Chapter 83 Xiao He: I believed your lies!
The waterwheel was just a minor problem, and a professional carpenter was arranged to be on hand. Wei Shengxue only mentioned it briefly and fixed it on the spot.
Everyone worked together to raise the waterwheel, and water flowed from the Si River and poured into the canal.
"The terrain here is good. We can build a water-powered textile mill."
Liu Ji took note of this matter and would go to the county magistrate to ask for his favor later. The location designated by the immortal was much better than them searching everywhere like flies in the sky.
Hahahaha, my Liu Ji’s luck has really turned!
Liu Ji smiled and changed the subject: "Thank you for your guidance today. The women in my family are good cooks. Why don't we go and have a simple meal together?"
This is the base camp. Although he and his family will be moving to Xianyang soon, the ancestral graves are here and the clansmen are also here. It will never hurt to mention his identity here.
Compared to other people they didn't know at all, at least they had some acquaintance with Liu Ji, so the group accepted the invitation and went to his house.
A clever follower had already taken a shortcut to run to his house to report the news. Oh, this house was also built by him after he became prosperous in Xianyang. It was built with red bricks and cement that had just been built in the neighboring city. The house was upright, spacious and bright. If Liu Ji had not had a high status, he would not have been able to snatch enough raw materials.
A big shot is coming to our house for dinner, so the ordinary dishes we prepared are definitely not going to work, so we have to add more dishes quickly.
Fortunately, Liu Ji had many friends in Pei County and now he had a status, so it was not a problem for him to temporarily put together a table of food to entertain guests.
The kitchen was so busy that Liu Ji led everyone to the study to wait for a while.
Several people came in one after another. As soon as Fusu entered the room, he saw the documents spread out on the desk. After taking a glance at them, he frowned slightly.
Liu Ji was keeping his eyes and ears open, so he naturally did not miss the change in his expression. He followed his line of sight and saw an ordinary document from Pei County.
The only problem is that he is not an official of Pei County, and this thing should not appear here.
Liu Ji calmly tidied up his messy desk and complained, "Pei County is short-staffed. Even I, who came back to visit my family, was drafted. There are so many words, it's giving me a headache."
Talking about this matter, Fusu was also in a headache. The speed at which the Qin Dynasty conquered the six kingdoms was too fast, and Qin officials at all levels had no time to be trained. There was a severe shortage of people everywhere in the world.
However, "I remember that Xianyang has already trained two batches of Qin officials, and they have now been assigned to various counties."
Liu Ji leaned over the desk, clutching the documents. "Sir, sir, do you know how many people the world lacks? Those petty officials wouldn't even be enough to fill one per county."
"Pei County is short of nearly twenty people, and I assigned two of them. I brought them back."
This was only because he caught the eye of the First Emperor that he was given an extra one. Some places didn't even get one.
Wei Shengxue was puzzled. If she put her own learning experience into consideration, there must be at least thousands of students in two classes.
“How many students are there in a group?”
Fusu: "About a hundred."
Wei Shengxue: "...With so few people, no wonder it's not enough."
“Aren’t you considering expanding?”
Fusu: "There weren't enough places and teachers before, so the new batch of people will have more."
Moreover, not everyone can enter the academy, there has to be a screening process, so the number of people is even smaller.
However, at the current rate, the missing Qin officials will be replenished in three or four years, which is much better than just watching from the beginning.
Liu Ji listened to their discussion and rolled his eyes.
There is such a shortage of people. His friends are smart and capable, much better than those people.
Liu Ji was thinking about when to ask someone to come and show up. With his ability, it would be no problem for him to rise to the top.
Speak of the devil, and he will appear. Just when I was thinking about him, I heard a familiar shouting voice at the door.
"Boss, we're here!"
The one with the gruff voice was none other than Lao Fan.
Liu Ji apologized, "They are some friends of mine in Pei County. None of them have families yet, and we get together for dinner from time to time. I forgot to inform them that we have guests today, so I'll send them back now."
"Liu Ji, I see you've become really rich. You can even stew kelp in a whole dish. In the future, I'll have to..." A man in scholar's clothes pushed the door open with a smile, and then saw the study was full of people sitting. He was stuck in his words.
He looked at Liu Ji and winked at him: Who is this?
Liu Ji stretched out a finger from his side and pointed upwards: It came from above.
The smile on the man's face froze for a moment, but he quickly covered it up and bowed, "I am Xiao He, the Chief Clerk of Pei County. Nice to meet you all."
Fusu: "No need to be polite."
Liu Ji immediately introduced the identities of each of them one by one. In short, they were all big shots who were not to be messed with.
"I once heard Liu Ji say that he had several powerful friends. Are they you?" Wang Li was shocked by Liu Ji's sudden move to grab the first credit. He had been watching him for a while, and the two of them could be considered drinking buddies who could chat with each other.
Xiao He replied calmly, "I don't deserve such praise, but I am indeed a good friend of Liu Ji in Pei County."
As soon as these words were spoken, Liu Ji understood. His little friend finally figured it out and was ready to make progress.
Hey, since we've been friends for so many years, of course I should promote him if I have the chance.
So Liu Ji began to praise Xiao He, saying that he was several times more powerful than he was a few months ago, as if missing him would be a loss for the Qin Dynasty.
This is so exaggerated that it is hard to believe.
Fusu tested Xiao He on the spot, and he answered the questions fluently, proving with his strength that he was worthy of Liu Ji's praise.
