Chapter 90 Give me a way to live【VIP】
Yang Jizong also held Chen Yao in his arms. When he lowered his head, he could smell the faint scent of grass and woods emanating from her body. He couldn't help but bury his head in her shoulder and sniff hard.
Yang Jizong's cheeks were hot and his breath was moist. He moved like a lovable golden retriever.
Chen Yao felt so soft inside that she turned her head and kissed Yang Jizong between the eyebrows.
Yang Jizong felt it, and his eyes became brighter, as if he was encouraged by his master. He suddenly raised his head, held Chen Yao's cheeks with both hands, and kissed her like a puppy.
Yang Jizong became more and more ferocious as he kissed her. He wanted to swallow her up and take her away, and he also wanted to leave his scent on her.
"It hurts." Chen Yao covered the bite mark on her neck and glared at him, "You're such a bitch."
Yang Jizong raised his hand and gently touched the mark, apologized to her, and the two of them sat on the same bench, panting.
"Ayao, please wait for me. I will try my best to come back to you as soon as possible." Yang Jizong put his forehead against hers, his eyes full of deep affection.
They've already kissed, how can Chen Yao refuse?
The next day, when Li Menghong entered the village in a carriage with yamen runners, the villagers were weeding in the wheat fields.
Everyone held their straw hats with one hand and held the hoe handle with the other. They were so scared that they stood up straight in the ground and looked towards the village entrance in unison.
"It's not even harvest time yet, how come the officials are coming to our village so soon?"
Zhou Dashun, who lived close to his wheat fields, whispered, "You're stupid! How can you come here at this time to pay us grain? You must have come here last time to see us making money by reclaiming the wasteland and growing soybeans, and now you want us to pay you to buy the wasteland."
"Bah, this bastard official!"
"Ms. Wu, is what your husband said true?" If that's the case, the worst that can happen is that they won't have any children.
Wu Guifen rolled her eyes: "Whether it's true or not, you won't be able to check it yourself."
"Yes, we have to go and have a look. Let's go and have a look!" Groups of people ran from the fields to the village entrance.
Shanghe Village and Xiahe Village were separated by only a weir river. Li Menghong simply asked his yamen runners to call the people of Shanghe Village together, so that he didn't have to leave Xiahe Village and go there again.
Xue Lizhang and Tu Lizhang obeyed the call and came running over. With flattering smiles on their faces, they were stopped by the yamen runners before they could get close to Li Menghong. They were not allowed to go forward.
Soon after, the people from the two villages arrived one after another. Everyone was very nervous and whispered to each other. What kind of trouble was going to happen with such a big scene?
Shen Qingshan had just paid last month's wages to the workers in the rabbit house. Before he had time to go to Wanhe Township to pay the wages, he heard some noise at the village entrance and ran over with the workers.
He found his daughter in the crowd, and also saw his three sisters-in-law who arrived later. His brother-in-law and third brother were not at home, so he had to protect everyone.
"Are you all okay?" Shen Qingshan looked at everyone carefully.
Huang Mei waved her hand: "It's okay, we just came from home after grinding tofu."
"Dad, have all the wages for the rabbit house been paid?" Chen Yao learned the purpose of Li Menghong's visit from Yang Jizong, so she was not nervous at all.
Shen Qingshan nodded. He was tall, and even though he was far away from the team, he could see the person getting off the carriage at a glance.
Common people had to kneel when they saw their officials, but Li Menghong was in a good mood today, so he exempted everyone from the formalities.
"Zhao Xiaofu, Chen Yao, Yang Jizong, come forward." The old official shouted at the crowd at the top of his voice.
The villagers all looked at the three people. Shen Qingshan and his wife grabbed the arms of the two children and refused to let them go forward.
Xu also stopped her son.
It doesn't look like there's anything good going on here. If there is, why not speak openly about it? Why call someone up to the front individually?
"Dad and Mom, don't worry. It's not a bad thing. Lord Li wants the three of us to teach everyone how to grow winter wheat."
Chen Yao's voice reached Li Menghong's ears through the crowd. Li Menghong coughed lightly, and the old official immediately retreated.
"I have come today to convey the Emperor's decree. All villages under my jurisdiction that have good farmland suitable for growing winter wheat must learn from you three how to cultivate winter wheat twice a year."
Without allowing Tu to stand out from the crowd to refute, Li Menghong looked directly at him and Xue with a cold look: "Anyone who disobeys will be punished with thirty strokes of the cane and imprisoned for one month."
Chief Tu, who had wanted to jump around a few times, immediately became obedient.
Seeing the significant effect, Li Menghong continued, "Where there is punishment, there will naturally be reward."
"If any household in any village can produce more than two dan of winter wheat per mu this year, not only will that household be exempt from the autumn tax for the next year, but they will also be given one mu of wasteland. The wasteland will belong to you personally and will not be taxed for three years. After three years, you will be taxed as if it were good farmland."
When Li Menghong said this, the villagers were in disbelief. One bold man asked loudly, "Are you serious, sir? Are you really not lying to us? Are you really going to give us an acre of wasteland and exempt us from taxes for three years?"
"As long as you can do it, it will be true."
"Very good,
“Yes, we plant it.”
There were bursts of responses from the crowd. Yes, for no reason, just because the court finally agreed to let them own their own land.
Even if it is wasteland, it is your land.
