“Gu Tongsheng is back!”

“Brother Yan is really amazing! First time taking the exam, and he brought our village the top scorer!”

“Quick, let us see how impressive the top scorer really is!”

As soon as Gu Qingyan entered the village, he was immediately surrounded by the villagers, each more enthusiastic than during the New Year celebrations.

The ox cart was completely blocked in. The black ox snorted impatiently, ready to kick at any moment.

Gu Qingyan hurried to hold it back — these were all relatives, so he couldn’t afford to lose his temper.

Fortunately, the village chief uncle heard the news and hurried over, immediately scattering the crowd.

“Go, go, go! Brother Yan has traveled so far, let him rest at home first.”

After driving the crowd away, the village chief uncle wouldn’t leave himself. Watching Gu Qingyan more and more satisfied, his face lit up with a smile.

“Brother Yan, was the journey smooth? Are you tired? Hurry home and rest. I knew you would pass, and you did — on the first try, too.”

“Hurry home, everyone’s waiting for you. We thought you might come back a few days earlier, but you didn’t. Your foster mother and two little sisters have been worried.”

Gu Qingyan let out a sigh of relief. “Uncle, I haven’t disappointed you.”

The village chief uncle’s eyes were moist. “Good, good. When you go back, kowtow to your father for me, so he can be happy in the afterlife.”

“Sure, I’ll do that when I get home,” Gu Qingyan smiled.

“At your age, your father passed the Tongsheng exam, and that was quite the glory. Who knew what happened later…”

The village chief uncle stopped halfway, feeling this wasn’t a lucky thing to say, quickly adding, “You’re different. By autumn, you’ll definitely pass the Xiucai exam.”

“Big brother!”

At the sound of a voice, Gu Shuyan ran out and rushed into his arms. “Brother, you’re finally back! I missed you so much.”

Gu Qingyan stroked the little girl’s head. “I missed you too.”

Looking further, standing at the doorway with an excited expression were none other than Mother Liu and Gu Wangqing.

“Brother Yan, come in quickly, have some water and rest,” Mother Liu called out. “And your uncle, please come in too.”

The village chief uncle chuckled, “I won’t cause any trouble. Brother Yan, come to my house later for a proper celebration.”

With that, he turned and left happily.

Mother Liu and the others surrounded Gu Qingyan, fussing over him. “You’ve lost weight and look darker. Exams must have been tiring, taking so many days.”

“Qingqing, quickly kill a chicken to stew for tonight.”

“Yanyan, go get the ginseng from the house, it’ll be perfect in the chicken soup.”

The two sisters nodded immediately and hurried off to prepare.

Gu Qingyan quickly stopped them, “No rush. Mom, second sister, third sister, I brought some gifts for you.”

Zhang Nian had already unloaded the luggage from the ox cart.

“These are for my foster mother, these for second sister, and these for third sister.”

“There are also some local specialties for the elders. I’ll sort them out and distribute them later.”

Gu Qingyan handed out the gifts one by one, thinking it was rare to travel, so he brought back some souvenirs.

For Mother Liu, he brought a gold hairpin — simple in design but adding a touch of elegance.

For the Gu sisters, he brought the latest trendy silk flowers, plus two sets of books — travel journals bought from a bookstore in the capital.

The sisters loved the books instantly, eager to open them right away.

“Big brother, you’re so good. I love reading travel journals. I finished all the ones you left before,” Gu Shuyan said happily.

Gu Qingyan praised them, “Good, looks like even without me, you’ve been studying well. I’ll check later.”

“We’re not afraid of checks. I practice reading and writing every day,” Gu Shuyan laughed.

Gu Qingyan smiled, then looked at Mother Liu.

“Mom, in Qingzhou Prefecture, I met Cuihong and Hongdou. Cuihong got married; her baby will be six months soon. Next time I go, the baby will probably be born.”

“Hongdou also left the Li family and opened a restaurant with her girlfriends. We promised to eat there next time we visit.”

On the way back, Gu Qingyan had told Zhang Nian to only share good news, not the bad.

Otherwise, if Mother Liu and the sisters knew that as soon as he arrived in Qingzhou Prefecture, he was slandered, then poisoned, almost accused of murder, and about Hongdou’s ordeal, they would probably lose their appetite.

Sure enough, Mother Liu was happy to hear this: “Amitabha, as long as those kids are doing well, I’m relieved.”

