Prince Yun and the other two looked at each other.
He Ji said, "You two shook hands and promised to be faithful to me, but if you said you were running hand in hand, it's unbelievable... You're kidding me."
Prince Yun also shook his head and said, "I don't believe it either."
Wang Dong turned a deaf ear to the question, looked around, and asked, "Is Zhuangzi still far away?"
"Yes." Gao Yanei also asked, "Your Highness Prince Yun, where is Zhuangzi?"
Prince Yun saw the two men and pointed forward, "It's the village to the west."
Everyone looked towards the village and saw a small village sitting there alone, with bare ground all around.
"Are you disappointed?" Prince Yun turned his head, wanting to see the expression on Zhang Shixun's face.
Zhang Shixun looked indifferent, with no expression on his face.
"Your Highness Prince Yun, you have to exit here." A guard said, pointing to a fork in the road.
"Well! Then lead the way."
A winding dirt road with saline-alkali land on both sides.
As Gao Yanei walked, he said, "Your Highness Prince Yun, this place is so desolate. How come you have a farm here?"
Prince Yun said, "This farm was given to me by my father seven or eight years ago. Back then, it wasn't barren. But one year, there was a heavy rain, and the Yellow River overflowed its banks, turning it into a swamp. After the water receded, it became like this."
"How many people are still in the village?" Zhang Shixun frowned as he looked at the village getting closer and closer.
"There are not many people, they are all my farmhands. There are about dozens of families, about a hundred or eighty people, young and old... Zhao Bantou, how many people are left in the farm?" Prince Yun asked an attendant in front.
"Your Highness, there are still 150 to 160 people."
Prince Yun turned to Zhang Shixun and said, "That's it. If Master Zhang is not satisfied, let's call this deal off."
"Let's wait and see." Zhang Shixun looked back at Wang Dong, only to see that he was looking around and seemed a little excited.
As the group got closer, they saw that the village was surrounded by a circle of earthen walls. Probably due to years of disrepair, only half of the wall remained in many places, and there were gaps in some places.
An old man came out and bowed from a distance: "I am Li Shiyi, your humble servant, respectfully welcoming Your Highness!"
Zhao Bantou said beside him: "Your Highness, he is the village head here."
"Well! Let's go into the manor and take a look."
Although Zhuangzi belonged to Prince Yun, he had never been here before. When he saw the place today, even he was quite disappointed and had no hope for this business.
Without dismounting, they entered the village directly, immediately attracting bursts of barking dogs.
The children who were playing in the village were so frightened by the scene that they ran back to their homes and secretly lay down through the crack of the door to look outside.
"Li Shiyi, where is your home?" Wang Dong suddenly asked.
"My dear sir, my home is at the intersection." Li Shiyi said, pointing ahead.
As the head of the village, Li Shiyi's home was not much better than others. The only difference was that the thatch on the roof was a little fuller than others, and there was a rammed earth wall at the courtyard, that was all.
"Do all the surrounding fields belong to this farm?" Wang Dong asked again.
"My Lord, all the land within five or six miles is our village's land."
"How far is this place from the Yellow River beach?"
"Not far, about seven or eight miles."
Wang Dong asked again, "There are so few people in the village. Where did they go?"
"Have all the young and strong gone to work in the city? Only women and children are left in the village."
"What kind of work do those young men do in the city?"
"Some do small business; some work as hangers-on; some help people transport goods... They do all kinds of things." Li Shiyi answered Wang Dong's question carefully. Since he was with His Royal Highness Prince Yun, he must be a person of status.
Wang Dong turned to Zhao Kai and asked, "What is your relationship with these farmhands?"
This question was asked very rudely, without any respectful title, just calling him "you".
Zhao Kai didn't bother to argue with him and replied, "They are my tenants and should pay me rent. Ever since the fields were flooded, we can't grow much food. I am merciful and don't make things difficult for them. I haven't collected rent from them for a long time."
Since Wang Dong had already called him "you", Prince Yun also put on airs and kept calling him "this king".
Wang Dong didn't care at all and continued to ask, "If these farmers want to leave here and make a living elsewhere, is that possible?"
Zhao Kai replied with a straight face: "If I don't agree, they can't go anywhere?"
"Why?"
"Because they are my farmers, they cannot leave as long as I don't allow them to."
"One last question. If I buy this farm from His Highness, will these farmhands also obey my orders?"
"Of course it is. I will give you the contract as well."
"I understand." Wang Dong nodded, turned to Zhang Shixun and said, "This is it!"
Zhao Kai and others didn't understand what "that's it" meant, and they all looked at Zhang Shixun.
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