For the cavalry, a journey of thirty miles only takes half a day.
However, Xia Zhaoyi did not go to Xucheng immediately. She wanted to visit nearby villages first.
Su Yumei also wanted to go and see it, so Xia Zhaoyi and Zhan Ning left with her.
Compared with the cool breeze and warmth that greets spring, the villages and towns around Xucheng are gloomy and gloomy.
They walked for an hour until they reached Nanchangzhuang, where someone warmly welcomed them.
There were many people sitting in the yard, basking in the sun and chatting about household matters. They were warmly welcomed in.
The hospitable host brought a large bowl of tea. The fresh and tender tea leaves floating on the water had just been roasted for a few days.
Su Yumei took the bowl and said in surprise: "Aunt Huang is so brave. If this tea is carefully packaged and sold to a merchant, it will probably cost five taels of silver at least."
Aunt Huang smiled: "You are far away guests, so of course it is easy to entertain you. But look at this girl, her temperament is refined, she is not an ordinary person at first glance. Make good friends and seek good luck!"
Su Yumei looked at Xia Zhaoyi as she pointed and said with a smile, "Aunt Huang has good eyesight."
Everyone in the courtyard had already been quietly sizing up the girl.
The girl is delicate and beautiful, her skin is as white as gelatin, and she is as quiet as a spring flower shining in the water. Especially her look with her eyebrows lowered while drinking tea is so peaceful and calm that she seems to have stepped out of the painting.
Because of Aunt Huang's words, everyone laughed, and they all thought that a scholarly family must be able to raise such a girl.
Xia Zhaoyi smiled slightly and did not answer.
Su Yumei began to inquire about the topics that everyone was discussing when they first arrived.
An aunt who loved gossiping among the women immediately told them what had just happened about Mrs. Nie's fainting.
Su Yumei was curious: "That princess in the palace is in Xucheng?"
"It has been some time," the aunt said, "and she has come to collect the farms and properties of our farmers. She wants to collect whatever she likes."
"But she values everything. She wants every farmer's property." Another woman added in a low voice.
They can't say much, they can only say "facts" and can't make comments.
Su Yumei understood and nodded.
But once the aunt started, the others couldn't stop. Especially after Aunt Huang came back and sat down, she couldn't help but talk about the mulberry farmers in Liujia Village.
In addition to the mulberry farmers in Liujia Village, there were also winter-aged sugar canes from Shiqiao Road Slope, which collected all the sugar cane in the village at very low prices.
As well as those honey farms, the princess also wants to collect them all.
There was a lot of wild honey from caves in the mountains. The princess said that it belonged to the imperial court and could no longer be harvested privately. She also began to pursue the farmers who had collected wild honey in the past and fined them ten times the amount.
As he talked, he also mentioned that before coming to Mingtai County, the princess had been eating at merchants in Hejing, all the way from Hejing to Xizhou Prefecture, and only came to Xucheng, Mingtai County a few days ago.
The village women, who usually spoke loudly, were careful when talking about these things. One of them slipped up and almost said "occupy by force", which frightened her so much that her heart beat wildly and her face turned pale.
But Su Yumei couldn't bear it anymore and gritted her teeth and said: "This is plundering and forcibly occupying the property of farmers and merchants."
These words were like thunder on the ground, and all the women hurriedly said: "Hush!"
"Girl, I don't want to say this to anyone!"
"Something's going to happen!"
"We will suffer the consequences!"
"I won't say anything anymore," Su Yumei saw that they were frightened and said hurriedly, "I won't say anything anymore."
She looked away and looked towards Xia Zhaoyi.
The girl listened quietly the whole time without saying a word.
When Su Yumei looked at her, she smiled faintly, her eyes as bright as the moon.
"Well, don't say anything," Aunt Huang said, "Drink tea, and I'll change the heat for you."
The reason why he is willing to entertain guests with such good tea leaves is partly related to the fact that the tea leaves will not be his own tomorrow.
Maybe, we can "grab" their Nanchang Village tomorrow.
Yang Fugui and Li Man haven't entered the city yet, and everyone is waiting in the tea shed on Shiqiao Road slope where the sugar cane has been collected.
Farmers have just experienced the cold winter, and it is coming again. Carloads of sugar cane are being hauled to the candy workshops ten miles away. Many people are sitting on the roadside crying.
It's hard for Yang Fugui and the others to go up and ask. They all have foreign accents. If they can, they won't talk too much at the moment.
While waiting, several woodcutters were drinking tea and chatting nearby.
No one paid attention at first, until a few of them started arguing.
"You fart, I saw it with my own eyes. It's a man. He's in his twenties. He's as good-looking as a god descending from the earth!"
"It's a girl, both of them are girls! What beautiful girls!"
"Are you talking about Nanchangzhuang?"
"Yes, Aunt Huang brought tea to entertain you, so I just passed by!"
"I'm also talking about Nanchangzhuang, that's a man, a man!!"
…
Several woodcutters were so noisy that their faces turned red.
Yang Fugui looked away and said softly: "Are you talking about Miss Ali?"
"The second young lady is a woman," Xia Songyue said.
"Look at him," Chen Dingshan pointed at the woodcutter who insisted on seeing two men. "Our second young lady is like a flower. He recognized her as a man and she was still challenging others."
"Ignore it," Xia Songyue said, "Let's drink tea.'
The fat boy in Chen Dingshan's arms suddenly poked his head out at this moment.
All the men looked down.
The big fat man looked around with his bright eyes, and suddenly made a "woof" sound in one direction.
The men looked in that direction and saw only a row of old farmers passing by pushing sugar cane.
"This little guy, what are you yelling about?" Xia Songyue stretched out his big palm and touched its head.
"Hey, it's that man," Chen Dingshan looked at the big man who had just squatted down on the other side of the sugar cane, "we met at the Zhujiagou Village Inn."
Dai Yucai knelt down to ask questions, suspecting that his ears had heard wrongly.
As he handed the handkerchief to the old farmer, he was surprised: "What? How much did it cost?"
The old farmer covered his face and cried, not wanting to talk anymore.
Dai Yu patted his shoulder, stood up and went to inquire with others.
Chen Dingshan lowered his head, looking at the little fat man and staring at the big man: "This bastard, why is he doing this?"
"Perhaps it's because others are crying," Li Man said solemnly, "I can't even afford the rent for four cents of silver to take away goods that can be sold for ten taels of silver."
The big man kept asking questions and gradually walked away.
The little fat man let out a grunt and buried his little head back in Chen Dingshan's arms.
At about midnight, with the sun setting like a fire in the sky, Xia Zhaoyi and Su Yumei walked back to the stone bridge slope on the ground full of gold.
Su Yumei's eyes were red, as if she had just cried. When everyone set off to Xucheng, Su Heng quietly asked his sister what was wrong.
Su Yumei was too tired to say too much, so she just said: "The common people are suffering."
Rushing in front of the city gate, everyone entered the city.
After entering Xucheng, Xia Zhaoyi did not go to Sixteen Roads immediately, but went to the busiest Wanjin Street in Xucheng.
Everyone stopped in an alley, and Li Man stepped forward and knocked on the back door of a mansion. The woman who came out to open the door looked at the girl and fell on the girl holding the puppy, and asked with some anxiety: "What's the girl's last name?"
"
"Xia." Xia Zhaoyi smiled.
"Master!" The woman was overjoyed and came out to greet her, "You are here!"
