The Gathering Hall was spacious and lively. People of the village had gathered around the hall right after work. Some were reporting their day's progress, others were sharing drinks before calling it a day.
Zhang Meng took the boy up the stairs in the middle of the hall. He knocked at the door at the end of the stairs before opening it for the boy.
"Mr. Gong, look who I brought!"
An elderly man peeked from behind the jade screen to the right of the room. The room looked like an office with a desk in the middle, right before a large window from which the entire village was visible.
The right side of the room was covered with a jade screen through which the elderly man just peeked.
"That's a kid," the old man uttered in disappointment.
"Not just any kid… He's the kid!" Zhang Meng intrigued the elderly man.
"The kid?" the old man finally walked past the jade screen, gasping as he looked at the boy, "The kid!!!"
The boy narrowed his eyes and stepped backward, trying to distance himself from the old man. The old man looked elated as he reached for his chair, sitting down and inviting the two to take their seats.
Zhang Meng gestured to the boy to sit down. Although skeptical, the boy sat next to Zhang Meng, facing the old man.
"So, kid, what's your name?"
The boy sighed, "I don't remember."
The old man was stunned, "He truly doesn't remember…"
Zhang Meng turned to the boy, "Let me introduce you to our village head, Gong Weimin. We all call him Mr. Gong."
Mr. Gong looked like an average old man. The boy glanced at him, only to find him smiling as a response. His teeth were heavily stained, indicating that he drank too much tea. It made sense. He owned a tea farm.
The boy pondered for a moment if Mr. Gong was the old man who trapped him inside a pod. The fact he was elated to see the boy could mean he already knew who he was.
"Mr. Gong," the boy took his chances, "Do you know me?"
"I don't," he replied bluntly, "But we can scan you right now."
Just then, Mr. Gong bent to his right to open a cupboard on his desk, taking out a biometric scanner. The boy frowned as Mr. Gong gestured to him to check himself. The boy was naturally oblivious to a lot of things having lost his memories, but he kept surprising himself when he found out he knew about a lot of things.
He instantly reached for the biometric scanner and placed his thumb on it, looking at Mr. Gong in anticipation as he checked his laptop for results.
"Um…"
Mr. Gong glanced at the boy in disbelief.
Both Zhang Meng and the boy simultaneously raised their brows to get an answer from Mr. Gong.
"It's blocked," Mr. Gong slapped the laptop shut and laid back in his chair, "Congratulations, kid. You're a top-secret government spy whose identity I dare not search further."
The boy scoffed in disbelief as he slowly pulled his hand back, "Are you implying something here?"
Mr. Gong dramatically shrugged, "What can this old man imply? I just told you what I saw. You're blocked by Zhongping State. If you want to get checked, pack your bags and leave for Zhongping State."
Mr. Gong reached for the scanner to put it back. Zhang Meng sighed loudly and turned to the boy.
"Looks like you can only get your answers in the Capital city like me and my wife guessed," he patted the boy's shoulder to comfort him.
The boy suddenly felt like he was thinking too much about it. After hearing Zhang Meng talking with his wife, the boy decided that these two were skeptical and untrustworthy. It turned out they were just guessing he might have to go to the Capital city to get information about himself.
The boy sighed, "Mr. Gong. Where is Zhongping State?"
"It's the Capital city, and pretty far. Don't leave right away. Let us help set you up with a trustworthy travel group first."
Mr. Gong seemed trustworthy. The boy unknowingly dropped his head back to look at the ceiling as the two grown-ups talked. Their conversation was muffled as the boy had started to trust them.
Lost in his thoughts, he couldn't help but wonder what his origin was. Who were his parents? Did he have siblings? Was he truly a top-secret government spy as jokingly implied by Mr. Gong? Who was the old man who put him inside the pod and left him in the middle of the mountains?
"Anyways," Mr. Gong tilted toward the boy, "Should we pick a name for you? You can't go around calling yourself a kid…"
The boy's eyes lit up like stars. Slowly but surely, he was opening up to the villagers. They could see it, too.
Mr. Gong pointed behind them, "There's a box there with random papers of names. I made the villagers submit names earlier. You can pick one."
