Chapter 247 – The Road to High Office 47

Chapter 247 - The Road to High Office 47

"It's awfully cold out, come and warm yourselves by the fire in the kitchen." Old Man Wang leaned on his cane, holding an oil-paper umbrella as he led the way, while Xu Zeping and his three companions followed slowly behind.

Xu Zeping looked at the small yard. Although it was small, it was very clean.

Stacks of firewood were piled neatly outside the kitchen, and thin wisps of smoke rose from the chimney into the darkening sky.

"Old man, who is it?" An old woman wearing a tattered jacket peeked out from the kitchen. Seeing Old Man Wang with four young men, she shrank back in fear and hid again.

"My old lady had some bad experiences when she was young," Old Man Wang pushed open the half-closed kitchen door and stepped inside first.

Hearing this, Xu Zeping thought for a moment. Bad experiences?

The four of them then took off their straw rain capes and followed Old Man Wang into the kitchen.

Old Man Wang sat by the stove tending the fire, while Old Lady Wang silently chopped potatoes, cutting three of them in half and placing them in a steamer.

Xu Zeping and his three companions grabbed stools and gathered around the stove to warm up, positioning Old Man Wang, who was tending the fire, at the center.

Potatoes are a staple that can produce a lot. In theory, as long as the seedlings were well-tended, there shouldn't be any cases of starvation in Xiaoman Town.

With his good eyesight, Xu Zeping took a quick glance at the halved potatoes Old Lady Wang had chopped. Hmm, they were tiny—about the size of a baby's fist.

"Old sir, will the firewood outside the kitchen be enough for you to get through the winter?" Xu Zeping used his charming appearance to his advantage, flashing a smile that elders would find endearing.

"That firewood?" It's said that one shouldn't hit someone with a smiling face, and seeing Xu Zeping's obedient smile, Old Man Wang couldn't bring himself to be cold: "Nowhere near enough, son. It gets brutally cold here. By October, the temperature plummets, and the water in the jars freezes solid."

"The temperature plummets after October?" Xu Zeping, having read the records, naturally knew the situation in Lingbei. Normally, it starts to get cold in early or mid-September, and by October, the temperature drops dramatically, only starting to warm up again in March or April of the following year.

This kind of climate meant that rice could only be seeded in May and transplanted in June, with the harvest taking place in July and August.

Playing dumb, Xu Zeping asked, "So, you don't have enough food?"

At the mention of food, Old Man Wang grew quiet, lighting his pipe and taking a long drag before exhaling. "Kid, you're not from the northern regions, are you?"

"Yes, old sir," Xu Zeping said with an honest smile, "I'm from the south and very curious about the north. So, I invited a few brothers to come out for a stroll, only to get lost."

"The south is good."

Talking about the south reminded Old Man Wang of what the village chief had said about the south having plenty of food. If he had the chance, he'd like to visit the south too.

"When I was younger, the summers here were wet enough, and we could get by on potatoes mixed with some porridge."

Just as Xu Zeping thought Old Man Wang was done, he took another puff of his pipe and said quietly, "In recent years, for some reason, it hasn't rained in the summer, and with insufficient rainfall, the potato harvest has been poor, so there's not enough food to eat."

Because of Lingbei’s climate, potatoes and rice are planted one after the other, with their planting times close together.

Bean seedlings in late May, rice in early to mid-June.

With insufficient rain in the summer, the focus shifts to rice, causing many bean seedlings to wither from drought.

Those that survive don't yield well.

The potatoes are not only few but also small.

After hearing Old Man Wang out, Xu Zeping had a general understanding of the situation here.

"Kid, have something warm to eat," said Old Mrs. Wang, who had fetched six porcelain bowls and ladled some thin rice porridge into each one.

Old Man Wang handed the bowls to each of them, starting with Xu Zeping, who had initiated the conversation.

Xu Zeping hesitated at the watery porridge but accepted the bowl from Old Man Wang with a nod. "Thank you, Uncle."

After distributing the porridge, Old Man Wang took out the halved potatoes from the steamer and gave half to each of them.

Xu Zeping held the porridge in his left hand and the half potato in his right, feeling warm inside.

"Eat up, kid," said Old Man Wang, sipping the hot porridge. "It's cold outside, so having some warm food will help you stay warm."

To be honest, in the more than ten years he had been in the Great Jing Dynasty, apart from the hard-to-swallow steamed buns during the imperial examinations, this was his simplest meal.

But as he drank the porridge with very few grains of rice, his eyes welled up.

Taking a bite of the potato, the sandy, starchy texture was surprisingly tasty.

Because Old Man Wang had pointed out Xu Zeping's identity as a Southerner, to better align with the facts, Chen Ling and the other two remained silent.

As lower-level officials, they understood the hardships of the common folk.

They knew even better what these few potatoes represented.

Hearing the rain pounding outside, Old Man Wang said, "It looks like the heavy rain tonight won't stop. Kids, you can stay at my place for the night."

"Thank you, Uncle."

