Chapter 126 An outrageous demand!
The rain in Dingxian was heavy and continuous, the gloomy rain making it hard to breathe.
The rice seedlings that were just planted in the rented field are now flooded.
Now, it's not just renting land; all the farmers' land is the same.
Yao Shisan held up his umbrella and looked at the gloomy, rainy sky, feeling a heavy weight in his heart.
She spent all her money on this.
If this heavy rain continues, or if she has to deal with flooding, she fears she will lose everything.
"Madam Yao!"
The seventh uncle of the head constable, wearing straw sandals and a raincoat, ran from the field.
"Madam Yao, you've finally arrived!" Uncle Shi wiped the rain off his face.
"There's too much mulch in the fields now, so we need to dig dikes to drain the water."
“Your rented land is in a low-lying area. If we don’t dig it up, all our seedlings will be ruined!”
His face was full of anxiety. "Madam Yao, even though the rice is grown in water, if there is too much water, the seedlings will rot and it will affect the harvest later."
Although Yao Shisan had never planted it, he had seen it when he was a child.
The fields are regularly irrigated.
"Don't worry, Uncle Shi, I have already sent someone to handle this matter."
"Once the weather clears up, I will have someone repair the ditches, and then we can drain the water directly from the ditches."
Uncle Shi's expression remained uncomfortably unchanged. "Madam Yao, you may not know this, but the problem now is not drainage, but rather a problem with the heavens."
"If this rain continues, I'm afraid this season's harvest will be ruined."
Farmers fear excessive rain, drought, and pest infestations when they cultivate the land. Even when they finally achieve a bumper harvest, they fear corrupt officials and unscrupulous merchants who take in small profits but lose large ones.
A whole year of hard work, a whole year of living in fear.
Yao Shisan also frowned.
Now there's nothing we can do but hope that it will stop raining.
On a rainy day, the only places that are still quite crowded are probably temples and city god temples.
They prayed for favorable weather and also for less rain.
The heavy rain continued for two more days.
Yao Shisan stared blankly at the small puddle in the courtyard.
When He Ran came out with the medicine bowl, he saw Yao Shisan, who was lost in thought, across the corridor. He couldn't see her face clearly through the rain, but he could see the deep worry on her face.
He Ran has been here for three days, and it has been raining for three days. Jiang Xingyao has also been missing for three days.
And her good-for-nothing third brother also fell ill for three days.
A mere rainy season was enough to cause him to catch a cold that wouldn't go away.
She walked around the corridor and approached her. "Don't worry, sister. The weather is fine, and the rain will stop in a couple of days."
Yao Shisan snapped out of his daze and saw the medicine bowl in her hand. "Is your brother feeling any better?"
"You finally made it here, but it's been raining every day, so you can't go anywhere."
He Ran waved his hand, "It's just a minor cold, he's fine. He's a grown man, he won't die."
He Zhuo, who was curled up on the bed with his blanket, sneezed and blew out a big snot bubble.
Just then, Fu'er and Xiuzhou saw it from the doorway.
"Uncle He's nose can blow bubbles!"
He Zhuo, “…”
In the evening, Jiang Xingyao, Zhou Congxian, and Wei Xun finally returned.
The three of them were soaked to the bone and looked quite haggard.
Sister-in-law Zhang quickly boiled a large pot of ginger soup to ward off the cold.
“I have read the county annals. If the rain is any heavier, it will probably be like the flood fifteen years ago. I don’t know how many people will suffer, especially since there will be widespread epidemics after the flood.”
Jiang Xingyao said worriedly as he dried his wet hair.
“The river is now swollen and the downstream waters are difficult to recede in time. When that happens, not only Ding County will be affected, but also the neighboring Ling County, Jin County, and even Linzhou will be impacted.”
He Zhuo walked in, "Lord Jiang's concerns are not without merit."
"Although Dingxian is not a main or tributary county, the river channel is not repaired and the drainage capacity is poor. Whether it will be affected by the disaster depends on whether God will be merciful."
Jiang Xingyao looked at him, "Young Master He also knows about water conservancy?"
He Zhuo replied, "I am merely a military officer who has only read some miscellaneous books; I cannot claim to understand them."
He Ran grabbed his collar from behind and dragged him back a few steps.
"If you don't understand, don't talk. If you're still feeling unwell from your cold, go to sleep and don't cause trouble."
He Zhu flicked his sister's forehead, "If you say another word, I'll drag you back right now!"
He Ran, succumbing to the threat, could only reluctantly shut up.
He Zhuo then continued, "The flood that affected more than 100,000 people fifteen years ago was caused by a wrong decision made by a corrupt official, which resulted in disasters in five prefectures and thirty counties."
"So, it really isn't something Lord Jiang can decide right now."
Yao Shisan didn't understand these things very well, but she knew that His Majesty had ordered the dredging of the river and the construction of dikes. "If a dike is built in Ding County, will we no longer be afraid of future floods?"
He Zhuo smiled and said, "On the contrary, if the great flood of fifteen years ago were to occur again after the dike is built, it would flood the large prefecture downstream of Ding County."
He Ran stood up and said, "...What kind of lousy place is this? It floods whether we repair it or not. How can bookworms achieve anything?"
Jiang Xingyao said, "Sacrificing the small to save the big, even if there is to be flooding, people will be evacuated in advance. It's a normal thing to do."
"Besides, Young Master He also said that the catastrophic flood fifteen years ago was a once-in-a-century event."
“Dingxian’s dike construction, water storage during the dry season, and irrigation of farmland are all beneficial measures for the people.”
