Chapter 64: Exposure

Dressed in coarse cloth with short sleeves and wearing a felt hat on his head, Jiang Liu trudged along the footpath beside the fields, one foot deep and the other shallow, with a hoe slung over his shoulder and his feet bare.

The rain yesterday had made the ridges between fields muddy, so it was necessary to go barefoot.

Looking up, he saw a small mountain village hundreds of meters away with smoke curling from the chimneys, accompanied by the crowing of roosters and barking of dogs, a scene of tranquility and peace.

Glancing back, he noticed the sun setting and flocks of geese returning to their nests; the bucolic landscape was picturesque, instilling a sense of calm.

Perhaps it would be quite nice to live a simple and plain life like this for one's whole life?

Stepping into a nearby ditch, Jiang Liu washed the mud off his feet and put on his hemp shoes, quickly returning to the village and spotting from a distance a thatched cottage with smoke also rising from it.