Chapter 202: A Great Reward
Yu Lingye said, "I don't know."
"I don't know what the key looks like, so I can't find a pattern from the recipe."
Xie Yingmian: "So, we still have to find Lao Huang, find the key, and find the pattern of the key."
Yu Lingye nodded, that's the truth.
Xie Yingmian pinched her brows and said, "As the grandson of the imperial chef, do you think the village chief would know something?"
Yu Lingye said: "The probability is very low."
"The fact that he and the Xiao family of Shangjing are related cannot be hidden from Qin Aoshuang and the others. If he knew anything, Qin Aoshuang would have taken action against them long ago."
When he said this, Yu Lingye thought of Liao Qingshan.
Liao Qingshan's legs were indeed broken. Although he was unable to move, he appeared at Puzhaotai on time during the soul-calling ceremony, which meant that Liao Qingshan was lurking nearby.
Meihua Village is the village closest to Huangyun Temple.
Liao Qingshan is Xiao Qingyan's trump card.
Liao Qingshan lives in Meihua Village, which should be arranged by Xiao Qingyan.
The village chief's surname is also Xiao, and he is a relative of the Xiao family in Shangjing.
The village chief couldn't possibly know everything.
So, they came to Meihua Village, came to the village chief's house, happened to find Xiao Houzi, and happened to get the recipe book. Are these really coincidences?
If it wasn't a coincidence, how could Xiao Qingyan be so sure that they would come here?
They came here on a whim.
If it hadn't been snowing heavily, if it hadn't been the poison in the carriage that delayed them, if it hadn't skidded and thrown them out, if he hadn't been unconscious, and if it hadn't been cold and dark and inconvenient to travel...
If any of the four conditions is missing, they will not come here to stay overnight.
No matter how powerful Xiao Qingyan is, he can't calculate so accurately.
Unless... Xie Yingmian is the accomplice.
Yu Lingye's gaze fell on Xie Yingmian.
Xie Yingmian thought Yu Lingye was acting strangely: "What are you looking at?"
"Why did we come to Meihua Village?" Yu Lingye asked.
Xie Yingmian asked doubtfully, "This place is closest to the foot of the mountain. With all the heavy snow yesterday, where else could we go if not here?"
Xie Yingmian quickly guessed what Yu Lingye was thinking.
"Do you think I brought you here on purpose?"
Xie Yingmian started laughing as she spoke.
"What are you thinking about?"
"It was purely coincidental that we came here yesterday. It was snowing heavily and cold, and you were injured and not fit to travel, so I decided to stay overnight in the nearest village."
"I never thought I would be able to stay at the home of Xiao Houzi's grandson."
Yu Lingye told Xie Yingmian his analysis.
The more Xie Yingmian listened, the more troubled she became.
She looked at Yu Lingye: "It's true that we decided to come here at the last minute, but if it hadn't snowed and the poison hadn't delayed us, we might have ended up here too."
Yu Lingye immediately understood what Xie Yingmian meant.
Xie Yingmian meant that even if it didn't snow, they would encounter something along the way and end up in Plum Blossom Village.
It was a coincidence that they stayed overnight because of the snow, but it was not just a coincidence.
Someone is deliberately leading them this way.
Xie Yingmian said, "No matter what, we found Xiao Houzi by chance, so it wasn't a wasted trip."
There was a dark look in Yu Lingye's eyes.
The heavy snow stopped around 10:30 am on the second day.
The foot of the mountain is relatively low-lying, prone to snow and water accumulation, and is covered with a thick layer of snow.
After the snow stopped.
The young men of Meihua Village came out to sweep the snow and clear the road.
Normally, villagers clear the snow from their roofs first to prevent it from collapsing.
After cleaning their own roofs and doors, each family would send one or two workers to clean the roads.
The New Year is coming soon, and many families are going to the market near the official road to buy and sell things.
The snow was too thick to be cleared quickly.
Fortunately, Meihua Village is not far from the official road, and it will take about five to ten days to clear the road leading to the official road.
It takes too long and Yu Lingye can’t wait any longer.
The mountain was blocked by heavy snow.
The emperor and others were still trapped on the mountain.
But the royal guards and monks from Huangyun Temple cleared the snow trails very quickly, and it was completed in about three days.
It would be best if they could get back to Shangjing within two days.
Yu Lingye called Fu Mo over.
"Let the village chief mobilize the entire village to clear the snow."
"If you can clear the snow by today, I'll give you two thousand taels of silver."
"If you can clear the snow before the next day at 9:00 PM, you will be rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver."
"The longer it takes, the less money there is."
Fu Mo passed on Yu Lingye's order.
There are about sixty households in the village, with an average of six people in each household.
Excluding the very old men and women and the very young children, there were about three hundred men, women, and children who could clear the snow.
If the two thousand taels of silver were divided equally, each person would get more than six taels.
If a family has five people to clear the snow, they can earn more than 30 taels of silver.
More than thirty taels of silver are not enough for a dish in a rich family.
For a poor farming family, a family of six working in the fields may not be able to save two taels of silver by the end of the year. More than thirty taels is a huge sum of money!
There will always be brave men when there is a big reward.
Especially since they would have cleared the road anyway, otherwise they wouldn't be able to buy New Year's goods, nor would they be able to sell some mountain products to supplement their family income.
This money is essentially free money.
The village chief quickly took the whole village, young and old, to clear the snow.
In order to prevent people from being lazy or using children to make up the numbers, Fu Mo slightly changed the reward system.
He divided the area into several sections and divided the sixty households into groups by drawing lots.
Rewards are divided through a relay race.
The rules are simple: the group that finishes first gets the biggest reward.
Once this method was introduced, those who wanted to make money by cheating were excluded by everyone.
The snow clearing operation is in full swing.
The road, which was originally going to take five days to clear, was almost cleared in just three hours thanks to the tireless efforts of the entire village.
It was not yet dark when the road was cleared.
After Fu Mo distributed the silver, he drove away.
After arriving at the official road.
There were many people clearing snow on the official road.
Compared to Meihua Village, the official road is bustling with people, and the snow has long been compacted.
The road was slippery due to the snow, so Fu Mo slowed down the car.
It was not until the beginning of the night that he returned to Prince Ling's Mansion.
After returning to Prince Ling's Mansion, I found out.
Tianjia and Dijia have returned.
Tianjia was also seriously injured and fell into a coma.
"Your Highness." Dijia knelt down. "I failed to find Your Highness and returned with Tianjia on my own. I hope Your Highness will punish me."
Yu Lingye asked: "What happened?"
Dijia looked at Xie Yingmian.
Xie Yingmian looked at Yu Lingye and asked with her eyes: How about I leave?
Yu Lingye said, "Speak."
Di Jia said, "Because of the heavy snow, the mountain is closed, and everyone has been arranged to stay in the side rooms of Huangyun Temple."
"We chased the rats to where the nobles rested."
"After the two mice arrived at the wing room, they headed off in different directions. My subordinate and Tianjia each chased one mouse."
"Not long after, the rat I was chasing somehow ran to the edge of a cliff and fell down."
"When I returned to look for Tianjia, I discovered that he had been attacked."
"After my subordinates arrived, the other party probably fled quickly for fear of attracting the guards' attention."
"Tianjia was seriously injured and unconscious, barely alive. I didn't dare alert the enemy, nor did I dare delay. I braved the snow overnight to bring Tianjia back to Prince Ling's mansion."
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