Chapter 2
Under the blazing sun, it was only eight or nine in the morning, and it was already unbearably hot. Qingyun was covered in sweat, her entire back soaked through. The girl behind her was pale, her lips were bluish-purple, and she was swaying precariously, looking like she was about to collapse.
Before she had gone more than a few miles, she heard a "thump" behind her. Qingyun turned around and saw that it was the girl from before. She quickly went over and helped her up. She looked like she was severely dehydrated. Just as she was about to get a bucket of water, her hand was stopped by someone when she touched the handle. She looked up and saw a man. He looked like a prisoner exiled to this place.
She looked puzzled. "What are you doing!"
The man grabbed the bucket and placed it behind him. "She's got a fever. Giving her water won't save her." The meaning was clear: he wouldn't give her any.
Qingyun suddenly became furious. "What bullshit fever! It's just dehydration!" Their eyes met, and she understood that the other person was absolutely unwilling to give her the water bucket. So, taking advantage of a moment when no one was looking, she snatched the water bucket from another prisoner's hand.
He forced the girl to drink it all, then took off his own coat, soaked it, and covered the woman's face with it. "She can't dry now! She needs to be taken to a shady place!"
The surrounding area stretched out endlessly, with only a few hills behind offering some shade, but the heat was still considerable; the best course of action was to take people back.
Holding the girl, she was thinking of a solution and didn't notice the man's anger. He had tried to attack her from behind, but luckily, at the last moment, she caught his fist with one hand. "Fighting in private is punishable for both of us. Besides, you're a man, why are you arguing with a junior?"
The newcomer was a woman. She had a cold and stern face, and her slanted eyes gave her a rather intimidating aura. However, she had a very gruesome scar on her face.
"That wretched woman, does she know that we carried this water one by one from wells ten miles away! We don't even have enough for ourselves, and she's giving it to half-dead people with fever!" The man was furious as he pointed at Qingyun and cursed.
The woman ignored them, but gave a wink to the people beside her, saying, "Take him back."
Qingyun considered the woman to be half in charge, so he ignored everyone else and turned to give the porters a few instructions on things to be careful about.
Only then did she meet the angry man's gaze. She stared at him fearlessly and said, "I already said she doesn't have the fever you're talking about. Do I need to say more?!" She looked around and said, "Since transporting water is difficult, we can just dig a well nearby."
"You wretched woman!" the man roared. "Do you think digging a well is as simple as eating?" He questioned her relentlessly. "Where are you going to find a water source? After a whole day, only a few seedlings have been planted. How can you calculate the wasted manpower and resources?! Do you think a well will just appear out of thin air?"
The scarred woman didn't stop the two from arguing. She told the others to continue working while she stood aside and watched the show.
Qingyun sneered, dismissing the other party's statement with disdain. "That's because you're useless," she said, holding up three fingers. "In less than three days, I can dig a well for you."
The man seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. His anger had not yet subsided, and he revealed contempt and disdain. "Don't talk big. I will report your unauthorized use of water today." He glanced at him sideways, his chest heaving, and snorted coldly. "This is no longer your noble mansion. There are no maids or servants to do these things for you now. You dug the well all by yourself..." At the end, the man said, word by word, "I don't believe it."
"If you don't believe me, then don't believe me. But if I really do dig a well in three days, what will you do then?"
"I won't bet with you. It's a waste of time to gamble with you. We haven't even finished planting the seedlings today. Who has time to play with you?"
The other party's contemptuous attitude did not anger Qingyun. She knew that men in feudal dynasties had always looked down on the value of women. Even being granted an imperial title was just a way to comfort women under the system. In reality, they had little real power. Now, even betting with her was a contemptuous attitude.
The man, with a sour face, picked up his hoe and turned to leave.
Qingyun's powerful voice rang out behind him, "If I find the well, you won't need to kneel down and apologize to me; from now on, you will be at my service!"
The man sneered, not even pausing for a moment, seemingly unconcerned about the matter. "We'll talk about it when that day comes."
She had originally planned to dig canals and wells; now it was just a matter of moving the schedule up. After saying this, Qingyun silently picked up the seedlings in her hand, preparing to continue finishing her own work.
Unexpectedly, the scarred woman suddenly spoke up, "Do you need my help?"
Qingyun noticed her only after hearing this. She was surprised that this person didn't question her but instead asked directly if she needed help. She frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and replied without hesitation, "Okay, I'll look for you when I'm digging the well."
"The border guard commander will surely know about what happened today, and he will question you when he gets back tonight. Be careful."
Qingyun couldn't understand why saving someone with just a bucket of water could cause such a big fuss.
"Have you considered that she has been suffering from a fever for a long time without anyone to treat her? It's because the higher-ups want her dead. Now that you've stood up for her, there's no guarantee that others won't hold a grudge against you." The scarred woman pondered for a long time before revealing her reason.
She didn't know what this fever was. There were many names for diseases in ancient times, and she had never heard of them before. She checked the system and asked, and then she learned that it was actually heatstroke, plus bacterial infection. It was usually caused by unclean water or by contracting a virus in the desert while walking in the desert.
