Baolong Commandery, depicted on the map of Qi, is a narrow and elongated prefecture, shaped like an embracing arm. It borders the commanderies of Cangshu and Changming to the west, and Le’an, Qiuyang, and Yinqiao to the east.

Wayaotown is an extremely ordinary town among the many townships. This ordinariness extends from head to toe, inside and out.

As the name suggests, the livelihood of the people here is the firing of bricks and tiles.

However, the ordinariness in Qi is naturally different from the ordinariness in other small countries.

Simply being able to live a good life through hard work is already a dream for many.

According to the information provided by Lin Youxie, Jiang Wang found a medium-sized tile kiln on the west side of Wayaotown.

In front of neatly stacked piles of gray tiles, a group of people were busy carrying tiles in and out. There were both men and women among them, with a majority being men. The men were mostly bare-chested, their muscles stained blackish-gray. The women wore durable coarse cloth clothing and had their hair covered with headscarves whose original color was indistinguishable. A few women appeared even more robust than the men.

Jiang Wang observed carefully for a long time, and relying on the extraordinary eyesight of a transcendent cultivator, he finally found Zhang Cuihua—

She was an extremely ordinary village woman, only slightly thinner and less bloated than the other women working alongside her. Her face was also cleaner… but still not what one would call beautiful.

Transcendent cultivators, when understood literally, are those who have surpassed the mundane.

Any transcendent cultivator, even someone as delusional as Zhang Hai or as fallen as Ge Heng, could easily live a life far more luxurious than ordinary people.

Chu Mi was already an Outer Building realm cultivator, someone who had stepped over the threshold qualifying for the position of a commandery governor.

As he himself said, being able to cultivate to the Outer Building realm in a place like Liang Shang Lou, with such cultivation techniques and resources, he was already very remarkable and a highly talented cultivator!

How could he have taken a liking to such an ordinary village woman?

She possessed neither cultivation nor beauty.

“Hey, hey, hey, kid, what are you doing? You’ve been staring like a thief for a long time!” a particularly robust man suddenly shouted.

Jiang Wang looked around, only then realizing the man was talking about him.

“Big brother,” Jiang Wang said with a warm smile, “I’m looking for someone.”

The burly man walked forward, carrying a large stack of tiles, and glared at Jiang Wang as he went.

His face was obscured by ash, making it hard to see clearly, but the warning in his eyes was intense: “Don’t have any wicked thoughts, or my fist won’t recognize you!”

“Please be assured, big brother, I am a good person.”

It’s hard to strike someone who’s smiling. The burly man walked forward with a cold face, but his mouth was still sharp: “With such fair skin and tender flesh, what kind of good person could you be?”

“He didn’t bother you, so why are you talking so much? Don’t you have enough work to do!” a woman’s voice shouted, full of spirit.

The burly man continued carrying tiles with his head down, no longer speaking.

Coincidentally, the one who spoke up to help was Zhang Cuihua.

She had just unloaded a batch of tiles and was dusting the ash off her sleeves as she walked out.

Helping a strange young man was a minor matter, one she did out of habit. She didn’t even look in Jiang Wang’s direction.

Jiang Wang hurried a few steps and politely inquired, “Excuse me… are you a family member of Chu Haoxue?”

Yes, the alias Chu Mi used in Wayaotown was surprisingly Chu Haoxue.

Learn what! This name was too ridiculous. A guy proficient in all sorts of swindling and deception, and he’s “Haoxue” (fond of learning)? What would happen if he actually was?

“He’s my man,” Zhang Cuihua stopped and looked at him with a complex expression, “Do you need something?”

“It’s like this,” Jiang Wang looked around, “Is it convenient to step aside and talk?”

The woman looked troubled, “I’m busy with work here.”

Jiang Wang thought for a moment and said, “How about this, how much is your daily wage? I’ll pay you, and you won’t have to work today.”

