2 So It Begins
(245 B.C)
Meng had just turned thirteen years old, he started his day off like he normally does, he got ready to set up his stall.
Last year he had managed to save enough and convinced some of the local craftsmen to build him a small stall, it had a roof and had more spaces to serve his customers.
Dai as usual accompanied him, holding hands they walked around the village to bargain for various goods that they would need for the day.
One of the old ladies in the village kept pestering him about when was he planning on marrying Dai, causing her cheeks to turn red from embarrassment.
Jokingly, he asked her, "Will you marry me?", Dai looked stunned for a second before she shyly nodded yes!
"Great! it's decided then, how about at the end of the month?", asked the old woman.
The old woman chuckling gave them an engagement present of fresh vegetables and then sent them on their way, the new couple could hear her chuckling as they walked away, their faces still flushed red from what just happened.
As the new couple shyly walked around the market they kept getting congratulations from the various villagers, often hearing that it was about time that they finally got together. That morning Meng would often hear Dai happily humming to herself. Soon the rest of the family had come over and started teasing them about the marriage.
The orphans at this point had become close like family, with Meng and Dai being the oldest, often acting like parents for the rest of them.
Many people from the village came over and left them gifts to celebrate, often vegetables and herbs, having so much to cook with, Meng decided to celebrate and would serve free meals for the next few hours.
(A few weeks later)
Meng had just returned from meeting with the village leader, he personally went to pay his taxes for the month, this time he personally went to meet the village leader instead of him stopping by his stall, the village leader had connections to many officials and Meng was hoping to receive his help in securing a larger home for his family.
Business had been good for the last year few years and Meng has been able to purchase a couple of cows and a bull, a year ago. He was able to rent a plot of land from the village leader to use for grazing. It had all cost about a year's worth of income from the whole family but he knew it would be worth it.
Their shack now had too little room with all the people living there, the chicken farm, and now the cattle. They now had too little room.
Upon returning to the shack he was able to inform everyone of the good news, they would be moving into a new home soon, it had cost a lot but it would be a far larger home. It was located on the outskirts of the village but it was also close to the land that he had rented. The land wasn't great for farming but it had plenty of grass and vegetation for the cow to graze on.
He informed them that in order to get the place, he had agreed to pay a large amount of their saved-up money and that ten of them would be required to help the village leader to plant and harvest his crops for the next four years.
They spent the next few days building a chicken coup. Then they worked on placing fences around their place to hold the cattle, and to save money they went and chopped down their own wood for poles. Thanks to a couple of craftsmen they were able to get the fence built within a couple of weeks.
The bull had done its job last year and they now also had two newborn calves, and in a couple of years, they would be fully grown. Now they also had a fresh supply of milk.
Meng one day hoped to own a large number of cattle to pass down to his children. His chicken farm was growing nicely with many chicks being born each year. He wasn't rich like many other farmers or those with thousands of heads of cattle but he was still one of the wealthier ones in the village.
He owned a mall business, a chicken farm, and some cattle. They weren't rolling in riches like some of the officials and scholars. They weren't even as rich as the farmers, it was too expensive to own large amounts of land and farmers were too important in this era, they produce large amounts of food that the country needed for trade and to feed its people.
Farmland was so important and had such a social status that you couldn't buy land with only money, you had to have earned the privilege of buying it. You had to be a scholar with connections and a rank or to have earned a great number of feats on the battlefield serving the kingdom. Farm owners were really respected in their era and were respected over merchants and craftsmen.
(couple months later)
He was walking home when he noticed an individual slowly stumbling in the dark towards him. That was when he realized what was happening! it was Hyou! his clothes were covered in blood and he kept looking behind himself as if he was running away from someone.
Meng seeing him in this state could only help Hyou walk to the village leader's home, there it played out as it did in the manga, Hyou died and sent Shin out on a mission.
Meng knew that Shin would be heading out to discover that Hyou was actually the king's double. Shin would soon be meeting Zheng.
As he observed what was happening, he couldn't help a couple of scenarios from playing out in his head.
He could stop Shin here! and hand over the young future king to his half-brother, or he could go with Shin and help put the young king back on the throne.
It was a risk, if things didn't play out as they did in the story he would likely lose his life here! he has spent the last few years training his body but he also wasn't foolish enough to think that he had Shins plot armor! he didn't have some kind of OP System either, if he helped Shin to rescue Sei (Zheng) he would be coming into contact with powerful warriors! some even seemed to have inhuman strength and skill!
The greatest opponents that he has ever really fought were a few starving dogs! and they had killed him!
He now had a wife and had a family to look after, if he died what would happen to them?
Then the thought of what would happen in the future crossed his mind. Even if Zheng dies that won't stop the wars from happening in the future.
He could only helplessly watch as the kids he had watched grow up, be forced to join the many wars, it wasn't uncommon for the poor in this era to be drafted into the military, the rich could use their influence to keep their kids far away from the front lines but what about him.
Official and scholars were likely used to accepting bribes that were larger than a few years' worth of his income! how could he afford to pay to keep the people he cared about away from the front lines.
Knowing how the story would go, there was a good chance that they would save zheng, if he managed to leave a good impression on him, he could be rewarded with a higher social status, and perhaps he could even ask for his family to be spared from serving in the military.
Knowing what was to come he knew that he had plenty of opportunities to impress the young king. He watched as Shin ran off the go rescue, Zheng.
He quickly ran home and told Dai what was happening, she pleaded with him to stay, she was worried that he would die and they would never see him again. After a short argument, he was able to convince her that he would be alright and that if they wanted a better life for the others that he needed to do this.
He was already at the age where he was expected to answer the call to serve the country and that sooner or later he would be forced to leave alongside the rest of the men in the village.
Before they tried to talk him out of this once again he ran outside with his bow and quickly ran to catch up with Shin.
