Chapter 4: Calamity of Unforeseen Consequences

  Qin old man left with a hum, treading on the moonlit air.

  Qin Kan would never be content with being a teacher in this small village, and the negotiations ultimately fell through.

  Qin Kan escorted him to the gate, and it wasn't until Old Man Qin's figure disappeared into the moonlight that he quietly closed the door and let out a sigh.

  Just now Qin Kan only vaguely expressed his idea of leaving the Qin Villa to work outside and make a living, but was strongly opposed by Old Man Qin.

  The reason for opposition is laughable, but in this era it's not laughable at all, because it has lost dignity and disgraced the elegance of scholars.

  Qin Kan was very depressed. Working for a living and being an intellectual had nothing to do with each other. Didn't intellectuals need to eat too?

  It must be said that Qin Kan's understanding of the word "class" in this era is still far from enough, he does not know how big the difference is between scholars and ordinary people.

  Under the dim and hazy oil lamp, Qin Kan sat at the edge of the table, staring blankly at the twenty-eight copper coins on the table, lost in thought. After a long while, he let out a bitter laugh.

  Erjin's old house, Qin Kan had searched it over and over again, the rice jar was empty, there was nothing edible, he was worried, without leaving Qin Zhuang, what would he eat for his next meal?

  Qin Kan is a clever person, not only clever, but also thick-skinned.

  A clever and shameless man will never starve anywhere.

  The next day, Qin Zhuang spread a message.

  The peaceful and safe Qin Village, which is known as a model village of civilization in the Ming Dynasty, where people don't close their doors at night, has been robbed.

  The next few days were even more unsettling for Qin Zhuang.

  Qin Dà's family lost two chickens, Qin èr's family lost a watchdog, and Qin Sān's family lost two ducks...

  Similar cases are staged in Qin Zhuang every day, and the quiet village is no longer peaceful.

  After more than ten days of such days, Qin Zhuang's clan leader Qin Lao Han finally stepped on the door of Qin Kan's house again.

  Qin Lao Han seemed very calm this time, and his eyes looking at Qin Kan were more complex than before.

  "Qin Kan..."

  Qin Kan stood up and bowed respectfully: "Your humble nephew is here."

  "Pack up and go to the county, I agree."

  Qin Kan was greatly surprised and couldn't help but look at him with curiosity.

  "Didn't Uncle disagree with nephew's decision to leave his hometown a few days ago?"

  Qin old man sat in the main room, stroking his beard thoughtfully: "Hmmm..."

  "What does 'uh-huh' mean?"

  "Ah," said Old Man Qin with a sigh, "the meaning of 'hmm' is that if I don't let you out, I'm afraid the village won't even be able to find a single rooster that can crow in the future..."

  Even Qin Kan's thick skin couldn't help but feel his face heat up: "This... cough, I'm ashamed, nephew."

  Qin old man looked up at the beam on top of the house, speechless for a long time.

  A once respected and admired former Xiucai Gong has turned into a sneaky little thief, Qin old man is still in the adaptation phase, the contrast between before and after is too great, the old man really can't accept it.

  "Your late father left you three mu of paddy fields, which cannot be abandoned. Since you want to leave, it's better to sell them off. However, I only allow you to sell them to people from Qin Village, not outsiders. If you do otherwise, the ancestors of the Qin family will not tolerate you."

  "It's all up to Uncle Zhang."

  "Go to the county town and harm others, then!"

  Three mu of paddy fields, each mu sold for four taels of silver, Qin Kan simply packed two sets of clean clothes, with twelve taels of silver in his pocket, and set out alone on the road to Shanyin County Town on a clear spring morning with rain like silk.

  Qin old man led all the villagers, young and old, to the village entrance to see him off. Everyone's expression was somewhat complicated.

  Qin Kan turned around and looked at all the villagers, his eyes slightly moist.

  Although they didn't spend much time together, Qin Kan still developed a faint attachment to Qin Zhuang. The warmth and simplicity of the villagers, young and old, moved him deeply.

  After all, it's not easy to find another haven where he can condone his thievery.

  Old man Qin tottered forward, patted Qin Kan's shoulder and said with a heavy heart: "A hundred days at home are good, but every day away from home is difficult. Since you've decided to go out, you must make something of yourself and not bring shame to the Qin family."

  Qin Kan nodded emotionally: "Thank you, Uncle and elders, for your care. I will not disappoint the expectations of my ancestors. One day, I will return home in glory and kowtow to our ancestral hall."

  Qin old man smiled with relief and then immediately put on a serious face, letting out a faint sigh: "...... Last night my family lost a chicken."

  "Cough...cough...cough..." Qin Kan had no choice but to bend over and cough.

  "That was the last rooster in the whole village that could crow..."

  "My foolish younger brother... I'm ashamed."

  "Anything else you can say besides being ashamed?"

  "I will pay you back later."

  Old Qin ordered the young people in the village to prepare a cow cart, and Qin Kan left Qin Zhuang with a swaying motion.

  At sunset, the ancient and simple city wall of Shaoxing Prefecture is in sight.

