Chapter One: The Ma Family of Gaocheng

In the past, life was very hard. People were content as long as they had enough to eat and wore warm clothes. Therefore, having a granary stocked full of grain was of utmost importance to every household.

Every autumn, when it was time to harvest the wheat, families would hire itinerant grain harvesters to help gather the crop before the harsh winter arrived. After harvesting, the wheat would be dried under a few days of good weather before being stored in the granary.

Because the time was tight and these harvesters worked for many families, having a threshing machine was absolutely indispensable for people in the surrounding villages.

---

Gaocheng is a small town located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, known for its beautiful environment and pleasant climate.

The land here is fertile and well-suited for agriculture; rice is planted in spring and wheat in autumn, making it a place abundant in produce.

Huixiang is a small village under Gaocheng, surrounded by rivers with excellent soil quality. Each household in Huixiang owns several dozen acres of farmland.

Every harvest season, the villagers of Huixiang would be overwhelmed with busy activity, rushing to collect the wheat from the fields.

Gathering the wheat was solved by hiring more harvesters, but once the wheat was brought home, it needed to be processed quickly.

At this time, families without threshing machines would envy those who had them.

Owning a threshing machine meant being able to quickly separate the wheat grains from the stalks. After drying in the sun for a few days, the grain could be safely stored in the granary.

In fact, threshing machines became a necessity for every household. Since there were no machines in those days, skilled carpenters were highly sought after.

---

The Ma family was the most famous carpenter clan in Huixiang.

The Ma family was well-known not only in Huixiang but throughout Gaocheng. There were even rumors that during the imperial era, the Ma family had once done work for the esteemed Lei family in the capital’s palace, receiving imperial favor.

It was well known that the Lei family was a renowned dynasty of palace architects, so to have worked for them was proof of the Ma family’s exceptional craftsmanship.

Ma Jianguo was the current head of the Ma family in Huixiang.

His craftsmanship was superb. Families from the neighboring villages would come to him when they needed to make items like Eight Immortals tables, benches, cabinets, and so forth.

---

Among all the items made by the Ma family, the best were the threshing machines used during the autumn harvest. Their machines were lightweight, convenient, and far superior to those made by other carpenters.

What made them even more popular was that Ma Jianguo did not sell these threshing machines outright; instead, he rented them out at a modest fee of just one qian per day.

This was a tradition passed down through the family.

For farmers who lived off the land, renting a threshing machine was much easier than purchasing one.

The Ma family’s rental business was built entirely on trust. Renters had to return the machines in good condition before settling the payment.

Ma Jianguo never worried that someone would run off without paying or keep the machine.

He believed that integrity was paramount, and the Ma family’s reputation was built on their honesty.

---

Because of this impeccable trustworthiness, the Ma family of Huixiang was often called the Ma family of Gaocheng. Their business thrived generation after generation, thanks to their fair dealings and willingness to help their neighbors.

Ma Jianguo had only one son named Ma Yuan. By ordinary standards, being born into such a prosperous family in Huixiang should have made Ma Yuan envied by many.

However, from the moment he became aware, Ma Yuan was not happy.

Many of his childhood friends, arranged by their parents, had already gone to school in Gaocheng and were exposed to many new things.

Whenever they returned from the city, they would boast to Ma Yuan, which made him feel very uneasy.

---

But Ma Jianguo did not approve of schooling. He believed that Ma Yuan should focus on mastering carpentry to inherit the family’s legacy.

Ma Yuan, however, disliked carpentry intensely—not just the craft itself but also his father’s plans for his life.

Over the years, Ma Yuan had barely learned any carpentry skills; whatever little he knew was forced upon him under his father’s watchful eye.

He longed for the world beyond Gaocheng and had no desire to spend his entire life buried in a small village like Huixiang.

As a result, he often sought to befriend those who had ventured beyond, conversing with them to learn more about the outside world.

In Huixiang, the one person who fit this description was Huo Dashan.

---

Huo Dashan was about a decade older than Ma Yuan. In his youth, he had wandered far and wide but returned only after his father passed away to take over the family’s few acres of land.

Ma Yuan enjoyed talking with Huo Dashan. Although Huo had left long ago, the stories and knowledge he shared about the city were like a heavenly scripture to Ma Yuan, who listened intently every time.

One day, taking advantage of the time when Ma Jianguo went to the forest to gather timber, Ma Yuan slipped out to meet Huo Dashan in the reed marshes.

The reed marshes were a distinctive feature of Huixiang. Endless stretches of reeds swayed with the wind, creating a crisp, melodious rustling sound.

Ma Yuan knew that every day at this time, Huo Dashan would come to the marshes to watch the sunset.

Whenever they watched the sunset together, Ma Yuan felt as if Huo Dashan were a celestial being bathed in the radiant afterglow, looking magnificent.

Though he did not understand why Huo Dashan came every day to watch the sunset, Ma Yuan simply enjoyed the peaceful feeling of sitting quietly amid the reeds, the breeze gently caressing his face.

---

“Uncle Dashan,” Ma Yuan called as he spotted Huo Dashan sitting on the ridge by the marsh.

“Hey, Ma Yuan, come over here,” Huo Dashan waved, inviting him to sit beside him.

“Uncle Dashan, what story will you tell me today?” Ma Yuan loved sitting with Huo Dashan until nightfall—not only because of the beautiful sunset and the warm breeze but also because Huo Dashan always had tales of the city to share.

Even if some stories were repeated many times, Ma Yuan would always plead for one more.

“Alright, just in time. The village is about to harvest wheat soon. Today, I’ll tell you about what people in the city eat. They don’t eat rice every day like us; they eat something called bread. Now, what exactly is bread...”

At that moment, the sunset painted the sky red as if it were aflame, the clouds glowing brilliantly against the cool evening breeze.

The shadows of the two figures, one tall and one small, stretched longer and longer across the horizon.