Zhang Meng turned around and noticed a glass box, "That's not fair. No one told me we were doing this!"
Mr. Gong burst into chortles, "Just write one and put it inside the box now."
Zhang Meng quickly grabbed a pen and paper, glanced between the boy and the paper, smiled to himself for coming up with a genius name, and then slipped it inside the box.
The boy rushed up to the box and randomly picked out a paper, making Zhang Meng gasp out loud. The boy couldn't help but smile at his reaction, guessing the paper must be his. What were the odds? He unfolded the paper and read the name loudly.
"Yu Han…"
Mr. Gong chuckled, "What a fitting name, cold like the rain."
Yu Han clicked his tongue, "How am I cold?"
Although he displayed disapproval, both Zhang Meng and Mr. Gong could tell he had already fallen in love with the name. Words could lie, but eyes would never lie. And Yu Han's eyes? They were shining with hope and happiness. He had found a place worth staying even if he knew he didn't belong there.
That night, Zhang Meng took Yu Han back to his cottage. His wife offered to trim Yu Han's hair for him, and his son offered to share his room with him. They had dinner together, then took a stroll outside the cottage.
During the walk, Yu Han received a lot of information about the village. It was known as Meitong Tea Village and was one of the only villages in the north. Covered by snow-capped mountains, the village itself was lush green and enjoyed warmer weather than the mountains.
People called it 'the Emperor's blessing' because he was the one who introduced plants to this world. Yu Han was interested to know more about it, so Zhang Meng offered him to enroll in a school.
Confused by Zhang Meng's suggestion, Yu Han stopped walking and stared at him, "But I have to leave for Zhongping State soon?"
Zhang Tao, Zhang Meng's son, peeked from behind his father's shoulder, "Even if you stay here for a few days, going to school and making friends would be a worthwhile experience."
"You can just follow my son tomorrow morning. I'll write a letter for you to the school. You'll just have to go through a procedure to see if you're eligible for school. That's about it."
This world surprised Yu Han more than it had to. He had just woken up today after God knows how many days of sleep. Although he knew about a lot of things, he felt like he needed to work toward clarifying the knowledge stored in his head. Who knew if it was authentic?
The next morning, Yu Han had an early breakfast with Zhang Tao and left to catch the train with him. The two woke up early and walked calmly to the station.
"Most of the fuel in our land comes from Aetherstone, so our vehicles run on that as well," Tao randomly explained as they headed for the station.
Zhang Tao had seen how Yu Han enjoyed learning and had a curious mind. He naturally shared topics of interest with him to feel a sense of closure and build trust.
"Aetherstones?" Yu Han took the 'friendly' bait right away.
"Aetherstones are naturally occurring fuel sources," Tao leaned into Yu Han's ear, making him jolt away since it was a foreign gesture. "I'm trying to tell you a secret here."
Yu Han skeptically glanced at Tao before lending an ear despite feeling uncomfortable. As Tao leaned into his ear and whispered his grand secret, Yu Han only paid attention to how Tao's warm breath tickled his ear in uncomfortable ways he didn't wish to describe.
"I didn't catch any of that."
Tao dropped his shoulders in disappointment, "Then you will never make money and be rich."
Yu Han chuckled at the drastic remark, "Do you mind repeating the secret, then? I'll pay attention this time."
Tao giggled as his ambitions were answered, "Mining aetherstones and selling it to the other side for more money is a good business idea."
"The other side?"
"Shh," Tao struck his elbow on Yu Han's arm, "That's one thing you shouldn't be curious about. But I'll tell you because I take you as my future business partner."
Yu Han raised his eyebrows, showing Tao that he was invested. Truthfully, he was curious to know about the other side. But he was not even a single bit interested in Tao's future business let alone making money.
"The other side is our enemy country. We were at war once. They call themselves Nanchun State, but we don't recognize them, so we call them the other side."
Yu Han was both stunned and concerned, "You want to do business with your enemies?"
Tao nodded as he stopped before the station sign, "What's wrong with making money? It benefits everyone. Also, most mining sites are only open to us. The other side only has one mining site. This makes fuel much more precious there than here."
Before Yu Han could form an opinion about the business, the train arrived, ready to drop them at school.