541. The first chapter of the new book I'm preparing to write. Please take a look and let me know what you think. Also, I'm taking a day off.
Su Ming, his identity was unremarkable, just an ordinary Transmigrator.
The place Su Ming was in was not Earth. This was Qin, Immortal Qin. More accurately, this was the Azure Sky Realm, a subordinate world of the Immortal Qin Empire, a world that the Immortal Qin elite soldiers had only occupied for twenty years.
Of course, some also called it the Azure Sky Star. Whenever the Star rose in the Sky, the Cloud Layer, illuminated by the sunlight, would turn the Sky into a magnificent indigo color. Perhaps this was the origin of the name Azure Sky Realm.
Su Ming was a Transmigrator. Before transmigrating, he was an unremarkable wage slave. After transmigrating, he was an ordinary commoner of Immortal Qin.
He had neither a Military Merit Rank nor an inheritance from a distant second uncle. Relying on his own efforts and an ordinary Golden Finger, just last night, at the age of twenty, he finally became an Immortal Qin State Serviceman! According to the old calendar of Immortal Qin, one could not be granted a rank without military merit. Although State Serviceman was only the lowest of the Twenty Military Merit Ranks of Immortal Qin, for the common people, having a rank was like a carp leaping over the dragon gate, ascending the heavenly ladder. From then on, they were no longer beasts of burden, but Nobles.
Su Ming put on his outer robe and came to the Balcony, looking down at the vast Manor at his feet. This Manor covered an area of thirty mu. Many cherry trees were planted within the Manor, and in the Garden, many lilies and roses.
Under the dark night, the night wind blew through the Manor. The trees within the Manor swayed, making rustling sounds. The shadows of these trees were reflected on the Ground under the moonlight, like monsters and ghouls baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, and also like the resentful ghosts who had died by Su Ming's hand coming for revenge.
This Manor was originally the ancestral property of an Earl Noble.
However, that Earl was found by Su Ming to be suspected of colluding with a Shaman, so he sent his entire family to the gallows, including the Earl's mistress, a voluptuous blonde noblewoman, whom he had settled in this Manor.
"What a pity. The Magic Tools sold by the School of Yin-Yang are truly too expensive. The Soul Summoning Banner, which can capture souls, was actually priced at five thousand Xian Qin coins! Otherwise, the souls of these people could have been sold for a good price!"
Under the moonlight, the swaying tree shadows cast onto the window, like ghosts coming to claim lives. Su Ming's face, however, was calm as usual. What if there were ghosts? He dared to kill people, let alone ghosts.
Hmm, even if he could have bought the Soul Summoning Banner and Soul Capturing Mirror back then, whether he could use them was another matter.
The Immortal Qin Law was the culmination of successive generations of the Legalist School. It provided extremely strict protection for ordinary commoners. Regardless of rank or Cultivation Base, anyone who dared to kill a citizen of Immortal Qin would be lightly punished by demotion or having their cultivation base abolished. For serious offenses, they would pay with their life!
The foundation of Immortal Qin was its countless common people. This was the consensus of the Immortal Qin court and the Hundred Schools of Thought, led by the Legalist School, Military School, and School of Yin-Yang.
Of course, the Immortal Qin Law protected the commoners of Immortal Qin. The Barbarians of these uncivilized Land of Barbarians were not included.
The Immortal Qin Law guaranteed the livelihood of the commoners, but it also established countless regulations restricting commoners! For example, the slave trade he had been longing for, even in the occupied territories waiting for development.
If an ordinary commoner wanted to engage in the slave trade, whether it was living persons or flesh and blood and souls sold separately, not to mention whether they even had the channels for it, the tax as high as eighty percent alone scared off many people.
After deducting these taxes, the remaining profit was less than what he earned from selling Spirit Rice.
As for smuggling and tax evasion, did they really think the Tax Collectors of Immortal Qin were just sitting around doing nothing? Buying and selling a few slaves for personal use might not be discovered by those Tax Collectors, but once it involved large-scale slave trading,
Those Tax Collectors were like the piranhas in the river; they would come smelling blood! There was an ancient saying widely circulated in Immortal Qin: In Immortal Qin, the Immortal Qin Law and Tax Collectors cover everyone!
It wasn't just the slave trade; other profitable businesses were the same. In the Immortal Qin Law, any business that levied heavy taxes on commoners contained true exorbitant profits.
But becoming a State Serviceman was different.
