Chapter 24: God's Will, Gu Wen's Opportunity Has Come
Guo Su was an orphan who was abandoned on the roadside by his family when he was born. The bodyguards of Ping An Escort Agency found him when they passed by and took the child back to the agency to raise him.
Guo Sunian is thirteen years old this year. She is not tall, but she has excellent skills. From top to bottom in the escort agency, no one can compare with her in terms of archery accuracy.
Guo Su originally wanted to go escorting with the brothers and sisters in the escort agency, but there were too many people and too few places for her, and she, a half-grown girl, could not compete with them at all.
Guo Su had no choice. A few days ago, she applied for a temporary job at a wealthy family in the city, but was not chosen. These days, she just went to South Street to do some work with her brothers and sisters from the escort agency to earn some money to supplement the family income.
Guo Su received a letter from her adoptive father saying that her master wanted her to be a bow and arrow master for their young lady. She was so happy that she immediately packed her bags and went to the neighboring mountain village.
When Guo Su saw Gu Youan, she was obviously stronger than Gu Youan, but in front of her, under her gaze, Guo Su could not raise her head.
Guo Su thought about it again and again before she acted like her master. She whispered, "Master, I heard that Miss wants to learn archery from me?"
"Exactly. I'll have to trouble you from now on."
Guo Su said happily: "It's not hard, it's not hard, I'm willing to do it."
Guo Su lowered her head uncomfortably at first, but now she became happy again. Gu Youan smiled, he was a man of temperament.
"My adoptive father said that your family has no bows and arrows. I brought you two bows when I came here. Please choose one." Guo Su put out two bows.
"How do I choose?"
Guo Su stepped forward and gave him some advice: "I don't know how strong you are, so I brought two lighter bows. Once you've gotten better at it and have more strength in your hands, I'll slowly switch to a heavier bow."
When it comes to bows and arrows, Guo Su talks more and more. She knows everything about the styles and sizes of bows and arrows, the materials used to make them, etc.
"My adoptive father used to use a mulberry wood bow. He said that when I grow up and can escort the caravan, he will give me the bow."
"Are you using a bamboo bow now?" Gu Youan looked down and saw that the two bows and arrows brought by Guo Su were both made of bamboo.
"Well, bamboo and wooden bows and arrows are common, easy to use, and cheap, so they are used by the most people."
Gu Youan tried to pull the bowstrings. She tried both bows and found that both bows could be pulled open, but if she was to talk about convenience, she could only use the smallest bow now.
Guo Su said bluntly, "This is the bow used by children under ten years old in our escort agency for training."
Gu Youan: “…”
Gu Youan sighed. After training with Master Guo for a month, she thought she had gained strength, but she didn't expect that she was still so weak.
"That's fine. Practice more and you'll get better."
Gu Youan looked at Guo Su's taut arm muscles with some envy. She estimated that it would be difficult to train to be like Guo Su.
Gu Youan envied Guo Su's good physique, but Guo Su envied Gu Youan's literacy and intelligence.
Gu Youan has a lot of free time at home. In addition to taking care of the fruits and vegetables in the family garden and exercising and practicing archery with Guo Su, she likes to read books most in her free time.
Every time Gu Youan read a book, Guo Su would sit quietly beside her and ask her what she was reading.
After Guo Su asked twice, Gu Youan knew what she was thinking and asked her if she was willing to learn to read with her. Guo Su nodded quickly and patted her chest, saying that she would definitely study hard.
One is willing to teach, the other is willing to learn. Guo Su reacted and said embarrassedly: "It costs a lot to hire a teacher. I learn from you for free, but I paid money to learn archery from me. This is not good."
There are a large group of children in the escort agency. For Guo Su, making money to reduce the burden of the escort agency is the most important thing. She wants to learn to read and does not want to take advantage of the Gu family, but she is reluctant to spend the money given by the Gu family, and she is suddenly conflicted.
Gu Youan smiled and said, "I don't teach you all day long. I only teach you occasionally when I have time. If you feel bad about it, you can help me with some housework. It will be my tuition for teaching you."
"Okay, it's a deal. If you need any work at home, just call me." Guo Su agreed readily.
Ever since Guo Su learned to read from Gu Youan, she has become more diligent in the Gu family. In addition to diligently teaching Gu Youan archery, she almost takes care of all the chores in the Gu family.
If fetching water was not the daily exercise assigned to Gu Wenqing by Master Guo, the job of fetching water would have been snatched away by Guo Su.
Mrs. Du liked children like Guo Su and was happy when she saw them. When Mrs. Du liked someone, she liked to give them food. If there were any meat dishes or delicious food cooked at home, Mrs. Du would ask Guo Su to taste it and make a special meal for her.
