The Legend of the Farm Girl

Along with the thirty cartloads of Oxalis came a middle-aged woman and four young maids brought back by Zhao Hui.

Li Muwen was very surprised to see Zhao Hui bring back these people. He thought there would be seven or eight people brought back.

Zhao Hui hurried forward and said, "Master Li, although there are not many people bought back, these people have all been trained in wealthy families, and Madam can use them directly."

Li Muwen thought about it for a while and figured it out. He asked seriously, "Why were these people you bought sold by the rich families?"

Zhao Hui immediately replied, "Recently, Yongzhou has issued a lot of new transfer orders, and many officials have been transferred to other places. The maids I bought before are no longer useful, so I found a broker to sell them. Don't worry, sir, I have asked reliable people first, and these people are honest and decent."

Then he pointed to the only middle-aged woman and said, "Master Li, this old woman Han spent fifty taels of silver alone. She used to be a housekeeper in the Marquis's mansion and is very capable."

Li Muwen nodded. Since Zhao Hui had already bought all the people, he and Yunfang had to go and see what condition they were in. He quickly brought these people to Yunfang.

Yunfang was also a little surprised when she saw Li Muwen and the five people walking in. Li Muwen quickly explained to her in detail.

After hearing this, Yunfang did not let Li Muwen stay here any longer, but asked him to quickly get the Oxalis juice out and distribute it to the people.

Yun Fang carefully looked at the five people and asked, "What are your names, how old are you, and from whom did you come? Don't worry, as long as you are not a criminal, I will not blame you for your past."

The old woman Han was the first to speak, "Madam, I am the oldest here, so let me speak first! My name is Han Jingxin, and I am thirty-five years old this year. I was originally a maidservant of the wife of the Marquis of Anqing Mansion. Later, I married the gatekeeper of the Marquis of Anqing Mansion. After giving birth to a daughter, I became the wet nurse of the eldest son. Later, I was in charge of the eldest son's courtyard. Who knew that a cold would take the eldest son's life, and all of us who served in the eldest son's courtyard were sold. Madam, you will know once you ask around that my daughter and the head of the household were also sold because of me, but I don't know where they were sold to. I will serve you wholeheartedly, and I only hope that you can help me find out the whereabouts of my husband and daughter if you have the chance."

As she spoke, she actually burst into tears. It seemed that she missed her husband and daughter very much.

Yunfang nodded after hearing this, without making any promises, and just glanced at her indifferently.

The four maids also began to introduce themselves one by one. They were all thirteen or fourteen years old, and their origins were simple.

They were all originally from Yongzhou, and were brought into the mansion when officials' families purchased maids. Now those officials have been promoted or transferred, and these maids were relatively ordinary and did not leave any impression on their masters, so they were sold.

But she had also worked in a wealthy family for several years and had more experience than ordinary girls. Just as Zhao Hui said, she could be used directly.

Yunfang changed the names of these four people uniformly, and changed them to Chun'er, Xia'er, Qiu'er, and Dong'er according to their ages.

Yunfang set their monthly salary at one hundred wen. This amount of money was already a lot for Chun, Xia, Qiu and Dong, but for Han Jingxin, it was pitifully little compared to before.

But Han Jingxin did not show any dissatisfaction at all. Instead, like Chunxiaqiudong, she expressed her loyalty to Yunfang with great gratitude.

Yunfang nodded when she saw her actions. It seemed that Han Jingxin had a clear understanding of her situation and did not think highly of herself because of her different background. This made Yunfang feel relieved.

According to the methods of house management that she had learned in the past few days, Yunfang arranged Chun'er and Xia'er to take care of her daily life, and arranged Qiu'er and Dong'er to do some laundry and cleaning work.

Han Jingxin, Yunfang asked her to help Yunfang remember some things that an official's wife should do when Yunfang entertains guests or is invited to a banquet in the future, so as to prevent Yunfang from making a fool of herself due to her lack of consideration.

In addition, Yunfang will buy some maids in the future, and Han Jingxin will help train them.

Since then, Yunfang has had her own inner house team.

After arranging accommodation for the five people, Yun Fang's mind turned to Li Muwen. She wondered how the progress was with Li Muwen and whether they had figured out a plan on how to get the people to accept Oxalis juice.