"Soaking your feet in hot water before bed will help you stay warm. Kids, make sure to soak your feet," said Old Man Wang, sending Old Mrs. Wang to find basins for washing and foot soaking. Noticing the elderly woman's shaky gait, Xu Zeping quickly offered, "Uncle, just tell us where they are. We'll fetch them ourselves."

Chen Ling, exhausted from the day, couldn't stop yawning and was about to fall asleep. Seeing this, Xu Zeping asked Officer Zhou to take him to sleep.

Feeling relatively alert, Xu Zeping lingered by the stove, soaking up the lingering warmth while chatting with Old Man Wang about village life.

From Old Man Wang, Xu Zeping learned about his family and the village's circumstances. Old Man Wang had three children. The eldest didn't grow up and died at the age of three from illness. The second child was a daughter, and the youngest was a son.

To afford a bride for the youngest, they had to sell off their second child.

After the youngest married, the couple would farm at home during the farming season but otherwise went to town to make a living with his wife.

Old Man Wang's son worked as a waiter in town, and his son's wife did laundry for others.

Most of the households in their small Wang village were in similar situations. They would only return for the New Year when they couldn't find any work.

Little Wang Village had around 300 residents across roughly 70 households, making it a modest-sized community.

"Uncle, can we take a look at your fields tomorrow?" Xu Zeping said with a smile. "I'm really curious about the fields up north. When I was in the South, I heard that you have black soil here, which is extremely fertile."

"Haha, where did you hear about this black soil?" Old Man Wang laughed heartily. "If we really had such fertile soil, would we still be struggling to get enough food? But it's fine if you want to take a look."

At quarter to six the next morning, Xu Zeping reluctantly left his warm bed. He glanced at Chen Ling, who was still sound asleep, stretched, and opened the door, heading to the privy to relieve himself.

The small courtyard of Old Man Wang wasn’t large. Besides the kitchen, there were only three rooms for sleeping. Old Man Wang and his wife shared one room, while their son and daughter-in-law occupied another. Naturally, Xu Zeping and his three companions weren't so inconsiderate, so the four of them squeezed into the back auxiliary room.

"Sir, you're up?" Officer Zhou greeted Xu Zeping in a lowered voice when he saw him coming out of the privy.

"Yes, I’m going to stroll around with Old Man Wang later. There’s no need to wake Chen Ling," Xu Zeping informed Zhou Qiang of his plan. "After we return and have breakfast, we’ll head to the next village."

"Yes, sir!"

"Also, remember to place some loose silver coins under the pillow."

Xu Zeping was aware that life was tough for Officer Zhou and the others, so before they set off, he had already instructed that any official expenses, as long as reasonable, could be reimbursed upon return.

When Chen Ling woke up, it was already late morning. He stretched lazily, scratched his head, and walked out the door. He saw Officer Zhou chopping firewood for Old Woman Wang and yawned, "Brother Zhou, where’s Sir?"

Hearing Chen Ling’s accent, Old Woman Wang’s hands froze for a moment while carrying the firewood, but she quickly recovered and continued to move the chopped wood to the pile as if nothing had happened.

Zhou Qiang, being a martial artist with sharp eyes, had also noticed Old Woman Wang’s unease. He turned his head and glared at Chen Ling.

Only then did Chen Ling realize, and he awkwardly rubbed his palms together before walking to the kitchen to wash his face.

As for Xu Zeping, he followed Old Man Wang on a stroll from the village entrance to the back mountain at the village’s edge. Looking at the terraced fields on the mountain, he pretty much understood the problem.

Lingbei County wasn’t the plain he had imagined. The climate here was similar to the northeast of Blue Star, but the terrain resembled the hill regions of Guangxi...

The terraced fields, like dragon spines, were beautiful.

But beauty couldn’t fill stomachs. In summer, if there was a drought, they could only rely on manpower to carry water from the river in front of the village to irrigate the seedlings in the terraced fields.

Xu Zeping looked at the land level with the terraced fields and saw the same situation.

So, to solve this problem, the first step was to dig a channel to bring water to the back hill of the village and build a water-driven waterwheel for irrigation.

Digging the channel was manageable. Xu Zeping had worked on shipbuilding with Mr. Cen and had some exposure to water conservancy. As long as he had a layout of Little Wang Village, he could design an appropriate irrigation channel.

The main challenge was the water-driven waterwheel. Xu Zeping had only seen one before and would need to figure out the specific details.

Xu Zeping had already understood the issues and solutions for Little Wang Village. However, when he returned to Old Man Wang’s house and wanted to write them down, he realized he hadn’t brought any pen and paper.

Well, that was indeed an embarrassing problem.

For the first time, Xu Zeping silently berated himself for such a basic oversight.

In the end, they divided into two teams. Xu Zeping and Zeng the Constable headed to the next village, while Chen Ling and Officer Zhou returned to the town to get writing materials.

After Xu Zeping and the others left, as Old Woman Wang was tidying the bed, she felt a corner of loose silver.

She trembled as she picked up the silver and recounted to Old Man Wang how Chen Ling had called someone "Sir" that morning.

Old Man Wang’s hand holding the tobacco pipe trembled slightly. Could they be about to meet a good official?