Chapter 97

Chapter 97

The spring breeze was balmy and mild, brushing over the grassy hillside and stirring up soft, green ripples.

Scattered wildflowers dotted the green grass—red, yellow, pink... tiny blossoms swaying shyly in the wind.

Over forty sheep with pure white fleeces grazed lazily and at leisure on the slope.

A village dog crouched watchfully nearby, guarding the flock to keep the sheep from straying.

Lu Wei was half-lying under an old locust tree. He opened his eyes amidst the spring breeze and verdant grass to see an apple-cheeked girl in a ruqun. She was carefully spreading out a handkerchief and gently placing a handful of vibrant red cherries on the bluestone beside him.

Catching Lu Wei's gaze, the girl's face immediately flushed as red as a ripe apple. With a soft "ah," she started like a frightened fawn, quickly lifted her skirt, and scurried away on light steps.

Lu Wei watched her back disappear from view, then reached out, picked up a cherry, and popped it into his mouth. It was sweet, tart, and juicy—quite delicious.

He spat out the pit and looked around. While it couldn't compare to the bustling prosperity and advanced technology of his previous world, he could see wisps of cooking smoke rising from a distant village, surrounded by lush green grass, offering a rather idyllic and rustic charm.

Of course, what satisfied Lu Wei most was his current body.

He extended an arm. His skin was a healthy wheat color, covered with a layer of well-defined muscle. His palms were broad, his fingers long, dexterous, and strong, with calluses on the fingertips and palms from manual labor.

In his final years in the previous world, his body had always been frail, prone to coughing up blood, and he often felt weak and listless.

Fortunately, it was the interstellar age with good living and medical conditions, sustaining even such a frail body until his fifties.

But this body now was young and strong, teeming with a vitality that bordered on wildness.

"Host, ready to receive memories?"

"Receive." Lu Wei gave a lazy stretch before replying.

A stream of information flooded his mind.

This was Mu Village, where seventy to eighty percent of the villagers shared the surname Mu, belonging to the same clan.

Lu Wei was nineteen years old, the adopted son of Mu San Shier (Mu Thirty-Two).

Mu San Shier was an ordinary farmer in Mu Village. Farming families weren't particular about names; he was born on March 12th, so he was called Mu San Shier.

Because Mu San Shier had some woodworking skills, he would go to the town to find work in the slack farming seasons, making his family's life better off than that of the average farmer.

Nineteen years ago, Mu San Shier returned from town bringing back a baby.

That baby was Lu Wei.

At that time, Mu San Shier's wife, Mu Tu-shi, had just given birth to her first child and had plentiful milk, more than her own baby could drink. So she nursed both babies together.

Lu Wei and Mu San Shier's biological son, Mu Ming, grew up together, wearing split pants, and were as close as brothers.

When Lu Wei was four, Mu Tu-shi gave birth to a girl, named Mu Xixi.

Lu Wei started doing age-appropriate chores for the Mu family at age five, such as feeding chickens, sweeping, and tending to his little sister. He began working in the fields at nine, and at thirteen, he became a shepherd for a wealthy family in the village.

The Mu family wasn't intentionally mistreating him; this was the life for the vast majority of men in the village.

A rather ordinary and mundane life.

The only extraordinary thing was probably how strikingly attractive Lu Wei was.

For example, the girl who had just placed cherries beside him was the youngest daughter of his employer's family, Qiao Ling.

Actually, while his employer's family was considered wealthy, it was only because several generations had worked diligently, accumulating over a hundred mu of paddy fields. They could afford hired help and were relatively well-off, but they weren't truly wealthy or noble. Their daughters weren't like proper young ladies; they couldn't afford maidservants and usually did their own embroidery work to supplement their pin money.

It could only be said they lived more respectably than the daughters of ordinary farming families and would have more substantial dowries in the future.

Of course, if they were to be matched with someone of Lu Wei's background, it would be considered marrying beneath their station.

The neighbor's Liu'er, Yu Suo, the blacksmith's daughter Qiu Qiu, Scholar Zhao's daughter Zhi Lan... there were far too many girls in the village infatuated with Lu Wei.

In all his years, Lu Wei had rarely been to town. Somehow, a charming young widow from town had seen him and specially sent someone to relay a message, inviting him to visit her place sometime.

...

"What is the task for this world?" Lu Wei asked after reviewing the original body's memories.

"This is a cultivation world," 031 replied. "And for over a thousand years, no one in this world has achieved ascension. Your task is to make an immortal who ascends appear in this world."

Lu Wei felt a headache coming on.

Both he and the original body knew nothing about cultivation. The original was just an ordinary country boy who had only been to the relatively prosperous and lively town a few times. The only person remotely resembling an "adept" in his memory was the village's spirit medium who performed exorcism dances. This task sounded like pure fantasy.

"Do I have the aptitude for cultivation?" Lu Wei tentatively asked.

"No, you are an ordinary mortal," the system answered mercilessly.

"Does it count as completing the task if *anyone* ascends during my time in this world?" Lu Wei followed up.

031 seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying, "Yes."

Lu Wei took a deep breath.

Well, what else could he do? He'd just have to try to live as long as possible in this world and hope to get lucky.

