Chapter 14
Sunlight pierced through the clouds, casting streaks of light onto the colorful Gobi Desert. When a gust of wind blew the clouds away, the yellow sand beneath seemed to ignite. Stepping into the sand dunes with straw sandals felt incredibly hot, and even the air itself was distorted by the heat.
Qingyun and a group of women walked in this environment, raising their hoes and vigorously cultivating the sandy land beneath their feet. In the distance, the rising heat on the ground resembled layers of shimmering waves. Sweat dripped from their foreheads and evaporated with the heat in less than fifteen minutes.
Several strong men summoned by Feng Sijing carried the rubble up, and the women neatly arranged it in the ditch. The soil on this sand dune was a mixture of mud and sand.
If it is not reinforced, the channel will be washed away after only a few floods.
"How about that? Am I loyal enough?" Feng Sijing came up and bumped Qingyun's shoulder. Ever since that conversation, Qingyun felt that Feng Sijing was inexplicably familiar with him.
Upon seeing him today, Qingyun noticed that although Feng Sijing was strong and robust, his face was completely that of a pretty boy, with a sharp forehead and jade-like cheeks, and clear and bright eyes. Suddenly including such a person in her camp, she was still a little unaccustomed to having to face such a face all the time.
It seems that Feng Sijing is also from a wealthy family, but I wonder how long he's been here and he hasn't learned his manners properly, always spouting words that don't suit his character.
Qingyun was thinking about the ramp; if they changed the route, they definitely wouldn't be able to finish it in one day.
Unexpectedly, Feng Sijing laughed when he heard this, "Why don't you have someone lower it down from the top of the slope to smash it? It's all just rocks anyway, so there's no need to reinforce it."
Upon hearing this, Qingyun replied, "I have thought of your method, but there is no support point here, so how can we lower a person down?"
Feng Sijing thought, "That's it? It's not a big deal at all. You can just move a rock up here."
Qingyun: "These stones are like cotton. You can just move them up here as you please."
Feng Sijing waved his hand and told Qingyun to rest assured that he would handle the matter and guarantee her satisfaction. Just as Qingyun was about to ask him a question, the eunuchs and maids sent by Song Chaoyun caught her attention. They were all complaining and seemed about to start a fight.
When she turned around again, Feng Sijing was nowhere to be seen.
Those eunuchs and maids had never done any heavy or tiring work before, and they were busy all afternoon without even a break. Some of the eunuchs even quit. When Qingyun saw this, he asked the system what time it was and found out that it was just past ten o'clock.
But considering that everyone hadn't rested since they came up at five in the morning...
She decided to stop everyone and let them rest and cool off in the nearby Gobi Desert, while she herself thought about the canal construction project. It looked well-organized now, but it was actually a mess, with several groups of people doing their own thing, and there were quite a few slackers and opportunists among them.
Qingyun: [How do you think this should be allocated?]
Seeing this, the system helped her gather a lot of materials online, but after looking at them from all angles, it felt that none of them were suitable for the current situation. Suddenly, she felt someone tug at her collar from behind, and Qingyun was startled and turned around abruptly.
She then realized that Song Junwu was standing behind her.
Qingyun breathed a sigh of relief and was about to question the other party about why he had scared her when she caught sight of the insect in his hand. When she saw what it was, she gasped in shock because it was a centipede!
Held in Song Junwu's hand, it wriggled up and down, its thousand feet moving like oars.
Looking at Song Junwu, he seemed completely unfazed, showing no fear whatsoever.
Qingyun was terrified of that thing, so he yelled and sprang into action, getting far away from the other party. "You!...Why are you playing with that thing all the time!"
Song Junwu raised his eyebrows slightly, a hint of confusion on his handsome face. Nevertheless, upon hearing this, he obediently threw the centipede far away.
Qingyun watched as the centipede stumbled and crawled a few centimeters, then, seemingly sensing the surface temperature, it tried its best to burrow deeper into the sand. This sight gave her goosebumps.
Unexpectedly, what the other person said the next second terrified her.
"This thing was right next to your collar, didn't you feel it?"
"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" Qingyun covered her head and let out a long howl.
"Holy crap! Why did you tell me that?"
"Holy crap?" Song Junwu was pedantic, not quite understanding the meaning of the words. He then saw Qingyun come over and pull him aside, asking him to check again to see if there was any more stain on his clothes.
"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!" Qingyun completely disregarded etiquette and rules; the thought of a centipede having been on her body drove her crazy.
Seeing this, Song Junwu didn't say anything, but listened to his advice and looked Qingyun up and down before confirming that there was nothing there.
But when you look at Qingyun again, he is frozen in place, showing signs of being petrified.
She thought to herself that the centipede must have crawled up when she was sitting on the ground.
Song Junwu ignored all that and sat down on the sand with an air of nonchalance. He wasn't afraid of it at all. Seeing Qingyun standing motionless like a statue, he asked, "Where are those people?"
"Luckily it didn't bite me. Centipede bites hurt a lot. Yes, I'm very lucky that it didn't bite me..." Qingyun muttered to herself, showing no intention of paying any attention to him.
Seeing this, Song Junwu had no choice but to tug hard on her sleeve to bring her back to her senses.
Seeing that she was still confused, Song Junwu patiently repeated it again.
