“Little Uncle, what do you think of this?” Dong’er came up to Xia Chen’s side and showed him the little gadget he had made.

Xia Chen took it and looked. It was a crude little shovel, crafted from a piece of hard bamboo about the length of an adult’s forearm, with a sharpened stone tied securely to it with hemp rope. 

Finding a spot under a tree with soft soil, Xia Chen shoveled a few times. The stone piece held fast, making the tool quite handy to use. He nodded with satisfaction.

Xia Chen had transmigrated into the An Dynasty, but he wasn’t too clear about its specific level of development. His range of activities over the past seven years had been limited to within a hundred meters of the Xia family home, at most venturing into the village for a couple of rounds.

His history knowledge was lacking, but he knew about the government’s monopoly on salt and iron. Iron farming tools were good quality that could last for a long time, but they weren’t cheap, and their sale was restricted. In ordinary farming households, they were an important family asset. Although the Xia family were landlords, if Dong’er gave him a hoe and he lost it, there would be trouble.

Besides, for that tiny plot of land the size of his palm, using a hoe would be overkill. If it weren’t for the system prompt requiring a tilling process, Xia Chen would have just dug a hole with his hands and buried the seeds.

“Where are the seeds?” he asked.

“Only these.” Dong’er opened his palm, revealing a few seeds. “They’re radish and bok choy seeds. I asked Guihua for them, but she wouldn’t give me any others. She said they wouldn’t survive if planted now and I’d waste them.”

“That’s enough. Thank you, Dong’er.” Xia Chen took the seeds and put them safely in a small pouch, intending to secretly try them out in his space when he had a chance.

No one had ever properly thanked him before. Dong’er’s face flushed red all of a sudden. Nan’er had been following his elder brother around and hadn’t done anything, but he stared at Xia Chen and hoped his little uncle would also praise him.

Xia Chen patted the child’s head and smiled, “Thank you too, Nan’er, for being able to run errands for your little uncle already.”

He wanted to give some kind of reward to the two children, but unfortunately he was truly penniless and couldn’t even take out a piece of candy. Xia Chen was even more determined to develop his space as soon as possible.

“Oh, why is our Yuanbao squatting here?” Before the person was seen, the voice was heard first. Second Sister Yinzi took after Father Xia, with an impatient temper and a loud voice.

“Second Sister.” Xia Chen called out sweetly. Second Sister Yinzi immediately softened and hugged him without letting go.

“I heard Mother say that Yuanbao was well, but I didn’t dare believe it. Seeing you today, I believe it. Our Yuanbao can even call people now. I brought an old hen over and told sister-in-law to kill it and stew soup for you to drink.”

When Qiao Niang heard the voice, she came out to greet her and spoke to Second Sister Yinzi. Xia Chen took a handful of peanuts that his second sister had given him and ran to share them with his two nephews.

His second sister stayed for lunch. Xia Chen went to take a look at the kitchen. The Xia family was not so particular. Qiao Niang also helped cook so Granny Lei had no chance to tamper with the food.

Seeing this, Xia Chen strolled off again to ask Dong’er about the few brats who had tricked him into the river.

From the time Xia Chen nearly drowned after falling into the river until now that he had recovered, almost five days had passed. Everyone in Qinghe Village knew about this matter, but the Xia family showed no signs of seeking trouble with those few families.

Xia Chen guessed that those few families had chosen to conceal this matter. After all, no one had expected that he would be rescued, let alone that his mind would sober up. In fact, it was indeed so. If it weren’t for the system, Xia Chen would have died long ago.

Through his description of the appearance of those brats, Dong’er quickly matched them up. As Xia Chen had expected, these children were all from relatively well-off families in the village. Most importantly, none of the families were tenants of the Xia family, and all had their own land to some extent.

“What are you asking about them for?” Dong’er asked curiously.

Xia Chen casually fobbed him off, but in his heart he increasingly felt that the matter of his incident was not simple.

At lunch, when the chicken soup was served, Xia Chen’s bowl had two extra big chicken legs. The Xia family had no rule forbidding women from sitting at the table. He poked at the chicken legs and divided the meat among the others. 

The adults in the family were extremely moved. The two little nephews said “Little Uncle is the best” in one breath. Seeing them burying their heads in eating, Xia Chen felt a sense of responsibility arising in his heart.

Although the Xia family’s circumstances could be considered well-off in Qinghe Village, the object of comparison was really nothing to brag about.

Qinghe Village was a small village at the foot of Xiannu Mountain. The whole village had just over a hundred households. There were those who were so poor they couldn’t even afford to eat, and ordinary farming families that could barely eat their fill, let alone be particular about what they ate.

Those who could eat their fill of rice and noodles at every meal like the Xia family were already seen as rich landlords in the eyes of the villagers. They even could afford to eat meat every two or three days.

Xia Chen had no other grand ambitions. Since the system wanted him to become the God of Agriculture, at the very least, he had to feed the few mouths in his own family first.

He gnawed on a chicken wing and silently listed his first five-year plan in his heart. First, set a small goal—to be able to eat meat to their fill at every meal.

