Chapter Thirty-Six: I should think of a way to remind them
After having lunch at Village Chief Zheng's house and saying goodbye, Shen Zhiyi noticed that Xuan Yan was walking behind them for the first time ever, and even climbed over the wall into Village Chief Zheng's house.
They can't be doing anything bad, right? Village Chief Zheng doesn't seem like a spy or anything like that. Could it be that I've overlooked something?
She couldn't help but think a few more things, when she suddenly heard Lu Jingbai's voice: "Miss Chen, watch your step."
Almost instinctively, Shen Zhiyi stopped and looked down at the pit not far from her feet. She replied, "Oh, thank you for reminding me, Lord Lu."
"Miss Chen, are you thinking about what to make from those beans?" Lu Jingbai asked.
"Yes." Shen Zhiyi replied softly, feeling that her previous brainstorming session was a disservice to her current serious concern. "I wonder if Lord Lu has ever seen or mentioned anything about beans being made into anything in a book?"
Lu Jingbai fell silent, deep in thought. They were standing under the shade of a tree.
Just then, Xuan Yan arrived.
Zhao Daya overheard Shen Zhiyi and Lu Jingbai's conversation and knew they were discussing serious matters. She stopped Xuan Yan as he approached, but not wanting to be too obvious, she asked softly, "Brother Xuan, what were you doing at the village chief's house again?"
Xuan Yan hadn't bothered to hide the fact that he had climbed over the wall to enter Village Chief Zheng's house, so he wasn't bothered by being exposed. He honestly replied, "As you instructed, I left some money for the village chief's family."
“The Zheng family isn’t having an easy time either. They even specially stewed a chicken for me. The child sat next to me, craving it but not daring to eat it…” Zhao Daya said, recalling the difficult days of the past. “We can’t let the county magistrate pay for everything. Earning money isn’t easy for anyone.”
As she spoke, Zhao Daya was about to pull open her clothes to look for the money bag sewn inside when she saw Xuan Yan turn his back. She suddenly realized that what she was doing was wrong and hurriedly turned around as well.
Just then, Shen Zhiyi's voice came: "What are you all doing standing there? It's time to go!"
Zhao Daya breathed a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to quietly take out a handful of copper coins from the bag inside. However, she didn't have time to give them out and quickly put them in her sleeve pocket, then walked with her arm covered.
"Da Ya, what happened to your arm?" Shen Zhiyi asked.
"It's alright!" Zhao Daya replied, pausing as she walked behind Shen Zhiyi. "Be careful on the way back, don't fall into the pit like you almost did on the way here."
"I know!" Shen Zhiyi replied, which is why she stood still and finished talking to Lord Lu about the important matter. It was a pity that the other party didn't know what beans could be made into either, otherwise he could have used the wording in the book to find a "way of thinking" for himself.
Using the excuse of "good luck" should be enough to convince Lord Lu, right?
Shen Zhiyi thought silently, and could only believe that things would work themselves out in the end.
As the sunlight gradually slanted westward, it seemed as if a golden brush had been used to outline the distant mountains, making them appear magnificent.
Just then, two carriages entered Shunshui Village one after the other, attracting the attention of the children by the roadside. They turned and ran forward, shouting one after another, "Village Chief, the carriages are here! Lord Lu is here!"
As the carriage curtain was lifted, Shen Zhiyi saw several figures running past, and she could hear their shouts clearly.
“It seems the magistrate often visits this village, which is why these children remember him so well,” Zhao Daya said earnestly. “Indeed, the magistrate is a good official.”
"Hmm?" Shen Zhiyi was slightly surprised. She thought that the idea that "Lu Jingbai is a good official" was already deeply rooted in Xiaba Village, but she didn't expect that Zhao Daya seemed to have just agreed with this.
“Zhiyi, you need to understand one thing! You can’t trust what anyone says; you have to see it with your own eyes! Like in the Lin family, everyone says ‘Miss is a very good person,’ but I always see Qingzhu… who is Miss’s personal maid, often with injuries on her arms.” Zhao Daya lowered her voice and continued, “And once, I even saw Miss hit her with a cup.”
Shen Zhiyi's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this, and she asked, "Does Xiao Cui serve Miss?"
The usually talkative Zhao Daya suddenly fell silent, as if something she had been trying to bury had been unearthed. Looking back with a complex mix of emotions, her voice became hoarse: "Xiao Cui committed suicide by jumping into the lake."
"Why!" Shen Zhiyi asked in surprise, her mind flashing back to Ge Niu and the others' situation at the Lin family, and she fell silent.
In her mind, she couldn't associate the word "suicide" with a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl. Life had so many years to go, and so many beautiful things to see...
On second thought, one must have suffered great injustice to make such a decision.
"It's because Young Master Lin wants her to be his bed warmer..." Zhao Daya said with difficulty, clenching her fists. "If he dares to mess with me, I'll definitely beat him up before I run away!"
Because they are easy to bully, they keep all their grievances bottled up inside.
Shen Zhiyi remained silent. If only she had acted sooner, but there's no going back. She could only hope to have a clear conscience in the present moment.
"Have you told Xiao Cui's parents about this?" Shen Zhiyi asked.
"Yeah, I told him. But that's the young master of the Lin family, how could I dare to provoke him?" Zhao Daya said helplessly, but her clenched fists didn't loosen. "Hmph, when he's alone, I'm going to put a sack over his head and beat him up!"