"I told them all to go rest and have a drink of water. We can't just leave slaves alone, can we?" Qingyun was unaware that she had a bitter expression on her face, and when she put on a smile, it looked worse than crying.
Song Junwu thought that slaves were just slaves, but he didn't say it out loud. Instead, he noticed that Qingyun had been troubled by something, so he took the initiative to ask.
After explaining the reasons, Song Junwu continued, "If you're lazy, you get a beating; if you try to be clever, you get a punishment."
Upon hearing this, Qingyun shook his head, indicating that it wouldn't work. "Persuading people with reason is the right way."
Song Junwu smiled and said, "These people are not like regular slaves. If you are too kind to them, it will make you seem weak, and they probably won't respect you."
He then brought up the issue of distribution, dispersing the four groups. The able-bodied men and laborers were responsible for clearing the rocks and digging ditches, while those less capable, such as the eunuchs, would transport soil. Their group would do this work alone.
Women were responsible for ramming the earth and building the canal walls, as well as making sluice gates and measuring the water distribution points. They were better at these tasks than those who only knew how to do manual labor.
Moreover, he brought another team to transport the stones, so Qingyun didn't need to worry about not having enough people.
"What do you think?" Song Junwu asked Qingyun.
Qingyun pondered for a long time, then shook his head, "No, we can't use only able-bodied men to dig the canal."
Today she saw some women working even harder than men, and many of the conscripts were only responsible for cleaning and tidying in the army, which was completely incomparable to those who planted trees on the dam every day.
Song Junwu: "So how do you want to distribute them?"
Qingyun raised her eyes. "Those with strong abilities should take on important responsibilities, regardless of gender." She thought for a moment and then said, "I think it should be like this: those who can go forward to dig the canal and do their physical labor, and finish the work today, will all be rewarded with one string of cash. The rest will be rewarded with food, such as things that they don't usually eat. If the work is not finished today, the cash will be halved."
Song Junwu: "That's it?"
Qingyun: "That's all."
"No punishment?"
No punishment was imposed.
Who will pay for it?
“Naturally, it’s you and Her Highness the Princess.”
Upon hearing this, Song Junwu's lips twitched involuntarily. After a long while, he chuckled and pointed at Qingyun, saying with a laugh, "You've got a good plan, coming to us to take the lion's share."
Qingyun pouted, "No, it's not just me who has to repair this canal."
Moreover, it's already asking too much to fix it in one day, especially since some people came voluntarily. If she were to continue with her reward and punishment system, it would discourage people. Besides, the reward is just to motivate them to work harder. If they really can't finish the job, she'll step in herself and get it done perfectly.
The man sprang to his feet with a swift movement, brushing the sand off his collar and trouser legs. "Enough, enough. It would be beneath me to argue with you about this."
Qingyun just chuckled when he heard that.
She went down and redistributed the people again. When she returned, she saw that there really was a huge rock near the rock wall on the sand dune. Qingyun looked incredulous and surprised. "You actually managed to get this thing up here?"
Feng Sijing wiped the sweat from his face, grinning, "I told you, I'd get things done perfectly for you, didn't I?"
Qingyun was now only curious about how he did it, but Feng Sijing refused to say, saying that he also wanted to make Qingyun suffer a setback at his hands and show her his abilities.
Qingyun called him "brother" and was already mentally kneeling before him! She truly admired Feng Sijing.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. Song Junwu rolled up his sleeves and worked alongside them. With him here, those who blatantly slacked off were no longer there. Perhaps it was because of Qingyun's words that almost everyone was working hard, swinging their hoes with all their might.
Under the scorching sun, all life seemed to have lost its vitality. Qingyun dug through the soil, her hands were already exhausted, her palms were covered in blisters, and it hurt terribly to the touch. She took off her shirt and wrapped the cloth around her hands, and continued to work.
Seeing her like this, Lin Wanjun was afraid she was exhausted, so she quickly told her to go and have some water. Under the straw hat, her eyes had never been so bright. Sweat dripped from her eyelashes onto her cheeks, but Qingyun didn't care and casually flicked it away. "Everyone else is rushing to meet the deadline, and besides, I was the one who proposed this. Of course, I should set an example. What would it mean if I stopped?"
Lin Wanjun felt that Qingyun was talking nonsense, and that health was the most important thing. She wanted to say something, but Mu Helian stopped her and said, "She's right. Don't worry, she knows what she's doing."
Seeing Mu Helian approach, Qingyun seemed to remember something and hurriedly asked her if she had a matchlock on her. She had given her one earlier, but she hadn't had time to bring it when she left in the morning.
Thinking about the centipede incident, I comforted myself, thinking that this might come in handy.
Upon hearing this, Mu Helian put the remaining fire rope on her wrist. This fire rope, unlike the one kept at home, was a bracelet woven from drier mugwort.
Qingyun felt much more at ease after putting it on. During the days she was away, Song Chaoyun did everything she could, and it all benefited the people.
[If this were modern times, he might very well be a village Party secretary who truly cares about the people!]
System: [Host, you're too short-sighted. You think you can just be a village party secretary?]
Qingyun joked in his mind, "[So what if you're a village party secretary? Whether you're a high-ranking official or a low-ranking one, you're still serving the people. Young comrade, your thinking is a bit off.]"
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