Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Lighting up the territory

Lin Si could feel that the royal family really wanted to get rid of her as a jinx. Before she had even fully adapted to the fact that she had traveled to ancient times, Emperor Dachen was already impatient to send her away.

From the time the decree was issued to the day of the trip, the emperor uncle never showed up once.

Lin Si, carrying a large amount of money and luggage, was escorted to her destination by the Beiya Imperial Guards using the fastest route, both land and water. She felt like a sprinting turtle.

The County Lord's Mansion in Li County was an abandoned house. The Ministry of Works sent people to renovate it, and it became the County Lord's Mansion of Lin Si.

Lin Si did not show any special emotions during the entire journey, both by water and by land. She needed to maintain the original owner's taciturn personality, so the most she did was look out the window with a sad look.

When they arrived in Li County, the infrastructure system in her mind was lit up. Lin Si felt that not only her eyes were about to turn red, she couldn't help but pinch her waist.

Stay calm, Lin Si warned herself. The Beiya Imperial Guards had not left yet, so she must not reveal her identity. If anyone found anything abnormal about her, she would be burned as an evil spirit.

I never thought that one day the red-eyed and waist-pinching literature would happen to me.

She pinched herself.

Outside the carriage, Liang Nian, the magistrate of Li County, was waiting in front of the county lady's mansion early in the morning in a green official uniform with a round collar and wide sleeves to show his importance.

Lin Si quietly lifted a corner of the carriage, wanting to see what kind of person the Li County Magistrate was. His first impression of Liang Nian was.

What a delicate face.

The Northern Yamen Imperial Guards handed over Lin Si and his luggage loaded on several ox carts and horse carts to Lin Si, and counted them in front of Lin Si according to the list. They didn't even mention taking a rest in Li County. They saluted Lin Si and turned around and left.

Lin Si stared at the imperial guards driving horse-drawn and ox-drawn carts out of Li County quickly, and the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

Thanks to the scarcity of horse resources in Dachen, even in Anjing, not all officials can ride in a horse-drawn carriage. Most people still ride in ox carts.

After settling down, she would also like to get an ox cart, Lin Si thought.

When Liang Nian saw the imperial guards leave, he turned around and saluted Lin Si, "Your humble servant pays respects to the Princess of Anping County."

Lin Si nodded silently. She was ten years old now and small in stature. Although she was dressed simply because she was in a hurry, she looked very noble in a white silk quilt with gold prints, a half-wall with plum blossom pattern, a waist-length pleated skirt with floral pattern, and a goose yellow sash. Coupled with her cold expression, she acted like a resentful noble lady from Anjing.

Liang Nian walked in front, leading Lin Si and the others in, "This is the County Lord's Mansion. County Lord, please take a look and see if there is anything else you need."

Lin Si took a few glances at the house and could see that it had been renovated. The area was decent for Li County, but it was far inferior to the Princess Mansion in Anjing and was not even half the size of the Princess Mansion.

Compared to the County Lady's Mansion, she was more interested in the County Magistrate Liang in front of her.

This Liang County Magistrate not only has a handsome appearance, but also his voice is not as rough as that of ordinary men. It is really strange. A sudden idea came to Lin Si's mind.

No matter what Liang Nian and Lin Si said, Lin Si always looked depressed, as if he really had no desire to live since he came here.

After Liang Nian finished his greetings, he left on his own accord so as not to upset the county lord.

As soon as Liang Nian left, the servants who followed Lin Si started to decorate the house. Nan Qiao and Nan Shuang were strong, so they helped unload the things with the two servants.

After unloading the things, Lin Si did not let Nan Qiao and Nan Shuang follow the arrangements, but said to them.

"You two should go out and take a look around, familiarize yourself with Li County, and ask about the Liang County Magistrate."

The two of them agreed and went out straight away.

Two servants laboriously carried the bunk bed brought from the princess's mansion into Lin Si's room. Chunyi was holding a soft silk quilt and spreading it on Lin Si's bed.

Lin Si sat on the stool. The infrastructure system had been turned on. The territory showed Li County, but the reputation showed 0.1 and the people's hearts showed 0.05. Lin Si estimated that this was all because of the dozen or so slaves who followed him.

Lin Si only saw a line of small words next to it. The calculation method of reputation and people's hearts was very strict, and 1 was not a low number.

1 is indeed a high number, because she doesn’t even have 1, Lin Si was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

Lin Si looked at the drawings, books, and other things that needed to be exchanged for reputation, but physical objects needed to be exchanged for people's hearts.

For example, if she looks at potatoes and sweet potatoes with red eyes, the points she can exchange for hearts are 111.

Lin Si scrolled down and fell into deep thought as he looked at the large artillery that could be exchanged for 10,000 points of human hearts.

