Union

Chapter 92 Raising Pearls?

Yunying felt a little embarrassed; she seemed to have said something wrong and ruined the pleasant atmosphere.

Fortunately, someone soon came over and helped Yunying out of the predicament.

"Sir, is it really you who has come to our village? Sir, please come in and have a seat. We have tea and pastries. Please rest for a while."

The visitor was none other than the village head of Houtang Village.

Of course, Yunying didn't recognize this person. She only heard the young man behind the old man anxiously calling out, "Lord Village Head, please slow down. Your legs aren't good, don't fall again."

It was from this sentence that Yunying realized that the unassuming old man before her, with a face full of pockmarks, thin and frail, and seemingly lame in one leg, was the village head of Houtang Village. He was also the very shrewd man who had proposed the artificial cultivation of pearls.

Yunying couldn't help but take a few more glances, thinking to herself, "You really can't judge a book by its cover."

The village head of Houtang Village was named Wang He, an elderly man around sixty years old. But because of the hardships of life, he looked to be seventy. He was truly frail and aged, as if he were about to step into his coffin.

But Wang He was in good spirits. When he saw the Second Master, he spoke loudly, even a little off-key.

He earnestly invited the Second Master to come home with him for a chat and a cup of tea, but the Second Master naturally declined.

Wang He wanted to persuade him further, but Second Master spoke first, "I came to check the water quality of Crescent Moon Pond. You said before the New Year that you wanted to use this pond to raise pearls. Is Crescent Moon Pond suitable? Have you figured out the specific conditions for pearl farming? I didn't ask about the details at the time, so I need you to tell me in detail now."

Wang He was greatly encouraged, and his eyes shone with excitement.

He had mentioned this matter to the magistrate at the banquet for the elderly, but three months had passed and the magistrate hadn't inquired about the details. He assumed this was a rejection, that the magistrate didn't approve of this far-fetched proposal. Little did he expect that today, the magistrate would specifically take time out of his busy schedule to come and see him, just to understand the feasibility of artificial pearl cultivation.

This made Wang He extremely happy.

But here's the problem: the idea of ​​pearl farming wasn't his idea.

Wang He's predicament did not escape the Second Master's notice.

The second master raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you're having trouble saying?"

Wang He said, "Your Excellency, the magistrate, is wise."

Then he explained the situation in this way.

It turns out that the idea of ​​artificial breeding came from a family surnamed Lu who had come to Houtang Village to escape disaster earlier.

"That family came from Houtang Village, where they fled during the war."

The head of the family seemed to be quite knowledgeable, very refined and dignified, and even literate.

He was accompanied by a heavily pregnant woman and two twin boys, aged five or six.

The woman was about to give birth, and one of her twins ate something she shouldn't have, leaving her extremely weak and debilitated. The family was also unlucky, as they encountered a wild beast in the mountains. Fortunately, the man was strong and had a knife with him, but although they eventually drove the beast away, he suffered a gash in his thigh.

It was only because Wang He's father, who was the village head of Houtang Village at the time, was kind-hearted that he quickly had them carried to the village and sent someone to the county town to ask a doctor to treat them; otherwise, several members of the family might have died.

"The one who told me about pearl farming is Mr. Lu. He's quite educated and now teaches children to read in Houtang Village. Sir, to be honest, this isn't the first time I've talked to the officials in the county about pearl farming, but they've always thought I was joking. It's been ten or eight years, and now when I brought it up again, I was just asking out of habit. Who knew you'd actually take it to heart? But I'm not entirely sure what the specific conditions are for pearl farming, so I'd like to ask Mr. Lu to come and explain it to you."

Upon hearing this, the Second Master's eyes showed a thoughtful expression, and even Yun Ying couldn't help but ponder deeply.

An outsider, an outsider who knows how to cultivate pearls—is this Mr. Lu really just an ordinary refugee?

I have many doubts and thoughts, but it's not convenient to bring them up at this time.

The second master simply said, "Then please ask Mr. Lu to come over."

As soon as he finished speaking, Second Master saw Yunying raise her arm to shield her eyes from the sun, and he immediately changed his tone, "Let's go back to the village with you."

Wang He hurriedly said, "Alright, alright, this way, magistrate. Please come to my humble abode for a seat."

The young man who had been running behind Wang He earlier, the same young man who recognized the Second Master at first glance, now took off running towards the village.

This young man is clever and perceptive, but unwilling to work diligently in the fields. It's just that he's a bit lazy, but he's never done anything dishonest or thieving, otherwise he'd be considered a good-for-nothing.

It was this young man who had gone to the county town to join in the fun and watch the Second Master preside over a trial, which gave him a vague impression of the magistrate's appearance.

He felt that the distinguished person who had come to Wanyuetang was more likely the county magistrate, so he summoned the village head. And indeed, it was the county magistrate.

The young man sped back to the village and rushed to Mr. Lu's house. He shouted, "Mr. Lu, hurry, hurry, go to the village head's house. The county magistrate wants to talk to you about pearl farming." Mr. Lu's house was no different from the houses of the surrounding villagers. It was a thatched hut. Because he had two sons and a daughter, there were three thatched huts and a simple kitchen.

