Chapter 85 Too High Profile
Meng Chengping clasped his fists and said loudly, "Please get in the car, Boss Gu!"
Gu Xixi has never liked to be high-profile, and at this moment she was surrounded by a group of villagers, watching her like a monkey.
She was so embarrassed that she wanted to turn around and go back immediately, "General Meng, can you please keep your voice down?"
Gu Xixi's voice was too soft for Meng Chengping to hear clearly, so he asked louder, "What did Boss Gu say?"
Gu Xixi took a deep breath to calm herself down, "Please keep your voice down."
She didn't want to stay there and be watched, so she quickly got on the carriage and dived into it.
She felt much more comfortable now. She was too lazy to think about what kind of rumors were spread about her in the village, and how much curiosity she would have to face and how many explanations (make-up) she would have to make after returning home.
Let's take it one step at a time.
But just as Gu Xixi sat down, another person came in.
She looked up, a little surprised, "Why are you here?"
Mu Nanzhao sat down opposite her, looking at her nose and heart, "Oh."
Oh? Before Gu Xixi could figure out what he meant, the carriage started moving.
After leaving the village, the official road was wide, so Meng Chengping rode his horse side by side with the carriage.
He knocked on the window frame outside and said, "Under the seat in the car, open the drawer. There are water and dry food."
Gu Xixi lifted the curtain and said what she had been holding back, "Doesn't this trip need to be kept secret? General Meng is acting so high-profile, isn't he afraid that the news will leak out before he even starts the work?"
Meng Chengping laughed out loud, and Gu Xixi was confused. What was so funny?
Meng Chengping said, "This area in the northwest is the general's territory. Here, as long as the general does not want to pass on any news, not even a fly can fly away from the brothers in the various passes."
He smiled and turned to Gu Xixi, "If we don't have this ability, and we drag Boss Gu into this, even if Boss Gu agrees out of loyalty, some people won't agree."
Meng Chengping looked at Mu Nanzhao from a distance and gave him a meaningful smirk.
Gu Xixi followed his gaze and looked back. Her heart skipped a beat and she changed the subject uncomfortably.
"Are there a lot of wastelands inside the Great Wall? Why aren't there any people cultivating them?"
Meng Chengping said, "The wasteland we are going to see was originally occupied by Beili ten years ago, but three years ago, a capable minister emerged in Daye who convinced the late emperor to support the general in sending troops against Beili."
"With this capable minister in charge, the Northwest Army has abundant food and fodder, and the soldiers' salaries are paid on time without delay."
"This person also collected a lot of Beili's military secrets and secretly handed them over to the general."
"Thanks to the cooperation between him and the general, the Northern Li army was defeated and retreated around this time in the winter of that year, and our army recovered those lands."
"Unfortunately, I only joined the army two years ago and was unable to catch up. I only heard those things from the general."
"However," Meng Chengping smiled, "Daye and Beili have been engaged in constant wars for the past ten years, and the people in the northwest have long been afraid. Even if these lands are recaptured, they are still on the border, and no one dares to open up wasteland there."
Gu Xixi was listening intently at first, but as she listened, she recalled something and looked across.
"The capable minister that General Meng mentioned, could it be that he is sitting in the carriage?"
Meng Chengping chuckled, "It's a tacit understanding, a tacit understanding."
Mu Nanzhao tilted his head to look out the window, as if he didn't hear the conversation between the two people.
Gu Xixi looked at him, unable to tell what she felt.
It was the first time that she learned about Mu Nanzhao's past from other people.
No wonder he had to spend so much effort to get in touch with the Meng family. With his current status, he might not be able to meet the general if he went directly to see him, and he might even get killed if the news leaked.
At this time, a soldier came to report that traces of passing cavalry were found ahead.
Meng Chengping asked Gu Xixi to lower the curtain, and he rode his horse to the front to check.
The carriage fell silent, and Gu Xixi whispered, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that about you before when I was making friends with Madam Meng."
After a while, Mu Nanzhao spoke up, "I don't blame you, we just have different positions."
"In fact, I was not sure at that time whether the general would recognize me as an old friend after knowing that I was alive, or would just tie me up and hand me over."
"If that were the case, you would have been implicated by me at the time, so you have done nothing wrong to me."
Gu Xixi was silent for a moment, "But from what you and General Meng said, the general should be an upright and good man."
"People's minds are fickle," Mu Nanzhao said. "When your situation and status suddenly change, you will find that everything around you has changed."
He raised his eyes to look at her, "But I finally won the bet."
The sound of horse hooves outside the carriage came closer and closer.
Meng Chengping shouted through the window, "There is a caravan passing by, they are not from Beili."
"The border is too long, and there are mountainous areas and forests. No matter how diligently the patrol soldiers perform their duties, occasionally a small group of Beili cavalry sneaks in to spy on military intelligence, rob caravans, and harass the people."
Gu Xixi said, "I see. Then we might meet these people on this trip?"
Meng Chengping responded, "That's why we let Boss Gu take the car. Firstly, it saves some energy. Secondly, it will be easier for us to protect him if he encounters any danger."
Mu Nanzhao leaned back with his arms folded and closed his eyes to rest, "Now I can tell you in detail."
"But why didn't you mention it before you invited Gu Xixi?"
Meng Chengping smiled awkwardly, pretending to be stupid, "I forgot."
Anyway, the general only sent him to invite Gu Xixi, so he should be polite and not force her.
But I didn't tell him that he couldn't hide anything.
Near noon, Gu Xixi drank some water and ate two bites of Guokui pancake.
It was unknown how long the carriage had been traveling, but the sound of the brakes instantly woke Gu Xixi up.
"Are we there yet?"
Mu Nanzhao glanced outside and said, "That should be the case."
The curtain of the carriage was lifted, revealing Meng Chengping's smiling face, "Boss Gu, we have arrived at our first stop."
When her feet touched the ground again, Gu Xixi was shocked by the scene before her.
The vast wasteland stretches to the mountains in the distance. The afternoon sun shines on the snow-covered mountains, which is particularly magnificent.
After admiring the scenery, Gu Xixi's heart was quickly filled with ecstasy.
"So much land is not sloping or hilly, but real plains!"
Before she came, she hadn’t expected that there would be so much uncultivated land!
Mu Nanzhao looked at Gu Xixi with a smile in his eyes.
She is so happy, she must really love farming.
Meng Chengping is an extrovert and was infected by Gu Xixi's mood, so he appeared very happy.
"Right, right, when the general came up with this idea, I thought it was a good idea!"
"If we can grow crops this way, will our Northwest Army still be worried about starving?"
However, when he turned his eyes, he found that Gu Xixi didn't listen to him at all.
She squatted on the ground, dug away the snow, grabbed a handful of soil and held it in her palm, looking at it intently.
Meng Chengping moved closer in confusion. Isn't this just dirt? What's so good about it?
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