Chapter 1

The sky was still the same sky, only bluer than in memory, and the air was fresher.

The earth was still the same earth, a mix of yellow soil and mud, but the soil was less luxurious and less restless.

It was early June, the height of summer, and the scorching sun was as diligent as ever, neither late nor early.

In the stifling heat, a faint scent of earth could be detected, unlike the heat waves that felt like a steam room on the asphalt roads of later times. However, going out at this time was still not very pleasant.

Qinhe Village, originally named Lihe Village, had become an empty village due to the Li surname population largely migrating out or dying in the turmoil at the end of the Sui Dynasty.

At the founding of the Tang Dynasty, a group of Qin and Mu surnamed people migrated from elsewhere to the village about thirty miles east of the Eastern Capital Luoyang, and the village was renamed Qinhe Village.

The village was filled with lush greenery. By the threshing ground at the village entrance, a group of men, women, and children sat under a large tree, holding gray ceramic bowls. In the center of the crowd, several wooden buckets filled with clear water were placed.

In front of the crowd, under a large tree that two people could barely encircle, a teenager around sixteen or seventeen years old stood, speaking with both form and substance. It was not an ordinary village meeting, but rather... telling stories!

"Great! Dalang, you told it so well!"

"Who would have thought that the royal descendant Liu Bei could be so despicable, and General Zhao Yun so loyal... what was it again?"

"That's called 'loyal and brave,' Muhazi. If your brain doesn't work, don't try to imitate Dalang's words."

"Right, Wulang, it's 'loyal and brave,' not 'loyal and black'..." The teenager corrected with a black line on his face. These villagers were really hard to educate. They enjoyed the stories, but mostly forgot them as soon as they heard them, unable to even repeat a sentence correctly.

This teenager was none other than a high-achieving graduate from a wild chicken university in the 21st century. An accident brought him to the early Tang Dynasty.

The teenager's original name was Qin Chao. When he arrived, he was on the verge of death, but was saved by the villagers of Qinhe Village. The villagers took turns feeding him, and Qin Chao quickly recovered.

However, the aftereffects of his穿越 (time travel) soon appeared. His mind suddenly had a strange system, and the first task the system gave him was to educate the ignorant villagers.

After that, no matter how Qin Chao called, the system never appeared again.

Through interaction, Qin Chao found that the villagers here were not as ignorant as he thought. Instead, they were quite shrewd. Could these illiterate farmers who had never been to the Eastern Capital Luoyang really be considered ignorant? Could they trick a high-achieving graduate from a 21st-century wild chicken university?

Fortunately, the first task was to educate the villagers of his own village, and the reward for completing the task was...

Reputation, something that could neither be eaten nor drunk, but was a real thing. In the later era, where schemes were rampant, it was not easy to gather reputation. However, in this era, reputation could, to some extent, be used as food and even save one's life in critical moments.

In the later era, Brazil was known as the kingdom of football, and its chaotic security far exceeded what people imagined. However, in Brazil, a football player could gain respect, and if a superstar, even the most heinous criminals would show respect.

A person with high reputation in ancient China was like a football superstar in modern Brazil.

Since there was a reward for completing the task, there must also be a punishment for failure, and the punishment for failure was extermination.

Although Qin Chao was somewhat skeptical of this unreliable system, he did not dare to be careless. There were many web novels about people traveling with systems, and what if his was real?

Qin Chao wanted to survive here, but he had no grain, no land, no money, and no friends. The simplest method was to gather his reputation, so that the villagers would support him by saving food. Establishing a school was undoubtedly the most convenient shortcut.

First, he needed to demonstrate his abilities and make the villagers believe he could run a school. Then, he would gradually establish the school and bind these villagers to him.

Of course, Qin Chao did not need the villagers to support him for long, just one year. By then, he would have enough food to last.

Qin Chao, as usual, used the leisure time during the farming off-season to start his educational mission by the threshing ground at the village entrance. The only thing he found good was that he did not need to prepare lessons or think about what to say. He could talk about anything, and the villagers seemed to be hooked, no matter what he said. Did no one realize he was just bullshitting?

Moreover, he was lamenting the injustice to Zhao Yun, but the villagers started cursing Liu Bei.

"Oh, it's getting late. Dalang, let's continue in the evening. It's time to go to the fields now." The old man Mu drank the last of the water in his bowl, shook off the droplets, wiped his mouth, and said with a smile as he got up.

Qin Chao looked at the old man Mu speechlessly, wanting to say, "Old man, it's only around two o'clock, right? Are you afraid of heatstroke in such hot weather?"

Also, could you not call me Dalang? I don't even have the surname Wu!

However, it was his own fault. After recovering, when the villagers asked about his family's ranking, as a member of the family planning army, he naturally ranked first, and thus the name Dalang stuck.

Qin Chao thought about resisting, but it was futile. The Tang people called him that, and it couldn't be changed just because he wanted to.

"Alright, let's continue in the evening." Qin Chao nodded, having no reason to refuse the old man Mu's suggestion. In fact, the storytelling always ended at this time. Today, Qin Chao told a story from the Three Kingdoms, with a dramatic plot that made the villagers cheer. He had lost track of time, and today's session ended later than usual.

With Qin Chao's words, the villagers got up one by one, smiling and greeting Qin Chao, then took their bowls and buckets and headed home.

The diligence of the ancients moved Qin Chao to tears...

Although Qin Chao was young and alone, and had come as a refugee, after the initial understanding, his status in the village was comparable to that of the old-timers.

Qin Chao knew a lot and could read, often helping the villagers pass the time by telling vivid and interesting stories, more humorous than the schoolmasters, making the villagers laugh heartily.

Moreover, Qin Chao promised to teach the village children to read, which greatly increased his status in the village.

Although Qin Chao often found excuses to delay, the villagers still believed him and trusted that he would teach their children to read.

Therefore, whether or not they had children of the right age, every household in the village agreed to share the burden of Qin Chao's food. There were fifty-three households in the village, and with Qin Chao, fifty-four. Each household would take turns providing food, and it would take about two months for a cycle, a burden they could bear.

"Dalang, what do you think about the matter I mentioned last time?" After the villagers had mostly left, Old Man Mu came to Qin Chao's side and asked in a low voice.

"Old Man Mu, I am still used to living alone, and one day, I will go to find my parents, so..." Qin Chao politely refused, jokingly thinking, "Let me be your son? Impossible!"

Old Man Mu's original name was Li Chongyou, the third in his family. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he changed his surname to Mu and took charge of the family's affairs, earning him the title of Old Man Mu.

"Dalang, joining my Mu family will not hinder your future search for your parents. Once this opportunity is gone, it won't come again. Old Man Mu hopes you will consider it carefully, so you won't regret it later." Old Man Mu smiled slyly, as if threatening.

Old Man Mu was not a good person. He owned thousands of acres of good land, making him a wealthy man, but he did not acquire the land through normal means. Instead, he lent money to the villagers and then bought their land at a price less than one-tenth of its value.

Old Man Mu wanted to take Qin Chao as an adopted son for two main reasons: first, to claim the twenty acres of permanent land and thirty acres of allotted land that Qin Chao would receive after settling in the village.

Although he would only get ten acres of permanent land and a dozen acres of allotted land, it was still a profit for Old Man Mu.

"Rest assured, there will be a time when you will come to me for help." Old Man Mu, seeing that Qin Chao did not answer, did not continue to persuade him. He just patted Qin Chao's shoulder, said a few words, and left.

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