The Great Song Dynasty's Soul-Forging in Progress

Lu Sanjun's fat trembled, and his pupils shrank to pinpoints—this was hardly the wasteful son he seemed; he was clearly a hedgehog in danger!

"This child's brain has been damaged by the flood; how can he talk such nonsense! Everyone knows that Master Lü has no sons!"

The onlookers dared only to scream in their hearts but not to speak, and even the cicadas in the trees forgot to chirp.

Wang Zhonghua's words were like a red-hot iron rod, suddenly stabbing into the softest, most shameful part of Lü Sanjun's heart.

"You... what nonsense are you talking about!" Lu Sanjun's wrist was still being held by Wang Zhonghua. He tried to pull away, but couldn't.

The boy's fingers were frighteningly cold, but his eyes were clear and bright, piercing straight into his heart.

The onlookers didn't dare to breathe loudly: "Silly boy, have you drunk too much water and gone mad? How dare you joke with Master Lü like that? You know, last year a fortune teller predicted that Master Lü would have no children, but he was chased for three miles by the Lü family's vicious dogs!"

You silly boy, you just escaped death and you're already trying to kill yourself again?!

Even the wind in Laomentan seemed to have stopped, only the river water continued to flow recklessly.

quiet!

You could hear a pin drop!

No, in the silence, you could still clearly hear Lü Sanjun's heavy breathing!

Wang Zhonghua let go, his body swayed, and he only managed to stay upright thanks to the support of Qin Tiedan and Qin Tiehua.

His face was as white as the fine sand on a riverbank, but his words grew heavier with each utterance: "Don't believe me... try me! How do you know... whether what I'm saying is true or false? Sir... saving me was fate. My repaying your kindness is also fate. Your household... has four wives and six daughters, yet not a single son. Over the years, you've accumulated countless good deeds, repairing bridges and roads, yet people have mistakenly spread rumors that you're a spendthrift. What you've been seeking... isn't it just an heir to carry on your family line?"

Saying "Try it if you don't believe me!" always seems to give Wang Zhonghua some confidence.

Lu Sanjun's fat face twitched, as if someone had pricked his fingernail with a needle. He, Lu Sanjun, had a genius mind for business but no ability to manage a "family"—his household was in turmoil, his wives and concubines fought over him, and he had no son. In order to accumulate good karma, he built bridges and roads and helped the poor, but he was cursed as a "spendthrift" by malicious people. He was simply a joke that everyone knew.

This was the first time he had ever been exposed in public by a poor, half-dead boy. He stared at Wang Zhonghua with complicated emotions, as if seeing the boy's appearance clearly for the first time—he was still wearing those tattered clothes, but the person inside seemed to have a different spirit and energy.

"You..." Lu Sanjun lowered his voice, almost squeezing it out between clenched teeth, "You little brat, how did you know?"

Wang Zhonghua didn't answer directly. He only looked up at the sky and then at Lü Sanjun's face. His voice was weak but clear: "Sir, your broad forehead and thick nose are auspicious signs. However, the bridge of your nose is thin and weak, indicating difficulty in having children. Moreover, the vertical line between your eyebrows is like a knife cutting through your forehead... This is a sign of separation from your family and your bloodline being outside the family."

He paused, then softly uttered the last sentence, "That child... has a cinnabar birthmark behind his left ear, just like the wealthy man."

"boom--!!!"

Lu Sanjun felt as if a thunderclap had exploded in his mind again, making his vision go black. He stumbled back two steps and was helped back to his feet by a servant. He stared intently at Wang Zhonghua, his chest heaving violently. His plump face showed a mixture of surprise, elation, and fear... a whole range of emotions.

He kept this a secret for sixteen years! Even his most beloved fourth wife, Mi Xiaofen, didn't know!

Sixteen years ago, in a drunken stupor, he forcibly took a maidservant as his own. The maid was later sent away by the First Madam on some pretext, and never heard from again. He considered it a tragic fate and forgot all about it. Until three years ago, a wandering Taoist priest read his face and said he was destined to have a son who would wander far from home, and that he had a cinnabar mark behind his left ear… Only then did he begin a frantic search, but in the vast sea of ​​people, where could he possibly find him?

This secret, this secret that even his bedmate doesn't know, this "cinnabar mole" that the old Taoist priest mentioned... how did this poor boy who was just pulled out of the river know about it?!