“They’re all kind-hearted. When the Li family drove you away, only a few of them helped.”

Gu Qingyan smiled, “Yes, everyone is doing well.”

“Mom, when the provincial exam comes, why don’t you come to Qingzhou Prefecture with me? You can meet them too.”

Mother Liu was tempted but still shook her head. “No, just knowing they’re doing well is enough.”

“I’ve gotten used to Meiling Village. The people are good, and the scenery is nice. Going to Qingzhou Prefecture makes me uncomfortable. It’s so far, and the three of us going together feels awkward.”

Gu Qingyan wanted to persuade her further, but thinking about how unwelcome he was in Qingzhou Prefecture and how the Liu family was still watching him closely, he swallowed the words.

He thought once he passed the exam and could protect his family, it wouldn’t be too late to take them traveling.

Mother Liu didn’t rush to look at the gifts but felt in her heart that the child had suffered hunger and cold outside, losing weight.

She even said, “You still had some flesh when you left, but your face is all gone. You mustn’t have eaten well.”

Hearing that, the sisters quickly put down their travel journals, one caught the chicken and the other fetched the ginseng, busy in a lively flurry.

In no time, a table full of delicious dishes was set.

“Brother Yan, eat quickly, eat more to nourish your body,” Mother Liu urged.

Gu Wangqing had already served some chicken soup, “Brother, have some soup first to settle your stomach.”

Gu Shuyan didn’t forget about Zhang Nian and piled his rice bowl high. “A Nian, you eat more too. This time, it’s thanks to you taking care of brother.”

Zhang Nian’s cheeks flushed red at the praise, feeling a bit awkward.

After all, he was hiding many things from the family, and he wasn’t good at lying, so he could only lower his head and eat quickly.

Seeing this, Mother Liu said even more, “A Nian usually eats anything, not picky at all. But now he’s eating like this—it shows these two kids didn’t take good care of themselves while away.”

Gu Qingyan touched his nose, feeling Mother Liu had misunderstood.

But he couldn’t explain and could only slam down his chopsticks and eat heartily to reassure her.

By the end of the meal, Gu Qingyan’s belly was slightly bulging, and he walked like an old gentleman.

Mother Liu was still unsatisfied, saying, “Qing’er has never liked to eat much since childhood. Every meal, he only eats this little, his appetite is less than half of A Nian’s.”

Gu Qingyan defended himself, “Mother, it’s not that I eat too little. It’s that A Nian has a big appetite. Not just me, hardly anyone in our village can eat more than A Nian.”

“But A Nian is a martial artist—you don’t know, after this trip, his skills improved a lot.”

“A Nian, after you rest a bit, show them a demonstration so they can see.”

Hearing this, Zhang Nian wiped his mouth and stood up. “No need to rest.”

Then he jumped into the courtyard and picked up a staff, swinging it fiercely. Each strike cracked sharply, stunning the three of them.

Clap clap clap! Gu Shuyan clapped vigorously.

Then she asked curiously, “A Nian, how did you suddenly get so good? You weren’t this skilled before leaving.”

Zhang Nian blushed from the praise. “Brother Xia Liu gave me guidance.”

“Xia Liu’s guidance is important, but even more important is that our A Nian is naturally gifted. Without the talent for martial arts, even a famous master’s teaching would be wasted.”

Gu Qingyan never held back his praise and gave Zhang Nian a thumbs-up.

Zhang Nian smiled shyly, after the practice session he was hungry again. He went back to sit and kept eating, cleaning up all the leftover food.

Gu Qingyan watched enviously, since he was still feeling full.

After eating and drinking his fill, lying in the warm quilt with a hint of sunshine on his nose, Gu Qingyan felt utterly comfortable.

“A golden or silver nest is not as good as our dog’s nest”—this phrase was fully proven at this moment.

Gu Qingyan stretched out his arms and legs, feeling like a god.

[Host: Gu Qingyan] +
[Age: 16]
[Points: 166]
[Profession: Tongsheng (Student)] +
[Reputation: 12,668]

Gu Qingyan flipped through the system interface—points were still hard to earn.

Before going to Qingzhou Prefecture, Gu Qingyan planned to visit a few places to check in and level up his skills to earn points.

But after arriving in Qingzhou Prefecture, too much happened. Most of the time, he stayed inside and never even checked in, focusing only on going to the government office.

