Chapter 125: I cover both meals a day

He couldn't believe that a woman with nothing could make gunpowder out of thin air!

It must be the gunpowder brought by the man who protected her just now, with the intention of enslaving them.

They say they are building roads, but that is just ordering them to do hard labor, just like the officers and soldiers.

Zheng Yang would never be ordered around by anyone!

Now we are all exiles, why should we listen to her?

The officers and soldiers are not here, how can a lowly woman like her want to act like a mountain king?

Pooh!

But it was useless for him to object alone, after all, everyone else agreed.

Not long after, the news that Ruan Mian was going to lead everyone to build a road spread. With Xue Yuanzhao, Wu Jie and others talking to him, others were able to accept it more quickly.

However, if Ruan Mian asks someone to help, he will not let them work in vain.

"For those who work, I will provide two meals a day. In addition, I will calculate the monthly wages for everyone according to the labor price in Kyoto. I will not reduce it by a single cent."

When everyone heard this, they were immediately overjoyed.

You have to know that in this situation, some people can't even get enough to eat, and they are troubled by what to get from the woods at the end of the day.

This time, as long as you go to work, you will not only get free meals every day, but also extra wages.

This is a fatal temptation for them now, and no one will refuse!

But Cuizhu and the others were worried, and pulled Ruan Mian aside and whispered.

"Girl, are we...are we really going to be responsible for feeding so many people? Where are we going to get so much food?"

"We barely have enough food for our family, how can we feed so many people?"

Other people in the Ruan family also had this doubt, but Ruan Mian had already given an explanation for it.

"Don't worry, Master Xie will help us with the food. Besides collecting it in the mountains, we can also go to Liaolie to buy it. Our Master Xie has no shortage of money."

"Ah? Can we still... go to Liaole to buy things? Aren't you afraid of running into soldiers?"

"Liao Lie is close to us, and the soldiers are fighting in Wuheng. They won't approach the Liao Lie border for no reason. Anyway, we can solve the problem of food."

"The most urgent thing is to build a saltpeter plantation. Oh, Cuizhu, go build mud walls around the goose houses and pig pens. We can collect some saltpeter from these places."

"Is there still saltpeter in those places?"

Ruan Qingsong, who was standing by, didn't expect that his sister was so knowledgeable. It was the first time he heard that saltpeter could be grown, which was really eye-opening.

In fact, this method was also thanks to Ruan Mian's practice at the end of the world.

This so-called "seed" of saltpeter is actually a simulation of the natural saltpeter formation environment to build a systematic collection garden.

In this collection garden, multiple ditches need to be dug, lined with clay, and then layered with excrement and rotten leaves.

Wood ash should be spread between each layer, and some small branches should be placed to ensure a certain amount of air circulation.

In the following days, excrement should be added to the ditch regularly to ensure it remains moist.

After a period of time, the dirt in the ditch can be dug out and dissolved with pure rainwater to leach out the saltpeter crystals.

The process is not short, and there is definitely not enough time to use these makeshift gunpowder.

So she planned to use a large amount of the black powder in the space first, and use this collection garden as the source of the black powder.

In this way, others would not wonder how she obtained the gunpowder.

Ruan Qingsong took advantage of the fact that no one was around and pulled her aside. He suddenly stared at her seriously and asked a question.

"Where is the real Mian Mian?"

Hearing this, Ruan Mian couldn't help laughing: "Brother, I am Mian Mian, how could there be another one?"

Ruan Qingsong's expression was very serious. He looked Ruan Mian up and down and said affirmatively.

"How could you be Mian Mian? Could it be someone else's resurrection?"

I didn't expect that he, as a brother, really cares about his sister. He can see it all.

But this matter was so absurd that Ruan Mian certainly would not explain to him why she had traveled through time. It was too troublesome and too complicated.

So he started talking nonsense seriously.

"Brother, I'm Mianmian. I know you're wondering why I'm different now. It's because during my three years at the Qi family, I've figured out a lot."

"I could only survive by relying on myself. Look at the situation at the Qi Mansion. I had to be very careful if I wanted to survive."

"So I read on my own. Many of my skills were learned from books. Didn't you always say that reading more will lead to a bright future? I've always kept that in mind."

Hearing his sister's sincere words, Ruan Qingsong felt extremely guilty for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Mianmian. It's all because of me, your elder brother, being useless. I failed to take care of the family, and instead implicated you. And... you were a widow in the Qi Mansion for three years, and I didn't even know about the difficult situation you were in..."

He was a tall and strong man, but when he thought about this, his eyes turned red.

Looking at his thin sister, Ruan Qingsong made up his mind.

"Mianmian, don't worry. I will protect you for the rest of my life. Whether you get married or not, I will always protect you!"

As for marrying into the Qi family, it was a first time, and he would never let Mianmian make the same mistake again.

Ruan Mian understood his heart and nodded heavily.

"Okay, then brother will protect me from now on."

Hearing him say this, Ruan Qingsong finally smiled with relief from the bottom of his heart.

So in the next few days, Ruan Qingsong took on all the work of surveying and observing the road. He was there for all the most tiring and troublesome tasks without any complaints.

The big kitchen at home was taken care of by Cuizhu and Meixi. They followed Ruan Mian along the way, and their cooking skills improved day by day.

The food was provided by Ruan Mian.

After gathering a group of people, they first built several "public toilets" near the house with earth and stones. The raw materials were used for fertilizing subsequent farming and producing saltpeter.

Then they chose a flat land far away from the houses, dug ditches, and built a saltpeter collection garden.

The food they provided was better than what most people could find on their own, so for this little bit of food, those people worked hard, which was more fulfilling than doing nothing all day.

There were only a few families that did not participate, including the Qi family and Zheng Zhao and his family.

Zheng Zhao is now lying in the house half human, half ghost and unable to move, and his old father at home is blind, so everything is decided by Zheng Yang.

In the past, Zhu Qin'er could take care of all the chores at home, and they only needed to order Zhu Qin'er around. But now Zhu Qin'er has gone to live with Ruan Mian, and there is no one left at home who can be ordered around.

The old mother could not be relied upon, so Zheng Zhao began to look for other female relatives.

Within a few days, he hooked up with Yuan Xi from the Qi Mansion.