A family inclined to kindness and charity would grace the descendants. Thanks to one small act of kindness, by providence she comes across a grateful friend; Fortunate that her mother, has done an unperceived good deed…. Men should rescue the distressed and aid the poor… Who would have guessed that kindness in this world ultimately would be the road that one must choose, that proverbial fork in the road? Clouds of rain float on eastern winds as new vines start to blossom. Though drums of war roar too loudly and their brilliance has been lost, a green grass carpet greets the sun by the break of morning. Let us wait for the yellow leaves, a few gourds are harvested.
Fan Xian's gaze swept over the trees beside the road. Behind them were endless fields, and not far away was the sound of a flowing river. He looked further and further through all of this until his gaze landed on a big workshop some distance from the river. There were faint spirals of smoke rising from it. They were not the clear smoke of a rural family, instead it was black smoke that carried a familiar smell.
Was it a blast furnace?
The commoners in this large piece of land had all been taken into the palace treasury to do work. Their wages were much higher than planting grains, thus their focus on maintaining the fields had lightened. In the midst of this swathe of fertile land, wild weeds and new grains fought for growth. It looked very mixed and chaotic.