Chapter 59: An Official Arrives

"Miss, you should hurry back and prepare. The young master will bring the purchasing officer over later," Xuan Yan reminded her. Shen Zhiyi didn't dare to waste any time and stepped into the carriage.

Strangely enough, the carriage was full of boxes and chests, and after Shen Zhiyi sat down, there was no room left.

"Da Ya, sit here," Xuan Yan said, patting the seat next to him.

Zhao Daya didn't hesitate and sat down, but she couldn't stop talking: "Brother Xuan, did you go to a very far place? You must have been thirsty and tired on the way..."

Through the carriage curtain, Shen Zhiyi listened to Zhao Daya's voice, which was full of sincere concern. After a while, she started talking about her own affairs, and practically recounted everything that had happened to them over the past month.

Shen Zhiyi leaned against the wall of the room, the familiar voice in her ear actually had a hypnotic effect on her tiredness during this period of running around.

“Brother Xuan, why are there so many difficult things in this world?” Zhao Daya sighed. “Everyone has their own difficulties, but they work so hard, so why don’t they get the rewards they deserve? What’s the point of hard work then? What’s the point of kindness?”

“Then let the kind and hardworking people earn money first,” Xuan Yan said slowly.

"Wow, Brother Xuan, you and Zhiyi sound so alike," Zhao Daya exclaimed.

Xuan Yan was slightly taken aback, and said apologetically, "These words were spoken by the young master. I just wrote them down, and they happen to be able to answer your question, Daya."

"That's amazing! Such a good memory!" Zhao Daya always found something to praise him, and Xuan Yan clearly appreciated it.

As soon as the carriage stopped and Shen Zhiyi reached her own courtyard gate, she didn't even need to greet Zhao Daya and the others. They urged her first, "Zhiyi, hurry home and pack your things. Xuan-ge and I are leaving now."

The departing figure seemed to be saying, "Don't disturb their date."

Shen Zhiyi turned around and unlocked the door. The cabbages in the vegetable garden had been well taken care of and looked plump and juicy.

She walked to the door and carefully observed that the strand of hair in the keyhole was still there. There were no signs of forced entry outside, which did not prevent the other party from sneaking in by other means.

Just in case, Shen Zhiyi took out a gleaming stone knife from her sleeve. It was very useful for cutting grass and drawing on the ground, so she carried it with her every day. Zhao Daya sharpened it even more, making it even more handy to use.

This was also her only weapon for self-defense.

She carefully pushed open the door and stood outside. She first looked at the straw mat under her feet, which was no different from the others except for being covered in dust.

Shen Zhiyi rolled up the straw mat and placed it aside. She walked through every corner of the room, but found nothing amiss. She then went to the chili field and found nothing unusual there either.

In other words, is the crisis temporarily over?

However, considering which official was coming next, he still had to repair the missing corner of the fence to avoid affecting the inspection experience.

Shen Zhiyi took a carrying pole and a basket to the back mountain to find materials. She had to choose straight sticks and branches, and then mixed them with an appropriate amount of wet mud to make a simple fence.

While the sun is shining brightly, we should be able to make up for it temporarily.

While she was waiting for the fence to dry, the village chief's urgent voice came from outside the courtyard: "Girl, hurry up and get ready, get dressed, people are coming from the prefecture, from the city!"

"Hey, Grandpa Village Chief, I've finished tidying everything up," Shen Zhiyi said hurriedly, showing the repaired back wall to the village chief who had just walked in.

"Oh dear, what's the use of just making a wall? Hurry up and come to my house, let your auntie dress you up properly." The village chief finally caught his breath and said slowly, but he quickly grabbed Shen Zhiyi's sleeve and walked out. "That girl Zhao Daya, why didn't she say something so important earlier!"

"Grandpa Village Chief, slow down, be careful not to fall," Shen Zhiyi hurriedly reminded him from behind. "The door...the door isn't closed yet!"

“This is so urgent, we’re on the verge of a fire! Who cares about the gate…” The village chief turned to Li Shitou, who was a few steps behind, and said, “You stay and guard the gate.”

In such a hurry, Shen Zhiyi was taken to the village chief's house.

During this journey, she learned that the purchasing official was an official position in the prefectural city, which, in short, meant that an official from the prefectural city had arrived!

The fact that even the county magistrate had to accompany him suggests that the official in question might be of higher rank than the county magistrate.

After listening to the village chief's analysis, Grandma Qin and the others, who had specially dressed up Shen Zhiyi, wanted to shower her with the best things. Even Aunt Deng, who rarely went out, heard about this and asked Wang Cuihua to send her a box.

“I watched my mother take this out from the very back of the trunk. This must be the treasure she keeps hidden away,” Wang Cuihua exclaimed, carefully handing the box over.

Just as Shen Zhiyi was about to turn her head to look, Zhou Wannian grabbed her chin and said softly, "Don't move, little sister, your eyebrows aren't done yet."

Instead, an exclamation came from the other side: "What a beautiful peach-pink stone!"

Shen Zhiyi glanced at it discreetly; the light shining on it made it exceptionally bright, and from a certain angle, it seemed to shimmer with iridescent light.

Any stone with color can be called a mineral, but a stone with this color is clearly a rare find.

Aunt Deng, who could afford such jewelry, must have come from a very well-off family.

