Chapter 225 - 225 214 Going to the Countryside

Words : 1488 Updated : Sep 25th, 2025

225: Chapter 214: Going to the Countryside 225: Chapter 214: Going to the Countryside The county magistrate’s visit to the countryside, according to the chief, must showcase the best side, nothing less. If asked about any difficulties, the answer must surely be that there are none. So, a day in advance, he spread the word to Qili Village that if the county magistrate didn’t show up it wouldn’t matter, but if he did, they must clean up the village roads and each household should tidy up their homes and bring out their best items. White rice would be too fake, and even the chief dare not make such a demand, so he insisted that each family prepare meals as they would for the New Year. Since it had been many years since a county magistrate had visited Qili Village, many of the villagers lacked the experience of hosting a high official, and the village head could only pass along the chief’s instructions. There was much to do, and everyone met under the banyan tree at the village entrance to discuss it. By the time Manbao and the others returned from the county town, the meeting had just begun, so Manbao listened to the whole process. She was somewhat angry, feeling that it was bad enough that the chief didn’t admit to any poverty, but now he was even planning to show off their wealth. Thus, she followed behind Old Zhou to find the village head, hoping to convince him to ignore the chief’s orders and, instead of showing off, to admit to their hardship. However, before she could finish speaking, Old Zhou had already dragged her back, and while walking away, he turned back to the village head and said, “This child always has a mind full of schemes, don’t you listen to her nonsense.” The village head simply waved his hand, “Uncle Jin, please take her back, I have an idea.” Crying poverty was out of the question. It was such an obvious matter – would he still be village head if the chief settled scores with him afterwards? But showing off wealth was also impossible, for even if they wanted to, they wouldn’t be able to pull it off. The entire village pitched in, and along with the energetic children, half a day was enough to clean up the whole village. There really wasn’t much to clean, aside from picking up the loose stones on the roads and using them to fill some mud pits – what kind of trash could there be in a rural place? However, there was more to be cleaned at home. The Zhou family cleaned both inside and outside the house, with even greater care than at New Year’s. Manbao then ran off to find Shanbao, and after the two of them whispered together for a while, they took Datou to play with the three children whose houses had collapsed. Zhou Daliang had only been married for half a year and his wife wasn’t pregnant yet, so they had no children at home. Zhou Daliang wasn’t much older, so Manbao directly dragged Zhou SiLang with her to find him. The group huddled together and whispered amongst themselves. The next day, after County Magistrate Fu arrived at Qili Village from Dali Village, the first thing he intended to visit were the three families whose houses had collapsed. Upon stepping into Zhou Daliang’s low-walled courtyard, he saw several winnowing baskets on the ground, filled with rice and wheat of a somewhat unsightly color. The chief was taken aback and instinctively glared at the village head, who was also staring, but had turned his head to look at Zhou Daliang’s parents. The chief then looked at Zhou Daliang’s parents too, who evidently hadn’t expected such a situation at home, their faces turning somewhat pale as they quickly searched the crowd for their son. County Magistrate Fu did not notice their reactions and, squatting down to look at the somewhat blackened rice, he touched it and asked, “Is this water-damaged?” Zhou Daliang came out of the house carrying a bag of wheat, looking surprised at all the people in his yard, seemingly unaware that there would be so many. Manbao squeezed from the back to the front of the crowd, hiding behind Zhou Dalang and giving him a thumbs-up, signaling her approval. Zhou Daliang didn’t dare make eye contact with her and just stood there, not moving. County Magistrate Fu saw that Daliang’s parents were hesitating and couldn’t say anything, so he knitted his brows and turned to Zhou Daliang, asking again, “Are all these grains water-damaged?” Zhou Daliang nodded repeatedly and said, “Originally, each family’s grains, aside from some set aside for eating, should all be stored on wooden racks to prevent moisture. But when our house collapsed, the beams fell and the grains piled on the racks were smashed to the ground. With the torrential rain outside and the house collapsing, water flooded in, so all the grains were soaked.” Then, as luck would have it, the continuous downpour persisted after that day, and since they had to stay with relatives, they could hardly spare a thought for these grains. By the time the rain finally lessened and they found a place to dry the grains, they saw that many of the wheat grains had sprouted and quite a few rice grains had gone bad. And the rest, even if they managed to dry them out, without sunlight, still ended up sprouting. In a tough decision, Daliang’s father exchanged the sprouted wheat and rice with the villagers, trading three pounds for one pound. There was no other choice since not only had the wheat and rice sprouted, but they were also wet. Even so, not much was traded away. After all, eating a meal or two of it was fine, but buying too much to take home – if it grew taller, you wouldn’t even be able to eat it – that would truly be a waste. Old Zhou, however, exchanged quite a lot, it could be said that the Zhou family traded the most, a full three hundred pounds. More wheat than rice. The Zhou family was large and had space; Old Zhou set up charcoal fires in the kitchen, had Zhou Er make a wide and long bamboo bed, placed it on top, and kept the charcoal fire underneath to dry it. Pouring the rice onto it and carefully drying it overnight, constantly turning it, the rice slowly dried out. Although it was sprouted, Old Zhou wasn’t at all fussy about it; after drying and hulling, the family had been using these grains for porridge and meals for some time. Although Manbao found it unappetizing, lacking a lot of flavor, the Zhou family still relished it. The wheat was also dried on top, and if there wasn’t time to dry it, it was ground into flour. As the wheat was wet and still in husks, the resulting flour could hardly be called attractive, but the family didn’t mind. They dried the milled flour on the bamboo bed, carefully preserving it for later use to make noodles, pancakes, or steamed buns. Even if the taste might not be great, at least it could be preserved and not go to waste. Zhou Daliang also came to see their bamboo bed out of curiosity and even paid to order one from Zhou ErLang. But it couldn’t save much loss for his family, as the Daliang family was small and using fire to dry required constant attention. With field work to do and fires to watch at home, and possibly staying up all night, Daliang’s family of four couldn’t manage. In the end, most of the grains were still ruined because they couldn’t be promptly dried or aired out, turning black and emitting a moldy smell. County Magistrate Fu rubbed his hand over the grains, looked at his blackened palm, and moved it closer to his nose, a musty odor hitting him in the face. County Magistrate Fu pondered in silence. The official who came with him quickly said, “My lord, let’s go have a look at the next household.” County Magistrate Fu glanced at him and then asked Zhou Daliang, “How many acres of wheat and how many acres of rice did your family plant this year, how much was flooded, did you plant beans?” Zhou Daliang answered each question in turn. County Magistrate Fu nodded, instructing the steward to record his situation, then proceeded with the crowd to the other two households. Like the first, these houses also had grains airing out in the courtyard; it could be said that now, the entire village was airing out moldy, blackened grains. Everyone had a solid reason, “It’s only been sunny these past two days. If we don’t dry them quickly, it might rain again later.”

Chapter 225 - 225 214 Going to the Countryside

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