The Sixth Clan is the most honest—this family lives next to the Fifth Clan, keeps their heads down farming, managing their fields, and rarely gets involved in disputes.

The Seventh Clan is the most vicious—the Seventh Clan is a notorious local bully, with many reckless and unruly members at home, spending their days brandishing swords and bullying the weak. It’s said they even have dealings with the famous Maoling hero Thomas Wright, secretly engaging in illegal activities.

The Eighth Clan is the most scholarly—this family was the last to move here, so all the good land had already been taken by relatives. Their population can’t compare to the First Clan, they can’t win fights against the Fifth or Seventh, and in business, they’re overshadowed by the Fourth. So their ancestors paid their own way to Chang’an to study the classics, reaping the benefits of scholarship. During Emperor Yuan’s reign, they even produced a disciple who became a learned scholar, back when students of the Imperial Academy were still highly valued.

Therefore, the Eighth Clan values education above all, passing down the classics within the family. But lately, they’ve been in decline, and it’s been a long time since they produced a student for the Imperial Academy. This year, Charles Foster even had his spot taken by Henry Benson, causing some tension between the two families.

In short, although these families are relatives in name, in reality they’re scattered like sand, even becoming enemies and fighting for their own interests.

“That's how things stand now, but a few years from now, it might be different.”

With this thought, Henry Benson had already left the main road and stepped onto the country path leading to the Fifth Hamlet.

On both sides of the path were clearly divided fields, probably totaling over a hundred hectares, with his family owning half and the rest divided among dozens of households. Small ditches brought water from the Chengguo Canal for irrigation. The millet had already been harvested, but the winter wheat had yet to be sown, and preparations for plowing were underway.

Several men, leaning on their farm tools, were drinking water from ladles at the edge of the fields. Their wives and daughters, dressed in simple clothes, brought them food. When they saw Henry Benson riding by, they all stood up and bowed to him.

“Greetings, young master!”

Henry Benson responded with a smile. These people, even in the heat, had to work in short trousers, the sun tanning their backs and faces dark, with rope marks on their shoulders from pulling the plow—after all, not every family could afford an ox.

Most of the people in the hamlet were self-tilling farmers, but quite a few had already had their land merged into the Fifth Clan’s holdings. Some migrant refugees, to escape government labor and taxes, also sought refuge with powerful families, becoming tenant laborers or servants.

As they neared the hamlet, the slopes that couldn’t be turned into farmland were planted with mulberry trees and hemp fields, where people were also working.

If the fields provided food, then these cash crops ensured clothing. The fine clothes and rich food that Henry Benson enjoyed every day were all the fruits of the labor of tenant farmers and servants, which made him feel somewhat uneasy.

However, while class is determined by birth, the direction a person’s heart takes depends on what they do later in life.

Just then, Henry Benson heard a cry of pain coming from the orchard.

It turned out that a villager picking pears had accidentally fallen from a tree and was clutching his leg, wailing in pain. Henry Benson pushed through the crowd to take a closer look and found a wooden splinter deeply embedded in the man’s bare foot, bleeding quite a bit.

Looking closely at the man’s pain-twisted face, Henry Benson recognized him. Though in his thirties or forties, he was, by family rank, a distant nephew. Henry Benson called for someone nearby to help pull out the splinter and wrapped the wound with a cloth to stop the bleeding. Seeing that the injured man didn’t even have shoes and would have trouble limping home two miles away, he told George Benson to lead the horse and take him back.

“Young master, if I lead the horse for him, what about you?”

George Benson’s round face was full of reluctance. In the hamlet, family members were ranked by closeness of blood to the patriarch. George Benson’s family was close to the main branch, still within five degrees of kinship, and he had grown up at Henry Benson’s side, serving as a companion in childhood and a servant as an adult. In the future, he would help Henry Benson manage the estate and live off its income.

Being asked to lead the horse for a distant, lower-status relative, George Benson was naturally unhappy, and the injured man also repeatedly declined, saying he didn’t dare accept.

Henry Benson patted his back. “The saddle’s been hurting me. I’d rather walk home.”

He helped the injured clansman onto the horse, sent George Benson off, and then walked toward the hamlet gate. In the orchard and mulberry grove, the men and women exchanged glances: “The young master has been much more amiable these past two weeks.”

“That’s right. He used to walk with his head held high, but now he stops to greet people, and often has a smile on his face.”

This was unimaginable in previous generations of family heads.

The hamlet was located on a slightly elevated plateau, surrounded by earth-colored walls with only north and south gates, each guarded by a gatekeeper. At dawn, the gates were opened to let clansmen and servants out to work, and closed at night to guard against thieves.

Here, things like passes and tokens were useless—entry and exit depended on one thing: face recognition.

Strangers or outsiders with different accents were treated with suspicion, like thieves. Even government tax collectors couldn’t get in without the head of the Fifth Clan’s approval.

It’s said that in the previous dynasty, during the reigns of Emperors Zhao and Xuan, imperial power could still reach the villages. But after Emperor Yuan and Emperor Cheng, Han emperors ruled by virtue, and control gradually loosened, leading to rampant land annexation—rich families joined fields together, while the poor had nowhere to stand. After the new dynasty was established, the “Royal Land Nationalization Decree” was issued, declaring all land state-owned and banning the trade of servants, but secret transactions still continued.

After entering the hamlet, Henry Benson was greeted even more frequently. Everyone recognized this young master and was quietly pleased by his newfound kindness over the past half month. A big-hearted, considerate clan leader meant that the clansmen’s lives could be better for the next ten or even dozens of years.