Chapter 96: Old Man Xu Returns
The seventeenth day since returning to the old house.
Jian Xingxia only recruited Lin Sanniang. For the other slot, she planned to hire a bricklayer to paint the first floor.
Over the past two days, Lin Sanniang had already cleaned out the woodsheds on both sides of the small parlor. The clutter previously stored in the main hall and the two west wing rooms had been moved to the woodsheds. Some truly broken bamboo baskets, moldy winnowing baskets, and the straw mattresses and pillows from the beds in the west wing were taken to the kitchen to be used as firewood.
All that remained were the built-in communal brick beds.
Jian Xingxia posted the recruitment notice.
[Recruitment Demand: One temporary worker. Job Content: Painting walls. Work Duration: 6 hours.]
Jian Xingxia figured that Old Man Xu from before was a bricklayer and should know how to paint walls, though she didn’t know if he would receive the prompt. After all, the system favored familiarity and prioritized matching past workers.
Within a few minutes, there was movement in the backyard. Jian Xingxia looked over, and ha! It really was Old Man Xu!
Old Man Xu carried his shoulder pole, looking somewhat dazed himself.
The last time he repaired the kitchen roof and built the stove for Jian Xingxia, he had returned home with brown sugar, powdered milk, salted duck eggs, and wild chicken eggs. His family had been over the moon, but none of them believed him.
His son said, “Dad, have you gone senile? What kind of family paves their floors with white porcelain? Even the Emperor couldn’t afford that!”
His old wife said, “Exactly, old man. We know the master you worked for this time was wealthy enough to bestow these good things, but you shouldn’t make things up! What do you mean the light turns on just by blowing a breath of air!”
Only his daughter-in-law believed him. “The things Dad brought back… truly don’t seem like anything ordinary families could have. Take this brown sugar—you can’t find it anywhere in our Great Sheng Dynasty.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t proper for a daughter-in-law to speak up too much on behalf of her father-in-law, so she only said those couple of sentences. His son and old wife completely refused to believe it.
Old Man Xu had been so vexed that for days on end, he would occasionally run into the mountains trying to find that estate again. But no matter how much he searched, he simply couldn’t find it. As time dragged on, he began to think he had succumbed to delusions, just like the madman at the entrance of the alleyway who had been shouting every day for years that he had seen some kind of flying iron bird.
The chicken and duck eggs had been eaten, but the milk powder and brown sugar were genuinely excellent goods brought back to the house. The milk powder was given to his little grandson, helping him pull through the most difficult phase; the boy could now drink porridge and eat thin noodles.
But the brown sugar was definitely still there. His daughter-in-law took a little bit back to her maternal home, asking her relatives to travel a bit further to help her exchange it for money. The rest was still at home! Every few days, they would scoop out a small teaspoon to mix a drink for the little grandson.
Whenever this happened, Old Man Xu would sigh with emotion. “Back then, when I was at that immortal estate, I witnessed quite a few things…”
His son and old wife still didn’t believe him, and his daughter-in-law felt too bashful to crowd around her father-in-law. In the household, only the little grandson still in his swaddling clothes would widen his eyes to look at Old Man Xu, looking alert and spirited as if he truly understood. Old Man Xu would stroke the little grandson’s head and tell the story all over again.
A few months had passed just like that.
Old Man Xu never expected that today, after finishing his work outside, he would actually run into Immortal Auntie Xu on the road.
Immortal Auntie Xu even asked him, “Has your grandson fully recovered? If not, there is still a fateful opportunity in the mountains; you may go one more time.”
Old Man Xu was stunned. His grandson had recovered, but he still wanted to visit that estate again!
Out of caution, Old Man Xu asked further, “Thank you for your concern, Immortal Auntie. My grandson has fully recovered. So… can I still go into the mountains to seek that fateful opportunity?”
Immortal Auntie Xu swayed her hips as she walked away. “Whether you go or not, the opportunity awaits right there.”
