Chapter 42 Yearning for the Luo Family Tenants
"Honored guest, please be mindful, the winter melons in the field are very expensive." Luo Yundou said with a blank face as she saw the so-called honored guest walking towards her.
Sui Gu's smile didn't reach her eyes as she stood in the shade of the oil-paper umbrella. "Young lady, you know so much. These melons are really well grown. Are they all from your family?"
Luo Yundou proudly raised her chin, "Of course, all the melon fields in Qingyupu belong to my family."
Sui Gu: "Really? Your family and the official family are distant relatives?"
Luo Yundou froze, then her cheeks flushed red. "...No." But we might not be so sure.
“Since that’s not the case, then taking over the imperial estate… let me think, what crime should be the punishment?” Sui Gu pretended to think, lightly tapping her chin with one hand.
"You're talking nonsense! I, my family doesn't have..." Luo Yundou was so anxious that she couldn't speak. She was indeed inexperienced and easily caught off guard.
"It's best not to covet what doesn't belong to you." Sui Gu's smile faded, and that was all she said.
Luo Yundou's nose tingled, and she was about to cry. She couldn't stay any longer, so she turned around and ran back to the village.
Watching her departing figure, Sui Gu knew that what the young lady thought next was no longer her concern, and prepared to go back to the field to pick a couple more melons.
Fang Xiangshi rarely asked a question, "Ahe, didn't Di Ting say he wanted to give her a warning?"
Sui Gu looked back at him as if she had choked, "?"
Fang Xiangshi said with a serious expression, "Or shall I do it? I know how to handle things."
Sui Gu couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You blockhead! Give me back my umbrella and stop hitting it. What are you hitting it for?"
Fang Xiangshi nodded, put the umbrella away, and waited eagerly for Sui Gu's next instructions.
Remembering his past actions, Sui Gu became even angrier, as if she had punched cotton. Without saying a word, she buried her head and walked into the melon field.
Fang Xiangshi followed behind honestly.
Luo Yundou, who was walking away with her head down in shame and indignation, happened to bump into Bai Yan and Jiang Yuzhi, who were about to leave.
She bypassed Jiang Yuzhi, intending to rush straight to Bai Yan to complain, but the words "Your Highness Prince Xiao" had barely left her lips when Bai Yan took a step back and hid behind Jiang Yuzhi, which stopped her in her tracks.
A sobbing voice escaped Luo Yundou's lips, "Your Highness..."
Bai Yan avoided her like the plague, not even wanting to reply, and her naturally drooping hand grabbed Jiang Yuzhi's sleeve.
A person who was half a head taller than Jiang Yuzhi was almost climbing onto her back.
She glanced at him sideways; his watery eyes were fixed on her pleadingly.
Jiang Yuzhi almost burst out laughing. She cleared her throat and casually said, "Miss Luo, you can say what you need to say here. His Highness Prince Xiao is still ill and should not be in contact with strangers."
Luo Yundou instinctively felt that Miss Jiang was lying, probably because she was afraid that His Highness would fall in love with her after getting to know her. So she pursed her lips and said, "Miss Jiang, I'm afraid that the distinguished guests in the field might damage the melon patch, so I came to inform His Highness."
“We were just about to go see, so we won’t trouble Miss Luo.” Jiang Yuzhi immediately realized that she was complaining, and her face darkened.
"We take great care of the melons in the field..."
Before he could finish speaking, Bai Yan realized something was wrong and frowned. "The Princess's residence will naturally bear the loss of the land."
“But, Your Highness…” Luo Yundou looked at Bai Yan expectantly as soon as she heard him speaking to her.
Fortunately, when Madam Luo hadn't seen her daughter return for a long time, she came out to look for her. When she saw her daughter's behavior, she was terrified. She took three steps at a time, grabbed Luo Yundou, and forcefully pressed her down to kneel on the ground. "Young Master, my daughter is young and ignorant. She has overstepped her bounds. Please forgive her, Young Master and our distinguished guests."
"Mother!" Luo Yundou called out in a low voice, dissatisfied, but she couldn't break free from the woman's hand, who had been doing farm work all year round.
