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墨書 Inktalez
"Follow me."
Li Zhoule led the Wen brothers into the storage room. Wen Zixia and Wen Ziyu immediately spotted two sacks filled with seeds, particularly noticing that the openings of the bags were wide enough to clearly see the rice grains inside.
"Rice? Seeds? You actually managed to get rice seeds?" Wen Zixia and Wen Ziyu were astonished.
Wen Zixia asked, "You called us here just for the rice seeds?"
Li Zhoule nodded and pointed at a porcelain jar. "Haven't you always wondered where Li Yishu and I got so many good things? They were all granted to us by the Deity through this Fairy Treasure."
Wen Ziyu interjected, "Isn't this something Brother Li picked up from the mountains?"
Li Yishu vigorously nodded. "Deities either live in the heavens or in the mountains, so this jar must have been bestowed upon my brother by a deity."
That logic...
Yet, the other three believed it wholeheartedly.
"Are the seeds also sent by the deity?" Wen Zixia inquired.
Li Zhoule replied, "Li Yishu wrote to the deity about our difficulties with not having seeds, and the deity sent these two items to us."
Hanno handed over a note to show the Wen brothers. When they saw the words indicating an expected yield of one thousand jin per mu, they were incredibly excited, taking quite some time to calm down.
"Zhou Le, your thinking is correct. We cannot carelessly take these items out; otherwise, it will expose the existence of divine artifacts and bring trouble to you and Li Yishu."
The Wen brothers agreed with Li Zhoule's approach and also concurred not to tell Wen Zixue about the porcelain jar. Although Wen Zixue was quite sensible, she was still a child and not very discreet; it would be easy for someone with ulterior motives to pry information from her.
"What should we do? We can't just take Celestial Seeds from the Deity and not plant them," Li Yishu pouted.
"Deity?" Wen Zixia's eyes lit up. "I have an idea. Let's have the 'Deity' help us solve this problem."
Li Zhoule frowned. "We've already asked the Deity for Celestial Seeds. How can we trouble them again?"
Wen Zixia replied, "What I mean is not to ask the Deity for help, but to create an illusion that we have the Deity's assistance."
"What do you mean?" three pairs of puzzled eyes looked at her.
"Come here, let me whisper."
...
The village chief sat in his yard, troubled. Without seeds, he couldn't plant anything. If there was no harvest in autumn, how would they feed everyone? And they still owed the Li Siblings food—how could they repay that? During this time, the village chief had worried so much that his hair had turned a third gray.
"A Da, are you home?"
Looking up, the village chief saw several of the oldest villagers gathered outside his yard. He quickly stood up and invited them in. The Village Chief's Wife hurriedly brought out chairs for the elders and quickly went to brew tea for them.
"No need to fuss, A Da's wife. We'll just sit for a bit and then leave," one of the elders said, stopping her.
The Village Chief's Wife smiled but continued her work. These elders were of high status; she didn't want to appear disrespectful. Unfortunately, her two daughters-in-law had gone to work in the county with her third son, leaving her without any helpers.
"Third Uncle, you all came to see me about the seeds, right? But I really have no solution!" The village chief sighed; he truly felt helpless. Each household could only plant seeds on half of their land, leaving the other half empty, which pained him to see. But what could he do? Without seeds, how could the villagers have survived until now? They would have starved long ago!
"Third Uncle said, 'We understand your difficulties; we are here to discuss this with you.'
'Discuss what?' the village chief asked curiously.
'We have talked it over and decided that everyone should pool some money together to send a few strong individuals to buy grain seeds from another place.'
The village chief, thinking it was a good idea, felt disappointed after hearing it. 'Third Uncle, the situation in other counties is probably similar to that of Jingyang County. Even if we bring money, we might not be able to buy any seeds. Moreover, with the chaos outside, what if those who go out encounter danger and cannot return? What then?'
Another elder, Uncle Five, chimed in, 'We have also considered going near the capital to purchase seeds. The capital is under the emperor's protection and has been stable; there should be surplus seeds available for sale. Alternatively, we could head to Jiangnan; they have two harvests a year, so there must be plenty of grain and seeds there.'
The village chief wiped his face. 'Uncle Five, both the capital and Jiangnan are thousands of miles away from here. It would take at least two months for someone to go and come back. By the time they return with the seeds, we will have missed the planting season.'
