A young man from another world returned to his hometown.

Chapter 1

Xihai Province, Gao County, Guan Town, Tian Village.

Here, hills stretch endlessly, and mountain roads wind around and around. It takes a 30-minute bus ride to reach the nearest county town. On rainy days, driving on that bumpy cement road feels like riding a speedboat, with waves splashing everywhere.

The village is small, but it has a lot of farmland, though half of it is abandoned.

The young people have left—some to study, some to work, some to get married—leaving behind mostly hardworking elderly farmers who, along with the cicadas chirping all over the mountains, tend their few acres of rice paddies.

This area has always been a major source of labor export for the entire province. For the people of Tiancun, studying has only one purpose: to leave this place, go to the provincial capital, or any place with skyscrapers and jobs.

Lin Yan and his wife walked into the village. It was noon, and although it was spring according to the calendar, the sun here was already as scorching as midsummer. He stood under the lychee tree at the village entrance for a while, looking at the place where he had grown up, and slowly exhaled.

came back.

Uncle Lin Dahou was sitting under the shade of a tree, carrying a water pipe made from a mineral water bottle. When he heard the noise, he looked up and froze for a full three seconds.

"Ayan! What's this? Why are you back?"

"We've graduated, this is my boyfriend, and we're going to move back home from now on."

Lin Dahou's expression became somewhat complicated.

"Go home and live..."

He repeated those words, then silently took another deep breath, the water in the mineral water bottle churning.

"Ayan, you're a college student, you worked so hard to graduate, what are you doing back here? How are you going to find food in this place?"

"This is my home."

"This is your home, but there's nothing you can do here."

The uncle sighed, his tone filled with disappointment. He stood up, picked up the hoe he was using as a chair, and began to clean the mud off his feet.

"Look at this village, there's not a single young person left, even the primary school has closed down. You're a college graduate with a beautiful wife, what decent job can you find when you come back? Farming? Raising chickens? You've studied so hard for so many years, is this all you're going to do to come back and scrape a living off the land?"

Lin Yan looked at him calmly.

"I have my own plans, Uncle."

The uncle opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but looking into his nephew's eyes and remembering his younger brother who had passed away from liver cancer a few years ago, he ultimately didn't speak.

He lowered his head and let out a long sigh.

"Alright... Uncle will go get you the key and tidy up the house. No one has lived here for the past few years, and it's accumulated a lot of dust."

He walked hunched over into the inner room. Lin Yan stood there, watching his retreating figure, and remained silent for a while. What his uncle said was the truth.

There are indeed no decent jobs here, but he didn't come back to look for work in the first place.

After settling in, Lin Yan's first thought was to have a cup of milk tea.

He had spent too many years in that other world, where the cooking was indescribable. He had eaten countless pieces of precious monster meat, but there was no milk tea.

"Where is the market?"

He asked the uncle who was carrying the quilt out.

"That main street, it happens to be market day today, you can take my motorcycle there."

Lin Yan nodded, got on the green old Jialing motorcycle, and his wife sat on the back seat, hugging him. Although she hadn't touched a motorcycle for many years, as soon as she put her hand on the throttle, a strange impulse surged in her blood, and the motorcycle sped off on its own.

"Drive slowly! Be careful."

"good!"

The wind caressed my cheeks, and the lychee trees on both sides swayed.

Fruit trees, fish ponds, rice paddies, cultivation, sowing, and harvesting—the land is the source of sustenance for the people here.

The market near Tiancun is small, with only a national highway outside the village. Lin Yan walked around, his eyes scanning the various signs, but he couldn't find any chain milk tea shops. There was no Mixue Ice Cream, no Yihetang, not even a decent cup of pearl milk tea. However, there was a small shop near the middle school selling flavored milk tea powder, with several plastic bottles filled with colorful milk tea powder.

An old man was tending a juicer, lazily fanning away flies with a palm-leaf fan. Lin Yan finally decided to have a glass of sugarcane juice.

"Honey, it tastes so good!"

Princess Syl the elf looked at Lin Yan with a smile, and Lin Yan affectionately patted Syl's head.

"I'm glad you like it. I was worried you wouldn't be used to it."

"No, I'm fine with going anywhere with Mr. Hero!"

But he still wanted to drink milk tea.

During his university years, Lin Yan was transported to another world by a mysterious force.

In short, it's about the Middle Ages, magic, an elven princess, a hero, a dragon, and a Grand Duke of the North.

Meanwhile, on Blue Star's timeline, it's still stuck at the point where he just graduated from university.

He returned to Earth with the enormous wealth he had accumulated in the other world, and his wife, the elf princess Syl.

