Chapter 308: Pale and Powerless
Su Wan rode in a carriage on the bumpy road for half an hour before reaching the dam.
You can see the rushing water of the Xuan River from afar. The mud and sand have turned the water yellow. Although it is not the flood season, it is still rolling rapidly. If you stand close to watch, you will always feel like you are being swallowed up.
Above the dam, there are many supports made of bamboo and wood, and workers are hammering on them.
There were soldiers and civilians here, all of them with their upper bodies naked, walking on a bridge made of wooden frames.
Su Jing introduced his ideas to them along the way, and Su Wan and Su Yi listened carefully.
The dam is now taking shape, and it will take at least two years to complete. Construction is suspended for two months during the flood season every year for the safety of the workers.
In the middle and lower reaches of the river, he issued orders for officials to lead the people in planting trees on both sides of the Xuan River.
The upstream areas are the worst hit during the flood season every year, so he dug trees from the mountains in other places and planted them directly on both sides of the upstream area.
After a year of adaptation, and with plenty of water on both sides of the river, the roots of the trees are able to take root deeply in the ground.
From a distance, one can see that densely packed large trees have been artificially transplanted on the open space opposite the Xuan River. This is a huge project that relies entirely on the concerted efforts of the military and civilians.
The purpose is to be able to withstand the impact and silt when the flood season comes, so that nearby villages can be less affected.
Anyway, the common people work, and the court not only reduces taxes but also pays them wages. Why not?
This flood does not occur every year, but there is always one every few years, and each time it occurs, it is a devastating impact. The people on both sides of the strait have to start their lives all over again just as they are about to get by. This is why the emperors of all dynasties have been very distressed by the floods in the Xuan River.
At the beginning, there were many people who wanted to do practical work, but they still lacked experience and theoretical knowledge.
As for Su Jing, he was able to control the flood thanks to his own understanding, his tireless research day and night, and the series of measures listed by Su Wan.
Looking at this situation, we can vaguely get a glimpse of how magnificent this dam will be when it is completed.
It will stand here for generations to come, protecting the people on both sides of the strait from floods.
"We will live there in a while. We have to come down and walk up the mountain. The courtyard with white walls is where we will live." Su Jing opened the window and pointed towards the mountain.
Looking through the carriage window, there is a small village on the mountain. The eldest brother's small courtyard with white walls is particularly conspicuous and is the best among the small wooden houses.
When they reached the foot of the mountain, the three siblings got off the carriage and walked up the mountain.
The path up the mountain was paved with stones, and the weeds on both sides were cleared away. The slope was not too steep, and it didn't take much effort to go up.
But the higher you go, the smaller the scenery below, the rushing river, and the workers working there seem to become.
But standing here, you can have a clear view of the scene below.
The small courtyard looked quite small from the foot of the mountain, but after climbing up, it was found to be quite spacious. The rooms were all clean and no one had ever lived there, except for Su Jing's original room.
Xizi and Zhuzi were already waiting in the yard, having cleaned it thoroughly.
When the villagers in the mountains heard that Lord Su's family had arrived, they all sent over all the good things in their homes.
There are chickens, ducks, bacon, and freshly picked vegetables.
The village women usually had to cook for the workers on the dam. When they heard that Lord Su had a beautiful sister, they all ran into the yard to take a peek.
Su Wan showed it to them openly, and asked Liuyun and Liuying to share the candies and cakes they brought with them.
"Miss Su is so beautiful."
"Yes, I've lived for decades, and I've never seen such a delicate and beautiful girl."
"That's right. Don't you see that Lord Su is already good-looking? How could his sister be any worse?"
"Master Su's brother is also well-born. Each of them has his own merits. This whole family was carefully crafted by Empress Nüwa, while we are the only ones who were just spitted out of the mud."
The village women praised the Su brothers and sisters a lot, and their smiles were simple and came from the heart.
Because Su Jing was so sincere to them on a daily basis, he didn't keep much of the food that Su Wan had people transport for himself and confiscated it all.
The guards squeezed into one room, made their own bunk beds, and worked in shifts of two at night to keep watch.
In fact, after staying in the bustling city for a long time, it’s quite nice to go to the countryside and stay for a few days.
The most important thing is that I don’t feel bored when I’m with my brother.
My eldest brother still goes down the mountain twice a day to inspect work on the dam.
The weather turned cold in early autumn, so Su Wan took out some money and asked them to buy cloth to buy some clothes for the workers and soldiers to keep warm.
It was all her private money, and she didn't spend much. The monthly net profit from her many stores was quite high, so it was nothing.
However, she is still not as wealthy as Gu Yue. Her business has just started not long ago, unlike the Gu family which has been running the business for many years and has deep roots.
Those fifty thousand taels were indeed nothing to them.
…
Gu Yue had just arrived in You County and went to the county magistrate's mansion to inquire. She told the county magistrate's wife that she was Su Jing's sister.
The county magistrate's wife was very puzzled after hearing this. Lord Su said that he only had one younger sister at home, and now another one has come. What's going on?
"Miss, are you Lord Su's cousin?"
Faced with the county magistrate's wife's doubts, Gu Yue felt embarrassed and shook her head:
"Uh...neither...I think I should consider myself a stepsister!"
Indeed, neither of them is related by blood. We just grew up together.
Gu Yue now thinks that she seems to be nothing in the Su family. Apart from the proof of her existence over the years, everything else seems so pale and powerless.
She was an outsider, and if she wanted to go to the dam, she had to find someone to notify Lord Su and ask him to allow Gu Yue to enter.
When the county magistrate's wife heard that she was her adopted sister, she did not let her stay at home. Gu Yue found an inn to stay in by herself.
Later, Su Wan, Su Yi, Liuyun Liuying prepared the meal and waited for Su Jing to come back to eat. He went to the dam.
In addition to their own food, food for the guards also had to be prepared, so a large iron pot was set up in the yard.
Not long after Su Jing returned, someone from the county magistrate came and said that a Miss Gu wanted to see Lord Su.
Su Jing has always known that Gu Yue donated 50,000 taels of silver to the Xuanhe Dam. Now she came and specifically asked to see Su Jing. From a public perspective, he should go and see her.
For selfish reasons, he didn't want to have anything to do with her.
So Su Jing asked Su Wan:
"Wanwan, Gu Yue is coming. Would you like to meet her?" He always knew that these two girls didn't get along.
But ever since the incident with the fourth child, Su Jing knew that his beloved sister was no longer the same kind of person as their Su family.
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