Gu Qingyan didn’t get discouraged. After all, in a few months there would be the imperial examination, and he would have plenty of time then.

The reputation value was a pleasant surprise.

Gu Qingyan hadn’t fully figured out the source of reputation yet, but he guessed it was related to fame.

When he passed the prefectural exam as top scorer, his reputation was only 2,660, but after the poisoning case ended, it skyrocketed to 12,668.

An increase of over ten thousand.

The poisoning case among the Qingzhou scholars caused quite a stir, and as a key figure, Gu Qingyan’s fame naturally spread.

This could be seen as a blessing in disguise.

12,668 reputation points exchanged into points gave 1,266.

Adding that to his existing points brought the total to 1,432!

Even after reserving 100 points to summon the Crown Prince’s spirit, he still had 1,332 left.

Gu Qingyan was excited—1,000 points was the starting price for the system mall.

That meant he now had enough points to buy some items in the mall.

What does it mean to be wealthy?

This is wealth.

For the first time, Gu Qingyan truly felt wealthy, cracking his knuckles as he looked at the system mall.

[Storage Space: 1000 points]
[Can store 100 cubic meters of items. Time inside the space stops. Cannot store living beings.]

Gu Qingyan skimmed past, unimpressed.

Storage space was once out of reach, but now he discovered the benefits of his mountain travel device—why spend points when he could get it free?

[Poison Immunity: 1000 points]
[After consumption, immune to all poisons, detoxifies, beautifies, and prolongs life.]

Gu Qingyan stroked his chin. This was good, though he was young and didn’t need detox or beautifying yet, everyone liked being immune to poison.

Especially since his health had been poor before and he had only just recovered.

But each pill cost 1,000 points—if he bought it, his points would be gone.

He couldn’t make up his mind and decided to wait; after all, points could be saved and used anytime.

Looking further, Gu Qingyan felt the system’s crazy overpricing.

[Gorgeous Robe: 1000 points]
[Nothing else, just looks good.]

Apart from being pretty, it was useless, so Gu Qingyan would never spend points on it.

[Gold, Silver, and Jade Artifacts: 1000 points]
[Highly valuable, can be passed down as heirlooms.]

Expensive but useless otherwise, and he wouldn’t know where to safely hide them.

After looking through everything, only storage space and poison immunity seemed worthwhile.

Only that long string of zeros at the end, Gu Qingyan didn’t even dare to look — afraid the target was too big and he would lose confidence.

Suddenly, Gu Qingyan’s gaze paused and his eyes narrowed.

【Secret Recipe Compendium: 1000 points】

【Contains 1,000 practical secret recipes, each a great helper for you to get rich.】

This… seemed very tempting.

Gu Qingyan tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. He had the system and didn’t worry about money, but others didn’t.

Since he returned to Meiling Village, everyone had been very kind to him, especially the village chief, who treated him with heartfelt care.

But Meiling Village was very poor. Only a few families lived in brick houses.

Previously, Gu Qingyan had seen that Meiling Village had many mountains and little arable land. Relying on farming alone to make ends meet was difficult. Most able-bodied villagers had to go out to work during the off-season to supplement their family income.

Every household lived tightly; very few could afford to send their children to school.

Now, only a handful in the village had received education and could find decent jobs in the city — all taught by Gu the scholar while he was still around.

Gu Qingyan had no intention of staying in the village to teach; his ambitions were elsewhere.

But he couldn’t become successful alone, enjoying good food and drink, while watching his fellow villagers starve or freeze.

He had money to help, but constant handouts weren’t a good thing — it could spoil people and cause jealousy and disputes over every little favor.

The 【Secret Recipe Compendium】 was a possible solution.

A thousand recipes made by the system — surely he could find at least one suitable for Meiling Village?

Gu Qingyan gritted his teeth and took the risk — he bought it!

Points rapidly vanished, and a thin booklet dropped down.

Gu Qingyan hurried to open it. Though thin, the booklet contained many recipes.

“Bezoar Heart-Calming Pills?” No, no one in Meiling Village knew medicine — this would be too abrupt, with high risk and cost.

Siwu Tang, Huanglian Detox Decoction, same problem. Gu Qingyan quickly skimmed through the Chinese herbal medicine recipes.

There were about two or three hundred of them. Gu Qingyan felt chilled inside and kept looking.

Beauty creams? Whitening creams? Rouge formulas? He skipped these again. Beauty and skincare had low entry barriers, but required craftsmanship and careful promotion — a meticulous job.

