Tianping Village.

"Have you heard? Tianlong Village thinks lending money is too much of a loss and has backed out!"

"Is that so?"

"The village chief was going door-to-door trying to persuade them the day before yesterday, so why has Tianlong Village changed its mind today?"

The man in the gray shorts glanced at Niu Dahang's tightly closed house and said in a low voice, "I heard that Tianlong Village knows that our village doesn't produce grain and is afraid that we won't be able to pay back the money."

"But isn't there land to settle the debt?" the man asked, puzzled. "Using land to settle the debt clearly means that Tianlong Village is the one who profited!"

The man in gray said, "Sigh, Tianlong Village knows that our village's land can't grow much grain, so why would they be willing to spend money to buy it?"

"Then what should we do?"

Seeing the other party's nervous expression, the man in gray stopped hiding his intentions and said frankly, "This is all thanks to the Township Head Kang Le, who personally went to persuade the people of Tianlong Village."

They said they'd give us two more days; if we didn't produce a deed signed by the villagers within two days, the previous agreement would be null and void.

The man's pupils contracted, realizing the seriousness of the situation. "I need to go home and discuss this. I'm leaving now."

After saying that, the man ran home without looking back, afraid of delaying things.

After the man left, Niu Xiaozhou appeared from the corner.

He walked straight to the man in gray, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "You're quite the talker, kid!"

Niu Ergou scratched his head and said shyly, "I just listened to fortune tellers telling fortunes under the overpass and learned some intimidating words. Don't take them seriously."

Niu Xiaozhou glanced at Niu Ergou and said, "You continue to spread the news to the villagers. Whether our village can overcome this difficulty depends entirely on this moment."

Although Niu Ergou hadn't received much formal education, his biggest idol was Niu Xiaozhou, who had married and had children at a young age.

You should know that in their Tianping Village, there are plenty of men in their thirties who can't find wives.

That alone was enough to make him both envious and admiring.

In less than half a day, the wind direction in Tianping Village changed.

At this moment, Niu Dahang was sitting in his own main room, drinking plain water and sighing to himself.

Lu Qiqi urged him to get the villagers' signed contracts as soon as possible, but he had no idea what to do.

His son had disappeared without a trace; he hadn't seen him for ages.

I wonder how the message Lu Qiqi asked him to spread is going?

"They're back, they're back."

Upon hearing his daughter-in-law Zhou's voice, Niu Dahang immediately stood up and looked outside.

When he saw Niu Xiaozhou walking quickly towards him, he quickly sat down.

He sat down too quickly, and the pain made him wince, but he couldn't make a sound, so he had to hold it in.

As soon as Niu Xiaozhou entered the house, Zhou poured him a bowl of water and gave him a towel to wipe his sweat.

After all that, Niu Dahang was extremely anxious, but he didn't dare to say anything, lest his daughter-in-law feel that he, her father-in-law, was mistreating her.

These days, it's not easy to find a wife. When he finally got Zhou Shi married, he practically wore out the doorstep of matchmakers. He had to treat Zhou Shi well.

You can't take your anger out on your daughter-in-law, but you can still scold your son.

Niu Dahang, with a stern face, scolded, "You've been gone for half a day without even coming back to let us know. If you mess things up, I'll beat you with a stick!"

Zhou was startled by Niu Dahang's words and shrank back slightly.

Niu Xiaozhou noticed the small gesture and subtly patted Zhou's back as a gesture of comfort.

Niu Xiaozhou said, "The matter has been settled, and the contract will be signed within two days."

This was the first time Niu Dahang had heard good news in so many days; the last time was when the plague was cured.

Overjoyed, he laughed and said, "Hahaha, that's wonderful!"

Now Tianping Village can temporarily overcome its difficulties and avoid starvation.

...

Lu Qiqi was also busy.

Yesterday, we promised Tianlong Village that we would prepare medicine, and today Tianlong Village came with more than a dozen oxcarts to pick it up.

Fortunately, last night, when it was quiet, she replaced the water from the wild grass in the jar with spring water.

To avoid being exposed, she also added grass juice to the spring water, making the dozens of vats of slightly green 'potion' even more convincing.

When Village Chief Tian arrived with his men, Lu Qiqi explained to them how to use the medicine.

"This medicine can be used to soak rice seeds directly, and they can be planted normally in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

Tian Dalong nodded repeatedly, silently memorizing Lu Qiqi's words.

Suddenly, Lu Qiqi remembered something and asked, "Village Chief Tian, ​​how does Tianlong Village grow rice?"

Tian Dalong didn't know Lu Qiqi and assumed she was just curious when he asked her question.

He said, "It's just a matter of digging a small hole, scattering a dozen or so grains of rice, and then burying it."

Lu Qiqi recalled that Li Qingshan and the others had done the same thing back then, so she was now certain that the rice planting method was not widespread in the Great Jin Dynasty, and they might not even know that such a method existed.

Now that things have come to this, she no longer cares about the seedling transplanting method, which, in her understanding of history, has long existed.

She said, "I previously said that improving rice survival rate is far from enough with just this medicine."

Tian Dalong then asked, "What's still missing?"

Lu Qiqi said, "Raise seedlings and seedlings."

Seedling cultivation?

This was the first time Tian Dalong had ever heard of such a thing; in all his life, no one had ever done it before.

"Will it work?"

“Of course it can!” Li Changlong said confidently when Tian Dalong asked doubtfully, “Back in Luzhou Prefecture, Qiqi told us that our rice seedlings survived even after half a month of continuous rain.”

Upon hearing this, the villagers of Tianlong Village began to whisper among themselves.

"Is it really that miraculous? After half a month of rain, the rice seeds were all washed out by the rain, how could they still survive?"

"Maybe it's true. Look, the village chief saved people from several villages. Who would have believed that a female doctor could have such amazing skills before!"

“That’s right. We can’t distrust the village head just because we’ve never met him.”

After several conversations, Lu Qiqi even suspected that if Li Changlong continued to praise her like this, the villagers in these villages would all become her believers.

After listening to Li Changlong's words and observing Lu Qiqi's calm expression, Tian Dalong felt that the matter was most likely true.

Even if it's fake, since they've already used the chemicals, they don't care about the farming methods anymore.

"Young brother, please don't hesitate to give me your guidance." Tian Dalong bowed to Li Changlong, imitating a scholar.

Before anyone had greeted Li Changlong, he was at a loss for what to do and hurriedly asked Tian Dalong to put his hand down.

Feeling a little awkward, he started to move around naturally and said, "I won't ask you for advice, I'll just tell you what I know."

After saying that, he scratched his earlobe somewhat shyly.

When Lu Qiqi saw him lower his hand, her ears turned as red as cherries.

She found it amusing, thinking that Li Changlong, a twenty-year-old boy, was quite a character.

Tian Dalong took the medicine back and also asked Li Changlong, his temporary mentor, to leave.

Lu Qiqi was left alone and returned to the small courtyard in Tianxin Village.