Fields of Gold

“Brother, do you think a seventh-level official is small? That’s the same level as the county magistrate ah. That being said, the Yu Family has close ties with Royal Prince Yang. On the royal prince’s feudal lands, even the prefectural magistrate has to give them some leeway! Right now, the Yu Family has a lot of clout in Tanggu Town!” Farmer Zhang expressed his feelings of envy and jealousy. How come such a good thing didn’t fall onto him ah?

The younger man was about to say something when suddenly a skinny youth ran into the teahouse. The young man immediately stood up and welcomed the youth as he asked urgently, “Is there news already?”

The skinny youth picked up a cup from the table and guzzled it down. He used his sleeve to wipe his mouth and then started talking, “Obviously ah! Starting at noon today, Imperial Prince Jing’s eighteen grain shops will all be selling corn seeds and will close after five days!”

“What about the seeds for wheat then? Are they being sold? I didn’t bring a lot of money with me, so I don’t know if I have enough…” Farmer Zhang started scrambling frantically as he didn’t know what he should do next.

The skinny youth glanced at him and knew that this farmer was with his older brother-in-law and hurriedly said, “They will only start selling winter wheat after the autumn harvest. Right now they’re only selling corn seeds and the price is so low that it’s unbelievable. One catty is only five copper coins!”

The younger man pulled at his arm and said, “One of the prince’s grain shops is on this street. Let’s get there before the news gets out. That way we can get a place in line.”

The other peasant farmers who were in the teahouse eavesdropping also followed these two men after settling their bills. They all jogged in the direction of the imperial prince’s grain shop. By the time they got there, they discovered that there was already a line with a dozen or so people in it at the front.  

It didn’t need to be said just how popular the imperial prince’s grain shops were right now. Every single one had a winding line in front of it. Yu Xiaocao, who had just been given the title of a sixth rank official, was still lost in wonder! In her past life, she hadn’t even acted as the class monitor. The highest position she got was when she was in the factories working and had been appointed a small group leader. Now, she suddenly became an official that was two levels higher than the county magistrate. Although she was only an official in the Ministry of Revenue in charge of farming affairs, it was still a ranked position.

Today, the official uniform that had been personally tailored for her——a small sized sixth level official’s robe that was green-blue in color and had an embroidered heron in the front——had arrived. She changed into it while she was in her rooms and proudly walked back and forth with it on. While she was joking along with her maidservants, the palace sent down a decree for her to enter.

Good timing! She didn’t even need to change clothing. What was the point of having official clothing? Obviously, when the emperor called her in, she needed to wear it right? Like this, she had the maidservants arrange her hair into a neat bun that was fastened with a jade hairpin and then boldly entered the Imperial Palace.

In the imperial study, only the emperor was there with his head lowered, reading documents. When Yu Xiaocao saw this, she immediately relaxed. If there were other court officials there who saw her wearing official’s clothing, they absolutely would find her to be an eyesore. Since it was only the emperor seeing her, it absolutely couldn’t be a big issue. At most, he would only want to talk about some farming affairs. She was very familiar with this stuff so there was nothing for her to be afraid of!

However, she would have never expected that the emperor’s first words would scare her silly, “I’ll say...old friend ah, when will you ever spill the beans to me eh?”

Apparently, as soon as Yu Xiaocao entered the imperial study, Zhu Junfan had immediately noticed her. At first, the little lass’s every movement was quite cautious and she stayed obediently behind Su Ran like a little bird with her head tucked down. However, once she noticed that it was only him in the room, she suddenly straightened her back and became much more lively.

He pretended to be engrossed in the documents in front of him. The little lass was becoming more and more bold. She was looking around the imperial study as if she was on a tour. She craned her neck to look at the books on the bookshelves and then secretly touched a few items that were on the treasure shelf. She even bent down to take a whiff of the incense censer that was burning ambergris. ‘Little girl, do you think the imperial study is like your own backyard ah? Just watch as I scare you a bit, you bold little thing.’

Yu Xiaocao felt her heart skip a beat and cold sweat immediately poured out of her pores. She stuttered, “What...old friend? Your Imperial Majesty, is your ancestral home in Tanggu Town?”

“Pretending, always pretending!! Are you still going to pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about? Peking roasted duck, braised food, Buddha jumps over the wall, and those large watermelons as well as the early ripening vegetables...even an idiot would know that you are from the same place as I am!” Zhu Junfan propped his chin up in an unruffled manner and watched as the little lass revealed expressions of unease and fright. 

“That uh...this subject, no, this official had found an old cookbook that was damaged…” Yu Xiaocao still attempted to defend herself but her excuse seemed quite pathetic at this moment.

“Beloved Official Yu, deceiving the monarch is a crime worthy of death!” Zhu Junfan revealed an emperor’s presence and stared at her fixedly like a tiger staring at its prey. It made Yu Xiaocao feel as if she was under a lot of pressure.

Yu Xiaocao lowered her head and slumped her shoulders. She had always known that once her old transmigrator friend, the emperor, had suspicions towards her, she would be pulled out of the dark by the tail. Struggling to death was of no use, so she could only brace herself as she answered, “Whatever Your Imperial Majesty says will do…”

Zhu Junfan saw that the little lass was now acting like a depressed little bunny and had an expression that showed she had accepted her fate. He grinned, “Why do you need to act all down and depressed ah? I’m not a tiger that will eat you, right?”

