Ch 6: The Regent’s Farmer Husband

Jiang Ji shot upright in bed.

His follower count had jumped to over twenty thousand overnight!
It seemed proving last night that there was no hidden camera really worked.

They had all been doubting whether he was acting, and honestly, Jiang Ji understood. If he hadn’t experienced it himself, he’d think it was fake too.

Even though he had “magically produced” items through the system, many people hadn’t seen it happen live. Some still suspected it was sleight of hand—after all, magicians could make things appear out of thin air too.

But now, one step at a time, he was making them believe this was all real. With such a bizarre, unbelievable setup, his livestream was bound to explode in popularity sooner or later!

【Huh? The streamer’s already online this early?】
【Morning, streamer!】
【I’m on my way to work—didn’t expect you up so early, it’s only six o’clock!】

“Good morning, everyone.”

Jiang Ji greeted softly, seeing fifty-some people trickle into the chat.
Probably all wage slaves heading to work early.

He’d gone to bed early the night before, and since the body’s original owner had long been used to farm labor, it had a solid routine—early to bed, early to rise.

Outside, dawn was just breaking. Since he couldn’t go back to sleep, he got dressed quietly.

He shared a bed with Jiang Nan and Jiang Bei; the two kids were still sound asleep. Jiang Ji gently pulled the blanket back over Jiang Bei, who’d kicked it off. Jiang Nan had rolled sideways and exposed his shoulder, so Jiang Ji straightened him out and covered him again to keep him from catching a chill.

The main room door was ajar. When Jiang Ji stepped into the courtyard, the faint smell of herbal medicine drifted out from the kitchen.

He went inside and saw Zhao Ru crouched by the stove, tending the fire—cooking wild vegetable porridge while also boiling his medicine.

“Mother, you’re up so early.”

“You’re awake?” Zhao Ru stirred the porridge to keep it from sticking. “You’re heading out today, so I started early. Once breakfast and your medicine are ready, you can eat, drink up, and go.”

Jiang Ji didn’t reply at once. The porridge was almost done—it meant she’d been up for a while already.

The light in the kitchen was dim, but the fire under the stove glowed warmly, lighting up Zhao Ru’s thin, gentle face.

Jiang Ji’s nose stung a little. For a moment, it felt like he was seeing his mother again. Back when he was a student, he always wanted to sleep in, and his mom would patiently but firmly wake him up and send him off to school.

“Xiao Ji, why are you just standing there? Go wash up. There’s hot water in the pot. I’ll cool your porridge and medicine. Eat, then head out—you can’t be late for your first day helping that household.”

Her voice pulled him back to the present. He sniffed lightly and nodded. “Alright.”

They didn’t have toothbrushes—people here brushed using willow twigs.

Jiang Ji took a piece from the water, studied it for a moment, then bit one end to split it open and peeled away a bit of bark to expose the fibers.

【Is that… a toothbrush?】
【Yeah, I think so. In ancient times they used branches to brush their teeth.】
【It is—he used it last night too.】
【Didn’t he say viewers can earn him points? Why doesn’t he just redeem a toothbrush?】
【You must’ve missed the replay. The household goods tab’s still locked. Needs 100k total viewers first.】
【Ah, that makes sense. I watched part of the replay last night but fell asleep before he got home.】

After brushing and washing up, Jiang Ji sat at the small table for breakfast.

Jiang Xia was already awake too. She’d washed up, skipped breakfast, and was preparing to carry two wooden buckets to fetch water.

Jiang Ji blinked—right, the original him used to do that every morning. Since he had to go out today, the little girl was taking over without complaint.

He remembered how heavy those buckets were, even empty. With water, they were much worse.

Watching her small, slender figure, he called out, “Xia’er, wait till I get back—I’ll fetch it.”

“No need, brother, I’m strong enough.” She smiled and walked off before he could stop her.

Jiang Ji opened his mouth but didn’t speak. He could only sigh inwardly. The little girl was far too sensible.

Not just Jiang Xia—the twins, Jiang Nan and Jiang Bei, were the same. They never complained even when eating coarse bran cakes or wild greens every day.

He thought of his cousin’s son, who was a bit older than Jiang Nan and Jiang Bei, but still needed a nanny to chase him around with a spoon—and would throw tantrums if the food didn’t taste right.

Then it hit him—he used to be just like that as a kid, fussy and spoiled.

