Dingjiangshan

After Ning Huaijin finished writing the letter, she handed it to Uncle Rong and asked him to send it back to the capital, then went to change into a set of light clothes on her own, and prepared to go to Dongshan to find out.

Dongshan is not far from Anqing Mansion, twenty miles east of the city, according to Uncle Rong's words, it takes about half an hour to ride there on horseback.

Ning Huaijin still pretended to be a grain merchant who came to Anqing to collect grain. He rode a bony old horse, slowly turned from the official road to the small road, and took an hour to reach Yangmu Village.

He didn't rush to the direction of the herbal medicine field, but went to the village first, making a gesture to ask about the grain production.

It is now afternoon, and most of the young and middle-aged people in the village either go to work in the field or work in the herb field. Most of the people who stay in the village are old, young, women and children. Young children who are afraid of the heat run wildly in the world and play hide-and-seek.

Most of the farmers in the village are familiar with each other, and the folk customs are simple, so they habitually open the courtyard door during the daytime, and the women do some starching and mending work in the courtyard, and occasionally chat at the top of their voices.

Most of the children who don't have to go to school gather in twos and threes under the big willow tree at the entrance of the village, watering and playing with an ant nest.

There should not be many strangers in this village. When Ning Huaijin just walked to the entrance of the village, he attracted the attention of a group of young children. They didn't dare to stare at Ning Huaijin openly, so they got together and chatted. From time to time, he covered his face and glanced at him from behind the thick willow tree.

Ning Huaijin dismounted at the entrance of the village and looked around.

Compared with Liumu Village in the west, Yangmu Village has much better conditions. Almost most of the farm houses are built solidly and beautifully, and a few have even been repaired with tile-roofed houses. They are also a little rich, which is very different from Liumu Village.

Ning Huaijin remembered what the boss had said to him, and felt that this might be due to the medicinal land in Dongshan.

It seems that Ning Zheng's mind is focused on his mind, and he didn't make the Anqing Mansion too miserable.

But this is also normal, Ning Zheng has a big heart in his heart, so he naturally wants to cherish his feathers, so as not to go too far, so as not to get a reputation for being a tyrannical government.

Ning Huaijin thought for a while, took out two copper coins from her purse, and waved to the children behind the tree.

"Is there a little friend who can help me?" Ning Huaijin said politely: "Which family's adults are at home, and the ones are closer?"

Those young children looked at each other, but no one dared to say anything.In the end, an older boy plucked up his courage and came out from behind the tree. He cleared his throat and asked like a grown-up, "Who are you?"

The golden and precious Prince Gong smiled good-naturedly, and said, "I'm a grain merchant passing by, and I want to come to collect some grain. May I ask my friend, is there anyone in this village who can talk to me?"

It was a coincidence that the child who made the noise happened to be the grandson of the village chief's family. He heard Ning Huaijin's intentions, thought about it, and brought him into the village.

During the busy season of farming, only a peasant woman was tending the vegetable seedlings in the courtyard of the village chief's house.The boy led Ning Huaijin to the gate of the courtyard, and called mother carelessly.

The peasant woman looked up when she saw Ning Huaijin, then she took a few steps quickly, pulled the boy away from him, and asked cautiously, "Who are you?"

"I'm a grain merchant passing by." Seeing that there was no one else in the courtyard except the peasant woman, Ning Huaijin couldn't go in. She just stood at the door politely and said, "I just passed by outside the village and saw the place outside. The planting is good, so I thought to ask if there is any surplus grain for sale."

The peasant woman looked him up and down for a while, and seemed to soften her tone because she saw that he really didn't look like a bad person.

"No." The peasant woman said, "You are late. Last year's shopkeeper in the city confiscated them."

"What about this year's?" Ning Huaijin asked, "I can also give a deposit first."

"There are no more this year." The peasant woman waved her hand and said, "The government's granary has burned down, and we don't even have enough food left."

"So that's how it is." Ning Huaijin sighed pretending to be regretful: "I came from Liumu Village in the west, and saw that every family in Guicun Village is rich and has blue-brick houses. I thought the situation would be better than that there, but I didn't expect It's the same... I was the one who bothered."

The peasant woman nodded, she didn't seem to want to say any more, she was about to close the door with the boy in her hand.

Ning Huaijin originally thought that these peasant households were trapped by the low food prices, and they had to find a way to find a way with him, not to mention being very friendly when they met a businessman like him, but she didn't expect this peasant woman to avoid it like this.

With a thought in his mind, he hurriedly said, "Elder Sister—"

The peasant woman was getting impatient, and asked, "What's the matter?"

"I want to ask about the medicinal materials in Dongshan." Ning Huaijin said, "I heard that there are many medicinal materials that are also looking for sales, and my family also has some business. I wonder if the eldest sister can introduce it to the manager? "

"What kind of medicinal material?" When the peasant woman heard him mention this word, she suddenly looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her eyebrows were raised coldly, and her tone became harsh: "No, no, all official things are marketable, no Sell ​​it outside."

