Chapter 121: Field Affairs

Lu Yuan was riding a horse and walking on the country road.

The last time I entered Qingquan Mansion, I saw some of the common people there.

If I stay in the capital city for too long, I'm afraid I'll be recognized.

He doesn't want to be watched by the crowd.

So, I rode my horse alone, towards this country road that I didn't know which village it belonged to, breathing the fresh air.

It is the harvest season and many people are busy working in the fields.

There were many little kids and cows were also herded nearby.

While Lu Yuan was admiring the pastoral scenery, he suddenly saw a familiar figure somewhere.

He rode his horse, tied it up, and walked to the edge of the field where there was room for one foot. He looked at the busy figure with his butt sticking up, and shouted:
"General Xu, hey, how about this? Did Li Qi also allocate a few acres of land to you?"

In the field, Xu Changqing, who was cutting rice with a sickle, was stunned when he heard the sound behind him.

Then he turned his head suddenly and saw Lu Yuanhou standing at the edge of the field.

He quickly put down the sickle, wiped his muddy hands on his body, and was about to salute, but Lu Yuan stopped him with his hand and said:
"Aren't you in charge of the garrison in Linjiang County? Why are you here to cut the wheat?"

Xu Changqing hurriedly explained:

"There's really nothing that needs defense in the county town, and I was really bored, so I went out for a walk. I happened to see Aunt Ma working alone in the fields. She had nothing to do, so I came down to help."

This is the territory of the Tianxing Army. There are people stationed on the border. Xu Changqing, a peasant, doesn't understand the daily management affairs in the county.

They were all handed over to the scholars to manage.

He was idle all day and couldn't stand it any longer, so he went out for a walk. He saw an old man still working in the fields. He was familiar with this job, so he came down to help.

The two were talking.

An old woman, hunched over, carrying a bamboo basket in her hand, walked towards this side.

Although the old woman was a little hunched, she walked steadily. After looking at Xu Changqing, she bared her teeth, which had not yet fallen out, and waved at Xu Changqing:

"Xu, come here. I have something good. I'll take it back for you to replenish your body."

After saying that, he took out two eggs from the basket and handed them to Xu Changqing.

Xu Changqing quickly declined:

"Auntie, how can I feel so embarrassed? I have only worked for you for less than a quarter of an hour, how can I take two such good eggs from you?"

The old woman said somewhat unhappily:

"Who said I brought you eggs because you helped me with the work? The old hen at home laid eggs, and I couldn't finish them all by myself, so I brought them to you.

Didn't I tell you that you don't have to work? There are several strong laborers in the village who will come to help me harvest the crops after they finish their own work. I just have nothing to do and want to do more work in the fields, so I snatched the sickle from you. "

After saying that, without waiting for Xu Changqing to refuse, he stuffed the egg in his hand into Xu Changqing's pocket.

Xu Changqing tried to postpone it several times and was about to take the eggs out of his pocket. However, when he saw that the old lady looked very unhappy, he finally accepted it.

When the old woman saw Xu Changqing accept the eggs, her wrinkles on her face were squeezed together with a smile.

Seeing Lu Yuan standing next to him, he took out two white eggs from the basket and handed them to Lu Yuan, saying:
"Kid, you should take some too. These eggs are laid by our own hens. They are so fresh."

Lu Yuan was not polite to the old lady at all, and being polite was probably of no use.

He took the two eggs from the old lady and put them into his mouth directly with the shells, chewing them with a "crunch crunch" sound.

Fresh, fragrant and soft, with a little fishy smell going straight to the nose.

Lu Yuan praised with great enjoyment:

"Smells good! Really smells good!" This kind of homemade eggs is really delicious!

This land is totally different from the one in Youzhou where not even a single earthworm could be dug out.

The old hen that lays eggs must have grown fat by eating earthworms, grasshoppers and other animals all day long.

The eggs laid are really delicious.

The old woman was a little stunned when she saw the other person eating raw eggs.

After hearing the sincere praise from the other party, he became happy and said:

"You kid~".

Looking at Lu Yuan and Xu Changqing, the old woman thought of something and started to talk:

"My two children were about the same age as you when they left here. At that time, they had nothing to eat and were so thin."

Once the old man starts talking about this, generally speaking, the people around him will just back off, otherwise it will definitely go on and on.

However, Xu Changqing showed a look as if he wanted to listen, while Lu Yuan stared at the bamboo basket padded with straw that the old woman was carrying.

The old woman saw that the two men were not like those kids in the village who ran away when they heard her talk about what happened before.

The old man's face was smiling like a chrysanthemum. He took out two still warm eggs from the hay under the basket and handed them to Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan took the egg with a smile and put it into his mouth again.

The old woman looked reminiscent and said:

"At that time, the fields that were cultivated were those of the masters. More than half of them had to be handed over to the landlords, and the remaining half had to be handed over to the masters who came to the government office and the county town to collect the grain.

After a year, there was only a little left. I ate less and added some tree bark, rice cobbles and pumpkin leaves, and I could barely keep the babies alive.

But in those chaotic years, no matter how much grain they grew, they could not pay the grain that the masters demanded, and every household went hungry. Many people were so hungry that they had no strength left and starved to death at home.

When the kids eat, they bury their faces in the bowl and lick the food.

At that time, my family was out of food.

Many people took their bowls and ran to the county government office to beg for food, but at that time, the management in the county was very strict.

People from the countryside are not allowed to enter the city at all.

The young children all thought that this was not a solution, so they ran out while they still had some strength after filling their stomachs with grass, hoping to find some food in the mountains, or in other prefectures or states."

The old woman wiped away the tears that were about to fall from her eyes and said:

"My two children left home at that time. It has been more than ten years now and I don't know where they are now.

They don't know how to come back.

Life is so good now.

Ever since the soldiers from the Tianxing Army came here, every household has had land.

Those masters who collected rent and grain never came again.

No matter how much you grow, you only need to hand over a small half to the soldiers, and the rest is yours.

There were also many soldiers dressed in cloth and silk clothes who came to teach the villagers how to grow many other kinds of grains and vegetables. The harvest from the fields was much better.

Even if we hand over the grain to the soldiers, the annual harvest will be much more than the harvest from the fields in those years.

Now, there is simply too much food to eat. Many babies have been born in the village, and they are all plump.
If my two kids could come back, they would surely be as fat as them~"

(End of this chapter)