A Farm Girl: Three Acres of Fertile Land Can Be Exchanged for a Country

Wutong looked up in surprise: "Aren't you afraid of angering your master?"

He asked himself, "They just need to follow the agreement and not go up the mountain."

Upon hearing this, Li Deming said as if making a vow: "Master, rest assured, I, Li, mean what I say and will absolutely not cause you any trouble."

Wenxin nodded and said to Wutong, "Shall we continue our journey?"

He had already agreed, and although Wutong still had some worries, she didn't say anything more and returned to the carriage to prepare for the journey.

Li Deming rode his horse to the carriage window, glanced inside, and saw that Duan Fufeng was lying quietly without any problems, which reassured him a lot.

When his gaze fell on the pillow, he frowned slightly, pulled out a very soft-looking pillow from the bundle behind him, and handed it to Wutong through the window.

"Your Majesty, the prince has a neck injury and cannot sleep on a hard pillow. Please use this for him."

Duan Fufeng had a neck injury?

Wutong had never heard of this before. She took the pillow, intending to change it for him, but didn't know how to do it.

Li Deming watched from outside, wishing he could take her place. But after thinking it over, he said nothing, pulled on the reins, and left.

Wutong had no choice but to do it herself, carefully lifting Duan Fufeng's head with one hand. With her other hand, she quickly pulled away the original pillow and replaced it with the one Li Deming had given her.

It was such a simple action, yet she was drenched in sweat afterward, not much better than when she killed someone for the first time.

She laid Duan Fufeng down, leaned against the carriage wall, sighed, and couldn't help but glance at him with her eyes lowered.

Duan Fufeng was dressed in a black robe and covered with a light green quilt. His black hair was neatly draped over his shoulders. From a certain angle, his nose had a breathtaking beauty, so perfect that it seemed unreal.

His eyes were closed, but Wutong could imagine how cold they would be when he opened them.

The road was bumpy, and the carriage swayed constantly.

Wutong sat in the carriage, swaying back and forth with inertia, silently watching Duan Fufeng. Before she knew it, a long time had passed.

Who's up ahead?

For the first two or three days after they set off, their journey went smoothly, traveling during the day and resting at night.

That day, Wenxin suddenly stopped the carriage. Wutong had a feeling that something was wrong, so she stuck her head out of the window and looked out. She saw a group of ragged people blocking the way, and Li Deming was negotiating with them. At a glance, there were about twenty or thirty of them.

Those people looked extremely disheveled, all pale and emaciated, as if they hadn't eaten their fill in eight hundred years.

Wutong was no stranger to this kind of person; she often saw such disaster victims when she was still an ordinary soldier.

War is cruel. People are displaced and helpless. With no government assistance, they can only wander the land like lost souls, eating whatever they can find. Many die in unfamiliar street corners or wastelands due to food shortages.

Li Deming arrived quickly and told her what had happened. Just as she had expected, these people were indeed refugees who had wandered around. Seeing that their carriage looked decent, they wanted to come and beg for some food.

Li Deming had been fighting for too long, and his heart was only set on Duan Fufeng. He was as hard as stone when it came to others. After speaking, he said, "How about I send some men to drive them away? We have weapons and we're on horseback. They won't dare to cause trouble."

"Drive us away? Why should we drive us away?" Wutong said, "We still have a lot of dry food in the car."

"But that's food for the road, are you going to give it to them?"

“Why not?” Wutong said, “There are many towns along the way. We have money and manpower, so why worry about not being able to get food? We can replenish our rations when we reach the next place.”

She raised her voice and shouted, "Someone come here!"

The guards that Li Deming brought came over and looked at the two of them with puzzlement.

Wutong said, "Bring out all the boxes of dry rations from the back of the carriage and distribute them to those people. Be careful not to cause any chaos... Also, find me some writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones."

"Pen, ink, paper, and inkstone?"

Wutong nodded, offering no explanation, and simply told them to do it.

The guards acted swiftly, and soon, following her instructions, they took the rations and distributed them to the refugees.

Wutong squatted next to a large box, using it as a table. She poured some water into the inkstone, ground out some ink, and began to write a letter.

When she left, she brought several carrier pigeons with her in the car so that she could easily contact Adan and the others.

After writing the letter, she let it air dry in the wind for a while until the ink was dry. Then she folded it into a very thin strip, put it into the letter tube on the pigeon's leg, and took it to a high place to release it.

Li Deming witnessed this scene firsthand, and without asking, he knew what she had written in the letter—that she had instructed people to deal with the remaining disaster victims.

The sycamore tree descended from the hillside, its figure slender and small, appearing exceptionally insignificant against the backdrop of the large rocks and towering trees beside it, as if it could be broken with the slightest effort.

Many people say that a woman's charm comes from her attraction to men. Li Deming has never felt anything for women, so he naturally doesn't agree with this statement. He has encountered women who tried to attract him before, but he only felt annoyed.

Some say it's because Duan Fufeng's appearance is too perfect, transcending the boundaries of male and female. Spending his days and nights with such a person naturally raises his standards for others; unless the other person is exceptionally beautiful, they simply cannot move him.

But at this moment, as he looked at Wutong, who was so thin and frail, he seemed to be surrounded by an invisible aura that commanded respect from the bottom of his heart—a feeling that had nothing to do with her appearance.

Wutong walked up to him, smiled, and asked, "Have you finished sending them out? Let's get going then."

"Your Majesty," Li Deming turned around and looked at her back, saying, "There's something I'm not sure if I should say."

Wutong turned around in surprise: "Even Lord Li has moments of inner conflict?"

Isn't he always cold-blooded and ruthless?

Li Deming said, "We should speak up because you are the prince's beloved, and we have an obligation to protect you for his sake. We shouldn't speak up because it would be useless to do so."

Wutong composed herself and asked somewhat coldly, "What is it? Please speak freely."

Li Deming walked over and whispered, "You're too soft-hearted. These people are a legacy of Duan Yanxi's rule. Their existence is just to let the people of the Central Plains see how good their lives are after you arrive. If you rush to deal with them, you won't be appreciated. Instead, people will think you're trying to cover up the truth. If this continues, you'll inevitably be sidelined by the officials."

Wutong said, "I saved them without expecting anything in return. It's just that they are human lives, and I have the ability and opportunity to do so, so I couldn't just stand by and watch them die."

"What if this gives someone leverage to force you to step down?"

Wutong smiled enigmatically: "If they have the ability to force us, then let them come. I will gladly oblige."

Besides, she has already done everything she needed to do; all that's left is for Duan Fufeng to wake up. Once he wakes up, even if those people don't force her to abdicate, she will still leave.

1 = Lao Qu said