"Susu, I made a fish stew with soy sauce today. Come and taste it to see if it's salty enough."
"Hey, I'll be right there."
Guo Su, who was standing and sweeping the yard, immediately responded loudly and ran to the kitchen happily.
Seeing this, Ah Xuan stopped playing with the ant nest in the corner and followed it with her short legs: "Sister Susu, wait for me."
Today, Master Guo took Gu Wenqing and Tian Erlang to the mountains to practice Kung Fu. Now, only Gu Wen and his daughter are left in the yard.
Gu Wen: "Do you like this girl?"
"Yeah, I like him. He's a talented person."
The like that Gu Wenwen asked about was not a simple like or dislike, but had a deeper meaning. Gu Youan naturally understood what her father meant.
Gu Youan thinks that the Guo family being too kind and righteous is not a good thing, but if this kindness and righteousness benefits herself, Gu Youan thinks it is a good thing.
It was obvious at first glance that Guo Su was raised very well by Master Guo. With such a person, one point of effort would at least reap two points of gain. Gu Youan felt that even if Guo Su was not a slave and not someone she could completely control, she felt that she could still train him.
Gu Youan smiled and said to Gu Wen, "Dad, it's not easy for the Guo family to raise so many children. Do you think Master Guo would agree if I kept Guo Su by my side to help me with things?"
"As long as Guo Su is willing, Master Guo shouldn't object."
Gu Youan felt the same way.
Even such a big thing as sending the children to the military camp to join the army, Master Guo agreed just because the children felt restrained and uncomfortable and refused to go. This shows his character.
Master Guo is not someone who likes to give orders to younger people.
Gu Youan did not ask Guo Su to be a slave. She trained Guo Su just to have a trustworthy helper in the future.
After Gu Youan made this plan, she taught Guo Su to read more carefully. She told Guo Su that after she learned the three hundred thousand, she would teach her accounting.
Guo Su was extremely surprised. Could she become a female accountant in the future?
After Guo Su came to the Gu family, she naturally lived in the same room with Gu Youan. Guo Su grew up in the escort agency. None of the sisters in the escort agency were like Gu Youan. Guo Su followed Gu Youan in and out, and she liked everything Gu Youan did. Gu Youan was willing to spend time teaching her to read, and she liked it even more.
When no one was around, Guo Su whispered to her adoptive father, "I think Miss Gu is the same as my adoptive father and mother. They are both good to me."
Master Guo glared at his honest adopted daughter and said, "You've only known her for a few days, and you dare say she treats you well?"
Guo Su turned her head and snorted: "I just think she is good to me. She taught me to read and not to stop studying. Miss Gu also taught me..." many girlish things.
In the past, she was either ignorant of these girlish troubles or too embarrassed to ask others, so she could only deal with them on her own or endure them. Now Miss Gu is teaching her.
Master Guo poked her head fiercely: "She smiled at you and you got dizzy, didn't you? Don't be fooled by her gentle smile, she has many tricks up her sleeve. You are so stupid, you just believe everything others say."
"She won't hurt me."
Master Guo wanted to curse a few words, but after thinking about it, he realized that although the girl from the Gu family was very cunning, she didn't seem like someone who would take the initiative to harm others.
Guo Su glanced and said, "Foster father, I am right, right?"
Master Guo sighed: "You are grown up now and don't listen to me anymore. Forget it, do whatever you want. If you get cheated in the future, don't come to me and cry."
"Humph, Miss Gu would never lie to me."
Seeing the girl turn around and run to work, Master Guo suddenly remembered the old saying, a dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse gives birth to a son who can dig holes.
This girl is not his biological daughter, but he raised her with his own hands, so it’s the same for him.
Master Guo saw that the girl from the Gu family was trying to seduce Guo Su, and since he couldn't persuade her back, that was all that mattered.
Just wait and see, that girl will cry someday.
Gu Youan learned archery from Guo Su. After less than a month, her accuracy was very good. However, her arms were weak and she could not shoot very far.
Gu Youan knew his shortcomings but didn't care. He often asked Guo Su to go hunting in the mountains with him. At first, he couldn't shoot anything, but after practicing more, his accuracy, speed and strength gradually improved, and he could occasionally shoot pheasants and rabbits.
Seeing the results of her studies, Gu Youan became more enthusiastic about archery, and even the scorching sun could not stop her from going up the mountain to hunt.
With a "whoosh" sound!
The bamboo arrow flew out and hit the gray-haired rabbit in the grass nest. Guo Su, who was watching, shouted "good" and ran to catch the rabbit that was still kicking its feet.
