Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 227 It’s Double Ninth Festival
"Don't worry, sir. Let me explain it to you in detail."

"The former prefect of the city has been in prison. He watched the Huang family do evil things without stopping them, and even profited from it. Isn't this something that people resent?"

"Today, the Marquis has ordered all the people in the city to stop working and rest. They are all here to watch the parade of Prefect Park!"

"Look, someone is coming!"

The streets of Cangzhou had long been cleared, with soldiers on both sides maintaining law and order.

In the prisoner car that was swaying towards them, there was only a man with dishevelled hair and ragged clothes. If it weren't for Pu Zheng, it would be difficult for them to connect this man with the prefectural magistrate who was once so high and mighty.

People kept throwing rotten vegetable leaves and tree bark onto the prison van. Fortunately, the roads in Cangzhou City were paved and it was not easy to find bricks and stones. Otherwise, Pu Zheng would have been beaten to death during the parade.

The gentry who poured out of the government hall were all well-known figures in the local area, and many of them had a friendship with Park Jung. Seeing this scene, they couldn't help but feel a chill down their spines.

The worst that could happen was death, but at the moment this was really a loss of face. The man in the prison car was already dead, and when the guillotine fell, he was actually freed.

No family could afford to lose face like this. Thinking back to what Yue Ling had just said, advising them not to make the same mistakes again, and that moral education should be the most important thing for the younger generation, and that farming and studying should be passed down from generation to generation, they became more convinced.

After all, there are real examples right in front of us.

In the midst of public outrage, Park Jeong was sent to the execution platform with his stiff body. After an official read out his crimes, public outrage reached its peak.

After one cut, there was a thunderous cheer, which completely lifted the heavy burden that had once weighed on the people of Cangzhou.

The people spontaneously knelt in the direction of the government office, expressing their deepest gratitude to Marquis Anjing, who was now working in the government office but never showed off his achievements. He was wholeheartedly working to change everything in Cangzhou and bring them a new life.

Even for the unsolved cases that were left over from before, Marquis Anjing also gave a full explanation to the people of the whole city. All criminals, regardless of their identities, were brought to justice. Such an iron-handed and impartial man, wholeheartedly serving the people, how could he not be what the people wanted.

Common people knelt on the ground in large numbers, and the gentry standing in front of the government office became the most conspicuous ones.

If they continued to stand in the middle of the field, it would be as if they were accepting the people's kneeling worship, which was really inappropriate.

The crowd was involuntarily swept up in the public opinion. After looking at each other, they turned around and knelt on the ground, as if they had become representatives of the people, and began to kowtow at the location closest to the government office.

The gentry from all over the country took the lead in expressing their opinions, and the people of the whole city were united and bowed in gratitude together.

At the right time, several gentlemen who had knelt down earlier could not help but speak out: "Everyone, please stop having other thoughts. If we don't help the Marquis, we will be sinners of the whole city. The Gu family, the Hu family and the like are all lessons for us..."

……

The easternmost coastal area of ​​Cangzhou is bustling with activity at this moment.

On the vast sea, layers of waves are rolling up, and are transmitted to the shore with the tides. There are criss-crossing ditches, with gurgling water flowing.

Seawater is continuously injected into the salt fields.

On the salt fields, salt pools of various sizes are arranged in a mixed manner. Due to the flow of the seawater itself, the salt water flows back and forth in the pools.

Under the scorching sun, water evaporates continuously as it flows, and the concentration of salt water increases accordingly. This is the process from seawater to brine.

Usually brine is taken and crystallized into sea salt. At Yue Ling's suggestion, a separate pool with a gate was opened between the salt pools. Hou Yao evenly sprinkled wood ash in the salt pools of this level to settle impurities in the sea.

The wood ash entering the water makes the originally clear sea water become turbid.

At this stage, continuous stirring is required to facilitate better reaction with seawater and precipitate impurities.

From stirring to standing, it usually takes half a day or even a day.

Only when the sea water becomes clear again can we start to introduce brine.

The brine-making pool is different from the salt field pool used to dry seawater. The brine-making pool is deeper and has a flat bottom. It is built with bricks and stones, and the side walls have small holes and are wrapped with gauze to better filter out impurities and obtain purer brine.

In order to ensure the concentration of brine, Yue Ling also suggested improving the measurement method.

In general salt fields, lotus seeds are mostly used for measurement. The lotus seeds can float on the water surface, which proves that the appropriate concentration has been reached and can be used to precipitate salt crystals.

However, this measurement method is too crude. There is not only one pond in a salt field. Taking a lotus seed to measure in each pond is obviously too cumbersome and cannot be universally applied. Finding two lotus seeds of the same size and weight is obviously not an easy task.

This causes errors in the brine concentration, affecting the efficiency of subsequent crystallization.

Yue Ling suggested sealing the bottom of a bamboo tube and installing a weight to test whether it could float on the salt field. Bamboo sections of uniform thickness are obviously easier to find and more durable, which can be regarded as an innovation in details.

Hou Yao was originally sent to support Yue Ling in making salt. It was thought that he was the leader here, but it was unexpected that he was also stealing skills here.