Eighth Uncle spoke up, 'Even if we miss the exact time for planting, at least we can still sow something. The yield may be less, but it's better than wasting half of our land. If we leave that half of the land empty, what will everyone eat later? The output from half of our land is barely enough to pay the taxes to the court.'
The village chief furrowed his brow. Perhaps these elders had a point, but who could go out to buy rice seeds? There was no money; they could borrow some from the Li Family at the tea stall, but all the young and strong men had already been conscripted into the army. Who would be capable of taking on this task?
Just as the village chief was deep in thought, the Village Chief's Wife came out of the kitchen carrying several cups of tea. Suddenly, her face filled with shock as she nearly dropped the tray holding the teacups.
'Light! Light! There's light coming from the ancestral hall!'
The village chief and several elders looked toward the direction of the ancestral hall in confusion, their eyes widening in astonishment.
When the elders had come to see the village chief earlier, the sun had just set, and the sky had turned gray. Now, a brilliant light broke through the gloom, dazzlingly hanging above the ancestral hall.
'What is this? Have our ancestors manifested?' Third Uncle exclaimed.
The village chief steadied himself. 'Let's go check out the ancestral hall.'"
Several elderly villagers walked slowly, following the village chief to the entrance of the ancestral hall. By the time they arrived, nearly all the villagers had gathered outside, and even Scholar Guan had come with his wife. Although the books say "a scholar does not speak of strange forces or spirits," how many people in ancient times did not believe in ghosts and gods? Scholar Guan was no exception. In his view, since the light had appeared from the village's ancestral hall, it must be a sign from their ancestors, and perhaps he could benefit from it.
As the villagers gathered, the light above the ancestral hall vanished. They exchanged glances and turned to look at the village chief. With a serious expression, he stepped forward and pushed open the large doors of the hall.
Previously, Li Yishu had paid for repairs to the ancestral hall, making it far less dilapidated than when Uncle Jiang's family temporarily stayed there. The two large doors had been freshly painted red, giving them a solemn appearance. On either side of the doors hung couplets that read, "The virtues of our ancestors are renowned far and wide; may descendants be filial and wise, benefiting generations to come," which had been redone in gold paint.
Upon opening the doors to the ancestral hall, they first entered a courtyard flanked by side rooms that were once occupied by the temple priest. However, since there was no priest now, these rooms occasionally served as lodging for families in need, such as Uncle Jiang's family. At the back of the courtyard stood a grand hall dedicated to ancestor tablets, where a stone cauldron was placed for incense offerings. Due to the village's lack of funds, this cauldron was carved from stone rather than made of bronze. At this moment, two sacks were placed in front of the cauldron, with two sheets of paper covered in writing resting on top.
As soon as the village chief opened the door, he immediately spotted the sacks in front of the cauldron. Feeling a mix of anxiety about the unknown, he approached them and picked up one of the papers.
"Mr. Guan, could you please read what's written on it?"
Guan Rulin took the paper and noticed its pristine whiteness, reminiscent of clouds. He couldn't help but marvel internally at its quality; otherwise, how could such fine paper exist? He had seen some worldly things but had never encountered paper like this before. Even the county magistrate of Jingyang County had never used such paper.
Guan Rulin lowered his head and began to read aloud from the paper. The first sheet stated that their ancestors were aware of the difficulties faced by the village. To prevent their descendants from starving, they sought high-quality rice and a type of celestial seed known as Sweet Potato from deities. They sent these seeds as grain for planting and instructed their descendants to cultivate them well; these celestial seeds could yield One Thousand Jin per mu, enough to ensure that their descendants would not go hungry.
"One Thousand Jin per mu???!!!" The villagers reacted with shock similar to that of Wen Family Brothers and Li Siblings; even Scholar Guan's voice trembled.
"Guan, Scholar Guan, please read the next sheet," urged the village chief impatiently. All the villagers stared intently at Scholar Guan; they were eager to hear how to plant these celestial seeds!
"Alright." Scholar Guan quickly took up the second sheet and began reading: "Sweet Potato is a high-yielding and adaptable crop. Besides serving as a staple food source through its tubers, it is also an important raw material for food processing, starch production, and alcohol manufacturing industries. Its roots, stems, and leaves are excellent fodder... Sweet Potatoes are drought-resistant; during dry seasons, they only require minimal watering to survive... They can be propagated by cutting seedlings without wasting seeds... yielding One Thousand Jin per mu..."
"One Thousand Jin per mu?" The villagers erupted in excitement.
"Ah, I can't have misheard that!"
