Qin Ming drove He Youyou and Zhao Wenqi to a field not far from the village.
Sure enough, the entire field was planted with sorghum seedlings.
"Which field did you pull up the sorghum from yesterday?"
Zhao Wenqi pointed it out to her.
He Youyou walked to the edge of that field and carefully examined the sorghum seedlings.
At this stage, the seedlings haven't grown yet and do indeed look like grass.
"Zhao Wenqi, what made you think of uprooting someone else's sorghum seedlings?" He Youyou asked.
Zhao Wenqi scratched his head and stammered, "Yesterday I was carrying the chicks out to play. When we got here, the chicks ran in to eat grass. I saw that they liked it, so I picked a few and took them home."
He Youyou looked at the seedlings and suddenly reached out and pulled one up.
After observing the front and back of the leaves, I broke off the stem to expose the pulp inside.
"Hollow seedlings?!"
He Youyou stared at the pulp, stunned.
The stalks of these sorghum seedlings had been hollowed out by insects.
She stood up, walked a dozen steps, and pulled up another one.
Although this plant wasn't completely eaten, larvae that are still growing and developing can be found inside.
He Youyou walked for over a hundred meters, pulling up trees as she went, doing the same with more than a dozen of them.
She called Zhao Wenqi, got into the carriage, and continued traveling into the distance.
We stopped whenever we saw a sorghum field, pulled up a few seedlings, and checked the stalks for insects.
Often, out of ten trees, seven or eight will not escape the disease.
He Youyou stood on the ground, her feelings complicated.
"Let's go back."
She didn't say much, and then took Zhao Wenqi and left by car.
Zhao Wenqi was filled with anxiety, wondering if his aunt would have a bad impression of him because of this.
He already knows he was wrong and will never do it again.
He secretly glanced at He Youyou's face out of the corner of his eye.
He Youyou's expression was very serious.
We're doomed.
Zhao Wenqi would rather have his fourth uncle spank him a hundred times than be disliked by Aunt Han.
He Youyou was preoccupied with something and didn't say a word the whole way.
Upon returning to the Han family home, she jumped off the carriage and hurriedly ran home.
"Old Qian, Old Qian, come help me out!"
She ran into the study while shouting.
Upon entering the study, I saw Zhao Changqing and Han Wenzheng studying legal provisions.
Seeing her flustered appearance, Zhao Changqing asked, "Where did you come from?"
He Youyou didn't have time to answer, and grabbed Han Wenzheng, saying, "Ali, it's okay if you're here, come and help me."
Upon hearing this, Han Wenzheng immediately replied, "What does Mother need me to do for you?"
"Help me write a letter."
As she spoke, she laid out paper and pen on her desk.
"Mother, to whom are you writing this letter?"
"Give this to Cheng Tingrui."
Zhao Changqing pushed Ah Li aside and stood in front of the table.
"I'll write it for you."
As he spoke, he picked up his pen: "What should I write?"
He Youyou thought for a moment and said, "Have Cheng Tingrui buy up all the sorghum stock in the city in the name of Youruitang, the sooner the better."
Zhao Changqing listened without making a move.
"Hurry up and write, what are you standing there for?" The impatient He Youyou couldn't stand such dawdling.
"Have you discovered something again?"
Having spent a long time with her, Zhao Changqing was able to roughly figure out what she was thinking.
He Youyou is a sharp-eyed person who always acts quickly and decisively.
However, it will never be baseless.
She is a very goal-oriented person.
For her to make this decision, she must have made some discovery.
He Youyou smiled and said, "You write first, and I'll tell you after the letter is sent out."
"If you don't write the reasons in the letter, and just say something like this out of the blue, will Cheng Tingrui do as you say when he receives the letter?"
"Yes, we have a tacit understanding between us, so there's no need for too much explanation."
Zhao Changqing felt a sudden ache in his teeth.
hiss--
Left with no other choice, he could only pick up his pen and write a letter.
After finishing writing, He Youyou took a look at it.
"Hanzhang, why is your letter so dry and lifeless?"
“That’s called conciseness. If I write too much, I’m afraid he’ll get impatient reading it.”
"This way of addressing him is not right either; it's too formal. I always address him by his courtesy name."
"It's just a form of address, no need to worry about it."
However, He Youyou only complained a couple of times and did not ask Zhao Changqing to rewrite a letter.
Time was of the essence, and she had to send someone to deliver the letter as soon as possible.
The steward found a reliable person to deliver the package to Cheng Tingrui in the city on a fast horse.
Seeing that she had sent the letter away, Zhao Changqing pressed on, "Now you can talk, right?"
He Youyou then invited them to sit down at the tea table, where they drank tea and talked about their discoveries that day.
Zhao Changqing was shocked: "Every plot of land has pests?"
He Youyou sighed.
“This is not called a pest infestation, it’s called a pest plague.”
With such a large area affected by pests, such a wide range of impacts, and so many people suffering losses, this is a disaster.
Han Wenzheng's face turned pale upon hearing this.
"Mother, what... what should we do? Aren't the people who grow sorghum too pitiful?"
When He Youyou heard him ask that, she turned her body slightly to face him.
"Ah Li, you have a compassionate heart for the farmers, that's good. You will one day be a person in the imperial court, and you should have pity on the people. So, I will test you with this matter. If you were in this situation, how would you handle it?"
Han Wenzheng's expression immediately became serious.
After years of studying, this was the first time someone had presented him with a real-world example.
He tackled the problems in the book with ease, writing thousands or even tens of thousands of words in one go.
But the problem before us is real.
It involves the interests of thousands of households; if there is even the slightest mistake, the hard work of countless people will be destroyed.
Han Wenzheng felt a heavy weight in his heart.
He suddenly felt suffocated and sweat poured down his forehead.
"Mother……"
He Youyou could see the psychological pressure he was under.
"Ah Li, remember how you feel right now, this is called—a sense of responsibility."
“Responsibility…” Ahri murmured, repeating the word.
"If you become an official, you will be shouldering a heavy responsibility. You cannot shirk or shirk this responsibility; you must carry it firmly on your shoulders. This is a burden, but more importantly, it represents the expectations of countless people. Ask yourself, can you bear it?"
"I……"
The path of officialdom is not smooth.
There are countless examples of people who have lost their lives due to the slightest carelessness.
He Youyou hopes that Han Wenzheng can think things through carefully before deciding on his life.
“Ah Li, you’re still young, and this path is difficult. You still have a choice. If you can’t handle it, you can give up early, and I won’t blame you. Our family is fairly well-off, and I won’t demand that you achieve anything. Even if you live a leisurely life, you can still live a peaceful life. You don’t have to shoulder these responsibilities.”
After listening to her words, Han Wenzheng's eyes flickered with light and darkness as he pondered for a long time.
His forehead furrowed and then relaxed.
“Mother,” he said firmly, “I will bear it, I can bear it. I will not regret taking this path.”
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