But fortunately, although this was the countryside, he was not born into an ordinary farming family that had to toil in the fields all day just to fill their stomachs. His family owned a two-courtyard residence and had three servants managing everything inside and out. Among them, Sam never uttered a word, Old Clark watched over a door that never had any guests, and his talkative wife Mrs. Clark often said that all the nearby fields belonged to their family.

And this “nearby” area... was said to be several thousand mu! Although the amount of land they owned didn’t quite match their current lifestyle, and was even a bit suspicious, it didn’t stop the rice enthusiast Ethan Bolton from converting part of the land to grow rice.

First, he used rice-fish symbiosis to improve the soil environment, and in the past two years, he had been manually selecting seeds. Unfortunately, crayfish, those immigrant creatures, hadn’t been introduced yet in these times, so the idea of digging shrimp ditches by the rice paddies to raise crayfish was nothing but a pipe dream.

Whenever he craved high-protein food, he could only satisfy himself with loaches and eels, which were high in protein.

The north wasn’t suitable for raising silkworms, and in terms of scale, it couldn’t compete with the silk industry of Jiangnan. Tussah silkworms, however, were a northern specialty, not picky about food, eating the leaves of oak, camphor, cypress, maple, poplar, and so on. His mother Mrs. Smith had already been raising some, and with his encouragement, the scale of breeding in the village had expanded.

Besides rice, after diverting water to irrigate the fields, he also opened up some cotton fields and planted cotton. The yield wasn’t high yet. As for fruits and vegetables, all the varieties that should exist in this era were already available. As for grafting, there were no good varieties for now, and with his limited theoretical knowledge, he was still at the stage of asking old farmers to experiment...

As for farm tools suitable for rice paddies, since there weren’t enough oxen, the village blacksmith, following his instructions, had made some weeding hoes and claws, which turned out to be quite useful.

Anyway, in this era where having enough to eat was fundamental, agriculture was the foundation, agriculture was king, so for now, he would just focus on farming...

Although rural life was fairly comfortable, Ethan Bolton was not without worries. He had been here for three years, and though he claimed to be sixteen, he only knew his surname was Zhang and his given name was Shou, and that his mother was Mrs. Smith—but he had no idea who his father was!

Most of the farmers in the countryside were tenant farmers, and apart from the main family surnamed Zhang, they knew nothing else. As for the few servants at home, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get a single truthful word out of them. His mother Mrs. Smith was even worse—her lips were sealed as if locked!

At first, he had tried to sneak out, but every time, he was “politely escorted” back by the villagers halfway.

There were plenty of books at home, and with his extraordinary memory, he could recite them backwards after just one reading, so he learned about history.

Qin, Han, Jin, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming—none were missing, and now it was the Ming dynasty, but the emperor’s surname wasn’t Zhu! When he first discovered that history had taken a sharp turn at the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming, he was completely shocked. Now it was the 26th year of Yongchen in the Great Ming—what the heck was that!

Of course, he had to be grateful that it wasn’t the old Zhu family who had taken the throne. There were no harsh rules requiring father and son to succeed each other, or to inherit the same household registration, no strict bans on women binding their feet, and from the founding of the country, large ships had sailed the seas, maritime trade reached Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea, the culture was not closed off, and women could appear in public. Otherwise, how could he have just had that chance encounter with the elegant young lady?

For these three years, unable to figure out history, he could only ponder his own background, and his deductions led to only two possibilities.

Either he and his mother were the concubine and illegitimate child of some wealthy family, or something major had happened at home, and they had been sent to the countryside to escape disaster.

At this moment, Ethan Bolton strolled leisurely along the field ridges that crisscrossed the land, and finally saw a residence.

Compared to the crude houses in the village, this one at the entrance, with its neat walls, blue bricks, black tiles, and two courtyards inside and out, was the most luxurious mansion in the area.

It was already noon, smoke curled from the kitchen chimneys, and the sound of pots and pans clashing came from the front yard kitchen. Ethan Bolton unconsciously realized he was a bit hungry. But just as he reached the main gate, he saw several horses tied to the wooden posts outside, and a light-oil carriage nearby. Although it looked quite ordinary, since they had only parted not long ago, he recognized it at a glance.

Huh, isn’t this the carriage he’d seen before? Could that stunningly beautiful young lady be a guest at his house?

Just as Ethan Bolton had this thought, Old Clark hurried out from inside.

“Oh, young master, you’re finally back! I was just about to go look for you! We have guests, from the capital, and they’ve been waiting for you a long time!”

Seeing the carriage, Ethan Bolton was already mentally prepared. He took off his bamboo hat and quickly entered, passed through the front yard, and arrived at the main hall.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, he saw his mother Mrs. Smith sitting uneasily in the main seat. The red-clad young lady and the middle-aged scholar he’d seen before were seated to the left, in the first and second seats, with others standing behind them.

When they saw him, the middle-aged scholar, whom the young lady had called Mr. Brooks, looked as if he’d seen a ghost, while the red-clad young lady stared wide-eyed in disbelief. Although he was curious, he first went up to greet his mother Mrs. Smith, calling her “Mother.”

Mrs. Smith quickly stood up, pulled him around to face the guests, and said, “Young lady, Mr. Brooks, this is my son Ethan.”