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墨書 Inktalez
Cui Xiaoman froze visibly. Her fingertips unconsciously traced a pattern on the bookmark—Lin Dahe recognized it as the method for purifying nitre from encrypted records. Just at that critical moment, a heart-wrenching shout came from the village entrance:
"The bandits have raided the grain cart! They ran towards the western mountains!"
The curtain of the county magistrate's sedan chair was abruptly pulled down. The Yard Officers grabbed their clubs and rushed towards the west of the village, while curious villagers followed in a frenzy. Amidst the chaos, Peddler Zhang quietly tugged at Lin Dahe's sleeve, "That Hu merchant... I saw him again at Xishan Diao..."
Lin Dahe's heart raced. The "white beard" that the Mad Old Woman had mentioned before her disappearance, Aunt Ma's T-shirt incident, and the county magistrate's strange severed finger—these fragments suddenly pieced together a vague outline in his mind. He turned to look at the experimental field; the spring breeze caressed the newly sown bean seeds, and the plant that Aunt Ma had described as "glowing green" was gently swaying.
Suddenly, the system interface unfolded automatically, and beside the icon for "Drought-resistant Wheat Seeds," a flickering chili pepper symbol slowly appeared.
A corner of the county magistrate's sedan chair curtain lifted, revealing half a face as pale as paper. The incomplete right hand clutched the collar of a T-shirt, slowly turning the printed English part towards the sunlight. Thin fingers rubbed over the letters of "Agricultural University," with old ink stains lodged beneath the fingernails.
"What is this?" The county magistrate's voice was like a dull knife scraping bamboo strips.
Lin Dahe felt beads of sweat forming on his neck; he noticed that a golden jade belt hung at the magistrate's waist, adorned with an incense ball—exactly what had been awarded to officials who had contributed to land cultivation by the court two years prior. Peddler Zhang had somehow squeezed to the front of the crowd, and water dripped from the coarse salt basket he carried on his back.
"Your Excellency, this is..." Lin Dahe's words suddenly faltered as the system interface flashed wildly: [Warning! Host heart rate detected at 120+, automatically activating "Quick Thinking" skill.]
"Western pest-repelling talisman!" he suddenly raised his voice, startling the sedan bearers into shivering. "The Persian merchant said applying this can ward off locust disasters!"
The county magistrate's eyebrows nearly shot up past his hairline. The Counselor behind him leaned in to whisper a few words; suddenly, he jabbed at a molecular structure diagram with his severed finger: "These ghostly symbols..."
"Your Excellency, please see!" Peddler Zhang slid forward on his knees, scattering coarse salt all over the ground from his bamboo basket. "I saw this when I was running ships in Nanyang! The red-haired foreigners call it... call it..." His eyes darted around before he suddenly slapped his thigh, "The locust-repelling spell! Stick it on the granary and even grasshoppers won't dare to come near!"
Taking advantage of this moment, Lin Dahe pulled out "Thousand Character Classic" from Cui Xiaoman's arms and flipped through its pages rapidly: "Look here, it's also recorded in 'Records of Customs in Western Regions.'" He pointed to where it clearly said "Heaven and Earth are Mysterious and Yellow," but forced himself to fabricate an explanation, "This talisman must be paired with crop rotation methods to be effective."
Finally, the county magistrate's sedan came to a complete stop. As he bent down to exit through the sedan door, Lin Dahe realized that this official was much shorter than he had imagined; mud still clung to the hem of his official robe—clearly indicating he had already conducted an undercover visit to the fields before arriving here.
"Show me your... crop rotation field," said the county magistrate, stumbling over that term as if his tongue were tied.
The bean seedlings in the experimental field had already sprouted three true leaves, their tender green edges gently swaying in the spring breeze. Lin Dahe crouched down to uncover some soil around their roots, revealing root nodules about the size of pearls: "Your Excellency, please see—mycorrhizal fungi from wheat stubble can benefit leguminous crops..."
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