Imperial Husband Chapter 87

Chapter 87

Time passed swiftly like flowing water. In the blink of an eye, the day of the appointment had arrived.

During this period.

Li Jin and the others originally planned to leave, but for the sake of the sweet potatoes, they stayed an extra day.

"Brother Jin, we just uncover it like this?" Dongzi carefully followed Li Jin's instructions, removing the soil that had covered the sweet potato seedlings three days ago, revealing the leaves inside.

The leaves were still green, quite pleasing to the eye, which also shocked the village chief who had come along.

The idea of burying seedlings in soil and having them survive—if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, the village chief truly wouldn't have believed it.

Am I really not dreaming?

The village chief vigorously rubbed his eyes, wanting to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Mm." Li Jin nodded, then reached into one of the sweet potato seedlings and found that they had successfully taken root. "Village Chief, it's a success. From now on, you can have the villagers use the same method to plant them. If they encounter any problems, they can ask Dongzi."

Thud.

The village chief suddenly knelt before Li Jin and kowtowed heavily, producing a loud sound. "Young Master Li, our Liujia Village will always remember your great kindness."

If the village chief had initially felt grateful when Li Jin ordered Zhou Yunting to rescue him, that feeling was now eclipsed by an immeasurable depth of gratitude.

The village chief even dared not imagine what would have happened to their Liujia Village if they hadn't met Li Jin.

"People of Liujia Village, come out, come out!"

Suddenly, shouts and curses coming from outside Liujia Village caught the attention of Li Jin and the others.

"This is..."

"That's the Wangjia Village chief. Young Master Li, I'll go check first." The village chief quickly recognized the voice and hurriedly bid farewell to Li Jin and the others, running over quickly.

"A-Yuan, let's go take a look too."

"Alright."

Soon after.

Upon arriving at the outskirts of Liujia Village, Li Jin and the others heard the Liujia Village chief arguing with the Wangjia Village chief.

"You can't put it that way. The sweet potatoes we Liujia Village got are barely enough to keep us from starving. If I give the rest to your village, wouldn't that mean letting the people of Liujia Village go hungry?"

The Wangjia Village chief said through gritted teeth, "I don't care. Anyway, regarding the sweet potatoes, our Wangjia Village should also have a share."

"The village chief is right, we should have a share too."

The villagers who came along also had reddened eyes, looking as if they would fight to the death if Liujia Village didn't agree.

"Impossible."

The Liujia Village chief flatly refused.

To tell the truth, if circumstances allowed, he wouldn't act this way, but the problem was they themselves didn't have enough.

"The sweet potatoes were discovered by our Liujia Village. What right do you have to force us to hand them over?"

"That's right, you people from Wangjia Village are too unreasonable."

The Liujia Village villagers immediately retorted angrily.

The Wangjia Village chief's gaze turned cold. "Fine, since you refuse to hand them over, we'll just go in and take them by force."

The Liujia Village chief said furiously, "Wangjia Village people, don't push us too far."

The Wangjia Village chief, feeling desperate and reckless, said, "We can't even survive anymore, why would we care about pushing people too far? Everyone listen to me, at my signal..."

Li Jin calmly walked to the Liujia Village chief's side, interrupting, "You are the Wangjia Village chief?"

"You are..."

Li Jin's appearance startled the Wangjia Village chief.

Who is he?

The Wangjia Village chief was a man who had seen the wider world, having once traveled to the capital to sit for the imperial examinations. He could tell at a glance that Li Jin's clothes were extraordinary, even very similar to what those scions of noble families in the capital wore. Could he be a noble from the capital?

"This is Young Master Li. He was the one who discovered the sweet potatoes."

The Liujia Village chief directly brought up Li Jin.

"Well met, Young Master Li." The Wangjia Village chief cupped his hands in greeting. "I am indeed the Wangjia Village chief. As for what I said earlier, it was also for the sake of the Wangjia Village villagers. I implore Young Master Li to also tell us Wangjia Village the location of the sweet potatoes."

Li Jin shook his head. "Chief Wang, given the current situation in Zhuzhou, even if I could really give you some of Liujia Village's sweet potatoes, it wouldn't solve the famine problem for Wangjia Village villagers. In fact, in the long run, the people of both Liujia and Wangjia villages wouldn't survive."

"Young Master Li, I know what I just did was no different from bandits, but I can't watch the villagers starve to death one by one."

After saying this, the Wangjia Village chief clenched his fists.

Li Jin could see the Wangjia Village chief's anxiety and didn't beat around the bush, getting straight to the point. "Not long ago, Dongzi from Liujia Village and I happened to successfully plant sweet potatoes in the dry field. I wonder if Chief Wang would be willing to give it a try?"

"Plant? Young Master Li, are you serious?"

Hearing that sweet potatoes could actually be planted, the Wangjia Village chief was overjoyed.

Being able to plant them themselves meant self-sufficiency, not having to worry every day about running out of food. Moreover, given Wangjia Village's current situation, Li Jin's words were undoubtedly like sending charcoal in snowy weather. If successful, not only Wangjia Village, but the entire famine in Zhuzhou caused by the drought could be resolved.

"If I weren't confident, I wouldn't say this to Chief Wang."

"Good, I agree." The Wangjia Village chief gritted his teeth and agreed. "However, I must be blunt. Before the sweet potatoes are grown, our Wangjia Village still needs existing sweet potatoes. Otherwise, we simply cannot survive."