Old Man Xu scratched his head, not quite understanding, but he didn’t dare pry further. There was no helping it; within a ten-mile radius, only Immortal Auntie Xu was divinely accurate, and her accuracy lay precisely in her words being shrouded in mist, leaving people only half-understanding.
Old Man Xu thought it over. Since Immortal Auntie Xu hadn’t said he couldn’t go, it meant he could. He still wanted to go see it.
Just like that, Old Man Xu put his wall-painting tools into his baskets and headed straight into the mountains. Strangely enough, he had been coming into the mountains every few days over the past few months, yet he could never find the cave from that day. But the moment he arrived today, wasn’t the cave sitting perfectly right here?
Delighted in his heart, Old Man Xu quickly slipped into the cave. After walking just a few steps, he emerged. Following his memories from last time for a bit, sure enough, he spotted that large yet small two-story building.
Old Man Xu felt a bit choked with emotion, reaching up to wipe his eyes. “Ah, I said I wasn’t crazy. Isn’t this house sitting perfectly right here?”
Old Man Xu walked forward and caught sight of Jian Xingxia. He hurriedly bowed. “Proprietress, Miss!”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “Old Man Xu, you’ve come.”
“Aye! I’ve come, Proprietress, Miss. Is it painting walls this time?”
“Yes.”
Jian Xingxia signaled Lin Sanniang to open the door.
By now, Lin Sanniang was already proficient at locking and unlocking the padlock on the backyard gate. She quickly unlocked it and led Old Man Xu into the courtyard.
Catching sight of Old Man Xu’s attire, Lin Sanniang naturally felt a wave of closeness in her heart. She took up her duties as manager, proactively inquiring, “Old gentleman, I am the manager of this estate, surnamed Lin. May I ask where you hail from?”
Old Man Xu wasn’t surprised, even feeling that it ought to have been this way last time—the master of this place was wealthy, so it was only natural to have a manager. Old Man Xu performed a cupped-hand bow. “To answer Manager Lin, this old man hails from Yuxia Town.”
Yuxia Town? Lin Sanniang had never heard of it. Either it wasn’t a town near her home, or he hadn’t come from the same realm. Having already learned through Dahei that their origins were not the same place, Lin Sanniang wasn’t surprised. She only felt a slight tinge of regret—this gentleman wasn’t a fellow compatriot.
“Old gentleman, I meant to ask from which dynasty and which country you come.”
Old Man Xu didn’t understand. “Naturally, I come from the Sheng Dynasty.” From where else could he come?
Lin Sanniang understood clearly then. Jian Xingxia also learned that following the Great Yu and Great Liang, a Great Sheng Dynasty had now appeared. Her recruitment pool for temporary workers was remarkably vast.
Lin Sanniang stepped forward to ask roughly about the conditions in the Great Sheng Dynasty. This Great Sheng Dynasty was actually in slightly better shape than their Great Liang Dynasty. Although the common folk were still at the bottom, they could manage to eat, and the exorbitant taxes and levies weren’t heavy. Although agriculture was emphasized and commerce suppressed, because everyone held a tiny bit of spare money, business on the streets was quite decent. Old Man Xu and his son farmed twelve mu of land, and in his spare time, he would carry his shoulder pole to do odd bricklaying jobs; the family made a decent living.
Jian Xingxia nodded. Each dynasty had its own circumstances, and each household had its own financial state.
Seeing that Jian Xingxia had gathered the information she wanted, Lin Sanniang began introducing today’s tasks.
“Old gentleman, our young mistress wants to renovate the first floor. We must scrape away the peeling paint on the walls, then re-apply putty and paint.”
Lin Sanniang didn’t rashly let Old Man Xu inside the house, instead using this wall under the eaves of the back door as an example to explain to him.
Old Man Xu had observed the old house carefully last time and knew its structure differed greatly from the houses in the Great Sheng Dynasty. Right now, he listened intently, even reaching out his hand to feel it.
“Heavens above, what kind of powder paste was used for this wall surface? It feels incredibly fine to the touch.”