By the time Chunyi finished making the bed, Nanqiao and Nanshuang had circled Li County for nearly ten times, and dinner was just about to start.

The two sisters returned and told Lin Si: "People all say that County Magistrate Liang is a good official."

"Yes, yes. They all say that Magistrate Liang is honest and upright."

"Mr. Liang lost his father when he was born, and his mother raised him."

"They also said that there was one bad thing about County Magistrate Liang: he didn't want to get married, and they didn't know why."

Lin Si nodded slightly and let the two sisters go to eat.

Chunyi and Grandma Wang, the food doctor, brought in a bowl of steamed rice and a few simple dishes, including soup bones, fried quail, meat-smeared bamboo shoots, and Taiping Biluo.

"Dr. Wang was in a hurry to prepare the food today. I hope the county lord will understand." Chunyi placed the food on the table.

Chun was relieved to see that Lin Si had a good appetite.

She was afraid that when the county lord came to Li County and saw this poor place, she would become depressed and stop eating again. Fortunately, the county lord really thought it through.

Grandma Wang also breathed a sigh of relief. "Although Li County isn't prosperous, these local ingredients are fresh and clean. As long as we change up the dishes every day, the food will be no worse than in Anjing."

Lin Si nodded slightly. Grandma Wang cooked delicious food. Although the dishes were simple, she ate them with relish.

The county lord's mansion was simply decorated. Lin Si asked everyone to rest, and the two servants on duty took turns.

Lin Si's body was tired after the long journey, but her heart had long been eager to fly to Li County.

After washing up, Lin Si directly asked Chunyi to sleep on the couch in the outer room without having to stay by her bed.

Lin Si is used to living alone in modern times. He is not used to having someone guarding under his bed. He feels that he will be scared if he wakes up in the middle of the night.

But as soon as she lay down on the bed, her eyes widened bigger than copper bells.

Forget it, just play with your smartphone.

Lin Si started flipping through the pages slowly from the first page and saw the scientific ratio of chicken feed and fishing bait.

Lin Si: It’s a very comprehensive consideration, which solves the dilemma of anglers who are unable to bait their nests scientifically when crossing the river.

"Postpartum Care of Sows", "How to Correctly Castrate a Boar", "Guide to Raising Layer Chickens", "Guide to Raising Dairy Cows", and "Psychology of Vegetables" are all available.

The corners of Lin Si's mouth twitched, and he continued to flip through the books category. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw many professional books.

As the thoughts kept turning over in his mind, Lin Si fell into a deep sleep.

-

Today Liang Nian got up earlier than usual. His personal maid Yao Niang skillfully picked up several rolls of linen from the bedside and helped Liang Nian change his clothes.

The linen was wrapped around Liang Nian's chest in circles.

After wrapping himself in linen, he put on his official robe, tied up his hair, and drew his eyebrows thicker to add to his heroic look.

No one could have imagined that the magistrate of Li County was actually a girl dressed as a man.

Liang Nian stood up and after a simple breakfast, she went to the county government office to handle official business. Li County was a lower county among lower counties, and there was no county magistrate. All miscellaneous matters had to go through her hands one by one. Thinking of the Anping County Master yesterday, she seemed to be a quiet person, and she thought that the tax affairs would not be too difficult for her.

He just lost his mother and was sent to this poor place for such a reason. He is also a pitiful child.

Liang Nian had finished his breakfast before daybreak when he heard the servant outside come to report that the Princess of Anping County had arrived.

Liang Nian didn't know why Lin Si got up so early, so she could only invite him to meet in the side hall. She was also going to meet Lin Si today.

Lin Si's face was full of sleepiness. She was really sleepy, but Liang Nian's schedule was very tight. Except for the morning and evening, he was handling official business in the county government office.

Lin Si didn't want to put things off until the evening, so she chose to get up early in the morning. She hadn't even had breakfast yet. Doctor Wang said that they would have hot soup noodles for breakfast today.

Thinking of breakfast, Lin Si walked with more energy.

Chun Yi was not sleepy at all. She just stared with her eyes wide open and said distressedly, "We still need to prepare an ox cart or a donkey cart, otherwise it will be inconvenient for the county lady to travel."

Nan Qiao followed Lin Si with an expressionless face. There were only two words in her mind at this moment.

So hungry.

After entering the county magistrate's mansion, Lin Si signaled Chunyi to hand Liang Nian's maid a piece of sandalwood-colored robe as a gift.

Then he said politely, "I came to see you because I have something to discuss with County Magistrate Liang." After saying that, he turned around and sat down.

Liang Nian shook his head slightly, so Yao Niang didn't answer. "Go ahead, County Lady. His Majesty has already issued a directive stating that you are in charge of Li County's taxation. You should also discuss the matter of your fertile land in Li County with the County Lady."