Kind people always have a bottom line; when they are extremely angry, all they think about is beating someone up.
Shen Zhiyi exhaled a very light breath. She wasn't powerful enough to overturn anything on her own, so she could only accept the environment and the rules.
The carriage stopped at this moment, and there was a light knock on the carriage. The driver said, "Ladies, we have arrived."
The heavy topic was put aside, and Shen Zhiyi and Zhao Daya walked out one after the other. Seeing the familiar scene of people gathered together, they looked up and saw the man standing next to Lu Jingbai. Judging from the way they were talking, they knew he was the village chief.
Having gained experience, Shen Zhiyi easily found people from Shunshui Village to inspect the wasteland.
Shunshui Village is flatter than Shangyan Village, so you don't have to watch your step all the time. During the walk, through chatting with the young couple who were leading the way, Shen Zhiyi got a general idea of the village's situation.
The reason it was named "Shunshui" is because of the severe water shortage. So, although they grow rice, it is dryland rice. It is unknown who first discovered the seeds of dryland rice and brought them back to cultivate. Generation after generation, they have made dryland rice more adapted to the soil and environment here.
Although the output is not very high, it is still enough to make a living.
The entire planting season is also the most tiring time for the whole village. Even dry rice needs water, so you have to fetch water from time to time, which requires the whole family to work together.
Shen Zhiyi specifically looked at the course of the river, but couldn't see the beginning or the end. The river flow was quite good, but unfortunately it only passed through this village. If water was needed, it would have to be carried over by mountain road. Moreover, this area was located at high altitude, so the phenomenon of "water flowing downhill" could not be formed naturally.
To dig a waterway, one would have to break through high ground, which is very difficult given the current manpower and resources available. The only solution is to carry water by hand.
But Chen Zhiyi's ideas were completely different, because she had the entire heritage gathered into knowledge in her mind.
However, this matter is quite significant and cannot be accomplished with just a few words, as it could in Shangyan Village.
A new problem arises: how can she subtly remind Lord Lu of the waterwheel?
"Zhiyi, should we also grow beans here?" Zhao Daya said. She carefully examined the soil but couldn't see any difference.
Shen Zhiyi grabbed a handful of soil from her feet, squeezed it, then picked it up and smelled it, saying, "Have you burned wood ash?"
"Yes, you can smell it?" Yang Mahua, who came along, asked in surprise.
Wang Daniu immediately looked over, signaling his wife to speak less, and said with a forced smile, "Girl, you're really amazing! You know all this! We used wood ash compost a while ago, but everyone is struggling and there's no livestock manure to keep up. We'll have to plant beans on this land for another year or two before we can talk about it again."
“Brother Wang, you must be joking with me.” Shen Zhiyi laughed, changing the somewhat serious atmosphere between them with her address. “This land is not only mixed with wood ash, but also fertile soil from the mountains, and probably some animal manure compost. It doesn’t need to be left to grow for a year or two like newly cleared wasteland.”
“Brother and sister-in-law, there’s no need to be nervous. The new policies of His Majesty that Lord Lu mentioned won’t change your Shunshui Village because of this. On the contrary, you must have put in a lot of effort to clear the wasteland so quickly, and it would be a real waste to use it to grow beans.” Shen Zhiyi analyzed seriously, “On the contrary, I have a type of seed that is suitable for planting on your village’s wasteland. As for what it is, we need to talk to all of you and then you can decide for yourselves.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Daniu first breathed a sigh of relief, and then quickly smiled and said, "Of course we know that you would never talk nonsense about what's going on in the fields, and we trust you."
"Would you like to look at other places, young lady?" Yang Mahua asked softly.
"Yes, let's finish watching the rest before it gets dark and then go back," Shen Zhiyi said.
The research trip had to be completed as soon as possible, otherwise the next step would also be delayed, and one delay would lead to further delays, so she couldn't afford to waste any time.
As the last rays of dawn touched the horizon, Shen Zhiyi and Zhao Daya walked back to the village hand in hand. They saw figures among them, and when she looked over, the bright blue robes were particularly eye-catching. She couldn't help but say, "What a coincidence to see Lord Lu here!"
Hearing this from behind, Xuan Yan silently lowered his head. It was no coincidence; he had clearly seen that the person hadn't returned yet and was waiting anxiously at the village entrance, afraid of missing them.
"It is indeed a coincidence." Lu Jingbai's voice was as calm as ever. He instinctively wanted to say something caring, but then he realized it might be presumptuous and changed the subject, asking instead, "What is the condition of the wasteland in Shunshui Village?"
When the topic of work came up, Shen Zhiyi immediately perked up: "The soil of the wasteland..."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Daya and the others tried to understand, but gradually became confused. Finally, they simultaneously distanced themselves from the two in front of them, quietly handed the copper coins they had touched several times to Xuan Yan, their eyes filled with reluctance. They quickly turned their faces away and whispered, "Brother Xuan, this is for your meal."
“Miss Zhao…” Xuan Yan was about to say something when Zhao Daya ran away quickly. He immediately felt that this girl was really warm and lovely, and a smile quietly appeared in his eyes.
As Shen Zhiyi and Lu Jingbai talked, they unknowingly started walking side by side, one of them full of interest and the other listening attentively, as they slowly moved forward.
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