After lunch, Xia Chen used the excuse of feeling sleepy to return to his room to nap. Qiao Niang wanted to accompany him again but was coaxed away by his playful crying.

Xia Chen lay on the bed pretending to sleep. After a while, Qiao Niang came in to take a look. Seeing that he was sleeping soundly, she tiptoed out again.

Not daring to enter his space right away, Xia Chen waited a while longer. After making sure there was no movement outside, he immediately jumped off the bed, put on his shoes, took the little shovel he had brought into the room, and entered his space.

“Tongban, help me keep an eye out. If someone comes into the room, remind me right away.” He put a bundle in the quilt, which at first glance looked like a person sleeping, hoping to stall for some time if something happened.

After instructing the system, Xia Chen wasted no time in finding his little plot of land and shoveled out a hole with his little shovel, grunting and puffing. He couldn’t tell which of the seeds Dong’er had given him were radishes and which were bok choy, so he randomly picked one and put it in, then loosely covered it with soil.

“Done.” Xia Chen threw down the shovel, brought up the main interface, and clicked open the task scroll to claim his reward, only to find that the first task still showed as incomplete.

“Tongban, what’s going on?” Xia Chen was puzzled and perplexed. Did he have to wait until the harvest? That didn’t seem right either. There was another task below that said: [Complete one harvest.]

The system gave a hint: [Planting activity lacks necessary conditions.] 

Xia Chen froze for a moment, tried to recall, and tentatively said, “Water?”

The system didn’t reply. He immediately understood. He knew there was a water source in the system and could vaguely hear the sound of water, but he couldn’t see it. Xia Chen wasn’t sure how far it was, and he had no container to hold water. It wasn’t realistic to carry it back with his hands.

Xia Chen simply returned to his own room. There was half a pot of tea in the teapot on the table, which had been left to cool. He brought the whole pot into the space and poured it over the place where he had just buried the seeds, pouring and saying happily to the system, “Tongban, I think this pot is just right for watering. I have to find a way to hide one.”

The system didn’t respond. Xia Chen didn’t mind. He had never planted before, only watched the gardener at home plant flowers. That watering can was much bigger than the little teapot in his hand. Xia Chen poured all the contents and even worried it wasn’t enough.

“It should be good now.” He put down the teapot and opened the main interface. The task scroll flashed, indicating that a task had been completed.

Opening the scroll, it indeed showed that the first task was completed. Xia Chen excitedly bounced around on the spot a couple of times and hurried to check his reward. Ten copper coins were still money, and it was the first money he had earned!

His total assets were displayed at the top of the main interface, arranged from left to right, from gems to copper coins. Xia Chen glanced over it and the smile on his face froze.

“Tongban, where’s my money?!” Behind the round copper coin icon, there was still a “0”. Xia Chen opened the task scroll again and looked carefully. “Where did my money go? Do I still have to claim it here? Why can’t I click it…?”

[Reward has been issued. Host has outstanding debt, account earnings automatically deducted.]

“Debt?” Xia Chen froze, recalling the experience he had put behind him. It seemed that on the day he fell into the water, the system did say it would put it on credit first, and would charge him interest…

Xia Chen was not someone who would eat and then deny it. If it saved his life, he would pay back the money. “How much do I owe?”

[Principal of three taels of gold, interest based on bank loan rates, 4.35% if repaid within one year, for one to three years…]

Tongban was still chattering on, not giving Xia Chen any discount for having the same surname.

He counted on his fingers. With a reward of ten copper coins for completing one task, he would have to complete three thousand tasks to pay back just the principal.

But he couldn’t tell Tongban that his life wasn’t worth that much money and ask for a discount. On the verge of tears, Xia Chen once again felt that his golden finger was really a deep pit.

Squatting in front of his pitiful little plot of land in a daze for a while, Xia Chen stood up and rubbed his numb legs.

It was okay. There were always more solutions than difficulties. Over the years, when he encountered things, didn’t he always rely on himself to get through them? It couldn’t be that after transmigrating and having his body shrink had also shrunk his IQ.

“Tongban, can you leave me some of the money in my account? How can I develop without money? Don’t deduct it all. Deduct a portion each time. I will definitely pay it back. Can you?” Xia Chen tried to bargain with the stingy system.

This time Tongban was quite accommodating: [Okay, deduct half of the earnings each time.]

Xia Chen breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to be able to leave him some. He had experience playing games.

In simulation management games like this, it was relatively difficult to make money in the early stages. When it developed, the currency growth rate would be very fast. If he guessed correctly, the plants he grew should be directly sold to the system for money.

Thinking of this, Xia Chen had a sudden idea, “Tongban, can the currency in the space be materialized for me?”

If he could earn money in the space and take it out to use, that would be awesome. He wouldn’t even have to consider the issue of selling goods. Originally, Xia Chen planned to take the products from the space out to sell for money, but the risk was a bit high because of its unclear source.

[Yes, but the system will charge a 30% conversion fee. When the host takes currency out of the space, there will also be a 30% handling fee.]

Xia Chen: “……”

He felt that apart from being a money-grubber and being stingy, this golden finger Tongban was quite good in all other aspects. It was really able to solve problems for him, he thought with gritted teeth.

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