Tofu? Da Zhou had tofu, but it was hard labor with low profit.

Papermaking? Paper was expensive and could be considered, tentatively.

Gu Qingyan flipped from start to end until his eyes blurred, still confused when he woke up the next morning.

The village chief came early and saw him half-asleep, feeling guilty: “Brother Yan, did you not sleep enough? If you want, you can keep sleeping and we’ll go up the mountain tomorrow.”

Gu Qingyan immediately felt more awake and said quickly, “No need, if I sleep more I’ll oversleep.”

The two walked up the mountain, the village chief muttering ahead.

“Last night I secretly went up and told your father the good news. He’s definitely waiting for you to come kowtow.”

Gu Qingyan found this somewhat creepy.

He glanced around at the surrounding mountain peaks — Meiling Village was nestled among them. Luckily, Lingchuan County was hilly, but the mountains were not tall.

Meiling Village was some distance from the county seat, so unlike a truly remote mountain village, they didn’t have to cross high mountains just to get to market.

Halfway up the mountain, Gu Qingyan suddenly asked, “Uncle, you’re the village chief — what do you think we can do here to make money, so that everyone’s lives get better?”

The village chief laughed: “Brother Yan, you’ve grown up and now worry about everyone’s livelihood.”

“Lingchuan County is poor, Meiling Village even poorer. We have many mountains and little land — farming alone won’t get us by.”

The old village chief had thought about these things: “When your father was alive, we talked about this. He didn’t want to move to the city but stayed in the village to teach the kids, hoping they could learn to read and write and find jobs in town.”

“Because of that, the village owes him a lot. Otherwise, since he was only a student, he couldn’t find work at the prefecture office, but other jobs would have been easy.”

“Studying is good. Knowing how to read is useful. Look at the mountain folks — if you’re lucky enough to become a clerk, you’re half a government man. Life after that would definitely be better than your two older brothers.”

“Sadly, there are few kids with talent and willingness to study. After your father passed, that path was cut off.”

Even so, the old village chief didn’t suggest Gu Qingyan stay and teach the children.

He could tell Gu Qingyan was ambitious, unlikely to spend his life in this poor mountain valley.

At sixteen, Gu Qingyan had passed the student examination. In the future, he might become a xiucai, a juren, or even a jinshi. No way would Meiling Village hold him back.

Gu Qingyan agreed: “Studying is useful. If we can find a way to help the villagers get richer, have some extra money, then they can send their kids to school.”

“Not just literacy, but having honest jobs in town, like shop assistants, but more importantly, serious study, taking the imperial exams, and entering officialdom.”

The old chief was moved by these words but sighed in the end: “Good ideas, but who doesn’t want wealth? It’s just that there’s no way. We can only bitterly farm.”

Gu Qingyan saw this question troubled the old chief as well.

If he had a good solution, how could he have kept it hidden, suffering all these years eating chaff and watery food?

He looked around and asked again, “Uncle, does our village have any special local products?”

“What good things could we have here? If you want me to say, there’s lots of bamboo on the mountains, endless bamboo shoots.”

The village chief sighed: “You can’t eat too many bamboo shoots — it hurts your stomach. Also, bamboo grows all over the surrounding villages, so fresh or dried shoots don’t sell for high prices.”

Gu Qingyan also knew that this was the season for eating bamboo shoots, and it was common to see people bring a basket of them to sell when they went to the market.

But after a whole day, they could only make ten or eight wen (small amounts of money), never selling them at a high price.

“Besides bamboo shoots, is there nothing else?” Gu Qingyan pressed further.

The village chief pointed across: “There are some fruits on those mountain peaks over there, but one by one, they’re all very sour.”

“Except for the kids who like to snack, no one wants to pick and eat them. Those fruits aren’t edible without sugar; they’re so sour they could rot your teeth, and even worse, they can’t be sold.”

Hearing this, Gu Qingyan suddenly perked up: “What kind of fruit?”

“All sorts — wild bayberries, apricots. Look over there, those mountain peaks are covered with them.”

The old village chief smiled, “They’re pretty when they bloom in spring, but other than that, they’re useless.”

The villagers were practical — since these fruit trees were pretty but not useful, no one tended to them; they just grew wild and naturally.

Gu Qingyan asked curiously, “Why don’t they tend to them properly? Maybe if they added fertilizer, the fruit’s taste could improve?”