Li Jin said, "Chief Wang, soon, the disaster relief grain from the imperial court will be transported to Zhuzhou. By that time, before the sweet potatoes mature, the villagers will not starve to death."

One stone stirred up a thousand waves.

Li Jin's words immediately stunned the villagers of both Liujia and Wangjia villages.

However, the Wangjia Village chief quickly regained his composure and said with a bitter smile, "Young Master Li, although I don't know where you heard this news, that grain will never reach us to claim."

"Chief Wang is worried about the powerful families and merchants in Zhuzhou controlling the grain?"

"Shh." The Wangjia Village chief hurriedly signaled Li Jin not to continue. "Young Master Li, as the saying goes, a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake. I observe that your status is not simple, but it's better not to speak of such matters. It could bring trouble upon you."

The Wangjia Village chief had personally suffered from this before; otherwise, with his capability to go to the capital for the imperial examinations back then, he wouldn't have ended up as just a small village chief in Wangjia Village.

"It's fine. It's just us here, it won't spread."

Li Jin shook his head, but his eyes looked meaningfully in a certain direction within Liujia Village.

"Alright." Seeing that Li Jin didn't take the matter to heart, the Wangjia Village chief couldn't help but sigh, then asked, "Young Master Li, regarding what you said earlier, do you have a way for us common folk to get the disaster relief grain sent by the imperial court?"

"Yes."

Li Jin nodded.

Hearing this, the Wangjia Village chief still felt somewhat incredulous. "But..."

Li Jin interrupted unhurriedly, "Chief Wang, after today, I will enter Zhuzhou City. By then, you will know whether what I said is true or not."

"Good, then I'll await Young Master Li's good news."

The Wangjia Village chief knew when to advance and retreat. Since Li Jin had said so, he didn't dwell on the issue further and instead asked about planting sweet potatoes.

Li Jin promptly pushed Dongzi forward, letting the Wangjia Village chief consult Dongzi.

It must be said, when Dongzi was introduced to the Wangjia Village villagers by Li Jin, the Wangjia Village villagers, including the chief, were dumbfounded, their eyes filled with disbelief.

He was merely a shuang'er. They could not possibly allow a lowly shuang'er to instruct them. Furthermore, they doubted he even possessed such knowledge.

However, their doubts didn't last long before they were shocked by Dongzi's solid knowledge and miraculous planting method. The Liujia Village villagers were the same.

Initially, the Liujia Village villagers also thought Dongzi was messing around. Unexpectedly, it succeeded.

Of course.

There were still some who didn't believe Dongzi and insisted on using their own methods to plant sweet potatoes.

Li Jin had no objection to this.

After all, the method had been taught to them. Whether to plant or how to plant was their own choice. They just shouldn't regret it when the sweet potatoes mature in the not-too-distant future.

Seeing that the Wangjia Village villagers had been persuaded by Li Jin and left, Wang Jinhua secretly called over her brothers from her maternal family. "Eldest Brother, Third Brother, you heard what Chief Wang said today, right?"

"Mm."

Wang Jinhua's eldest brother, Wang Dacai, nodded displeasedly.

In his heart, he hated Li Jin intensely, feeling that Li Jin's appearance had obstructed their plans. Otherwise, with him and Wang Facai entering Liujia Village to steal, they could have made a big profit. They wouldn't need to go back and continue starving.

Wang Jinhua saw Wang Dacai's dissatisfaction with Li Jin and immediately suggested maliciously, "Eldest Brother, Third Brother, how about we find a time to report what that guy named Li said to the official guards? What do you think?"

"Report to the officials? That's not good, is it?"

Wang Facai shook his head, disapproving of Wang Jinhua's idea.

Wang Dacai, however, took it seriously and decided firmly, "What's not good about it? Jinhua is right. They're going to Zhuzhou City tomorrow, right? I'll report to the officials before they enter, making that Li guy suffer."

At the same time.

Standing some distance away from Wang Jinhua and her two brothers, and happened to overhear their conversation, Ying Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly. "A-Jin, they are plotting against you."

Li Jin curled the corner of his lips in a seemingly amused smile. "It's fine. Let them plot."

"A-Jin..."

Li Jin interrupted Ying Yuan, saying meaningfully, "A-Yuan, before we came, the new magistrate for Zhuzhou had already been decided. I think he's probably almost arrived in Zhuzhou by now."

Ying Yuan said in surprise, "A-Jin, are you planning to meet Lan Mingzhou?"

Ying Yuan had seen the information on Zhuzhou in the palace and knew the new Zhuzhou magistrate was Ying Zijun's study companion Lan Mingzhou, hence his tone sounded so astonished.

"Yes." Li Jin nodded, then continued, "These years, Lan Mingzhou probably hasn't had it easy under Ying Zijun's wing; otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent down to Zhuzhou by Ying Zijun."

When he first met Lan Mingzhou years ago, Li Jin had noticed this person, but it wasn't yet the time to make contact, so Li Jin hadn't taken any action.

In his previous life, Lan Mingzhou had also served as magistrate in Zhuzhou, exhausting himself for the drought relief efforts in Zhuzhou. He was a rare good official.

Unfortunately, Ying Zijun behind Lan Mingzhou didn't take Lan Mingzhou seriously at all. Not only did he steal the credit belonging to Lan Mingzhou, but he also made Lan Mingzhou a scapegoat, leaving him to die full of resentment in prison.