The first thing that happened after landing was that I almost turned into an old man with white hair.

Blue Star has no magic.

Magic kept him young and strong, but it dissipated after he returned, and time had to be made up for. If it weren't for Syl planting the World Tree of the Elves, he would probably be an old man by now.

The World Tree was planted, and the yard gained magic, but he still couldn't leave home for too long.

He was trapped.

Lin Yan had originally planned to take the wealth he had earned in the other world back to Earth to enjoy modern civilization and have a good time in the big cities.

As a result, he can only stay in his rural hometown now.

However, this didn't stump him; Lin Yan had thought it through very clearly.

The World Tree of the Elves is the pillar of their territory. The larger and denser the permanent population, the more magic the World Tree can provide, and the wider its coverage will be.

In other words, as long as Tamura's permanent population increases, his sphere of activity will expand, and eventually the entire village, or even the entire prefecture, may become his territory.

Having been a lord in another world for so many years, he deeply understands the principle that people strive for higher positions, while water flows downhill.

The people of Tamura all went to the city because there were no jobs or income here. If they could earn an income at home, who would want to leave home?

We invest money in construction, creating jobs and building supporting facilities to encourage villagers to return and attract outsiders to come in.

Lin Yan thought that with all the wealth he had accumulated in the other world over the years, building up a small village should be quite simple, right?

Lin Yan was carrying the rice, flour, and cooking oil she had bought, and was wondering where to start when she stepped into her uncle's courtyard. She heard a low sobbing coming from the inner room.

Lin Yan stopped in his tracks.

My uncle poked his head out from the kitchen, looking somewhat uncomfortable, and said in a low voice.

"Your cousin is here and she's arguing with your aunt. Don't go in yet."

"What's wrong?"

The uncle sighed and slowly began to speak.

It turns out that Lin Yan's cousin, Lin Jiaqing, went to work in the provincial capital after graduating from junior high school. She worked hard and diligently, but her parents' health deteriorated, so she chose to return to the village to take care of them. She is 26 years old this year and still single. In the countryside, at that age, she is constantly called an old maid by the gossipy women in the village. Her mother, who is Lin Yan's aunt, insists that she marry a man from the next village who runs a livestock farm. That man is in his thirties and has just gotten divorced.

How could Lin Jiaqing possibly agree? She said she didn't like that person, but her aunt said what use was it if she didn't like him? What's the point of a girl seeking stability?

Forced into a corner, Lin Jiaqing finally ran away to her uncle's house in a fit of anger and refused to go back.

Lin Yan stood in the courtyard for a while, then stepped into the main room.

Lin Jiaqing sat on the bed on the first floor. Because the primary schools of several nearby villages were located in Tian Village, she slept in this room when she was a child so that it would be convenient for her to study. Her eyes were red, and she was holding a pack of tissues in her hand. When she saw Lin Yan, she was stunned for a moment, then turned her face away and sniffed hard.

"Ayan is back."

"Um."

Lin Yan sat down opposite her, looked at her, and said calmly.

"Don't marry someone you don't like. You don't even know that person. Don't do something you'll regret."

Lin Jiaqing was still sniffling and choking back tears.

"Sigh... I wish I could, but we rural women don't have much education. What else can we do if we don't get married?"

"Come help me with my work!"

We'll stay in Grandpa's old house or my uncle's house.

Lin Yan said.

Lin Jiaqing was startled.

"My uncle definitely won't have any objections."

Moreover, I do need someone's help recently.

I want to open a Mixue Ice Cream shop in the market town, so would you like to stay and be the manager of my bubble tea shop?

Lin Jiaqing: "...Huh?"

"I'll provide the money for the milk tea shop, you can manage the staff, I'll pay your salary, and I'll provide you with six types of insurance and two types of housing funds. As long as you are financially independent, you won't have to worry about anyone forcing you to do things you don't want to do."

The main room fell silent for a moment.

His cousin stared at him, as if trying to determine if he was joking.

Lin Yan remained calm, showing no sign of joking.

After a moment, Lin Jiaqing slowly lowered her head, her grip on the tissue loosening slightly.

"…Cousin, thank you, but let's forget about it. I've worked outside before, and I know Mixue Ice Cream. What fool would open a Mixue Ice Cream shop in the countryside?"

"Don't worry about that. I have money. Just do as I say. Just tell me if you're willing or not."

Lin Yan glanced at the rolling hills outside the door, where the village's big yellow dog ran around playing. There were no milk tea shops or decent jobs here, but time seemed to pass slowly, and the land was home to a group of hardworking people.