The Evergreen River flowed past the foot of Mount Yihua, winding its way around Mount Yihua, Mount Shaohua, and Mount Taihua. The flat land between the mountain ranges constantly attracted people from outside the mountains to settle down here.
Hundreds of years later, the current Hewan Village was formed. The largest family in the village, the Yi family, was the first batch of people to settle down here.
It had been 150 years since then. It was said that the ancestors of the Yi family met an immortal on Mount Yihua and after receiving guidance, they built an ancestral hall in Hewan Village.
In fact, there were only two paths for people who stayed in the village. Those who were capable would go out to do business, while the rest could only farm in their hometown.
The Old Master of the Yi family had two sons. They were neither proficient in literature nor martial arts, but they were first-class in business and farming. The two brothers had been collecting grains from the village for the past few years.
Yi Dahe opened a grain shop in Hewan County, and Yi Er was in charge of transporting grains. After a few years, even though they did not make a fortune, they still had a surplus.
Now that the family was earning money, the Old Master was happy and had an idea. Even though it was not bad to make money from business, he was still looked down upon by others.
So he spent money to build a house and set up a private school in the village. He even hired a down-and-out scholar from the city to teach, hoping that there would be a scholar in the family one day.
Originally, the villagers did not have much knowledge, so they named things like Mao 'er or Gou' er. When the teacher came, the first thing he did was to change the names of his two grandsons. The first branch had no sons, so the second branch had two grandsons. The older one was named Yi Tian, and the younger one was named Yi Qun.
When the teacher first came, Yi Tian was still very diligent and paid attention to his studies and writing. However, ever since he fell seriously ill two days ago, Yi Tian's behavior was a little strange. At the beginning, his mouth was muddled, and he always said strange things.
The family was anxious, and the Old Master even went to the village's Witch Wang to ask for some Immortal Ash and water for his grandson to drink. After a few days, he recovered a lot. Since then, Yi Tian didn't like to talk to people. When he had nothing to do, he would lie on the straw pile in the courtyard and stare blankly at the sky.
After Yi Tian recovered, he still had to go to school. However, he seemed to have changed. His previous enthusiasm for learning was gone. Now, he caused chaos in the private school every day. He did not do his homework in class. After class, he played tricks on his classmates. After school, he fought dogs with people in the village. When he returned home, he even went to the river to catch fish. Over time, the teacher lost his confidence.
Yi Tian was not interested in learning, but he always pestered the Headmaster with questions. After a few days, he finally understood the land under his feet. It originally belonged to Dongjiang Country, Mushan City, and River Wan Village.
From Old Master Yi, he had heard some legends about immortals. About a hundred years ago, immortals appeared in Mount Yihua, which was next to Hewan Village. Cultivating was what Yi Tian yearned for the most since he came to this world. However, he could only think about it. If fate didn't come, everything would have to start from the beginning.
Since that day, Yi Tian had been asking the older generation in the village about the immortals in the mountains. When those old men in the village who had nothing better to do found such an audience, they also began to talk nonsense, saying that immortals could fly in the sky and burrow into the ground, appearing and disappearing mysteriously in the mountains. As a result, Yi Tian didn't even go to the private school anymore and just chatted with the old men in the village.
Old Master Yi panicked when he saw this. He hurriedly discussed with Yi Er whether his eldest grandson had become stupid because of his illness. They should ask for more Immortal Ash from Witch Wang. The medicine last time was not effective enough. This time, he used more.
After drinking the Immortal Ash a few times, Yi Tian became obedient and stopped asking about immortals. He stayed at home every day and didn't even go out. This time, the family was even more helpless. Old Master Yi wanted to ask Witch Wang to perform a ritual to drive away evil spirits and protect the safety of his descendants.
After Yi Tian heard it from behind the door, he went out the next day. He went to school when he had to. He did the same thing every day, but there was always some disdain in his eyes.
The family finally returned to their previous state. At least on the surface, they were happy. On the night after the autumn harvest, Old Master Yi suggested that Yi Tian go to the county town to learn how to make a living in the future. He asked his uncle in the town to help him find some helpers so that he could go the next time he delivered grain. Father Yi Er didn't object. As long as his son had a way out, it was fine. He didn't know many words, but his son had studied in the private school for a few years. He would definitely be more successful than him in the future.
On the night after the autumn equinox, Yi Er loaded the cart at home. Tomorrow was the appointed day to deliver grain. After recovering from his illness, his son's temperament changed greatly. It seemed that he couldn't count on him to study. It was better for him to go to the town to be an apprentice under the bookkeeper. It would be useful in the future. It was better than farming in the countryside.
His wife Madam Chen didn't object. Since their son recovered, he changed. He used to be well-behaved, but now he was a quiet person at home. It would be good for him to go to the town to learn how to make a living. She didn't say much except to remind them to be careful on the road.
The next morning, the father and son had breakfast and said goodbye to Old Master Yi. Before they left, they went to the ancestral hall to pay their respects to the ancestors. Yi Er drove the cart while his son sat on the cart and slowly set off towards Riverbend County.
It was only twenty li from the village to the county town. It took less than four hours to reach. Along the way, Yi Tian slowly calculated his future. He didn't know that the road ahead was boundless. He could only take one step at a time, not to mention that he was only ten years old.
Yi Er brought his son and rushed to the county town. They found Yi Ji Grain Store at the entrance of North City. In the afternoon, there were still many people in the store. Most of them were commoners. Eldest Uncle Yi Da was the store's shopkeeper. His main job was to constantly patrol the store. Greeting the customers and weighing the goods were all done by the workers. Over the past few years, his belly had grown bigger by the day.
Yi Er drove the cart through the side door into the inner courtyard. After arranging for the workers to unload the goods, he went to find his brother to explain his purpose. After Yi Da read the old master's letter, he thought for a while. Since the old master had ordered him to do so, he was duty-bound. The letter said that his nephew could read and count. Then he would bring his nephew to the bookkeeper. It just so happened that he could be at ease with his own family managing the accounts.
The bookkeeper of the store was called Wu Youdao. He was a born xiucai. Although he wasn't good at writing, he was good at counting. He had worked in the store for a few years and Yi Da trusted him. This time, Yi Tian came to be an apprentice. He also needed to inform him in advance. The owner hoped that he would bring in an apprentice. It wasn't to steal his rice bowl, but to open a branch store in the future, he also needed an accountant.
The first time he entered the store, he smelled alcohol. Yi Tian wondered why his uncle found a drunkard to manage the accounts. His head was so hot that he couldn't even remember the accounts. But there was no other choice. Since his uncle requested to be an apprentice of the bookkeeper, there was nothing he could do.
After entering, he called out to Master Wu. Under his uncle's guidance, he knelt down and kowtowed. It was considered the ceremony of apprenticeship. Wu Youdao tidied his clothes and sat in the room. After receiving Yi Tian's big bow, he gave him a few words of advice on how to conduct himself in the future. After that, he let Yi Tian go to the housekeeper to get a set of worker's clothes to change into. It could be considered that he had officially started working.
When his father saw Yi Tian change his clothes, his heart was slightly relieved. During lunch, he especially reminded his son to study hard so that he would have the opportunity to become a shopkeeper in the future. After lunch, he bid farewell to his elder brother and son and drove the cart back to his hometown.
Yi Tian looked at his father who was far away, tears flowing from his eyes. When his uncle saw this, he thought that it was the first time a child had left home and his heart was flustered. Only Yi Tian muttered to himself, "Don't tell me my future is going to be an accountant and a shopkeeper."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