Things were more difficult than Yunfang had imagined. Li Muwen posted a notice the day before the Oxalis was brought back, asking people to come to the prefectural government office to collect the Oxalis, grind it into juice at home and use it to soak the seeds, which would make the seeds more drought-resistant.

However, Li Muwen discovered that no one paid any attention to the notices posted in many places in the city.

In the entire Liangzhou city, almost no one can read.

After the Oxalis was delivered, no one came to the prefectural government office to collect it. Li Muwen had to find another way.

Li Muwen could only ask his four subordinates and himself to wear official uniforms and go to each village head to distribute Oxalis.

It is not enough to just distribute it, the people must be able to use it. Li Muwen and others told them that if they use it, they can pay 10% less tax after the autumn harvest. Don't try to cheat, it will be clear at a glance whether it will be used or not.

Paying 10% less tax was very attractive to the people of Liangzhou, and Li Muwen and others were wearing official uniforms, so they would not harm them. Therefore, even though they had never used Oxalis juice to soak seeds, they almost all did so.

Thirty cartloads of Oxalis are not enough. There are 50,000 acres of arable land recorded in the Liangzhou Prefecture, but half of the arable land has its seeds soaked in Oxalis juice before planting.

Li Muwen and Yunfang are very much looking forward to the fact that this year's autumn harvest will be a little different.

What Li Muwen and Yun Fang didn't know was that their every move had already spread to the three major families in other counties and also reached the ears of the border guards.

Even the Oxalis they picked was taken by these forces.

But they did not take the next step. Li Muwen's actions did not affect their interests. They could just watch the changes in the city. If the situation got out of control, it would still be time for them to take action.

If this Oxalis is really drought-resistant, it won't be too late for them to use it next year.

Finally, the farming issue was resolved, and next Li Muwen was going to rebuild the government office. Along with rebuilding the government office, Li Muwen wanted to build a government school so that the people of Liangzhou could read and learn to write.

As soon as he proposed this idea to his subordinates, he was strongly opposed.

Since there was no treasurer's clerk, Zhao Hui and Lin Zirui took on both jobs.

Zhao Hui hurriedly said, "Sir, there is not a penny in the government treasury right now. It costs a lot to build a school, and the government office can't afford it at all!"

Li Muwen also thought of this and could only postpone the construction of the school until after the autumn harvest when he could collect some taxes before making plans.

But without the school there would be no juren, and without juren, no one would be able to serve as the treasurer and clerk. These two positions could only be held concurrently by Lin Zirui and Zhao Hui.

However, Li Muwen also told the four people that if they had any suitable candidates to recommend, they should recommend them as soon as possible.

In fact, this was a way out for some older scholars, so the four of them soon wrote letters to people they knew.

In addition to these two positions, what the government office is most in need of now is yamen runners. However, even if the yamen runners are recruited now, the government office has no wages to pay them.

Finally, Li Muwen decided to count his men who were protecting him as yamen runners. In fact, these people were now doing the work that should have been done by the yamen runners.

After a month, Li Muwen lost a lot of weight, but the Liangzhou government office finally looked like a government office, and he and Yunfang also looked a bit like officials and their wives.

The money Yunfang had was being spent like water. There were nearly fifty people eating at home, and they had to pay their wages every month. Yunfang felt that she could no longer sit there and wait for death.

Under her and Li Muwen's training, the forty people brought from the capital made a lot of progress, especially the ten people who followed Yun Fang to learn business, and they made rapid progress.

Yunfang actually found a very talented person among them, Li Si. In addition to Yunwu, Yunfang also promoted Li Shier from the yamen runners, Yunba from the kitchen, and Yunyi from the reception group.

Now, whenever someone comes to visit the Li family, they will praise the Li family’s good family tradition.

Yunfang now feels physically tired every day, so if she wants to open a shop in Liangzhou City, she can only let Li Si do it.

Yunfang thought for a long time and finally decided to set up a caravan. Through the system, she learned what a vast land and abundant resources are and what it means that the world is full of wonders.

She wanted more and more to go out and take back all the good things from the outside world.

But you can't get fat in one bite. Yunfang lacks people and money, so everything has to be done slowly.

The first step was to find a shop and let the ten people under her form a small caravan to transport some things from nearby and sell them in the shop.

