Chapter 28 Chapter 28 Just after noon, Hezhou brought the top grass...
Just after noon, Hezhou put on a straw hat and carried a hoe and was about to run outside.
"Wait a minute!" Xie Xunzhi said helplessly as he slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. "Don't forget your water bag. Don't be too greedy. Even though the sun isn't scorching right now, be careful."
He untied the loose straw hat strap and fastened the knot again, with a worried look on his face. He took out his handkerchief and stuffed it into Hezhou's arms.
"To wipe sweat."
"Don't worry, I'm a professional!" Hezhou winked at him and pinched the handkerchief, feeling happy in his heart.
Hezhou carried a full set of tools on his shoulders and some money in his pocket, thinking of finding a carpenter to build a flatbed truck.
In the lobby, Ading and Ajia were playing cards around a stone table. When they stood up, there were still colorful pieces of paper stuck on their faces.
"Sir, are you going out?"
"Oh! A rare guest? Did you come with the spring breeze?" Hezhou's eyes curved. Whenever something happened, the two brothers would run away faster than anyone else.
Ading scratched his head embarrassedly and hid the cards behind his back: "Your Excellency, I'm just joking. I was sick a few days ago and just recovered."
He glanced at the tool in Hezhou's hand, his eyes lingering on the smoothly polished sickle. "Sir...it's best not to leave through the main gate."
"What happened at the main gate?" Xie Xunzhi looked towards the ceremonial gate and the corridor. Everything was quiet except for the sound of the wind and the ringing of the bell of the outer prison.
The red door was tightly closed. The two men looked at each other and frowned unconsciously. Could it be a sinister trick played by the Chen family?
Hezhou couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. If you don't worry about thieves stealing, you'll be worried about thieves thinking about it. The Chen family has been quiet these days and has relaxed their management of the street.
Ading removed the note from his face and said in a tangled voice, "The door... is full of people now..."
"What kind of injustice is this?" Hezhou said as he walked towards the gate.
"No..." Ading stammered vaguely, just keeping his head down and following behind him: "It's just... Sir, why don't you go through the back door!"
"Yes! Yes!" Ajia also echoed, with the same expression, but his words were still unclear: "Sir, you don't know, that in front of the door...tsk tsk..."
Hezhou sighed helplessly. He put his hand on the door and stared at Ajia and Ading: "No need to say more, I'll know right away."
The two of them smiled awkwardly, lowered their heads and kept silent. Various discussions could be vaguely heard outside the door.
As soon as the door opened a crack, a pair of dry hands squeezed in, and with them came a basket of eggs.
As soon as the side door opened, a crowd of people rushed over. The small bamboo basket that Hezhou was carrying was filled with things. Some people were grabbing a bag of desserts and rummaging through Xie Xunzhi's cross-body bag.
Xie Xunzhi stepped back repeatedly, pressing down on the small bag: "This is... didn't I say that the rumors about the county magistrate accepting gifts were all just rumors?"
Hezhou was also confused. He protected the basket and shouted, "Speak one by one! Don't crowd."
He blocked Xie Xunzhi behind him and glanced at the door. There were a lot of heads, mostly middle-aged and elderly people, holding various gift boxes in their hands.
The old woman who had helped identify the ruined temple case rushed to the front, her hands full of things, with a flattering look on her face: "Your Excellency's words are as good as gold! You really have set up a post! Your Excellency... my child..."
She was pushed aside just as she was halfway through her sentence. Another person came forward and pushed the fruit basket against Hezhou's chest: "Sir, my Yu'er is so smart!"
Hezhou saw Li Erniu from a distance behind and looked at him with evasive eyes.
"Don't get excited, all students of appropriate age can sign up! The exam time and scope are written above..." Hezhou was pushed back.
He pulled over Ading, who was watching the show, and said, "Ading will be in charge of the early stages of this recruitment! If you have any questions, you can ask him!"
As a result, Xie Xunzhi went to the school through the back door, but Hezhou still couldn't leave. He moved a small chair and sat in the front to register the registration list one by one.
After each person was recorded, there was always something extra in his pocket. He threw it into a basket beside him and kicked it to the entrance of the alley. He did not finish until it was getting dark, and he had to coax and deceive them.
Hezhou packed up his things and took his hoe, sickle and gloves to the wasteland. The wasteland in the evening was like an isolated island, without the noise of the government office and only a few bird calls that he couldn't call.
He changed into Xie Xunzhi's old clothes and could still vaguely smell the faint fragrance. Hezhou divided the area roughly and cleared the surrounding weeds.
The soil is good soil, and it looks like it has not been cultivated for several years. He has seen the land certificate and found it was confiscated due to a property dispute. In fact, this kind of land is the best for returning biological resources to the fields, but it will take longer.
Then solving the problem of low grain harvest in Qilan County will be delayed for a longer time.
Hezhou hadn't had such high-intensity work for a long time. After finishing it, his legs were weak and his fingernails were full of dirt. He threw down the hoe.
Hezhou chose a place with a faint canal water flow to wash his hands. His face was flushed and beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. He took out the square handkerchief that Xie Xunzhi had given him before he left.
The thin white square handkerchief was embroidered with the word "Xun". It was bought on a small street. I don't know if it was because it was placed on the chest, but the wood fragrance was heavier than that on the clothes.
"Brother He."
