Chapter 48 Encouraging Agriculture and Sericulture (4)
As soon as Li Xiaoxiao entered the courtyard, she could sense the difference between the hunter's house and ordinary houses. The house was built about a meter higher than ordinary houses, with a small attic made of wooden planks. Several logs for drying were nailed under the eaves from top to bottom, with several pieces of dried meat and a few semi-dried hides hanging there. On the right side of the courtyard, there were many small tools made of animal bones. To the left of the courtyard gate, there was a slaughtering table, with bloodstains faintly visible on it. Li Xiaoxiao recognized at a glance an animal skull placed on the table, which was a wolf's head.
Curious, she walked over and immediately noticed a dent in the wolf's skull, surrounded by tiny cracks.
Li Xiaoxiao smiled knowingly; this was the wolf she had killed with a single punch.
Ah Sheng asked curiously, "Sister Xiaoxiao, they just said you fought wolves? What does that mean? You..."
Li Xiaoxiao said mysteriously, "You'll find out soon enough."
Chen Juhua invited them to sit down inside. Meng Guanqi sat on the cool bamboo chair and couldn't help but sigh comfortably.
Li smiled and said, "Young master, how are you feeling? Are you feeling any better?"
Meng Guanqi rubbed his forehead: "I feel much better after drinking that bowl of herbal tea."
At this moment, Chen Juhua came out carrying several bowls, in which floated a few thumb-sized yellow fruit peels. She said in a row, "I just found out you have heatstroke. Come and drink some of this. Yellow peel soaked in water is the best way to relieve heat. In our Hedong Village, every household takes a bamboo tube of it with them when they go to work in the fields."
Li Xiaoxiao thanked her, picked up the glass, took a sip, and exclaimed in surprise, "Delicious! Sweet and sour!"
Seeing this, Ah Sheng also took a sip, nodded repeatedly, and quickly finished the rest.
Meng Guanqi then picked up the glass, smelled the fruity water, took a careful sip, her eyes lit up, and she quickly finished the rest.
Chen Juhua felt relieved: "It's so good after drinking it, it's even more effective than medicine!"
After chatting for a few minutes, a noise came from the courtyard gate. Old Zhou, the hunter, rushed back from the fields with mud still on his legs: "Oh, young lady, you've finally arrived."
Upon immediately spotting the strikingly handsome, fair-skinned young man standing out from the crowd, he became instantly reserved: "And who is this?"
Li smiled and said, "This is our young master Meng. He's had a bit of heatstroke, so I brought him over to rest and also to check if my leather tannery is ready."
Old Zhou then realized that this was the magistrate's son. No wonder he was so fair-skinned. He carefully cupped his hands to Meng Guanqi, giving a somewhat awkward bow. He immediately went outside to get a ladder and climbed up to the attic in a few steps. Soon after, he came down with a bundle.
Once back on the ground, he eagerly opened the bundle, revealing a complete wolf pelt inside.
Li Xiaoxiao reached out and touched it, then smelled it. Surprisingly, there was no fishy smell at all, and the wolf fur was very thick and soft to the touch.
Meng Guanqi recovered his senses and went forward to touch the wolf pelt, exclaiming in surprise, "This pelt is quite good." The entire gray wolf pelt had only a black stripe down the middle of its waist, and the color was quite pure, making it a fine pelt.
Old Zhou said excitedly, "Young master has a good eye. I've never seen such fine fur and such a complete hide before. Young lady, a merchant I've worked with for many years has also seen this piece of material. He offered twenty taels of silver to buy it back. Do you want to sell it?"
Li Xiaoxiao was worried that the winters here would be too cold, so she could make a vest out of the wolf skin to keep warm. But she never expected that the skin would be worth twenty taels of silver.
Meng Guanqi looked at Li Xiaoxiao in surprise: "This is your skin? Where did you get it?"
Li Xiaoxiao said calmly, "I made the call."
Old Zhou looked at her with a divine gaze: "Young Master Meng, feel it. There isn't a single hole in this hide. This young lady shattered the gray wolf's skull with a single punch, yet she doesn't have a single wound on her body. That's why this hide was able to be peeled off so perfectly..."
He shattered the gray wolf's skull with a single punch? Meng Guanqi subconsciously looked at the skull on the butcher's block in the yard.
Old Zhou nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, that's the skull. Young lady, you're really born with superhuman strength. And the gray wolf is ferocious. How did you manage to hit its head?"
Meng Guanqi stared at Li Xiaoxiao in shock, also curious about how she had managed to hit the gray wolf on the head.
Li Xiaoxiao laughed heartily: "Luck, it was pure luck. I was originally hunting a deer, but it pounced on me and tried to steal it. In a moment of panic, I punched it..."
One punch and he's dead!
Meng Guanqi felt that he couldn't understand her anymore. With such skills, how could she be willing to sell herself into slavery?
Seeing Li Xiaoxiao's nonchalant expression, he hesitated for a moment: "You should take this leather back to make clothes. You can't buy such good leather for twenty taels of silver..."
Old Zhou wanted to persuade him, but twenty taels of silver was a lot of money. Even the best hides he tanned only cost three to five taels, so twenty taels was an astronomical price for him.
But the person who said this was the magistrate's son. Wealthy people are bound to be more knowledgeable, so he dared not speak. He didn't take Li Xiaoxiao's money for the tannery, because she gave him the whole wolf meat. His family was so full of oil from eating just that wolf meat. He bowed and scraped and said, "Young lady, if you need tannery next time, come to me again. I won't take your money. Just give me the meat."
