Walking southwest from Pinecone Village for seventeen miles, one would arrive at Pingshui Town.
Although it was just a town, it was very famous within a radius of a hundred miles.
Because over ten years ago, a scholar erged from here nad Lin Xianzong.
He was originally a provincial graduate from the previous dynasty, but in the first special imperial examination of the Kingdom of Jing, he won third place overall.
All the way from a seventh-rank Compiler in the Hanlin Academy, to a sixth-rank Senior Compiler, and then to a fifth-rank Reader-in-Waiting.
In just over a dozen years, he had already beco the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, a proper third-rank official.
Lin Xianzong's wife and children had naturally been taken to the capital to enjoy a life of ease.
But his old father and mother were unwilling to go.
There were too many officials in the capital, and they were too high-ranking.
In Pingshui Town, they were noble people whose words carried absolute weight. Even the County Magistrate had to bring people to pay respects and greet them every year. If they went to the capital, that might not necessarily be the case.
Benefiting from this, the residences and shops in Pingshui Town also beca expensive.
Especially the few adjacent to the Lin family, which were astronomically expensive.
A shop two zhang deep could command a sky-high price of thirty thousand taels.
Even so, it had already changed hands several tis. People coming to buy it were in an endless stream, making the townspeople drool with envy.
If any family owned such a shop, they wouldn't have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of their lives.
At this ti in the town, Lin Qiaoxi, dressed in n's clothing, was happily eating a candied hawthorn stick.
Seeing the honest-looking man beside her not moving, she ran over and followed his gaze.
It was a shop steaming stead buns. The hot white steam billowing out every ti the stear was opened made it look like a fairyland.
"Blockhead, are you hungry?" Lin Qiaoxi asked.
Lin Xianzong had many relatives in town, and Lin Qiaoxi was exactly from one of those branches.
Her great-grandfather and Lin Xianzong's great-grandfather were cousins. Although they hadn't yet passed the five generations of mourning, they were already the fourth generation.
Despite this, nowadays, anyone surnad Lin hoped to establish a connection with the Lin family.
Every year during the New Year, the Lin family's main gate was wide open from morning to night, and even then, many people couldn't get in line.
Lin Qiaoxi's father, Lin Guiwan, was also considered one of the wealthy households in town.
But she had never developed a spoiled temperant. She treated people amiably and especially liked to dress in n's clothing to go out and play.
The town was only so big. Over ti, everyone knew who she was, they just didn't expose her.
Lin Qiaoxi knew this clearly and enjoyed it.
The honest man beside her was exactly Zhang Anxiu's older brother, Zhang Sanchun.
Normally, he helped Chu Xun farm the land together with his sister. When it wasn't the busy farming season, he still ca to the Lin family to do short-term work.
He had a wooden temperant and was even less good with words.
The year before last, Lin Qiaoxi fell seriously ill. Who knows who told Zhang Sanchun that boiling a stone into an egg could cure the Eldest Miss's illness.
Except for a fool, everyone knew this was impossible.
As a result, Zhang Sanchun really went to boil it. He boiled it continuously for eight days and nine nights, and finally forcefully boiled that round stone until it exploded, cutting him all over.
This made the family's nurous long-term and short-term workers, servants, and children laugh heartily.
At that ti, Lin Qiaoxi's illness was almost cured. Knowing that Zhang Sanchun was boiling a stone, she didn't stop him, but instead ca to see whose fool was this foolish.
As a result, the stone happened to explode. Zhang Sanchun's clothes were torn to shreds, and he cried with a handful of tears and snot.
Lin Qiaoxi walked over and couldn't help but say, "It's just a minor injury, is there a need to cry like this?"
Zhang Sanchun still didn't know it was her speaking. Holding the scalding hot broken stone, he said heartbrokenly, "The stone is broken, so the Eldest Miss's illness can't be cured."
Only then did Lin Qiaoxi understand. He wasn't crying because of the pain from his injuries, but because he was sad that he couldn't cure her illness.
It wasn't that there was no one in the family who doted on her, but no one would be like Zhang Sanchun, willing to boil a stone for eight days and nine nights for her.
Could Zhang Sanchun not know that a stone couldn't be boiled into an egg?
He wasn't truly stupid; of course he knew.
But when Lin Qiaoxi asked, he asked back, "What if it really boils into one?"
From then on, Lin Qiaoxi didn't let Zhang Sanchun be a short-term worker anymore, but asked for him to be her personal servant.
No matter where she went, she had to bring him along.
For no other reason than that phrase, "What if."
A fool who was willingly prepared to boil a stone for eight days and nine nights for a "what if" would definitely not harm her.
