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

The magistrate was so shocked he slapped his thigh, grabbed the beggar's shoulder, and looked him up and down before finally saying:

"It's truly terrifying. With a prince overseeing Lingyun Prefecture, how dare someone be so audacious as to do such a thing? They are utterly arrogant!"

Wutong said, "I need you to send people out as soon as possible to arrest that man and punish him according to the law, okay?"

"That's only right, but when would you like us to catch him?"

"The sooner the better."

"Well..." the county magistrate said, rubbing his hands. "To be honest, our county government has always been short-staffed. We only have ten yamen runners, but we have to manage such a large area. We are always too busy to handle everything."

Wutong asked, "Then how long do you think it will take to catch them?"

The county magistrate was still pondering when he glanced at her furtively and replied, "Uh... three to five months is always necessary, what do you think?"

Wutong said, "I'll give you half a month. If you still can't spare any manpower to arrest people after half a month, I'll report to the Prince and ask him to send you more manpower."

Having navigated the officialdom for many years, the county magistrate naturally understood the hidden meaning in her words. If this matter were to reach the prince, it wouldn't be as simple as just sending more men.

He shuddered and said:

"Steward, please, please don't! The Prince is so busy, how can we disturb him with such a matter? We will definitely be able to catch him within half a month."

"That's good." Wutong's tense face relaxed, and she smiled. Thinking of the beggar beside her, she said to the county magistrate, "You are the local official, so you must know him very well. This child has parents. Please take him back to his parents while you are arresting him, and raise him well."

After being threatened by her before, the county magistrate dared not say no. He warmly pulled the beggar to his side and promised Wutong that he would definitely help him find his parents.

With a matter on his mind resolved, Wutong left the government office with Shan and headed home.

Shan was relaxed, with a smile on his face.

"Sister Wutong, we are really amazing. People like this should be arrested and sent to jail."

Wutong glanced at her with a smile, "Where are we going now?"

"Going home? Didn't you say you were going to go up the mountain to catch snakes?"

Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything?

Shan scratched his head, and it took him a long time to remember.

"Dried persimmons!"

Wutong waved her hand and said, "Go buy it, I'll wait for you here."

Shan ran towards his beloved possession, while Wutong stood by the roadside, casually watching the passersby.

There are no places like Haoshan in southern Xinjiang. There are very few vehicles, and most of the traffic is by horse-drawn carriage. Ordinary people either ride mules or walk. Occasionally, you can see old farmers pushing handcarts to sell their grain.

A gust of wind swept by, blowing the withered leaves off the trees, which fluttered like yellow butterflies.

Wutong pulled her clothes tighter and put her hands in her sleeves to warm them. She heard a shout of concerted effort and looked up. She saw that a family on the street was building a new house and the workers were hoisting the main beam.

How wonderful, with favorable weather and a peaceful world.

She smiled as she looked at them, but after a while she realized something was wrong. This house... how could it be built in this shape?

There are only two pillars and walls supporting it at the bottom, but there are many rooms above, and it even extends into a large terrace. Fortunately, it's just a frame for now; once the bricks and tiles are filled in, it will definitely collapse.

The house is right next to the main road. If someone is passing by when it collapses, wouldn't they be in trouble?

Wutong walked across the street. Shan had already returned with the persimmon cakes and asked, puzzled, "Where are you going? Aren't we going home?"

Wutong gestured for a moment, walked straight outside, and called out to the workers installing the main beams, "Is the homeowner here?"

The worker, drenched in sweat from his labor in the cold winter, wiped his face and asked, "He's unloading bricks in the back. Do you need something from him?"

“I want to talk to him about the house.”

The worker called out towards the inner courtyard, and soon a middle-aged man who looked like a portly businessman came out, wearing a silk hat. He looked the sycamore up and down and asked, "What brings you here?"

The parasol tree points directly overhead.

Is this house yours?

"Yes, it's my family's ancestral land, so what?"

What did you do before?

“It used to be a pawnshop. I’ve been in the pawnshop business my whole life.” Seeing her asking so many detailed questions, the man suspected she was there to cause trouble and said impatiently, “What’s it to you?”

Wutong explained, "Your house is not built to standard dimensions; it's wider at the top and wider at the bottom. If you continue building like this, it will collapse."

The man stroked his beard and sneered.

"You don't understand. I hired a specialist to design this house and spent a lot of money to buy the lightest neem wood from out of town to use as load-bearing boards, which is why it can be built this way."

The sycamore tree shook its head.

"Unless you use cotton to support the weight, it still won't stand up. I advise you to make changes as soon as possible."

Building a house is a joyous occasion, and the pawnshop owner had been waiting to build a new house for half his life. Now that construction has finally begun, a woman came along and started spouting nonsense.

Not only did he not listen, he also started swearing.

"You bitch, don't think you can talk nonsense just because you're pretty! Shut up or I'll pull your teeth out!"

Shan listened from behind, but since she didn't understand what was going on with the house, she couldn't get a word in edgewise. All she knew was that Wutong was doing it for his own good, and not only did he not thank her, he even cursed at her, which made her so angry that she grabbed a persimmon and threw it at his fat face.

"Go to hell, whose tooth do you want to pull? Say it again!"

Wutong hadn't expected a fight to break out, so she quickly stopped Shan from smashing a second one.

The fat shopkeeper nearly had his nose knocked out of shape. Rubbing his nose, he cursed, "Trying to stir up trouble, huh? You didn't even pick a day right. Brothers, whoever catches these two women, I'll give him two hundred dollars for free."

The second half of the sentence was addressed to the workers, and everyone's eyes lit up upon hearing it.

Two hundred yuan was enough for them to work a whole day, so they all jumped down from the wall to grab them.

Seeing this, Wutong grabbed Shan and ran away, leaving behind a sentence in the distance.

"I'm not lying to you. If you don't believe me, just wait three days and see. If the house collapses, come find me at the fifth house to the west of the market entrance."

The two disappeared into the alley in a flash, never to be seen again.

Finally shaking off the workers, Shan ran home, leaning against the wall, panting, and asked:

"Sister Wutong, do you really think his house will collapse?"

Wutong said, "It would be strange if this structure didn't collapse. He was probably tricked by some expert, and even after spending a lot of money, he still couldn't avert disaster."

Shan poured himself a glass of water and handed her one as well.

"But I think that guy seems pretty stubborn. I think he won't admit defeat even if the house collapses."

Wutong smiled faintly, downed the water in one gulp, and said to her, "You just watch."

Shan leaned against the doorframe, waiting for the agreed-upon three-day period.

=