The Time-Traveling Wooden Door: How People of the Past Make a Living

Fang Hui is forty-two, freshly divorced, and her son has just started college. Her husband cheated, and she left with nothing but a remote mountain farm her grandfather had left behind. The weeds are taller than people, the house leaks everywhere, and hoes are scattered across the ground. She doesn’t know how to use a single one. She broke down and shouted, “Can someone come help me with the work?” Suddenly, a blue screen appeared before her eyes: [Farm System activated. Post a job listing?] She tapped “Post.” A little while later, a skinny boy dressed in ancient clothes stood at the gate. “Do you provide meals? How much does the job pay?” Fang Hui crouched down and looked him in the eyes. “I’ll provide meals. I can pay you in food. Would that work for you?” The boy froze for a moment, then nodded hard. “Sure!” Fang Hui gave him some eggs, a few slightly wilted apples, and a bowl of water. The boy clutched them, his eyes turning red. The part-time worker gave her a good review, and the System chimed again and again: [Reward: A complete mountain spring water irrigation system] [Reward: A packet of pest- and disease-resistant seeds] [Reward: Simple greenhouse technology] [Hire thirty workers in total to unlock a permanent employee] Fang Hui looked at the line of ancient laborers behind her and smiled. So what if she was divorced? This mountain was hers now.