Chapter 211: A Reserved Candor
“Oh, stop digging! You’re digging it wrong! You’re going to sever the roots in a moment!”
“No, I told you to weed, not to excavate the soil!”
“Stand right there! Don’t move!”
Wen Xiuyi sprinted over with a roar, salvaging a corn stalk from behind Li Fu. It already had two ears of corn hanging from it. If Li Fu stepped on and broke it, those two large ears of corn would go to waste for nothing.
“Brother, I’ll call you ‘big brother’ from now on. Can you please stop adding to the mess here?” Wen Xiuyi dragged Li Fu to the edge of the field.
This entire morning, he had done nothing but keep an eye on this big brother. This person hadn’t come to work; he had come to cause trouble.
Looking at Li Fu’s hands again, they were already red and swollen from friction. This man was simply not cut out for labor.
Li Fu had also abandoned all hope. Aware that he had caused quite a bit of trouble, he stopped struggling. He simply laid his hoe flat on the ground and sat on it like a small stool.
“Sigh, farming looks simple, but I didn’t expect so much specialized knowledge to be involved,” Li Fu said, waving his hand. Feeling the soreness in his arms, he hurriedly massaged them.
Wen Xiuyi let out a helpless sigh, sat down cross-legged on the ground right next to him, unfastened the water skin from his waist, and handed it over.
“Why on earth must you do this to yourself?” Wen Xiuyi’s tone was thoroughly filled with helplessness.
Li Fu smiled awkwardly. Wasn’t this just to make his lie look a bit more plausible? He had used this exact reason to stay behind, so he couldn’t very well sit still and do nothing.
After drinking some water, Li Fu felt himself come back to life a bit. Emulating the laborers in the fields, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and said, “You saw through me.”
Wen Xiuyi hesitated for a short moment, then looked at him and said, “Brother Li, tell me the truth. Why do you constantly want to run to my house? If there’s something you don’t understand, or want to ask, or want to investigate, just ask me directly. Doing it this way makes my heart feel very anxious.”
Since the atmosphere had reached this point, they might as well lay everything out in the open today to save everyone the trouble later. They were busy enough every day as it was; having to play mind games with him on top of that was exhausting.
If this Li Fu had truly discovered something amiss about their family, then at worst, they would just fight it out to the death.
Li Fu adjusted his clothes, sat up straight, and smiled awkwardly. “No, it’s nothing.” As a dignified Prince, if it got out that he shamelessly freeloaded at someone’s house just for a meal, how could he continue to be a Prince?
Suddenly, looking at the cornfield before him, Li Fu had a sudden flash of inspiration.
“To tell you the truth, Brother Wen, I am interested in these crops of yours.”
Wen Xiuyi cast a glance at him. As expected.
“Is Brother Li from the Ministry of Works?” Wen Xiuyi asked bluntly.
Li Fu blanked for a second. “Uh, well, I suppose you could say that.”
After a pause, he added, “The Kingdom of Annan was founded not long ago. Ever since the Grand Ancestor Emperor won the realm, although the people’s livelihood has improved slightly over the past few years, disasters still occur frequently in many places. The imperial court is also trying its best to find solutions, allocating vast amounts of grain just for disaster relief every year.
“But after many years of major warfare, the national treasury is also in a difficult position now. Sigh.”
If the national treasury is in a difficult position, our family doesn’t have money either, Wen Xiuyi thought to himself.
Li Fu smiled, looked at Wen Xiuyi, and said, “From the first time I met Brother Wen, I knew you were no ordinary man. It’s just a pity you have no interest in entering officialdom. Since that’s the case, I could only stay behind to learn more. I hope Brother Wen won’t blame me for my previous concealment.”
Since Wen Xiuyi misunderstood him to be from the Ministry of Works, he would just let him misunderstand. Either way, he hadn’t lied. He was a Prince, and this realm belonged to his imperial father. Rounding it up, it could count as his too, right?
Heh, no flaw in that logic.
Wen Xiuyi breathed a sigh of relief. “You should have said so earlier. Why put yourself in such a wretched state? You clearly don’t look like someone who knows how to do farm work. Just rest here. In the future, if there’s anything you want to ask, just ask me directly. Xun Feng saved our Datou, so you are great benefactors to our family. Even if you asked me to give all these crops to you, it would be perfectly fine.”
Li Fu didn’t think that way. He wanted to understand the yield of these items and the actual difficulty of planting them, and even wanted to obtain some seeds from Wen Xiuyi, but he had never thought of seizing them by force.
“Then I shall trouble Brother Wen for more guidance in the future. This one thanks Brother Wen on behalf of the common people under heaven.” Li Fu gave Wen Xiuyi a solemn bow.
“Don’t, don’t, don’t, sir. I am a mere commoner; I cannot bear such a courtesy from you, sir.” Wen Xiuyi hurriedly pulled him up.
Li Fu said, “Brother Wen possesses the status of a scholar. The scholars of the world are all disciples of the Emperor. Brother Wen ought to call himself a ‘student,’ not a ‘commoner.'”
The corner of Wen Xiuyi’s mouth twitched awkwardly; he just wasn’t used to it.
“What student this, commoner that… I no longer have any interest in studying now anyway. I possess nothing but the empty shell of a scholar status, and the only benefit is helping the family exempt some taxes. Besides, there’s nothing bad about being a farmer.” Wen Xiuyi laughed heartily.
Li Fu also liked the Wen family’s straightforward and refreshing personality. Just like that, the two sat in the field and began chatting, from a single stalk of weed in the ground to the state of the empire, and then to the local customs and traditions of various regions. It was fine when they weren’t chatting, but once they did, they discovered they shared so many common topics, and their views on many matters were astonishingly similar.
It was as if the two had found a lifelong bosom friend, feeling as though they could never chat enough.
When the two returned from the fields, Wen Yao also noticed that her dad’s attitude toward this man had changed.
“Dad, what’s going on? Has your revolutionary friendship advanced?” Wen Yao asked Wen Xiuyi in a low voice.
They had merely gone down to the fields together; how did they manage to cultivate feelings out of it?
Having gained another close friend, Wen Xiuyi’s mood was exceptionally good. He spoke with a beaming smile, “What absolute nonsense. That mouth of yours just lacks a filter.”
Wen Yao could visibly hear Wen Xiuyi’s happiness.
“Dad, you don’t have a problem, right?” He hasn’t been given a memory-wiping potion, has he?
Wen Xiuyi shot the girl a reproachful glare and smiled. “You, honestly… Alright, it doesn’t matter if I tell you. Your Uncle Li is indeed from the Ministry of Works. The reason he tried everything to stay at our house is purely for these high-yielding crops of ours. This man is a good official who keeps the common people in his heart. Your dad must support him. Hehe, so that everyone under heaven can eat their fill.”
Wen Yao: “…” That potion was poured in rather large amounts.
However, was this Li Fu truly from the Ministry of Works? Wen Yao always felt it was a bit strange. Shouldn’t people from the Ministry of Works all be doing physical labor? Was there a lord with such a robust physique? Furthermore, with Xun Feng’s martial arts skills, plus those four guards who delivered the pastries—could an official from the Ministry of Works afford to employ such formidable experts?
But looking at her old dad’s appearance of having found a soulmate, Wen Yao decided to swallow these doubts back into her stomach.
Anyway, Uncle Qiu had also said that this person wouldn’t harm them. Since he wouldn’t harm their family and would even provide assistance instead, then let him be a bit strange.
Just like that, three days passed. Li Yi suddenly found Wen Yao and told her that the matter had already been properly settled.