This small courtyard was as simple as the courtyards of the surrounding neighborhoods, but it was exceptionally clean. The thatched roof was laid out neatly, the mud brick walls were square and upright, vegetables were growing in the yard, and two fruit trees were planted in the corner of the wall. A clothesline was strung up from the fruit trees, and clean clothes were hanging on it, fluttering in the wind.

Mr. Lu and his wife were twisting hemp rope in the house, preparing to weave straw sandals. Hearing the shouts outside, they were first startled, and then they heard the names of the village head, the county magistrate, and pearl farmers. Mr. Lu and his wife could no longer sit still.

As Madam Lu stood up, she whispered, "Can pearl farming really work?"

Mr. Lu said, "Whether it works or not, we have to give it a try."

"But……"

"Don't worry, I know what you're worried about. But we've all come to hide in Yun Gui County, so those people shouldn't be able to find us no matter what. As for the pearl farming project, we'll only know if it will succeed after the experiment. If it does succeed, we're not afraid, the magistrate will definitely protect us."

"But I'm still worried..."

“Mother, the people here are too poor. You can count how many people have starved to death in these surrounding villages since we settled in Yungui County. Even the old woman who delivered your baby died because she broke her head and had no medicine to treat her. If she had even a few taels of silver, she wouldn’t have died so soon.”

Hearing this, the woman known as the stepmother fell silent. She raised her hand to straighten her husband's slightly wrinkled clothes and said, "I won't say anything more to you. Do whatever you want. We're family after all. Wherever you are, we'll be there. Even if we're taken back, I'm not afraid. We've lived another twenty years or so, that's enough."

Mr. Lu gripped his wife's hand tightly. "We still have to watch our children get married and have children. How can we just die like that? Don't worry, we definitely won't die. Magistrate Chen is a magistrate with great courage. As long as he's willing to protect us, no one else can stop us."

Mr. Lu went out the door and was soon startled by the noise coming from the door.

Now that the rice planting is finished, and because the weather has been unusually sunny, most people are at home drying clothes, cleaning their rooms and livestock pens. Hearing the young man's shout, most people ran out of their homes, and now Mr. Lu's house is crowded with people.

The crowd was noisy and clamorous, chasing after the young man and asking, "Did you just say 'the magistrate'?"

"Why has the magistrate come to our Houtang Village?"

"Why are we bringing up pearl farming again? Won't we make a fool of ourselves in front of the magistrate?"

"Mr. Lu, is what you're saying about pearl farming true? If you make a lot of money from pearl farming, how will the money be divided?"

Mr. Lu was always good-tempered, and even when questioned directly, he showed no impatience. But the magistrate was waiting, and it would be impolite not to go over now.

Mr. Lu cupped his hands in greeting to the crowd and quickly followed the young man toward the village head's house.

At this time, Yunying and the Second Master were already at the village head's house.

Don't be fooled by the fact that he's the village head, which gives him some standing in the surrounding villages. The overall environment is very poor, and the village head's family isn't much better off either.

However, compared to the few thatched huts of other families, the village head's family had five thatched huts. Moreover, the thatched huts were all built in a grand manner, and the courtyard looked more spacious than the courtyards of other families.

The village head's family also raised a cow, two sheep, and two black-haired pigs. Next to the livestock pen, in a separate enclosure, there were even dozens of chickens and ducks being raised together.

With so many livestock, the yard naturally smelled bad. But just looking at all these animals, you could tell that the village head's daily routine was probably quite good, which was something to be happy about.

Yunying and Second Master were drinking tea in the courtyard.

It's called tea, but it's really just some tea leaves in a large, rough earthenware bowl.

The old lady from the village head's family personally brought over the tea. Seeing that the old lady was walking unsteadily, Yunying quickly went forward to take it. However, the old lady refused to give it to her, saying that the earthenware pot was very hot to the touch, and that her hands were thin and she was afraid of getting blisters.

Yunying wasn't afraid of being soaked in water; she was only worried that the old lady might lose her balance and fall again.

However, Yunying could guess why it was this old lady who brought the tea, instead of the village head's daughters-in-law, just from the sounds coming from the windows.

They must have been afraid of the magistrate's authority and dared not come forward.

In the end, Yunying took the tea and personally poured it for the Second Master.

The village head was sitting to one side talking to the second master. Yunying wanted to move away, but the second master beckoned her to come and sit down—she wasn't used to walking on the muddy roads of the village and had twisted her ankle. It wasn't serious, but you could see the difference when she walked. The second master was worried that if she moved too much, she might injure herself, so he asked her to sit beside him.

Of course, Yunying was unaware of the Second Master's considerations.

However, she certainly wouldn't refuse Second Master's request in front of outsiders. When Second Master asked her to sit, she naturally sat down.

Hey everyone, do you still have any monthly votes? "The Union" has consistently ranked third on the new book monthly vote chart, but today it's dropped to fourth. If you have any monthly votes, please give them to me! It's almost the end of the month, let's try to hold onto third place. I don't even want first or second, just third, let's not let anyone overtake us. Please, everyone, I'm begging for your monthly votes!

(End of this chapter)