"We...we've won! We've won!" The sight of the defeated locusts bringing tears to the eyes of everyone in Lu Family Village. The village chief, in particular, was trembling with excitement.
However, no one noticed that Magistrate Duan had somehow stood behind them and witnessed everything that had just happened.
He walked up to the village chief and asked, "Village Chief Lu, what kind of method is this? I'm quite curious!"
The magistrate's sudden words startled the village chief, who immediately led all the villagers of Lujia Village to kneel beside the magistrate. Except for the village chief, almost everyone had their heads down, looking terrified.
Upon seeing this, Magistrate Duan quickly said, "Fellow villagers, please get up!"
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately stood up, but they still kept their heads down, looking at the ground. To them, the county magistrate was like the sun in the sky, something that ordinary farmers like them could never reach.
The village chief walked up to Magistrate Duan, his voice tinged with panic, and said, "This...this is the idea that Yaojie's mother came up with!"
"Oh?" Magistrate Duan raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, and his gaze immediately turned to Jiang Ling, who was standing in the crowd.
Jiang Ling glanced at Magistrate Duan as he stepped out from the crowd and said to him, "This is a recipe from my grandmother. It requires a certain amount of mugwort and cocklebur, as well as a secret medicinal powder that my grandmother prepared before. Put them in a pot and boil them. Then soak the prepared grass balls in the boiling water for half an hour. After that, take them out and dry them in the sun. This will effectively drive away locusts!"
Magistrate Duan was even more astonished upon hearing this. He stared intently at Jiang Ling before him, feeling for some reason that this village woman was quite extraordinary. Last year, the twenty villages and towns under his jurisdiction had suffered a complete crop failure. This year, they had finally managed to overcome the drought, but now a locust plague had struck. If this year's harvest was to be as bad as last year's, Magistrate Duan felt that he would likely have no hope of promotion in his lifetime.
Thinking of this, the magistrate quickly asked, "Madam Jiang, how much would you charge if you were to give up this method?"
The others nearly screamed upon hearing this, especially the village chief, who shuddered. He feared that Jiang Ling's reckless words might anger Magistrate Duan, and he himself would likely be punished. He was about to speak to remind Jiang Ling when she preemptively said, "If this method can eliminate the locusts, this humble woman is willing to accept no payment, however..."
The village chief, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, was alarmed again upon hearing the word "however." He even turned and glared at Jiang Ling, his eyes seemingly conveying the warning, "My dear aunt, don't talk nonsense."
Jiang Ling didn't even look at the village chief, and continued, "However, my grandmother's secret medicinal powder is not abundant. I can share the recipe, but I can't provide the secret medicinal powder myself. Moreover, the smoke from burning it is poisonous, so this stuff needs to be made..."
As she spoke, Jiang Ling handed her mask to Magistrate Duan. Magistrate Duan's eyes widened as he looked at the mask in his hand. He examined the rare object from head to toe, asking in surprise, "Jiang, what is this?"
"This thing is called a mask. The smoke from it is toxic. This mask can block most of the toxic smoke and protect the villagers. However, this thing needs cotton to make. All the cotton in our village was sold to me by Li Shanren from Changning Town at a very low price. So, the villagers really have no way to provide the powder and the mask!" Jiang Ling said this calmly, but the village chief next to her was like a roller coaster in his heart. Even the beads of sweat on his forehead were sweating like soybeans.
"That's alright, Jiang. You only need to provide the names of the ingredients in the recipe and the method for making the mask. You don't need to worry about the rest!" Magistrate Duan waved his hand and said to Jiang Ling.
Jiang Ling nodded and then handed the mask-making instructions to Magistrate Duan. Magistrate Duan was secretly surprised as he looked at the crooked but very careful handwriting. He quickly asked, "Jiang, this? This is your handwriting?"
Jiang Ling shook her head and said to Magistrate Duan, "Your Excellency is too kind. This is the handwriting of my eldest daughter, Jiang Suihe. Please don't find it offensive."
Magistrate Duan was even more surprised upon hearing this. He looked at Jiang Ling with a somewhat distraught gaze. He had already been full of admiration for Jiang Yaojie, and now he was even more astonished to hear that her daughter could read. Although there were occasionally girls in the twenty villages and towns under Pingxi County who went to school, and Pingxi County also had academies specifically for girls, the girls there were either daughters of high-ranking officials or daughters of merchants. For hundreds of years, he had never heard of any peasant woman's daughter who could read and write.
"My...my lord..." The advisor beside him, seeing that Magistrate Duan was somewhat out of control, quickly whispered a reminder in Magistrate Duan's ear.
Magistrate Duan coughed twice to demonstrate the awkwardness that had occurred earlier.
Jiang Ling smiled and said in a calm tone, "How about I demonstrate it for you personally, Your Excellency?"
Magistrate Duan nodded and said, "That's fine!"
Jiang Ling and Magistrate Duan disappeared from everyone's sight. The village chief looked at the vanished Magistrate Duan and let out a deep breath. Then, he showed a panicked expression and ran towards Jiang Ling's house. Although everyone was curious, they had already exhausted a lot of energy from killing locusts, so not many people wanted to join in the fun.
Jiang Ling led the magistrate back to her home. The three children knelt obediently on the ground. Upon seeing this, Magistrate Duan quickly told Jiang Ling to help the children up. Magistrate Duan walked to Jiang Suihe's side, took out the paper from earlier, and asked Jiang Suihe, "Are you Jiang Suihe?"
Jiang Suihe was, after all, a child under ten years old. When Magistrate Duan questioned her like this, Jiang Suihe felt her mind go blank. Cold sweat immediately broke out on her forehead and back. Her knees buckled and she knelt on the ground again, nodding tremblingly.
Seeing this, Jiang Ling quickly helped Jiang Suihe up and said softly, "Don't be afraid, Magistrate Duan is a good person! Just answer the truth!"
Jiang Suihe nodded after hearing this, but for some reason her heart was still pounding wildly. Jiang Suihe even felt that her heart might jump out of her mouth if she opened it.
"Jiang, am I really that scary?" Magistrate Duan asked with a frown and a hint of helplessness, seeing that no one was around.
Jiang Ling chuckled and shook her head at the slightly plump and kind-looking Magistrate Duan, saying, "No, it's just that you are an official and we are ordinary people. There will always be a distance between officials and ordinary people, especially since we are farmers who toil in the fields. The authority of officials makes us feel intimidated."
Magistrate Duan felt slightly disappointed upon hearing these words. He had always wanted to be a good official, a benevolent official who was close to the people, but now it seemed that no matter what he did, the people were very afraid of him.
Jiang Ling saw the magistrate's disappointment. She originally wanted to say a few words of advice, but then she thought that she had already made enough of a name for herself. If she continued like this, she would definitely be envied. Thinking of this, Jiang Ling quickly signaled Jiang Suihe to go inside and get cotton and coarse cloth.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