When Lü Sanjun looked at Wang Zhonghua again, his eyes had completely changed. He was no longer looking at a simpleton from a tenant farmer's family, but rather at a clay statue of a god in a temple, with a hint of awe, and a mixture of disbelief and burning hope.

"You..." His throat was dry, "You really... can help me find it?"

Wang Zhonghua neither nodded nor shook his head. He glanced at his tattered clothes and Qin Tiehua, whose eyes were red from crying beside him, and said in a low voice, "This young man needs one hundred taels of silver." (To add, some netizens have asked whether "guan" or "liang" is used for silver. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the monetary system was complex, and both "guan" and "liang" were used, but in different contexts. Wang Zhonghua had just transmigrated and was used to "liang" because that era was based on the copper standard, and gold and silver were scarce. Ordinary people used "guan" for daily use, while wealthy people like Lü Sanjun used "liang." Large-scale border trade used "silver," and small daily expenses used "qian" or "wen.")

……

Wang Zhonghua stumbled along the way back to Wangjiagang.

Qin Tiedan and Qin Tiehua supported him, barely speaking the whole way. Qin Tiedan, strong from blacksmithing, and Wang Zhonghua were childhood friends, practically inseparable, having grown up together. Wang Zhonghua had risked his life to save him, and he kept this gratitude to himself, only silently tightening his grip on Wang Zhonghua's hand: "Brother, be careful if you run into that bully Qiu Laohu in the future!"

Wang Zhonghua's words became increasingly fluent, and he gave him a reassuring look: "Qiu Laohu, humph, he owes us a life. Just try it, he'll have to pay us back sooner or later!"

Qin Tiehua looked at Brother Zhonghua in front of her. His words and actions were strange yet confident, and his eyes gave her a strange sense of peace.

"Brother Zhonghua," she finally couldn't help but ask in a low voice as they approached the village entrance, "What you just told Master Lü... is it true? You really can read faces? Don't lie to me, he saved your life."

Wang Zhonghua twitched the corner of his mouth but did not answer.

He reached out, intending to flick Qin Tiehua's nose, but after glancing at Qin Tiedan, he lowered his hand.

Face reading? He's just a local chronicler; he wouldn't know anything like that. It was only before he transmigrated that, while researching the county chronicles of the Lü family for a novel, he'd found scattered records of this wealthy Lü finding his illegitimate son in his later years, and even specifically mentioned that the child had a mole behind his ear. Just now, in that life-or-death moment, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he took a gamble.

It seems the gamble paid off.

As the three walked and talked, Wang Zhonghua gained a preliminary understanding of this world: although this was the countryside of Chenzhou, the street scene was bustling and familiar, as if the Qingming Riverside Garden in Kaifeng had come to life: the joyful songs of the brothels and theaters could be faintly heard, wine flags fluttered in the breeze, and the shouts of peddlers and laborers were mixed with the aroma of spices, steamed buns and charcoal.

The sky was exceptionally blue, and the water exceptionally clear; it could be described as spotless—it's so good to have no environmental pollution!

After parting ways with Qin Tiehua and Qin Tiedan, the siblings, Wang Zhonghua slowly walked home.

The village was quiet, with earthen walls and thatched eaves, and not a sound from chickens or dogs, except for the cawing of cicadas in the old elm tree. As he approached his own crooked wooden door, a little girl in a patched floral shirt, like a startled rabbit, darted out from the crack in the door, grabbed him, and her eyes shone brightly, but all that light was on the cloth bag in Wang Zhonghua's hand.

It was my younger sister, Wang Xiangjun, who was only twelve years old. Due to malnutrition, she was so thin that all that was left on her face were her big eyes, and her hair was yellow like a pile of withered grass.

In my past life I was all alone, but in this life I have both parents and a younger sister.

Having a girlfriend is a blessing for life; God has been so kind to me!

"elder brother!"

The little girl, whose voice was urgent and trembling with tears, cried out, "Why are you covered in mud and dirt? Did you come back from selling firewood in Longsheng Street? Mother... Mother is so worried! We're out of rice at home, and Father went to the river to catch fish, but he hasn't come back yet..."

Wang Zhonghua's heart sank as he pushed open the creaking wooden door.