Jiang Ji: …

A little embarrassed, he sighed again.

This morning’s porridge was wild vegetable porridge cooked with a bit of rice, seasoned with salt, and even dotted with a few chunks of meat.

Jiang Ji had two small bowls. Then Zhao Ru brought him the bowl of herbal medicine, now cooled to a warm temperature.

“You were supposed to drink it later, but since you’re leaving soon, might as well take it now.”

It was his third dose, and he still couldn’t stand the taste. But by now he’d learned one thing about herbal medicine—you had to down it in one gulp. Sipping it bit by bit only made the suffering worse.

He frowned and downed the medicine in one gulp.

Once he finished, it was time to head out. Jiang Ji really didn’t want to leave so early, but since he’d claimed yesterday that the rich man’s estate was far away, he had no choice but to set off at dawn.

Zhao Ru walked him to the gate and said with concern, “If your head starts hurting, tell the steward to let you rest a bit.”

“Alright.”

“Oh, Xiao Ji’s going out so early?”

Just as he was about to leave, Aunt Xiufang passed by with her husband, Uncle Tugeng.

Uncle Tugeng was carrying two baskets full of vegetables—radishes, Chinese cabbage shoots, and some chives—clearly on his way to town to sell them.

“Morning, Uncle, Aunt,” Jiang Ji greeted.

Zhao Ru explained, “A wealthy household’s holding a banquet, and they’re short-handed. Xiao Ji’s going to help out.”

“Didn’t he hit his head yesterday? And you’re still letting him work?” Aunt Xiufang asked.

“It’s nothing serious,” Jiang Ji replied quickly. “I already promised them.”

“Alright then, just be careful.” Aunt Xiufang reached into one of the baskets and pulled out a handful of cabbage shoots and a radish, handing them to Zhao Ru. “I just picked these this morning—the weather’s warmer, and the shoots are growing well. Take some.”

Aunt Xiufang was Zhao Ru’s childhood friend from the same village. They’d both married into this one, and after Jiang Ji’s father passed away, Zhao Ru had been struggling to raise her children alone. Though Aunt Xiufang’s family wasn’t well-off either, she still tried to help whenever she could.

Zhao Ru hurriedly pushed the vegetables back. “Xiufang, I can’t take these. Isn’t Dazhu starting school soon? You’ll need money for the entrance fees and to buy brushes and ink. You should sell them.”

Aunt Xiufang stuffed the vegetables right into her arms, glaring at her. “What’s there to fuss about? These aren’t even worth a few coins—don’t be polite with me.”

Up ahead, Uncle Tugeng called impatiently, “You done chatting? Let’s go!”

According to the original owner’s memories, Uncle Tugeng and Jiang Ji’s late father had been enemies in their youth. They’d even fought once and had avoided each other ever since.

After Jiang Ji’s father passed away, Aunt Xiufang had occasionally helped the family out, though Uncle Tugeng always grumbled about it. Still, he never actually stopped her or took anything back.

A knife mouth, but a tofu heart.

“Coming! Hold your horses!” Aunt Xiufang shouted back before turning to Zhao Ru. “We’ll get going then.”

Zhao Ru hugged the vegetables. “Alright, thank you, Xiufang.”

“Don’t mention it. See you later.”

Bickering as they went, the couple soon disappeared down the road. Jiang Ji watched them go, then turned to wave at his mother and headed toward the edge of the village.

At the village entrance, he spoke to his viewers. “I said yesterday we’d head right today, so that’s the way I’m going.”

“Oh, right—guys, I checked this morning and saw my followers shot up to twenty thousand! What happened? Did I get boosted or something?”

There were already more than two hundred viewers online, many familiar names among them.

【When you logged off last night it was only nine-thirty—prime time traffic. People started sharing your video everywhere after you ended the stream.】
【Yeah, since replays can only be watched after you log off, a ton of people went to watch the recording. It’s blowing up.】

“My replay’s trending? Why don’t I see that data in my dashboard?” Jiang Ji asked the system, “2977, doesn’t the replay view count count toward my numbers?”

【The system only calculates data from live sessions.】

“…You’re stingy as hell,” Jiang Ji muttered. “That’s still my work bringing them in—how can it not count?”