The familiar voice startled Hezhou. He didn't know what he was feeling guilty about, and wiped the sweat from his head in panic: "What's wrong?"
Xie Xunzhi walked over and pinched the dead leaves off his head: "It's time to go back and eat."
"Okay! I just turned the land over a bit and removed the weeds around it. It shouldn't affect the entire area." Hezhou supported himself on the ground with his hands, unable to exert any strength for a moment.
He raised his eyes and smiled awkwardly at Xie Xunzhi: "I think I have a cramp."
"Didn't you say to take it slow? It hasn't rained recently." Xie Xunzhi squatted beside him, his legs hanging gently.
"Hey, wasn't I thinking of catching up with the autumn sowing?" Hezhou turned his neck, making a clicking sound.
"Don't we still need to take care of the land? Why are we going to plant so soon?"
Hezhou looked up, grabbed the bamboo next to him and inserted it into the soil. He pulled out the roots of the plant and opened the bamboo tube with Wandaoxiao.
"Look, the soil here is pretty good. Some plants have taken root there quite early. Besides, the ash from the burnt grass falling on it can be used as nutrition." He put the bamboo tube aside and patted the dirt on his hands.
"Burning is faster than biological planting. After a rain, when the water is no longer sticky to your feet, you can choose the right time to plant."
In the wasteland, half-human-high weeds are tangled together, but Hezhou can see lush crops among them. Once the experimental fields are planted, the resistant wheat will be easy to cultivate, but mass production will be a bit difficult.
He came back to his senses and saw that Xie Xunzhi had been silent for a while: "What's the matter?"
Xie Xunzhi quietly leaned beside him, his eyes lowered so his expression could not be seen clearly, but his tone was more serious than ever before: "Tell me the truth, did you... did you kill someone to take over your position?"
"Killing someone to replace an official? How does this, this, this... fit in with me?" Hezhou was stunned. He sat up with his arms supported on the ground, covered in dust.
Xie Xunzhi turned his head away, his brows furrowed, his tone slightly pale: "Aren't you... an orphan with amnesia? How do you have so many farming skills?"
His lips moved slightly, and after a long while he whispered, "Actually...actually...it's common to rob people on the road and become officials..."
"Actually, bandits aren't bad either. Sometimes they live better than the county magistrate..." Xie Xunzhi looked towards the back mountain: "Shelan has only this path. Maybe... the brothers in the back mountain have seen me. When the time comes, I'll find out my background with you, and then... turn myself in..."
The voice was faint and was blown away by the wind, but every word was so real, as if they were seriously discussing the possibility of this path.
"What?" Hezhou hurriedly defended himself. He had found out everything when he first came here. The original owner grew up in the village, eating at hundreds of people's homes, studying together outside the thatched cottage, and used all his savings to take the exam. It was just that the results were announced too slowly.
"I really did take the exam on my own. Everyone on the street can attest to that!" Hezhou said, laughing. "I know all this because I used to help the villagers with their engineering skills! What were you thinking?"
"Besides, maybe I studied too hard before and that's why I forgot everything I learned." He spread his hands, his eyes full of helplessness: "I can't control what it remembers and what it forgets."
Xie Xunzhi was speechless for a moment, his dark eyes staring at him without blinking: "Is... am I overthinking it?"
"Of course."
Hezhou clapped his hands and told him several ways to prove himself, and even teased him by saying that he was a brother of the bandits.
Xie Xunzhi lowered his head, a burning sensation behind his ears, and said in a low voice: "You didn't say anything."
"You didn't ask, so who knows if you have this story in your heart?" He Zhou smiled and leaned forward: "Tell me, do you have other versions in your mind?"
Xie Xunzhi pushed him away and picked up the basket to pack up the tools: "Hurry up! The food will be cold soon. We still need to boil water for a bath tonight. You can go to bed by yourself if you are wet."
Hezhou found it strange, and the corners of his mouth kept curling up: "You're not a young wife, why do you care about this? Wait... my legs are really numb..."
"Oh right! Why do you think the people in the back mountain might have seen you..."
Under the setting sun, his shadow was dragged into a long and thin line. Xie Xunzhi lowered his head and walked quickly towards the edge of the field, his feet moving with the wind.
Hezhou followed slowly behind, and when he arrived at the field, he saw Xie Xunzhi waiting for him with a basket, the corners of his clothes were stained with dust. He bent down and patted Xie Xunzhi's clothes.
"Why does it feel like you're walking forward from the back of the mountain?"
"The guard of the Chen family revealed between the lines that he had seen me. If nothing unexpected happened, I came from there. He said that he couldn't escape without the jade pendant, which means he patrols the mountain frequently." Xie Xunzhi freed his hand to support him.
"Next time, take your time so your ankle injury can heal!"
Hezhou nodded and only listened to the first half: "Then why didn't you mention going to see it these days?"
"Is that so easy? The terrain in the mountains is complicated. If there are only two of us, we might not even be discovered if we die in the mountains." Xie Xunzhi frowned: "Besides... I don't really care."
Hezhou snorted, his words and his heart were not indifferent. He clearly cared a lot: "With your personality, if you think I'm killing people to replace my official position, you will definitely persuade me to surrender immediately. Now you can wait until I find out my background before going..."
"Then let's go the day after tomorrow, since it's just the right time to burn the fields."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
