Chapter 55
Lin Shuge walked out of the county government office and saw a man dressed in foreign clothes waiting outside. When he heard his footsteps, he turned around.
"Sir, it's me. Long time no see. Do you still remember me?"
It turned out to be Dabu, who was involved in the riot in Guan City and also implicated a spy.
Lin Shuge smiled and said, "Of course I remember."
He was wearing silk clothes and had jewels on his hands. He seemed to be quite wealthy.
"Thanks to your help last time, I won the favor of Mrs. Yan and made a lot of money by selling things." His green eyes were bright.
Dabu took out some seeds from the bag and said, "These are the seeds that the adults asked me to find."
Lin Shuge looked carefully and found seeds of apricot, pepper, peach, and various types of grains, but no peppers or grain crops that appeared in later generations as far as Lin Shuge could remember.
He couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that without the great voyages of voyage, it would have been impossible to reach America and bring corn and potatoes. Otherwise, these two crops were cold-resistant and drought-resistant, very suitable for planting in the northwest, and had high yields.
Seeing that he was not in high spirits, Dabu quickly took out a plant from another cloth bag.
It was a green plant about half a foot tall, with oblong leaves and several slender fruits hanging from it, some of which were green and some had begun to turn red.
Dabu introduced: "I bought this from a merchant from Daqin. It is said that the nobles there like to appreciate it very much..."
Lin Shuge looked at the pot of peppers in surprise, almost to the point of tears. He hadn't held out any hope at all, but finally he found it.
Chili peppers were not widely cultivated in Lin Shuge's time until the end of the Ming Dynasty. When they were first introduced, they were used as ornamental vegetables. After all, the fruits looked bright and tasted delicious. Who would have thought that they would later become an indispensable condiment on the dinner table.
Seeing that he hadn't made any movement for a long time, Dabu thought that he didn't like her again and was about to speak.
Lin Shuge said directly: "Leave all the seeds, especially this one, give it to me first."
He carefully took the chili from Dabu and held it in his arms.
Seeing that he liked this, Dabu thought that his trip was not in vain. He scratched his hair, making it messy. "I heard from the merchants of Wusun that Ganzhou has some new styles, including fine cashmere and paper as white as snow in the sky. I wonder if you have any ideas?"
He looked as if he could only rely on you here, and Lin Shuge looked him up and down.
Dabu was worried. What did the adult mean?
"I'll give you a note later. Just go to Zhouji Tailor and the Qian family to discuss it in person."
The Zhou family and the Qian family? Nowadays, all merchants in the Western Regions know about these two families. Although he is not as well-informed as others, he has also heard of the two families' names.
"Thank you, sir." Dabu was so excited that he turned around in circles. He couldn't describe his feelings at all. He wished he could pull Lin Shuge to dance at this moment.
"If you want to thank me, do you know what I want?" Lin Shuge said to him with a smile.
Dabu naturally understood and performed Western etiquette towards Lin Shuge.
Lin Shuge came back happily with the peppers in his arms. As he walked, he was thinking about how to grow them when he suddenly heard a cat's meow.
Looks like a cat.
He turned his head and looked at Dabu. Dabu opened the cloth bag, and inside was a little kitten. It was snow-white all over, had a thin voice, and did not look very well.
Lin Shuge looked at his cloth bag that looked like a Doraemon pocket from another dimension, and was speechless.
Dabu explained: "On the way, I met a merchant from Qin who offered a raccoon cat as tribute to a country in the Western Regions. Unexpectedly, the cat gave birth to several pups. One of the pups was too weak and Daracao was unwilling to raise it, so I picked it up."
He paused, "But I have to travel back and forth to sell goods, so it's really inconvenient to keep it. I've been feeding it some porridge these days, but it seems to be dying soon."
Seeing Lin Shuge's eyes filled with reluctance, he had already touched it gently and said tentatively: "If you like it, I can give it to you. It will be considered as saving it."
As a veteran cat lover, Lin Shuge naturally liked La Jiao. He put La Jiao on the ground, reached out to take the kitten and held it in his arms. The kitten seemed to feel a little cold and went straight into Lin Shuge's arms.
Lin Shuge was so excited that he asked Dabu to hold the chili pepper, and the two of them walked into the county government office.
In the clerk's residence, Zhou Du was slacking off. When he heard someone coming in, he immediately straightened his posture and started working. After pretending for a long time, he looked up and saw Lin Shuge coming in with a familiar-looking foreigner. Both of them were holding something in their arms.
"What? This is?" Zhou Du asked.
"Hold it for me, I'm going to go out for a while." Lin Shuge put the kitten in Zhou Du's arms and ran out in a hurry. Zhou Du held the kitten in a panic.
Dabu put down the pepper, bowed to Zhou Du, and walked out.
When Lin Shuge came in, he saw that Zhou Du had already put the cat on the table and was playing with it. Unfortunately, the kitten was in low spirits and only meowed a few times.
Without a syringe, Lin Shuge could only roll up the leaves slightly, put some goat milk in them, and feed them into the kitten's mouth little by little.
"Where did the cat come from?" Zhou Du asked, supporting himself with his hands.
"It's a gift from Dabu." The kitten wasn't very good at swallowing, so Lin Shuge replied while helping it raise its head to swallow the goat milk.
