My Days as a God in Ancient Times
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Chu Qiuzhe arrived on a flying car. Fortunately, the county office hall was spacious enough; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to accommodate it.
The two men from ancient times stared at the vehicle, which looked even more bizarre than a wheelchair. They were astonished yet somewhat composed. Just as Chu Qiuzhe had anticipated, no matter what he brought out, it seemed within the realm of possibility.
Chu Qiuzhe opened the canopy just in time to hear Lan An’s comment. Dissatisfied, he said, “What’s so dangerous about me? I should be the one asking why you can’t trust me when I say I’m an immortal. What are you doubting?”
Lan An’s face flushed. He suddenly felt like a child caught bad-mouthing someone, only to have the person overhear.
“Your origins are still unverifiable to me” Lan An said, his face stern as he summoned the aura of a prince. “If you dare harm others, I will not let you off lightly.”
After spending half a day with him, Chu Qiuzhe had already figured out that this prince was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. However, his suspicions were relentless!
“Alright, I won’t discuss this with you anymore. Time will reveal one’s true nature,” Chu Qiuzhe said, taking out the lunch he had brought. “Eat some more and try the food from our world.”
The dishes were novel, something even the best restaurants in Dahan couldn’t replicate. Lan An suddenly felt like an uncultured country dog seeing such delicacies.
He shook his head, casting aside the feeling.
After all, with tens of thousands of catties of grain already accepted, there was no need to be polite about a few plates of food.
“Do immortals eat these every day?” Chen Suzhi, the little fanboy, exclaimed after trying a couple of bites.
Chu Qiuzhe never imagined that a few homemade dishes could be used to show off. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he replied, “Not exactly every day.”
“I thought so!” Chen Suzhi nodded repeatedly. “Such heavenly flavors can’t possibly be eaten daily, even by immortals. Today, it’s thanks to you that we mortals get to enjoy this rare treat.”
He completely misunderstood Chu Qiuzhe’s intent to say these dishes were just ordinary.
But Chu Qiuzhe didn’t bother to explain. Pretending to be an immortal all day was exhausting; he needed a break.
“Su Zhi, with the grain I brought, will it last until the relief supplies arrive?”
“If we’re careful, it should be enough” Chen Suzhi roughly calculated and glanced at Lan An.
Lan An, while eating, subtly nodded his noble head.
Chen Suzhi continued, “His Highness suggests distributing the grain based on the population, leaving it to the people to manage afterward.”
“That works and saves you from setting up porridge stations every day. What about the surrounding counties? How are they doing?”
“The disaster relief grain was sufficient initially” Lan An said, finally setting down his chopsticks. The empty plates left behind were a testament to the meal. “Only this county was robbed by mountain bandits; other areas are relatively stable for now.”
“And the villages?” Chu Qiuzhe asked. “It must be difficult for them to get to the city. Can they receive any of the grain?”
“Most villages have sealed off their roads to outsiders” Chen Suzhi said with some regret.
“Three years ago, after the war ended, the emperor waived five years of agricultural taxes nationwide. Those living in the countryside with land have some stored grain.”
Chu Qiuzhe understood. In the face of disaster and death, human nature cannot withstand scrutiny.
He couldn’t judge whether sealing the villages was right or wrong. But in a way, it was a relief because they were self-sufficient and lightened the country’s burden.
Looking at the empty plates on the table, Chu Qiuzhe suddenly thought, “We have enough food, but what about vegetables?”
“Vegetables?” Lan An and Chen Suzhi both felt a pang of helplessness.
The pickled vegetables served today were already considered a special treat.
Since March, no rain had fallen, leaving the land barren. Vegetables were out of the question.
Chu Qiuzhe guessed as much from their expressions.
Sighing inwardly, he thought, If I’m going to save the people, I might as well go all out. I’ve already given food; sending vegetables won’t hurt.
Spending money wasn’t an issue, he had plenty of it!
Attaching a signal booster to his phone, he opened an e-commerce app. Fresh vegetables weren’t feasible for transport, but dried vegetables were much easier.
“Come here and take a look” Chu Qiuzhe openly placed his phone before the two of them. “I’ll send some dried vegetables in a few days. Long-term lack of vegetables can lead to illnesses.”
A small object, smaller than a palm, emitted a strange light. The images were vivid, and the text, though tiny, was clear and legible.
Incredible simply incredible!
The more Lan An saw these mysterious objects, the deeper his suspicions grew. “What kind of object is this?”
“A mobile phone. It can transmit sound over a thousand miles and be used for shopping. Just select items here, and they’ll arrive within five days at the latest” Chu Qiuzhe said, inadvertently showing off again.
“Absurd” Lan An suddenly felt this man was even more absurd than any charlatan he had encountered.
Even Chen Suzhi, the devoted fanboy, was skeptical. How could such a small object transmit sound over a thousand miles, let alone enable shopping?
“Believe it or not, it’s a powerful tool!” Chu Qiuzhe didn’t expect them to understand such advanced technology. “Let’s focus on the matter at hand. Pick what you want if you can’t read, just look at the pictures”
Seeing his confidence, the two didn’t argue further.
