Chapter 3: Selling the Donkey

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Xiao Die gently helped Lin Feng onto the bed, allowing him to recline, then picked up the porridge and carefully fed him spoonful by spoonful. The vegetable porridge was thin and bland, the rice grains visible to the naked eye. Lin Feng took another bite of the coarse wheat cake—hard and unpalatable, far less tasty than a corn cake.

“Do you have corn cakes?” he asked.

Xiao Die blinked in surprise. “Corn? Is it better than white flour?”

Could it be that Corn was still unknown in the Great Chu Kingdom at this time?

“Corn is a kind of grain—not particularly tasty, but much better than these coarse wheat cakes.”

“Oh, I’ll go to the town later and see if I can buy some.”

After finishing the food, Lin Feng slept again. He wasn’t sure how long he had rested, but upon waking, he saw Xiao Die dozing beside his bed.

“Xiao Die.”

She opened her eyes, rubbing them. “Young Master, you’re awake.”

“Xiao Die, I’m in such a sorry state now. Why do you and Liu Xi still stick with me? If you hadn’t followed me out of the Lin family, they probably wouldn’t have driven you away. At least you’d have a meal to eat.”

“I want to stay with you, Young Master! Everyone says you’re reckless, arrogant, and harsh, but I know you have the kindest heart. Liu Xi and I were both orphans, nearly freezing on the streets—it was you who took us in. You are our lifesaver, and you’ve never beaten or scolded us. No matter where you go, we’re willing to follow and care for you for life!”

“For life?” Lin Feng chuckled. “So you won’t marry anyone?”

Xiao Die blushed deeply. “I’m not going to marry anyone!”

“When the time comes and you meet a good suitor, I doubt even I could hold you back!”

“Ah…” Xiao Die covered her face, “Young Master, please don’t say that, I’m so embarrassed. I… I just won’t marry anyone…”

At that moment, the door opened, and Liu Xi came in, looking dejected.

“Young Master, the donkey didn’t sell!”

“Why not?”

“The buyers saw it was a sick donkey and didn’t want it. Later, I dropped the price to three hundred wen, but still no one bought it.”

“What should we do then?” Xiao Die’s expression grew anxious. “The rent is due to Aunt Tian tonight, and Young Master needs to recover—how can we buy good food without money?”

Liu Xi sighed helplessly. “I’ll try the other towns.”

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Lin Feng said, “Going to other towns won’t guarantee a sale either.”

Xiao Die suggested, “Then maybe find a vet to check the donkey, but… that costs money, and we have only this little.”

“No need for a vet. I’ll go with you to sell the donkey.” Lin Feng thought to himself, if he couldn’t even sell a donkey, how could he live up to being a super agent from modern China transported to this era?

In his past life, he had worked as a secret agent for thirty years, playing countless roles for missions, including posing as a business elite dominating the commercial world more than three times.

Lin Feng stood up, no longer feeling dizzy.

Xiao Die and Liu Xi hurried to support him, but Lin Feng waved them off. “I’m fine now, much better.”

He walked to the door, pushed it open, and stepped outside.

Outside was a peasant’s courtyard. Lin Feng had arrived here unconscious and had never properly looked around the farmhouse.

It was surrounded by rough stone walls, with a wooden gate weathered and worn by wind and rain. The yard was muddy from recent rains.

The farmhouse had three connected rooms. Besides the room Lin Feng occupied, two others on either side likely belonged to Xiao Die and Liu Xi. On the right side of the courtyard was a makeshift open-air kitchen built from wood, holding a stove, pots, pans, and a pile of firewood. Rainwater still dripped onto the wooden roof.

Though simple, it was a decent farmhouse, and one hundred wen a month for rent was reasonable.

On the left side of the courtyard was a small gate leading to another farmhouse.

That must be Aunt Tian’s place.

Her home was spacious, with neatly built brick and stone houses connected into seven or eight rooms. The yard was wide, with a livestock shed on the west side housing pigs and sheep, while chickens and geese roamed freely.

Several peach trees had blossomed, and under them, a beautiful young woman and a little girl were playing joyfully.

Xiao Die noticed Lin Feng looking toward that yard and said, “That’s Aunt Tian’s house.”

“Looks like Aunt Tian’s family lives well—no wonder she’s so plump,” Lin Feng smiled, then asked Liu Xi, “Liu Xi, do you have a wooden box?”

“Yes, I have an old one in my room.”

“Make a fist-sized hole in the middle of the top of the box.”

Liu Xi looked puzzled. “Young Master, why would you drill a hole in a perfectly good wooden box?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Understood, Young Master.”

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Lin Feng asked Xiao Die, “Xiao Die, do we have any ink, brush, paper, or inkstone?”

Xiao Die shook her head. “No. That day when you were expelled from home, Liu Xi and I panicked and left without bringing anything, let alone your usual writing materials or books.”

“I just need some paper. If not, go buy some in town.”

Xiao Die said, “I’ll ask Aunt Tian’s family for some—they must have some.”

“Do they have scholars in the family?”

“Their second son is a scholar, a xiucai. He’s preparing for the autumn imperial exam this year. He’s the only one in this mountain village with that title and the hope of the Tian family—everyone is counting on him!”

Lin Feng remarked, “The imperial examination is indeed the toughest road for poor scholars to rise, but it’s also the most direct path.”

“Young Master, you’re a student too. Why not take the autumn exam? Pass the juren and show those from the Lin family’s third branch just how capable you are.”

“Examinations aren’t for me. There are many paths to Rome, and I intend to take a different one.”

He had no intention of studying—why seek suffering by traveling back to ancient times?

“Where is Rome?” Xiao Die asked curiously.

“That… just get the paper quickly. Why ask so much? No need for fancy paper, the cheapest scrap paper will do. If they refuse, give her a few wen to buy it—it shouldn’t be expensive.”

“All right, Young Master.” Xiao Die hurried out the side door to the Tian family’s courtyard.

Soon after, she returned with paper, smiling. “I gave the young lady three wen, and she gave me this much.”

Lin Feng glanced at the beautiful young woman still playing with the little girl in the Tian yard and thought that the girl was quite generous.

“Xiao Die, tear the paper into pieces this size.” Lin Feng demonstrated with his fingers. “Then gather them into bundles—at least a thousand bundles.”

“Are you not going to write with them?” Xiao Die was puzzled.

“Just do as I say. You’ll understand later.”

Lin Feng tore off a piece of paper, then went to the kitchen counter and fetched a thin, charred stick of wood. On the paper, he wrote the character “Donkey.”