Chapter 109 Starting from Zhiyi Village 2

Xiao Ji looked at the village head's hunched back gradually disappearing into the distance, and an indescribable complex feeling surged in his heart.

He subconsciously stroked his crutch, feeling that being demoted to the palace had made him see many things that he could not understand when he was in a high position before.

"My dear," he said softly, "I want to go and see the village fields myself tomorrow."

"Your legs..."

"That's fine." Xiao Ji waved his hand. "My wheelchair is very sturdy. Let Fugui come with me tomorrow and take the crutches. If there's anything difficult to walk on, just get off and walk a few steps."

He looked out the window at the world, his eyes gradually becoming firm: "...We must start with the little piece of land under our feet."

"Okay, I'll accompany you then."

Hearing this, the young man was stunned for a moment before nodding heavily: "Okay." As he spoke, his eyes were full of smiles.

That night, the two of them whispered to each other in bed, but they were busy with their inspection of the village the next day and did not do anything intimate.

The next morning, the village head was waiting outside the yard early. He was chatting with Zhao Tong about the day's itinerary when he suddenly heard the sound of a wheelchair rolling.

He looked up and saw Xiao Ji being pushed by Qing Wu, who was dressed in casual clothes, and a young boy followed behind with a cane. What was this posture...

"Lang, Langjun?!" The village head looked at Zhao Tong helplessly, "What...what is this?"

Xiao Ji nodded: "My wife and I will go with you today."

Upon hearing this, the village head stood there for a moment, his cloudy old eyes full of disbelief.

He had been the head of Hedong Village his entire life. Even if the chief clerk from the county had come, who wouldn't have been surrounded by people? He could have just assigned a small official to take a look, but these two nobles actually wanted to go to the fields to inspect it themselves?

"Zhao Tong, let's go." Xiao Ji ordered, "Let's take a look around the palace first." Zhao Tong stepped forward and took Qingwu's place, while Qingwu took the crutch from Fugui's hand and followed him out.

The village head finally came to his senses and trotted to catch up. He glanced at this special nobleman. His handsome young face didn't show any impatience, but instead a focus and seriousness he had never seen on a nobleman's face before.

He couldn't help but add, "The sun is quite strong today, and there are many things to see..."

"It's okay." Xiao Ji smiled, "Take your time to look at it and ask carefully."

Seeing his firm attitude, the headman stopped talking and showed them the way.

Seeing this, the spy hiding in the distance immediately became alert - this was the first time the deposed prince had gone out since he came to the palace, and they had to see carefully what he was going to do.

The group walked slowly along the path that the villagers used to come to the palace.

Xiao Ji carefully inquired about the soil quality of each piece of land, which area was suitable for planting what, and even leaned over to grab a handful of soil and twisted it between his fingertips.

The village head was nervous at first, but when he saw that Xiao Ji was always approachable, he gradually opened up.

"This piece of land is the most fertile. Burn the grass, turn the soil over, and you can plant..."

"That piece of land is too close to the stream. Although the soil is fertile, it will be flooded during the summer flood season, and nothing can be grown..."

"Is it not possible to grow rice?" Xiao Ji couldn't help but wonder.

"Rice is fine, seeing how good the old man's memory is. But growing rice requires an extra batch of rice seeds... There are only a limited number of rice seeds left at home, and the rest needs to be eaten."

The village head patted his head and explained, and couldn't help muttering as he spoke.

"You can't live without food. If you don't mix some rice into your wild vegetable meal, your face will turn very green and you won't be able to survive..."

Seeing Xiao Ji's stunned expression, he immediately took back the words, thinking to himself why he said these things in front of the noble man, who was not worried about this. However, he didn't know that the words he had just said had already penetrated deeply into Xiao Ji's heart.

"But if you are really willing to give us the land to farm, I can still bite the bullet and give us a share."

Xiao Ji suppressed the surging emotions in his heart and asked the head of the village how many stones of rice were produced per acre.