Logically, not having to work would be a good thing for anyone, but the woman shook her head, “How can there be such a good thing as pie falling from the sky? My man said, you absolutely mustn’t believe this. Even if you take nothing now, they’ll eventually find a way to get it back from you somewhere else.”

Jiang Wang was momentarily speechless.

Chu Mi was indeed an expert in swindling and deception, having trained his wife to have an extremely strong awareness against scams.

“You…” In Jiang Wang’s silence, Zhang Cuihua sized him up, “Do you know my man?”

Only then did Jiang Wang discern the wariness and expectation hidden in the woman’s eyes.

After all, her husband, “Chu Haoxue,” hadn’t returned for a full five years.

“We… are friends,” Jiang Wang said.

“How is he?” Zhang Cuihua grabbed his sleeve, but quickly let go, frantically wiping the ash off his sleeve, “I… I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Jiang Wang said gently, “Shall we find a place to chat?”

“What’s the meaning of this?” The burly man from earlier came back from somewhere, swearing from a distance, “Sister Hua, what’s wrong? Is this pretty boy bullying you?”

“Mind your own business!” Zhang Cuihua turned her head and snapped back, “I’m talking to my younger brother, is it bothering you? Get lost!”

The menacing burly man, half-way to them, was scolded back.

Zhang Cuihua then turned back and advised, “Please don’t be angry, country folks don’t speak nicely, but they don’t mean any harm.”

This burly man was kind-hearted, just a bit reckless.

Jiang Wang wouldn’t get angry because of this. The main reason was that it was the first time he had been called a “pretty boy,” which was a novel experience. In the past, only…

He sighed.

Over there, Zhang Cuihua gestured again, “It’s stuffy in the tile kiln, let’s talk outside.”

It seemed the identity of “Chu Haoxue’s friend” was very effective with her. It made her completely forget the nine major points of attention and eight items of vigilance that Chu Mi usually instilled in her.

Just as Jiang Wang was thinking, Zhang Cuihua turned back and shouted, “Gou’er, Shanzi! I’m going out for a bit, you help me watch our youngest, don’t let him run around!”

Two voices responded from the crowd.

“Alright, Sister Hua!” “Okay!”

It seemed she had a good rapport with the people at this tile kiln.

Jiang Wang also withdrew his earlier judgment. Zhang Cuihua did not fully trust him; she was “showing her muscles.” It was nothing more than saying – see these men? If you dare to have any wicked thoughts, I can easily call a few people to tear you apart.

“Youngest…” Jiang Wang asked, “Is that yours and my brother Haoxue’s child?”

Zhang Cuihua grinned, “Could I have children with anyone else? Those eyebrows, those eyes, they can’t be anyone else’s!”

Jiang Wang rubbed his nose, not quite able to handle such a direct style of speaking.

Zhang Cuihua explained as she walked out, “Firing tiles is a diligent job, you can’t leave for a moment. When the child was small, he couldn’t be left alone either, so I always brought him to work. He slowly grew up in this tile kiln.”

Walking out of the tile kiln, she took off her headscarf, whose original color was indistinguishable, dusted off the black ash, and said with pride, “Don’t look at how young he is, he can fire tiles himself!”

She smiled, “I just don’t let him do it.”

Her husband left and never returned. She worked in the tile kiln alone with her child, doing physical labor like a man. Firing bricks and tiles, carrying and bearing heavy loads.

But her tone, her state, held not a single trace of resentment.

Only the resilience to face life, and a simple and genuine satisfaction.

Looking at that smile, Jiang Wang already knew why Chu Mi had fallen in love with this woman.

I once read a book, and there was a sentence in it, “Running a restaurant is a diligent job.”

I no longer remember what the book was about, only this sentence.

This sentence has so much life in it.

It’s the kind of thing ordinary people would say in their daily lives.

I hope that when I write about daily life, I can capture that true sense of life. Not just as transitions in the plot, or buffers for climaxes.