In a corner of the capital, at a small teahouse…

“Did you hear about the news? A father and daughter pair from a fishing village were summoned to see the emperor because they are good at growing crops and were even awarded with an official’s position!” The person who was speaking was a man around the age of forty. He was dressed in homespun clothes that had patches on it, and his feet were crusted over with yellow mud. He was a sturdy fellow with a full beard on his face.

“What? Someone can become an official from planting fields? Don’t take everyone for a fool! Who doesn’t know that if you want to become an official you need to spend decades studying your pants off and slowly test your way up? Even during the most disorderly times of the past dynasty, you needed a lot of money in order to become even a lowly official.” This person looked like a county official who had fallen on hard times. He was dressed in a long robe that was going white from being washed and he had a thin figure. His whole head had gone white with age and the look he gave the peasant farmer was full of disdain.

“County Official Suan, did you just come to the capital ah? The whole capital has heard about this, so who wouldn’t know? It’s said that the Yu Family is truly spectacular. The winter wheat they grew yielded up to five to six hundred catties per mu, which is multitudes higher than what other people have done! If this type of wheat...