Chapter 59 Spring Comes with Joy, Her Figure Will Be Found Throughout the World.
Yun An was overjoyed, saying that she and they were destined to be together, and invited her to Cui Xun's house the next day.
Meng Yuyuan wasn't someone who easily became familiar with people, but he couldn't resist Yun An's enthusiasm, so he had no choice but to nod in agreement.
Cui Xun had only one mother at home. She was about fifty years old and had sharp features, but she would smile happily whenever she saw Yun An.
"These peaches were just picked, they're so fresh, Miss Xi, please have some," said Mother Cui, who washed a few peaches, put them on a plate, and brought them out with a smile. "I'll go cook now."
Meng Yu nodded.
Yun An quickly stood up: "Auntie, let me help you."
"No need, you stay here and chat with Miss Xi." Mother Cui pressed her shoulder and made her sit down.
Yun'an is very talkative. We chatted about everything under the sun. One minute she was praising her beautiful handwriting, the next she was asking if her family had strict rules when she was young, and then she was envious of how many places she had been to.
She speaks with lively eyes and a bright expression, her smile as beautiful as a flower.
Meng Yu responded to each of them, but she dared not tell the whole truth.
As Ning Sui said, the fewer people who know about her affairs, the safer she will be.
They talked for about 15 minutes. Because she had drunk too much water, Meng Yu needed to relieve herself. Yun An pointed to a place and was about to take her there, but she quickly waved her hand.
The place to relieve herself was at the back of the house, and she had to go through the kitchen. As soon as she passed by, she heard a slight rustling sound of clothes rubbing against each other.
"These two pork knuckles are something I managed to get by trading eggs. Yutong is still in her postpartum period, right? Take them back and make her some soup to help her recover."
“I will buy it for Yutong during her postpartum period. You finally managed to save up some eggs to exchange for, so save them for Axun! Or you can save them for Yun'an.”
"That little girl doesn't deserve to eat such good food." Mother Cui frowned and stuffed the braised pork knuckle into the woman's hand. "Don't mention it. Take it back and give it to Yutong to help her recover. Consider it a token of my appreciation as her aunt."
Seeing that she couldn't refuse, the woman had no choice but to accept.
Fearing being discovered, Meng Yu dared not look any further and hurriedly went to relieve herself.
When she returned, looking at Yun An's bright smile and remembering the look of disgust on Cui's mother's face when she said those words, Meng Yu moved her lips, but hesitated for a long time before finally not being able to say anything.
She had only known Yun'an for a few days, so what was she supposed to say? Besides, as an aunt, it was perfectly reasonable for Cui's mother to give her niece, who was in confinement, two braised pork knuckles to help her recover.
Like his brother Yun'an, Cui Xun was a teacher at a private school. He returned from the school just before lunchtime.
Meng Yu didn't taste the food during the meal. After finishing, she didn't sit for long before making up an excuse to go home and pack her things.
***
Xiying.
It was the dead of night.
After the deputy generals finished reporting on the day's matters, they went about their own business. Chu Ze personally brought in the food, as Lu Xiuyi hadn't eaten dinner yet.
The person at the table rubbed their temples, glancing casually at the food. The rice grains were short and dull in color, clearly from last year. They raised an eyebrow slightly and asked, "Why is it still last year's rice?"
"The rice for this year hasn't arrived yet."
Lu Xiuyi was even more astonished: "In previous years, the new rice was always transported to the military camp at this time. What happened this year?"
Chu Ze guessed, "Last year there was a lot of rain, and not only Yuezhou was flooded, but other places were also affected. Perhaps it was because of this that the local governments were unable to pay their taxes on time, which is why they were late."
Lu Xiuyi frowned and pondered for a moment, but his head started to ache even more, so he stopped worrying about it.
"You eat first, I'll go check if the medicine is ready."
Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, which were clearly due to several sleepless nights, Chuze asked the doctor to prescribe a sleep aid. He drank it a few days ago and it worked. Today, he personally instructed him to brew it again.
Lu Xiuyi responded indifferently.
The food was the same as always, still the flavor he liked, but he didn't have much of an appetite, and only ate a few bites before putting down his chopsticks.
Chu Ze brought the medicine in, but before he even drank it, the pungent bitterness hit him hard.
