Chapter 250 Betting

Bai Li raised his eyebrows slightly. This old man was really rude.

"Little girl, don't think I'm being rude. I'm a real man and I never say anything outrageous."

Well, her eyesight is pretty good, I can tell what she is thinking.

The old man was also talkative. After introducing himself as Sun, he started talking about the crops in the field.

“These seedlings have survived, but the yield is definitely not good.

The seedlings have damaged their roots. If there is enough fertilizer to catch up, the yield can still be half of what it used to be. Otherwise, it will not even be half."

“That serious!”

Nangong Min couldn't help but exclaimed, thinking that it could be saved by watering, but unexpectedly...

"This is still considered fortunate. We have to thank Princess Donghu for coming up with the waterwheel. We moved the waterwheel from the canal to the ditch, saving the crops.

Even if the yield isn't good, at least we can get some harvest. We can chop down these stalks and feed the pigs and chickens. If we're really hungry, we can even have a couple of meals."

“Do people eat these?”

Bai Li was also shocked. Those were rice stalks and bean stalks, hard and prickly...

"That's nothing. Fifty years ago, when my grandfather's generation encountered a drought, they even stripped the bark off the trees on the mountain and ate it. If there was no bark, they dug up grass roots. If there was no grass roots, they ate Guanyin soil..."

When talking about the past, Old Man Sun talked incessantly and even wiped away tears when he talked about sad things.

“…In the end, we had no other choice but to flee the famine and finally settled down here.

There were more than 300 people in the village, but here only 98 people were left, less than 100 people!"

Only then did the two realize that Old Man Sun had come here to escape famine and was not a native here.

"Along the way, more than 200 people died of disease, starvation, and murder!"

"Our village is relatively good. Even if people starve to death, we have never seen such immoral acts as selling children or eating their own children.

We, big and small, settled down here, and the number of people has grown from the original 98 to more than 400 now.

In other villages, only a few dozen young and strong people were left after fleeing famine. After settling down in other places, it took decades for the population to grow to over a hundred."

"So, people shouldn't do anything immoral, because God is watching!"

"You don't know, this drought is even worse than the one fifty years ago. I heard that those places in Qianxi have run out of water a long time ago. Only the Grand Canal that runs through Dazhou has water.

We have to thank Princess Donghu for inventing this wonderful thing, which can bring up water from low-lying and distant areas, so that the crops in our fields can be saved.

If this is promoted elsewhere, I believe the drought in Da Zhou will be alleviated.”

"The Emperor said that Princess Donghu is the savior of our Great Zhou, and he was right."

Nangong Min looked at Old Man Sun with an indescribable look: Do you know that the person you are praising is right in front of you?

No matter how thick-skinned Bai Li was, he still felt a little embarrassed when people praised him continuously.

"Uncle Sun, if I told you there's a fertilizer that can restore crops to their peak growth period, and if not increase yields, at least not reduce them, would you believe me?"

"How is that possible!"

Old man Sun had an expression on his face that looked like a little girl who was ignorant and would make fun of anything.

"Uncle Sun, do you know who she is?"

Old Man Sun didn't know Bai Li's abilities, but Nangong Min did. Since she could tell it, it must be pretty close.

"No one can defeat her, unless she is a deity!"

Bai Li raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't use any high-tech of the end of the world at all. He just used the simplest fermentation technology to ferment fertilizer and apply it to ensure that the crops grew strong and straight and produced abundant fruits.

"What if I could do that?"

Old Man Sun stiffened his neck and blurted out, "If you can keep the crop yields the same this year, you'll be my aunt!"

"Anyone who wants to be your great aunt is calling me old!"

"So what do you want?"

"If I can do that, you'll have to work for me for three years, just for food and no pay!"

"Alright! If you can really do it, I'll work for you for three years for free, regardless of the food!"

"Alright! Then let's high-five and make a pact. No one can go back on their word!"

"Wait, if you can't do this..."

"If I can't do it, I'll pay you one hundred taels of silver!"

“Snap! Snap! Snap!”

Nangong Min was stunned and before he could react, the old man and the young man completed the covenant like children playing house.

Bai Li has a wild personality, so it's not surprising that she does such childish things, but why does that old man follow her in her crazy ways?

Old man Sun rubbed his hands that were numb from being hit: Can I say I want to go back on my word?

He just did something so embarrassing in the heat of the moment. The little girl was ignorant, and he...

Oh, if the villagers knew what happened today, he would lose all his face!

Also, why does he feel like he's been tricked?

Bai Li smiled like a little fox. Who wouldn't be happy to get a free farmhand?

In this year of severe drought, the Great Zhou Kingdom successfully drew precious water from dried-up rivers and groundwater sources with the help of the waterwheel invented by Bai Li, irrigating the cracked farmland and bringing vitality to crops that were on the verge of drying up in various places.

Bai Li knew very well that water alone was not enough. The soil fertility had been severely damaged by the drought, and the subsequent growth of crops still faced challenges.

So, Bai Li wrote several memorials in a very eloquent manner and submitted them to the court regarding what raw materials to find, how to ferment, and how to apply fertilizer.

Three days later, she simply set up a banquet with dozens of tables in the Princess's Mansion, as if she were moving into her new home.

She didn't invite any guests at all. The Bai family's previous relatives and friends had become estranged because of the Bai family's property confiscation and exile, so there was no need to invite them.

Bai Yue doesn't get along with her and doesn't want to invite her.

It would have been enough for the family to just sit down and have a meal, but they set up dozens of tables.

There was no other way, as the dozens of banquet tables were filled with the five hundred cavalrymen who were both her subordinates and as close as her family.

But I didn’t expect that Namgoong Min’s grandmother and his cousin Namgoong Ling would both come that day.

The eldest princess of the previous dynasty, now the mistress of the Nangong family, came to congratulate her on moving into her new home.

Bai Li knew that they were using this opportunity to thank her for saving Nangong Ling, so she warmly entertained the two uninvited guests.

As for Nangong Min, he is not considered a guest. I don’t know what he said to the emperor. Anyway, he is now Bai Li’s personal bodyguard, and the princess’s mansion has reserved a room for him. He has long regarded this place as his home.

At the banquet, Madam Nangong kept praising Bai Li, and Nangong Ling echoed her. No matter how thick-skinned Bai Li was, he felt embarrassed to hear it, so he secretly glared at Nangong Min, signaling him to save the situation. Unfortunately, that person was smiling cunningly and pretended not to see it the whole time, but the corners of his mouth were raised and he couldn't suppress it no matter how hard he tried.

Bai Li glared at him, swung her eyes at him, and threw knives at him, but none of them worked. She was so angry that she gritted her teeth.

The old lady saw the quarrel between the two and smiled even more meaningfully.

After the banquet, Bai Li respectfully sent the old lady away and went to settle accounts with Nangong Min. However, he searched the entire mansion but couldn't find him. Wu Lanzhi covered her mouth and laughed, saying, "Major General Nangong said he was worried about grandma, so he personally sent them home!"