Madam Luo glared at her and whispered a scolding, "Shut up!"
Bai Yan then stepped forward, shielding Jiang Yuzhi behind him, and waved his hand, "It's alright, just be more careful next time. The Princess still values Luo Zhuangtou very much."
Madam Luo then kowtowed twice more to her daughter, saying, "Yes, yes, I will definitely discipline her properly in the future. Thank you for your mercy, young master."
The two hurriedly retreated.
Jiang Yuzhi watched them walk away before teasing, "Hmm~ Mingze is so impressive."
Bai Yan coughed seriously, "Ahem, good to know. I value you very much. You'd better behave and listen to me, or I'll lock you up in the Xiao Prince's mansion and never let you out again."
Jiang Yuzhi: "I'm so scared."
Bai Yan couldn't help but chuckle.
Jiang Yuzhi also laughed.
In the melon field.
The oil-paper umbrella, open and leaning against the Di Ting (a mythical creature), cast a shadow.
Wherever Fang Xiangshi is, Sui Gu will move to a place further away from him.
Jiang Yuzhi was puzzled. These two were usually as close as one person. She held up the oil-paper umbrella and handed it to Bai Yan, then squatted down next to Di Ting and asked quietly, "Did the fairy and Fang Xiangshi have a conflict?"
Di Ting lazily turned over, turning its back to Jiang Yuzhi and Bai Yan, "I don't want to know."
It seemed the conflict wasn't significant, so Jiang Yuzhi stopped worrying about it.
"Let's go, Mingze. I want to eat cantaloupe. Is it far from here?"
"It's not far, just the two of us?"
"Uh-huh."
Di Ting jumped up, "I want to go too!"
Jiang Yuzhi refused without even thinking, "You should just lie down. Don't let those two immortals start arguing and ruin this melon field."
Di Ting said, "Sui Gu is the Goddess of Green Seedlings. If she stands in this field for a while, this field will surely yield the largest harvest next time."
Jiang Yuzhi: "That won't work either. Fang Xiangshi is still a demon god. You should keep an eye on them. You promised to keep an eye on them yourself, didn't you?"
Di Ting hummed out a sound and muttered something under his breath.
Jiang Yuzhi didn't hear clearly, "Huh?"
Di Ting lay down again with a "thud," turning his back to them, and said, "I said, if I'm not going, I'm not going. It's not like I'm doing this because I want to."
Jiang Yuzhi patted Di Ting's back reassuringly twice, "I'll find you a few more, so you can eat your fill, okay?"
Di Ting: "Hmph."
Jiang Yuzhi: "Then I'm leaving."
Di Ting: "Hmph."
Jiang Yuzhi was used to Di Ting's temper, so she stroked it a few times and then went to the melon patch with Bai Yan.
The umbrella was left for Di Ting.
Hearing them walk away, Di Ting closed his eyes and muttered again, "Attracting bees and butterflies."
The melon patch isn't far, but it still takes a while to walk along the field ridges.
The afternoon sun was blazing, and Bai Yan was distressed by his own lack of consideration.
With the sun so strong, can my wife, a ghost, withstand it?
An intense gaze was fixed on Jiang Yuzhi. At first, she thought it was the sunlight, but when she turned her head, she found that it was Bai Yan staring at her.
Jiang Yuzhi stopped and tilted her head in confusion.
Bai Yan also stopped. "Is Yu Zhi feeling unwell from the sun?"
Jiang Yuzhi: "No."
Bai Yan: "Won't sunlight harm the soul?"
Jiang Yuzhi: "Yes, but I have a requiem bell."
The bells at her waist jingled softly, much quieter than when they first met; they were almost inaudible unless you listened very carefully.
Most of the residual power in the Soul-Soothing Bell was transferred to Bai Yan's body, so the reaction was not as strong.
Bai Yan: "Really?"
Jiang Yuzhi: "Really."
A cold hand grasps a warm hand.
Jiang Yuzhi: "Isn't it much cooler now?"
Bai Yan: "Hmm... my face feels a little hot too..."
Jiang Yuzhi then covered Bai Yan's face with both hands.
It's really hot.
