Song Country, Jiayuan City, inside a side room of the Han Family Manor.
The Transmigration individual, Han Yang dressed as a servant boy, looked at his 13-year-old self, whose body had already developed, in the bronze mirror and murmured, “Today is the day of the triennial Spiritual Root test for the Young Masters and Young Misses of the Han Family, as they depart for the Immortal Sect.
I wonder what choice the Young Miss will make today.
Will she uphold the distinction between master and servant, or will she take me along?”
“Seven years have passed in a flash, how time flies.”
Han Yang looked at the bronze mirror, his eyes somewhat dazed.
He recalled that winter when he Transmigrated, he was only six years old.
At that time, he was wrapped in a sack, suffering from hunger and cold, his body numb from the chill.
But he was fortunately picked up by the Kind-Hearted Young Miss of the Han Family, Han Xinghua, who was out playing.
With nowhere to go, he was kindly taken in and given the name Han Yang by the Family Head.
Later, because they were of similar age and he could tell unconventional stories like “thirty years to the east of the river, thirty years to the west of the river,” he was appreciated by the Young Miss of the Han Family.
And because he was good-looking, he had always stayed by the Young Miss’s side as her personal servant.
“Brother Yang, Young Miss is about to leave.
She wants you to see her off.”
A clear female voice interrupted Han Yang’s thoughts.
He straightened his clothes.
He then closed his eyes and observed a vast space within his mind.
At this moment, the scene within the space was an endless forest and grassland, with scattered Rice fields that clearly grew naturally.
There were also some common birds and animals, but more numerous were rabbits, chickens, and ducks, densely packed, making one’s scalp tingle.
Moreover, their sizes were larger than those sold in the outside market, and they appeared more energetic.
Han Yang casually flipped his hand, and a grain of rice the size of his pinkie finger appeared.
He then threw it into his mouth and crunched on it, eating it.
The taste was sweet like fruit, with a special clear fragrance.
“With this treasure in hand, if I only have a Spiritual Root, how could I not cultivate to immortality?
Now, I only lack Cultivation Technique and Legacy.”
Han Yang carefully straightened his clothes again, exited the side room, glanced at the maid waiting at the door, nodded, and headed towards the Young Miss’s side room.
The maid watched Han Yang’s retreating figure, her eyes darting around.
She thought to herself, Han Yang held a considerable position in the manor.
If only she could be paired with Han Yang, how wonderful that would be.
Should she wait two years and find an opportunity to speak to the Young Miss?
In less than a moment, Han Yang arrived at the entrance of the Young Miss’s side room.
At this moment, Han Xinghua dressed in a purple silk woven long dress, was already standing at the door accompanied by maids, looking at Han Yang with complex eyes.
Seeing Han Xinghua’s expression, Han Yang had already guessed seven or eight parts of it, but his face still carried the same gentle smile as usual, without the slightest hint of abnormality.
The two looked at each other for a while, then Han Xinghua spoke with a somewhat low tone.
“I will be away for a month.
This is what I’ve left for you.
Open it after I’m gone.”
Han Yang smiled as he took the small box made of red sandalwood that Han Xinghua personally handed to him.
Then Han Xinghua stepped towards the manor gate, and the two walked together in silence until they reached the front courtyard of the Han Manor.
At this moment, the main gate of the Han Family’s Manor was wide open.
On both sides of the entrance stood about 30 upright and sharp-eyed guards, each with a long sword hanging from their waist, standing in neat formation.
They were clearly all skilled in martial arts.
Through the gate, one could see rows of carriages outside, indicating that the owners of the Han Family Manor were about to embark on a long journey.
After a short while, the current Family Head of the Han Family, Han Haiyan, was seen approaching the gate from the backyard.
He looked at the dozens of people in the courtyard, among whom were about 10 children aged thirteen or fourteen.
Judging by their clothing, which was made of fine silk, they were clearly the Young Masters and Young Misses of the Han Family.
There were also seven or eight beautiful women, who appeared to be Family Head Han Haiyan’s wives and concubines.
The rest were dressed as house servants and slaves.
At this moment, the Han Family Head walked to the entrance, turned, and spoke to the group of Young Masters and Young Misses with a calm expression.
“You will return after one month on this trip.
Bid farewell to your mothers.”
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Family Head Han Haiyan looked at the weeping crowd and said impatiently,
“Alright, time is almost up.
We should depart.”
“Depart!”
At this time, Han Haiyan’s wives and concubines became even more reluctant upon hearing this.
The Young Miss Han Xinghua hugged her mother tightly, said a few words, then turned towards the carriage.
But midway, her steps paused as she looked at Han Yang.
