Chapter 39
Qingyun was stunned for a moment, partly because she felt that this appearance was too miserable, like that of a working-class person.
Seeing that the man still didn't speak, the farmer's wife quickly explained, "I'm planting it with all my heart! I saw that it would yield a high harvest, but I'm not taking any home to eat. Otherwise, you can just give me one." She became more and more incoherent as she spoke.
Qingjian finally came to her senses and immediately picked up the potatoes and placed them on the cloth bag at the farmer's waist. "I was worried that no one would grow them. These are all good things."
The peasant woman was flattered and immediately opened the bag a little wider, saying, "Thank you so much, young lady, thank you so much."
"Don't mention thank you. If you have any questions about planting, just come to xx village to find me. I live there."
The peasant woman readily agreed, and only stopped when the cloth bag was completely filled with Qingyun.
Perhaps it was the peasant woman who spread the word, because many farmers like that came to get the seeds. Unlike the villagers here, their appearance and behavior didn't seem like people from the neighborhood. When asked, it turned out they came from dozens of miles away, even more distant places, and those places were even more barren and harsh than here.
These past few days, even Mu Helian came to help, but Lin Wanjun was nowhere to be seen. When Qingyun had some free time, he took some potatoes and headed to Lin Wanjun's house. As darkness fell and the cold wind blew fiercely outside, Qingyun wrapped his thin coat tighter and knocked on Lin Wanjun's door.
"who?"
"I haven't seen you in so long, I miss you."
The system's voice echoed in his mind, "What are you doing now?"
Qingyun didn't turn around. He rubbed his hands together and stood in front of the small wooden door, waiting for the other party to open it for him. The door was opened a crack, and then an eye was seen peeking out through the crack. It really did look a bit eerie and ghostly.
Qingyun: ...I don't think I'm some kind of deadly Black and White Impermanence.
Upon seeing that it was Qingyun, the other party opened the door. As soon as she entered the room, she felt an unusual warmth. She looked around and found the charcoal still burning hot in the charcoal brazier in the corner.
"I haven't seen you lately. You sent me a few things last time, so I thought I'd send you something too."
Lin Wanjun smiled upon hearing this, "There's no need to be so polite."
Even though she was at the other person's house, the other person seemed more awkward than she was. Qingyun was about to speak when she was suddenly interrupted by a sound. It sounded like a piece of wood had fallen. If you sniffed closely, you could also smell a unique incense. She felt like she had smelled this incense somewhere before.
Qingyun wasn't startled, but Lin Wanjun screamed in surprise, then immediately glanced at Qingyun to see her reaction.
"It's probably the wind; it's quite windy today." After saying that, Qingyun handed the things she had brought over to Lin Wanjun one by one. Besides the potatoes, there were also the socks she had given to Mu Helian that day. Both of them received something, and she didn't favor either of them.
"I heard that your potato sprouts didn't go very well," Lin Wanjun asked, holding her cup.
Upon hearing this, Qingyun immediately began to pour out his grievances, realizing that reform was truly not an easy task.
The two chatted for a while. Before leaving, Qingyun looked at the wall behind the woodpile again, smiled, and remained silent.
【These past few days have really exhausted me!】Qingyun lay sprawled on the bed, not wanting to move at all. She had been digging for others these past few days, and she didn't know if she had lost her mind or not, because she hadn't planted a single tree.
System: [Host, don't worry, your land reclamation isn't considered meddling. I'll be awarding you points; 30 points per acre!]
Instead of gratitude from Qingyun, they were met with insults: "Don't you know how big or long an acre of land is? Turning over an acre only earns thirty points?! How can you be so heartless!"
System: [Host, you're really wronging me! Look at other people's systems, they give their hosts so many tasks and so many challenges, but I've never given you any challenges, dear! Have I ever forced you to do any tasks, dear?]
Qingyun chuckled, "You think you're so charitable? If you had a physical body, I'd definitely put a rope around your neck and make you plow the fields."
However, once she's planted all the potatoes in the next few days, she'll be free. Planting potatoes really doesn't require much skill; you just need to tell the farmers it's a species similar to sweet potatoes, and they'll know how to do it. After planting, she should go back to planting trees; she still needs to work on her points.
After all, Qingyun has to redeem daily necessities like sanitary napkins and nail clippers with points. Needless to say, nail clippers are essential, and Qingyun needs sanitary napkins every month. In short, she tries to redeem all the necessities of modern life first, which is when the usefulness of the system is truly demonstrated.
[I thought it was like in a novel, after all, I've read so many transmigration novels, and I've never seen the protagonist use a system to get these things.]
System: [That's because their company is careless. Host, look at our company, we're so much more humane! Because we have many female users, we always provide these!]
Qingyun: [Not bad, not bad. It would be even better if it didn't require points to redeem.]
System: [This is also a mechanism to encourage you to work hard!]
Qingyun: [Capitalist.]