"Your aim is getting better and better." Guo Su praised as soon as she opened her mouth.
Looking at the lively kicking rabbit, Gu Youan smiled. Her aim was indeed good, but her strength was lacking. She needed to practice more and try to kill it with one arrow in the future.
"Come on, let's go deeper."
"good."
As they walked into the mountains, Gu Youan asked her, "You are so good at using a bow and arrow, why didn't you go hunting in the mountains before?"
"When the escort leader and his men were at home, we also went hunting in the mountains. But we didn't go to Tiger Ridge. We went to Beishan. Do you know Beishan? It's at the east end of Linshan Village, the mountain behind Songjiang City."
"Everyone knows that Songjiang City is surrounded by dense forests and abundant wild game. Every day, people go there to try their luck, hunt, and gather herbs. The game at the foot of the mountain has long been chased away. If you want to catch big game, you have to go deep into the mountains. The wild game in the mountains is very fierce. The escort leader and his men are not at home, and my adoptive father doesn't allow us young ones to go hunting in the mountains."
Gu Youan wiped his sweat and said, "Master Guo treats you as his own children. You are young, and he feels sorry for you getting hurt. It is right for him to not let you go hunting in the mountains."
Guo Su nodded, they all knew it.
When they went out, they brought some bread and water with them. They didn't dare to go deep into the mountains. At most, they walked up a little and then went down the mountain.
We shot two rabbits today, so we can add a meat dish to the table. When we went down the mountain in the afternoon, we also picked up two bundles of firewood.
Guo Su didn't feel it in the mountains, but he immediately felt hot after coming down the mountain.
Guo Su raised his hands to shield his eyes, looked up at the sky, and muttered, "It's already the middle of the afternoon, why is it still so hot? The corn stalks in the field are all wilted in the sun."
Indeed, large patches of flowers on the top of the stalks were wilted by the sun, the leaves were curled up, and the soil in the ground was white and cracked by the sun.
Gu Youan suddenly remembered that in the past month, it seemed that it only rained for a while one night and then it didn’t rain again.
Gu Youan had been busy learning archery these days and had not paid attention to the work in the fields, but now he became worried.
The ears are in the growth period. If there is a lack of water at this time, the corn kernels will become shriveled and the yield reduction will be very serious.
Gu Youan frowned slightly. He had just taken a few steps when he heard someone shouting in the cornfield in front of him on the right that someone's wife had fainted and asked him to call someone over quickly.
Gu Youan and Guo Su didn't even care about the firewood. They dropped it and ran towards the direction of the call. They ran through the cornfield panting, only to see a woman with a red face and sweat all over her body lying flat on the ground. One of the two older ones was calling her name anxiously, and the other was fanning her by holding her clothes.
"Zhao Er's wife, please wake up."
"Someone come here, is Zhao Er here? Your wife fainted."
When Gu Youan saw the situation, he guessed that Zhao Er's wife might have suffered from heatstroke. Guo Su reacted faster and hurried over, carried Zhao Er's wife on his back and ran towards the canal in front.
"Hey, whose girl is this?"
"Put down Zhao Er's wife, what are you doing?"
The two women were chasing after him, but none of them were as fast as Guo Su. Guo Su carried the man to the side of the canal, put him down, scooped up some water from the canal and splashed it on Zhao Er's wife's face.
Seeing this, the two women who had caught up with them hurried forward to help. One of them even slightly pulled open the collar of Zhao Er's wife's clothes and poured cold water into her arms.
There was still half a pot of light salt water in the gourd that Gu Youan was carrying. He quickly pulled out the cork and poured it into Zhao Er's wife's mouth.
Perhaps it was the shock of the cold water or the choking from the salt water, but Zhao Er's wife woke up with a violent cough and looked around in confusion.
At this time, Zhao Er's wife's sister-in-law, who was working on another field, came running over, followed by Zhao Er's wife's husband. Zhao Er was so panicked that he threw the bucket on his shoulder to the ground. The bucket fell to the ground, and the water that spilled on the ground quickly seeped into the ground and disappeared.
"Wife, what happened to my wife?"
"What else can I do? It's too hot and I'm exhausted."
Before Zhao Er knew what was happening, his mother scolded him: "What are you standing there for? Why don't you carry your wife home and rest?"
"Oh, I'll go right away."
Zhao Er hurriedly carried his wife on his back and ran home. The old lady of the Zhao family hurriedly thanked the two women and said, "Thank you very much for your help. If you hadn't seen what happened and were willing to lend a hand, I don't know what would have happened to my second wife."
"Well, they are all neighbors, how can I just ignore it when I see it?"
"The fever doesn't look serious, but you can't be sure. Your family should be careful."