"Dabu, the man from the Western Regions just now? He looks familiar."
"Well, that time we caught the spy..."
Zhou Du clapped his hands and said, "It's him, but he is rich now and can even give you a cat." After all, he had only seen this little thing before, and it was usually raised by nobles.
"No, pick up something that others don't want. Give me a hand and pick it up."
Seeing how he was so focused on the cat, Zhou Du pouted, but still picked up the kitten as he said. The two of them worked together and finally fed the kitten.
"Thank you." Lin Shuge took off his outer robe and put the cat in it. The kitten was full of goat milk, meowed a few times, and then rested its head on his sleeve and gradually fell asleep.
Zhou Du laughed and said, "Your clothes are disheveled. This is not the behavior of a gentleman, County Magistrate Lin."
Lin Shuge glanced at him, put the chili pepper on the desk, and started to deal with the documents in a happy mood.
Finally, it was time to get off work, and Zhou Du helped him carry the cat and peppers back home. As soon as he entered the house, he first fed the hungry kitten with goat milk, helped it to defecate, and then planted the peppers in the yard.
Looking at the bunches of red and green peppers, Lin Shuge prayed in his heart that they would grow luxuriantly and bear abundant fruits so that he would have a good time to eat them in the future.
He did not waste the other seeds, but buried them all in the garden, hoping that they would yield unexpected benefits when they were planted.
The cat is too young and doesn’t know how to eat, so Lin Shuge has to bring it with him when he goes to work these days, just like an old father who is taking care of the cat alone while his wife goes out to school.
Fortunately, the cat is in good spirits and can now crawl around in the nest made for it.
After feeding the cat with goat milk, he asked another colleague who was still in the office to help look after the kitten. That colleague had been coveting the kitten for a long time and would secretly come over to see it every day. When he heard that he was asked to help look after the kitten for a while, he readily agreed.
Lin Shuge gave some instructions on what to pay attention to, and then went out with Zhou Du. There will be a school completion ceremony today, and he and Zhou Du have to attend.
The school is built in the east of the city, where the environment is good and very quiet. When he arrived, County Magistrate Li was already having a pleasant conversation with the merchants.
Listening to the merchants constantly saying "serving the country and the people", "beneficial to education" and "blessing for the people", County Magistrate Li was humble at first, but later he burst into joy.
When he looked up and saw Lin Shuge arriving, he directed the conversation directly to him. The merchants were naturally more friendly when they saw Lin Shuge. They surrounded him and talked incessantly, making his ears hurt.
Finally, Xiangli Gu came to report that the time had come. County Magistrate Li changed his cheerful expression to a serious one. He first offered sacrifices to various gods on behalf of the county government and the merchants, and then read out the value and significance of building a school, emphasizing the contributions of major merchants to the school.
Magistrate Li spoke enthusiastically, and Lin Shuge looked at the merchants, all of them were beaming with joy and excitement.
What’s the big deal about spending some money? Besides, it doesn’t cost much to build a school. What’s important? Reputation, what kind of talents will come out of this school in the future, I can't help but think of them who founded the school.
They gathered around the stele in front of the school, on which was engraved the time when the school was established and the names and deeds of the investors.
The merchants formed several layers and looked for their names one by one. Some of them couldn't squeeze in and were so anxious that sweat broke out on their foreheads. There were even some with children. They pointed at their names and told their children how great they were.
Finally, the ceremony was over and Lin Shuge went in to visit. Because admission was free, some people were waiting and watching, but when they saw that it was indeed sponsored by the government, many families sent their children over.
When Lin Shuge looked around, he actually saw Wang Zhuzi's family. Wang Zhuzi obviously saw him as well, and he trotted over and saluted, saying, "Sir, long time no see."
Seeing Lin Shuge looking at him in confusion, he took the initiative to explain: "I came here to watch the fun today. Brother Li's child is of school age this year. I heard that the county government has set up a free school, so I sent the child to school."
"My son Abao will be sent here next year. Although we are blind, we still want him to learn to read and write. We dare not even think about taking the imperial examination, but at least he can learn a few more words."
Lin Shuge nodded and asked about their lives. Upon hearing this, Wang Zhuzi said excitedly, "To be honest, sir, I am quite good at work. The master has promoted me to be the manager of the paper mill. Yuanniang is also very skillful and works carefully. My husband and I can earn a lot of money a month. For convenience, we now live in the county and only go home during the busy farming season."
Lin Shuge praised him a few times, which made Wang Zhuzi scratch his head.
“But don’t delay the crops in the fields,” Lin Shuge warned.
"How can that be? Crops are our roots. Don't worry, sir. We have been given new farm tools this year, which save time and effort. It is much faster than in previous years. After we finish the spring ploughing, Yuanniang and I will dare to do other things."
"That's good."
After Lin Shuge finished talking to him, he happily ran to chat with his wife for a long time.
"Sir." A voice came from the side.
Lin Shuge looked back and saw He Yan wearing teacher's attire.
In fact, He Yan had been waiting for a long time, but seeing that Lin Shuge was talking to someone, he didn't dare to disturb him.
"Sir, what did you mean by pinyin last time?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
