[Cozy Fantasy] [Farming LitRPG] The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm

Chapter 130 - Chai-sing a tea-rific origin story

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The last time I went out, I was supposed to go to Hongzhen, but my bodyguard had to attend to some emergency, so I went straight home.

I asked my apprentices if they wanted to go shopping with me, promising them some new silk robes from the clothing store in Hongzhen town, but, weirdly enough, they all refused with blank expressions on their faces.

Perhaps they were still mad that we only got ninth place in the Mid-Autumn Farming Contest? I tried to explain that I was going to spend some money in town to raise my favorability with the locals, but they still weren’t interested.

Thus, I went off alone on the flying carriage which had recently been upgraded to include a small window that I could look out from and a device that functioned like an intercom that I could use to communicate with the driver. As usual, Shuye sent a bodyguard-companion along with the driver.

“Okay, now please turn to the west and the town should be right there,” I said through the intercom. The driver said he was unfamiliar with the town’s location, which wasn’t a problem since I had the System map. I looked down to see paddy fields and scattered farms turning into clusters of houses then to small villages, and, finally, we flew past a small walled town. “Excuse me, you flew past it. Can you turn back and land the carriage please?”

“I don’t see it, Lady Violet,” said the driver.

“You can land a little bit east of here,” I said.

After a bit of wrangling, we managed to successfully bring the vehicle down in reasonably close proximity to the town. Once I alighted from the carriage, however, I was very surprised when my designated companion said she wasn’t going with me.

“I’ll stay here,” she said.

“Okay.” I tried to give her and the driver a packed lunch and a bottle of water, but they refused the items. “I’ll be back after lunch!”

Shrugging at the strangeness of a bodyguard who wanted to stay with the carriage, I walked to the town gates which were wide open. There weren’t even any guards.

Hongzhen was nestled between rolling hills to the north and south, with open farmland east of it and a river to the west. Within the confines of its walls, the wooden houses stood shoulder to shoulder, most of them single-storey. Though they were architecturally alike, with gracefully curved tiled roofs with upswept eaves, each house bore a unique touch of character and individuality such as colorful door carvings, distinctive planters, or colorful lanterns.

The narrow streets winding through the town were paved with well-trodden cobblestones, worn smooth by the countless footsteps of residents and visitors alike. I made my way north to the town square via the main street that was lined with scholar trees.

The last time I had been here, the town square had been full of stalls since it was a festival. Today, it was full of people strolling around or bustling about their business. The only stalls set up were selling tea, with a dozen chairs in front of them where customers sipped tea, played board games, or chatted with each other.

My first stop was the bookstore, a small two-storey building filled with floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked with scrolls and books. The wizened old man in charge of the place seemed pleased to see me and recommended some popular fiction and gossip books. I handed over a third of the cash I had and went my merry way.

My second target for the day was the clothing shop. The proprietor was a young lady with bright orange hair done up in a towering beehive decorated with flower hairpins whose tassels swayed as she moved. Her shop had a lot of ready-to-wear clothes, which I thought was quite surprising since I thought ancient people mostly bought cloth that they made into robes themselves. I bought three of the most expensive sets, which made the owner’s smile widen.

Lastly, I walked over to the temple, which was a triple-gabled pagoda with walls and blue roof tiles. The only person there was a bored teenager in wrinkled and dusty priestess robes. I left a small pouch of silver coins as an offering.

Mission accomplished! This should be enough for the spring season. I’d return during summer for another round of spreading money around.

I was almost at the gate when the Mayor, an apple-cheeked man with a bushy beard, along with the book and clothes shop owners, approached me.

“Ah, Baroness Violet! We’ve been waiting for you,” said the Mayor. “Please come and have tea with us.”

A glowing yellow question mark appeared on top of his head, and a System Message popped up.

[New Quest Available: Discover Your Origins

Have tea with the Mayor

Reward: Farming Exp]

What? My origins? Was it information about how I came to this world from Earth? I mentally clicked on the [Accept Quest].

“Tea? I’d love to,” I said.

The three of them led me back to the town square where we sat down at a small round table. The tea stall waiter took our orders and returned with a fresh pot of jasmine tea and two plates of bite-sized dumplings, buns, and spring rolls. We spent the next few minutes simply drinking tea and eating the dim sum while exchanging polite small talk about the weather and tea. Once the pot of tea was finished, the Mayor cleared his throat and exchanged meaningful glances with the other two.

“Lady Violet, I’m sure you’re wondering what this is about. Let me ask you a question. Have you noticed anything strange about this town?” asked the Mayor.

“No, not really,” I said. “I’m new to the Westerlands in general and as for Hongzhen, well, it seems like a nice place…”

The Mayor smiled. “You came here via flying carriage. Did your driver have any difficulty finding the town?”

