulation".

There's an old saying that goes:

No merchant is without cunning.

Once this system becomes too large, it will inevitably breed parasites.

But the Red Girl from the Confucian Society seems to know even that the local people have paid more grain... Could it be that she relies on special superpowers to monitor them?

Jianghu Xiaozhan holds secrets about many forces, but it knows nothing about the abilities of the Confucian Society members, especially the core members, except for the abilities they openly display.

Born into a faction within the world of supernatural beings that makes a living by gathering intelligence, Liu Wei has a natural curiosity about the information and intelligence of the Confucian Society members.

Therefore.

After drinking a bowl of water, Liu Wei bid farewell to the old farmer and headed eagerly towards Yuhang City, where he encountered a stout man at the city gate.

"May I ask where you are from, sir? Are you also here to visit Master Jiang?" Recognizing the other person as an extraordinary individual, Liu Wei cupped his hands and inquired.

“I am from Baozhitang, my name is Lin Shirong. I don’t know anything about Jiang Sheng. I came here to seek refuge with Jiang Liu according to my master’s will.”

The man was none other than Lin Shirong. He returned the greeting with clasped hands and asked Liu Wei, "May I ask who you are?"

"A small inn in the Jianghu, Liu Wei."

"So you're the young manager of Jianghu Inn!" Lin Shirong had never met Liu Wei before, but he had heard of his deeds. Now that he had met him, he was a little curious. "You've come to Yuhang to visit that Jiang Sheng?"

"...It's Jiang Liu. Hasn't he recently become a literary genius, causing extraordinary phenomena in the heavens and earth, with rays of light covering the nine provinces and golden sounds and jade-like sounds falling from the sky? I heard that many people who have been working in the fields for many years and have hidden ailments have felt much more relaxed, and the scope of this phenomenon is so large that it almost covers the entire land of China."

# Chapter 1077 Second Visit to the City's Cultural Street

"What was the meaning of the sky full of rosy clouds and dazzling flowers I saw these past few days? Did Jiang Liu cultivate himself into an immortal?"

Lin Shirong then connected the two things and looked as if he had just realized something.

"It's not becoming an immortal, it's becoming a saint... Never mind, with Jiang Liu's methods, it wouldn't be wrong to say that he is a celestial being or Buddha incarnate."

Liu Wei corrected half of it, changed his words, but after thinking for a while, he still mentioned that Confucius had created the way of cultivating talent and spirit, and became more and more enthusiastic as he spoke, "Talent and spirit are difficult to cultivate, but righteous spirit is even more difficult to achieve!"

Yet Jiang Liu succeeded precisely in his confrontation with the Confucian family! He not only forged a literary courage and achieved the revered status of a sage, but also cultivated a righteous spirit that shattered the righteous spirit Confucius had previously cultivated, thus bringing Confucianism back to the people…

perhaps--

The Confucian Way will be a brand new path for the people of China and for those of us who cultivate ourselves.

That is the fundamental reason why I came to visit.

"The Confucian Society is indeed different."

Lin Shirong nodded, "The people in the villages and towns outside the city were all refugees, but in terms of spirit and energy, they can't compare to the people in my hometown towns."

The two talked as they entered the city.

The road was wide and the ground was clean. Horse-drawn carriages, oxcarts, and bicycles came and went constantly, leaving the two of them at a loss for what to do.

There was no other choice.

The two asked a passerby for directions to the Cultural Street, but the passerby was not a local of Yuhang either. He smiled wryly and said, "You two have asked the wrong person. I just arrived in Yuhang and got separated from my brother. I don't know where to go right now."

"I am Liu Wei from Jianghu Xiaozhan, and this is Lin Shirong from Baozhitang. May I ask who you are?"

Liu Wei was curious about the identity of the man in front of him.

"My name is Zhao Tianhai, from Tiangongtang," the man said, revealing his identity. "And my lost brother is named Zhao Pingshan."

Said Cao Cao, Cao Cao.

Just then, a man who looked somewhat like Zhao Tianhai, with a high nose and broad forehead, but dressed in a suit and wearing square glasses, walked out from a nearby alley and said, "Brother, have you made a new friend?"

Where did you go?

Zhao Tianhai cursed, "You left your older brother alone on the roadside? What kind of younger brother are you?"

"Hey, hey, hey, it's always been the older brother who leads the younger brother, never the younger brother who has to take care of the older brother."

