Transmigrated Leftover Woman in Rural Style

Uncle Zhou, as a witness at the time, slowly recounted what happened that year. As Li Xiaonuan listened, she secretly thought of a solution. When she heard that it took the local soldiers nearly half a year to eradicate the rampant rabbit infestation, Li Xiaonuan came up with an idea.

While the situation isn't too serious yet, why not have someone hunt down and kill the rampant rabbits? Rabbits reproduce incredibly fast; if they become a plague, it will be difficult to control. As for the people catching the rabbits, Li Xiaonuan plans to have Prince Jing handle it.

After all, Li Xiaonuan didn't know if this situation could occur anywhere else besides the mountains near Xinzhou Village. Moreover, entrusting this matter to Prince Jing's men would be more convincing.

Soon, news that rabbits were about to become a plague spread throughout Xinzhou Village. Many people who had experienced it back then went to check on the foothills. Upon returning, they all said it was very similar to what they had seen back then.

So, those in the village who knew how to catch rabbits started hunting them before the busy farming season. Li Xiaonuan wrote a long letter about this and had a shop in the city with jade pendants bearing her mark deliver it to Prince Jing. Then she devoted herself to her land acquisition plan.

The old Taoist priest stayed peacefully in Xinzhou Village for two days. On the third day, upon hearing of a rabbit plague, he excitedly took Zhao Wangchuan into the mountains. Before leaving, Zhao Wangchuan asked Wei Lu to help deliver the two sacks of peanuts to Li Xiaonuan at the Li family home.

Wei Lu looked at the two bags and sighed helplessly. But she still followed Zhao Wangchuan's instructions and had the peanuts delivered to the Li family. At that time, Li Xiaonuan was watching Xiaoyang skin a rabbit when she saw the two large sacks and was stunned.

When she heard that the person who delivered the peanuts was the same batch that had been sent earlier, Li Xiaonuan was overjoyed. So many peanuts, if they weren't spoiled, would be enough to plant seven or eight acres of land. Although she was very happy, Li Xiaonuan didn't lose her composure.

"Grandma Lin, why don't you keep one bag? You can take the other one back with you. As for how to grow these peanuts, I'll tell you directly. Also, I'll tell you about the uses of the peanuts. Consider this bag as my exchange for those methods."

Aunt Lin quickly refused, "Madam and Young Master said this is for the young lady, so it belongs to her. If the young lady feels bad about it, she can give some to Madam and Young Master after they've been planted. The gifts have already been delivered, so this old servant will take her leave now. Madam is waiting for her."

Li Xiaonuan thought about it and agreed, so she stopped being coy. She saw Aunt Lin to the door, then turned and threw herself onto the bag. Although peanuts existed in China thousands of years ago, large-scale cultivation for consumption has yet to be discovered.

Taking advantage of the strong sun outside, Li Xiaonuan had Xiaoyang bring over a large drying mat and poured out both bags of peanuts to air them out. While drying them, quite a few rotten and empty shells were picked out. Li Xiaonuan looked at the small pile of discarded inferior goods with some disappointment.

Xiao Yang, however, didn't seem to care. After eating cooked peanuts last time, he had lost interest in this new crop. Besides, the peanuts didn't taste that great; they weren't as good as chestnuts or walnuts.

Li Xiaonuan knew what Xiaoyang was thinking, of course. But she didn't want to explain anything, since the peanuts had gone a bit off. Besides, those peanuts were supposedly soaked in seawater before being cooked and dried, so of course they didn't taste very good.

Once the peanuts are grown, Xiaoyang will change his mind. Even setting aside the fresh, spiced peanuts, the simplest salted peanuts will surely be delicious enough for them to say.

Perhaps today is a good day. First, the Zhao family sent peanuts, and then Prince Jing replied. The contents of the letter put Li Xiaonuan's anxious heart at ease.

"Xiao Yang, Doctor Jing said there's no rabbit plague here. It's just that there are too many weasels in the mountains, which scared the rabbits out. Also, there have been a lot of raccoons and golden cats in the mountains near Xinzhou Village, which are also catching rabbits."

Xiao Yang took the watch and said knowingly, "I knew it! It must be the weasel's doing. Jingjing's family has lost five or six chicks this month. When Doctor Jing's people arrive, I'm going to go up the mountain with them to hunt weasels."

After saying that, Xiao Yang returned the letter to Li Xiaonuan. He went into the kitchen, picked up two skinned rabbits, and was about to leave.

"Where are you going?" Li Xiaonuan asked upon seeing this.

Xiao Yang held up the rabbit in his hand and said, "I'll send two rabbits to Jingjing's house, and tell her to keep the chickens locked up so they don't get snatched away by the weasel again."

Watching Xiao Yang happily head towards Aunt Zhou's house, Li Xiaonuan chuckled. Aunt Zhou has two sons; she doesn't need the Li family to send rabbits. This Xiao Yang, he couldn't even come up with a more reliable excuse to see Jingjing.

As Prince Jing wrote in his letter, the rabbits were simply frightened and fled to the outskirts of the mountains. After Prince Jing's men, along with several hunters, went into the mountains for a few days, the number of rabbits around Xinzhou Village noticeably decreased.

Seeing the brood of weasels that had been caught, the villagers were so angry they wanted to trample them. But the men sent by Prince Jing stopped the enraged villagers, telling them that the rabbit infestation on the mountain had been resolved, and that by trapping rabbits around the village, the rabbits would not dare to come back.

With the rabbit plague crisis over, the villagers, relieved of their near miss, threw their energy back into the fields. Following Xiao Yang's recommendation, Uncle Li, along with Liu Zhongren, bought a prime piece of farmland in Cuihu Village, which borders Xinzhou Village—a total of twelve mu. They could hand over the land once the rice was harvested.

During this time, Li Xiaonuan also took a fancy to a large, barren hill with a slope behind Xinzhou Village. After discussing it with her family for a few days, she still bought it without hesitation.

Because the area that Li Xiaonuan had her eye on had a pond that was over an acre in size, and the pond water was flowing water. The water source was a small stream, nearly a meter wide, that flowed down from the ridge.

According to the village elders, even during the severe drought, the stream never dried up, though the water flow was shallower. Later, when Li's father went to see the land, he agreed to buy it.

The old lady has been living a very leisurely life these days and no longer interferes in household affairs. When Father Li went to buy land, the old lady even took out one hundred taels of silver to ask for more land.

However, Father Li did not accept the silver; instead, he told the old lady to keep it for spending money. It wasn't that the Li family had money and therefore looked down on the hundred taels. It was simply that he felt it was the old lady's savings for her funeral and should be left for her to rely on.

After finalizing the date for land measurement with the village head, Li Xiaonuan enthusiastically went to inspect the area again. Of course, Xiaoyang had to come with her. Otherwise, her father and the others wouldn't dare let Li Xiaonuan go out alone.

After walking around the overgrown pond, Li Xiaonuan had an idea. Because it was a flowing pond, the water quality looked excellent. If she planted some aquatic flowers, kept some ornamental fish, and tidied up the surrounding area, it might attract many scholars and literati.