Joe's Farming

"Sir, there is a letter from the King of Qi for you. Do you want to intercept it?"

In the post house on the Qingzhou provincial road, Ji Shun asked Ji Wanning for his opinion.

Ji Wanning raised his hand: "Intercept."

Since everyone else is here, there's nothing wrong with checking it out in advance.

Ji Shun handed the letter over with both hands.

The letter was sent by the secret guards of the King of Qi. After tracking to Qingfeng Village, they sent one person to seek help from the local inspector. At the same time, they wrote two letters to the capital, one to the emperor and one to Ji Wanning.

Ji Shun saw Ji Wanning's face turn ugly after she opened the letter.

He asked hurriedly, "Sir, what's wrong?"

Ji Wanning threw the letter to him and said angrily, "Gu Xueqing, you idiot, has found yourself in a bandit's den!"

After saying that, he took his sword and walked out.

Ji Shun chased after him: "My lord! My lord! Calm down, you don't want to go alone to save His Highness, do you?"

Ji Wanning threw his token to him.

"Go call someone, I'll go first."

Ji Shun: "Hey! Sir, please wait for me..."

Ji Wanning mounted the horse swiftly, squeezed his long legs, and rode away.

Ji Shun: "Wait for me, hey."

-

Hearing that Li Daniu brought back a fat sheep, the real bandit leader came to take a look.

The bandit leader was called Wang Daji, he looked to be about thirty years old, tall and thin, his face looked contrary to his name, and he looked a bit miserable.

Wang Daji asked the King of Qi with a smile: "I heard that you are going to write a letter to your family and ask them to send money over?"

The King of Qi nodded.

"Then how do I know that you are not stalling for time so that the government can arrest us?"

The King of Qi thought that this was a trick to trick him.

His behavior at that time did seem like he was asking to be kidnapped. Being suspected only showed that this bandit leader was a normal person.

"Well, I'm alive and well, why would I risk my life to come here? Your brother said he would bury me if you don't give me money, so I naturally want to spend money to avoid disaster.

My family is not short of money. As long as you don't hurt me, I can send you a letter and the money will come. Isn't that a happy ending for everyone?

Besides, I don’t even know where your place is, how can I let the government know?”

"Yes, as long as your family can send me some money. I promise to send you and your servants out safely."

Wang Daji couldn't see through the King of Qi, but he also felt that he didn't look like a government official. The smell of him being ignorant of the sufferings of the world was too strong, so he temporarily believed that he was just a naive rich young man.

"Okay, then bring me some paper and pen, and I'll write the letter now. This place is too dirty, and I want to go home. By the way, how much silver do you want?"

King Qi asked.

Wang Daji said seriously: "How much do you think your family can afford to buy your life?"

The King of Qi touched his chin and said seriously, "At least one thousand taels of gold."

Gu Xi was almost made to laugh by the King of Qi, and she tried hard to purse her lips.

Wang Daji couldn't believe it: "What?!"

Gu Xi reminded: "One thousand taels of gold, ten thousand taels of silver, no, according to the current gold price, twelve thousand taels of silver!"

Wang Daji immediately shouted outside: "Daniu! Bring me paper and pen! Quick!"

Suifeng was secretly complaining that the prince was a golden branch and jade leaf, how could he buy it with only 10,000 taels. If Lord Ji came, he would probably pay 20,000 taels.

At this time, neither he nor the King of Qi knew that Lord Ji was already on the way.

-

Ueda Village.

As soon as Qiao Yu arrived in the village, he found that the water level in the reservoir had dropped sharply.

When we got home, we confirmed that the drought during this period had become even more severe.

The joy of just returning home was quickly defeated by what to do with the upcoming autumn harvest.

But the joy of the children cannot be defeated.

The sea urchin was still alive, and Qiao Xing took one for the old man to taste.

As for the remaining ones, Wen Ge'er and Li Xin got one, and Gu Gang and Hong Xiu got two.

There were also coconuts, snake fruits and other fruits from Nanyang, and Qiao Yu asked the children to deliver them to each family.

The twenty-one pepper seedlings were all placed in pots under the grape vines in the yard and will be transplanted next year.

Li Xin received the sea urchin and happily shared it with Ling Lie, then went to find his brother under the scorching sun.

"Brother, if we don't catch the fish in the lotus pond soon, they will all die!"

Li Xin shouted as soon as he entered the yard.

Ling Lie quickly followed suit: "I've already sold half of it."

Qiao Yu didn't care: "Then sell the rest as well."

Li Xin was sharp-eyed. Seeing the pots of pepper seedlings, he asked curiously, "What's this? What good stuff did you buy?"

Qiao Yu pointed to the one with fruit and said, "Can you take a closer look?"

Li Xin said excitedly: "Oh my god! Brother, is this Sichuan pepper?"

He touched it, smelled it, and finally said with certainty: "This is Sichuan pepper! Oh my god, I was just craving for Sichuan pepper chicken wings. Ling Lie, I can eat Sichuan pepper chicken wings now!"

Ling Lie leaned forward to smell it and found that the numbing smell of the peppercorns was slightly different from that of the red ones.

He is a cook, and after smelling it, many recipes suitable for this smell come to his mind.

"Well, I'll do it for you."

Gu Feng reminded: "This fruit tree cannot be moved. Qiaoer bought a few baskets of fresh ones and they should be shipped back soon. You can use them freely when the time comes."

Li Xin nodded frantically: "How many baskets? Great! We can arrange for Sichuan pepper fish, Sichuan pepper duck, and Sichuan pepper rabbit!"

Qiao Yu knocked on his head: "You only know how to eat. Tell me quickly, has anything big happened in the few days we were away?"

Li Xin sat obediently on the chair prepared for him and began to report what had happened in the villa during this period.

Not only did it not rain and the water level dropped, but the potatoes in the field also turned yellow prematurely.

Everyone has almost harvested the beans on the mountain.

If we don’t pick the wild grapes, they will dry up, so we picked them all.

Qiao Yu nodded: "Let's dig the potatoes in advance. The more we can harvest, the better."

Buckwheat and rice will have to be harvested in another half a month, and by then there will probably be no water left.

"Xiaoyu said that the cows and sheep have become much thinner and don't want to mate anymore."

"It's okay, just keep it for now. Even if we can pair it up, we can't afford to raise it now."

"Uh-huh."

Qiao Yu asked Ling Lie: "How is business in the store?"

Ling Lie said awkwardly, "It's never been this bad. The weather is too hot, and the water can't be used like before. Many guests don't want to come."

Qiao Yu asked: "Is the water no longer available as before?"

"Yes. Now everyone is planning their water use. They just wipe their bodies every day, otherwise they won't be able to save water for guests' baths."

Qiao Yu didn't expect that there were two wells in the villa, it was already so difficult.

"Then starting tomorrow, the villa will not accept overnight guests. During this special period, everyone should be patient. We must use our water wisely."

The drought also affected Wang Daji's newly established village.

Qingfeng Village was originally located on a mountain with a relatively high terrain.

It was only because there was a well in the village that they chose to stay when they fled.

It’s just that there were only a few of them at the beginning, but now after more than half a month, their numbers are increasing.

The water is a bit insufficient.