For the past three days, the sky seemed to have a hole in it. Apart from a torrential downpour the night before last, it had been drizzling moderate to light rain until Lu Yanzheng left.
After watching Lu Yanzheng and his group leave, Village Chief Li immediately looked at Jiang Qinyu and said, "Niece, this rain is really bad. I think things might not be good. Luckily, you had us dig those open and covered ditches to intercept floods before, so our village will be fine for the time being."
Dingshui Village is mainly the area around Meng Tianze's house, and the area around the dam outside the village is prone to mudslides or floods during heavy rains, while other areas are not so bad.
Jiang Qinyu had previously focused her efforts on these two areas, digging new channels based on the theory of modern drainage ditches, and also carefully cleaning and comprehensively repairing the village's sewer ditches.
"Uncle Village Chief, you've worked hard. You should go back and rest first. Leave the rest to our patrol team." Jiang Qinyu saw that Village Chief Li had dark circles under his eyes and knew that he must not have had a good rest these past few days.
Village Chief Li chuckled and said, "It's alright, I'll be fine after a nap. But I'd like to send a portion of what you got for us to the county magistrate. It would be good if it could help the neighboring villages or other people in the county. What do you think, my dear niece?"
He didn't dare to sleep when it rained heavily the night before last, fearing that a dragon might come from the back mountain and bury someone's house. So he has been patrolling the village for the past two days.
He was relieved this morning after confirming that the preparations Jiang Qinyu had asked them to make hadn't been in vain, and he was planning to go back and get a good night's sleep.
But his wife was worried about her family and hadn't slept well for two nights. So he thought he'd ask Jiang Qinyu to tell the county magistrate what their village had done. If he could help, that would be great; if not, he'd feel at ease.
Jiang Qinyu hesitated upon hearing this, "Won't the county government make any preparations?"
Wei Chengzong doesn't seem like such an unreliable person!
"I reckon no," Village Chief Li shook his head. "Nobody's come to notify our village, has he?"
Jiang Qinyu: "..." Is disaster prevention awareness so weak in this era?
Given that, Jiang Qinyu naturally had no reason to object.
Village Chief Li sent Chen Shao and Liu Yazi to town, while the others went back to their homes to continue the work they hadn't finished, such as making adobe bricks.
Jiang Qinyu, Yunzhu, and Amber went door to door to give the food and drink that Lu Yanzheng had brought to the people's homes over the past two days. However, some families refused to accept it no matter what, while others accepted it after a few polite refusals.
Jiang Qinyu kept in mind all the families who refused to accept her gifts.
"Madam, the people in our village are quite kind. If this were another place, someone might try to rip us off," Yunzhu remarked.
She has had many profound experiences during her months in Dingshui Village.
Her family were natives of the border town. Before Marshal Qin came, the people of the border town were not very united. Everyone was minding their own business and would take advantage of others whenever possible. No one was willing to give their things to others.
Dingshui Village was different. That night, when the general brought so many people into the village, she thought they would be left out in the rain or at most squeeze into a few houses. But to her surprise, the villagers were willing to give up their own houses for the soldiers to stay in.
Today, she and her wife went to settle accounts with them, and surprisingly, most of the villagers were unwilling to accept the grain or money. The few families that accepted the money did so because they were indeed in dire straits.
Jiang Qinyu smiled and said, "Actually, it's all about exchanging hearts."
If Lu Yanzheng hadn't led the border troops to stop the invasion of foreign enemies, how could Dingshui Village have had such a peaceful life?
If they can manage at home, the villagers are naturally willing to support them.
Thinking of this, Jiang Qinyu couldn't help but think of Lu Yanzheng... She hoped everything would go well for them.
...
In the afternoon, Wei Chengzong braved the rain to rush to Dingshui Village and went directly to find Jiang Qinyu.
"Madam, please come with me to the county government office to plan for flood and landslide prevention in the entire Yongshan County!" Wei Chengzong said, bowing and looking at Jiang Qinyu with utmost sincerity.
Jiang Qinyu was stunned for a moment, "Lord Wei, what is this...?"
Really? Shouldn't the county government have a dedicated workshop to handle these matters?
Wei Chengzong smiled wryly, "I'm new here, and one major event after another has occurred recently. It's inevitable that I've neglected the management of the six departments, which has allowed some of my subordinates to take advantage of the situation..."
According to him, although the six departments of the county government have all been replaced, the principle of prioritizing local people has resulted in some positions being filled through back channels. For example, the seemingly unimportant workshop has no one who actually does any real work.
Normally, in years of disaster like this, the workers in each county would take precautions before the weather changes. However, Yongshan County was severely damaged by Zhu Youcai, and then Wei Chengzhong took over. He was busy with major events such as the border war and the rebellion of Prince Yong. He was so busy every day that he still couldn't take care of everything.
Sure enough, today Chen Shao and Liu Yazi went to him to hand over the blueprints for preventing mountain floods and dragon-walking in Dingshui Village. After they mentioned some things Jiang Qinyu had said, Wei Chengzhong immediately realized that he had overlooked something.
“Even so, Lord Wei, I am just a woman…” Jiang Qinyu looked at him with difficulty, not really wanting to take on this job.
Wei Chengzong said solemnly, "I have never looked down on any woman, let alone Madam. With you in charge, Yongshan County will surely suffer fewer losses in the future. The people will only be grateful to you when they find out."
“This…” Jiang Qinyu looked at Village Chief Li, who had come to accompany her.
Village Chief Li immediately said, "My dear niece, the magistrate is right. Go ahead and do it. Our whole village supports you!"
Jiang Qinyu was speechless. Was that what she meant?
Seeing Wei Chengzong and Village Chief Li looking at her expectantly, she could only nod reluctantly, "Alright then, but let me make this clear from the start: since you've entrusted this task to me, everyone below you has to listen to me."
“Of course, Madam, please rest assured, I will definitely keep them in line,” Wei Chengzhong said hurriedly.
Jiang Qinyu was a little sad. She hadn't been able to earn work points in the village for a long time. Would she be able to have a good New Year this year?
Just then, she heard Village Chief Li chuckle and say, "My dear niece, don't worry about going. We'll take care of things at home. Besides, you're going to do something important, so we'll still give you work points in the village. Don't worry about us."
Jiang Qinyu quickly waved her hand, "No, I didn't do anything, it's unfair to others if I get work points."
"What's this?" Village Chief Li waved his hand and said, "Everyone in the village knows perfectly well that without you two, we wouldn't be where we are today."
Before Jiang Qinyu could say anything, Wei Chengzong suddenly asked, "What are work points?"
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