Lu Xiuyi picked up the bowl, drank it all in one gulp without even frowning, then lay down, his eyelids drooping heavily, and fell asleep in no time.
Since Meng Yu left, he has suffered from headaches, and he can only get a moment of rest after taking his medicine.
As dusk settled, a sudden wave of fear washed over me.
"Yu'er".
Almost the instant he blurted out, Lu Xiuyi suddenly opened his eyes, sat up from the couch, gasped for breath, and cold sweat poured down his forehead, reaching the corners of his eyes.
My head is hurting more and more.
The surroundings were completely silent, with a faint white light seeping in from outside the curtain. Lu Xiuyi was no longer sleepy, so he put on his clothes, got up, and went outside.
The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the entire military camp was still fast asleep, quiet and still. A thin morning mist enveloped the area, and after taking only a few steps, one could feel a faint dampness on one's hair and eyebrows.
Lu Xiuyi walked to the stable, grabbed a handful of hay and tossed it to the horse. It had been hungry all night and began to wolf down the food as soon as it saw it.
The morning air was extremely fresh. He took a few deep breaths and felt the throbbing in his head lessen slightly.
The western camp was stationed at the foot of the mountain on the outskirts of the city. The cool breeze in the forest, carrying moisture, gently caressed his face. Lu Xiuyi closed his eyes, feeling as if she were still beside him.
Chuze is right. Even though she has vanished with the wind, her presence will remain in the world.
Thinking about it this way, his headache lessened a little.
***
After staying in Hejiuyun Township for more than half a month, Meng Yu finally got used to life there. He took out ten taels of the three hundred taels of silver he had to pay half a year's rent. After spending money on seeds, hens, and food, he had less than two hundred and eighty taels left.
Living off one's savings indefinitely is not a sustainable solution.
Meng Yu was thinking about finding a way to make a living.
However, when she asked taverns, teahouses, and even kiln workers, they either complained that she couldn't speak or that she was too small and weak to be of any use in the work.
After searching around, no company was willing to hire her.
Meng Yu had no choice but to return home dejectedly. When Yun An heard the news and knew that she was in a bad mood, he came over with a basket and said he would take her up the mountain to pick some delicious food.
She hadn't been in the mood, but couldn't resist Yun An's enthusiasm, so she got up to close the door and leave. Yun An quickly stopped her, looked her up and down, and saw that she was dressed in thin clothes and wearing cotton shoes. She frowned and pushed her back into the house: "You're going to go in like this? There are a lot of mosquitoes on the mountain. Change your clothes quickly."
As it turns out, Yun'an was right.
As soon as she reached the foot of the mountain, Meng Yu felt several mosquitoes swarming around her feet. Fortunately, she was wearing boots, a straw hat, and a veil, so that no part of her body was exposed except for her eyes.
It was springtime, and the peach blossoms on the mountain were in full bloom. Some of the earlier-blooming trees had already borne fruit, and in the flatter areas there were mulberries and cherries. Further up, there were plums and loquats.
With so many fruit trees, someone must have planted them on purpose. Meng Yu hadn't seen Yun An greet anyone on the way here, so she raised her hand and asked, "We didn't ask anyone, so it doesn't seem right to just pick them like this."
After spending some time together, Yun'an gradually learned to understand her sign language.
She smiled and said, "This mountain is called Zhuoshan. It originally belonged to a wealthy merchant. After he died, there was no one to inherit it, so it was taken over by the government. But the cost of managing it was too high, so they were too lazy to care. Besides, most of the fruit was eaten by birds before it was ripe, so we were left to pick the rest."
“The peaches you ate at Aunt Cui’s house the other day were picked from here,” Yun’an stopped in front of a peach tree halfway up the mountain, broke off a branch and picked a few peach blossoms, and waved them at her. “The peach blossoms are blooming beautifully this year. I’ll pick some to take back and make rouge. When I get married, I won’t need to buy rouge, and I can save some money.”
Meng Yu looked utterly astonished.
There aren't many fruits available at this time of year, and peaches are only on a few trees that bloomed early, and most of them have already been picked.