Han Yang watched Han Xinghua, whose eyes flickered with hesitation and struggle, as if she wanted to say something, and whose lips trembled a few times.
His heart grew even more complex.
But in the end, the Young Miss Han Xinghua said nothing sighed, and walked towards the carriage without looking back.
Han Yang watched the departing beauty and muttered to himself,
“Ultimately, there is a distinction between master and servant!”
After everyone had left, the head steward of the Han Family, Han Da waved his hand and said,
“Close the gate.
You all, go about your duties.”
“Oh, and the Master just instructed that no one is allowed to leave the manor these few days!”
“Otherwise, death without mercy!”
Under the stern command of Steward Han Da, the remaining servants dispersed, their heads bowed.
Han Yang looked at the closed manor gate, shook his head slightly, and unhurriedly walked towards his own side room.
He took out the sandalwood box that the Young Miss had given him from his embrace.
Opening it, the uppermost item was a letter.
Han Yang unfolded the letter and looked at the delicate handwriting on it, knowing at a glance that it was Han Xinghua’s personal letter.
The Letter Read:
(Brother Yang, seven years have passed in a blink of an eye.
I don’t know when it was, but I haven’t called you that anymore, perhaps when I was 10, or perhaps 11)
(Father and Mother said that there is a distinction between master and servant, that I have grown up and am no longer a child, and told me to keep my distance from you.
At that time, I didn’t quite understand.
I only felt that you were the best brother I had ever met)
(Because as long as you were by my side, every day of mine was very happy)
(I have copied down all the stories you used to tell.
I will cherish them for a lifetime.)
(The stories you told, at first I didn’t quite understand them, only found them interesting, but later I understood.)
(It’s just that everything in this Wang Family, including the path I am to take in the future, is not up to me)
(All Xinghua can do is help you remove your servant status, and this ten thousand taels of silver should allow Brother Yang to live the life of a small landlord)
(Brother Yang, please leave Jiayuan City.
Whether Xinghua returns or not, let us never meet again)
(Take care, your Sister Xinghua.)
After reading the letter, Han Yang took a deep breath, rubbed his somewhat moist eyes, and carefully refolded the letter that seemed to have been soaked in water.
Then he looked at the other items in the box.
The second item was a Phoenix-shaped jade pendant, which Han Xinghua had worn close to her body for many years.
Below that was an official document with a government seal.
With this document, he would be a free man.
Finally, there was a thick stack of silver notes.
After casually flipping through them, he carefully put all the items back into the sandalwood box and put it away.
Han Yang was silent for a moment, then a smile touched the corner of his lips, and he strode out of the side room.
He closed his eyes and listened for a while, making sure no one was around, then took out a wooden whistle from his collar and blew it.
Soon after the whistle sounded, a small black dot appeared in the sky, rapidly approaching the courtyard.
Han Yang extended an arm and in an instant, the small dot in the sky was close at hand landing on his forearm.
What met his eyes was a black falcon, slightly larger than a pigeon, but its body was much more streamlined than a pigeon’s, and its gaze was sharp.
It was clearly a small bird of prey.
Han Yang took out a pellet, made of who-knows-what, from his pocket and put it into the falcon’s mouth, then affectionately stroked the bird’s head and said,
“Xiao Hei, I’ve raised you from a young age.
It’s time for you to do something important.”
“If you dare to slack off halfway on this task, then you can wait to be my snack.”
The falcon named Xiao Hei, whether it understood or it was a coincidence, turned its head to stare at Han Yang, and flapped its wings twice.
“Xiao Hei, go follow the Young Miss don’t fly too low and let people discover you!”
As soon as Han Yang finished speaking, Xiao Hei shot out like an arrow from a bowstring, circling once in the sky as if it had found the Young Miss’s carriage procession, then folded its wings and followed.
Xiao Hei kept circling and gliding in a patch of sky, neither too high nor too low, out of reach of arrows, yet still visible to him.
“After so much training, it’s getting more and more useful.
Not bad, not bad.”
Han Yang looked on with satisfaction, then returned to the side room, quickly changed out of his servant’s attire into the prepared hemp clothes, and then turned to look at the courtyard.
“I arrived wrapped in a sack, and I leave dressed in hemp clothes.”
“Leaving the manor today, in the future, will I be human or immortal?”
A quick heads-up on names: The protagonist starts the story as Han Yang.
Since servants and slaves are considered property of their respective families, they are legally required to bear their master’s surname.
He will shed the “Han” name and become Gu Yang once he leaves his servant life behind.
Furthermore, his golden finger/cheat will be fully introduced when he starts cultivating!