Su Ming toyed with the Azure White Jade Seal in his Palm, picked it up, and breathed on it. Looking at the intaglio seal script that appeared at the bottom of the seal, a genuine smile appeared on his face.
A low-level Military Merit Rank like State Serviceman, in the eyes of those true Noble Clans that had been passed down for millions of years and existed alongside Immortal Qin, was no different from a commoner.
But Su Ming knew that this Square Seal was the starting point for his carp leaping over the dragon gate.
In addition to the annual rank salary, the most important benefit of a Military Merit Rank was tax exemption. Although it wasn't a full exemption, this single clause was enough to increase the income from the thousand mu of Huangya rice Su Ming planted by twenty percent. Don't underestimate this twenty percent increase in income. He left home at the age of fifteen, the year he tied his hair, to follow the Reclamation Corps to this new World, risking attacks from the Rebel Army and Shamans.
He reclaimed land and farmed, cooperating with the Garrison Corps stationed here to suppress the rebels.
What was all this hard work for? Wasn't it just to earn that little bit of Xian Qin coin? Was it for some ideal?
An extra twenty percent income each year! This money was enough for him to buy dozens of first-tier Terracotta Warriors in the Division.
"Old Master! Do you have any instructions?" Outside the bedroom door, a gentle knock sounded, accompanied by a soft, tentative voice.
Su Ming walked back into the Bedroom from the viewing Balcony, came to the room door, raised his hand, and took down the cocked crossbow mounted on the door. He loosened the bowstring, removed the three blue-tipped arrowheads, and then opened the bedroom door.
Outside the door, a Maid, eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a linen dress, quickly stepped back and lowered her head when she saw the bedroom door open.
"Old Master, I heard a sound in your Room and wanted to ask if you needed anything?" The clear-faced Maid softly explained the reason for her knocking.
Su Ming glanced at the Maid's wrinkled linen dress, full of creases, clearly indicating she slept in her clothes so she could serve at any time. She had some ulterior motive.
He remembered this Maid named Ana had only recently arrived at the Manor!
"There's nothing here. Tomorrow, tell the Gardener to prune the cherry trees in the Manor!"
Su Ming swept his gaze over the Maid's deliberately lowered body, revealing a small hint of her chest, shook his head, and closed the bedroom door again.
"Yes, Old Master!"
The Maid looked at the thick oak bedroom door that had closed again in front of her. A look of disappointment flashed across her face. She pulled up her collar, preparing to turn and return to the maid's room next door, when the door opened again from behind her.
"Come in!"
Ana walked into the Bedroom with a mix of anxiety and expectation. She looked at the large bed in the Bedroom, large enough to accommodate three or four people, covered with a velvet quilt/blanket, and Su Ming sitting on the head of the bed, currently examining her body.
"Take off your clothes!"
Su Ming looked the Maid up and down, his tone flat.
Ana was a little shy, but remembering her mother's words, her hands unconsciously kneaded the hem of her clothes.
Her mother was right. Only the person before her could change their family's fate. Thinking this, Ana silently removed her linen dress.
Ana lay on the bed, feeling a strange fullness, her mind dazed, her body and mind trembling. Looking at the Master working diligently on her body, she tightly gripped the quilt/blanket beneath her. A strange thought inexplicably surfaced in her mind.
The velvet-filled quilt/blanket was really soft!
Inside the bedroom, Su Ming, whose Mind had entered the Ethereal State, reached out and pulled the rope by the bed. Before long, several Maids, also wearing linen dresses but all with good looks, appeared in the bedroom.
The Maids who had come upon hearing the Summoning Bell immediately saw Ana curled up under the velvet quilt/blanket.
Surprise, jealousy, admiration—the expressions on the faces of the several Maids varied. Su Ming sat up from the bed, spread his arms, and a red-haired Maid holding clean pajamas stepped forward, serving Su Ming by helping him put on his pajamas and tidying his clothes.
Kneeling on the Ground, carefully tying the belt of Su Ming's pajamas, the red-haired Maid suddenly felt a warm hand press down on her head.
"Clean up!"
The beautiful red-haired Maid's fingers trembled slightly. She pursed her lips, her hands trembling as they moved downwards. Su Ming's breathing became slightly heavier. His gaze swept over the other Maids:
"Change all the sheets and bedding! Take Ana to wash up, and tell Liu Quan that Ana's monthly pay will be doubled from now on! Hiss!"
(end of chapter)