Hu Delu was probably the most knowledgeable person in Sanglin Village. During the Sui Dynasty, he was a soldier and fought many battles for the Sui. After being wounded, he returned home to farm and later became the head of Sanglin Village.

He only stepped down from his position as village head when the imperial court bestowed Sanglin Village upon Li Jue. However, he was not idle and became the head steward of the manor.

Therefore, upon hearing that a group of outsiders had come to the village and that they did not look like good people, he immediately stood out to greet them.

"Sir, you don't seem like a bad person at all. Why don't you go look around somewhere else? Our area is too poor; we really don't have much to offer you and your men!"

Li Shimin looked at the neat brick houses on both sides of the road, then at the old man dressed in tattered clothes who was crying poverty, and couldn't help but find it amusing.

Is this old man making a fool of himself?

"Old man, if you're going to pretend to be poor, at least make it believable. Every household in your village lives in a brick house now. Isn't it a bit unreasonable for you to keep complaining about being poor?"

Upon hearing this, the old man blushed with shame, but he remained stubborn and persisted in pretending to be poor.

"My esteemed friend, you may not know this, but every household here has a storefront that's out in the open, but inside they're dirt poor!"

"oh?"

The old man sighed as he finished speaking.

"well!"

"It's all the fault of the imperial court sending us some kind of nobleman. That nobleman forced us to build houses, emptying our savings and leaving us with a mountain of debt, before we could barely manage to build them!"

"Our village is so poor now that we can't even afford to eat. Don't you think we're pitiful? Waaah..."

Seeing how pitiful the old man sounded, Li Shimin immediately imitated his tone and said something similar.

"If my rebellious grandson is really that bad, then I'll transfer him away from here so you can go back to your old lives, okay?"

"What?"

"Are you our lord's grandfather?"

"yes!"

Upon hearing that the visitor was the grandfather of a nobleman, the old man immediately knelt down.

"Oh dear!"

"This old man was blind and had no idea that Your Excellency's father-in-law would grace us with his presence. I am truly terrified!"

"Everyone, young and old, come out! Our lord's elders have come to see us. Come out and greet them quickly!"

"Don't dress like an old man and bring shame to the Duke. Put on your decent clothes so that our Duke's father can see how good our lives are!"

As the old man yelled twice, the doors of every house reopened, and a group of men, women, and children ran out of their rooms cheering.

"Greetings, Your Excellency!"

"This humble old man is deeply grateful to the esteemed sir for sending us such a fine nobleman, sob sob sob..."

"The master is like a bodhisattva descended from heaven. If it weren't for the master taking us young lord in, we poor folks would never have been able to live in such a house or enjoy such a good life. Waaah..."

Li Shimin was often bowed down to by people, and he was already used to it. But being bowed down to as an ordinary person, and with such heartfelt reverence, was an experience he had never had before.

"Fellow villagers, please rise!"

"Tell me, what's going on with this house of yours?"

"Reporting to this esteemed sir, how could we possibly afford to build such a house? It was all thanks to the young lord who lent us money, built a brick kiln for us, and led us in firing bricks, felling timber, and burning lime. Only then could we live in such a fine house!"

As the old man finished speaking, he quickly took off his tattered outer clothes, revealing brand-new clothes underneath.

"My lord, please look! I'm over sixty years old and have witnessed the Sui and Tang dynasties, but this is the first time I've ever worn new clothes!"

"Even if I were to be buried right now, my life would have been worthwhile, sob sob sob..."

"These clothes?"

"In reply to your question, sir, these clothes were also provided for us by our lord."

"It's said that the Duke even used the money he had saved for his wedding to buy these clothes, sob sob sob..."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin felt both moved and bittersweet. His eldest grandson was so reluctant to build his own mansion, yet he was willing to build houses and provide clothes for the peasants...

"Okay, okay..."

"I'm so happy that you all like our grandson, sob sob sob..."

"Oh right, where's our eldest grandson?"

"Your Excellency, our lord is leading the able-bodied men of our estate to repair the irrigation canal!"

"Repairing the irrigation canal?"

"You may not know this, but although our Sanglin Village is close to the county town, it is extremely far from the water source. Even without the chaos of war, there are nine out of ten years of drought, making it a notoriously poor place in the surrounding area."

"If it weren't for that, the magistrate wouldn't have assigned us to the lord as peasants!"

"But it is precisely because we are so poor that we have turned misfortune into blessing and met such a good lord!"

"The lord told us that we can build reservoirs and irrigation canals ourselves. As long as we solve the problem of farmland irrigation, our Sanglin Manor will definitely be able to live a good life!"

"this……"

Li Shimin was shocked to hear this, both impressed by Li Jue's benevolence and curious about his abilities.

It should be known that building an irrigation canal is a major undertaking. Even the master craftsmen of the Imperial Workshops in the court may not be able to do it well. How could Li Jue, a child of only eight or nine years old, have such great skills?

"Take me to see this quickly!"

"Okay!"

"My esteemed guest, please follow me!"

Li Shimin followed the old man through Sanglin Village, and at the end of the village, he immediately saw a huge depression.

At this moment, several hundred men had gathered in the depression, and under the guidance of a child, they were working enthusiastically to dig earth and build a reservoir.

Li Shimin felt heartbroken seeing his eldest grandson, whose feet were stuck in the mud, crawling and rolling in the mud like a group of grown men.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!