“Yes, actually! That was strange, now that I think about it,” I said.

“Our town is protected by an extremely powerful ancient blessing. We call it the Lion God’s protection,” said the Mayor. “People from the outside can’t find this town or any of its inhabitants.”

“Eh? But I found it,” I said. “And also last Mid-Autumn Festival I brought my household here.”

“Which means that you must be one of us!” The Mayor beamed at me.

“Wha… what…” My brain stuttered to a stop.

“You were able to bring people here because your family is from here. Haven’t you noticed that other people don’t seem to know what you’re talking about when you mention Hongzhen?”

That was true, everyone had a blank expression on their faces whenever I said I was going to Hongzhen. “What does that mean? They visited here. Do they not remember that?”

“With a bit of effort, you can bring others with you here, but they will forget what happened a few days later,” said the Mayor, stroking his beard.

“Wait… when I tried to talk to them about the contest, they remembered we lost.”

“Yes, if you remind them of the town, they will recall some memories, but they will immediately forget again after a few minutes.”

Amazing! That was basically a very strong mind spell, right? I was curious about the reason for it. “That’s, um, quite a strong effect. May I ask how Hongzhen got this blessing?”

“Thousands of years ago the local warlords raised taxes so much that the common people were starving. That is when our priestess prayed to the Lion God, and the blessing was the result. Now we don’t have to pay taxes to the local authorities.”

“Whoa!” Did Shuye know about this?

“The town council has decided to invite you to live among us. The blessing extends to the nearby farms and villages. We could give you some land to farm, and you wouldn’t need to pay taxes to the White Tiger clan anymore.”

“Thanks, but I already have a farm,” I said.

The Mayor smiled again. “We understand that you’re an orphan from the island of Ma-i?”

I nodded. That was the player character’s background in Adventure Incarnate, and when I had transmigrated to this world, I had identity papers that said the same thing.

“Twenty years ago, one of the Chen family’s sons ran away from home. We believe you might be his offspring.”

The clothes shop owner shook her head and gave the Mayor a warning look. “That part is pure speculation.”

The Mayor frowned. “The timing is right.”

“She doesn’t look like him at all. I knew him well,” said the bookshop owner.

They continued to bicker for a bit longer, but I had a hard time paying attention because I was distracted by a System message.

[Discover Your Origins: Quest Complete

Reward: Farming Exp]

I only got a very small amount of exp, but I was mentally staggered by the implications of my quest being completed. Did this mean that the Mayor’s speculation was correct and that the Chen family’s son was my parent in this world?

“It’s too bad that his parents are dead, and he had no siblings,” said the Mayor. “They say blood will recognize blood. They might have been able to shed some light on this matter.”

“Did he never return to the town?” I asked.

“He sent word to a house we own in Oak Ridge. It’s the place we use to send and receive letters and packages. He said he had run away to be a sailor and would return in five years, but three years later we got the news that the ship he was on sank.”

“So there’s no actual evidence that I’m his daughter.” It sounded pretty dubious to me.

The three of them exchanged rueful looks.

“Yes, but whether he is your father or not, we accept that you are one of us because you were able to find the town twice and even bring other people with you,” said the Mayor.

“I’m very confused by this,” I said.

“I understand. Lady Violet, you might not want to accept our invitation to live here, but if you ever need a refuge, we will welcome you with open arms,” said the Mayor. “The Lion God’s protection is powerful, and if you stay with us, no one will ever be able to find you.”

We chatted a little more about the town and its unique characteristics. The Mayor ordered another pot of tea and three more plates of dim sum.

I was very amused to find out that, in fact, the people in Hongzhen did pay taxes. The town council needed the money to pay for essential services and infrastructure maintenance, ensuring that the streets were well-paved, the public spaces were well-maintained, and so forth. They just didn’t pay taxes to the White Tiger clan.

“How does trade work when people can’t remember you when you leave?” I asked the clothes shop owner. I knew she probably didn’t make the cloth herself.

“With cash. Everything outside of town has to be paid for right away with cash, or else I can’t get any supplies,” she said.

I laughed. “If you make an order for later, will they forget it?”

She sighed. “Yes.”

“It’s the same for me,” said the bookstore owner. “I can only buy whatever the book merchants in other towns have in stock.”

“That’s fascinating, but I think maybe I have a different kind of blessing,” I said. “People definitely remember me even when I’m out of their sight.”

“We believe that’s because you haven’t lived in town yet. There have been people who left and whose blessing weakened when they were away from town for too long but returned to full strength when they returned to Hongzhen,” said the Mayor.

Did this mean if I stayed in Hongzhen for a long time, everyone outside of town would forget about me? This thought was so alarming that I quickly finished my tea and said my goodbyes. The moment I was out of sight of the town square, I practically ran out of town like a bat out of hell.