The year was Jiazi, a great drought struck, yet Niu Village celebrated, a hundred families rejoiced together.

It was a chaotic era, and the people of Niu Village didn't care about which dynasty it was; no matter how dynasties changed, Niu Village always remained impoverished.

With over a hundred people, the entire village shared ten ploughing oxen, and the village's yield barely managed to cover its expenses.

Villagers helped one another, and life went on.

But this year was different. A plague-ridden sun rose simultaneously, ten blazing suns scorched the earth like a furnace, the ground cracked, and crops withered.

The stream's bed was exposed, parched and cracked by the scorching sun. It wasn't just Niu Village; the whole world echoed with wails, littered with dead bones.

Niu Village was small, and its inhabitants were mostly related. Unlike the outside world's widespread desolation, the villagers brought out their stored old grain and rice, and everyone ate and lived together.

Though it wasn't enough to be full, no one starved to death. Under the village leader's watch, almost every household still received the same amount of grain, and the village maintained its usual tranquility.

People from nearby villages were envious of Niu Village, where surviving through this time was already a blessing. Not being full was still far better than starving to death.

Compared to other villages resorting to desperate measures, Niu Village was nothing short of a paradise.

Finally, one day, the world saw hope as the nine suns lamented and fell from the sky, transforming into a gigantic fireball crashing to the earth.

A rainstorm poured down for ten days and nights.

A young man named Niu Er from Niu Village was trapped in the mountains by the rain, and when it stopped, he found an unconscious woman by the stream and carried her back to the village.

Niu Er was known as a bachelor in the village, honest and kind-hearted, with endless strength.

Many young women secretly fancied him, but he refused countless matchmakers who visited.

He always claimed he was waiting for his destined one.

This woman was the one he spoke of. After bringing her home, he carefully took care of her. When she awoke, she had lost all her memories, remembering only her name as A Chang.

She forgot her past and future, arriving with only a name, settling in Niu Er's heart.

A Chang was ordinary, neither fair-skinned nor tall, but in Niu Er's eyes, she was far better than those so-called village belles.

Niu Er told A Chang, since you remember nothing, stay here for now, and thus, she stayed for a year.

During this year, A Chang washed clothes and cooked, becoming friends with the village women. They talked to her about something that often made her blush and look at Niu Er.

Their story followed an old pattern; eventually, they got together, becoming the first married couple after the drought.

The entire village celebrated, and the village leader even personally chose a new house for them.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the elder who had everything orderly during the drought, ensuring the village's safety, seemed to have grown increasingly muddled, his gaze more sullied.

Life continued as usual without much change for the newcomers.

If there were any changes, it was that the village leader became more demanding of the villagers, constantly increasing their work hours and farming frequency.

He seemed to be at odds with something, as if unconvinced, with anger simmering within.

But such was the environment of Niu Village. Even with the villagers' efforts multiplied several times, the yield never increased; it remained the same.

Niu Village still was the poorest village.

Occasionally, when someone passed by the village leader's house, they would hear his cursing.

"Bastards!! Bastards! During the disaster, you all begged me, kneeled before me. Now that it's over, you dare look down on me!"

"In the disaster, not a single person died in Niu Village, not one!!"

"A bunch of fools laughing at me? Just because your village soil is more fertile!"

"Hateful! Hateful!! If I governed a country, I would keep everything in order, and not even a ten-day disaster would claim a single subject!"

When the ten suns rose, everyone from the surrounding villages gathered around the village leader, begging for his guidance on how Niu Village survived so well.

All bent and kneeled before him. The leader from another village even secretly came to him, wanting to temporarily leave his grandson in Niu's care, even kneeling before the Niu Village leader for it.

Seeing those bowing and kneeling figures, all the frustration accumulated over Niu Village's poverty seemed to dissipate.

But... everything changed too quickly. The suns fell, the rains ended, and order returned, with the mountains, rivers, sun, and moon unharmed.

The drought ended, life resumed its course, and Niu Village returned from being the "Holy Land" in every village's eyes to the poorest settlement once more.

The massive sense of loss drove the village leader to madness.

He felt like a rat that had tasted sweet nectar, unable to forget it after just a single taste.

He devised countless ways to prosper Niu Village, but all failed.

Niu Village remained the same, and the ignorant villagers seemed never to care about their poverty, as if being able to fill their stomachs meant everything was fine. Simply... unfathomably foolish!

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