Yuan raised his head to look at the grand courtyard in front of him.

The Zhuge family of Langya.

Zhuge Feng, the ancestor of the Zhuge family, was Sili Xiaowei (Minister of Law Enforcement) during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty, holding the official title of a first-rank military general, overseeing the world. Naturally, the Zhuge family was also one of the most prominent clans in Langya. Yuan wandered the world, relying on his medical skills, and eventually followed a distant relative of the Zhuge family to seek refuge here, escaping the wars in the Central Plains.

When he arrived here, he felt a little dazed.

Langya was different from the places he had passed through before.

It seemed that the life where he was forced to the point of not being able to survive, the people forced to rise up in revolt, and the high-ranking families of Langya lived in two different worlds. Was Luoyang, where the emperor resided, also a different world from outside Luoyang?

Some people had meat and wine at home, so much that it couldn't be eaten and spoiled.

But some people had to eat tree bark and tree leaves, dying on the road.

Yuan was sought out because one of the Zhuge family's children was weak. Hearing that his medical skills were excellent, they wanted him to help recuperate. Because he was entering this mansion, he changed into clean clothes, but compared to the person leading him, he still looked shabby. Only the young Daoist had a good demeanor and seemed very calm.

He didn't like these aristocratic families, but at least he should save people.

The child's mother had just passed away, and his father was serving as an official in another place. The eldest brother, Zhuge Jin, was only ten years old.

So he wasn't well taken care of and actually fell ill.

Yuan met that child on this day.

Fair-skinned and quiet, with baby fat, and a little listless.

But he was still very polite when he saw someone coming.

The three-year-old child was preparing to perform a greeting, but before he could stand up, Yuan, who was thirteen, pressed him on the shoulder. Even if Yuan's body was weak, he was still stronger than a three-year-old child. The child was pushed back down onto the bed. Growing up in a noble family, where etiquette was emphasized everywhere, it was the first time his etiquette had been interrupted. The child was immediately stunned, blinked his eyes, and couldn't say a word.

Yuan didn't like those formalities and said directly:

"What's your name?"

The somewhat dazed child was stunned for a moment and replied:

"Huh? Liang…"

"Zhuge Enliang?"

"No, no, just Liang."

The child waved his hand in the air:

"My name is Zhuge Liang."

………………

Yuan couldn't quite explain why.

Maybe it was because the child named Liang was too young, or maybe it was because his parents were also not by his side.

He also had to take care of an even younger brother, all alone in this cold, grand mansion.

Or maybe, he vaguely remembered being seriously ill when he was two or three years old.

So he slowly became familiar with this child.

Yuan slowly nursed the child's body. His medical skills were taught by his master Zhang Jiao, honed in the chaotic world. If medical skills were integrated with spells, they could almost be called supernatural powers, but for some reason, he couldn't heal himself.

And his medical skills were fully displayed on this child.

The child quickly recovered.

Moreover, because of Yuan's mistaken understanding of 'recuperating from physical weakness'.

After this child recovered from his illness, he even grew taller, taller than some children older than him, and stronger than some children from families of military generals. It was said that a good man in the army was seven chi tall, but this child would probably be more than seven chi when he grew up.

The one who said this was an old man from a military family, who seemed a little envious.

And Yuan was also able to enter here often.

He also knew that although this child seemed very mature, it was only forced out of him in the Zhuge family. Once, he pushed open the door and saw Zhuge Liang, who was only four years old, lying on a bamboo mat, wearing only his underwear, revealing his round belly, basking in the sun, lazily squinting his eyes taking a nap.

Two butterflies were flying around, not afraid, and landed directly on his nose.

This scene looked very peaceful.

Ah Yuan thought for a while, couldn't help it, and patted the child's belly, scaring him awake.

The two butterflies were also startled and left.

The sickly young Daoist pretended that nothing had happened, and said in a light tone: "What time is it? You slept so long again today?"

The child was both ashamed and annoyed, so angry that he gritted his teeth, almost wanting to pounce on Yuan's shoulder and bite him. He did just that. Today, Yuan had a mascot hanging on his shoulder, walking around. If it were before, he would definitely have been blamed, but now there were basically not many people in this branch who cared, so it was allowed.

In addition to recuperating, Yuan accompanied the child of the Zhuge family most of the time.

With a child's heart, he would pester Yuan to tell him stories from outside.

So, in these few years, this child of a famous Langya family, the descendant of a prominent clan, would sit on a stone bench, his feet unable to reach the ground, swaying back and forth, his hands supporting his cheeks, listening to the young Daoist who had traveled through the chaotic world, who had heard the most unwilling and angry roars of the lowest people, listening to the last fire, telling those past events.

Starting from the age of three.

Seeing the rich feast on wine and meat, knowing the hardship of the people's livelihood.

What he saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears caused a huge contrast and impact in the child's heart.

He was originally expected by his family, and he also aspired in his heart to his ancestor Zhuge Feng, to become a first-rank official of the great Han Dynasty.

