Chapter 4: Qinggong Really Exists

Chapter 4: There Really Is Lightness Kung Fu

"Try it, it tastes really good." Zhao An plucked a bright red strawberry and popped it into his mouth, then picked two more and held them out in his palm for Uncle Hai and Qintong to take.

The enticing, rich aroma of the strawberries wafted under the noses of Uncle Hai and Qintong. Their mouths watered, but they dared not reach out, for these were fruits grown with magical power.

Even carefree Qintong, who had seen the young master use his supernatural power the previous afternoon, had tossed and turned all night, barely able to sleep. This morning, he witnessed the young master use his power again—the small white flowers on the plants, which the young master called "strawberry seedlings," quickly bore fruit, instantly transforming into large, fragrant berries.

"Such beautiful, fragrant fruits must be divine delicacies meant for immortals. Lowly servants like us would shorten our lifespans by eating them," Uncle Hai said, seemingly afraid Qintong might succumb to temptation, and even pulled him a step back.

Zhao An ate another strawberry. In truth, these strawberries, freshly cultivated from wild varieties, were not very large, only about three centimeters in diameter—nowhere near the size of modern cultivated varieties, let alone the mutated kinds after the spiritual energy revival. Still, being able to enjoy strawberries in this ancient world was a genuinely delightful experience.

To share this joy, Zhao An directly placed the strawberries into the hands of Qintong and Uncle Hai, saying, "These aren’t divine fruits, just ordinary wild berries. If I can eat them, so can you. I even plan to sell them in the city for money—men, women, young, and old will all be able to buy and enjoy them."

After speaking, he picked another large bowl of strawberries and set it by the well, saying, "Alright, these are for us to eat. The rest will be sold."

Truthfully, there weren’t many to sell—only about two or three *jin*. The eleven original strawberry plants had only produced twenty-two offshoots, so the yield was limited.

However, given Zhao An’s current level of supernatural power, tending to these twenty-two plants was already his limit. Fortunately, strawberries are perennial herbs. As long as he could maintain the plants’ vitality, with the amount of power he could currently use, he could make them bear fruit every two days.

But aside from relying on his power, this small garden would need plenty of fertilization. Strawberries deplete the soil’s nutrients when they fruit. If he frequently used his power to accelerate growth without fertilizing the land, it could even lead to desertification—this was all part of Zhao An’s experience.

After sharing the bowl of strawberries with Uncle Hai and Qintong, Zhao An went to fetch the manure bucket to fertilize the plants. Once again, Uncle Hai tried to stop him, but Zhao An didn’t heed his advice this time either. "I’ll be living in Zhaojia Village from now on. I should learn how to do farm work. My grandfather was a farmer—you’ve seen that, right? Why can’t I farm too?"

"But didn’t Young Master say he would teach or write letters for people?" Uncle Hai countered, using Zhao An’s own words against him.

Zhao An knew his own limitations. With the original host’s memories, he could recognize and write a few characters and even run a literacy class without issue. But teaching people of this era to read the Four Books and Five Classics or write eight-legged essays was simply beyond him.

He didn’t want to lie, so he unabashedly said, "Even scholars should engage in labor regularly. Otherwise, they’ll end up with poor health like my father." He was well aware of the unpleasant smell of manure, which was precisely why he couldn’t act entitled as a young master and make others suffer in his place.

Not wanting to dwell on the matter, Zhao An said to Uncle Hai, "Go prepare the meal. After eating, I’ll take the strawberries to the city to sell."

Accustomed to following orders, Uncle Hai immediately turned his attention to cooking. It wasn’t until Zhao An started fertilizing that he realized he no longer had grounds to object, so he simply went back to cooking. Qintong, under Zhao An’s direction, began gently placing the strawberries into a basket lined with straw.

After finishing a breakfast of soup made with dried fish, Zhao An set off for Changxi County with Qintong carrying the basket on his back. Uncle Hai stayed behind to look after the house, clean, and do laundry.

Zhao An had only three sets of presentable clothing, all of them thick autumn and winter styles. Fortunately, it was still early spring, the third month, so wearing them wasn’t too hot. But in the coming days, he would need to prepare summer clothes—another reason he urgently needed to earn money. Besides himself, Uncle Hai and Qintong also had only two sets of clothing each, just enough for changes.

Beyond clothing, the list of things this household needed was endless. For Zhao An to live comfortably here, the money from one strawberry sale would be far from enough, even if he already planned to sell them at a high price.

Zhaojia Village wasn’t too far from Changxi County, and there was an official road to follow. Zhao An and Qintong reached the city in just half an hour.

It was less of a city and more of a small town, laid out in a grid pattern like the character "well." Apart from the bustling cross-street with its many shops, teahouses, restaurants, and inns, the other streets were relatively quiet, mostly lined with workshops: blacksmiths, carpenters, furniture sellers, lantern makers, incense and candle vendors, and pharmacies. Zhao An and Qintong walked through both the quiet and lively streets but didn’t see a single dedicated fruit shop.

Eventually, they asked an old lady selling yarn, who told them that the county had a dedicated fruit peddler who regularly delivered to wealthy households. Anyone else wanting to buy fruit would have to chance upon him.

