Chapter 322: Spicy Rabbit Heads, Here I Come
Listening to the conversation between the father and daughter, Magistrate Chen only reacted after quite a while, saying, “So you had ideas all along?”
Wen Xiuyi felt somewhat embarrassed. He had truly forgotten; there were simply far too many matters he had to oversee during this period.
“Ahem, ahem, as for this matter, I forgot about it for a fleeting moment as well.”
Magistrate Chen didn’t hold it against him either, merely saying, “As long as there’s a solution, that’s fine; as long as there’s a solution, that’s fine.” Had he known earlier, he would have come to find Wen Xiuyi much sooner.
The horse carriage traveled for nearly an hour before finally arriving at Shanshu Village. Looking out from afar, a continuous stretch of mountain ranges was tightly connected, and even the air was much fresher than in other places—just sitting in the carriage with the wind blowing past felt thoroughly refreshing to mind and body.
Had this not been the wrong era, this would definitely be a prime tourist destination.
Looking from a distance, the mountains were not steep; one could even spot numerous flat areas. All kinds of trees grew on the mountains—all mature trees—alongside bamboo forests.
As the old saying goes, those living near mountains live off the mountains, and those near water live off the water. Since Heaven had bestowed such a uniquely favorable terrain, it naturally brought its own advantages.
The horse carriage came to a halt at the entrance of the village, and many people spotted it, sizing them up with curiosity. Mu Li sat on the horse carriage without stepping down, calling out in a clear voice, “May I ask where the village chief’s house is?”
Startled by his posture, the villagers hurriedly pointed out a direction. Mu Li offered his thanks and drove the carriage straight toward the village chief’s house.
Behind them, those villagers watched with curiosity, and those who wanted to watch the commotion followed along, stealing glances from a distance.
Hearing the sound of the horse carriage, the village chief walked out from the house. Seeing the people stepping off the carriage outside the courtyard wall, his face changed color completely. Hurriedly instructing his family to prepare to receive guests, he ran outside himself.
“Your Lordships, why have you come?” The village chief of Shanshu Village was an old man of similar age to Old Man Wen, respectfully welcoming the two, before spotting a young girl stepping down behind them.
Wen Xiuyi looked at him and spoke up: “Village Chief Guo, I’ve heard everything from Lord Chen, so I’ve come to take a look and see if we can re-plan the industries for your village.”
Hearing this, joy surfaced on the village chief’s face, and he hastily invited the several of them into the house to sit.
Wen Xiuyi waved his hand in refusal: “Time is pressing. The other villages have all begun working, while your village is the only one still unwilling to move. We won’t go inside—lead us around to take a look instead, including up the mountain.”
Hearing these words, Village Chief Guo’s face turned somewhat awkward, and he said, “Lord, it isn’t that we are refusing to cooperate or unwilling to work. As you’ve seen, look at what was allocated to us! Other villages had arable land taking up most of their share, yet when it came to us, we were given these mountain peaks! What can be grown on these? Don’t tell me you want us to flatten these mountains?”
Wen Xiuyi cast a glance at him, finally understanding where Magistrate Chen’s headache came from. This man appeared respectful on the surface, but his every word implied that the allocation was unfair. If they wanted them to work, they had to allocate arable land to them first.
Wasn’t this simply acting rogue with them?
Unwilling to waste time in a place like this, Wen Xiuyi said directly, “Village Chief, lead the way; let’s check the situation on the mountain.”
Seeing that Wen Xiuyi proved entirely impenetrable, Village Chief Guo stole a glance at Magistrate Chen, only to discover that Magistrate Chen was merely chatting with that young girl in the back, not giving him a single glance. Feeling somewhat uncertain in his heart now, he knew that with this county magistrate, he might get the land through persistent pestering and acting rogue. However, as for this other lord, Village Chief Guo hadn’t had much contact with Wen Xiuyi and didn’t understand his temperament, leaving him momentarily unsure. He could only answer respectfully in compliance and begin leading the way out front.
Leading them on a loop around the village, he then took them up the mountain to take a look. By the time they descended from the mountain, night had already fallen, the shoes on their feet were covered entirely in mud, and their expressions were filled with exhaustion.