“You are the emperor and I am only a tiny official who has just stepped into office. In your hands, I don’t even have the chance to struggle so I can only accept my fate and die.” Yu Xiaocao felt her heart quiver with anxiety. She wasn’t sure how this old transmigrator friend would act and how he would treat her.

“Accept your fate and die? Why would I want to kill you? Did you do anything that is worthy of death? Or were you an evil bastard in your past life and murdered dozens of people?” Zhu Junfan ridiculed her as he replied.

“You are the evil…” The word ‘bastard’ didn’t leave her lips as she raised her head to look at the shining dragon robe on the other person. She immediately shut her mouth and shrank back like a frightened quail.

Zhu Junfan laughed noiselessly for a moment before he finally relieved her worries, “Don’t worry ah! As long as you don’t commit any heinous crimes, we will not kill you! We are quite delighted to encounter another transmigrator after so long, so why would we kill you for no reason?”

Yu Xiaocao let out a long, relieved sigh and felt her body relax completely. Zhu Junfan looked at her and then asked, “Old friend, what did you do in your past life? What happened to make you transmigrate over to here? What year and month did you transmigrate over on?”

When she saw that Zhu Junfan’s attitude seemed quite gentle, not at all like those transmigrators who were afraid of fellow transmigrators stealing their thunder and wanted to kill them as rivals, she felt her fears melt away. She paused for a second and then obediently replied, “In my past life, I was a very ordinary commoner. I didn’t even graduate from middle school when I had to go out to work. Later on, I opened up a braised food store and the business went quite well.”

At this point, she paused and thought of her younger brother’s exciting and dignified wedding. She smiled bitterly and shook her head, “That day, it was my younger brother’s wedding. I was so happy that I drank an extra two glasses of alcohol. When I was going down the stairs, I wasn’t careful and fell. Once I woke up, I found out that I had transmigrated into the body of a poor little fisherman’s daughter.”

“You also drank alcohol before you transmigrated over? Aish, I was out with my roommates celebrating at a restaurant on the night of our graduation. I didn’t even finish a bottle of beer when my head became dizzy. When I woke up, I was being born in the turmoil and chaos of war. Looks like you replaced a soul while I was reborn into an infant. But we were both put into this situation by alcohol ah!” Zhu Junfan let out a sudden sigh.

He had just graduated from a prestigious university and was about to go out into the world to do something big. However, he never expected that his soul would be sent into a different world and that he’d become a tiny infant that only knew how to cry. It was truly such a letdown! Even more annoying was that the previous dynasty’s emperor was still making his last struggle to keep his throne. He, who had just been born, had to flee with his new mother under the protection of some soldiers like a bunch of homeless vagrants. He almost died from this struggle! Luckily, his new grandfather very quickly managed to overthrow the dynasty and established the new Great Ming Dynasty. Only then did his life stabilize a bit…

“Old friend, when did you transmigrate over?” Zhu Junfan asked out of curiosity.

“Around October 18th 2017, likely right as the 19th started.” Yu Xiaocao had originally been planning on going home that night to go online and listen to her leader’s lecture. However, tragedy happened instead. Sigh, her younger brother must have also been upset. His wedding day was now the anniversary of his older sister’s death.

Zhu Junfan nodded and then casually said, “You were later than me by about three months. I transmigrated over in July...old friend, tell me the truth, when you transmigrated over...did the god of transmigration give you a big golden finger?”

Yu Xiaocao’s pupils suddenly narrowed and both of her hands tightened. How could such a small movement escape the discerning eyes of Zhu Junfan, who had been an emperor for seven to eight years? A flicker of joy flashed in him and he urgently followed up to ask, “What sort of golden finger is it? Is it a separate dimension with a spiritual spring where you can plant vegetation?”  

Originally, Yu Xiaocao was quite nervous and on edge. When she heard this, she opened her eyes in disbelief and couldn’t help but say, “Your Imperial Majesty, is the hole in your head a bit too big ah?”

Not a single change in expression escaped Zhu Junfan’s gaze. When he saw this, he felt a bit disappointed. If it wasn’t a separate dimension, then what was it?

“Old friend, don’t worry ah. I’m not one of those shameless people who’s going to steal your treasure. Just obediently tell me what it is and stop hiding it! If you don’t have a separate dimension with a mystical spring, then how are you able to grow crops so well? It doesn’t seem to matter what type of plant it is either. In your hands, even the most common wheat doubles its output at harvest. Also, there’s the watermelons. They are sweeter than the ones sent for tribute and are even more delicious than the ones I ate in my previous life! If you don't have a mystical spring, then how can you, someone who had worked and was a small business owner, possibly come up with methods to craft medicinal pills and tinctures that are so effective? Tell the truth and stop trying to resist!” 

Yu Xiaocao glanced at the multi-colored stone that was strung on her wrist with colorful string. She reluctantly said, “What separate dimension, that stuff doesn’t exist! I’m willing to vow an oath to the God of Transmigration. If I have a separate dimension and I’m not telling, then let me fall into an endless circle of reincarnation with all of my memories!” 

‘Reincarnate with all of your memories? Are you sure that’s not a reward instead of a punishment?’ Zhu Junfan gave her a pointed look. However, judging by the little lass’s attitude, he was pretty sure that she didn’t have a separate dimension. Then just what sort of golden finger did she have? 

Zhu Junfan looked in the direction that the girl had gazed at earlier. On her pale wrist, there was a colorful stone the size of a marble strung on some braided colored string——the little lass loved money but didn’t like to wear gold, silver or jade. Was her special item somehow related to this small stone?