"Okay, okay! Sir, you are a talented person. When I return to Xianyang, I will definitely recommend you to my father!" Fusu held Xiao He's hand eagerly and promised affectionately.
Xiao He also held his hand tightly and expressed his gratitude with tears in his eyes.
This made Wei Shengxue, who was watching, twitch her lips, but the others didn't react.
Is this behavior normal?
Okay, she is ignorant.
Meanwhile, Wang Li and Meng Tian had already begun their fight with Lao Fan. Previously, Liu Ji had been the standout fighter, and they had never paid much attention to this stalker who followed him around. However, after a few exchanges today, they realized he was a true warrior.
Wang Li/Meng Nan: What a talent! Send it to His Majesty!
While several people were focused on discovering new talents, Wei Shengxue became interested in feeding children.
From time to time, he would take out a piece or two of candy and feed it to the children he picked up nearby.
"Little boy, do you want some candy?" She teased him by tossing the fruit candy.
A can of colorful fruit candy would have been irresistible to children in later generations when material resources were abundant, let alone in the Qin Dynasty where even candy was a precious commodity.
The child was sucking on the fruit candy, slurping it up, his eyes fixed on the candy jar in her hand.
"Eat! I want to eat."
He shifted his gaze from the candy jar to Wei Shengxue's face, "Give me the whole jar of candy."
Even Liu Ji couldn't help but look at him because of his shamelessness and self-righteousness.
As far as he knew, this was the little brat he had just picked up a few hours ago. If someone didn't know, they would think he was the young master who was being pampered at home.
Liu Ji's eyes were burning: Just for this shameless attitude, I, Liu Ji, will definitely make this friend!
Wei Shengxue held up the candy and taught him, "You should say: Can I have the candy? It's not polite to say that. Others will get angry if they hear it."
The child learns expressionlessly: "Can you give me all the candy?"
Weishengxue touched his head and praised, "Great! What a smart little baby!" Then she stuffed the candy into his arms.
The child lowered his head and imitated her to open the bottle cap, took one and put it in his mouth, then put the cap back on and stuffed it into his sleeve, with no intention of sharing at all.
Others: ...
Liu Ji: ...
This isn't shamelessness, it's brainlessness. It's better to stay away from him so as not to be dragged down by him.
Wei Shengxue looked at his behavior and didn't think anything was wrong. She looked up and saw them staring at her, so she thought they also wanted to eat candy, so she took out another can from the system.
"Hey, here you go. Stop staring at the snacks in the kids' hands."
Everyone: ...
As expected of an immortal, he acts without being fussy about details and is generous and unconcerned. It is truly admirable that he would casually give away such a precious thing.
The main point is double standards.
After chatting for a while, the servant came to report that the food was ready.
So the group moved to the restaurant again.
Before she even sat down, Weishengxue noticed that several dishes on the table contained kelp, especially in the stews. She wanted to put a few pieces of kelp in every dish.
The last time I passed by, I didn’t realize that this place likes kelp dishes so much.
"I like kelp!" The child sat on the chair and looked at the dining table with sparkling eyes.
Several people sat down in order of importance. Liu Ji personally scooped a few bowls of submarine soup and served them to everyone. He laughed out loud upon hearing this: "Hahaha, children always like these rare things. Eat more when you come across them today."
Kelp, Rare
These two times look fine when taken apart, but when put together they always look weird.
Wei Shengxue was very surprised as she held the bowl of soup. "Are the salaries of officials in the Great Qin so low? They can't even afford to eat kelp!"
Everyone in Pei County paused and fell silent.
How to answer this?
If it's not low, will the eldest son suspect that they are taking bribes?
It's not a high opinion, but it's not a good thing to say bad things about your father in front of your son.
However, the people in Xianyang who had spent a long time with her knew that she had misunderstood the level of the Qin Dynasty again, and they all began to play the victim skillfully.
This one said, "The inheritance has been cut off. Even kelp can only be harvested by human labor. How can we afford to feed the entire Daqin?"
Xiao He: ...If we don't fish kelp in the sea, where can we find it?
The other one said, "It's a pity that we don't have the method of our ancestors. Otherwise, we can have as much kelp as we want."
Liu Ji: ... Pei County is close to Donghai County, and seafood is not uncommon there, but this is the first time that these petty officials have heard of buying as much kelp as they want.
Another said, "I once read in a book that our ancestors cultivated kelp in the sea. In the spring, they would plant young kelp the size of a thumb, and in the autumn, they would harvest adult kelp taller than a human."
Liu Ji/Xiao He: Blow! Keep blowing!
Lao Fan and others looked confused: Is that so?
Wei Shengxue nodded, agreeing with their statement, especially the last one, "Yes, that's it!"
"A thumb-sized seed in a kelp field can grow into a large kelp weighing hundreds of kilograms in a few months."
She also praised Meng Nan, "I didn't realize you were such a fan of miscellaneous books. You could even find a document like this that only has a few records left."
As for why there are only a few records, that's nonsense. If there were more, someone would have tried it a long time ago, but it still hasn't worked. It must be that only one or two sentences are mentioned, and the methods and processes are not included at all.
Meng Nan, who was just playing the flute with his eyes closed: Huh?
Liu Ji turned around and looked at him. Did the Qin State even have this kind of technology?!
Xiao He fell into deep thought. Could Qin, a landlocked country without even a sea, really have records of this kind of seaside planting technology?
Little brat Han Xin raised his chopsticks and beeped loudly: "Go plant kelp!"
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