Chapter 13 Inspection
Three days later, when passing by Tuntian, Cui Junji deliberately took a detour to the southwest arrow tower.
A crimson figure bent in the morning mist, adjusting a clay pot. Icicles dangling from the gauze reflected a rainbow of light. He deliberately broke the dead branch, watching her hair frost-speckled as she turned in panic.
"Mrs. Shen has a refined taste." He stood on a ridge a few feet away. "The Qi Min Yao Shu says, 'When planting cabbages in winter, you need to use manure and soil to warm the soil.' This is so childish..."
"Lord Cui, do you know how to make ice with saltpeter?" Wen Youqing's face suddenly turned sour. She turned her head away and continued to fiddle with the gauze. Her red fingertips slid across the surface of the gauze, and crystals formed. "Water releases heat when it freezes, and absorbs heat when it melts, forming a temperature difference that promotes germination." She was completely done with pretending. She just wanted to say that he couldn't understand, and she was condescending, overriding him, and disdained to communicate with him.
Cui Junji frowned, his pupils shrinking. The scene before his broken engagement years ago suddenly flashed back to him. Back then, she was like an object, being judged by everyone, and he sneered, "Boring! What's the difference between looking at her and looking at a painting of a beautiful woman?"
At this moment, she poked Bingjing with the end of her hairpin and said nonchalantly, "Your Excellency's clothes are all wrinkled, but have you been working at your desk all night?"
Cui Junji felt a little embarrassed, as if her thoughts had been exposed, but she didn't know why he did it, so she admitted it frankly.
Wen Youqing didn't care at all and continued fiddling with her gauze net, "Then it won't delay the adults from going back to rest."
That night, the military tent was ablaze with candlelight. Spread out before him was the agricultural manual he'd begged from Shen Zijie. Somehow, he'd written in the blanks what Wen Youqing had said, his ink staining the northwest grain route.
Temperature difference, heat absorption...what do these mean?
When the Cui family's personal guards brought the ginseng soup, they found the floor littered with scraps of paper. The guards silently picked up the paper and whispered, "Master, we can't find any news about the Third Young Master."
"They're probably dead. Let's have someone keep an eye on them. As for the rest, let's go check on Wang Rong and see what the Wang family is up to."
Suddenly, there were more noises outside the mansion. It was a camel caravan carrying charcoal entering the customs. Cui Junji immediately opened the window and took out a peep show from upstairs to look over.
Wang Shouren only glanced through the account book for dozens of carts of grain and supplies before handing them over to his subordinates, not caring at all. He didn't even notice that he had someone insert a grain receipt with the wrong price in it among the receipt documents.
Cui Junji was not surprised at all. It was no secret that Wang Shouren deducted money and food from the procurement of supplies.
Wang Shouren had been digging holes in Xunyang for years. How could such a rat, well-versed in Xunyang's social life, not know who the Hehe Niangniang was? If it was for the Wang family, how could the Wang family not know about the other families' schemes in Xunyang? Yet, the Wang family remained unaware.
If he was from one of the other families, why didn't he let them know after being in Xunyang for so many days?
Wang Shouren's surname is Wang, but he must find out what his real surname is.
—
The fields under the arrow tower turned green first, so tender that they seemed invisible when viewed up close.
Wen Youqing devoted all her attention to it, like a tiger mom, treating the field with all her heart and soul.
By "relying" on Tian Xunsheng's occasional help, Cui Junji was also able to steal some farming secrets.
That day, Tian Xunsheng arrived at the government office much later than usual. Cui Junji asked, "What happened?"
"Most of Mrs. Shen's potato seedlings died. Let's look for the cause." Tian Xunsheng flipped through various agricultural books in distress. "We just don't know what the reason is. We must have missed something. We have never grown this kind of thing before."
"So... what does Madam Shen say?" Cui Junji had no idea about this and didn't want to waste his energy trying. He just wanted to figure out how to increase yields and whether it could be expanded to other areas. Otherwise, the price of grain at the border was too high, and Wang Shouren was inflating it.
"Mrs. Shen said it was man-made, but...no one has been around! There aren't even any footprints." Tian Xunsheng's face flushed red with anxiety. Suddenly, he thought of something and bowed to Cui Junji. "Master Jijiu, you are a child prodigy. Go and take a look. Maybe you can see something."
Cui Junji pretended not to care and half-heartedly walked over. It was still cold in Xunyang in early spring. From a distance, Wen Youqing could be seen working in the fields, wearing a bra and bare arms. Her slender arms swayed in the cold wind, their paleness making Cui Junji frown.
Cui Junji subconsciously glanced at Tian Xunsheng, and seeing that he looked normal, he didn't say anything.
Wen Youqing was so anxious that a thin layer of sweat oozed out of his forehead. Seeing Tian Xunsheng bringing Cui Junji, he rolled his eyes inwardly and said directly to Tian Xunsheng: "You are so funny. Lord Cui has never even seen corn. Are you bringing him here to cheer us on?"
This is true. Cui Junji has been eating shelled rice since he was a child, and he has probably never seen corn.
