The county magistrate's daughter only wants to farm

I wonder if the donations made by some people were just made up on the spur of the moment?

Gu Huaiyi also asked Gu Yin the same question: "Is there really such a person who made the donation?"

Gu Yin replied with a smile: "Isn't it me?"

How much money has she earned for the county government?

Gu Huaiyi burst out laughing: "Hahaha, I am obsessed."

"Dad, when will the work start?"

"You~if someone doesn't know, they would think you are the county magistrate." Gu Huaiyi looked at his daughter lovingly and joked with a smile.

"Hehe, how dare my daughter take your place..." Gu Yin smiled.

"You girl! We started working this morning. A lot of dirt should have been dug up in Ning'an Street by now." Gu Huaiyi answered her previous question.

"So fast!" Gu Yin exclaimed. This efficiency was too high. She thought it would take several days to arrange it.

Ning'an Street was in a mess. The bluestone slabs in the middle had been pried up, revealing the soil underneath. Some sections of the road had even had deep channels dug out.

Song Ruorou followed Gu Yin, fanning herself wildly while holding an umbrella. A second ago, she was still mumbling to Gu Yin: "It's so sunny, why are we here?"

A second later, seeing the scene in front of him, he couldn't help but exclaimed: "No way! I haven't been out shopping for just a few days, how come Ning'an Street has been dug up like this? It will be inconvenient to walk and go shopping in the future."

"It's okay, it will be restored in no time. Ning'an Street will only be more fun in the future." Gu Yin chuckled.

"Huh? Ah Yin, you knew it a long time ago?" Song Ruorou looked at Gu Yin straight. If she hadn't insisted on following her, she wouldn't have discovered it.

"Yeah, I know." Gu Yin did not deny it.

Song Ruorou is almost a follower now. Even if I don't tell her now, she will find out sooner or later. And this is not a big deal.

The two kept walking and unknowingly arrived at the city gate.

Not far from the city gate, a group of people were moving baskets onto the chopping board. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that there was someone in county government uniform directing them.

Gu Yin couldn't help but walk forward quickly. Sure enough, there was a yamen runner in charge, and he was an old acquaintance, the tall Gao Fei.

Gao Fei also saw Gu Yin and hurried forward to salute:

"Why is the county lady here?"

"Just walking around, what are you doing?" Gu Yin pointed at the person who was busy nearby.

"Moving the buns."

"Steamed bun?"

"Yes, this is lunch for the workers." Gao Fei explained. It was already noon and the meal would be served soon.

"Oh... let's go and see what's available to eat." Gu Yin said as she opened the lids. She opened one and saw a gray coarse grain steamed bun inside. She opened another and saw another steamed bun. All the baskets were filled with steamed buns.

Gu Yin turned around and looked at Gao Fei in confusion:

"Only steamed buns for lunch?"

"Yes, three big steamed buns for each person." Gao Fei replied respectfully.

Gu Yin frowned slightly. How could the workers bear such heavy work without any benefits? No, she had to go and find out what was going on.

However, before Gu Yin could return, a noise was heard not far away in the city, and someone could be vaguely heard shouting that something had happened.

What happened?

Gu Yin thought of this and ran inside.

"Hey! Ah Yin, wait for me!" Song Ruorou saw Gu Yin suddenly running away and hurriedly chased after her.

Gu Yin squeezed closer to the crowd and saw an old man in his seventies lying on the ground. His face was red, his clothes were soaked, and sweat was still coming out of his forehead.

I have heatstroke!

"Scatter, everyone, spread out, don't squeeze in!" Gu Yin shouted loudly.

Gao Fei ran to Gu Yin's side, and when he heard Gu Yin's shout, he quickly drove away the people who had come to watch the excitement, fearing that they would not obey. He also explained Gu Yin's identity: "Listen to the county lady, get out of the way, quickly!"

When the crowd heard the county lord's words, they dispersed in all directions.

"Quick, move him to a cool place. Zhenzhu, go get some light salt sugar water." Gu Yin didn't care about anything else and started giving instructions based on what she knew, "Who else go get two cold towels."

Soon, the old man was under the shade of a big tree and a cold towel was applied to his forehead.

After a while, the old man slowly woke up. Gu Yin told him to drink salt and sugar water, and soon the old man woke up. Seeing that the old man was fine, Gu Yin breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uncle, you are so old, why do you still do such heavy work?" Gu Yin was puzzled. The old man's hair was all white. Normally, he could just do some farm work at home. Such heavy work would be difficult for young people to do, let alone an old man like him.

“This… I have to do it…” The old man looked helpless, his cloudy eyes lifeless.

Just as Gu Yin was about to ask further questions, the county magistrate arrived:

"Why is the county lady here?"

"Come and see if you have time."

The county magistrate was the supervisor here. He was busy somewhere else just now. When he heard that something happened here, he hurried over to check the situation. He didn't expect Gu Yin to be here.

Since the county magistrate is here, Gu Yin might as well ask him what's going on. He believes that there should be some screening when recruiting workers.

"You don't know, these people are here to serve."

"Serve?" Gu Yin's face was full of question marks, as if she had heard this word somewhere.

"Yes, every household has to send one person every year to participate in the construction of public facilities, such as repairing bridges, roads, reservoirs and dams." The county magistrate said respectfully, "Now the county construction just happens to need manpower, so we recruited them."

So that's how it is. Gu Yin understood, but...

"But does someone as old as you have to serve in the military as well?"

The county magistrate was also puzzled when he heard Gu Yin's question. "Generally speaking, the village would not send such an old man to serve."

The two couldn't come to an answer after discussing it, so they asked the old man about the situation.

It turned out that the old man's two sons were conscripted to fight in the war a few years ago, but only one son was sent back two years ago with both legs broken. Now he is bedridden, and the old man is the only one in the family who can serve.

Gu Yin was silent. She didn't expect the situation in the old man's house to be like this. She didn't know what to say for a moment.

"That's not right. Given your family's situation, you shouldn't need to serve in the military." The county magistrate wondered, "The court has a rule that families without young and strong laborers can be exempted from corvée."

"This, this, how is it possible? I've been in the service for two years and have never heard of this." The old man looked incredulous, and the young people from the same village around him also said that they had never heard of this.

Gu Yin and the county magistrate looked at each other, and both realized that there was something fishy about this matter.

Gu Yin leaned close to the county magistrate's ear and whispered something, and the county magistrate was startled:

"That's impossible. It's too dangerous."

"It's okay, let me handle this. We still need your supervision here."

"County Lady, this is not feasible. It is too risky. Even if the Lord knows about it, he will not let you go." The county magistrate advised.

"Well, it would be okay to send two people to go with me. Uncle Cheng, don't worry, I won't take risks easily." The county magistrate's name was Cheng Xingwang, and Gu Yin usually called him Uncle Cheng.

The county magistrate had no choice but to send two yamen runners to accompany her.