ATFCM ~ 01

Chapter ~ 01

The Prosperity System

It had been over a month since Shen Zheng was pulled from the river, yet she still couldn’t quite get used to sitting in this courtroom.

Take this moment, for example.

“Your Honor, merciful judge!”

“County Magistrate! Please, you must judge fairly!”

She looked at the two women below the dais and couldn’t help but press her forehead.

Here we go again.

One of the women, dressed in a light blue coarse cotton garment, spoke first:

“Your Honor! By my count, my hen was due to lay an egg today! But I went to collect the egg before dawn, and guess what?”

What could it be, Shen Zheng thought.

She didn’t find it.

“Didn’t find it! It must have been that heartless wretch who stole it!”

The other woman below, carrying a vegetable basket, took offense.

“You cheap slut, don’t make up lies! I went to the market at dawn today!”

“If you stole my egg, you’d have to go to the market to fence it, wouldn’t you?”

“Bullshit!” The vegetable-basket woman flung her basket aside.

The two were about to come to blows!

Shen Zheng immediately raised her hand to stop them: “Stop! No rudeness in the courtroom! Hu, Liu, you two are here for mediation. If you come to blows today, the nature of this case changes entirely.”

She then turned to the handsome young man standing beside her.

“Chief Registrar Xu, please mediate for the two aunties.”

Chief Registrar Xu sighed, as if he had long expected her to say this: “Yes, Your Honor.”

Shen Zheng watched as Chief Registrar Xu maneuvered between the two aunties, slipping into memory.

She was not originally from this world.

In her previous life, she was an orphan. She worked part-time while studying, barely managing to get into a doctoral program and applying for financial aid.

Before she could even relax for a single day, she found herself in this world.

Her current body had been found and raised by an old scholar on the western outskirts of the capital. He taught her to read and write from childhood, and to study the Four Books and Five Classics.

In this world, women could also become officials, so the old scholar had always hoped she would pass the imperial examinations at the highest level.

When she was sixteen, the old scholar passed away, leaving her with his entire collection of books.

At twenty-two, she passed the imperial examinations and became a presented scholar—one could say she was a prodigy. But in the imperial court, she had no connections, and her pockets were utterly empty.

While women could become officials, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t face discrimination.

Her posting was decided by a minor clerk in the Ministry of Appointments.

Tong’an County, Liuyang Prefecture.

But just after she took office in Tong’an County, for reasons unknown, she threw herself into the river!

Shen Zheng had been pulled from the water just after she crossed over.

After she recovered and saw the peeling walls of the county office and the granaries so empty even mice wouldn’t run there, she understood the original owner’s despair.

It was too poor!

Thinking of this, Shen Zheng let out a heavy sigh.

She had been here over a month now, dealing with nothing but trivial daily squabbles.

Take these two aunties—they had come six times in a single month.

At this rate, when her three-year term ended, not only would she not get promoted, she might even be put on trial and exiled.

“Ding!”

Just as Shen Zheng was contemplating the feasibility of following the original owner into the river, an electronic chime interrupted her thoughts.

“Congratulations, Host, on unlocking the National Prosperity System. When the prosperity value of your region increases, you will receive generous rewards.”

“Detected Host’s region—Tong’an County, Liuyang Prefecture. Current prosperity value: 32.”

Shen Zheng stared at the transparent screen that appeared before her, unable to suppress her joy. The past month had truly been bitter and hopeless—she had already planned to resign as soon as her three-year term ended.

Now it seemed she not only wouldn’t be exiled but might even be able to make something of herself in officialdom.

Below the dais, Chief Registrar Xu and the two aunties looked up and saw Shen Zheng staring fixedly at some spot in the courtroom, a strange smile curling at the corners of her mouth.

The sight sent chills down the spines of all three.

The two aunties immediately changed their expressions. The two women, who usually couldn’t stand each other, silently linked arms.

“Magistrate Shen, Chief Registrar Xu, today must have been a misunderstanding. We were just thinking we have things to do at home—we’ll be going now!”

Without waiting for Shen Zheng to respond, the two women, supporting each other, hurried out of the courtroom.