Chu Qiuzhe and Chen Suzhi dove into an intense discussion about Arabic numerals, photos, and how to bargain with sellers.
Meanwhile, Lan An sat quietly, listening intently despite maintaining a composed exterior.
Within half an hour, Chen Suzhi had fully mastered the art of online shopping and found it incredibly fun. If there were a network and phones here, Chen Suzhi would undoubtedly become a devoted shopper.
In the end, they decided to buy compact dried kelp strips, which expanded to a large bowl with just a little water and were highly nutritious.
They ordered from three stores, 10,000 packs from each. Due to the bulk order, every seller included generous freebies.
“Will it really arrive in three days?” Chen Suzhi asked, still feeling unreal after watching his idol complete the payment.
Chu Qiuzhe chuckled. “Barring transport issues, it’ll definitely arrive in about three days.”
Lan An silently took out a stack of silver banknotes. He didn’t know the value of the grain and dried kelp but had no intention of taking advantage of him.
Chu Qiuzhe raised an eyebrow and casually glanced at them—each note was worth a thousand taels, stacked a centimeter thick.
“Your Highness, you’re quite generous” Chu Qiuzhe said with a laugh.
He never intended to take any money from the start, but that’s different from someone never intending to pay.
Calculating the expenses over the past two days, it added up to nearly 200,000. To him, that amount was probably equivalent to the price of a pair of limited-edition sneakers hardly something worth worrying about.
However, fairness matters. Chu Qiuze pulled out a silver banknote, returning the rest. “Your Highness, I haven’t spent much. Besides, this banknote can’t even be used where I’m from. I’ll keep one as a souvenir.”
Lan An also did the math. In Shengshi, the price of fine rice was around 20 to 30 wen per jin. A thousand taels of silver could buy tens of thousands of jins.
With that in mind, he decided not to dwell on it. “In the future, if you need anything in Dahan, feel free to find me.”
“Sure!” Chu Qiuze saw an opportunity. “Then accompany me on a date just the two of us, no guards or attendants allowed.”
“A date? What does that mean?” Lan An frowned. Judging by the term, it likely meant arranging to meet, but he couldn’t think of any reason for them to do so.
This question stumped Chu Qiuze. In modern times, a date usually involved couples eating out, shopping, drinking coffee, or watching a movie. But here in ancient times, none of those things existed.
Taking him to the modern world was out of the question.
No way. Chu Qiuze quickly dismissed the thought. If he brought Lan An to the modern world, his “divine” persona would be exposed.
He sighed. “When you’re free, accompany me to the busiest marketplace here, stroll around, have a meal at a nice restaurant, then drink tea and watch a play. How about it?”
When in Rome, do as the Romans do!
In Dahan, such “dates” were popular among scholars and literati.
It wasn’t inappropriate, but Lan An couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
“Hey, Your Highness, don’t tell me you’re backing out?” Chu Qiuze grew impatient when Lan An took so long to respond.
Lan An genuinely didn’t know how to reply and casually found an excuse. “The disaster victims have yet to be resettled; how can I indulge in pleasure?”
“Ding~ Ding~ Ding…”
Suddenly, a phone ringtone broke the silence, startling all three men present.
“What is this?” Chen Cuizhi covered his ears, finding the sound quite jarring.
Chu Qiuze took a deep breath. Look, here came the moment of reckoning!
“This is what I was talking about earlier a device that allows communication across thousands of miles” Chu Qiuze explained, pointing to the photo on the screen. “This is my brother calling me”
Lan An glanced over and saw a man’s face on the object called a phone. The image was lifelike and bore some resemblance to Chu Qiuze.
“Shh!” Chu Qiuze gestured for silence. “Don’t say a word. My brother doesn’t know I’ve descended to the mortal realm.”
He answered the call and put it on speaker.
“Hello, brother.” Chu Qiuze feigned a groggy tone. “What’s up?”
“Qiuze” his brother’s deep, steady voice came through. “Why are you still sleeping? Get ready; it’s time to take you to the hospital for rehabilitation therapy.”
Crap! How could he have forgotten about this? After being discharged, he had to go to the hospital twice a week for therapy to prevent muscle atrophy in his injured leg.
But the results had been minimal.
Chu Qiuze had long grown tired of it and shamelessly whined, “Brother~! Can I skip it? I really don’t want to go to the hospital.”
“No.” When it came to serious matters, his brother never spoiled him. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Get ready.”
Great. That commanding tone made Chu Qiuze uneasy. All he could do was agree.
After hanging up, he turned around to find two pairs of curious eyes staring at him.
Those eyes seemed to say the same thing: if this phone could be used for military communication, it would prevent countless delays in operations.
“Ahem. You saw that, didn’t you?” Chu Qiuze said hurriedly, “I’ll explain it to you next time; I have to go now.”
There was no rush to go into detail. After a brief farewell, they agreed to continue moving grain the next morning.
“Oh, right!” Chu Qiuze slapped his forehead, realizing he had forgotten something important. “Can you figure out a way to find a large water source? I can make it rain the bigger the water source, the heavier the rain.”
Finally, he recited the modified spell he had created: “Lan An, you’re amazing!”
And with that, he was gone, leaving the two ancient men utterly dumbfounded.
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