The temperature under my hands not only didn't drop, but it also showed an upward trend.
"Is it really that hot? Let's hurry up, there's a thatched hut up ahead."
"good."
The sun was blazing.
Jiang Yuzhi took Bai Yan's hand and quickened her pace.
Is he about to get heatstroke?
Inside the thatched hut, a farmer tending his field leaned drowsily against a haystack. On the table were two or three ceramic bowls, some of which were chipped.
Jiang Yuzhi helped Bai Yan sit down at the table and gently woke the farmer, "Uncle, sorry to bother you, could you please give us some water? My friend might have heatstroke."
The farmer didn't even open his eyes, lazily pointing to the earthenware pot on the table, "Drink up, drink up."
"Thank you, Uncle."
Jiang Yuzhi picked up the earthenware jar, poured out half a bowl of cool water, and handed it to Bai Yan.
Bai Yan wanted to pour it himself, but his wife wouldn't let him, fearing he wouldn't be able to lift the jar and would break it on the ground, wasting water.
The farmer got up at this moment, sat down with his eyes half-closed, and looked the two of them up and down. "You young masters and ladies from wealthy families, what brings you to the fields on such a hot day?"
"I had nothing to do at home, so I thought I'd come out for a walk. How was the harvest this year, Uncle?" Jiang Yuzhi asked casually.
"Ha, the harvest? What good is a large harvest if you have to hand it all over?"
"Hand it over? The rent from Qingyupu only accounts for one-tenth of the total harvest, why should it all be handed over?" Bai Yan had just recovered when he heard these ominous words.
Farmer: "One-tenth? Ha, my family has to hand over at least two-thirds every year! We can barely make ends meet by selling the rest. That village headman Luo is good at playing the victim. Who isn't struggling these days? The village headman's family must be rolling in money."
Bai Yan: "Why not take it to the government office? The law stipulates that the rent paid by tenants cannot exceed three-tenths of the total rent."
The farmer sneered, "Luo Zhuangtou is from the Princess's residence. Who knows if it's his idea or the Princess's? Who dares to sue? Life isn't easy anywhere else either. At least we can survive here."
Bai Yan: "I understand."
Farmer: "What good is it if you know? We're still sad."
Bai Yan: "It's time to change the leadership of Qingyupu."
The farmer took a sip of water dismissively. "Who do you think you are, to think you can just change things like that?"
Bai Yan pursed her lips and remained silent.
Jiang Yuzhi chimed in, "Uncle, this is His Highness Prince Xiao, who was just appointed, and the princess's son."
Farmer: "Who is he? The princess's... Huh? The princess's son? Prince Xiao?"
Jiang Yuzhi: "Yes."
Farmer: "Miss, don't try to fool me."
Jiang Yuzhi: "Uncle will know tomorrow."
Tomorrow, the tenants will go to the estate to pay their respects to their master.
The farmer believed him immediately, stood up awkwardly, wiped his calloused hands on his coarse cloth clothes, and stammered, "Young...Young Master."
Bai Yan disliked receiving courtesy from these honest farmers. Many of the old farmers in his mother's household treated him like family. "Uncle, there's no need for such formalities. Please sit down. I'd like to know more about the village. Could you tell us more about it?"
"Okay, sure."
Most of these farmers migrated from other places and don't own land; they can only rent it.
Initially, the rent at Qingyupu was indeed one-tenth, which allowed the tenants to live comfortably and even save some money.
Since the previous headman was transferred and the Luo family took over, the rent increased from one-tenth to one-fifth the following year.
When Luo Niangzi went to collect the rent, she only said that the landlord's family was not having an easy time either, and they needed money to keep going.
The tenants were very grateful to the princess's residence for taking them in, and since they had some extra money, they had no objections.
This year, it has risen to two-thirds.
No one knew whether it was the princess's decree or not, so they dared not speak out. The fruits were expensive, and although a lot was handed over, they were not starving. Besides, the seeds were provided by the princess's household, so the tenants didn't say much.
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Author's Note: Bai Yan: [Poor thing][Poor thing]
Sorry I'm late, I'll reschedule for midnight. I've been too busy lately.
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