Plane Supermarket Plane 1: Da Liang Dynasty C33
“So, you’re here to exchange food for the refugees?” Ye Zhou held the teacup in his hands.
He didn’t have strong preferences when it comes to tea. Although he enjoyed it, he couldn’t judge whether it was good or bad tea. The tea he was currently sipping was just the most ordinary bagged Huamaofeng available in the supermarket.
Although its quality wasn’t great, the tea gave off a delightful fragrance, but it had a tendency to make one thirstier with each sip.
Ye Zhou looked at Lin You’s face and was a little surprised. After all, the impression Lin You had left on him was that of a wealthy young man who didn’t concern himself with the affairs of the world, probably the kind of person you’d find lost in a field, unable to tell wheat from barley.
As expected, people should not be judged by their appearance. Ye Zhou inwardly acknowledged that he had underestimated Lin You.
Ye Zhou said, “Even if you exchange for food and return, how long can you sustain yourself just by sitting back and consuming it? Besides, if we keep providing food indefinitely, the refugees will just remain camped outside Anyang City. Even if there are other options available to them, they won’t explore them.”
Food is limited. Even if Lin You comes to exchange for food each time, how much time will be lost in between? How many difficulties and setbacks will they encounter?
Besides, continuously supporting people isn’t a good solution.
Lin You lowered his head and smiled bitterly, “I won’t hide it from the immortal. My father said the same thing. I truly had no other options, so I came up with this foolish idea. It’s better than just watching the refugees starve.”
Ye Zhou gestured to the sofa opposite him and said to Lin You, “Have a seat.”
Lin You didn’t refuse. After all, he would do whatever the immortal asked him.
Ye Zhou said, “Of course, food can be exchanged. Since you’ve come, I’ll propose a suggestion.”
Lin You’s eyes sparkled with excitement. He could barely contain himself from jumping up.
The existence of the immortal’s residence was already a stroke of luck. Being able to exchange for food was the greatest stroke of luck within that stroke of luck. But he had never expected that the immortal would be willing to make a proposal.
“In addition to food, I can also provide you with seeds,” Ye Zhou inquired, “With one acre of land, you can yield ten stones1.”
Lin You was stunned. His lips trembled, and it felt like someone had pinched his throat, preventing him from making a sound.
Ten stones?
In the world of crops, the best seeds and the most favorable weather conditions would yield at most three stones per acre.
Ye Zhou thought for a moment. “This plant isn’t wheat or rice. If it resembles anything, it looks more like taro, but its taste and texture are entirely different. And it doesn’t require crossbreeding.”
But Lin You didn’t react much to Ye Zhou’s words. His cheeks turned red as if he had been drinking, and his gaze lost focus. His lips moved, and if you listened closely, you could hear him murmuring, repeating the same two words, “Ten stones.”
Just as Ye Zhou was about to call Lin You’s name, Lin You suddenly stood up and knelt before Ye Zhou once again.
Ye Zhou was startled by his sudden action, but Lin You already had his forehead touching the ground. “Immortal! This is a miracle for the living!”
He cried and laughed at the same time and said, “The merits of saving lives bring benefits to the present and glory for a thousand generations!”
Ten stones! How many lives could be saved because of this?
Tears welled up in Lin You’s eyes.
Indeed, he used to be an oblivious young noble, ignorant of the people’s suffering. His father was a magistrate, his mother a prestigious lady, and from the moment he was born, he had never tasted hardship or known poverty. His greatest concerns were no more than what kind of wife he would marry and whether he could achieve fame or not.
But after his journey from the north to the south, after going through that experience, he could never return to his former self.
For the first time, the suffering of the common people was vividly imprinted in his mind, but there was no one at home who would understand him.
Not even his cousin could understand his thoughts.
To them, the people’s suffering was a natural part of life. They didn’t have family legacies to pass down, and wisdom couldn’t be handed down from generation to generation. They believed that the world wouldn’t get better, only worse, and people would remain ignorant with empty minds.
In the grand scheme of this world, they considered themselves not important.
Even if they died, they would be reborn, and people would always continue to exist.
It was them, the nobles, the scions of prestigious families, who had the potential to truly make this world a better place. They possessed wisdom, they had family legacies, and they could help emperors in creating prosperous eras.
They might even do without an emperor, but they had to be present.
Imperial power might not reach the countryside, but it was they who truly governed the people. The local elites could ignore the imperial edicts, but they couldn’t turn a blind eye to them.
Lin You never knew this was how they thought.
Perhaps he used to think that way, but he had since realized his own insignificance, and even the mightiest of families were minuscule and insignificant.
His father might have had sympathy for the common people, but he could also watch them perish without taking any action.
Because, to them, only the people they governed were truly “the people.” Refugees fleeing famine were just refugees.
Refugees didn’t bring any benefits to Anyang City, only problems. So, he no longer concerned himself with thinking about how to alleviate the difficulties of the refugees. Instead, he focused on how challenging it was to settle them, without considering how to actually address those challenges.
But as a son, he couldn’t openly point out his father’s faults.
Or maybe… he didn’t want to acknowledge that his own father was also such a person.
Only the immortal…
Only the immortal treated everyone as equals, without distinction.
There was no high or low, no…
Ye Zhou had no idea what Lin You was fantasizing about. He was completely silenced by Lin You’s mention of “saving lives.”
Of course, he was definitely unworthy of those four words.
If anyone deserved them, it would probably be Mr. Yuan.
He didn’t know why Lin You was crying, perhaps it was because Lin You was… too emotional?
He had never seen someone cry so easily.
Lin You wiped away the tears on his face, believing that his emotions were genuine, with no reason to be ashamed. His voice was hoarse as he said, “Immortal, I’ll instruct them to move the things in.”
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- 十石 Shí shí: Ten Stones/Rock/ Stone inscription [I’m not sure what they mean by this. Probably like ten sacks of grains, but these ‘stones’ are bigger]
I just found another meaning for this is “dàn: dry measure for grain equal to ten dou 斗 ; ten pecks; one hundred liters”
And another one: stone (British unit of mass equal to 14 pounds [about 6.3 kilograms] [↩]