Seeing Zhang Sanchun staring at the stead bun shop today, Lin Qiaoxi thought of buying him a few white flour stead buns to taste.
However, Zhang Sanchun shook his head; he didn't want to eat stead buns.
"Ah Xun was still saying last year that he wanted to co to town to buy a shop and do so roasted goods business next year, it's just that the shops in town are too expensive."
Lin Qiaoxi knew who the Ah Xun he spoke of was. Although they had never t, from what Zhang Sanchun said, he was a very smart person.
However, she wasn't interested in smart people. She only asked Zhang Sanchun, "What about you? What do you want to do in the future?"
Zhang Sanchun turned his head, scratched his head with an honest smile, "Whatever the Eldest Miss tells to do, I will do."
Lin Qiaoxi said, "Then pluck the stars from the sky and give them to ."
Zhang Sanchun was startled. He looked up at the sky, feeling sowhat troubled.
So high, so far, how to pluck them?
If he got a taller bamboo ladder, he wondered if he could reach them.
Seeing him really seriously thinking about how to do it, Lin Qiaoxi couldn't help but laugh out loud, "You blockhead, let's go, let's go, ti to go ho and eat."
Zhang Sanchun let out an "oh" and obediently followed behind.
Listening to Lin Qiaoxi humming a little tune ahead, a waft of fragrant scent drilled into his nose, making him want to look up, yet not daring to look recklessly.
He could only think in his heart: "The Eldest Miss slls so good, even better than the large pieces of fatty at Ah Xun fries."
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Two days later, Li Shoutian led a plowing ox back from the county town.
This was the first plowing ox in Pinecone Village, and the villagers all ran over to see the novelty.
Learning that Chu Xun had spent five taels of silver to buy it, everyone's face was full of envy.
Li Shoutian pried open the water buffalo's mouth, held down the ox's lower jaw with his left hand, and pushed his right thumb in from the corner of the ox's mouth. Taking advantage of the ox opening its mouth, he quickly used his index finger to hook up the ox's tongue, revealing the incisors on the upper palate.
"Ah Xun, look, four incisors, neat and tidy. This is an ox that just turned three, it's still young!"
Saying that, he reached out and pulled up the ox's hoof, "Look at this hoof, the hoof shell is thick and hard, without a single crack."
Finally, he led the water buffalo back and forth for a few rounds. Its four hooves landed with a sound, neither dawdling and dragging its hooves, nor drilling into the grass piles by the roadside.
This showed it wasn't a gluttonous or lazy ox; it stopped when told to stop, being very understanding of human nature.
Li Shoutian said complacently, "I ran all over the surrounding ten miles and eight villages to find such a good ox! It was fed bean cakes all last winter, so it has strength right away! Your five taels of silver are very well spent!"
Chu Xun stepped forward and touched the ox's horns. This water buffalo seed to know who its master would be in the future, affectionately sticking out its broad, thick tongue and licking Chu Xun's palm.
The spectating villagers watched until their eyes turned red.
Five taels of silver wasn't considered too much; it could be saved up in a few years, but not everyone was willing to spend this money.
Chu Xun was the first to try sothing new. So were envious, and so were jealous.
Seeing this, Li Tianjian's wife shouted out, "Now that Ah Xun has this ox, let alone reclaiming thirty acres of wasteland in a year, even if it were another thirty acres, he could handle it, right!"
These words were purely fanning the flas, reminding the nurous villagers that Chu Xun had taken on thirty acres of wasteland reclamation.
Even with the help of a water buffalo, wanting to finish this task within a year was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
If he couldn't complete it, when the county office's land surveying clerk ca, he would be fined silver.
Thinking of it this way, the villagers were no longer envious. Instead, they shouted half-jokingly, "Ah Xun, work hard! Later on, you'll be ranked first on the rit Stele!"
Li Shoutian was a bit embarrassed. Thirty acres of wasteland reclamation was indeed too much; it always felt a bit like he was setting Chu Xun up.
Zhang Anxiu shouted out angrily, "What's wrong with thirty acres! Later I'll call my brother back, it's not necessarily impossible to finish!"
Soone shouted, "Girl Xiu, you haven't even married yet, and you already know how to protect your own man. If you give birth to a fat baby boy for him in the future, won't you ascend to heaven!"
Everyone burst into a chorus of jeers, and Li Tianjian's wife was so happy her mouth twisted into a smile.
Zhang Anxiu was both ashad and annoyed. Just as she was about to speak, she was stopped by Chu Xun.
It was just thirty acres of wasteland reclamation, not a big deal. There was no need to make a scene until their faces were red and their necks thick.
(End of Chapter)
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