Li Xiaoxiao glanced at him. Dream on. She just disliked wolf meat; she loved eating other kinds of meat.
She carefully put the leather away, and even got a strip of cloth from Old Zhou to tie it up and carry it in her hand.
Meng Guanqi had recovered. He checked the time and realized it was almost time to meet Magistrate Meng. He said goodbye to Old Zhou, asked for directions to Tian Lizheng's house, and then led Asheng and Li Xiaoxiao toward Tian Lizheng's house.
Ah Sheng would occasionally stroke the gray wolf's pelt, his face full of envy: "Sister Xiaoxiao, you can even fight wolves, how are you so amazing?"
Li smiled and said, "I'm just strong, not as amazing as you say."
Ah Sheng looked up and asked, "How can I become as strong as you?"
Li smiled and said, "This is something you're born with; you probably don't have a chance..."
Ah Sheng was discouraged. He wasn't as strong as Sister Xiaoxiao, and he couldn't learn to write as quickly as her. He couldn't even carry the young master when he fainted. The young master definitely preferred Sister Xiaoxiao to him...
When the three returned to Tian Lizheng's house, they found that Magistrate Meng and his entourage had already returned and were resting inside. Moreover, he was not the only one suffering from heatstroke; Tian Lizheng and two yamen runners were also there. The village head's wife was serving them cooling tea to relieve the heat.
Magistrate Meng, who appeared to be the weakest, was actually unharmed.
The three people suffering from heatstroke were in the field, and the one in the field was the most severely affected. He was sweating profusely and panting heavily. Magistrate Meng ordered a doctor to come and examine the three of them.
How could Tian Lizheng dare? After only two hours in the sun, the scholar Magistrate Meng hadn't fainted from heatstroke, yet Tian Lizheng, supposedly a peasant, was calling for a doctor first? Wouldn't that be a slap in the face to the magistrate, implying he'd never worked in the fields before? What farmhand in Hedong or Hexi villages would suffer from heatstroke?
He waved his hand while panting, saying, "Sir, I'll be fine after drinking two bowls of herbal tea. It's our traditional remedy, and it's especially good for cooling down in the summer."
Fortunately, after drinking two bowls of herbal tea and resting for a while, all three people who had suffered from heatstroke recovered.
Magistrate Meng watched as the sun gradually set in the west before leading his entourage away.
When Liu got home, she learned that Meng Guanqi had suffered from heatstroke. Her son had never been wronged like this before, and she was heartbroken. She couldn't help but say, "Master, it's fine that Qi-ge went, but he's already suffered from heatstroke. There's no need for him to go again next time, is there?"
Magistrate Meng looked at Meng Guanqi and asked, "Qi'er, what do you think?"
Meng Guanqi hurriedly said, "Father, I suffered from heatstroke this time because I was unprepared. Next time, I will remember to bring some heat-relieving medicine so that it won't happen again. Encouraging farmers to start farming is an important matter, and I don't want to delay it."
Magistrate Meng smiled with satisfaction: "That's good. You should go back and rest early. We're going to the next town tomorrow."
Biyang County has five major towns and thirty-five villages. It would take at least a month to visit them all. Moreover, for the more remote towns and villages, it would be necessary to stay overnight in the local area. The hardships of visiting the villages on both sides of the river are only just beginning.
After Meng Guanqi left, Madam Liu wept and said, "Master~" She didn't want Meng Guanqi to suffer; he was her only son...
Magistrate Meng sighed, “How could I not love my son? But jade must be carved to become a gem. Qi’er cannot be confined to his desk because he is afraid of hardship and fatigue. Without firsthand experience of the suffering of the common people, he cannot write good articles. If you really care about his future, you should encourage him.”
When it comes to their son's future and education, it has always been the man's decision, and no matter how much Liu felt sorry for him, she dared not overstep her bounds.
She could only try her best to prepare mosquito repellent and detoxifying medicine for her husband and son, as she had heard that the mosquitoes in the mountains were fierce and could cause a big welt with a single bite.
For the next two weeks, Meng Guanqi accompanied Magistrate Meng on his inspection tours of the countryside. The farther they went and the deeper they went, the more solemn their expressions became.
The situation in Hedong and Hexi villages is actually quite good. Many villages, which are several days away from the county seat, are buried deep in the mountains, blocked by layers of high mountains. Large tracts of land are abandoned and uncultivated. The villagers are thin and frail, and they can't harvest much grain even after working all day. However, the land registers mostly show medium to high-quality farmland.
Many farming families couldn't even pay the tax for medium to high-quality land even after harvesting all their crops. They were never full all year round, and the survival rate of their children was shockingly low. It wasn't that no one got married and had children, but that the children born didn't live past the age of three.
Even more terrifying is a village hidden deep in the mountains, with only twenty or so households left, but the land register still records the names of forty households. Instead of going to the county government to cancel the registration, the local village head forced these twenty or so households to pay taxes for the forty households...
Faced with Magistrate Meng's questioning, the village head knelt on the ground and cried, "It's not that I didn't report it, but the officials simply don't believe the sharp decrease in the number of households, and they haven't sent anyone to verify the information. They won't allow any changes to the household registration information, and they only require us to pay taxes according to the number on the list. Please, Your Excellency, have mercy!"
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