Zhao Pingshan's lips curled into a slightly cynical smile, but he also pulled a map from his waist and said, "I'm not just wandering around aimlessly; I bought a map..."

By the way, aren't you going to introduce these two?

"No wonder he studied abroad, his mind is definitely sharper than mine, his older brother's." Zhao Tianhai's unpredictable expression changed, and he laughed heartily as he introduced Liu Wei and Lin Shirong to him.

After the four of them got to know each other, Zhao Pingshan spread out a map and led the way, taking them to the area south of West Lake.

Compared to the city center, this place was bustling with traffic and people coming and going. The four of them were even fortunate enough to see Miss Hong leading the members of the Cai Opera Troupe, Boss Cha, and the Ghost Mother brought back by Jiang Liu, performing magic tricks and operas on a newly built open-air stage nearby.

"Is this Hong Guniang? She's really beautiful. But I heard she's a high-ranking member of the Confucian Society. How come she's performing on stage?" Zhao Tianhai exclaimed in amazement as he watched Hong Guniang perform the Thousand-Hand Guanyin all by herself on stage, but he also had a hint of doubt.

According to locals in Yuhang, the "big shots" of the Confucian Association have no idol baggage.

Zhao Pingshan clearly learned a lot of information and exclaimed, "Not to mention this Miss Hong, even the 'saint' we're talking about, if he has free time, he will return to his job, go on stage to perform magic tricks, or perform opera with Boss Cha of this theater. He doesn't have the slightest bit of the airs of a 'big shot'."

“He can be a saint or an actor... Perhaps this is the true cultivator, treating all walks of life equally.” Lin Shirong pondered, his eyes shining, yet he doubted whether he was qualified to receive Jiang Liu’s guidance.

Liu Wei, however, also remarked, "To integrate supernatural abilities into daily life and use them in performance..."

My master told me that in the past, it could only be disguised as magic tricks and could not be used openly, otherwise the imperial court would accuse it of bewitching and confusing the people...

In the past, those evil forces recruited followers and did indeed engage in activities such as accumulating wealth and causing death.

While the Confucian Association also displayed supernatural abilities, the people of Yuhang could more or less explain the concepts of Qi cultivation and supernatural abilities to some extent… The Confucian Association was trying to remove the word “supernatural” from the description of these individuals.

“Fear stems from the unknown, but once the unknown becomes known, people are at least psychologically prepared, even if they are still afraid of the power of the superhumans.”

Zhao Pingshan adjusted his glasses, a glint of shrewdness appearing in his eyes. "The world is indeed about to change, but with the existence of the Confucian Association, China may become a great world where Qi cultivation and science and technology coexist."

If it really works—

"In the future, Tiangong Hall may be filled with gold and jade."

“Brother, how could you have such an idea? Don’t tell me that after going abroad, you’ve forgotten the rules of our ancestors?” Zhao Tianhai’s expression turned serious.

"Tch, brother, times have changed, and we weapon refiners naturally have to keep up with the times. Do you know how advanced foreign machinery manufacturing is? Their iron and steel smelting technology is at least fifty years more advanced than ours!"

Zhao Pingshan sighed, “Our Tiangong Hall’s rule is indeed ‘valuing grains and despising gold and jade.’ Our mechanisms and magical artifacts are mainly based on the five aspects of clothing, food, housing, transportation, and daily necessities. But times are changing. If we continue to focus on wood and use metal as a secondary material when designing mechanisms, we are definitely doomed in the future!”

Gold and jade should be the main ingredients!

Tiangongtang primarily uses wood, simply because wood is a plant, possessing life. Even when dead, it retains its texture, making it easier to nurture with Qi.

But things like metal and stone are naturally formed; trying to work them with Qi would be too troublesome.

"Do you think our ancestors didn't know? They were just afraid we'd be tempted by money!" Zhao Tianhai corrected. "It's not that we absolutely can't use gold, jade, or similar things to refine artifacts."

"That's true, but the older and younger generations of our Heavenly Craft Hall still use plants and trees as the main raw materials for refining magical artifacts. Why is that?"

Zhao Pingshan countered, "Our elders tell us to treat gold and jade with contempt, yet, influenced by what we see and hear, our methods also become contemptuous of gold and jade..."

Isn't this a bit too much of a formality?

"What form? Absolutely not! It's just that our Tiangong Hall is located in the countryside, and we can't obtain much metal outside of towns like this!"

Zhao Tianhai argued his case forcefully based on reason.