The house that Shen Ling arranged for the Yang family was a newly built house. It had a structure like that of a courtyard and it was more than enough to accommodate a family of six.
Since the house was brand new, Shen Ling had also bought complete furniture for them from the city.
It could be said that he was quite generous.
In other words, he was super rich.
Apart from not being as prosperous and convenient as Qi Hua City, this small village was the best place to live in seclusion.
"The scenery here is wonderful."
After moving all the luggage into the courtyard, Mr. Yang looked outside. He felt relaxed and happy.
"I'm glad that you like it."
Shen Ling smiled. He thought highly of Mr. Yang.
As the former prefecture overseer of the Chong Zhou Province, Mr. Yang had once been superior to tens of thousands of people.
But after Shen Ling had been with him for some time, he found that Mr. Yang wasn't overbearing or aggressive at all. Instead, he was always very calm and friendly.
Besides, as a frustrated official, he didn't show any signs of giving up on himself.
And he was not picky about where he chose to live.
Apart from how scared he was when his daughter was seriously injured not long ago, Shen Ling thought of Mr. Yang as a very calm man indeed.
He didn't know whether it was proper or not to place such a person in a farming village.
He couldn't help but think about this deeply.
Mr. Yang turned to look at Shen Ling and asked, "Does Young Master Shen have anything to do now? If not, why don't we have a simple meal here tonight?"
Shen Ling replied slowly, "Well, there's nothing much to do for now, but won't it disturb your rest? The journey was quite tiring, why don't we have the meal some other time?"
"It's okay then. You know you saved Yun'er, so you are my family's savior. Since my family has nothing, this is the only way I can thank you for now. I hope you don't mind."
Since Mr. Yang had already said so much, Shen Ling didn't want to decline again.
He nodded and replied, "Very well then. It's better to accept it respectfully. I'll just have a meal here."
Hearing this, Mr. Yang nodded in satisfaction.
Throughout the whole day, Mr. Yang moved his luggage into the house and arranged rooms for his five children.
Immediately he was done, he started cooking.
Shen Ling looked at him with narrowed eyes.
He watched Mr. Yang as he cooked skillfully with a surprised look in his eyes.
Mr. Yang noticed Shen Ling's expression and smiled, "Young Master Shen, don't be so surprised. I'm also from a farmer's family. When I was very much younger, my mother fell sick often, so I was always the one cooking."
"Really, I see."
With a nod, Shen Ling looked highly at Mr. Yang.
Coming from such a lowly background and being able to rise to the position of a prefecture overseer under such circumstances. He must have real talent and ability.
But he was still this kind of person who was framed by a treacherous official and sent to jail. He almost died, implicating his family at the same time.
This was so pathetic.
Shen Ling ate slowly during the meal.
He could say with certainty that Mr. Yang's cooking ability was on par with the famous chef of the restaurant in Qi Hua City.
His meal tasted very good.
At the dining table, Mr. Yang raised his wine glass. "Young Master Shen, please."
Shen Ling also raised his wine glass and said, "Okay."
After clinking their glasses, Mr. Yang downed the wine in one gulp; so did Shen Ling.
In a way to express his gratitude, Mr. Yang drank one glass after another while keeping a smile on his face.
As they drank, Shen Ling listened to Mr. Yang talk about the past. From all he said, Shen Ling couldn't sense any disappointment from his words. Instead, he could tell that Mr. Yang was worried about the country and its people.
The situation in Chong Province was similar to what was happening here.
Due to the decline of the Great Qian Empire in recent years, the bandits went on a killing spree and the uprising army grew.
The people who felt the heat were usually innocent civilians.
In addition, since the Great Qian emperor did not care about politics or the people, the imperial court was in a bad state and its jurisdiction over the various regions was getting weaker by the day.
Mr. Yang knew that if things went on this way, the Great Qian Empire would eventually be destroyed.
He couldn't hide the fact that he was worried.
"Maybe it's not that bad."
Shen Ling raised his wine glass and drank slowly.
Mr. Yang smiled and raised his glass as well. "Well, let's just forget about it now."
With time, they finished their meal.
Although Mr. Yang had drunk quite a lot of wine, he was still sober. However, Shen Ling, who was not strong when it came to wine was drunk and had passed out already.
Mr. Yang looked at him and called out softly, "Young Master Shen?"
Shen Ling was still not awake.
Mr. Yang shook his head and smiled helplessly.
When he saw Shen Ling drinking initially, he thought he was a veteran and wanted him to drink till he was satisfied.
He didn't expect that Shen Ling would get drunk so easily.
"Phew."
Shen Ling slept soundly.
In a daze, he felt as if someone had helped him to his bed.
By the time he woke up in the night, he looked at the unfamiliar ceiling in front of him and felt confused.
What happened?
He held his head because he had a slight headache. Slowly, he tried to recall what had happened before.
He remembered that he was drinking with Mr. Yang and ended up drinking too much.
What a big shame!
He shook his head and sat up slowly with his legs crossed.
He was in a very bad state. He was so drunk that his body swayed from side to side when he sat up.
"Phew."
With a soft sigh, Ling closed his eyes and began to practice the Longevity Technique.
'You have completed a full circulation of the Longevity Technique, proficiency + 5.'
'You have completed a full circulation of the Longevity Technique, proficiency + 5.'
'You have completed a successful circulation of the Longevity Technique, proficiency + 10.'
...
As he kept practicing the Longevity Technique, the immortal inner strength flowed. With this, Shen Ling felt that his brain was gradually waking up.
In the wee hours of the morning, he stopped cultivating the technique and lay on the bed to sleep.
The sun was already high up in the sky.
By the time Shen Ling woke up again, he could hear people going about their daily activities.
Yawning, he walked out of the house.
He saw Mr. Yang tidying up the courtyard and greeted him, "Mr. Yang, you're up so early. Did you have enough rest?"
Mr. Yang replied, "I'm getting old and I can't sleep much. I need to get up and move around."
Shen Ling smiled and said, "You're just in your forties. How can you be old? You haven't even lived half your life yet. As far as I'm concerned, it's too early to say that you're old."
"Well, I'm counting on your words," Mr. Yang said in reply.
After having another breakfast with the Yang family, both men walked around the village together.
When Mr. Yang saw the booming construction scene, he couldn't help but sigh deeply and say, "It's been a long time I saw something like this."
Shen Ling smiled. "Well, you'll be seeing more scenes like this in the future. Take this, for instance, it is estimated that it will be completed in less than a month."
Mr. Yang asked doubtfully, "Are there a lot of people in this village?"
Shen Ling calculated for a while and felt that there was nothing to hide. "Well, there's only about five hundred people..."
Five hundred people?
This number surprised Mr. Yang when he heard it.
This was the population of an ordinary-sized town, yet there were so many people in this small village.
No wonder he felt that something was off along the way...
"Would you be able to feed them all?"
Mr. Yang asked curiously.
"Well, it's not that bad."
"For now, the grain that the village has stored up is enough to feed them for a year. Besides, the grain in the field would be harvested next month."
Mr. Yang secretly smacked his lips in surprise.