Aimless Ascension

Ploughing the land went on without a hitch, but the soil wasn't ready yet. Gale needed to add fertilisers and water the soil before sowing the wheat. Also, he needed seeds. At least a ton of wheat seeds.

Thankfully, Shen Xuan solved all the problems. The Shen family owned a motor construct that pumps water from the nearby river to their field. Xiaolin's father used to borrow water from them as well, though the canal wasn't there anymore.

So Gale's next task was to cut a narrow water canal from Shen farm to Stormhold. Yup, Gale was calling the place Stormhold.

It was sad, though. The farm was named Stormhold, yet he had to acquire water from others. Well, he couldn't make it rain at his rank. Perhaps it would be possible at Gemheart rank, which seemed farther away than it ever did. But he could easily create a motor construct and canal system to get water from the river directly.

But that's too much work and would take a week at the very least to make the full canal system. Why bother when he could solve with the connection of a neighbouring farm?

At least, that's what Gale thought. However, he hadn't perceived a problem to arrive. He hadn't even established himself properly yet and people were already creating trouble.

"Old Ran, are you being serious here?" Shen Xuan asked a tanned Oldman with grey hair.

"Absolutely not," said Old Ran. "I won't let you carve a way in my land."

The Oldman hadn't gone full senile yet. His muscles hadn't sagged completely, befitting his iron body. He seemed to hold Gale in much distrust as if the foreigner had slept with his daughter last night.

Gale knew much of it was the unfamiliarity towards foreign nations. Still, he couldn't help but grunt as Shen Xuan kept on arguing with Old Ran, who was hell-bent on not letting them have their way.

To acquire water from the Shen Farm, they needed to create a canal, as the old one seemed to be abolished after an unused year. Back then, Old Ran had no issue having a canal carved through his land, but now he was making all sorts of excuses and denying Gale of that accessibility.

"Old Ran, you weren't like this before," Shen Xuan argued. "You had no problem with the canal before. What changed?"

"Before I was helping a fellow farmer, a good neighbour," Old Ran shouted, throwing a contemptuous glare at Gale. "Not a troublemaking foreigner."

Gale's eyes widened. He was a troublemaker. That's somewhat true, but how did this Oldman know?

"Tell your father to have some restraint in helping every stray that comes to the valley," Old Ran continued. "He's already reduced to being a cripple. How much would he need to lose to get this straight?"

"Is this it?" Realisation flashed in Shen Xuan's eyes as he gritted his teeth.

Gale understood, too. Supposedly, the older Shen had been crippled for helping Xiaolin with her needs. Not only that, many fields were burnt, crops destroyed, and barn animals went missing until the farmers stopped helping Xiaolin.

"You used to have a higher standard than that, Old Ran."

The grey-haired Oldman snorted. "I used to have a barn full of animals, too."

Shen Xuan sighed and was about to continue, but Old Ran cut him off.

"You won't change my mind, and don't bother to call your father. The old fool already had enough. Don't make it harder for him."

The old man considered and turned towards Gale. He glowered at him again. In reply Gale only stood straighter.

"Now you listen, Youngman," Old Ran said in an authoritative tone. "I don't know who set you up for this and what your goal is, but you won't get anything stirring trouble."

"You seem to have mistaken, Old Ran," Gale said, opening his mouth for the first time. "I assure you, I don't want to stir any trouble."

"But you already did."

Gale wanted to say more and explain himself, but all he did was purse his lips and sigh. Nothing he could say would convince this Oldman. He's determined to obstruct Gale's path.

"You stirred it when you bought this land," the Oldman shouted, veins popping in his neck and forehead. Gale could clearly feel Old Ran's frustrations. "You got yourself into this the moment you decided to help that girl. Now you're trying to get more of us involved. I had lost good sleep for many nights, loads of crops and a barn full of animals before. These old bones can't handle all of that again."

Old Ran's chest heaved up and down, undulating, unfitting of a practitioner. Time was hardly kind to mortals. Even practitioners weren't safe from its decay.

"Seemed rather stressful, farming here," Gale said. "Why don't you sell your land to me, Oldman?"

"What?!" Old Ran shouted in disbelief, his anger rising again.

"I asked you to sell this land to me."

"I ain't deaf," Old Ran sneered. "Do you think this is funny, lad? Do you think we are playing house here?"

"I don't think so," Gale replied, "but the way you've suffered against a certain opposition, they seem to think so."

Old Ran looked like someone who'd burst into another uproar again, discovering the audacity of this junior.

"You really came to stir up trouble," Old Ran yelled.

"I think it's a fair opportunity, though," Gale said simply. "It's unlikely anyone takes care of you from the look of you. You live alone, too, I guess. Your offspring moved away to a better place at some point, and probably even asked you to move in with them, but you're still too arrogant to even hear them out. Or perhaps you wanted them to stay here with you, but they didn't listen, or you simply didn't ask and held grievances in your heart."

"Young man, don't test my patience."

In fact, Gale wasn't making a baseless accusation here. He had heard Old Ran's story on the way. Shen Xuan was more talkative than he looked. After that, figuring out this bit wasn't much of a challenge.

"I'll offer you a hundred silver marks per acre. What do you say?"

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