Chapter 39: Persuading the Villagers

Ye Xin Ran suddenly understood that Li Zheng had been planning this all along.

“But if it starts raining in a few days, your plan will be ruined!” Ye Xin Ran reminded him.

“No worries. Mi Lu Mountain hasn’t been visited in years. There could be valuable things up there! It won’t be a loss!” Li Zheng replied confidently.

Ye Xin Ran couldn’t help but agree.

As they say, “live off the mountain”, with such a large mountain behind them, there’s bound to be a way to make money.

Even if the village doesn’t benefit directly, she could still find another use for it.

After finishing their business, the two of them planned to head back to the village.

As they were walking out of the side hall, the county magistrate approached them.

“Zhang Ya Suo, don’t try to fool me this time. Will you be able to pay back the money after the New Year…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the county magistrate noticed Ye Xin Ran standing beside Li Zheng.

“Ye family girl, what are you doing here?”

Qiao Zheng Shan had watched Ye Xin Ran grow up.

When Ye Xin Ran’s face was disfigured, his wife had complained to him, questioning why Lord Lu had arranged such a marriage despite the mismatch in status.

Her son, who was bright and handsome, was supposed to marry a woman who had lost her beauty, it was truly a shame.

However, Qiao Zheng Shan thought highly of Ye Xin Ran’s character and, with the words of his mentor in mind, had never thought of breaking off the engagement.

Little did he know, it wasn’t Qiao Zheng Shan’s family that had rejected Ye Xin Ran, it was Ye Xin Ran who had rejected his family.

When the marriage age came, Ye Xin Ran’s mother had suddenly announced that Ye Xin Ran had fallen for a local hunter and had already formed a relationship with him.

The Ye family felt they had wronged the county magistrate’s family and, in order to fulfill the engagement, agreed to marry their youngest daughter to him.

The magistrate and his son had accepted this, so there was no further inquiry.

But now, seeing Ye Xin Ran in front of him, Qiao Zheng Shan couldn’t help but wonder: Did Ye Xin Ran think that his son was less than a mere hunter?

This question, however, was too difficult to ask aloud, so he simply said, “Ye family girl, are you doing well?”

Unexpectedly, Ye Xin Ran’s eyes turned red when she heard the question.

“Uncle Qiao, when my parents forced me to remarry someone else, they were truly heartless towards me!”

In just one short sentence, Ye Xin Ran didn’t say whether her life was good or not, nor did she explain why she had called off the engagement, but left Qiao Zheng Shan with much to think about.

So Ye Xin Ran hadn’t remarried willingly. What could be the reason behind this?

Could there be some hidden truth in all of this?

Seeing the hesitation in the county magistrate’s eyes, Ye Xin Ran knew her goal had been achieved. She pulled Li Zheng and said to the magistrate, “Uncle Qiao, we must be leaving now. Otherwise, we won’t make it back to the village in time.”

Li Zheng followed her out, having learned a lot from the brief exchange.

He had thought Ye Xin Ran had been willing to marry Xiao Huai’an, but now he realized she was still thinking about the past.

“Sigh!” Li Zheng let out a long sigh.

Turning to look at Ye Xin Ran, he was surprised to see her eyebrows raised, her lips curved into a smile, looking as if she were in high spirits, completely different from her previous melancholic expression.

“Ye Madam, what’s got you so happy?”

Wasn’t she just upset a moment ago?

“Well, we bought Mi Lu Mountain, doesn’t that make us happy?” Ye Xin Ran smiled as she looked at Li Zheng.

“No, I just don’t understand. Weren’t you just crying… I’m not trying to meddle, but now that you’re married, it’s best to avoid talking about the past with those old acquaintances,” Li Zheng said, unsure of how to proceed.

Ye Xin Ran understood that Li Zheng had misunderstood, so she explained, “Uncle Li Zheng, it’s not that I can’t forget the past. What I said earlier was just to give my parents a hard time. They treated me so cruelly, so I should at least return the favor in some way.”

At his age, Li Zheng should have understood the meaning behind her words.

So, she was trying to use the county magistrate’s influence to get back at her parents!

This girl has a lot of tricks up her sleeve, she’s definitely someone you can’t offend in the future!

As they were talking, the two had already found Niu Er’s ox cart. Ye Xin Ran told Li Zheng to wait for her while she went to buy some pork, a rooster, and a hen. Then, she got into the cart to head back.

Looking at the chickens that Ye Xin Ran had bought, Li Zheng’s doubts decreased a little.

In the village, people raise hens for eggs, and they don’t usually like to raise roosters unless it’s to hatch chicks.

Since Huai’an’s wife bought a rooster, it seemed she was preparing to hatch chicks. It looked like they were planning to live a good life!

When they arrived back at the village, a crowd was already waiting at the village entrance.

Some people had already heard the news and knew that Li Zheng was going to buy Mi Lu Mountain.

Now, everyone was anxiously waiting for the result, wondering if Li Zheng had bought the mountain.

As soon as they saw the ox cart, the crowd rushed forward, forcing Niu Er to stop the cart.

“Li Zheng, did you really buy Mi Lu Mountain? How could our village afford it?”

“Uncle Li Zheng, buying Mi Lu Mountain must have cost quite a bit, wouldn’t it be better to share the money among everyone so that we all have money to buy food?”

“Uncle Li Zheng, the river’s dry again today, if this keeps up, my family won’t have any harvest this year. How are we supposed to live?”

Hearing the voices rising in the crowd, Li Zheng waved his hand and stood up from the cart.

“Why are you all so anxious? We can wait until I get home to tell you the details.”

“But since you’re all here, let me tell you one by one.”

He looked around and continued:

“I did buy Mi Lu Mountain, it cost 200 taels of silver, but I still owe the county government 300 taels.”

“Ah?” The crowd gasped in surprise.

“200 taels of silver!?”

“While it may seem like a lot of money, think about it, our village has over three hundred households. If we divide the 200 taels of silver, how much will each family get?”

“I don’t know how to figure that out, does Er Zhu know?” Da Zhu whispered.

“I don’t know! I can only do math with up to ten big coins.”

“Well, I’m better than you, I can do twelve big coins worth!” someone replied.

Seeing that no one answered, Li Zheng spoke up himself: “I’ve figured it out. If we divide it among each household, each one will get only a little over 600 wen. Think about it, how much rice can you buy with that? How long will that last your family?”

“That won’t buy much, a dou of rice costs 23 wen now!”

“It’s not much, but it will last a while. What good is buying a mountain?”

The crowd continued to whisper amongst themselves.

Li Zheng went on: “The river’s water will soon dry up, the rice fields are about to lose their water supply. If we can’t find a new water source now, how much money will you all lose this year? Have you all thought about that?”

“Uncle Li Zheng!” A voice from the crowd called out. It was Er Wang’s father.

“I heard from Er Wang that he found a water source on the mountain, but Mi Lu Mountain is so far away, how will we bring the water down here? We’ve never seen water flow down from that mountain. By the time it reaches the bottom, it’s gone. How could it possibly be enough for us?”