Chapter 190 [Spy]
After Jiang Lili and the pirates took away the 600 kilograms of fish handed over by the fishermen, they came to the coast.
The pirate's third in command, Rong Yi, couldn't help but ask, "Boss, how are you going to finish these 300 kilograms of fish?"
For this month, they could be said to have lived down on the South Bank.
They have boxed lunches and fruits for two meals a day, and tents to stay in. They no longer have to live in cramped and stuffy cabins, eat fish for every meal, or worry about going hungry or being robbed in fear.
Although Jiang Lili ordered them to work, they didn't have to work every day.
Miss Jiang would also pay them wages, and provide them with rice and oil.
Having been used to the life of pirates living on the edge of life, they now feel extremely happy in this stable and comfortable life.
However, there are also people who still want to get rich quickly. Jiang Lili also noticed that these people are not satisfied with the status quo, and they have been making promises, saying that they are just taking a temporary break now, and they will be able to get rich in a month or two.
Fourth Master Ge Zhu was a man of quick eyes. Seeing Jiang Lili collect so many fish, he immediately guessed his leader's thoughts: "Do you want us to dry them for you? I'll do it right away!"
Jiang Lili shook her head: "No, release all these fish!"
The pirates all looked confused: "Huh? Six hundred kilograms of fish!"
Although they have been at sea for so many years and are tired of eating fish, it would be a shame to just let go of these 600 kilograms of fish. Even if they were made into dried fish, they could sell for a lot of money.
Jiang Lili pulled out a string of beads from her sleeve that cost three and a half yuan at the wholesale market and began to twist them in her hands. "I've been having nightmares lately and can't sleep well."
She spoke with deep remorse, "I asked the village witch, Grandma Zheng, and she said it was our people who were hunting in the forest and angered the mountain god."
Rong Yi asked very bluntly, "You have a heart as black as a crow, and you still believe this?"
This girl can even use tricks to deceive animals like eagles and monkeys, so why would she believe in the mountain god?
“Cough cough cough…”
Jiang Lili almost lost her composure. She said with compassion, "I'm doing this for the good of the village. This concerns the entire village, so I have to be cautious."
"Granny Zheng asked me to perform a ritual of releasing animals once a month. The more animals I release and the more pious I am, the more I can offset my sins."
She said righteously, "Okay, let's not mention this to the villagers. Life is not easy for everyone. I will take care of everything."
Everyone had to obey the leader's order. Anyway, the fish were not theirs, and the coconut chicken hotpot was made by someone hired by Jiang Lili.
Jiang Lili was twisting her beads and muttering a spell she had made up.
As soon as the fish were put into the sea, Jiang Lili gave a red envelope to Xiaopang. This action also made her behavior of asking for so many fish seem more reasonable.
She discovered a bug. If she encountered a school of fish at sea, she could directly select the fish and send them to Xiaopang without catching them, but they had to be within her sight.
*
At night, the children of the Yuanbao Gang came to the wooden house at the foot of the mountain to provide information to Jiang Lili: "Boss Jiang, I found out that the two fishermen you asked us to keep an eye on like painting."
Jiang Lili is looking through a list of books to see which modern books can be brought here to benefit the villagers.
When Jiang Lili heard the children say that the two Zhang brothers were drawing in the tent, she asked with some surprise, "Drawing?"
The children rushed to add to the news: "Yes, the other fishermen were resting or chatting. I happened to see them drawing with parchment scrolls and the black carbon from burning charcoal."
"But we can't see what the painting is about."
Jiang Lili was pondering this when she heard Wen Xiaomei's serious speculation: "When we're taught to paint in school, we usually use brushes and rice paper. These two fishermen use very different tools than us, especially the paper. They actually use sheepskin scrolls."
Xin Yan continued, following Wen Xiaomei's words, "Grandmother said that only things like maps would be made with precious parchment scrolls. They're easy to preserve, hard to be damaged by water, and won't wear out even if you look at them frequently."
After hearing this, Jiang Lili's mind was opened. When she saw the hands of the two Zhang brothers, she had doubted the identities of these two people.
Now that I've heard my younger sister's speculation, these two people might be spies, and the map they drew is the map of their South Island.
It's just the identities of these two people...
If they were from the imperial court, they would have established Dan'er County on the South Island and hidden heavy troops in the mountains. The maps and topographic maps must have been fully drawn, and there would be no need to draw them secretly and improvise like this.
Jiang Lili suddenly remembered that the fishermen said that these two people were very familiar with the distribution of fish in the South China Sea.
Then there is a greater possibility that these two people grew up on the sea. Maybe they are spies sent by a tribe or a small country on these islands, who want to find out what is happening in the south of Haizhou Island, which is not well controlled on the border of the Dasheng Dynasty.
After Wen Xiaomei finished speaking, another little girl added, "I thought the tools they used for painting were quite novel, but when we remembered what Boss Jiang had warned us not to alert the enemy, we didn't ask any more questions and instead listened to the other fishermen's stories about their adventures at sea."
Jiang Lili listened to Wen Xiaomei and Xin Yan's speculations, and heard that the child who was speaking was only five or six years old and used two idioms in one sentence. She felt quite relieved. It seemed that the teaching at the Yeli School founded by her mother Yang was very effective.
After settling down in Yeli Village, Yang talked to Jiang Lili about opening a school. Jiang Lili discussed it with the villagers and decided that the children could not run around the village all day long, so they set up a house in the village to teach the children to read and write.
Lady Yang, the wife of Marquis Zhaoping, served as the teacher, teaching the children how to write and draw, while Lady Chen taught them arithmetic. Xin Cheng, who was developing weapons such as fire poles, would occasionally come over to teach the children knowledge from science picture books when he had time.
The tuition fee of the school is also symbolic, and the children are asked to pay the tuition with pheasant eggs or coconuts.
Compared with ordinary children, these children who have experienced exile are more calm, sensible and willing to learn.
The children always remember that when they were hungry and had nothing to eat on Qinglin Mountain, it was Jiang Lili's family who taught them how to identify mushrooms so that they could fill their stomachs and no longer have to eat stone-like naan.
The idea of learning skills is ingrained in their minds.
Now that someone is taking care of the children, the villagers, as their parents, feel much more at ease and can go to the village craftsmen to learn skills and do farm work without any worries.
The villagers have become more and more respectful of the Zhaoping Marquis family, sighing that they are worthy of being the Zhaoping Marquis family. No matter where they are, they are the backbone and guardian of everyone.
At this time, Yuanbao, who had just spoken, helped the little girl take out a bunch of small shells from her purse and said, "Oh, by the way, these two big brothers are very kind. They gave us beautiful shells and conchs, which are not often seen on our coast. Take a look, Boss Jiang."
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