Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

The flood discharge lasted only two hours before the river water returned to normal, but the water in the canal did not stop flowing because a gap was left at the canal mouth after being washed by the river water. However, this was not unexpected.

Although the canals they dug are mainly for flood control, they can also be used for irrigation on weekdays. If there is a drought, they can dig the canal mouth a little wider to bring in more river water, and then block it again when it returns to normal.

Seeing that the seven-day project was quite effective, the people returned to their homes with joy on their faces.

After lunch, Chu Shiyu stopped Liu Rusi, who wanted to take a nap, and handed her a red envelope.

Liu Rusi looked at him with confusion. What did it mean that he suddenly handed over a red envelope at a non-holiday time?

"The canal construction has been completed. This is the gift of joy as a testimony to our joint efforts. It is also the reward for your hard work these past few days." After saying this, Chu Shiyu handed a red envelope to Xiao Qinhao and Caiyun respectively.

It is indeed time to get some salary, Liu Rusi thought as she opened the red envelope, took out a silver note, and when she looked at it carefully, her eyes widened!

"Fifty taels!" Caiyun exclaimed!

"It's really fifty taels!" Little Qin Hao exclaimed. He was already a child who had a good understanding of money, especially in the past few days when he saw that the common people received their daily wages in small amounts of one or two taels!

Liu Rusi didn't exclaim, because she had five hundred taels in her hand! What does it mean? Even if all her family's property is added together, it is less than five hundred taels... She felt a little unhappy for some reason.

"It's too much. I can't accept it." Liu Rusi stuffed the banknote directly back into the red envelope and then back into Chu Shiyu's arms.

Xiao Qinhao and Caiyun followed suit and stuffed the red envelopes back.

Chu Shiyu was not annoyed, but just thought to himself, so it's not that you don't want money, but you want to be paid reasonably according to your work, right? While thinking, he smiled and said, "The two of them are because the smallest denomination of silver notes is fifty taels, and yours is because the role you played in overall coordination this time is worth so much."

"That was just a small contribution. I don't deserve five hundred taels." Liu Rusi said seriously. She did make some efforts and contributions, but it was definitely not worth five hundred taels.

Most of the five hundred taels were probably out of Chu Shiyu's selfishness. She had long understood that accepting gifts might come at a price, and she didn't want to pay the price.

Seeing that Chu Shiyu wanted to say something, she simply reached out and took out the red envelope that Xiao Qinhao had just stuffed back from his arms, and said with a smile: "This is the total for the three of us. Fifty taels is already quite generous as a reward. Thank you, Mr. Chu."

Fifty taels was really too little. He really felt that it was not as good as Liu Rusi's contribution. Chu Shiyu was busy handing out another small red envelope, but Liu Rusi had already taken Caiyun and Xiao Qinhao and left.

"Tsk..." Chu Shiyu looked at the two red envelopes in his hand helplessly. There was still a big gap in their value judgment.

As there would be another flood discharge tomorrow, the group was not in a hurry to leave in the afternoon. However, it was a rare break from studying, so a few of them took a walk along the channel, wanting to appreciate the results of their work over the past few days.

All channels are made into two layers, the middle one is also the lowest, half a meter deep and one meter wide, and is used for daily irrigation. The outer layer is about two meters deep and five meters wide, and only flows when floods come.

"This depression has now become a pool. Will it really become a pond after the flood?" Little Qin Hao looked at the big pit that had accumulated some water with a smile on his face.

"It can't become a pond. This side also has a layered structure. Only the current pool part has compacted soil and paved with stones. The upper layer cannot retain water without being treated. Even if the flood fills the upper layer temporarily, it will seep into the soil quickly afterwards." Liu Rusi paid close attention to the project and understood this.

"Is that so... If it becomes a pond, it will be almost as big as the one in front of our house." Little Qin Hao's eyes seemed to see the front door of his house in the distance through the small pond.

Liu Rusi's eyes became dazed when she heard that. She missed that pond after just over a month.

"There is also a pond in Prince Duan's Mansion in the capital, which should be about the same size..."

Before Chu Shiyu finished speaking, he realized what he was talking about! Did he want a pond of similar size?

Sure enough, Liu Rusi gave him a puzzled look.

Caiyun, who was almost invisible, suddenly said, "I am familiar with Sister Si because Brother Qin and Sister Si saved my father in that pond..."

"I still can't forget it. When Brother Qin dragged my father to shore, he was already gasping for breath. I felt like the sky was falling. Although he was not kind to me and my mother and would beat and scold us at every turn, he was our support after all. I don't know how difficult life would be without him."

"Just when I was in despair, I didn't notice anyone coming over, and a little baby was stuffed into my hands." Caiyun gestured to little Qin Hao's infancy.

"At that time, I thought Sister Si was a deity! She looked like a deity! And she had magical powers! With just a few tinkerings, my dad came back to life!" Caiyun said this with great excitement, afraid that she could not express her feelings at that time.

"And since then, although Dad is still a bad person, at least he doesn't beat people anymore." Caiyun looked at Liu Rusi shyly and said, "Later, when I had nothing to do, I went to see Sister Si. At first, I actually wanted to ask if Sister Si could take me with her when she returned to the fairyland..."

Liu Rusi looked at her speechlessly. No wonder Caiyun always asked some "edge" questions when they first met, making her think that she had met other time travelers.

She also asked Caiyun questions like whether the earth is round or square, which country's people had landed on the moon, etc. She tried many times... and finally concluded that even if she had traveled through time, she was not from the same hometown as her, so she did not reveal the fact that she had traveled through time and space and was reborn.

No one noticed that Chu Shiyu's expression became solemn at this moment. That day, he vaguely heard her say that she didn't belong to this world...

