Chapter 143 Seeking refuge with Zhang Ting, only to be kicked (…)
“Village Three, the county magistrate is a good official, she’s doing real things for Fengxian. Aren’t we being dishonest?” said the rogue who was eavesdropping outside the cave.
A few days ago, Zhang Ting led her by the nose, making her do all the dirty and hard work. Zhang Cun San was very dissatisfied. During the day, she summoned a few of her sisters, planning to secretly cover her up with a sack and let her see why the flowers were so red.
Zhang Cun San, his lips pursed, recalled his past actions, deeply feeling guilty. But a moment later, sensing something was amiss, he abruptly banished the thoughts from his mind. Guilt? What evil? They were thugs and hooligans; the more shameless and wicked they were, the better!
He slapped the man who spoke, "Have you forgotten who we are? We're thugs, we're bad guys. Have you ever seen a bad guy reflect on his actions?"
Another person said, "That's right! Village Three is right. Although the County Grandma is a good person, it doesn't stop us from doing bad things."
Zhang Cun San felt awkward hearing this and pushed the person away in disgust.
The others chimed in, "Village Three, let's just squat here and wait for the county magistrate and the other two to leave before sneaking in and giving that Zhang fellow a good beating!" This cave was different from others; it was located at the very top, isolating it from everyone else, not even Zhang Ting's guards. As long as they caught her alone, they could rush up and surely take her down.
When the time comes, and we don't even see the main culprit, who will know that it was them who made the move?
For some reason, Zhang Cun San found these words particularly grating. She touched her neck, paced around a few times, and said uncomfortably, "Who knows how long the county magistrate and the other two will talk? Today's the time isn't right, let's leave first!"
The others, their consciences pricked and unable to bring themselves to do it, nodded in unison, "Yes, let's go back!"
The person who made the suggestion—Wang Magu—was too stubborn due to the large number of people, and he slunk away with them.
The next day, as soon as the notice for the reconstruction of Fengxian was issued, the people enthusiastically joined the team. They stayed in caves at night and spent their days removing silt, sweeping streets, inspecting houses, and spreading wood ash and whitewashing as required. Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.
During this period, a few people from Zhangcun, unwilling to be enslaved by Zhang Ting any longer, ran down the mountain after the flood receded, and spent their days idly wandering around.
As the old houses of the villagers in the county were gradually being cleaned up and people were about to move in, the women were still lying in the trees, staring blankly at the sky, completely unaware of what to do.
Among them, Zhang Cun San's feelings were particularly complicated. She had her hands behind her head, a blade of grass in her mouth, and was staring at the treetop, seemingly lost in thought. Her expression was extremely conflicted.
Suddenly, someone in the tree exclaimed, "Look! Our disaster relief supplies have arrived!"
Everyone looked in the same direction and saw a long line of officials pulling dozens of carts of grain in the distance, with flags fluttering and the words "Disaster Relief Grain" silently waving on them.
Zhang Cun glanced to the side for a moment, then looked back and continued staring blankly at the treetop.
I could hear everyone talking about it.
"The county magistrate's wife is truly amazing! I heard that even the neighboring county doesn't have any grain to send over."
"Yes, they've only been here a short time and they've already done so many good things for us Fengxian!"
"On another note, I don't want to harm the county magistrate's wife with you guys anymore. She's a good person. Although I'm bad, I can't bring myself to do it."
“Zhang Heiniu, what you’re saying makes it sound like we all want to harm the county magistrate’s wife, but I clearly don’t want to either…”
All eyes turned to Zhang Cun San. Cun San hated the county magistrate; wouldn't their words anger her? But then she suddenly straightened up and said decisively, "Let's go seek refuge with the county magistrate!"
good.
No, huh?
Everyone stared at her in astonishment, some even doubting they had heard correctly, repeatedly confirming with their companions.
Zhang Cun San solemnly said again, "Let's go and seek refuge with her now!" The hesitation on his face vanished, replaced by a firm and resolute tone.
Everyone then realized they hadn't misheard. "Village Third, what's wrong with you? Didn't you hate Grandma County like crazy the other day? I often heard you talking about wanting to mess with her in your sleep."
Zhang Cun San gave him a look that said, "You all don't understand," and suddenly realized that if he couldn't beat a strong person, he would just become her follower!
...
On her way to collect disaster relief grain, Zhang Ting sneezed suddenly under the bright sun.
"Ah Qiu!" She touched her nose, thinking to herself: Could it be that Zong Suyi is secretly cursing her behind her back again?
However, Zhang Ting felt quite good when she thought about how angry he had been earlier, and decided to forgive him.
Several large carts of grain were parked in the middle of the road. She walked over with her hands behind her back and a smile, inspecting each one and counting them one by one.
At first, when so much grain was transported over, she thought that Prefect He had mixed in a lot of fake grain. But it turned out to be genuine. Moreover, there was not only grain, but also a box of silver worth about 10,000 taels. She thought that Prefect He was quite generous.
At that moment, she was completely unaware of the extent to which her innocent reputation had been tarnished.
Little did he know that his reputation for being "afflicted with sexual dysfunction" would spread widely throughout the various factions of the court in a few months, leaving all who heard it with regret and pity, shaking their heads in lament.
Regardless of anything else, Zhang Ting returned home today with dozens of carts full of grain.
Zhang Ting was extremely satisfied to see the grain stored intact in the county government's granary.
She had calculated carefully that although the amount of grain was not much, it was enough to last until the county's new grain harvest.
