Su Xiaoqi actually wanted to fight, but she hadn't had the chance yet.
She followed Zhao Guanggun's fiery gaze.
Her eyes met a pair that was as deep as a clear pool.
Shen Yun!
Su Xiaoqi couldn't believe her eyes.
Didn't he always say he wanted to hide his strength and keep a low profile?
Today, he actually slapped someone in public.
Had some nerve snapped?
Zhao Guanggun, enraged, wanted to strike back, but his raised hand couldn't fall.
He was intimidated by Shen Yun's aura.
Terrifying, Shen Yun was too terrifying.
Those eyes embedded in his handsome face stared intently at him, cold glints shooting out, giving him a sense of despair.
It felt like drowning, reaching out but grasping nothing.
He stood frozen, his bloodshot eyes wide, his hand raised, not daring to move.
"Hey, hey, hey, Zhao Dexing, don't be rash," the village head Zhao Baoren stopped him.
He leaned in and whispered, "Young Master Shen is a scholar now.
He doesn't even have to kneel when speaking to the magistrate. What are you, a hunchback, daring to lay a hand on him?"
The others beside him were also advising, "Exactly. He just took a woman's copper coins, and now he's about to turn hostile."
"You, you all help him, you all help..." Zhao Guanggun didn't dare to hit in the first place.
No matter how rough he was, he knew the rules.
He had just been provoked, and then Shen Yun slapped him so hard, it made him lose face in front of the villagers.
He couldn't find a way out.
He yelled and cursed fiercely as he quickly picked up his own copper coins and left.
The villagers generally understood Zhao Guanggun's character.
Therefore, no one felt uncomfortable because Shen Yun had hit him.
Who told him to have a clumsy hand and touch another woman?
No one had any other thoughts about his departure.
Soon, under Zhao Baoren's organization, everyone resumed their work.
With the troublemaker gone, the rest of the work proceeded smoothly.
They weighed the buckwheat family by family, settled accounts family by family. There were over forty households, and it went on until the lamps were lit.
Once they finally finished and sent off all the sellers of buckwheat, the village head's wife, Madam Yu, looked at the two oil lamps lit in the courtyard, her face wrinkling with heartache.
She quickly went to extinguish one and carefully put it away in the room.
Zhao Baoren spat at her, "Stingy woman."
He then turned to Shen Yun with a smile, specifically glancing at the copper coins Su Xiaoqi had placed on the table.
The money spent on oil lamps today would be earned back in the blink of an eye, so why be stingy?
Su Xiaoqi was tallying the accounts when Shen Yun suddenly leaned closer.
She glanced at him but didn't pay him any mind, continuing to lower her head to finish sorting out the final accounts.
Then she heard Shen Yun whisper, pointing at the buckwheat ledger, "Wife, this black buckwheat is five thousand and two jin, and the ordinary buckwheat is ten thousand and one hundred jin.
A total of fifteen thousand one hundred and two jin."
Su Xiaoqi looked up and said that she knew the accounts and he didn't need to tell her specifically.
After all, she had paid out thirty-five string of coins.
She wouldn't bother with the fractions.
Shen Yun leaned even closer and said, "Wife, I promised the village head a benefit of one wen per ten jin."
Su Xiaoqi frowned, "What?"
Shen Yun repeated what he had just said.
Although a bit embarrassed, he had to give the village head what he promised.
"A total of over fifteen thousand jin, minus the fractions, amounts to one thousand five hundred wen."
Shen Yun explained, saying that if she was unwilling, he would give her the money tomorrow.
Su Xiaoqi blinked.
No wonder the village head was so agreeable and busy with everything.
She grabbed Shen Yun, who was still explaining, and whispered, "It's alright, we'll pay it."
She thought to herself, "Shen Yun, you're quite the businessman."
"No wonder you want to be a high official, playing the game of borrowing strength to fight."
Su Xiaoqi cheerfully paid Zhao Baoren one string and five hundred coins.
Zhao Baoren's face lit up, revealing his yellow teeth, and he kept thanking the young couple.
"Then, Village Head, look, this buckwheat..." Shen Yun said.
"Stack it here, stack it for now, no problem. You can come and move it whenever you want."
Zhao Baoren held a large string of coins, his heart bubbling with joy.