But then one day he told Yuan that his goal had become Guan Zhong, to reform the country, to make the world prosperous, so that the scenes Yuan described would no longer appear, there would be no more famines, no more people who couldn't survive. At that time, he said it very seriously, his tone childish and impassioned, and Yuan almost thought it was true.

The next day,

Yuan saw the five-year-old child chasing butterflies, laughing happily.

In the end, he was still just a child.

The young Daoist smiled self-deprecatingly, retracted his gaze, and looked at the swaying willows in a daze.

The child turned his head and asked him, "Dr. Yuan, why are you looking so intently?"

"Haven't you seen it before?"

Yuan hummed and said, "Because the buds and bark of willow trees, like elm leaves, can be eaten, so many people won't let them go. Over time, the willow trees will die, and you won't see this kind of scenery."

"Dr. Yuan, have you seen it before?"

"Yes."

The child looked at him, patted his waist, and comforted him, "Don't worry, I will definitely not let such things happen again in the future. Everyone will definitely have enough to eat... Even if they don't have enough to eat, as long as everyone eats a little less, everyone can survive."

Seeing that the young Daoist was still silent, he jumped up and scurried onto Yuan's shoulders.

"Let's go fly a kite, Yuan, you're always frowning, you're only a few years older than me."

"Let's have fun."

He patted Yuan's shoulders excitedly.

The grass grew and swallows flew, the breeze was bright and the moon was clear. Yuan didn't think this child was telling the truth, he just accompanied him casually. In this era, it was too difficult to have enough to eat, and once a famine occurred, it would expand. As the child said, it was even more difficult for everyone to eat less. Who would have such prestige?

The fifteen-year-old young Daoist, holding the five-year-old child.

Or rather, being pulled forward, walking through the streets and alleys of Langya.

Prosperity, even if it was illusory prosperity, was an extremely rare experience for the young Daoist who had experienced suffering since childhood.

They saw the array of goods, saw the silk and satin, saw the freshest fruits, saw the blooming flowers.

He didn't know that as the years passed, in the future, this child with bright eyes would really govern a country. The Wu in Jiangnan, the Wei that occupied most of the world, and the Jin that annexed the nine provinces, all had famines recorded twice in official history. The word 'hunger' in the history books, when placed in this era, might mean there was nothing to eat, even exchanging children for food.

Only that country that inherited the name of the great Han had not a single famine.

The people had no complaints.

……………

And in order to recuperate the child's body.

Yuan had to constantly try new prescriptions.

However, many medicines were not available in the pharmacies at all, or they were too expensive. Yuan asked several times, and the Zhuge family also looked for the corresponding medicines several times, but the medicinal properties were too poor. When they were placed in front of him, the young Daoist just shook his head. In the end, he simply carried his medicine bag and walked into the mountains with a small hoe.

Fortunately, he had traveled north and south with his teacher Zhang Jiao. Although his body was weak, his leg strength was still passable.

He found a lot of medicine after going back and forth.

But his own body could never be healed. He had already accepted it. On this day, he found a top-quality good medicine, carefully put it back in the medicine basket on his back. The young Daoist suddenly noticed a trace of deliberately leaked aura. He panicked in his heart at first, then quickly calmed down, raised his head.

He saw on this lush mountain range, at some point, stood a woman with a dignified posture and noble temperament, ethereal and graceful. The young Daoist wiped his sweat, hung the medicine hoe on his side, cupped his hands slightly, his voice calm, and said, "This humble Daoist greets you."

The dignified woman looked him up and down, and joked:

"You are clearly still a little scared in your heart, how can you still pretend to be so calm?"

The young Daoist remained silent.

He stood here, but no one would pat him on the shoulder and let him stand behind them anymore.

The woman pointed, and pavilions and stone tables appeared next to her. She invited the young Daoist to sit down and said:

"We meet again."

"I have always been curious about one thing in my heart, so I came to ask."

Yuan didn't know what the 'again' this person was referring to meant.

The woman didn't elaborate, just smiled and asked, "I see that your body is weak, it should be a natural deficiency, your foundation is broken, you will not be able to reach the peak of cultivation in your lifetime, and you will be plagued by illness and unable to recover, right?"

Yuan said, "Fellow Daoist has excellent eyesight, so why ask?"

The woman shook her head, just holding a smile, and said, "I just want to ask."

Her voice paused, and she asked:

"General, do you ever regret it?"

ps: Today's first update... three thousand words, thanks to Liu Yun Sui Feng for the generous reward, what was mentioned are all the disaster years in the Imperial Records.

Wei State records: In the third year of Huangchu, and the fifth year of Huangchu, there was a great famine in Jizhou.

Jin State records: In the seventh year of Taishi, there was famine in Yongzhou, Liangzhou, and Qinzhou; in the fifth year of Xianning, there was famine among the common people.

Wu State records: In the third year of Chiwu, and the second year of Wufeng.

Shu: None.