After hearing this, the AI stopped talking altogether. Qingyun smiled and, not wanting to take a bath, simply lay down on the bed and fell asleep from exhaustion.
The second day after getting up early, Qingyun miserably carried her hoe up the sand dune. Having recently completed the insect plague mission and earned a large sum of points, she no longer had to worry about points. She even stayed up all night buying water purifiers and dumping them into the wells behind her.
She could have put aside the tree planting for now since she didn't have any points to worry about, but Qingyun really wanted to go back. Ancient times were really not as convenient as modern times. Even if she exchanged her points for instant noodles, she would have to get up in the middle of the night to start boiling water.
Perhaps because he went to see Lin Wanjun yesterday, he saw her coming to see him today, which made Qingyun feel very uncomfortable.
Planting trees is a tedious task. Right now, she needs to solve the problem of what to wear for the winter. When she first arrived, she thought the weather here was always hot. Besides, the original owner's family was destitute, and she couldn't find anything even if she searched high and low.
"Logically speaking, given your remarkable achievements, why hasn't the government granted you a general amnesty?"
Hearing Lin Wanjun's words, Qingyun also fell into deep thought, but she could only think of one possibility: Song Chaoyun took all the credit for herself. It would be a lie to say that she was not envious of the gold and silver on her body. She was not that high-minded. But when asking someone for a favor, she couldn't take all the benefits for herself. She could just consider it as doing Song Chaoyun a favor, after all, the other party had put in a lot of effort and money in the reform over the past few months.
The evening sun's warmth hadn't yet dissipated when Qingyun was dragged away by two or three women to gather reeds. Ordinary people who couldn't afford cotton-padded clothes mostly used these as stuffing; they didn't actually provide much warmth, but perhaps it was psychological—outsiders felt more respectable seeing you with your bulging clothes.
They thought of taking Qingyun with them because they felt sorry for the little girl who didn't even have winter clothes and worked harder than them every day despite her small, thin body.
"I told you you're an honest kid. Things aren't like they used to be. We're not counting by the few trees anymore. You're in that sandy field all day. Do you think it's difficult for you to plant a lot or a little?"
"Yeah, you're young, you should learn to be lazy sometimes."
The two women picking reeds said that they were not criminals, but came here to work and earn some money for daily expenses. However, this kind of tree planting is not an easy task. Most people in the city cannot afford it and will not come. Those who come are mostly poorer farm women who are used to farm work and are quick and efficient.
"Speaking of which, Widow Wang was arrested a while ago. I heard she was caught reselling seedlings and rice straw. She was given fifty lashes and is now lying at home half-dead."
"Is this the end of the world? It's hard to say whether we'll even make it through the winter."
Qingyun stood aside listening, and suddenly the image of the woman who had pulled her that day flashed into her mind. She had forgotten about it, but now she learned the outcome of the matter from someone else.
"Where are the fifty strokes applied?" she asked abruptly.
One of the women, seeing this, replied, "Where else could it be? His buttocks, of course. I heard he was beaten until his skin was torn and his flesh was ripped open, like a lump of paste." As she spoke, she shrugged, goosebumps rising all over her body. The others felt a chill run down their spines just from hearing what she said.
"There's no other way. Giving birth is like giving birth to piglets. What good is that little bit of money? If she doesn't do this dirty work, how can she survive?"
The woman wearing a headscarf smiled bitterly upon hearing this, "We all live on the edge. I told her long ago that she would be discovered sooner or later. What can a few foremen do? They all have connections. In the end, if something really happens, she'll be the scapegoat."
Spanking is actually a very serious form of punishment. To outsiders, it might not seem like much, but Qingyun, a modern person, understands the intricacies of it all. Putting aside the fact that all the capillaries will rupture, if the beating is too severe, it can paralyze a person. After all, if there is any problem with the spine, it will be difficult for them to stand up for the rest of their lives.
“Only we common people suffer. Look at Qingyun, this young girl. So what if she's popular? It's past the season and His Highness hasn't granted her a house or mansion to live in. She doesn't even have winter clothes.”
When the topic suddenly turned to her, Qingyun pretended to be clueless and smiled, but couldn't say anything to answer them.
The women got into a lively conversation. Although they knew that Qingyun was the son of a disgraced official, they found that the girl was kind-hearted and well-behaved. They had seen what she did, and she was willing to do things that men wouldn't dare to do. They admired her more and more.
As Qingyun parted the grass stalks that were taller than a person, she saw a nest of bird eggs scattered among the grass. These were not common, so she quickly took them out and shared them with the other women.
"That's why we always benefit from your kindness," a woman said with a smile.
As she spoke, she seemed to remember something and hurriedly asked Qingyun how to eat the potatoes. She learned that half of the people who planted trees with her had turned their land into potato fields, all thanks to the trust Qingyun had built up over the years.
Hearing this, she was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but ask why.
"Because I think you're reliable."
They don't engage in deception; they work diligently and practically.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