Li Si quickly followed Yun Fang's arrangement. He bought a suitable shop and took the other nine people in his group to Yongzhou. In Yongzhou, he brought back many things that had never been seen in Liangzhou. By accumulating a little, he made some money. Yun Fang did not put the money in his pocket, but used it to continue to expand the caravan.

In order to realize her idea, the caravan needs to be large enough.

While Yunfang was busy expanding the caravan, Li Muwen was also busy. Every day, people would beat drums in the prefectural government office to complain about grievances. Most of the time, they were trivial matters, and Li Muwen was overwhelmed, but he had to solve them for the people. However, recently a major case involving human life occurred.

Early that morning, an elderly couple came to the government office to beat drums to complain. Although Li Muwen was troubled by the trivial matters that had been complained about in the past few days, he immediately called them in when he heard the drums.

When the old couple saw Li Muwen, they immediately knelt down and cried, "Master, please make the decision for us!"

The two people below kept repeating these two sentences. Li Muwen slammed the gavel and asked, "Don't waste time. If you have any grievances, report them immediately."

The two of them said one after another: "My youngest son has been missing for three days. My eldest grandson said that my daughter-in-law and her lover killed my youngest son. My eldest grandson saw it with his own eyes. But my daughter-in-law refused to admit it and secretly ran back to her parents' home. I think she is guilty. Please arrest her and bring her to justice! Sir!"

When Li Muwen heard the two men's stories, his eyes widened immediately. This was the biggest case he had dealt with since he took office. He straightened his body and thought to himself that he must give the most fair judgment.

He asked, "Did you bring your eldest grandson with you?"

The two shook their heads and said, "My eldest grandson is at home, his parents are taking care of him! We were afraid that he would be scared in the hall and upset the adults, so we didn't bring him here."

Li Muwen exclaimed, "Isn't this grandson of yours your youngest son and daughter-in-law's? How old is he this year?"

The old man said, "I dare not hide it from you, sir. My last name is Yang, and everyone calls me Old Man Yang. I have two sons. My eldest son, Yang Tian, ​​has given me a grandson, who is five years old this year. My youngest son, Yang Di, got married last year and has no children yet."

Li Muwen said, "Five years old, five years old. The words of a five-year-old child cannot be trusted. Could it be that your son Yang Di just went out for something?"

The two old men shook their heads together, and the old woman said, "My son is the most filial and capable. Although he left us to work in Yongzhou before, he never disappeared without saying a word."

Li Muwen couldn't judge now, so he said, "Then tell me what your grandson said!"

The old woman said, "My son Yang Di has always loved his nephew very much. That day, he took his nephew to the mountains to make toys. After they were finished, my eldest grandson played hide-and-seek with his uncle. My eldest grandson hid and his uncle looked for him. But as soon as he hid, he saw his aunt and a man pushing his uncle down the hillside. He was so scared that he dared not say a word. After his aunt left, he called his uncle but no one answered. Later, he ran home and told us that we went to look for him, but didn't see anyone. His aunt and the adulterer must have taken him to a place where no one else could find him."

Li Muwen couldn't just believe the old couple's one-sided words. Seeing that they were quite old, he asked them to sit on a stool. After providing their daughter-in-law's address, Li Muwen asked Li Shier to bring his daughter-in-law back.

She was petite, and the plain dress made her look even more pitiful, making people want to protect her. She had long hair as smooth as satin, casually draped over her shoulders, a fair face that seemed fragile, with curved eyebrows and watery eyes that were always filled with tears, as if she had suffered endless grievances.

The people who went with them all looked at the old couple with some disgust, as if they had already determined that the old couple were wrongly accusing the woman.

Li Shier brought the girl to Li Muwen, and she knelt down and said to him, "I am Xu Baoer, and I pay my respects to the governor."

The old couple could no longer sit still and shouted at her, "Where is my son? Where did you hide him?"

Xu Baoer's eyes were immediately filled with tears. She didn't look at the old couple, but only stared at Li Muwen and said, "Sir, please help me! My parents-in-law have framed me for no reason. I think I have been filial to them wholeheartedly since I married Yang Di. I don't know why they did this. Could it be that..."

"What?" Li Muwen asked.

Xu Baoer was in tears, and I saw her pitifully, saying, "They all said that they slandered me for my dowry, and Yang Di just hid himself to help them seize my dowry. But I don't believe it. I treated them sincerely, how could they treat me like this! Please help me clear my name and give me a clean name!"