Speaking of this, the village head finally smiled a little more and said proudly: "Our village has taken good care of the rice, and the rice yield per mu is more than two stone."

Xiao Ji listened carefully and compared it with the memorials from the Ministry of Revenue he had read before. He vaguely remembered that the memorial stated that the average yield per mu was 1.2 stone. He didn't know whether it was because the officials of the Ministry of Revenue embezzled money or because Hedong Village had a good location and good crops.

But the head of Hedong Village, where the rice yield per mu is only two stone, is also struggling to move out the grain seeds. What about the people whose yield per mu is low?

The two asked and answered each other, and the young man's expression was even more serious than when he was attending court meetings before.

Zhao Tong looked at his master like this, and a smile slowly appeared on his lips. He actually felt that being demoted to the palace, how could he know whether it would be good or bad?

When they approached the stream, the soil was too soft to move forward. The village head wanted to continue walking forward and pass this place, but he saw Xiao Ji had already taken the crutches from Qing Wu's hands and stood up.

"Young Master!" the village head exclaimed.

"It's okay, I'll go take a look." Xiao Ji thought about the agricultural book he had read in the palace. There was a barrel cart on it. If a barrel cart was installed here, it should be a lot more convenient, right?

Qing Wu silently held his arm, not trying to dissuade him. She knew her young man was truly experiencing this land.

The soft riverbank made walking even more difficult for Xiao Ji, whose legs hadn't fully recovered yet. His limping appearance caught the eye of several spies in the distance. Seeing him determined to head toward the river, the spies couldn't help but feel worried.

What is this deposed prince going to do?

The kings' spies were still a little confused, but the emperor's spies felt nervous: It would have been fine if he was alone facing the wild trees and weeds before, but why did he have to run to the river with his disabled legs now?

Is it really possible that I can’t hold on any longer?

Xiao Ji didn't know what the spy was thinking, so he had already started discussing with the village head who was walking over: "We can set up a waterwheel here to bring water into the fields, which will make rice planting much more convenient in the future."

The village head thought the waterwheel was meant for the land near the palace, and subconsciously advised, "No need. We can just dig canals to divert water to the paddy fields near the stream. Why would we need a waterwheel?"

The words of the village head made Xiao Ji frown slightly. He paused for a moment before he understood what the village head meant: "The village head has misunderstood. This drum cart is built for the village."

"Give it to us?" The village head's eyes widened, his wrinkles filled with disbelief. "But...but how can we build this? Besides, when it comes to digging the canal and starting the construction, the government will..."

The water wheel is a good thing. With it, they don't have to use the clumsy method of carrying water little by little to irrigate the fields. But no one knows how to make a water wheel. It is only available in government fields.

When he visited Guantian, he was drooling at the drum cart and had long wished he could have one in the village.

Xiao Ji patted the village head gently to comfort him: "I'll draw the blueprint."

He turned his gaze towards the ever-flowing stream, watching the golden shimmering in the water, and said softly, "As for the government... they will agree."

Although he had lost his position as crown prince, as long as he was still in the palace, no one dared to offend him completely.

What's more, his hypocritical father sent him precious medicine a few days ago. Who among those with some information channels doesn't know that he hasn't completely lost the emperor's heart?

There should be no officials in the four counties of the capital who are blind.

Looking at Xiao Ji standing by the river, he was clearly leaning on a crutch under his armpit and clearly needed someone to support him, but when the village head looked at him, he felt that he was standing as firmly on this land as a mountain.

The village head opened his mouth and felt his throat tighten. He had lived for most of his life and had never seen such a noble man who cared so much for the people.

"My dear..." The old man's voice trembled, "How much silver will this cost? There are only a dozen or so taels of silver in our village treasury..."

Afraid that Xiao Ji would misunderstand that he didn't want the drum cart, he said anxiously: "But we can make it, please give us a day."

That drum cart is a good thing. If we set up two of them, people in the village will no longer have to go to the river to farm.

How could someone with this kind of land not want to take good care of the crops?