The next morning, the village chief, with red eyes, stood on a large rock and shouted encouragingly, "Everyone, we only need to dig another two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) before we can finish. Let's work harder and go home sooner."

Everything went smoothly.

With a splash, thanks to everyone's joint efforts, a one-meter-wide ditch finally appeared, running from the mountains to the fields.

The system extends to every village, and now each village only needs to continue digging into its own rice paddies.

Then you can see the rapid flow of water gushing out from underground and rushing down the mountain along the ditch.

When the county magistrate arrived early in the morning with his men, he saw everyone cheering, and the children were rushing down the mountain with the current.

No one can outrun this water. In no time, the water flowed to the foot of the mountain, and countless crops finally had water after much anticipation.

The spring water shimmered in the sunlight.

People saw hope.

I saw the gushing forth, surging waters of hope.

The ditch, which is only one meter wide, is inexplicably magnified to look like a churning ocean with giant waves crashing in.

The elderly people in the village had red eyes, and tears trembled as they fell.

"There's water! There's really water! No more fleeing famine, no more dying of thirst! No more starving to death!"

"There's water! There's water! The wheat can be saved!"

Some people are digging up a small section of dry, cracked yellow soil in their own fields.

They dug a hole in every corner of their land, connecting it to a branch of the water flow.

The parched fields frantically absorbed the water, which flowed into the wheat fields and instantly sank into the cracks, only to be met with a continuous stream of water.

The withered ears of wheat seemed to be infused with hope, swaying in the sunlight and summer breeze.

The villagers standing on the edge of the field wept with joy.

While everyone was distracted, the villagers of Liujia Village also tried to dig the water further into their village.

This scene was naturally witnessed by someone, who shouted, "Damn it! Don't give these bastards water!"

"We absolutely cannot give them to them, no matter what. Don't we all have our own wells at home? We might as well use our own."

When the villagers of Liujia Village saw this, they all spat into the water without being allowed to.

This has certainly incurred public wrath.

Old Mrs. Qian was in her fifties or sixties, but she was surprisingly fierce. She jumped up and slapped the man from Liujia Village who was closest to her on the back of the head.

"You harmful bastard, you're lazy as hell among your own villagers, and now you think you can get away with anything by doing well for others? I'll beat you all to death, you wicked sap."

The man was stunned when he was first hit.

After realizing what had happened, he burst into a tirade: "You wretched old woman, how dare you hit me! I'll beat you to death!"

Before he could even lower his raised hand, he felt countless cold gazes piercing him. When the man looked up, he realized that he was surrounded by a large number of people.

These are all strong, able-bodied laborers digging ditches, their muscles bulging. Let alone the scoundrels and lazybones of Liujia Village, how could they possibly be a match for this group?

When the man saw this, he swallowed hard, turned around and tried to run away, but was pinned to the ground and beaten by several farmers!

The village headman walked over with his hands behind his back, his face serious, and said, "The village head of Liu Family Village can't control his own villagers, and he's not competent for the position. He should step down and let someone more capable take over."

Upon hearing this, several of the village chief's sons stood up and began to hurl insults at the village head.

"Don't think that just because you're a nobody village head, you can make my father step down at will. This isn't something you can decide."

Then a deep male voice suddenly came from behind, "Oh, really? What if I were to say it?"

The group, still arguing, turned around and realized that the county magistrate was standing behind them with a group of yamen runners.

"Your Excellency, County Magistrate"

Passersby bowed to the magistrate.

The magistrate angrily addressed the villagers of Liu Family Village: “Since you did not contribute, you should not enjoy the fruits of your labor. If you cause trouble again, you will have to go to the county dungeon to reflect on your actions.”

Furthermore, since the village chief of Liujia Village has failed to set a good example, a new village chief will be elected starting tomorrow. The village head will supervise the process. That's all, everyone disperse.

No one in Liujia Village dared to say anything more, especially the village chief, who knew that this was already the best possible outcome.

If the county magistrate were to investigate, I would be in for a long time and end up in jail.

After everyone had left, the county magistrate left with the village head and the village chief.

...

Su Muyao kept pestering her father at home to buy some pig offal.

“My dear, what’s so good about that stuff? People only eat that when they can’t afford meat. If you’re craving it, Daddy will buy you some pork belly.”

"No, Father already told you that I wanted to buy it and try making it myself. If it's successful, we'll sell braised pork intestines and braised meat."

“My dear, selling braised pig intestines is really not going to work. Only people who can’t afford meat would buy pig offal.”

Why would someone willing to spend money on food buy offal?

Grandma Su finally couldn't stand it anymore and said, "If Sanlang says he wants to buy something, just buy it for him. If he wants to do something, let him do it. It won't cost much."

"Mom, you should just spoil her. Trying everything is a waste of money."

Su Muyao ran straight to Grandma Su and acted coquettishly. "Grandma is the best. When I earn money, I'll buy Grandma pretty clothes."

This made Grandma Su very happy. "Okay, okay, I won't buy it for your dad then."

Su Muyao nodded heavily. "I won't buy it for him."

Su Sanlang found it amusing, but he didn't delay. He quickly went to town to buy pig offal and some meat that his daughter had mentioned.

After returning, Su Muyao, along with her aunt, second aunt, and her mother, started getting busy.

First, he cleaned the pig offal, then he asked his father to cut down a large bamboo stalk in the bamboo forest.

Old Man Su and Su Sanlang were embroidering bamboo sticks in the courtyard, while the boys hadn't come home from school yet.

Grandma Su looked at her little granddaughter who was busy working on the side and asked, "Sweetie, are you really not going to school anymore? You haven't been studying for very long and you already know everything."

"Grandma, I recognize all those characters now. The teacher even praised me for being smart and learning them so quickly."

"Good, good, my sweet baby is so smart, she can already read. So when should she start learning needlework?"

Upon hearing this, Su Muyao immediately frowned. "Grandma, I don't like that kind of needlework that girls do. I want to go into business and earn lots and lots of money for you."

At this moment, Qin Meijuan spoke up, "You can leave the business to your uncles and brothers. What kind of girl should be out in the public eye?"

“What my aunt said is incorrect. There are female officials in the imperial court now.”

Most of the people who set up stalls in the market town were women. What kind of saying is that women can't show their faces in public?