He Ran still felt that Ding County wasn't a good place. She quietly tugged at her third brother's sleeve, "Third brother, should I ask Grandfather to help transfer that bookworm to a better place?"
He Zhuo tapped his younger sister on the head, "Don't cause any trouble, or Dad will come and arrest you himself."
Three days later, the weather finally cleared up.
Yao Shisan couldn't wait to rush off to rent the land.
The land manager got into an argument with the farmers.
"You blocked our drainage outlet, and now so many seedlings have rotted. You have to pay us compensation!"
"Exactly! Pay up!"
The manager was surrounded by a mob of agitated farmers.
"What happened?"
Yao Shisan frowned as he got out of the carriage, and Shuang'er jumped down. "It's that group of people causing trouble again!"
They occupied land last time, what are they planning to do this time?
Someone with sharp eyes spotted them and exclaimed, "The owner of Yao's Trading Company has arrived!"
Uncle Fu, leading the group, immediately rushed forward, shouting, "Well, you've become so vicious just to settle old scores! This land is our family's livelihood!"
"If you don't pay up today, don't even think about leaving!"
"That's right! You're not leaving until you pay up!"
Yao Shisan and Shuang'er were surrounded.
Shuang'er drew the dagger Wei Xun had given her for self-defense. "What are you doing? Stay away from us!"
No matter how fierce the farmers were, they still remembered that last time it was this little girl and a very powerful man who dealt with Uncle Fu and Cai Niang.
Some of the fearful people took a few steps back.
Uncle Fu is vengeful and always remembers old grudges.
Now their land has been flooded, and almost all the seedlings on three acres of land have died.
"Madam Yao, you are a wealthy merchant, you can't bully a small farmer like me!"
"You've dug drainage outlets on all your land, so why haven't you dug them on the land next to mine? The water in my land can't drain away, and now it's all dead!"
"How is that possible?" Yao Shisan pushed through the crowd and walked towards the edge of the field.
The current manager was hired after the incident with Uncle Fu, so there's no way he would help with revenge by not opening the drain.
The steward finally approached the owner, "Madam Yao, everything's open! I was worried I might have missed anything, so I checked them all!"
All the field ridges have a gap, which allows excess water to drain from higher to lower elevations.
Uncle Fu's land has been opened, but the adjacent rented land has not.
"Hmph, if I hadn't arrived early and seen it coming, your men would have dug it up and drained the water, and I would have been the one to suffer the loss!"
Uncle Fu slammed the hoe into the ground, creating a large crater in the soft mud.
Yao Shisan squatted down and touched it. The rain had just stopped, so the moisture content was high and it was very soft.
After nearly ten days of rain, all the gaps in the field ridges were smooth and without any marks.
Uncle Fu snorted, "This land of mine is a blessed land, capable of yielding three bushels of rice. Now it's been destroyed, and it's too late to soak the seedlings and let them sprout again."
"You owe me nine taels of silver for three mu of land!"
Shuang'er stepped forward and exclaimed, "What an outrageous demand!"
"Is your land bigger than others'? At most, one mu of land can yield two shi of rice! Besides, the market price is eight hundred wen per shi now. Your rice is so precious that it costs one liang!"
Uncle Fu is no longer afraid of her; he is now the one suffering the most.
"This young lady is really interesting. Have you ever helped my family grow rice? You know exactly how much rice we need."
Shuang'er laughed, "I didn't farm for your family, but I did take your grain. How much and how much money I took can be easily found out!"
Uncle Fu's eyes flickered, then he retorted, "Does taking less mean giving less?!"
"I have a large family, so I need to keep more, and my in-laws will also give some! Naturally, I'll sell less!"
Those watching the commotion immediately mocked him, "Uncle Fu, when did you become such a miser? You're even sending grain to your in-laws?"
"Go away, what business is it of yours!" Uncle Fu immediately glared at the man.
Shuang'er said, "Everyone in your village knows what kind of person you are, so there's no need for me to ask."
"It must be because you were lazy and didn't dig the fields, and now that they're all dead, you're blaming us."
Uncle Fu's eyes flashed, and then he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, come and see!"
"We ordinary folks are being bullied! The last time I saw them, the constables were all very respectful to them, and they even called that man 'Sir'!"
"Corruption between officials and businessmen! One Cao the Skinflint is gone, and now another Yao the Skinflint has arrived!"
"You're talking nonsense..."
Yao Shisan stood up and interrupted Shuang'er, "Shuang'er, compensate him."
"Sister!" Shuang'er was unwilling to give up.
This is the same person who always causes trouble! This time it's him again, deliberately framing me for money!
Yao Shisan shook his head at her almost imperceptibly.
This is different from land occupation; there is no evidence to prove that they deliberately destroyed their own seedlings to frame them.
Uncle Fu immediately beamed with joy, abandoning the hoe in his hand.
"The wife in charge is a reasonable person."
Shuang'er counted out nine taels of silver and reluctantly gave it to him.
The eyes of everyone around widened; they all knew that Uncle Fu was asking for a high price!
The grain produced from three mu of land is worth at most four taels of silver!
Unexpectedly, Uncle Fu made an exorbitant demand, and we actually dared to pay it back!
The money is in hand, and I'm spared three months of labor!
The excitement subsided, and the crowd dispersed.
Shuang'er said angrily, "It's him every time! Sister, can you tell that he's the one behind this?!"
"I can tell."
Yao Shisan watched Uncle Fu's smug back as he boasted to others.
"We have no evidence, so we have to accept this loss."
Shuang'er: "If he gets a taste of success this time, he'll use the same trick every time. Are we going to be ripped off every time?"
Yao Shisan smiled. "That's exactly what I wanted, for him to use the same old trick again."
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