At this moment, Zhou Ertiao was standing on the outskirts of the crowd. Everyone present was very excited, and they had already forgotten about the argument between Zhao Xiaosheng and Zhou Ertiao.
After watching for a while, Zhou Ertiao felt as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a fly. He turned around and prepared to leave.
"stop"
Zhao Youzhu shouted and grabbed Zhou Ertiao, pulling him up with a stick.
People turned around and saw Zhou Ertiao, then remembered that he had just argued with Zhao Xiaosheng.
"Whoever said that this waterwheel could bring the river water up, he ate the soil that was dug out."
"Yes, yes, let him eat dirt!" the crowd shouted in unison.
At this moment, Zhao Xiaosheng grabbed a handful of soil and walked up to Zhou Ertiao.
“Zhou Ertiao, you should remember what you just said. You’re a man, you should be able to speak your mind. I don’t need you to eat all the dirt I dug up, just eat this handful of dirt in my hand.”
At this moment, Zhou Ertiao was extremely embarrassed, and he pleaded with Zhao Xiaosheng:
"Brother Xiaosheng, I was just talking nonsense, please let me go."
"No, you have to eat this dirt today. You said it in front of everyone." Zhao Xiaosheng persisted, clearly determined to make Zhou Ertiao eat dirt.
"What's going on, Xiao Sheng? Why are you making people eat dirt?" Zhao Xian, not knowing what was happening, quickly came over to ask.
“Brother, Zhou Tiao is a scoundrel. He just called you a jinx and told everyone in front of you that the waterwheel you made could bring water into the rice paddies. He then ate all the soil I dug out.”
"Yes, yes, scholar, that's exactly what Zhou Ertiao just said. This time, we must make him eat dirt." Everyone chimed in.
Zhao Xian looked at Zhou Ertiao, who lowered his head, not daring to look at the scholar's face.
Everyone knew that Xiucai was a scholar, and he probably wouldn't let Zhou Ertiao starve, but he would definitely quote Confucius and poetry.
“Zhou Ertiao, all these years I’ve been focused on passing the imperial examinations and achieving official rank. I have indeed let my family down, but I haven’t harmed anyone in the village. Why do you have such a strong grudge against me? Can you tell me?” Zhao Xian said calmly.
Zhao Xian's words surprised everyone present. This was not the style of the scholar at all. In the past, he would always quote classical texts and say a lot of difficult words. But today, he spoke from the bottom of his heart. It seems that the scholar has indeed changed.
"I'm sorry, sir, please just pretend I was talking nonsense. Please forgive me, I'm a magnanimous person," Zhou Ertiao pleaded.
"Do you know what it means to keep your word? You're a man, you have to be responsible for what you say. My brother didn't say you'd have to eat dirt, you said it yourself, so you have to be responsible for what you said. You decide what to do," Zhao Xian said calmly.
"Scholar, I don't know what to do either. Can I help you with the work?" At this moment, Zhou Ertiao was filled with regret. Today's events were entirely his own doing. Was he too pathetic?
“How about this, the waterwheels I made aren’t just for my own use. Everyone can take them if they need them. Or you could do something for the villagers. As long as everyone is satisfied, this matter will be over. What do you think?” Zhao Xian began to persuade Zhou Ertiao.
When everyone heard that they could also use the waterwheel made by the scholar, which would mean they wouldn't have to carry water for irrigation, they cheered.
"Scholar, what do you want me to do?" Zhou Ertiao asked quickly. He was considering that since the scholar said everyone could use the waterwheel, he could use it too, but only if he didn't offend the scholar.
Zhao Xian pointed to a ditch not far away. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that it was a drainage ditch used to drain excess water from the rice paddies. Because no one had cleaned it, it was now overgrown with weeds.
“This is a drainage ditch. It’s basically unusable because it’s full of weeds. Go and clear away the weeds and dig it a little deeper. It will become an irrigation canal, and the water can flow through here into the rice paddies. That way, you’ll have done a great service for everyone.”
Zhou Ertiao looked at the overgrown ditch and frowned. It would take him at least two or three days to clean it by himself. It was too hard work.
Everyone looked at the ditch. If Zhou Ertiao could clean it up, they would all benefit. However, it would take Zhou Ertiao two or three days to clean it by himself, and the crops couldn't wait.
If all of them go and clean it up, they can finish cleaning the ditch before dark, and tomorrow they can use waterwheels to bring river water into the rice paddies.
But they didn't know what "xiucai" meant, so they dared not speak carelessly for fear of offending him.
“Clean up the ditch and turn it into a canal. That would be a good deed. What do you think? If you don’t want to do it, you might as well eat dirt,” Zhao Xian said calmly.
"Of course I'm willing, but it might take me three days to clean the ditch. If my rice isn't irrigated for three days, it will definitely affect the harvest."
"Once this ditch is cleared, everyone can use it. The rice paddies won't wait three days either; they'll all come to help. In this way, it will be cleared in just over an hour."
At this moment, a man in the crowd shouted, "Zhou Ertiao, you go and clean the ditch. We will all help you and won't let you suffer any losses."
“Yes, yes, what the scholar said is right. Let’s all go help. Zhou Ertiao, why aren’t you going yet?” Everyone began to urge Zhou Ertiao.
"Alright, I'll go clean the ditch now." After saying that, Zhou Ertiao quickly left and began cleaning the ditch.
"We also went over to help, and also to help get our rice paddies flooded as quickly as possible."
Soon the crowd dispersed and rushed to the ditch, where they began clearing weeds and widening and deepening the ditch.
The carpenter had seen everything clearly. He now greatly admired the scholar, who was not only learned but also helpful.
He wasn't angry when Zhou Ertiao humiliated him earlier, and he handled the situation perfectly, having Zhou Ertiao clear the weeds in the ditch and even getting everyone else to help.
"Scholar, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave," the carpenter said politely.
"Please wait a moment, Master," Zhao Xian said, taking out twenty coins from his pocket and accepting them.
The carpenter, unaware of Zhao Xian's intentions, did not dare accept the twenty coins.
“Starting tomorrow, this waterwheel will be running non-stop and is likely to break down. In the next few days, you should arrange for an apprentice to come and watch over the waterwheel and repair it promptly if any problems occur.”
So that's how it is. It seems the scholar was quite thoughtful. Arranging for an apprentice to watch over the waterwheel cost almost nothing, and the twenty coins were practically free.
"Alright, I'll arrange for an apprentice to come over tomorrow morning. It won't cause any problems." The carpenter took the twenty coins and left excitedly.
Watching the water pumped out by the waterwheel flow into the rice paddies, Zhao Xian suddenly remembered something. He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to fertilize the rice paddies.
He walked around the rice paddy, and in just a short while, the water had already overflowed the paddy and was beginning to accumulate deeper and deeper.
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