Not wanting to leave empty-handed, Meng Yu, like Yun An, picked a small bunch of peach blossoms to take back, thinking that she could use them to brew two jars of peach blossom wine, or perhaps make peach blossom soup and peach blossom cakes.
After washing the peach blossoms at home, Meng Yu found two empty wine jars. Remembering Yun An's words, an idea suddenly came to her mind.
Since no one is in charge of Zhuoshan, why doesn't she try renting it from the government?
Meng Yu was always a man of action, and once he had this idea, he put it into practice the very next day.
Yun'an hesitated for a moment after hearing her words, but found them feasible. Since she had nothing else to do, she immediately decided to go with her to the government office to inquire about the rent.
That hilltop was located in a remote area, and managing it would require a lot of manpower and resources. The government office didn't have much money in its accounts to begin with, so it wouldn't allocate any funds to it. Now that someone had inquired about it, it was eager to rent it out and collect some money. So, on that day, Meng Yu signed a lease with the government office and paid twenty taels of silver to rent it for six months.
On the way back, Meng Yu looked at the lease agreement and felt truly happy.
Yun An, however, scratched his head and said with difficulty: "The villagers nearby are used to picking fruit on the mountain to quench their thirst when they go to work in the fields. Now, even if you rent Zhuoshan, I'm afraid no one will know. Even if you manage it well, I'm afraid they will benefit before we even get to pick the fruit."
Meng Yu smiled, but instead of answering her directly, she asked, "Yun An, do you know how many households there are near Zhuoshan?"
Yun An rested his hands on his chest, propped his chin on one hand, and frowned as he pondered for a moment: "That place is quite remote, unlike other places. There are probably only about ten households there, no more than twenty in total."
"In other words, even if a family has five members, the maximum number of people would not exceed one hundred. There are peach trees all over the mountain, and even if they eat, they can't eat that many. Besides, people always get tired of eating the same thing eventually."
After thinking about it carefully, Yun An also felt that Meng Yu's words made sense. After a while, she frowned and said, "This matter is easy to solve, but Zhuoshan is so big that you can't manage it all by yourself!"
Meng Yu raised an eyebrow, smiled, and raised her hand: "I have a brilliant plan for this matter. Just watch how I do it tomorrow."
***
The next day.
Meng Yu brought a rental contract with the official seal to a stall near Zhuoshan. He took out a pen and ink, wrote a few words on a wooden sign, and then stuck the sign in front of the stall.
Yun An went around to the front and took a closer look. He saw that the wooden sign read: "I have rented Zhuoshan from the government and now intend to hire ten villagers to manage the fruit trees. No distinction between men and women, aged 20 to 55, the minimum wage is 20 coins per month, the more you work, the more you earn. Anyone who works for more than a year will receive a share of the profits at the end of the year."
After reading it, she looked surprised: "Yunhe, you're already making a minimum of twenty coins a month, with more pay for more work. You haven't even started earning money yet, and you're already going to deplete your family's savings. Why not set a fixed monthly wage? I've thought about all the troubles."
Meng Yu smiled slightly and raised his hand to patiently explain: "I did a quick calculation. There are nearly two hundred peach trees in Zhuoshan. On average, each person has to take care of twenty trees. But people are always lazy. If we set a fixed reward, the diligent ones will do more and the lazy ones will do less, but the reward will be the same. Over time, the ones who do more will complain. If we are not careful, they might fight. It's a small matter if it damages the harmony, but it would be terrible if someone were to die."
Yun'an suddenly realized.
The people passing by were mostly women around forty years old, carrying hoes to work in the fields. Most of them were illiterate, so they didn't know what Meng Yu was doing with his stall there, nor could they understand what was written on the sign. They just glanced at it with suspicion and left in a hurry.
As the sun set, occasionally three or five children would return from the private school in groups, carrying their textbooks. When they passed Meng Yu's stall, they would only glance at it before heading home.
Unexpectedly, hiring even one person was so difficult. Meng Yu sighed silently. Seeing that it was getting late, she packed up her stall and prepared to come back tomorrow.
"Ladies, please wait a moment." Meng Yu and Yun An had only taken a few steps after carrying their things when a hurried voice suddenly came from behind them.
Looking back.
She was a slightly dark-skinned peasant woman, around thirty-five years old.
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