nashuaworldcup Chapter 238 Lifesaving Food
Chapter 238 Lifesaving Food
"Uh, why hasn't General Su left yet?" Ye Yuwu knew that Su Wangyan was very busy during the few days she had been at the general's mansion, and he was almost always at the military camp from early morning to late at night.
"What? Can't this general stand here?"
"No, no," Ye Yuwu said with a forced smile.
As darkness fell, the group decided to pack up and head home.
Su Wangyan naturally wanted to protect Ye Yuwu and the Minister of Agriculture as they returned to their residence. Fortunately, the government office was not far from the general's residence, so the group decided to walk back.
They walked in silence, with Su Wangyan at the front. He had a cool and aloof demeanor. Ye Yuwu noticed the first time she saw him that he always looked at people with his eyes half-closed, and there was always a faint sense of distance in the corners of his eyes, making him truly unfathomable.
"General Su hates me?" Ye Yuwu's lips parted slightly as she suddenly walked to his side and uttered these words.
"How do you know?" Su Wangyan glanced at her slightly.
"From the very first moment I met you, I could sense your attitude towards me..."
“At first, I did dislike the officials from Bianjing, but it wasn’t just you. The officials from Bianjing are arrogant and rude, looking down on everyone. Every time they come, I have to give them a grand welcome, which I’m already tired of. These people from Bianjing are complacent and don’t understand the hardships of the border. But you are different from them.” Su Wangyan didn’t look at her, but instead walked intently along the muddy road with his hands behind his back.
Ye Yuwu felt a mix of emotions. She said softly, "Perhaps we are not so different from them."
Ye Yuwu knew she wouldn't be staying here for long, and that's why she felt a little sad when she heard his words.
Su Wangyan didn't know if he had heard her words, but he suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
“My Su family has been stationed at the border for many years. How could we not see these problems? It’s just that these problems are difficult to solve, and the people of Bianjing have always pretended not to see them. This time it’s not just about refugees. Haven’t you noticed that there are fewer and fewer people at the border?”
Ye Yuwu remained silent, and Su Wangyan did not expect her to answer.
"The border region is harsh, and nothing can be grown on the land. Some people are forced to seek other ways to make a living and go to other prefectures to live. This is understandable. That's why a lot of unclaimed land has been left behind, and the local government doesn't know what to do with it."
The soldiers stationed at the border still need to eat, so the military camps have to coordinate these lands together, occasionally organizing the soldiers to farm together, but that means sacrificing a lot of training time.
At this moment, Ye Yuwu felt as if she could almost touch this man.
"I understand. Don't worry, General Su, I will definitely make the border better, at least until I leave!"
Su Wangyan felt a sense of relief, just as Ye Yuwu had guessed. Su Wangyan knew that she would have to leave sooner or later.
Actually, it's nothing. Many officials who came from Bianjing have left here, and Ye Yuwu won't be the last. But she and the Minister of Agriculture are the only ones willing to change the border situation.
Actually, when they brought up these ideas yesterday, although he remained silent, his opinion of them had already changed.
Ye Yuwu will leave this place sooner or later, but he still wants them to stay a little longer, at least to make this place a little better, so that he can have face when he sees his father and brothers in the afterlife.
"Lord Ye," he suddenly called out to her.
"Hmm?" She looked at Su Wangyan, who was a shoulder taller than her, with a puzzled expression.
He chuckled softly, a smile appearing in his dark eyes, before saying in a deep voice, "It's nothing."
Ye Yuwu: ?
What are you laughing at?
"Oh……"
A man's heart is truly unfathomable.
Back in her room, Ye Yuwu yelled, "Su Wangyan!"
That wretched man! I knew he was laughing! Turns out, she'd gotten ink on her face sometime during the night, and he'd drawn a stroke of the character "八" below her nose, like a mustache, half a mustache!
Hua Ping apologized, "I'm sorry, young lady. I was sitting for a whole day registering my household, and I was so dizzy from sitting that I didn't see the ink on your face in the dim light of the night!"
A basin of warm water filled with copper was placed in Ye Yuwu's room, and she was wiping the ink off her face.
She guessed that during the chaotic registration process earlier, someone must have accidentally pushed her and spilled ink on her face.
Su Wangyan, being a martial artist, naturally had better eyesight than ordinary people. On the way back to the manor, he must have seen her at a glance. He chatted with her all the way without telling her, and even chuckled to himself. She was wondering how he suddenly noticed, but now she realized it was because of that!
No wonder the servants kept staring at her face when she returned to the manor!
She felt incredibly embarrassed!
"Su Wangyan! I... I will never speak to you again!"
Ye Yuwu was furious! She wanted nothing more than to rush into his room and yell at him, but it was already late, and it wasn't appropriate for a woman to barge into a man's room.
So she endured it.
Ye Yuwu said she would ignore him, and she really did. The next day, she left the mansion early, even earlier than Su Wangyan.
Ye Yuwu wasn't throwing a tantrum when she left the manor; she was going to work at the government office.
They spent two days finally registering the population and tidying up the fields, fearing that anyone might slip through the net. Ye Yuwu went to the village with the government officials to verify the information.
Finally, they found no oversights and then allocated the land to each household according to the number of people in the family.
Then the potatoes were given to each village chief so that they could distribute them to each household for planting.
Before distributing potatoes to the village chief, Ye Yuwu gathered the villagers together and explained to them how to plant the potatoes and what they should do in the early and middle stages.
These people, who originally just wanted to pretend to be there with pens and paper, were surprised to hear Ye Yuwu say that the potatoes had a high yield, were easy to grow, and tasted good no matter how they were cooked.
They abandoned their laziness, sat up straight, and listened intently to what Ye Yuwu said, afraid of missing a single word.
"If this is true, it's life-saving food!"
Food was scarce at the border. Most border residents, even those who grew crops, could only eat one meal a day and were barely full. Those who remained wanted to go to other prefectures, but because they lacked travel permits and the imperial court refused to allow them to leave, they kept their household registrations tightly under wraps.
They had no choice but to fight tooth and nail for survival on this land. They never imagined that they would be able to acquire so much land and good seeds in their lifetime!
They felt that these potatoes were a lifesaver, so even though the village chiefs were so excited that they could barely hold hands, they had to write them down word for word, because the farmers in the village would have to rely on these notes to grow the potatoes well!
"This year, the government will only accept potatoes, distributing 15 shi (a unit of dry measure) to each household. In the end, the government will only accept 150 shi of potatoes from each household."