Yang Jizon and Zhao Xiaofu accepted the task, but Chen Yao only agreed to help guide the people of Shanghe Village and Xiahe Village to grow winter wheat. She would not participate in places farther away. She also had to study the planting of other crops and spread farming methods, which could be accomplished with Yang Jizon and Zhao Xiaofu.
Li Menghong saw that Chen Yao, a young lady, was well-mannered and was more and more pleased with her contribution to the people's farming.
"Yes, sir." Chen Yao bowed to him solemnly.
Li Menghong came here today not only for the winter wheat issue, but also to fulfill his original promise.
At his command, the yamen runners carried a wooden box and a plaque with a red silk hanging on it from the carriage one after another.
At the curiosity of the villagers, the old official opened the wooden box and declared, "Our Lord, like the Emperor, loves the people like his own children and encourages everyone to read. These are the books that the Lord cherishes very much, and I am now donating them to the Shen Family School."
The old official peeled back the red silk, and the four characters engraved on the plaque really shocked Chen Yao. She hurried forward to explain, "Sir, this is unacceptable. The school in Xiahe Village was built by the villagers together, and it does not belong to my family."
Li Menghong said, "I know, but I have learned from these children that if it weren't for you teachers teaching for free, there would only be two thatched huts in the village. How could there be a school in the village and how could the children learn to read and write?"
"Shen Family Academy, what do you think?"
"Okay!" Everyone persuaded Chen Yao to accept this honor.
A group of students from Luodunzi pulled Yang Wenying to the front and bowed deeply to Li Menghong and the four teachers.
"From today on, we are students of the Shen Family Academy. Once you are a teacher, you will never forget your teachings!"
As soon as the children finished speaking, the people from the two villages burst into thunderous applause.
"Please ask Sir and Teacher Shen to hang a plaque for our school." The energetic students made the scene even more lively.
Li Menghong's face was sore from smiling as he walked along, and he felt extremely satisfied in his heart. So this is what it feels like to be a good official and be loved by the people.
Surrounded by the people, Li Menghong and Shen Yao walked to the school gate.
The plaque was hung firmly with a hemp rope on the lintel of the thatched cottage. The villagers, with tears in their eyes, held their children's hands and felt more hopeful about the future.
Li Menghong stepped out of the crowd and went to talk to Yang Jizong and Zhao Xiaofu.
"This is the village where winter wheat needs to be planted, which has been identified by the people I sent to various places to survey based on your memorials." Li Menghong handed the Fang County feng shui map to the two men, along with two appointment documents.
The documents can ensure that the two can move freely among the villages in Fang County and facilitate their work.
"We will do our best to accomplish what you have entrusted us with." Zhao Xiaofu was entrusted with such an important task for the first time that he could not hide his excitement.
Li Menghong glanced at Yang Jizong's expressionless face and knew that this little favor wouldn't win him over. "Su Xing, you can't neglect your studies. You're the top student. I hope you'll do well in the next academy exam and become a scholar next year."
"Yes, sir." Zhao Xiaofu stepped back tactfully, allowing Yang Jizong and Li Menghong to talk alone.
There were yamen runners guarding the two of them, so even if Village Chief Xue and Village Chief Tu wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation, it would be absolutely impossible.
Li Menghong told Yang Jizong directly that if winter wheat could be grown in all places, this would allow Yang Jizong to regain the favor of the emperor.
"The emperor promised to let you serve as the governor of Ezhou first, and then transfer you to the capital to serve as an official. By then, I will be waiting for you in the capital." Thanks to Chen Yao and Yang Jizong, he will also be promoted next year.
A trace of emotion finally appeared in Yang Jizong's eyes, and he raised his hand to thank Li Menghong.
Xue Lizhang and Tu Lizhang looked at the jubilant tenant farmers, and their intuition told them that they must tell their master about this matter.
If Li Menghong dared to go against the Cui and Zheng families, he would be going against Prime Minister Wang.
"Tu San, would you like to go with me to the eastern suburbs to meet Lord Zheng later?" Village Chief Xue asked the person beside him with his eyes slightly narrowed.
Tu San raised his hand to press down his curly beard, a hint of sarcasm crossed his lips: "Of course, why are we still staying here? Let's go!"
No one cared at all about their departure.
After the villagers saw Li Menghong and the yamen runners off, they surrounded Chen Yao and asked her how to grow winter wheat.
"Everyone, be quiet for a moment and listen to my daughter!" Shen Qingshan roared out of nowhere. He was really angry. Look at how everyone was squeezing his daughter.
They all hugged each other with this kid Yang Jizong.
Shen Qingshan now has a lot of say in Xiahe Village. After his roar, everyone really quieted down.
Chen Yao quickly stepped out from behind Yang Jizong and, looking at the villagers, said word by word, "Don't worry, everyone. After the autumn harvest, I will definitely teach you how to plant winter wheat. You can go home now and do whatever you need to do."
After thinking about it carefully, everyone realized that Chen Yao was right. There was no way to plant crops now, so the crowd gradually dispersed, and the villagers carried their farm tools and went to the wheat fields to weed under the scorching sun.
Eastern Suburbs Quarry.
Before Xue Tu and the other man entered, they were almost vomited by the foul smell. After they explained their purpose, the officer guarding the quarry told them that Lord Zheng was not in the quarry at the moment.
Zheng Fu wasn't at the quarry? Then where was he? If he was caught leaving his post, he would be in big trouble.
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