In the previous world, he had slacked off for quite a while, but this world was practically forcing him to slack off.

"This world has a lot of energy," the system suddenly spoke.

Then, a 3D holographic projection of a transparent hourglass, about 15 centimeters in diameter, appeared before Lu Wei. The bottom of the hourglass was completely filled with softly glowing white sand—359 grains in total.

Lu Wei was startled. He hadn't expected to gain so much energy in the interstellar world.

He remembered that after ending the apocalypse, there were 71 grains of sand in the hourglass. He had used two grains to repair brain tissue, leaving 69.

That meant he had gained a full 290 grains of Energy Sand in the interstellar world.

And if the system was hinting that this world had a lot of energy, then it truly must be abundant.

"Showing me this is useless," Lu Wei waved his hand, and the hourglass projection vanished before him. He wasn't tempted.

Something impossible was just impossible.

"The system would not assign a host an identity with absolutely no possibility of accomplishing the task," 031's mechanical voice sounded again. "Please wait patiently."

After saying this, 031 fell silent as it had many times before, offering no further sound.

Lu Wei wasn't anxious either. Leaning against the old locust tree behind him, he slowly finished eating the cherries by his side.

Since he was here, he might as well settle in.

Since 031 told him to wait patiently, he'd just have to wait.

Seeing that the sun was already setting in the west, Lu Wei stood up, patted the grass and dust off his coarse clothes, picked up his shepherd's whip, whistled for the yellow dog, and led the flock down the mountain.

...

After delivering the sheep to his employer's pen, Lu Wei took the dog back to his own home.

A year ago, this home, like many others in the village, was just an earthen house with rammed earth walls and a thatched roof.

However, ever since Mu Ming passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, the house had been rebuilt. It was now a spacious courtyard with brick and wood walls and tiled roofing.

Speaking of Mu Ming, his younger brother by a few days... the original host was naturally oblivious, but from Lu Wei's current perspective, he was quite interesting.

As soon as Lu Wei entered the courtyard, he saw Mu Xixi in a blue floral dress coming out to greet him, shyly saying, "Big brother is back, just in time for dinner."

Lu Wei nodded, washed his hands as usual, and went to the main hall.

There was a wooden square table in the hall, on which five dishes and a soup were steaming hot.

Mu Sanshier and Mu Ming were already sitting at the table waiting for Lu Wei. Mu Xixi and Mrs. Mu, being women, usually ate by the stove and did not sit at the table.

Mu Sanshier was a robust, honest-looking man who didn't talk much. When he saw Lu Wei arrive, he nodded as a greeting.

Speaking of which, in this era where people married young, Mu Sanshier was not yet forty years old.

Mu Ming, wearing a long gown, spoke up after Lu Wei sat down: "Big brother, your contract with the wealthy Mu family is almost up. Starting tomorrow, why don't you just stop going?"

Lu Wei picked up his bowl and glanced at Mu Ming: "It's not up until the end of the month."

"Ah, it's only a few days' difference. I'll go have a word with them for you, it won't be a problem," Mu Ming said with a smile, his eyes crinkling.

Back in the day, Mrs. Mu was known far and wide as a beautiful young wife. Like mother, like son—Mu Ming was quite handsome. Since he'd never done farm work due to his studies, his skin was fair, and his smile was quite charming.

"That's right," Mu Sanshier chimed in. "Erlang now has a title and has opened several shops in the county town. Business is booming. From now on, you should help your brother run the business. Isn't that much better than herding sheep? Erlang can also focus on his studies and prepare for the provincial exams in two years."

Lu Wei nodded between bites: "Since Father says so, I won't go tomorrow."

Soap shops, glass shops... such revolutionary products were pretty suspicious no matter how you thought about it.

And before passing the exam and gaining some self-protection and a network, Mu Ming had kept a low profile, focusing on his studies without revealing these skills.

It seemed this person had quite a good head on his shoulders.

After dinner, it was almost dark.

Farmers in this era rose with the sun and rested at sunset, with no nightlife to speak of. Lu Wei followed the custom and returned to his room.

On the table in the room was an oil lamp for lighting. The room was clean and tidy, and a bouquet of light purple wild daisies sat by the bed.

Lu Wei knew that Mu Xixi had cleaned up for him, and she was the one who had arranged the flowers.

For a long time, Mu Sanshier and Mrs. Mu had planned to marry Mu Xixi to Lu Wei.

After all, Lu Wei was a hardworking boy, and he and Mu Xixi had grown up together, knowing each other inside out.

But ever since Mu Ming became a scholar, the two elders no longer thought this way.

As the sister of a scholar, Mu Xixi naturally had better choices and a brighter future.

Lu Wei, not yet awakened to romance, was indifferent to the idea of marrying Mu Xixi. Mu Xixi, however, had secretly cried several times when she found out. As if to prove something, she took even more meticulous care of Lu Wei's daily life.

As soon as Lu Wei sat down by the bed, he heard a knock on the door, and then saw Mu Ming walk in carrying a traditional writing set.

Author's note: New world begins, the most handsome guy in the village, the universally charming CEO Lu makes his entrance~