Lin Si shook his head: "It's not about taxes, nor about good farmland. I want to build a manor in the suburbs of Li County."

Liang Nian was a little surprised. She thought Lin Si was coming to look at the taxes and fertile land.

Liang Nian hesitated and said, "Repairing the county lord's mansion previously was already corvee labor, which delayed farming. Can we wait until after the autumn harvest to resume construction?"

"It's not corvee labor. I will pay the people fifteen cents a day. Each household will only have one person or at most two people working, and the rest of the people can continue farming. This way, the autumn harvest will not be delayed. As for the construction period, it will be the responsibility of County Magistrate Liang. I hope County Magistrate Liang will inform the people." Lin Si said seriously.

Liang Nian was shocked. This was the first time she saw a royal relative asking the common people to repair something and even giving them money. This county lady was a weird person.

Liang Nian didn't know what Lin Si wanted to do by building the manor. She thought that the young lady probably felt that Li County was poor and boring, so she planted beautiful flowers in the manor and turned it into a garden.

Liang Nian reminded: "The soil quality in Li County is not good. If the county lady wants to plant some flowers for viewing, I am afraid she will not be able to do so."

"Thank you for your kindness, Magistrate Liang. I have my own plans." Lin Si said calmly.

Since the wages will be paid, the wages are not low, and the autumn harvest will not be delayed, Liang Nian has no reason to object.

The farming conditions in Li County were poor. Even with a good harvest, the taxes paid were barely enough to feed oneself. Fifteen cents a day was considered a good income.

Lin Si glanced at the cloth in Chunyi's hand and asked, "Why doesn't County Magistrate Liang want this cloth?"

Liang Nian pondered in his heart, Lin Si came from Anjing, how could he not know that sandalwood was the color most girls wore, "Thank you for your kindness, County Lady. This color of cloth is just right for making clothes for my mother."

Unexpectedly, Lin Si shook his head and looked Liang Nian up and down again, "I picked it specially for County Magistrate Liang."

Liang Nian's expression remained unchanged, but his heartbeat quickened.

Lin Si's sending of cloth was totally unnecessary. She was testing me. Was she pretending to be like that yesterday?

"Thank you for your kindness, Princess." Liang Nian finally said respectfully.

Liang Nian put the things away, and Lin Si took out another piece of paper and handed it to Liang Nian.

"Here are the blueprints for the manor. Thank you, Magistrate Liang, for your help. I will pay all the yamen runners who help build the manor."

Liang Nian accepted the paper and said, "There is one more thing. The county lady has good farmland in Li County."

"I understand. I am free to arrange matters concerning the fertile land."

After Lin Si finished speaking, he was thinking about the hot soup noodles and left in a hurry.

When they were quite far away from the county magistrate's residence, Chun Yi asked, "Why did the county lady give County Magistrate Liang a sandalwood robe? Sandalwood robes are what girls love to wear, but men prefer colors like crow blue and moon white."

Nan Qiao looked as if it had nothing to do with her. She didn't understand what sandalwood and white meant. She just felt that she was hungrier after taking a walk outside. She would eat two bowls of breakfast later.

Lin Si curled the corners of his lips, "Of course it's because County Magistrate Liang is a man who can look good in sandalwood, my dear."

Unexpectedly, the honest and upright magistrate of Liang County is most likely a woman.

If you ask why, it is probably because Liang Nian looks at her with sympathy and pity in his eyes.

Lin Si couldn't explain it clearly. Perhaps it was just intuition? After all, her intuition had always been accurate since she was a child.

Liang Nian disguised herself as a man to take the imperial examination and became a county magistrate. If her crime were to be exposed, she and her mother would die miserably. This was too much evidence for Lin Si to threaten or win over. No matter what she did in Li County, as long as it didn't harm the people, Liang Nian would cooperate with her to conceal it.

Lin Si suddenly felt that he was lucky.

Chun Yi didn't know what Lin Si was thinking, so she just said, "It would be nice to build a manor and plant some flowers. The county lady can go there to stroll around and enjoy the flowers when she has nothing to do."

Nan Qiao led the way in front. Lin Si yawned and said, "A manor is not for growing flowers."

Chun Yi didn't understand, "What is that used for? It's not for feeding people."

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A white silk quilt with gold prints, a half-walled quilt with plum blossom patterns, a waist-length pleated skirt with floral and grass patterns, and a light yellow ribbon. From "Illustrated Guide to Traditional Chinese Clothing: What I Wore in the Song Dynasty"

*Bone soup, fried quail, bamboo shoot skewers with meat, Taiping Biluo. From "Song Dynasty: The Golden Age of Foodies"

*Official uniforms refer to "Chinese Clothing"

*Forget it, just play with your smartphone. From the Peach Black Women's Dormitory series.