“My mother said this color suits you perfectly, so she specially asked me to bring it over as a birthday gift for you…” Wang Cuihua’s words trailed off at this moment, and she quickly added, “It’s a birthday gift.”

The interesting thing is that Shen Zhiyi and the original owner of this body share the same birthday, so this gift is for them.

"Last time I talked to the girl about arranging a marriage, but because of the chili peppers, she went out again, and my nephew from my maternal family got engaged to another girl." Grandma Qin was full of regret, but Shen Zhiyi was busy with important matters at the time.

The two had seen each other from afar and wanted to get together, but various things delayed them, and ultimately nothing came of it.

Whenever she thinks about it, Grandma Qin feels like poking her husband a few times, wondering why he's always so busy!

"Auntie, be gentle, you're pulling my hair," Shen Zhiyi said, subconsciously changing the subject, "Any news from Brother Zheng? When are they coming back?"

"The last time he sent a message was half a month ago. He said it would cost twenty coins to deliver a verbal message, and then he stopped sending messages. The latest he said that was..." Grandma Qin said, turning her head to look at Zhou Wan Niang. "Wan Niang, when did he say it was?"

"If you count the months, he'll be back by the end of the month at the latest," Zhou Wanniang said gently. "Zheng San and Huang Hua from Huanghua Village will get married on the second day of next month."

"Speaking of which, I used to think Zheng San wasn't very reliable, but I didn't expect him to bring back so much good news after he went out. He said he's signed several contracts, which would cost several thousand kilograms of chili peppers." Other aunties continued the conversation on this topic.

"I'm worried that the chili peppers from other villages won't keep up, which would ruin our village's reputation!"

"The earliest batch were all related, and we kept an eye on them from time to time."

"besides……"

Hearing the topic smoothly shift, Shen Zhiyi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and met Zhou Wanniang's gaze, who was smiling. Everything was understood without words.

The face-squeezing process was so painful that no matter how many times she shouted "be gentle," the fine hemp thread continued to roll mercilessly across her face until no fine hairs were visible from any angle. Finally, she washed her face with water to remove the loose hairs.

"Aunties, once the face is scraped, it should be fine, right?" Shen Zhiyi asked hurriedly. She had been forced to sit there by some strange twist of fate, and her patience was almost exhausted.

"We still need to apply powder," Grandma Qin said, handing Zhou Wan Niang a palm-sized jar.

Upon seeing Zhou Wanning open the small jar, Shen Zhiyi noticed the whitish powder inside and exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this plaster for walls?"

"You can't use this to plaster walls, it's such a waste of money!" Grandma Qin scolded Shen Zhiyi for her idea, then explained, "This is made from rice ground into the finest powder. If you apply it to your face, it will make your skin as white as snow!"

So the saying "fair skin covers a hundred flaws" was already popular around this time.

Shen Zhiyi had no choice but to close her eyes and let the paint be applied, seeing that the room was surrounded by layers of people and that she couldn't escape on her own.

When she heard the word "It's done," Shen Zhiyi looked at her reflection in the basin of water and saw that her skin was indeed much whiter. She had never used rice powder like this on her face before and couldn't imagine what the effect would be.

She tried to raise her hand to touch her face, but Zhou Wannian grabbed her hand and said, "Don't touch it, or you'll ruin your makeup."

Suddenly, the image of "makeup falling off as soon as you smile" popped into Shen Zhiyi's mind. She knew she had to secretly wash it off when they weren't looking!

"The carriage is here! Come out and wait!" The village chief's voice rang out from outside the house.

A group of aunts and sisters-in-law went out first. Zhou Wan Niang and Wang Cuihua tidied up the things on the table. Grandma Qin stepped forward and pulled Shen Zhiyi out, saying softly, "If you can't answer the question, just pass it on to your grandfather. Don't be nervous or afraid."

Grandma Qin's hand, which was holding Shen Zhiyi's, was still trembling slightly. She said slowly, "This is Xiaba Village, and everyone is here. I'm not nervous or scared at all."

Two horse-drawn carriages came galloping by, kicking up a cloud of dust that made the villagers who were making way for them cough repeatedly.

Seeing this scene, Shen Zhiyi was suddenly struck by the fact that there were still such rude drivers in the world. Lately, she had been surrounded by kindness and subconsciously thought that it was a good thing for the purchasing official to come to the village, but she overlooked the things behind the high-ranking official.

A man dressed in brocade robes stepped down from the first carriage, pulled out a finely crafted handkerchief from his sleeve to cover his mouth and nose, turned to look at Lu Jingbai who came out from the second carriage, frowned and said, "Lord Lu, is this the village you mentioned that grows chili peppers? Let's hurry up and go see the chili peppers, lest we delay the prefect's important business!"

“Chen Caiguan, this is Xiaba Village. The fields over there are planted with chili peppers.” Lu Jingbai said in a deep voice, not understanding why this person kept saying he wanted to come and see the chili peppers, but first wanted to show off in the crowd. “Since you want to see the chili peppers, then go and see them directly.”

The villagers of Xiaba Village were used to not kneeling when they saw Lord Lu, and since they couldn't cough in front of others, they could only hold it in, forgetting that they should bow to the official as soon as they saw him.

"Hmph, a bunch of ill-mannered villagers. It seems Lord Lu hasn't done enough to educate them," Chen Caiguan said sarcastically.