Xu Xingchen came to the fields and was very sad when she saw the scene in front of her. She also farmed in the fields and knew the feeling of seeing all the hard work go to waste.
Some villagers accused Xu Xingchen of asking them to grow wheat, which was the cause of the disaster. They had never encountered a locust plague before, and some began to clamor and demand compensation.
Xu Xingchen explained that the locust plague wasn't caused by the wheat, but was a natural disaster. The villagers, accustomed to superstition, refused to believe her and surrounded her, accusing her of this.
Jun Haoyue pushed through the crowd and led her out, saying that they, the brother and sister, would give everyone an explanation.
After returning, Xu Xingchen cheered herself up and called on the villagers to reclaim the land first. She would then cultivate seeds for everyone to farm.
But after this incident, the villagers no longer believed her, and only a few families came to reclaim the land.
To show her sincerity, Xu Xingchen distributed the vegetables and fruits stored in her home to the villagers who refused to start over. She went door to door to persuade them and emptied her own small warehouse.
At night, she stayed in the laboratory to cultivate new seeds. Because wheat had been planted on a large scale before, not much attention was paid to the quality. In order for everyone to catch up with the autumn harvest, she needed to select seeds with vigorous growth and good quality.
But there are twenty or thirty households in the village, and if each household is to supply two kilograms of seeds, she will have to select forty or fifty kilograms.
In order to speed up, she asked Jun Haoyue for help. At this time, she didn't care what would happen if he saw the bunch of modern equipment in the laboratory.
Selecting from hundreds of thousands of seeds was both physically and visually demanding, and the two of them kept picking until five o'clock in the morning.
Xu Xingchen's eyes were sore, but she gritted her teeth and continued to pick.
Jun Haoyue felt a little distressed and advised: "Xingchen, go and rest for a while, I'll take care of the rest."
Xu Xingchen forced himself to cheer up and shook his head, "No, two people will be more efficient. We can't let the villagers go hungry in the winter."
Persuasion failed, so he had to secretly exchange the seeds in her sack with the less than half of his own remaining seeds.
There was silence, with only the rustling sound of picking. After a long time, Jun Haoyue raised his head and twisted his stiff neck, and found that Xu Xingchen had fallen asleep against the wall.
"...Stardust?"
Xu Xingchen didn't wake up.
Jun Haoyue sighed, one arm around her shoulders, the other through her legs, and with a slight effort, lifted her up. The person in his arms murmured softly, and he froze immediately, holding her in his arms for a while. Fortunately, she didn't wake up.
He carried the person back into the house and returned to the laboratory to continue selecting.
Since the locust plague, Xu Xingchen has been busy taking care of the villagers and completely forgot the delivery date agreed upon with the caravan.
On this day, a caravan came to the village with a team of horse-drawn carriages. When the villagers who were farming again in the fields saw this, they stopped what they were doing and looked at the caravan with envy.
Xu Fu brought people to knock on Xu Xingchen's door. When Xu Xingchen opened it and saw the visitor, he was stunned for a moment, and then a look of annoyance flashed across his face.
How could she forget about the caravan purchases!
Xu Fu clasped his fists towards her and said, "Boss Xu, today is the agreed delivery date. I'll be heading south as soon as I receive the goods from you."
Xu Xingchen bit his lip, thinking about how to explain. The other party was full of sincerity, but he... felt ashamed.
"Captain Xu, our village suffered a locust plague a few days ago..."
Xu Fu restrained his expression. He had been running a caravan for more than ten years and had seen all kinds of customers. He had encountered countless delays and shortages of goods.
"Boss Xu, do you mean you can't deliver the goods?" he asked with a cold face.
"This...is..." Xu Xingchen was very embarrassed. Honesty is the foundation of being a human being, and she was the first to break her promise.
Xu Fu was the leader of a caravan after all. He could talk and laugh with anyone when discussing business, but if his bottom line was touched, his temper would not be good.
"Boss Xu should know the compensation. I have been waiting for Boss Xu for a month, and this is the result Boss Xu gave me?" Captain Xu Fu of the caravan was full of momentum.
"I'm so sorry, I can..."
"No need! We won't have any chance to cooperate in the future."
Xu Fu interrupted Xu Xingchen's thoughts of extending the contract and further cooperation and rejected him directly.
"Regarding the compensation, we agreed upon three times the purchase price. I ordered 50 jin (approximately 100 grams) from Boss Xu, and at one jin (approximately 100 grams) each, Boss Xu needs to pay me one hundred and fifty liang (approximately 100 grams)."
Xu Xingchen pursed her lips. One hundred and fifty taels was an astronomical figure for her in her current situation.
Xu Fu's face was gloomy as he reminded her of the deadline. "Three days. I'll come back to pay the compensation in three days. If Boss Xu is using a scam or... I guarantee that no merchant within a hundred miles will buy your malt sugar anymore."
The color drained from Xu Xingchen's face. She tried to argue with him, her face pale. "Boss Xu, our village has really been hit by a locust plague. You can see it along the way. The fields have all been replanted..."
But Xu Fu didn't want to listen to her explanation and left without looking back, leaving Xu Xingchen with no words to say.
Now she had no choice but to sell things for money. Fortunately, Jun Haoyue had saved some money from selling calligraphy and paintings and malt sugar.
She turned back to the house to count the belongings. After counting, she estimated that the steward only had more than eighty taels, including those from the caravan and the villagers who were clamoring for compensation...it was not enough to fill the gaps in her teeth.
She was so anxious that she was spinning around in circles, and then she thought of someone.
Xu Xingchen hurried out and came to the yard of Zhou Xiaoniang's house. He knocked a few times, but no one answered.
Could it be that he's not here? But I just passed by Zhou Xiaoniang's fields, and there was no one there.
She knocked a few more times, and the neighbor's yellow dog kept barking. After a long while, footsteps were heard.
Zhou Xiaoniang came to the door, lowered her head, and the two of them were separated by the iron gate. "Sister Xu, is there something wrong?"
"Mrs. Zhou, do you still remember the two taels of silver I lent you?"
"......Remember."
Xu Xingchen exhaled, "Today... I have an unwelcome request. I'm in trouble. Can you lend me some money?"
Zhou Xiaoniang's soft tone immediately turned cold, "I will return the two taels of silver to you right now, and we will owe each other nothing from now on."
Xu Xingchen felt disappointed when he heard this. Was the other party trying to draw a line between themselves and him?
Two little finger-sized pieces of silver rolled from the crack of the door to Xu Xingchen's feet. Xu Xingchen looked at the silver at her feet, and her eyes were sore.
"I'll return the two taels to you."
After saying that, the footsteps inside the door gradually faded away.
Xu Xingchen stuffed the change back through the crack in the door and left dejectedly.
She thought she was already friends with Zhou Xiaoniang, but it turned out that it was just her idea.
The next day, rumors spread through the village that Xu Xingchen was a jinx. They said Xu Xingchen first killed her husband and then caused a locust plague, a jinx to the core. Children even chanted the rumor around the village like a jingle.
Hearing the rumors, Xu Xingchen just curled his lips and ignored them.
She also cultivated some vegetable and fruit seeds, planning to sell them on market day in town.
The 25th, market day, arrived again. She sorted the fruits and vegetables, packed her bag, and prepared to set off.
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