"You better not cause trouble," said Ye Zi’an as he hastily pulled back her outstretched hand upon hearing that she wanted to explore the Fancy Red Pavilion.
"You know it’s a dangerous place and still insist on going; you’re really asking for it." With that, Ye Zi’an held her prone in his arms and lightly smacked her bottom twice.
But the place he tapped was a bit too sensitive, making Yang Chuxia straighten up instantly, rubbing her backside with one hand while pointing at him with the other, "Ye Zi’an, you hit !"
Seeing her feign indignant, Ye Zi’an chuckled twice.
"You’re laughing? I’m telling you, this is dostic violence, do you understand what that is?"
"Oh, this is dostic violence?" Ye Zi’an stroked his chin, then leaned forward and said to Yang Chuxia, "Why don’t you commit dostic violence against then? You can hit back, okay? No matter how many tis, I won’t fight back."
After saying this, he also winked at Yang Chuxia.
"Keep dreaming," she replied.
After pushing his face away, Yang Chuxia burrowed into the blankets. "Let’s sleep, let’s sleep, I’m truly exhausted today."
"Yes, it’s all because your husband has worn you out," he said.
Ye Zi’an moved under the covers too, pulling her into his arms.
"Don’t worry, I won’t go to the Fancy Red Pavilion unless absolutely necessary, I won’t make you worry," she reassured him before they went to sleep.
"Mm, I know."
After that, they held each other and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, Ye Zi’an got up early and rode a horse to Fushui County. With such a significant incident having occurred, he, as the acting County Magistrate, had to go see to the matter.
anwhile, in Mianyang County, following his orders, the streets gradually started to see only males, as unmarried girls and younger married won were no longer seen on the streets.
And the case of the disappearing girls seed to quiet down once again.
By mid-February, there were still no leads, and during this ti, no new cases were added.
However, the searches conducted by the county yan never slackened, and the martial law on the streets was not lifted either.
Although so people were anxious, fortunately, no major chaos ensued.
It was on the day Yang Chuxia got the sugarcane seeds from Funan that people started to disappear again.
Yang Chuxia had examined Mianyang’s soil the previous year and found that with its abundant water, southern location, and hot weather, the climate was conducive to sugarcane growth. She thought about bringing in so sugarcane to see if any daring villagers would be willing to try growing it. Of course, she planned to buy so land to plant it herself. If sugarcane failed to take off in Mianyang, she would sell the harvested crop as snacks. But if it beca widespread, she would build a sugar mill in the area when more people would grow it.
Sugar was a precious commodity in ancient tis, but if more people began to sell it, it would beco cheaper, and common folk could easily enjoy it, especially since sugarcane sugar also served as a tonic.
Like in Yangshu Village, they heard that almost the entire village would be able to grow sugarcane this year. And those like Yang Da’an and Land Officer Yang, who were among the first to plant it, had made a tidy profit by now.
"Has everything been unloaded into the cellar?" Yang Chuxia asked Ming Liu while sipping water.
"Everything’s put away," Ming Liu replied.
"Hmm, we can start sprouting them in a few days."
"Isn’t it too early to start sprouting now?" Ming Liu asked, recalling that in Funan, they usually began in late March. But it was only late February now.
"It’s not too early. We’ll start sprouting in a few days, and planting in March will be just right. Sugarcane planting also depends on the region. So places plant in January and it’s not early, so places plant in March and it’s early, so places still manage just fine even if they plant in April, and so places can even grow early or late sugarcane. Actually, Mianyang is suitable for early sugarcane."
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