Chapter 274: Don’t Even Think About Fooling Them
Grandma Liu was currently overjoyed. After confirming repeatedly that what Wen Yao and the others were saying wasn’t fake, she enthusiastically began introducing the situation of several nearby villages. Just as Wen Yao had said, many people in these parts raised ducks, which meant there were plenty of duck eggs. With such an abundance, they couldn’t sell them all, practically benefiting those peddlers who drove down the prices.
Grandma Liu spoke happily, “If you can trust me, I’ll help spread the word for you. I know people in several nearby villages. I’ll take them on a round later, and everyone will know about it.”
Old Madam Luo looked at Wen Yao; this was indeed a good idea.
“Yao Yao, did you bring money?” Old Madam Luo asked Wen Yao softly.
“I did, Grandma. Are you thinking…?” Wen Yao raised an eyebrow.
Old Madam Luo nodded. If they were all talk and didn’t take action, they feared the villagers might not believe them. It would be better to just collect some eggs and take them back today.
Wen Yao had brought money, but she hadn’t brought that many copper coins.
“Then should I ask Brother Xun Feng to make a trip into the city’s money exchange to swap for some copper coins?” Wen Yao asked.
Old Madam Luo waved her hand, telling her to hurry.
Wen Yao stood up and slipped outside.
Seeing this, Grandma Liu asked, “Eh, Miss Wen is…?” She thought she had asked too many questions and it annoyed her.
Old Madam Luo quickly reassured her, saying with a smile, “No, she’s having that lad at our gate go into the city to exchange for some copper coins. How about this, Sister? Go tell everyone right now that whoever has eggs can bring them over. We’ll start collecting them today.
“However, we must make it clear—we’re only collecting here today because we happen to be here. Starting tomorrow, you’ll have to deliver the eggs to Ruyun’s place.”
Grandma Liu beamed with joy. “Good, good, good! This is truly wonderful! You all take a seat while I go inform the villagers.”
Saying this, Grandma Liu happily got up and walked outside.
Seeing her leave, Old Madam Luo and Ruyun felt it inappropriate to stay in the house alone, so they moved to the courtyard instead. To get there and back as quickly as possible, Xun Feng simply unhitched the carriage and rode off on horseback to exchange the money.
Grandma Liu went door to door to spread the good news in high spirits. Many people thought she was making it up until they followed her to the Wang family home, saw the people in the courtyard, and heard Wen Yao and Old Madam Luo assure them repeatedly that they weren’t lying before happily going home to fetch their duck eggs.
Had anyone else said this, they might not have believed it, but these were Scholar Wen’s mother and daughter. What they said could certainly be trusted.
Now, the entire village grew lively, and eventually, even the village chief arrived.
Knowing that these were Scholar Wen’s mother and daughter, the village chief was deeply moved, endlessly praising Wen Xiuyi in front of Old Madam Luo as a good man who taught them how to increase crop yield, compost fertilizer, raise seedlings, select seedlings, and grow more food without holding back any secrets at all.
He had even promised them that he would return during the spring plowing to check on what they were doing wrong, and had inspected the fields of every single household, offering methods to improve the soil.
What was most important to farmers? Naturally, it was grain. Who wouldn’t want to grow more grain? Thus, Wen Xiuyi’s actions were undoubtedly a monumental act of kindness toward them.
Not only Sanyuan Village, but all the surrounding villages remembered Scholar Wen’s benevolence.
Listening to the village chief and villagers praise her son like this, Old Madam Luo’s eyes welled with slight tears.
Indeed, her eldest son now was truly wonderful.
Filial, polite, knowledgeable, and capable. His heart was with the people, focused entirely on the affairs of those few plots of land, pondering every day how to let everyone eat a few more bites of food.
Xun Feng moved very quickly; after all, riding a horse was far faster than driving a carriage.
When he returned, two large sacks were slung over his shoulders, packed to the brim with copper coins.
“I exchanged ten taels of silver. Is this enough?” Xun Feng dropped the two heavy sacks of money onto the ground with a loud clang, kicking up a cloud of dust.
This scene left the waiting villagers slack-jawed—so much money!
At the same time, everyone felt overjoyed in their hearts; it proved Scholar Wen’s mother and daughter hadn’t lied to them. From now on, they would have a place to sell their duck eggs without worrying about unsold stock.
Some were even pondering raising more ducks.
Old Madam Luo cast a glance at Xun Feng and chided fondly, “It’s so heavy, and you just carried it back like that? Aren’t you afraid of crushing yourself?”
In Old Madam Luo’s eyes, Xun Feng was still just a child.
Xun Feng scratched his head. “It’s fine. The carriage is just too slow, and I thought this was urgent.”
Old Madam Luo looked at his weighted-down shoulders with heartache but said nothing more, turning to the village chief instead: “Village Chief, then could I trouble you to have everyone line up one by one?”
The village chief repeatedly agreed and began directing everyone to form a line.
Ruyun was inspecting the eggs for the first time and felt a bit nervous. Fortunately, Wen Yao stayed beside her the entire time to assist, helping count and calculate, which eased Ruyun’s pressure significantly as she gradually grew more proficient.
A few bolder villagers even asked when they were leaving, wanting to run to their maternal villages to call their relatives over if there was still time.
Old Madam Luo glanced at the sky—they still needed to head back to cook dinner for her eldest son—and said, “It doesn’t matter if you can’t make it today. You can just deliver the eggs to the designated location later. I’ve already given the address to the village chief and Sister Liu. Rest assured, we aren’t just collecting for a day; we’re collecting long-term. As long as the eggs you bring are good, we will buy them.
“However, I must state the harsh truth upfront: if anyone is found trying to pass off bad eggs to fool us, the moment even one household is caught, we will stop collecting eggs from the entire village.”
Old Madam Luo hadn’t wanted to make harsh threats, but there were too many precedents, so she had to resort to this method. As long as they remained honest and dutiful, she naturally wouldn’t be such a cruel person.
Now, the villagers’ expressions varied. Among so many people, there were bound to be one or two holding out hope for luck, but the others, to protect their long-term livelihood from being ruined, would naturally supervise those around them.
The village chief took the opportunity to say, “Everyone still remembers Scholar Wen, who came to teach us farming before, right? He’s not just a scholar anymore; he’s a genuine official now—an official as big as the County Magistrate, specifically managing how the land is farmed!
“And this Lady Ruyun who is collecting duck eggs—do you know who her husband is? It’s Officer Ma, who accompanies Lord Wen to our village every day, someone who serves at the yamen!
“If I find out anyone dares to harbor improper thoughts and drags down our entire village, don’t blame me for being ruthless and kicking them straight out of the village!”
If anyone had previously harbored thoughts of taking chances, the village chief’s words undoubtedly put an end to them.
Nonsense, who would dare fool an official’s family? Did they want to die?
It was also thanks to the deep-seated fear that common folk held toward court officials.
The group spent several hours busy at Grandma Liu’s house, finally finishing egg collection for the entire village. A few fast runners had actually made it back to their maternal homes and carried quite a few back as well. Counting them up, they had collected over six thousand duck eggs all at once, with very few copper coins remaining from what they had exchanged.
“Alright, that’s all for today. Starting tomorrow, if you have any more duck eggs, deliver them to Ruyun’s place,” Old Madam Luo said as she looked at basket after basket of duck eggs, suddenly regretting her decision to collect them today. With so many eggs, how on earth were they going to transport them all back?