The bamboo joints floated on the surface of the brine. Hou Yao felt relieved and ordered the salt farmers around him, "Open the gates to divert the water."

At this point, the process of making sea salt has reached the final step: crystallization.

Under the scorching sun, sea salt will appear in the shape of snowflakes and continuously precipitate from the water. The newly precipitated salt is as white as snow.

This pure beauty, under the illumination of light, presents a colorful halo, and the scenery is breathtaking.

"Okay, good, collect the salt."

It was the first time for Hou Yao to make salt. He controlled every step from beginning to end. When he finally harvested the sea salt, he couldn't help but feel happy. "Master, this salt is really good. It looks a little whiter than the salt from the Lianghuai Salt Field."

Hou Yao held a handful of salt in his hand and looked at it carefully. "Very good, excellent quality. Make this batch of salt into salt bricks and send one to the Marquis to have a look. If it works, we will start the work in a big way."

……

There are many fallen leaves in the palm garden, and I know with a sigh that autumn has arrived.

A breeze blew through the courtyard again, blowing up some fallen leaves; it was already late in the season.

The sky was clear and azure, and the white clouds were like cotton wool. Yue Ling didn't care whether the autumn weather could bring coolness or not. The challenge for him now was whether the warehouses of the entire Cangzhou city could be fully stocked before the winter.

The local grain output is far from enough to feed the people of the whole prefecture, and the key to solving the problem lies in salt and cotton. If one of them can be sold well and there is money, then one can go to the south of the Yangtze River to buy rice.

This winter is the most critical moment. If we can get through it smoothly and no people freeze to death or starve to death, Yue Ling's disaster relief will be half successful.

Once this season's winter wheat is harvested in the fields, next year's harvest will no longer be a problem.

Thanks to the plain terrain and countless fertile fields of Cangzhou Prefecture, the city may be self-sufficient in grain within three to five years, and even export it to other prefectures and counties.

This day, the ninth day of the ninth month,
There were no mountains in Cangzhou, so there was no place to climb and see the distant view. Yue Ling simply set up a banquet in the yard.

After eliminating the trouble caused by the Huang family, Yue Ling has become increasingly busy with official business recently. He often has to go out of the city to inspect the results of various places.

From the growth of crops in the fields to every canal and waterwheel, Yue Ling had carefully checked the records in the fish scale book.

As a result, I had much less time to spend with the little girls.

Fortunately, the little girls were very sensible. The harder Yue Ling worked outside, the more proud they were of him.

Today is the Double Ninth Festival, and Yue Ling finally took a day off to spend time with them.

Since it is a banquet, there are guests.

Xue Baochai, Ying'er and Xiangling, who were also invited, were also decorating the venue, hanging up lanterns and setting out delicacies.

Since the last time they stayed overnight at the government office, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai's relationship became much closer and they exchanged letters with each other.

But Xue Baochai seldom came to visit, and even Ying'er and Xiangling seldom came. When they did, they only said a few words. They would leave shyly after delivering a message, and would not stay overnight no matter what.

Lin Daiyu was completely confused and didn't know the reason.

Zijuan just blushed and didn't know what to say.

Xueyan watched from the sidelines, not taking it seriously at all, as it had nothing to do with her. After all, in her eyes, each girl in the room was more strange and difficult to understand than the other.

Just like Sister Zijuan, she is diligent on weekdays, but sometimes she has to stay in bed and be lazy.

What's more, every time he stayed in bed, it was after General Yue came back, which was even more strange.

"Sister Zijuan, do I have to go and cook with the little girl again tomorrow morning?"

Zijuan was cleaning up the dishes on the side. She turned around and looked at Xueyan, not understanding what she meant by saying this for no reason.

"You don't want to go tomorrow? Then I'll go."

Xueyan shook her head. "That's not the case. Isn't General Yue back? Aren't you going to get up late again?"

Zijuan was stunned when she heard this, and opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything for a while.

Suddenly, she felt someone patted her butt from behind, and it was quite strong. She turned her head sharply and saw Yue Ling's cheek facing her. Zijuan blushed immediately.

"What are you talking about? Haven't you finished cleaning yet?"

Zijuan secretly rubbed her buttocks and replied shyly: "Nothing to say, it's all arranged, just waiting for the master to come back."

As she spoke, Zijuan grabbed Xueyan's hand and took her to the table nearby.

I’m afraid that if she says something earth-shattering again, Zijuan’s little heart won’t be able to bear it.

"Sister Zijuan, why don't you let me talk to General Yue?"

The two of them sat at the same table, Xueyan pouted, looking somewhat dissatisfied.

Zijuan pushed a piece of cake to her from the table and said, "I stole a piece just now and wanted to give it to you to try, but I didn't expect the master had already come in, so I had to hide a little. Now I'll give it to you."

Xueyan happily took it and took a bite, but then frowned, "Isn't this what I ate this morning? It's a little dry now. Do I have to take it secretly?"

Zijuan stuck out her tongue, "So... I took the wrong one?"

(End of this chapter)