"No, you didn't mishear it because I heard it too."
"With a yield of one thousand jin per mu, if we only plant one mu, after paying the taxes to the court, it will be enough for our family to eat for a year."
"Will the court collect the new grain?"
"It shouldn't, right?"
"Then I'll just plant one mu of rice and one mu of sweet potato. The rice will be used to pay taxes, and we'll keep the sweet potatoes at home for ourselves."
"That's right, that's right. Haven't you heard Scholar Guan? Sweet potatoes can be propagated by cutting the seedlings and planting them directly, so there's no need to waste seeds. Truly, they are the celestial seeds bestowed by the immortals."
"So this bag of sweet potatoes is enough for everyone in our village to plant, right?"
"Definitely enough. And don't we also have high-quality rice seeds? They must be better than what we're currently planting; one mu will surely yield more than before."
"…"
"…"
Although the village chief was also very excited, as the leader of the village, he remained calmer than the ordinary villagers when faced with matters. He raised his voice to scold the villagers to be quiet and turned to Scholar Guan, saying, "Mr. Guan, please continue."
What followed was a written explanation on how to grow seedlings, how to plant them, how to cut seedlings, and several cooking methods for sweet potatoes. The villagers listened intently, afraid of missing any important details. Until Scholar Guan finished reading everything, they remained silent, unlike before when they were chattering away.
Third Uncle was the first to break the silence and said, "Alright, now that we have seeds, we don't need to send anyone out to buy more. A Da, hurry up and distribute the seeds according to plan."
The village chief replied, "The rice seeds can be distributed first, but for sweet potatoes, according to our ancestors' instructions, we should grow seedlings first before giving them out."
Uncle Five added, "Then you should arrange for a few people to grow the seedlings."
The village chief responded and assigned the three brothers, Man Jin, Man Ting, and Full Granary, to take charge of the sweet potato seedling project. These three were the most skilled farmers in the village, so everyone felt reassured with them in charge. Next, they began distributing the rice seeds. The entire sack contained only a hundred pounds of seeds, which meant each family would receive just a few pounds—barely enough to plant a small plot of land. However, the villagers were not dissatisfied; instead, they were filled with anticipation as they carefully took the rice seeds home.
The Li Family and the Wen Family had no land, so they received only a symbolic pound of rice seeds. This was due to the village chief and the villagers remembering the kindness shown to them by the Li siblings; otherwise, families without land would not have received any rice seeds at all and would only be given some sweet potato seedlings.
Li Zhoule and Wen Zixia walked out of the ancestral hall with their clothes gathered to carry the rice grains. Just a hundred meters away, Li Yishu and Wen Ziyu emerged from behind them.
"Hehe, sister, Brother Wen, we did well, didn’t we?" Li Yishu asked with a grin, seeking praise from the two.
Wen Ziyu rolled her eyes. "It’s just relying on the magical treasures given by the deities. Even if it weren’t you, Zi Jue could have done it too."
Li Yishu shot Wen Ziyu a sideways glance. "When we get home, I’ll lend you my flashlight for a bit. But you have to be careful; don’t let anyone else see it."
Wen Ziyu was satisfied with this and stopped mocking Li Yishu.
Li Zhoule and Wen Zixia exchanged smiles, thinking how their younger siblings usually acted so mature but were rare to show such childishness.
The scene at the ancestral hall was precisely what both families had planned. Earlier, Wen Zixia had led Li Yishu and Wen Ziyu to move the rice seeds and sweet potatoes into the courtyard of the ancestral hall. The so-called Ancestral Message was written by Wen Zixia on a piece of white paper, which made him and the two younger ones feel quite distressed. The light in the ancestral hall was created by a strong flashlight; this was a crucial part of their plan. The four of them had pondered for a while on how to make the ancestral hall appear mystical enough to attract the attention of everyone in the village. In the end, Li Yishu wrote a letter to Hanno, who found it amusing and sent a strong flashlight back in time to help them create an illusion. Previously, Li Yishu and Wen Ziyu had hidden in the main hall of the ancestral hall while all the villagers were captivated by the sudden appearance of rice seeds and did not notice that two people were hiding inside. After distributing the seeds, all thoughts turned to rice as the villagers happily left the ancestral hall, giving Li Yishu and Wen Ziyu an opportunity to slip out unnoticed.
Li Zhoule smiled and said, "Brother Wen, why don’t you give me your rice seeds? I’ll help you with your seedlings."
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