In the Hundred Lives Book, another year passed.
During these years in Xueyang Commandery, Xiao Mo built irrigation works, worked the fields with his own hands, and improved the plow, changing the straight shaft to a curved one.
The curved-shaft plow was easier to handle and suited both paddy and dry fields.
Then, drawing on his own experience, Xiao Mo wrote the North-South Agricultural Treatise.
Taking account of how the soil differed between north and south, the book laid down detailed standards for "intensive cultivation and careful tending," for "three plowings and three harrowings," for "sowing while the soil still holds its moisture," and for "plowing under green manure to enrich the land."
And Xiao Mo was the first to put it into practice in Xueyang Commandery.
The next year, the people of Xueyang Commandery reaped a great harvest.
Xiao Mo then presented the book to the reigning sovereign.
The Lord of Qi was delighted.
At court the next morning, the Lord of Qi discussed the matter with his assembled ministers, and it was decided that the book would be printed and issued throughout the realm.
Every official was required to study it thoroughly, and it would be counted in their performance reviews.
The following year, an imperial decree reached Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo was to be transferred back to the capital and promoted to Vice Minister of Works.
The promotion did not surprise him in the least.
He and Zhang Qianzhi had been exchanging letters all along, and he had a fair idea that the old man and the Chancellor meant to bring him back.
On the day Xiao Mo left his post,
the people of Xueyang Commandery lined the road the whole way, offering him cups of water and farewell feasts, and saw him off for several li.
After returning to the imperial capital, Xiao Mo went straight into the palace to report on his tenure before the throne.
When the Lord of Qi laid eyes on Xiao Mo, he was taken aback.
He still remembered the jade-faced scholar who had entered the palace for the examination twelve years ago.
Now, twelve years on, Xiao Mo's skin was darker and his frame sturdier than before, like a commoner's who spent his days in the fields under the sun.
Between his brows there was also a new measure of maturity and steadiness.
Yet compared with the old days, the Lord of Qi naturally liked Xiao Mo better this way.
"Your subject Xiao Mo greets Your Majesty!" Xiao Mo bowed with clasped hands.
"No need for such formality, beloved minister."
The Lord of Qi hurried down the steps and raised him up, his eyes full of admiration.
"I have heard that you plow the fields yourself and build irrigation works in person. Seeing you today, the rumors were plainly true.
The North-South Agricultural Treatise you wrote is now in use throughout the realm, and the people of our Great Qi have taken to calling you the Sage of Agriculture.
That our Great Qi has you is our Great Qi's good fortune!"
"Your Majesty overpraises me. I did no more than my duty. And the harvests under heaven are owed chiefly to Your Majesty's sagely rule and to harmony between court and people; even without me, the realm would still have its years of plenty."
"Hahaha! When did you learn that flattering tongue? If you were merely doing your duty, then every official under heaven, every last one of them, is unfit for office!"
Xiao Mo only smiled and said nothing.
The Lord of Qi took him by the hand and asked about his years away, and Xiao Mo answered one question after another.
The more he heard of Xiao Mo's report, the more pleased the Lord of Qi became.
No sovereign ever disliked an official who got real things done.
"Beloved minister, you have reached your thirties and taken no wife. How would it be if I arranged a match for you?" asked the Lord of Qi.
Xiao Mo rose at once and bowed deeply from the waist. "I thank Your Majesty for your kindness. For Your Majesty to arrange a match for me would be my great fortune—but Your Majesty, I already have someone in my heart. I deserve ten thousand deaths!"
"Ah... you..." The Lord of Qi sighed; he knew Xiao Mo's circumstances well enough. "Immortals and mortals live in separate worlds. Why must you keep waiting?"
"..." Xiao Mo said nothing.
"Never mind, never mind." The Lord of Qi waved a hand. "You must be worn out from the road, and you have sat here talking with me all this while. Go on down and rest properly."
"Your subject thanks Your Majesty. Your subject takes his leave."
After Xiao Mo left the imperial study, a noble consort came up and kneaded the Lord of Qi's shoulders. "This Minister Xiao really is a devoted, faithful lover."
"Devoted and faithful—that's a good thing." The Lord of Qi nodded, gazing out past the study door. "Not marrying is good too..."
Seven days later the decree arrived, investing Xiao Mo as Vice Minister of Works.
Another four years, and Xiao Mo rose to Minister of Works.
Such a rate of promotion—a man fairly riding the clouds straight up.
By then Xiao Mo was only thirty-six.
For many men, a political career had barely begun; Xiao Mo already stood among the highest officials.
But everyone at court understood that Minister of Works would not be the end of Xiao Mo's road.
And Xiao Mo was extremely disciplined in his life—no brothels, no gifts, only books in his free time.
The censors tried to find some stain on him and could find none.
In Xiao Mo's eighth year in the capital, Chancellor Fang pushed hard to enact reform.
Fang Ling had planned this reform for a long time, and he had the Lord of Qi's backing.
But it cut into the great clans and noble houses, and the resistance was simply too great.
Within a few days, countless impeachment memorials were flying back and forth across the court.
Zhang Qianzhi entered the court at this time and stood on Fang Ling's side.
Xiao Mo, naturally, took the reform faction's side as well.
From the day Xiao Mo first stepped into the court, everyone there knew of his ties to old Mr. Zhang.
And his swift rise owed not only to his achievements; a large part of it was out of regard for Chancellor Fang and Zhang Qianzhi.
After all, to run a court on achievement alone is far too idealistic—what counts more is the ways of personal connections and favors.
So with the Lord of Qi's support, the reform was fully under way, with Zhang Qianzhi, Fang Ling, and Xiao Mo as its three-cornered core.
In earlier years Xiao Mo had gone back to the village every other year, but with so much reform business on his hands, these past few years he had been stuck in the imperial city the whole time.
Fortunately, he and Xiaoqing kept up a steady correspondence.
But just when the reform was going smoothly, the Lord of Qi fell gravely ill.
Six years later, the Lord of Qi passed away and the crown prince took the throne.
The new sovereign seemed to lack the late emperor's resolve and boldness; he could not stand up to the great clans.
In the end, the reform failed.
Zhang Qianzhi was already past ninety. That Mr. Zhang could live beyond ninety and even preside over a reform was extraordinary in itself—he was hanging on by a single breath.
With the reform's failure, that breath gave out. Zhang Qianzhi's heart was utterly cold; he petitioned to retire to his home village and wash his hands of court affairs altogether, reckoning that at most, at the very most, he had a year or two left to live.
Fang Ling, now in his sixties, was transferred out of the capital.
Xiao Mo's fame was too bright, and the reform had been wholeheartedly for the people; the great clans, wary of his reputation, did not dare impeach him at random.
But Xiao Mo reckoned that he would only be squeezed out of the capital again and again, and that it was better to leave than to live like that.
So he asked for a posting of his own accord, out to Beihai Province.
He was forty-six now, and between his age and the strain of the reform, silver already streaked his temples.
Before taking up his post, Xiao Mo returned to Stone Bridge Village.
Twenty-seven years had passed since he had taken the zhuangyuan's laurel.
In that time, many people had departed this world.
Among them were the old village chief and Aunt Chen.
"The grave of Wang Can—Scribe of Qingshan County, Village Chief of Stone Bridge Village."
"The grave of Chen Hong—wife of Wang Can."
Xiao Mo stood before the graves, looking at the two stones set side by side, his expression calm, though an indescribable feeling stirred in his heart.