Chapter 18 - 12: Shopping_2

Words : 1142 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 18 - 12: Shopping_2Finally, he drove to the rice store and bought one koku of brown rice, half a koku of polished rice, and three gō of salt—the salt was coarse, earth-yellow, and sometimes glinted with a strange metallic lustre, clearly an indicator of heavy metal contamination. But he couldn't find refined salt, so he would have to grin and bear it for now. With that, clothing, food, shelter, and transportation were all taken care of, and the first step of his survival plan went smoothly. He and his foolish son now had a stable foundation for life. ...... As a person of status as a "Advanced Warrior," even if just pretending, manual labor was naturally beneath him. Tao Liulang, Jing Qilang, and the rice store staff were responsible for loading the long, straw-woven rice bales onto the cart, while he stood by supervising with arms crossed. Bored, he suddenly heard the sound of a biwa not far away. Beside the dark and damp wall next to the rice store, there was a boy just over ten years old playing a Japanese biwa. The tune was slow and oppressive, eerie to the extreme, causing an inexplicable sense of unease. Yes, the typical style of Japanese folk music and vulgar tunes: too many and too cramped semitones, inherently gloomy, and even evoking a fearful sense of a female ghost lurking nearby. seaʀᴄh thё NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The plains listened intently for a moment. He didn't like the melody, as it made him uneasy, as if someone was plotting against him. Yet, the street performer's playing skill was quite high and might have made him a minor internet celebrity in modern times, what a pity to be born in this era. No, he shouldn't be called a little beggar; correctly, he should be called a "Blind Mage," a type of street performer who makes a living playing the Japanese biwa, often blind, and mostly unskilled, typically with a bowl set out in front. Over time, they all got lumped in with beggars. The plains watched as the boy quietly appreciated local folk music. The boy seemed to sense it, and turned his head towards him, his eyes were a blank white, devoid of brilliance, his clothes very shabby, body small and thin; who knew how long it had been since he had a full meal, he looked quite pitiful. Who knows how much longer he could survive... The good mood of having just established a stable life dissipated in the plains, somewhat unsettled due to the music's influence. Even if business was considered thriving, this was still a lousy era; even if he could live here, this was still a lousy era. He didn't like it here, likely all modern people traveling back to ancient times wouldn't feel comfortable, wouldn't adapt, would all have an impulse to escape here quickly! The biwa's sound gradually lowered, leaving only a lingering echo. The plains took a few coins from his pocket from the earlier rice purchase, walked over and placed them in the boy's bowl, saying nothing, since this wasn't something he could handle, nor was it the place of a time traveler to intervene. His kindness only went so far, and giving a little change to do some good to ease his own mind was enough. Once the cart was loaded, he sat down on the straw bag, with Tao Liulang leading the donkey, and Jing Qilang wearing a straw hat and carrying a bamboo spear, followed on foot, heading directly back home. ...... The way back was much easier, as he had now moved up to the "car-owning class," able to park anywhere without fear of being fined, much better than in modern times. But the speed hadn't improved much, the trip took over four hours, and it was about four hours by donkey cart on the way back. By the time they reached the Yayoi family yard, it was already dark. The Yayoi mother and daughter were surprised and pleased, but also found it quite normal that the plains returned from a trip to the Nagano Castle Town bringing back so much. They rushed to help move the rice and cloth and then made a fire to cook. A-Ping was especially delighted that the plains didn't eat their family's grain, truly relieving a heavy burden from her heart. Don't blame her for being stingy; these days, grain was life! Who knew if the next year would be a bumper harvest or a famine? If the family exhausted their provisions, would they all just die? Sometimes, people couldn't help but be stingy. The plains then moved the copper coins to the earthen seat, checked Meng Ziqi's condition, and visited Jiulang, making small talk like "still coughing?" and "how's your health?" Jiulang had already been told by his wife about being rescued by the plains, weakly expressing his gratitude. The plains took the opportunity to express his wish to continue staying temporarily, undoubtedly receiving permission and thanked them a couple of times, returning to the main building to eat. He was indeed hungry; in the Nagano Castle Town, although there were restaurants, the Whale House, taverns, and food stalls, he was unfamiliar with the area and did not plan to dine there. He managed a quick in-and-out trip, not having lunch at all, and by now he was starving, eating with great relish. Mainly because he was eating refined rice; he finally had white rice to eat, even though the grains were still a little hard, but it was much better than eating brown rice. Tao Liulang and Jing Qilang never expected to eat rice on the first day of joining the patriarch, something only the elite of the Lang Faction could enjoy, a meal that required fighting to eat. They gobbled down the food like starved ghosts reincarnated, scooping into the earthenware bowls with pickled radish. Yes, only Yuanye on the earthen seat had three dishes and a soup, able to eat polished rice, while they squatted in the dirt with brown rice plus pickled radishes and rice soup. According to the strict hierarchical system of feudal Japan, even with Yuanye present, they didn't dare enter the earthen seat unless they became household retainers. Yayoi also got to eat brown rice, primarily because she was serving the meal at the earthen seat. Yuanye wasn't a harsh person, at least he hadn't gotten used to degrading people, so naturally he let her eat some too. However, she firmly refused to eat polished rice, clearly aware of her identity, much more mature than children of later generations by a hundred times.

Chapter 18 - 12: Shopping_2

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