Lu Zheng passed through the front courtyard, informing Aunt Liu not to prepare lunch for him, then stepped out of his residence.
Before him lay an ancient street, steeped in charm, with buildings of varying age but brimming with the vibrancy of daily life in Tonglin County.
His house, located in Tongyi Lane in the northeast, was spacious, and the street was wide. Being close to the street’s entrance, he immediately spotted vendors with carrying poles or pushing carts selling breakfast foods.
The Great Jing Dynasty’s rules were lenient, with no curfew or strict commercial zoning, so mobile vendors were everywhere. Apart from a few main streets and a designated market in Anfang to the south, scattered shops dotted other streets.
“Young Master Lu!”
“Morning, Young Master Lu!”
Having bought the house and wandered the streets each morning, often trying various breakfast items, Lu Zheng was recognised by the local vendors.
He nodded, buying a vegetable bun from Auntie Li’s wheelbarrow.
At two wen per bun, made with wild vegetables Auntie Li gathered outside the city and cooked with vegetable oil, it had a fresh, slightly sweet taste.
Munching on the bun, Lu Zheng soon reached his destination.
Qingsheng Tower.
The county’s largest teahouse, serving morning tea and lunch, its main draw for Lu Zheng was the storyteller. Beyond tales, the storyteller often rambled about news and oddities from far and wide, a key source for Lu Zheng to learn about the Great Jing Dynasty, though not always reliable.
For five days straight, Lu Zheng had come to glean insights into this world from the storyteller’s tales.
…
After spending the morning there, tipping the storyteller fifteen wen, Lu Zheng ate lunch at the teahouse before leisurely heading to his next stop.
Wenshi Studio.
As the name suggested, the shop sold stone items: inkstones, paperweights, seal stones, and raw stones, customisable to buyers’ wishes.
Lu Zheng had been funnelling resources to this world but struggled to find anything valuable to bring back. Books and paintings? New and unknown in his world. Gold and silver? Valuable here too, and bulk buying risked attention. Other crafts? Unsellable back home.
The jade seal in his mind sparked an idea: perhaps stones common here were valuable in his world, like Warring States Red or Tianhuang, the king of Shoushan stones.
Having studied jade and stones online in the modern world, Lu Zheng came to Wenshi Studio to hunt for a bargain.
“Looking for an inkstone or seal stone, sir? We have green mountain stone, black star stone, and red heroic stone,” the shopkeeper said eagerly, as stoneware wasn’t a daily trade in this small county.
“Just browsing,” Lu Zheng replied politely, scanning the shop’s wares.
Then, out of the shopkeeper’s view, a smile curled his lips.
As expected, there was a gem!
Though its prominent display suggested a high price, was Great Jing money really money to him?
“This seal stone…” Lu Zheng pointed to a fist-sized red stone on the shelf.
Red as blood, vibrant yet refined, it flowed like clouds at sunrise, with golden threads running through it, smooth as warm sunlight.
“Excellent eye, sir! This is phoenix blood stone from Yaozhou’s Phoenix Mountain, redder than cinnabar, golden like autumn sycamore leaves, symbolising a phoenix at rest…”
After some grandiose spiel, Lu Zheng listened calmly, avoiding seeming too wealthy.
Seeing no reaction, the shopkeeper faltered, concluding with a price.
“Thirty guan!”
“Too much, twenty guan.”
“Oh, sir, this is top-grade phoenix blood stone, with golden veins, one in a thousand…”
“Twenty-five guan, or I’ll pass.”
“I’ll wrap it up!”
In Great Jing, one guan bought two hundred jin of fine rice, roughly five yuan per jin in modern terms, making twenty-five guan about twenty-five thousand yuan—a luxury item.
But was it expensive for Lu Zheng?
A pair of three-hundred-yuan transparent glass lion ornaments, flawless as crystal, passed as rare material here, sold for five hundred guan!
His three-courtyard house cost only three hundred guan.
Though he didn’t dare bring such high-value items again soon, Lu Zheng needed to bolster his modern finances, as he was nearly broke.
The shopkeeper packed the stone in a fine sandalwood box, tossing in a free ink pad. Lu Zheng paid with treasury notes and left satisfied.
…
That afternoon, Lu Zheng harmlessly strolled from the city’s east to west, buying small household items, all paid for and arranged for delivery to his Tongyi Lane home.
Great Jing’s service, he felt, surpassed the modern world’s, with everything delivered.
…
Returning home at dusk, he spotted a filthy old beggar sitting under his eaves.
With white hair, tattered sackcloth, and a dirt-streaked face, the beggar looked oddly at ease, rolling mud pellets while sniffing the aroma wafting from Lu Zheng’s house.
It was Aunt Liu’s cooking, using spices Lu Zheng brought from the modern world. Today, she’d steamed a chicken.
“Young sir, are you the master of this house?” the beggar asked, showing yellowed teeth. “Could you spare a chicken leg?”
Lu Zheng instinctively frowned. As a modern urbanite, he’d rarely seen such bedraggled beggars.
But he quickly composed himself, showing no disgust.
Equality, empathy, respect—these were the basics for a new-era youth.
“Alright!” Lu Zheng agreed.
“Eh?” The beggar, puzzled, studied him closely. “Really?”
“Just a chicken leg, wait there.” Lu Zheng smiled, passing him to knock on the door.
“Uncle Li, open the gate!”
“Young master’s back!”
Footsteps sounded, and Uncle Li opened the gate, stepping aside.
“Tear off a chicken leg, add a bowl of vegetables and two steamed buns, and give them to him,” Lu Zheng said, nodding toward the beggar.
Uncle Li noticed the old man under the eaves.
“Lucky beggar! That’s my master’s prized spices—you’ve never tasted anything like it!” Uncle Li, a fellow commoner, showed no disdain, warmed by Lu Zheng’s kindness.
“Young sir, could you spare a cup of rough wine too?” the beggar cheekily asked.
“Sure.” Lu Zheng nodded.
Having given a meal, a cup of wine was no bother.
The beggar grinned, waiting under the eaves, while Lu Zheng entered to find Aunt Liu setting the dining table in the main hall.
“Master, dinner’s ready!”
“Mm.”
Lu Zheng ate in the main hall, while Aunt Liu and Uncle Li took their portions to eat in the kitchen.
As he picked up his chopsticks, five strands of white light suddenly appeared around the jade seal in his mind!
The moment they appeared, Lu Zheng knew their name.
The Light of Fortune!