  Shaoxing Prefecture, located in Jiangnan, is a place of outstanding people and scenic beauty. At times, scholars have praised it as "the most prosperous place under heaven". The Song Dynasty poet Wei Liaoweng wrote: "In Shanyin, all the seats are occupied by men of leisure, while along the rivers of Chang'an, there are many beautiful women."

  Shaoxing Prefecture City was formed by the merger of the county towns of Kuaiji and Shanyin, with the entire city divided into two parts by a north-south river called the Prefectural River. The west bank of the river belonged to Shanyin County, while the east bank belonged to Kuaiji County.

  Qin Kan's Qin Zhuang is located in the west and belongs to Shanyin County.

  After sending away the Qin Zhuang villagers who were driving the cattle cart, Qin Kan stood alone under the city wall with a small bundle in his hand, looking up at the magnificent ancient city in front of him, and an unspeakable emotion surged in his heart.

  A young man with a modern soul enters an ancient and unfamiliar era, what will the future be like? What kind of ideals should be realized, what kind of value can be embodied to make this extraordinary encounter worthwhile for two lifetimes?

  Ambition, ideal...

  Very close, yet seemingly very far away.

  The current Qin Kan seems to have no qualifications to mention "ambition" and "ideals", because before these things, he still has to solve a more practical and urgent problem, that is survival.

  A man with only twelve taels of silver in his hands is indeed far from what is called "ideal".

  The west gate of the imperial city, people coming and going in and out like a shuttle, one by one loaded with silk brocade tea leaves porcelain vehicles mixed in the dense crowd, slowly entering and leaving the city gate. Outside the moat, large and small simple food stalls were filled with merchants and servants from all over, holding bowls and eating and drinking disorderly, yet not forgetting to take a moment to lift their heads and communicate with fellow diners about the availability of goods. The bustling and prosperous scene on both banks of the moat was a magnificent sight.

  Qin Kan carried his luggage, in the midst of the bustling crowd, like a small boat on a vast ocean, and unconsciously entered the city.

  First, we need to find a place to live. Fortunately, Qin Kan did some homework before leaving home. If you want to rent a house, you have to find a "tooth line" or "tooth son", which is now commonly known as an "intermediary". Whether buying cattle, slaves or renting a house, as long as you can afford the intermediary fee, they will satisfy your requirements. Of course, there must be a prerequisite: the customer must have legal procedures. According to the law, if you are more than 100 miles away from home and do not have any official title, you must obtain a "road pass" from the local county government before the intermediary dares to introduce you to a house. The "road pass" is commonly known as a travel permit.

  This is the rule of the Ming Dynasty, rigid and severe. Qin Kan had no choice but to obey it, without the power to change the rules of the game, he could only follow it.

  Fortunately, Qin Kan's procedures were legal, although he had no merit, but he only moved from the countryside to the county town, which was not enough to meet the "Li Ju Bai Li" condition, so he didn't need this thing.

  He reached into his bosom and felt the warmth and solidity of the twelve taels of silver, and for some reason, he gained a few points of confidence.

  Not much money, five taels of silver were used to rent a house, and the remaining seven taels were used to buy things and eat. With my modern wisdom and means, I should be able to become a millionaire before the silver runs out.

  Isn't it just about making money? Isn't it just starting from scratch?

  In my previous life, I had just graduated from university and was generally poor and pale, but later on, I still managed to have a house and a car.

  Talent shines and attracts attention wherever it goes!

  After giving himself a boost of confidence, Qin Kan stood up straight with his chest out, and even had a faint smile on his face.

  That is a smile full of confidence in life.

  On the crowded street, Qin Kan had just taken his first step when he felt himself being heavily bumped by someone. The frail him stumbled a few steps, and before he could even lament the inauspicious start of his life, he heard a shrill voice shouting behind him: "Catch the thief!"

  Qin Kan was taken aback, and his eyes saw a flustered figure rushing through the crowded streets like the wind, heading for the distance. Behind him, a woman wearing a blue long shirt with a delicate face, obviously disguised as a man, had an indignant expression on her face, carrying a momentum that seemed to sweep away the wind and thunder, chasing after him with all her might.

  Qin Kan smiled and said that the occupation of a thief has existed since ancient times, and catching thieves is also a very traditional folk activity.

  Qin Kan's reaction seems very normal in the eyes of modern people... He tactfully made way for the woman who was chasing the thief, clearing a path for her to pursue more smoothly and enjoyably.

  Can't blame Qin Kan's numbness, Qin Kan is just an ordinary person, doesn't want to cause trouble, and doesn't want to learn from Lei Feng. Especially in this unfamiliar era, there's another reason, when he was at Qin Zhuang, Qin Kan wasn't a stranger to stealing chickens and dogs, strictly speaking, he and the thief were in the same line of work, and people in the same line of work can't even cooperate, let alone harm each other.

  The thief ran very fast, and the woman chasing him also ran very fast. As she passed by Qin Kan's side, she didn't forget to glare at him with her big apricot eyes, then swept forward like a fierce gust of wind.

  Stealing and being stolen is just a small matter, there are too many such small things in life, each with its own joys and sorrows, but it has nothing to do with Qin Kan, an outsider.