“Not that easy.”

The village chief shook his head. “Some have tried carefully caring for them, but the soil around here is too poor. The fruits don’t grow well.”

A thought flashed through Gu Qingyan’s mind.

“Uncle, what if we made preserved fruits from them?”

The village chief hesitated, then shook his head: “We’ve tried, but the taste wasn’t good, wasted a lot of sugar, and they still wouldn’t sell. In the end, we just ended up with leftovers.”

It was clear he had put a lot of thought into helping Meiling Village.

Gu Qingyan thought to himself that if they made preserved fruit carelessly, the taste would be average, so naturally, it wouldn’t sell well and it would waste sugar.

But if there was a secret recipe to improve the flavor?

As long as the taste was good, the products would surely sell well.

Excited, Gu Qingyan vaguely remembered the Secret Recipes Collection included some recipes for preserved fruit.

After paying respects to his father, he’d go home and check them out — then try it to see.

At his father’s gravesite, Gu Qingyan knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly.

Thunder rumbled; he was used to it—April and May was the rainy season.

“Uncle, I have some things to do now, I’m heading off.”

After saying this, Gu Qingyan took off running and swiftly went down the mountain.

The village chief sighed helplessly, thinking this kid was always full of sudden ideas and still very childish.

He turned around, offered incense to his younger brother’s grave, smiling: “Qingyan is clearly your seed — smart, righteous, and kind to family. Rest assured, with him around, our Gu family won’t decline.”

“That boy’s also good to his sisters. Qingqing and Yanyan have both put on weight. You’ll be at ease seeing that.”

“Third brother, third brother’s wife, rest easy underground. Everything at home is fine, really fine.”

As he spoke, tears streamed down the village chief’s face; he couldn’t help but remember his two late brothers. He had never been lucky with siblings — one after another gone.

Gu Qingyan had no idea the village chief was crying at the graves behind him.

He hurried home in one breath, rushed into his study, spread out papers, and began copying.

Among the various secret recipes, there were quite a few for food; just for preserved fruit alone, there were three recipes.

Looking at the ingredients, the simplest one still required twelve spices.

The most complicated one had a total of thirty-six different spices and ingredients.

Gu Qingyan didn’t know how to make these yet; just looking at them was impressive.

Recipes included in the system were definitely not simple.

He finished copying the three recipes quickly but then fell into deep thought.

He decided to directly give the recipes to the village chief. Given the chief’s trust in him, he’d likely be willing to try.

But it was still only May, most fruits hadn’t ripened yet; to test, they’d have to wait at least two months. To convince other villagers, they’d need a finished product.

Gu Qingyan smiled. He could buy fruit himself and make three batches first.

Then invite the village chief and villagers to taste. After experiencing the delicious preserved fruit, they’d be confident in the business.

When the fruit harvest was abundant, they could catch the first wave this year.

The only problem was his cooking skill was only at beginner level, 35%, which might not be enough to fully replicate the recipe’s flavors.

Gu Qingyan took the recipes and went out: “Mom, I got three preserved fruit recipes from Qingzhou Prefecture. I want to try making them. Can you help me?”

Mother Liu agreed immediately, “Of course, I’m just bored anyway.”

His two sisters came over to join in: “We’ll help too, but it’s still early. Many fruits haven’t ripened yet.”

“In the sunny spots, some fruit ripens earlier. I can go up the mountain and look,” said Gu Shuyan.

Gu Qingyan quickly said, “Let’s use the fruits from the nearby mountains. If it works, our village will have found a way to make money.”

The sisters didn’t think twice. Mother Liu, understanding his intention, smiled, “We’ll make sure to do a good job.”

“There are lots of spices listed. I’ll go to town tomorrow to buy them. You all can pick fruit from the mountains and bring it home to use.”

Gu Qingyan nodded, feeling this plan was good.

At this moment, Gu Shuyan asked, “Brother, are those fruit trees you planted in our backyard?”

“What fruit trees?” Gu Qingyan asked in confusion.

Gu Shuyan said, “Before you went to Qingzhou Prefecture, didn’t you dig holes and plant seeds in the backyard? Those seeds have sprouted, and little saplings have grown.”

“What?”

Gu Qingyan was stunned.

He hadn’t planted any seeds — what he buried was purple gromwell root (Zi He Che), wasn’t it?