This disease isn't difficult to treat. Clean the water source, wear a mask when traveling in the desert, and pay attention to hygiene—all of these can save lives. Thinking of this, Qingyun secretly made a mental note, then nodded to the scarred woman, "If you want to cause me trouble, I'm not afraid." So what if she became the one to stick her neck out?
That very night, Qingyun was taken to a mansion. She knelt in the main hall, surrounded by utter silence. Although the servants were busy with their own tasks, they would occasionally steal a glance at her. She realized that she had been kneeling almost every day since she came to this world, and her knees were still not healed.
She cursed the system inwardly, but had to keep her back straight. After a while, she heard footsteps approaching, followed by the sound of a maid serving tea. The person sat upright in the high hall. Qingyun noticed a pair of lotus root pink shoes, adorned with pearl tassels that swayed gracefully with their owner's steps.
A sense of foreboding washed over me; I wondered if it was Song Chaoyun.
The next second, that familiar voice rang out, "It's only been a day, and you've already caused trouble for me?"
Holy crap! It really is her!
Upon hearing this, Qingyun immediately kowtowed and hurriedly explained, "This servant could not stand by and watch someone die. It was just a case of dehydration due to the heat. Drinking some water would have made me feel better. I never knew that this would alarm you."
"Oh?" Song Chaoyun looked at Qingyun, who was kneeling upright, and instead started another conversation, "I heard that you boasted that you could find a well within three days? Are you really confident or are you just lying to others?"
Qingyun answered honestly. She also talked about digging canals and the straw checkerboard. The so-called straw checkerboard was a series of straw ropes nailed to the sand dunes, crisscrossing to form a net, like a chessboard on the sand. When a strong wind blew, the sand grains were trapped in the checkerboard and could not move.
"Planting red poplar and jujube trees will form two lines of defense, which will naturally improve the survival rate of the seedlings and increase the efficiency of desertification control."
This technology was used as early as the Song Dynasty and the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but it was only in its prototype stage. What she is proposing now is a modern desertification control solution launched by the state.
Before Song Chaoyun could speak, she heard another set of footsteps. This time, the footsteps were heavy, steady, and fast, clearly belonging to a man. She had previously wondered if this princess was the border guard commander, so she was surprised when Song Chaoyun appeared, fearing that the other party was deliberately using this opportunity to make things difficult for her.
"A fence to suppress sand, I suppose you've studied these things too." The voice preceded the person's arrival; a deep, pleasant voice rang in his ears. Qingyun was right; it was indeed Song Junwu, the border guard commander.
He put his hands behind his back, bowed to Song Chaoyun, and then sat down together. Looking at Qingyun, he continued, "It's just that rice is not widely grown in our country, so it will be extremely difficult to harvest it in a short period of time."
Qingyun kowtowed again, "Replying to Your Excellency, using wheat straw has the same effect. Even if you weave withered wild grass into a rope and bury it, it will still work."
Upon hearing this, Song Junwu's face showed a thoughtful expression. He thought to himself that Qingyun was indeed impressive. "Since you have such achievements, it seems that what you said during the day was not all nonsense. Do you really have a way to dig a well?"
The city currently has a registered population of over three thousand, but only ten wells have been dug, which is far from enough to meet the daily water needs of the residents. If Qingyun truly has the capability, it would indeed solve the urgent problem for the entire city.
"This servant dares to guarantee that there is a way," she said, as if she had remembered something, and brought up the matter of the fever again, "Do people and livestock in the city share the same water? The water source is not clean to begin with, and if people drink raw water directly, more people will get this disease."
After Qingyun finished speaking, he paused for a moment. Seeing that the two above did not raise any objections, he continued, "It is not difficult to solve. People must boil the water before drinking it and clean up the animal excrement on the roads."
After she finished speaking, she fell silent. The surroundings were quiet. The servants on both sides were slightly surprised when they heard her words. Ordinary people would not boil water before drinking it. Firstly, the amount of firewood was rationed each month. Once it was gone, they would have to wait until next month. They were already barely making ends meet by cooking, so who would use it to boil water?
Clearly, Song Junwu had also considered this point, and his voice fell from above Qingyun's head as he raised the question.
Qingyun's face was stiff from smiling, and she could no longer kneel down, her knees aching badly. "I wonder if you two have ever heard of a double-eared pot? I've noticed that single-mouthed pots are used in the city and even in the villages. This double-eared pot is a pair of iron pots embedded in the stove. When burning firewood, both pots can be heated, so there's no need to worry about the firewood."
She had given advice all night, and if she was still punished, there was nothing she could do. Song Chaoyun looked at Qingyun and thought to herself that Qingyun must have always been concerned about the country, otherwise she would not have studied desertification control so diligently. She had really misjudged her before.
If anyone lacked the funds to repair their stove or buy a new pot, Song Chaoyun had already made plans to use some of his private assets to cover these expenses.
Song Junwu also understood the princess's thoughts and, having something to say to her, asked Qingyun to leave first.
Qingyun kept her head down and retreated, never knowing what the border guard commander looked like. She only knew that she had managed to fool him today.
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