He kept showing his wife the copper coins.
Look, their family didn't have to suffer going up the mountain, and they still earned more than those who harvested the most buckwheat.
And this time, he hadn't abused his authority or played any tricks.
Instead, it was earned through his "hard work."
Zhao Baoren successfully received a look of admiration from Madam Yu.
He happily sent Su Xiaoqi and Shen Yun off.
Walking along the quiet bluestone path in the countryside under the moonlight, Su Xiaoqi squeezed her shoulder and asked Shen Yun with some confusion:
"You promised the village head earlier, why didn't you tell me."
"I was afraid you wouldn't agree," Shen Yun replied frankly.
As he said this, he used the excuse of fearing Su Xiaoqi would get lost to hold her hand.
He happened to hear Su Xiaoqi's inner thoughts:
"Hmph, sounds good, afraid I wouldn't agree. Am I that stingy?"
Shen Yun nodded, then shook his head.
In his impression, Su Xiaoqi was particularly attached to money.
When she earned money, her peach blossom eyes would crinkle into crescent moons.
But she didn't seem truly stingy.
No matter how much or how little she earned, she would always bring back something for his family in the city.
If she earned a little, she'd bring back food; if she earned a lot, she'd bring back clothes.
Seeing Shen Yun remain silent, Su Xiaoqi, fearing this might affect their hard-won "revolutionary friendship," proactively leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled, saying:
"Actually, you did a good job with this."
She thought about how Zhao Baoren's character wasn't great usually.
But today, he had genuinely helped them immensely.
If he hadn't vouched for them, she and Shen Yun would have probably gone through a lot of trouble.
Upon returning home, only Shen Xiaomei was waiting for them; the others were already asleep.
The two of them ate a quick dinner, freshened up, and went into the room.
Neither of them seemed sleepy yet.
Shen Yun thought for a moment and asked, "What are those buckwheat grains for?"
Su Xiaoqi saw him open his mouth and was very nervous at first.
She was afraid Shen Yun would bring up the "space" or similar things she didn't want to talk about.
But upon hearing it was about this, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief and explained with her fingers:
"Some can be made into buckwheat tea, which is beneficial for health. We'll keep some for ourselves, and sell the rest in the city.
Let me tell you, the leftover buckwheat I had before sold for thirty wen per jin."
Shen Yun raised an eyebrow. The cost of hiring people to harvest was at most three wen per jin, yet his little wife had the ability to multiply it tenfold.
Amazing!
"Another part can be processed into medicinal herbs."
Su Xiaoqi said that it was recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica that buckwheat was bitter, with a neutral and cold nature, which could strengthen the intestines and stomach, benefit vital energy, restore spirit, improve hearing and sight, and refine the five organs.
In the "Essentials of Prescriptions for the Golden Chamber" and the "Dictionary of Chinese Medicine," buckwheat is also recorded, stating its great efficacy, such as calming the spirit, activating blood circulation, lowering qi and widening the intestines, clearing heat, reducing swelling and pain, resolving accumulations and stagnation, cleansing the intestines, moistening the intestines, promoting bowel movements, stopping cough, relieving asthma, anti-inflammation, anti-allergy, strengthening the heart, weight loss, and beauty.
Speaking of traditional Chinese medicine, this was her family tradition. She suddenly felt the familiar sensation of discussing medicinal properties with her family in modern times.
She spoke incessantly, "blah blah blah."
"How did Xiaoqi learn these medical principles?" Shen Yun asked tentatively.
Whether viewed from the perspective of the Su family or another angle, it was unlikely for her to have learned such things.
Su Xiaoqi was stunned. This question struck a chord. She couldn't help but think of her situation in modern times.
Her parents, brother, and the siblings from her uncles' and aunts' families.
All of them were the same; they had to memorize medicinal texts before they could even recognize characters.
These things were deeply ingrained in her bones, and even after she switched to studying agricultural science, she hadn't forgotten them.
She thought for a moment and managed to utter four words: "Family heritage."
In her heart, she sighed continuously, "I miss them so much, so, so much."
Shen Yun carefully discerned the two sentences he heard.
One was what Su Xiaoqi said to him, and the other was what she was thinking.
Who did she miss? Was it the Su family, those beggars she saw on the street that day, or neither?