【The system only calculates data from live sessions.】

Jiang Ji: “…”

【Haha, your system’s really by the book.】
【Don’t worry—with your growth speed, you’ll hit 100k soon enough.】

Chatting with the viewers as he walked, Jiang Ji continued exploring. Just like yesterday, he took random turns based on audience votes, doubling back whenever he hit dead ends.

When he got tired, he rested by the roadside; when thirsty, he stopped by a farmer’s home to ask for water.

“I’m really giving it my all today, guys—an all-day tour just for you.”

He knew perfectly well: once everyone truly believed he was in ancient times, hitting a million viewers would be a matter of time.

By noon, after all the zigzags, he’d wandered far.

Starving, he stopped at a village, redeemed two catties of rice and one of peanuts from his system rewards, and traded them with a local family for lunch.

By then, his livestream had over fifteen thousand concurrent viewers.

After eating and resting, he set out again.

Passing another village, he spotted a tall mountain and suddenly had an idea. “Guys, standing high means seeing far, right? How about I climb up there—maybe we’ll spot some modern buildings in the distance?”

【Yes! Do it!】
【Climb it!】
【Should’ve done that earlier!】

He asked a villager for directions and began climbing.

It was all narrow paths, steep and uneven. After about an hour and a half of hard climbing, he finally reached the summit.

It was the tallest mountain around, with a sweeping view of the landscape.

Jiang Ji slowly turned in a full circle, letting viewers see what he saw: rolling mountains, winding rivers, scattered villages along the banks, vast patchworks of farmland crisscrossed with paths—

—but not a single skyscraper, no steel bridges, no cars, no trace of modern civilization.

【What a primitive view…】
【Yeah, if this were a film set, there’d be signs of the city nearby.】
【Oh my god, it’s real.】
【Dude, you’re actually in ancient times.】

“See? I wasn’t lying. No film studios here—this is really ancient times.”

After resting at the peak for a bit, Jiang Ji stood up. “That’s it for today’s exploration. It’s getting late—I need to head back.”

“I’ve kinda lost track of where home is, but whatever—let’s find the main road first. That should lead us closest to home.”

Once he descended, Jiang Ji asked a passerby for directions, confirmed where the main road was, and walked another hour before finally reaching it.

The sky was growing dark.

He asked another passerby for directions and finally found the road leading back toward his town—only to realize he’d ended up on the opposite side of it.

From there, it wasn’t too far. After half an hour of walking, he reached the outskirts of town. But there was no time to take his viewers on a tour; he had to hurry out the opposite gate before they closed it for the night.

By the time he stepped outside the city walls, night had completely fallen. Luckily, the weather was clear, and the moon hung bright and silvery in the sky, spilling light like water—enough to make out the path ahead.

There wasn’t another soul on the road. It was just him.

“Good thing I’ve got you guys with me,” Jiang Ji muttered, “otherwise walking alone this late would be creepy as hell.”

【Out in the wilderness at night? I’d be scared too】
【Hurry up—nights weren’t safe in ancient times】

Jiang Ji trudged through the dark for another hour before turning onto the familiar village path. Another half hour’s walk and he’d pass two small villages before reaching home.

“Man, this is even later than yesterday. I’m beat.”

Before heading home, he ducked into a small grove to relieve himself. As he came back out, something suddenly caught his foot—and he went sprawling to the ground.

“Damn it!”

But… there was no pain. He pushed himself up and realized whatever he’d tripped over wasn’t a log or a rock—it was a person.

“What the—? Who’s there?”

His heart jumped. Out here, in the dark woods, that was enough to scare anyone to death.

The figure didn’t move. Jiang Ji nudged the person’s leg with his foot. “Hey! You—wake up!”

Still no response.

【Oh crap, what if it’s a dead body?】
【Don’t scare him like that!】
【This is ancient times—murder victims just get dumped in the woods back then】

The system’s livestream interface was still open, and Jiang Ji saw the scrolling comments. His chest tightened.

No way… could it really be a corpse?

The grove was pitch-black; he couldn’t see the person’s face.

Swallowing hard, he crouched down and reached out, feeling under the person’s nose.

“There’s breath,” he said in relief, exhaling sharply. He patted the person’s shoulder. “Hey, come on, wake up!”

His hand came away sticky. He brought it close to his nose—blood.

“Crap, you’re injured?”

No wonder they weren’t moving. Jiang Ji quickly hoisted the limp figure onto his back and hurried out of the grove, heading home as fast as he could.

🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