Taking their appearances in, Village Chief Guo began pouring out his grievances: “Your Lordships, as you’ve seen, these are all forests—we can’t grow anything here!”
Wen Xiuyi felt heartache over his daughter having to trek up the mountain all afternoon with them, yet he couldn’t leave Village Chief Guo unattended either—after all, they had come specifically to solve the problem.
“Old Village Chief, this land has already been fully allocated. The other villages were all allocated land based on their population. Furthermore, your location is quite far from the other villages; allocating land that is too far away to you would make working it inconvenient as well…”
Before Wen Xiuyi could finish his sentence, Village Chief Guo grew anxious: “Lord, you cannot be so unfair!”
Wen Xiuyi: “Old Village Chief, don’t be anxious—hear me out to the end. Although there isn’t much wasteland around your village, these few stretches of forest are a treasure trove! If properly utilized, the annual revenue will definitely not be lower than that of the other villages.”
Village Chief Guo froze: “Lord, are you speaking the truth?”
Wen Xiuyi nodded: “Of course it’s the truth. It’s just that regarding what specifically to do, I currently only have an inkling. Soon I will give you a definitive answer.
“However, Old Village Chief, we are willing to help you improve your livelihood and earn money, but you can’t make things difficult for Old Chen and me either, can you?
“The reason we established industries for each village is to promote the new high-yield crops for the good life of everyone. This promotion of new crops is the intention of the imperial court—it is His Majesty’s imperial decree! If you keep delaying like this and refuse to reclaim wasteland, ending up unable to receive the seeds for the new crops in the end, think about it—who is the one suffering a loss in the end?”
Village Chief Guo naturally knew who would suffer the loss in the end.
The court was willing to promote new crops, and once these new crops were grown, they too would be able to eat their fill. What’s more, both Magistrate Chen and Wen Xiuyi had stated that they were willing to give each village a profit-making venture to serve as the village’s collective industry, where the earned money—aside from taxes—would belong entirely to themselves for distribution.
Yet the premise of all this was that they cooperated with the court to grow the new crops.
Now, feeling that the allocated arable land was unfair, they had been dragging their feet and refusing to reclaim wasteland. If the court truly abandoned them in the end, they wouldn’t even have a place to cry when the time came.
Village Chief Guo had originally assumed they could manipulate the yamen, yet a few words from Wen Xiuyi ended up pouring cold water over him from head to toe, causing a wave of chill to rise from the soles of his feet. He didn’t dare imagine what would happen to them if they continued to cause a scene and the yamen directly removed their village from the list of production teams.
At that time, they would certainly have no industry, nor any share in the new crops, left to merely watch with open eyes as other villages ate the new crops and earned silver.
A wave of lingering fear washed over Village Chief Guo, and he made repeated guarantees that he would lead the people to reclaim wasteland tomorrow, definitely not delaying for a single extra day.
Only then did Wen Xiuyi nod in satisfaction, and seeing that the hour was late, he took his leave together with Magistrate Chen.
Having understood the stakes involved, Village Chief Guo didn’t wait until the next day either, going house to house in the dark right now to inform everyone to begin reclaiming wasteland tomorrow.
On the return horse carriage, Magistrate Chen asked Wen Xiuyi, “Do you have an idea now?”
Wen Xiuyi nodded: “You saw the situation on the mountain as well. Although it’s a mountain forest, there’s plenty of flat land on the mountain, and the slopes aren’t steep. The woods on the mountain are lush, damp and shady all year round, making it most suitable for growing all kinds of fungi. Wait until I return to think it through carefully and have them grow something.”
Wen Yao was exhausted to death. Had it not been for Magistrate Chen being on the horse carriage as well, she would definitely have collapsed right on the spot. Hearing this, she added along, “They could also be made to raise rabbits! Just taking a few loops up the mountain, I spotted several rabbits already, which shows this mountain is very suitable for rabbits to survive! Rabbit fur and rabbit meat are both wonderful things.”
Spicy rabbit heads! Ah, I want to eat them.
