River of Grain, Against the Current, Downstream

Zhuo Zhen wakes in the body of a low clerk with famine at the county gates and rice stores near empty. He keeps one hand on his seal and one on the hilt of a borrowed sword, because every idea he has for saving the fields needs the backing of someone richer, older, and far more dangerous. Seed spacing, flood drainage, dry milling, and grain mixing can keep people alive, but each fix pulls him deeper into court talk, clan pride, and the old wound of being cut off by his teacher. A rusted punishment tablet hangs under his collar. A patrol bell in his pack hums whenever malice is near. He keeps acting like the work is only work, even while one person beside him makes his qi move better than it ...