Seeing that the parties had left, Shen Zheng urged the still-standing Chief Registrar Xu: “Chief Registrar, do you have further business?”

Chief Registrar Xu’s face stiffened. He quickly shook his head and walked out with hurried steps.

Seeing everyone gone, Shen Zheng could hardly contain herself as she rushed back to the residence behind the courtroom.

Not even bothering to sit down, she opened the system to examine it.

The system’s main function was to measure the prosperity value of her region; increases in prosperity value would correspond to rewards.

Currently, Tong’an County’s prosperity value was 32. The prosperity rating: “A dilapidated mountain village…”

Shen Zheng was a little annoyed. Tong’an County was at least a county seat, not some broken-down mountain village.

But when she saw the evaluation criteria, she couldn’t argue.

“Agricultural production value: 5. Industrial production value: 2. Military strength value: 1. Infrastructure and facilities value: 3. Trade value: 1. Education level: 5. Transportation value: 15.”

Aside from Tong’an County’s relatively favorable geographical location, the other prosperity values were hardly better than zero.

Just as Shen Zheng was feeling quite disheartened, she spotted an unopened gift pack in the corner of the screen.

Instantly, she felt a beam of light shine down on her—better days must be coming!

But after opening the gift pack, Shen Zheng wasn’t sure whether to be happy or worried.

She was happy because the pack contained several large sacks of hybrid rice seeds. In this world, the staple crop was mostly millet—low yield and not very filling.

Moreover, the system specifically noted that these rice seeds had been genetically improved by the system, and most of the resulting seeds could also be saved for replanting.

Saveable seeds? Even Shen Zheng was a bit skeptical at this point. But the system had no reason to lie to her; she’d just have to test it out and see.

So with high-yield hybrid rice, at least she could ensure the county’s residents had enough to eat.

But her worry was that Tong’an County had no environment for growing rice.

The county’s residents primarily ate beans and wheat-based foods, with a few growing millet here and there.

As a result, the farmland had no properly planned irrigation channels.

Rice, during its growth period, requires large amounts of water to keep the soil sufficiently moist.

Without irrigation channels to bring in water, rice couldn’t be grown.

It looked like she’d have to figure out how to dig those channels first.

But thinking of the destitute county office, her head started to ache again.

Where would the county get the money to dig irrigation channels? Without wages, the county residents wouldn’t work for free either.

And she couldn’t bring herself to conscript labor and exploit the people—they all had families to care for.

Unable to come up with a solution for the moment, Shen Zheng continued browsing the system panel.

Regional prosperity value could be converted 1:1 into prosperity points, which could then be used to exchange for items in the points shop.

The points shop was further divided into: Seed Zone, Tool Zone, Skill Zone, and Miscellaneous Zone.

Shen Zheng glanced roughly at the items in each zone—they were all rare treasures not found in this world. But even the cheapest item required a three-digit point exchange, which for her at this moment seemed as difficult as climbing to heaven.

She stopped looking at those items; being able to see but not afford was truly agonizing. Good things take time—she should first think about how to get that rice planted.

Before Shen Zheng could think further, Chief Registrar Xu’s voice came from outside the door.

“Your Honor! Something’s happened!”

Here we go again.

Shen Zheng answered listlessly: “Whose wild vegetables got stolen again?”

“No! Please come out quickly!”

What major incident could possibly happen in this tiny Tong’an County? But hearing the urgency in Chief Registrar Xu’s voice, which didn’t seem feigned, she had no choice but to go open the door.

The moment Chief Registrar Xu saw Shen Zheng open the door, he hurried forward, grabbed her sleeve, and pulled her toward the front hall.

Shen Zheng stumbled from the pull and shook off Chief Registrar Xu’s hand.

“What’s the hurry! Aren’t you the one most concerned about propriety between men and women? Why are you so careless today!”

Chief Registrar Xu stopped and looked at Shen Zheng, his expression solemn.

“Someone’s dead.”

“!!!” Her legs went weak, and she nearly dropped to her knees before him.

Someone’s dead!

If a death occurs within the county’s jurisdiction, she as the county magistrate could not escape blame.

Her good days…

Were over!