As soon as she finished speaking, she closed the courtyard door.Ning Huaijin saw from the gap in the wooden courtyard door that she twisted the boy's ears with one hand, and she was still whispering something.

After Ning Huaijin listened to a few sentences, they were nothing more than "bring everyone home" and "have you been told to talk to strangers?" and other lectures, which were meaningless.

Ning Huaijin didn't expect her reaction to be so big at first, but after thinking for a while, she realized that the peasant woman probably regarded him as a business grabber.

Compared with the West Village, the East Village is able to have such a prosperous life, nine out of ten are thanks to the blessing of that land, he suddenly asked about the place as a "businessman", it will inevitably make people suspicious .

Ning Huaijin has been pampered and pampered for so many years, and has never wanted to hide her fate from others like this, so she didn't react for a while.

He shook his head, smiled helplessly, secretly thinking that he had made a mistake.

From this point of view, it is impossible to start with the villagers. If Ning Huaijin wants to know what's weird in the land, he can only go and find out in person.

After thinking for a while, he led the horse and left the village for the time being, then found a secluded place to tie the horse, walked around the entrance of the village alone, passed through the farmland behind the village, and went straight to the medicinal material field.

Before coming, he already knew the location and general situation of the land from Uncle Rong.

Ning Zheng divided the land at the bottom of the mountain into two, one of which was slightly smaller for planting tea trees, and the other was larger for planting several kinds of medicinal materials.

According to the man of the pawn shop, the medicinal materials are divided into grades and grades. One of the shady places closest to the root of the mountain grows different things from the outside. There are only a few small plants, which are tightly surrounded by bluestones and fences. Strictly speaking, as long as the close people of the palace come in to serve her.As for the strong men recruited from outside, they all work in the outskirts and in the tea fields.

The pawnshop's clerk once had a keen eye and tried to inquire into the innermost circle of land, but that small area was too tightly guarded for ordinary people to approach.The man has worked there for several months, and only knows that there are a few dusty seedlings inside, which look about the same size as the weeds outside.

"The folks said that the land is cold and damp, and no matter how strong the sun is outside, there is no light in that area." At that time, Uncle Rong muttered while collecting the booklet: "...I don't know what it is. Can grow there."

Just looking at this description, Ning Huaijin felt that this was not a good thing.

Having said that, if Prince Gong spent a moment and a half looking through the old almanac before going out today, he would definitely see the three characters "Easy Travel" on it.

Ning Huaijin originally just wanted to explore the bottom of this land, to see if he could sneak in under the cover of night, steal half a herb and send it back to the capital for Yan Qing and the others to have a look.But he didn't want to sneak in in the future, but bumped into another thing.

——he saw the carriage pulling goods.

According to the clerk of Huaiyu's pawn shop, the frequency of selling these medicinal materials to the outside world is uncertain, once every half a month when it is frequent, and not every half a year when it is deserted, there is no rule at all.

So Ning Huaijin never thought that the days he came would be so small.

Ning Zheng obviously valued this piece of land very much. Ning Huaijin took a visual inspection and found that Ning Zheng had surrounded about three acres of land, and the outside was surrounded by green brick walls, so the inside could not be seen from the outside.And beside the only path that allowed him to enter the mountain, Ning Zheng built a house with two entrances and two exits, probably for the local manager.

At this time, two dusty carriages were parked in front of the gate of the house. The carts were unloaded from the horses and pressed to the ground. The doors were opened, and several men were moving things out from the blue brick wall.

What they moved were all wooden boxes one foot square, sealed tightly with blank seals, looking mysterious.

But Ning Huaijin's attention was not on those wooden boxes. He was afraid that someone would find out, so he didn't dare to walk on the main road. He just stood far away in the woods by the roadside, hiding behind a thick poplar tree and observing the car. carriage.

——He just casually glanced at it, and seemed to feel that this car looked familiar.

It's just that this feeling passed by so quickly that it was elusive. When Ning Huaijin looked carefully again, she was sure that she had never seen this car before.

But he was very confident in his memory, and he concluded that he would not miss something for no reason, so after thinking about it for a while, he decided to take a risk and explore further.

In order to prevent idlers from entering and exiting, the path leading to the medicine garden has already been repaired to make it very empty, so Ning Huaijin could only find another way and go around from the depths of the forest farther away.

Fortunately, this place is already close to the mountains, and there are towering old trees everywhere.Ning Huaijin's clothes were simple, and thanks to the luxuriant leaves in summer, she was able to barely hide in the tree for a while.

Ning Huaijin wasn't sure if there was anyone with high martial arts skills in that group, so she didn't dare to get too close, and could only park the general where she could see the carriage clearly.

He pushed aside the leaves that were covering his eyes, and looked at the carriage carefully for a while, only to suddenly realize that there was something familiar to him - the company logo hanging on the side of the carriage was something he had seen before.