  Unfortunately, Qin Kan's action of yielding to the woman had a slight flaw, and thus fate forced him to have an intersection with this small matter.

  He had originally wanted to make way, but Qin Kan's movements were a bit slow and clumsy. His body moved out of the way, but his feet didn't have time to follow, so the woman chasing after the thief ended up in a tragic situation...

  The girl only felt that her foot was tripped by something, and then her body involuntarily rose into the air, followed by a fierce lion pouncing on a rabbit... Of course, some people also call this action "a hungry dog grabbing food".

  No matter how you describe it, the posture is not good-looking, and the result is so tragic. The woman falls heavily to the ground... with her face on the ground.

  The people around let out a cry of surprise, but the woman lay motionless on the ground, and Qin Kan's heart was suddenly filled with endless guilt.

  "Hey... are you okay?"

  Qin Kan took a step forward, his face filled with anxiety and caution, as if he were feeding lions in a zoo.

  The woman remained motionless on the ground, making Qin Kan increasingly uneasy. Just as he thought of quietly slipping away, the woman suddenly let out a soft sigh with her face to the ground and slowly got up, turning around to face Qin Kan.

  It wasn't until then that Qin Kan finally saw clearly the appearance of the woman in front of him.

  Ancient people described a beauty as: "Pearls of sweat do not move, her eyebrows are frozen in concentration, the powder is gone and her true nature is revealed." The woman before me truly deserves to be called a "beauty". Her eyes are like apricot kernels, her nose is like jade, her eyebrows are like the Mountains of Tai, her lips are like red cherries, and her melon-seed-shaped face accentuates her pointed chin. She is as lovely as a poem, a pleasure to behold.

  What Qin Kan found most pleasing was the woman's height, which was around 1.7 meters, and when they stood facing each other, she was only slightly shorter than him.

  It's weird, how could ancient women have such a majestic height? It's simply against the heavens. An angelic face, a tall and slender figure, if in her past life she must have been born to be a model.

  Unfortunately, the beauty now looks a bit disheveled, her hair is messy and scattered on her forehead, her white face has two dirty stains, and even her nostrils are slowly bleeding...

  That fall just now was quite severe.

  Of course, the beauty's current expression has absolutely nothing to do with "a pleasure to behold".

  She patted the blue men's long shirt, and the woman glared at Qin Kan with a frosty face, her apricot eyes seeming to spout fire.

  "Hey, you, what about you!... Are you sick or something?"

  "I'm not sick."

  "Why bother me when I'm not ill?"

  "Man has his failures, horse has its slips..."

  The words were left unspoken as his mouth suddenly closed.

  This sentence... seems to be scolding someone, and at the same time scolded two people.

  As expected, the anger in her eyes grew even more intense.

  Feeling the teasing gaze of the onlookers, the woman bit her lower lip, her expression already turning embarrassed and angry. Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed Qin Kan's collar, roughly pulling him to a quiet alleyway with no one around, then forcefully pinned him against the wall.

  "You're really sick, can't you see I'm catching a thief?" The beautiful woman's delicate face was very close, and the anger in her eyes was also very clear.

  Qin Kan smiled wryly and sighed, "Even if I didn't help you catch the thief, you shouldn't scold me for being ill, should you? I just didn't want to get into trouble."

  The woman's angry expression suddenly became somewhat strange, staring at Qin Kan with wide eyes for a long time, as if suppressing a smile, and forcing a pretty face to say: "You're really sick, still can't figure out who helped who catch the thief..."

  Qin Kan suddenly felt a sense of foreboding in his heart.

  "What did you mean by that, young lady?"

  "Take a look at your own wallet."

  Qin Kan hastily reached into his bosom and touched something, then... cold sweat poured down, he understood everything.

  When a person suddenly becomes penniless, they always gain great insight, a very strange law.

  The woman's expression became more and more distorted, constantly giving him a cold smile, with a hint of schadenfreude in her smile.

  "Now you know what it means to harm others and ultimately harm yourself? Young master, tell me how you're feeling now..."

  Qin Kan wiped away cold sweat and said in a hoarse voice: "My mood now has only two words... catch the thief!"

  After finishing speaking, Qin Kan lifted up the hem of his long shirt and was about to chase after him, but unexpectedly he was grabbed by the sleeve by a tall beautiful woman.

  "It's all over, the thieves have escaped without a trace. Don't forget that there is still an even bigger trouble waiting for you..."

  Qin Kan was taken aback: "What trouble?"

  The beauty pointed at her own face and said: "Take a look at my face, what do you want to say?"

  "Nothing much to say except it's nice to hear and see."

  "What else?"

  Qin Kan let out a long sigh: "Also... you're injured."

  The beauty nodded: "Why am I hurt?"

  "...was tripped by me."

  The injured beauty suddenly smiled at this moment, but there was no smile in her beautiful eyes, and instead, a cold light flashed.

  "Very well, it seems that you are ill but not too seriously. Not only did you fail to act righteously, but you also hurt someone. Let's go see the official at the yamen now."