"Besides, ordinary families like ours rarely get to eat fruit. It’s usually only for weddings or funerals, and we’d arrange it with the fruit peddler beforehand. Occasionally, villagers bring fruit to sell in the city, but theirs never tastes as good as the peddler’s," the old lady said, happy to chat a bit more with the handsome young master.

In the original host’s memory, the capital had dedicated fruit and vegetable shops. He hadn’t expected selling fruit in the countryside to require door-to-door promotion. Setting up a stall wasn’t an option either—it wouldn’t fetch a good price and would waste too much time.

The traditional way of selling fruit was too troublesome for Zhao An. After bidding farewell to the yarn-selling old lady, he took Qintong to the busiest street. At the crossroads stood a two-story restaurant with ten frontages, called Ruyi Restaurant.

Besides delivering directly to wealthy households, premium fruits could also be sold in high-end restaurants. Zhao An used a strawberry to smooth the way and soon met with Shopkeeper Feng of Ruyi Restaurant.

Surprisingly, Shopkeeper Feng recognized Zhao An, addressing him as Young Master Zhao and greeting him with a cupped-hand salute. After returning the courtesy, Zhao An asked for Shopkeeper Feng’s name and learned he was surnamed Feng.

"The local magistrate is also surnamed Feng. Are you acquainted, Shopkeeper Feng?" Zhao An asked.

Shopkeeper Feng nodded with some pride. "He’s my cousin."

Zhao An had already guessed as much. "No wonder Ruyi Restaurant’s business is so prosperous."

In ancient times, relying on clan connections was a given, so Shopkeeper Feng took this as a compliment rather than taking offense and was quite pleased.

After some small talk, they finally got down to business. "I heard Young Master Zhao wants to sell fruit to Ruyi Restaurant, and on a long-term basis."

At this question, Zhao An promptly took out a strawberry and placed it before him. "This is a new variety of fruit I discovered. I call it a strawberry. It looks similar to wild berries, but the plant is entirely different, and the taste is much better."

In truth, Shopkeeper Feng had already tasted the fruit Zhao An had sent in earlier. Now, seeing this sweet, fragrant, and lovely-looking berry, he found it utterly charming.

But to avoid appearing too eager, Shopkeeper Feng suppressed his desire to eat another strawberry. To secure a good price, Zhao An had to negotiate with him. After some back-and-forth, they settled on a price of three *wen* per strawberry. They counted the strawberries Qintong had brought—eighty-two in total, excluding the two given to Shopkeeper Feng for tasting—and settled the payment on the spot: 246 *wen*.

After agreeing with Shopkeeper Feng to deliver every other day with immediate payment upon delivery, Zhao An left Ruyi Restaurant with Qintong.

Two and a half strings of copper coins placed in the basket felt heavier than the strawberries. Qintong’s shoulders sagged under the weight, but his face was flushed with a smile. Once they were out of Ruyi Restaurant, he whispered to Zhao An, "I shouldn’t have eaten those strawberries earlier. I had five this morning—that’s fifteen *wen*! I could’ve bought fifteen eggs with that."

"You’re right. Let’s buy more eggs when we get back. We can boil them, fry them, steam them—whatever you like," Zhao An said, his peach-blossom eyes narrowing slightly with a smile.

Although 240 *wen* was only a little over three *qian* of silver—recently, silver was cheap, with one *liang* exchanging for about 800 *wen*—earning three *qian* every other day meant fifteen *liang* a month, which was more than enough to live on in the countryside.

Just as Zhao An was planning how to spend the money and Qintong was imagining all the ways to enjoy eggs, a young master in brocade robes approached them.

The young master’s gaze lingered on Zhao An, scrutinizing him closely. Not knowing who he was, Zhao An could only nod politely.

However, the man was quite rude. Without a word, he turned and headed toward Ruyi Restaurant. But instead of entering through the door, he leaped directly from the ground to a second-floor window.

Only after the figure disappeared did Zhao An close his gaping mouth. So this was the legendary lightness kung fu? He could jump directly to a second-floor window over four meters high. As for the young master’s inexplicable scrutiny, Zhao An quickly put it out of his mind.

The brocade-robed young master entered a private room in the restaurant, where a man in black martial attire was seated. The man had jet-black hair, sharp eyebrows, and a pair of bottomless gray-blue eyes.

The brocade-robed young master cupped his hands in greeting. "My apologies for keeping you waiting, Hu Sheng."

"No need for formalities, Feng Shaoping," Hu Sheng said lazily, leaning by the window and watching Zhao An’s retreating figure. "Is that the Young Master Zhao you mentioned?"

"How did you know?" Feng Shaoping asked curiously.

Hu Sheng took a sip of light wine. "A young master with such delicate features and peerless beauty appearing in Changxi City—who else could it be but Consort Li’s brother?"

Feng Shaoping was even more surprised. "You actually complimented someone’s looks? Why have you never praised me?"

Hu Sheng could only turn away, refusing to engage. Just then, a waiter knocked on the door and said, "The shop has just acquired a new delicacy. Shopkeeper Feng asked me to bring it for Fourth Young Master to enjoy with his wine."

Author's Note:

Guess who’s the top? Well, no need to guess—the answer is pretty obvious. ╮(╯▽╰)╭