"Exactly. I remember two years ago, our neighboring mountain village was still reclaiming wasteland. One month, it was scorching hot, and four or five convicts who were reclaiming the wasteland died from the heat."
The old lady of the Zhao family said, "I know that too, and I'm afraid too. I'll go to the Zhang family and ask if they can get some herbs to boil for my second daughter-in-law to drink."
Gu Youan and Guo Su were about to leave when a woman grabbed them and said, "Don't rush."
The woman turned to the old lady of the Zhao family and said, "Your second daughter-in-law was saved by these two girls. At that time, your second daughter-in-law was unconscious on the ground and motionless. We were both scared. It was thanks to them."
The old lady of the Zhao family was naturally very grateful to Gu Youan and the others. She looked at Gu Youan carefully and said, "You look like a maid from the Gu family?"
Gu Youan smiled and nodded: "My father is Gu Wen, and my mother is Du Ruoniang."
"Oh, I think you look like Mrs. Du's daughter. You and your daughter have similar faces. I saw you in the spring. You were very fair then, but now you're tanned. I didn't recognize you at first."
"Thank you for your help. I'll send you a bowl of pickled vegetables later. Your mother praised the pickled vegetables we make last time. You should try some."
As they were talking, a few more people came running over, some holding hoes in their hands, some carrying shoulder poles on their shoulders. Before they even ran over, they asked, "Who was that shouting just now? Is there something wrong?"
"Zhao Er's wife fainted, so the general asked Zhao Er to carry her back home."
A burly man in a pale blue shorts that had been washed out frowned: "Three people have fainted in the past few days."
"What can we do? The hotter the weather, the harder we have to work. If we don't water the fields, the corn won't grow. We'll work hard for half a year and get nothing, and our whole family will starve to death."
"The Gu family was the smartest. They built a canal together with the Tian family and several other families whose land was close to theirs. It was very cheap for them to irrigate their land. Unlike us, the whole family had to carry water to irrigate the land day and night."
"Isn't it all your fault? I told you to build a canal, but you said there's no shortage of water here, so why bother building one? Now you're jealous."
"You woman, why are you blaming me? I said I couldn't do anything, but you didn't object, did you?"
"Alright, alright, it's hard enough in this hot weather. If you and your parents-in-law have the energy to argue, you might as well carry more water to water the fields."
Someone else said, "Do you think we can rush to build the canal now?"
"Oh, it's too late now. Our land is far from the river. By the time our canal is built, the daylilies will be cold."
"Exactly. Besides, I see the water level of the Ping'an River has dropped a lot, so diverting water won't be that easy."
"Okay, stop talking and get to work."
A group of people quarreled, complained, and then dispersed.
Gu Youan and Guo Su went back to pick up the firewood they had left behind and went home. There was no one at home, so Gu Youan was not in a hurry. He cooked porridge first, and asked Guo Su to prepare the rabbit, chop it into pieces, and prepare to make a big pot of rabbit meat and potatoes.
Rabbit meat is not very oily, so Gu Youan is willing to add oil and salt when cooking. He puts enough oil in the pot and heats it up. He adds chili peppers, ginger, garlic and other ingredients, stir-fries them until fragrant, then adds the rabbit meat and stir-fries quickly over high heat. The aroma spreads immediately.
Guo Su was tending the fire in front of the stove, and the smell made her saliva flow.
Cook the rabbit meat until it is half cooked, then add the diced potatoes and simmer until cooked, and the dish is ready.
When the porridge was half cold, the whole family came back, washed their hands and ate, slurping down their food to their heart's content.
There was no rush to wash the dishes, and the whole family rested in the yard.
Gu Youan brought a chair and sat in front of her father: "Is your plan going to succeed?"
Gu Wen sighed: "I didn't expect it to be so fast."
Gu Wen couldn't predict when drought would occur and when it would rain, he just made preparations in advance. Who knew that the canal would be repaired in the first half of the year and drought would hit in the second half of the year.
Speaking of good luck, Gu Wen is really lucky.
If we talk about bad luck, then the people in Linshan Village, Ping'an Town, have really bad luck.
This time, there is no need to wait until next year. I am afraid that after the autumn harvest this year, everyone will come to Gu Wen for advice on how to build a canal to connect all the fields.
Gu Wen had anticipated the drop in the water level of Ping'an River. In the past few days, he went to the town to find a skilled carpenter to make a waterwheel. It is estimated that the waterwheel will be completed tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. When the time comes, it will be transported back and set up beside the Ping'an River and the canal, which will make it more convenient to irrigate the fields.
Man proposes, God disposes. Gu Wen, a former doctor in the Ministry of Works, has his chance.
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