Now that the floodwaters have receded in most areas, she immediately ordered people to purchase large quantities of fast-maturing vegetable seeds and crops in the prefectural city, such as radishes, buckwheat, and taro. These crops grow very quickly, and although some don't taste good, at least they won't starve.
The flood submerged fields and houses, soaking the existing grain for several days. Not only did it become moldy and inedible, but it could also no longer be used as seed. All five prefectures were affected by the disaster, and if disaster relief efforts were not effective, all five prefectures would be at high risk of experiencing a food crisis.
Zhang Ting had to take preventative measures beforehand, such as rebuilding Fengxian's food supply structure, stabilizing the economic situation, appeasing the people, and constructing defensive fortifications.
This may not guarantee the prosperity of Fengxian, but at least it will allow it to stand firm during times of turmoil, and the people will not be displaced again.
After the granary was properly stored and heavily guarded, Zhang Ting inspected the construction progress of the county government office, nodded in satisfaction, and seeing the sun gradually setting on the horizon, turned around and went back up the mountain to his cave.
The sun was shining brightly today, and on the way back, Zhang Ting even saw the black bear skin hanging at the entrance of the cave to dry.
As I got closer, I saw that the fur was smooth and shiny, and it was a very large piece. It would be perfectly fine to use as a mat on a small tatami mat at home. I wondered how it would keep me warm in the winter.
Just then, he bumped into Zong Suyi, who was out collecting black bear skins. He glared at her fiercely, tore off the skins, and went straight back to his cave without saying a word to her.
However, the more he acted this way, the more Zhang Ting liked to provoke him. She slipped up to Zong Suyi and asked, "Xiaoyi, did you secretly curse me just now?"
Upon hearing this, Zong Suyi turned around and became furious. "Have you done enough despicable things yourself? Do you need me to scold you?" After saying that, he went inside without looking back.
Zhang Ting stood there guiltily, touching her nose. She looked around, and seeing that no one had seen her, she cleared her throat and followed them inside.
This time, it seems like the docile cat has been pushed to its limit.
After dinner, Zhang Ting sat on a stone bench and finished filling in Feng Xian's recent arrangements, listing out a complete plan.
Zhang Ting rubbed her sore right hand and looked around. In just under a month, the cave had changed dramatically. In front of the natural window formed by the stone cave, there was a large bunch of fragrant wildflowers. In the corner, there was a clothes rack made of dried tree branches to hang their clothes. On the wooden table were uneven wooden bowls, which Zhang Ting had dug out in her spare time, but she had been too busy to finish. She didn't care about the quality and just made do with what she had. There was also a simple wooden couch.
Zong Suyi was sitting on a small couch, drying his wet hair. Oh, that small couch was made by the villagers a few days ago. It was simple and rough, but it was just as practical with a mattress and blanket on it. It was better than sleeping on the floor all the time.
The once simple and empty cave is now filled with traces of their life together, warm, comfortable and cozy.
However, there were still some discordant elements, and Zong Suyi's face was so cold it was almost frozen.
That's because before dinner, Zhang Ting accidentally said something wrong, and before she could appease him, she angered him again.
Helpless, she walked over, took the handkerchief from his hand, and gently dried his dark, lustrous hair inch by inch.
"That's not what I meant, Xiaoyi, don't misunderstand." She glanced at him to observe, and seeing that his complexion had improved slightly, she continued, "Xiaoguai is also my child, how could I not love him?"
Zong Suyi turned around, glared at her with his beautiful, bright eyes, his face puffed up with anger, "He's been well since he was born, over four months ago, why haven't you even thought of a name for him?"
"You have meticulously investigated the names and biographies of the county residents, the county annals over the years, the local topography, and the types of crops, leaving no detail overlooked. Why is it that you are unwilling to put any effort into Xiao Guai?"
He narrowed his eyes and slowly approached her, pouting and saying fiercely, "What else is this but perfunctory treatment and indifference?"
Zhang Ting choked for a moment, then explained, "As you know, Fengxian has been very busy lately, and reconstruction is urgent. As the head of the county, I have to travel around a lot, and it's inevitable that there will be oversights." She held his hand and said sincerely.
"Xiaoyi, you are the husband of Fengxian County Magistrate, you must be understanding and considerate of your wife."
However, Zong Suyi today is very different.
Not only was he unmoved, but he also glanced contemptuously at her lower body and snorted coldly, "You did plenty of things to me at night, why weren't you busy then?" She wasn't fooled, she was particularly clever and alert, it was as if her Ren and Du meridians had been opened in an instant.
These words shut down all of Zhang Ting's subsequent excuses, and she finally realized that she was in big trouble.
She rubbed her temples. "That's one reason. The second reason is that Xiao Guai is still very young, and we don't even know her gender yet. We can take our time with naming her, or we can choose a name after she's born."
But then I thought: Isn't a name just a label? Why can't I use any other name?
Zong Suyi was barely satisfied with her explanation, so he stopped being coy and poked her chest with his slender, fair fingers, pouting, "You should be more careful. If Xiao Guai knew that you welcomed him so coldly, he would be heartbroken."
Zhang Ting looked down at his belly; it was a bit bigger than last month, but what could a tiny baby have thoughts about? However, wanting to make her husband happy, she leaned down and pressed her ear to his belly, "Let your mother hear what the baby is doing?"
Just as Zhang Ting was internally criticizing Zong Suyi for overthinking things, she felt something kick her right cheek.
"!"
She stood up straight in an instant, stunned, covering her right cheek where she had been kicked, her eyes still filled with fear.
What was that just now?!
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