Chapter 1370 The Returnee's Notes 444
Madam Min frowned. She was intelligent, and Xie Ning used chess pieces to represent mountains and rivers to explain the terrain to her. She understood it in a short while.
"I heard that the floods in northern Jiangsu were terrible last year, and this year it is suffering from a severe drought. Rivers and lakes have dried up and locusts are rampant. It's just that the water and drought are unpredictable."
Northern Jiangsu was a harsh place, and its economy remained stagnant for a very long time afterward.
Xie Ning recalls that there wasn't a single year in northern Jiangsu without disasters until the Republican era.
The book contains only one sentence: "There were many disaster victims, and people ate each other."
"Can't it be cured?"
The little boy who had been listening to the whole thing suddenly spoke up.
Xie Ning smiled slightly, "Governance costs money."
Does the imperial court lack funds?
The little boy wanted to ask more, but his mother patted him on the shoulder and said, "Lin-ge'er, it's getting late, let's go home."
The imperial court certainly doesn't have money. All the money is being used for military expenses and fighting against the Heavenly King. Moreover, even if some money is allocated for governance, it will be embezzled at every level. In the end, even if the project is completed, it will be as shoddy as tofu, crumbling at the slightest touch.
Not to mention that the people in charge of the canal transport would definitely not agree, and there was also the dispute between Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, so how could they work together to manage the water?
After Madam Min left, Xie Ning carefully taught these words to Zhi Bai.
Zhi Bai understood immediately. She gulped down a large cup of camellia tea and said bitterly, "This world is awful."
But people still have to live.
“Master, when I went back, I saw Aunt Li and the others helping people build houses. I heard they escaped from the north. The man in that family seemed quite learned, but he was just skin and bones.”
However, his children are still alive.
Both the boy and the girl are there, which means the family is quite good.
"It's quite a coincidence that the family also has the surname Liu."
Liu is a common surname in this area.
Zhi Bai rambled on and on, finally mentioning Juan Niang, "...Aunt Li said she saw Juan Niang's husband come back, but he left some money and then left."
Master, do you think that man knew Juanniang had sold her two older children?
How could she not know? Even if Juan Niang didn't know, she still had her mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and neighbors. Someone would eventually tell the man.
Whether it was sold, thrown away, or drowned, the deed is done.
A few days later, Zhibai came back down the mountain, his face visibly happy. "Aunt Li said that Juanniang and her husband had a fight. The man told Juanniang that if she got pregnant, she should give birth to the baby and take good care of her. I guess Juanniang won't abandon her daughter again, right?"
Although she disagrees, many wives here treat their husbands like royalty and obey them without question.
It's clear that Bai was too happy too soon.
She underestimated Juan Niang's madness.
Juanniang gave birth to thirteen children in total, all of them daughters, and Zhibai took each child home.
In the end, Zhi Bai became numb, and her words became somewhat harsh: "She really can give birth."
"She's so wicked, why did God still give her to the child?"
"Ha, that man is useless too, he can't even have a son." Zhi Bai already knew that the sex of a child was determined by the father.
Xie Ning teased the baby in her arms, then said to Zhi Bai, "Didn't you always say you wanted to go out and explore the world? Now it's time."
Zhi Bai was stunned, somewhat taken aback.
Before, when Xie Ning told her to stay at Qingya Temple, she always wanted to run away, but now that she could actually run far away, she couldn't bear to leave.
Zhi Bai nestled at Xie Ning's feet, feeling a little flustered. "Master, will you wait for me at the temple?"
After saying that, Zhi Bai couldn't help but laugh again. Why was she panicking? Her master was a god!
Even when she becomes an old lady, her master will still be around!
"Master, your little bird is about to fly away. You must hold onto the string and pull me back from time to time. Then I will definitely come back with lots and lots of things to offer to you!"
"good."
Overjoyed, Zhibai excitedly ran out to share it with her girlfriends.
Zhichun, who had been hiding to the side, stepped out. She watched as Xie Ning's pure white clothes gradually turned black. Xie Ning slowly raised his head and met Zhichun's gaze.
"Do you still have grievances?"
Zhichun didn't speak, but knelt down beside Xie Ning, resting her little head on Xie Ning's lap. In front of them were little girls playing games.
In fact, apart from Xie Ning, the thirteen children of Juan Niang who were brought back by Zhi Bai never left Qingya Temple.
Xie Ning opened the side gate and led Zhi Chun and the other children out from the back. Step by step, she left the area of Qingya Temple and never encountered any more restrictions.
However, she no longer had a physical form.
Xie Ning looked at the child in Zhi Chun's arms and said softly, "She's still too young, let's wait a little longer."
Three years passed. Juanniang's husband was away from home for most of the year. He knew that Juanniang had given birth to several children, but he didn't know exactly how many. This was because Juanniang didn't tell anyone when she became pregnant again and gave birth to the babies secretly.
Her body was too weak to have children again.
Therefore, her husband took another wife, and that wife also had a child, a girl.
Juanniang was not abandoned, but was properly cared for.
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