Cui Junji wasn't embarrassed. He surveyed the fields and said, "I don't really know how to grow crops, but I've met quite a few people. It's better to plant your crops in the courtyard of your mansion, otherwise people will keep an eye on you."
Tian Xunsheng was puzzled and couldn't understand the atmosphere: "How did you know? There weren't even any footprints!"
"The wind and sand are so strong, what footprints can't be wiped away? The soil is a bit hot, it must have been poured with wood ash. Once watered, the seedlings must have been burned to death." Wen Youqing looked directly at Cui Junji. "But since you don't farm, how did you know?"
"I have said that I have met many people. You take care of this thing like a treasure every day. Although you didn't say it explicitly, who doesn't know that it is a good thing? If this thing is really grown, how many people will be blocked by you?" Cui Junji was not afraid of her suspicious eyes and spoke slowly.
It was the same thing she thought, but it was precisely because of this thought that Wen Youqing felt disgusted. Her heart was as dark as Cui Junji's.
Wen Youqing picked out the few surviving seedlings, placed them in the palm of his hand, said goodbye in a bad mood, and left.
Wen Youqing saw Shen Zijie as soon as she entered the room. She walked over unhappily and carefully placed the potato seedlings on the table. Then she angrily drank all of Shen Zijie's tea and said, "These are the only potato seedlings I have left."
"What's going on?" Shen Zijie stopped writing and looked at the seedlings seriously. "Died from drought? That shouldn't be the case."
Hearing Shen Zijie say this, Wen Youqing became even more annoyed. No normal person would think of being targeted, but she and the scheming Cui Junji were the only ones who immediately thought of it. She wanted to cry but had no tears: "We're being targeted."
It wasn't a big deal, but Shen Zijie instantly understood the reason behind it. He pulled Wen Youqing over, letting her sit on his lap, and comforted her, "I had someone get some scrap iron from the blacksmith camp and make a grill pan. Don't you want to eat barbecue? We'll think about it after we finish eating. No matter how big the matter is, we can't delay eating."
When the mutton, fragrant with mutton fat and cumin, came out of the oven, the two of them sat by the stove and started eating. Wen Youqing blew on the food and put it in his mouth, mumbling, "It's not good for us to eat alone, right?"
Shen Zijie smiled and took a bite, blowing his breath because it was so hot, "It's just a piece of fresh meat, not even enough to fill your teeth."
Hearing this, Wen Youqing broke open a piece of naan, and Shen Zijie naturally lowered his head and took the other half of the bread from her palm, his canine teeth accidentally brushing against the fine lines on his lifeline.
"I say (chew chew chew)... I am a very dark person (chew chew chew), what should I do (chew chew chew)?" Wen Youqing was distressed.
"Which truly gloomy person (chew chew chew) would say that he is gloomy (chew chew chew)?" Shen Zijie put the best piece of roasted meat into the naan and handed it to Wen Youqing's mouth.
Wen Youqing took a big bite and said, "That's right." She bumped into Chen Zijie and said happily, "Thanks."
Finally, the potato seedlings were planted in flowerpots by Wen Youqing and Shen Zijie. Fortunately or unfortunately, just two days later, a rare late spring cold snap hit.
On the coldest nights, Wen Youqing would always find a leather bag filled with hot ginger soup in her quiver, and tonight was no exception. After ordering every household to collect the gauze, she returned and saw Shen Zijie applying chilblain cream to his waist in front of a bronze mirror.
The firelight made the scar look like warm jade, and the lambskin she threw over barely covered his slender waistline.
"Medical lard ointment." She shook the white porcelain jar, deliberately imitating his usual tone, and scratched the scar with her delicate fingers. "Where did you go before? Why do you have a knife wound?"
Shen Zijie grabbed her wrist with his backhand and yanked, sending the medicine jar tumbling into his hand. She fell onto his wolfskin-covered bed. His Adam's apple brushed across her brow, his fingertips brushing away the snow particles on her nose, then he sat up straight, away from her. "Thanks to Wang Rong, we have peace, but the border is not at peace. The Huns' raids have been going on for a long time."
"I've never asked you, why are you and him so close?"
Shen Zijie applied the ointment himself, put on his inner clothes, and said, "We have similar personalities. I came here to serve the people, and he came here to serve the country."
Wen Youqing finished washing up with a smile, then snuggled into the quilt and said, "You really know how to flatter yourself."
"Really," Shen Zijie suddenly said solemnly, "The prince will collude with the Xiongnu, intending to occupy the border and use the border to balance the Central Plains. In his previous life, because of his naiveté, the people of the five border cities were all massacred."
"Is he crazy?" Wen Youqing said in disbelief.
"The prince appears to be trying to win over the major families, but in reality he has long been restless. Having been suppressed for so long, internal troubles are the most pressing issue for him." Shen Zijie sighed.
"So you came here to resist foreign invaders. It's good that you seized the initiative. Remember to tell me if you need me. I'm going to sleep first. I'm too tired." Wen Youqing fell asleep after saying this.
Shen Zijie shook his head helplessly and got into bed: "You can fall asleep no matter how big the problem is, right?"
"What does it have to do with me?" Wen Youqing muttered, and nudged towards Shen Zijie, feeling warm.
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