Chapter 469 A Family of纨绔 (Wán kù, a spoiled and dissolute family) Causes the Death of the Entire Court (22)

No matter how much grain He'an County stockpiled, it couldn't withstand the influx of refugees from all over the country in the next month.

By then, the situation was completely out of control, and the grain in the granaries was rapidly depleting.

By this time, all the refugees in the country knew that He'an County was distributing grain, while those who were unaware were still clinging to their last hope and traveling thousands of miles to come.

However, when the refugees heard that the granaries were empty and there was no more food stored, they were so hungry and desperate that they lost all reason.

Tens of thousands of refugees broke down the gates of the Jin family and stole their last grain.

In the end, the Jin family, young and old, were forced to flee. The thought of their miserable end making Jin Chuyao want to laugh was so strong that she couldn't help but laugh.

This time, they weren't so lucky to escape before the refugees invaded.

The brother and sister were whispering to each other in the field. Li Yong squinted at them for a long time before finally deciding to go down to the field himself.

He wanted to hear what these two were plotting.

Then, as he lifted his robe, rolled up his sleeves, reached out, picked up a rice seedling, and leaned closer...

With a crisp "snap".

A slap landed unexpectedly on the back of Li Yong's hand.

He was stunned and stared in disbelief at Jin Shu, the instigator.

"what you do?!"

It was one thing to punish him with beatings before, but now he hasn't done anything yet, and Jin Shu's sudden slap has left his hand red.

Seeing this, Jin Chuyao felt even more pain than if the blow had hit her. She ran to the field in a few steps, stared at Li Yong's reddened hand, and began to scold him.

"Jin Shu, how could you hit someone like that?"

Jin Shu looked completely calm, without the slightest bit nervous or embarrassed.

"These rice seedlings are precious. Don't touch them until you've learned how to farm."

Jin Chuyao sneered.

"It's just a rice seedling! You've made it a pretext for tormenting people! Young Master Wu just wanted to help you out of kindness."

"How dare you tell me what to do about him? You like him too?"

Jin Shu's two simple sentences left Jin Chuyao flustered and speechless.

"You...you mustn't be talking nonsense!"

"Then mind your own business. If you're really bored, come and help me farm."

Although Jin Chuyao harbored many bad intentions, she was genuinely skilled at farming.

In the original story, she found grains that were still growing vigorously on dry land. Although they didn't taste good and their nutritional value was greatly reduced, they genuinely solved the problem of feeding the people.

Since she was so good at farming, Jin Shu naturally couldn't let go of such a promising talent.

Li Yong kept a straight face, secretly regretting why he had asked for trouble.

The next second, Jin Shu pulled him to her side.

"If you want to farm, you can learn from me."

"You think you can do it?"

"Anyway, you know more than I do."

After saying that, Jin Shu gently straightened the rice seedlings in her hands, used a small shovel to dig a hole in the ground with one hand, and used the other hand to precisely and neatly insert the rice seedlings above the roots into the hole.

“The pit should be about an inch deep. The roots should be trimmed slightly, then half of the soil should be buried, a layer of moist soybean powder should be sprinkled on top, and then the other half should be buried.”

After finishing, tamp the soil around the plant firmly, and plant a seedling about two fingers' width away.

Jin Shu's technique was so swift and decisive that Li Yong would have seriously doubted whether she was half-blind if she didn't frequently use her fingers to explore her surroundings instead of her eyes.

"Where did you learn these methods?"

Sprinkle with soybean powder?

Is this a method that a young lady from a secluded family would know?

Putting aside whether it's effective or not, why specifically soybean flour?

Jin Shu is a good teacher. Although she doesn't have much patience, she is more tolerant of students who are eager to learn and ask questions.

"Soybean flour can absorb moisture, making the soil more moist, and in the current water-scarce situation, it can retain as much water as possible for the rice seedlings."

"That's quite novel."

"Have you learned it? If you have, try it yourself."

There's still a lot of work to be done today, and the more people who come to help, the better.

Li Yong looked down at the rice seedlings in his hand, then unconsciously glanced at Jin Shu.

To outsiders, she may seem no different from a normal person, but Li Yong, who has known her and observed her for so long, naturally knows how much effort it would take for her, who is partially blind, to do the same things as an ordinary person.

Ordinary people can measure distances and dimensions with just their eyes, but Jin Shu has to use both hands to frequently feel around on the hard ground, which requires her to expend more energy.

Beneath her coarse linen clothes, her face was flushed red from the heat. Normally she would wear heavy makeup, but today she hadn't applied any powder at all. With her bare face, water droplets slid down her forehead, outlining the contours of her face, and surprisingly, she looked somewhat pleasing to the eye.

Lively, energetic, focused, and serious.

These are all the words Li Yong could think of.

Surprisingly, they were all positive words.

And so, from beginning to end, even Zhang Shixu got down to help.

No one could stop him, and in the end, they could only let him go.

With the governor already on the ground, how could Madam Jin and Magistrate Jin just stand by and watch? So they had no choice but to join in.

Jin Shu taught them how to operate it at first.

Later it became Jin Shou'an.

Sweating profusely, Madam Jin looked at her son and daughter in the fields and couldn't help but complain to the county magistrate beside her.

"Look at your good son and good daughter, they can't learn anything, but they're surprisingly enthusiastic about farming."

The magistrate laughed heartily.

"Farming is a skill, at least we won't have to worry about our children going hungry in the future."

"Do you really want them to go back to farming?"

The Jin family had spent countless efforts over generations to completely shed the label of "peasants," only to regress to that label in their generation.

The magistrate glanced at her.

"What's wrong with farming? Being self-sufficient and having enough to eat and wear is much better than them being idle and fooling around all day like before, isn't it?"

That makes sense.

An hour later, Jin Shouan, covered in sweat, actually called out a greeting.

"Over here! There are no more rice seedlings over here! Drag another pallet over!"

"Okay, I'll send it over right away."

Jin Shouan's hand speed is now almost comparable to Jin Shu's.

Finally, all three planks of rice seedlings were planted, and everyone was covered in sweat and panting heavily.

During this time, Jin Chuyao couldn't bear it any longer, so she pretended to help Madam Jin up to rest, and then left the paddy field together.

The others, however, actually worked diligently for the entire afternoon.

Mrs. Jin couldn't help but sigh.

"This child is really mischievous."

Upon hearing this, Jin Chuyao sighed as always.

"The rice seedlings planted using this method are a waste; they won't even produce ears."

My sister is so childlike; it's just that it's tough on the governor and my uncle and aunt.