He didn't understand this sentence, but he kept it in his heart, so much so that he often worried that Liu Rusi would disappear at any time. This was also one of the reasons why he was unwilling to stay too far away from her...

"Alas... I don't remember anything about that time." Little Qin Hao sighed regretfully. He had too few memories of his father. The ones he remembered completely and the ones he vaguely remembered did not exceed one year in total...

Liu Rusi couldn't help but laugh out loud and teased, "If he remembers everything from when he was a baby, he'd be a real little freak."

Little Qin Hao pouted unhappily, but he leaned against his mother clingingly, twisting around in embarrassment and anger.

Chu Shiyu's expression was slightly relieved, and it was because of little Qin Hao that he was not so flustered. He was not sure about many things, but he was sure that as long as little Qin Hao was there, Liu Rusi would definitely not want to leave this world. This was the chain that tied her to this world, and nothing could break it.

Chu Shiyu looked up at the sky, so what he had to guard against was other factors that might take away the mother and child...

On the morning of the second day, the second round of reservoir discharge was successfully completed, once again confirming that the ditches they built could protect several villages from ordinary floods.

And it was time for Chu Shiyu and his party to set off again.

After lunch, the horses were harnessed to the carts and the team was lined up in an orderly manner. Only then did the villagers of Fujiang Village realize that they were about to leave.

Some people have no feelings at all, but more people are reluctant to leave, both for the wages and the blessings it brings to them.

The peasants had nothing else to offer, so some wanted to send some fruits and vegetables, but the team refused to accept them because they were difficult to carry. So the old man and the villagers decided to bring out their gongs and drums.

The team had already started marching, and the gong and drum teams followed on both sides, making a lot of noise, just like the blessing team that day, except that this time there was no colorful idol of the Great River God in the middle.

The distant capital.

The emperor snorted and stopped reviewing the memorial when he saw it in his hand.

Eunuch Xu on the side immediately perked up and pricked up his ears to listen to the holy words.

Sure enough, the emperor asked leisurely, "Is there any news from Shi Yu?"

"Your Majesty, there are some, but there is only one open spy left, and all the information he gets is from the outside, or... it was intentionally leaked by Prince Duan." Eunuch Xu hesitated. Such information is generally of little use.

"Just those. Tell me."

The emperor glanced at the memorial on the table. It had been nearly ten days since it was handed over from Fubin City. Was he worried about the flood? He wanted to let Chu Shiyu relax for a while, but he refused to rest. He wanted to see what he had done these days!

Eunuch Xu reported in detail as usual, even if it was peripheral intelligence. Because His Majesty had not cared about Prince Duan's news for many days, there were many things piled up, and Eunuch Xu was dry-mouthed when he talked.

The emperor leaned back in his chair and listened, but he became more and more confused. Is this really Chu Shiyu? Following the common people to pray for blessings, holding a wooden sword as the god's puppet?

The unruly man threatened to sacrifice him to the river. If it were in the past, Chu Shiyu would at least punish him with caning according to the law, and most likely let the unruly man die under the caning. Why did he just let more than 20 people serve a year of hard labor in the local area?

Building water conservancy projects is indeed a good way to accumulate merits, and recruiting people with generous salaries is also a move to win the hearts of the people... But what has Chu Shiyu done in the past that has not been a big hit? There are many earth-shaking things! What effect can this small ditch and pond have if it radiates the public opinion of only a few villages?

"You left after the seven-day construction period was over? No follow-up?" the emperor asked in a deep voice. In the past, Chu Shiyu had never concealed his ambitions, and he was not afraid that his children and grandchildren would turn over his palms. But now, he actually couldn't understand Chu Shiyu.

"In total, he stayed for more than ten days, and finally opened the two reservoirs of Fubin Mansion to release floodwater. The spy was of low status, and I don't know whether Prince Duan's purpose was to inspect the newly built canal or something else..." Eunuch Xu was deeply aware of the disadvantages of not having enough spies.

The emperor relaxed a little, and stared at the memorial again. It said that Chu Shiyu had sent people to all the prefectures and states downstream to inform them to prepare for flood discharge. I am afraid that all the reservoirs downstream would have to be opened. Such a big move, if there is really little flood in the Yangtze River Basin this year, it would be a great achievement in water control.

So the construction of the canal was just a casual act? The emperor still had doubts in his heart. "Let's talk about the details of the water conservancy construction, so that it is open and aboveboard."

Eunuch Xu naturally did not dare to save his words, and began to report in a deep voice: "On the first day, Prince Duan arranged for the young and strong people to join the work, and also recruited local laborers with a salary of 100 coins a day. On that day, the canal was repaired for nearly a mile."

"On the second day, Prince Duan asked the widow to adjust the recruitment method, changing the daily wage to a work-based wage. A basket of soil dug cost three coins, and the labor conditions were opened up. Anyone taller than four feet and a half and not disabled, regardless of gender, could participate in the work. On that day, a canal of nearly two miles was built."

"On the third day, Prince Duan gave orders on his own. He first reprimanded the young and strong men who accompanied him for not working hard, and then ordered them to receive equal pay for equal work with local laborers. The people who accompanied him responded enthusiastically, and in less than half a day they completed the remaining two miles. After that, they widened the canal, strengthened the dam, and deepened the pond..."

The emperor was completely relieved and said that Chu Shiyu would never do something as playful as this. If it was just for this seven-day canal, why would he go through so much trouble? It was probably to test the method of paying according to work for future use.

"Please keep Shi Yu informed of news from time to time in the future." The emperor wrote a vermilion word "approved" on the memorial.

"Just an external spy..." Eunuch Xu was a little embarrassed.

"That's enough. With the spies along the way, any major move will not escape my control. I don't want to know about those trivial matters."