Chapter 156: I’ll Go and Look For Him Soon
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Xiao Jin spurred his horse onward and went in hot pursuit. Just as the man was about to escape into a small path, Xiao Jin tapped the tip of his foot and leaped forward to block his path.
The other party didn’t expect Xiao Jin to move so swiftly. After being stopped, he was so frightened that he turned around and tried to escape.
How could Xiao Jin give him this opportunity? He reached out and gripped his shoulder, and the man cried out in pain.
“Spare me, spare me! Please spare me, hero!”
Xiao Jin flung him against the wall, his dark eyes glaring icily at him. “What were you doing just now?”
“I… I’m from the West District,” the man said, his eyes darting around evasively.
Xiao Jin didn’t believe him. “What’s your name? Which part of the West District do you live in?”
“In… in a run-down house. My name is Gou San’er.”
“Take me to your place. If you lie to me, I’ll break your neck.”
The man was so frightened that he wanted to escape again, but Xiao Jin pulled off his belt and tied his hands behind him. “Move!”
The man caved in.
Su Ying turned around and saw Xiao Jin walking over with someone.
“Who’s that?”
“He said he was from the West District. He was spying on us sneakily just now.”
Su Ying scrutinized the man from head to toe. Although he was skinny, he still looked energetic, which meant that he didn’t starve much. One could tell with one look that he seemed to be able to get by.
Su Ying gave him a sinister smile. “Rascal, tell the truth. At least you won’t have to suffer.”
The man had just witnessed Su Ying’s methods. He said with a downcast face, “I… I’m from the South District. I came from the South District.”
“Our… our… our South District’s Area Chief received news of changes in the West District and sent me here to investigate.”
Su Ying nodded. “You can go back now. Ask your Area Chief to wait for me. I’ll go and look for him soon.”
The man’s face tensed up when he heard that. He got the feeling that his Area Chief was going to be in trouble.
Xiao Jin thought for a while and released that man.
The man freed himself from Xiao Jin’s restraints and ran away frantically.
Su Ying turned to Tian Mu and said, “Tian Mu, tell those who are educated and literate to step forward. We’ll make other arrangements for them.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
After the reorganization, there were about 1000 strong laborers that could be used in the West District. The remaining people were children, the elderly, and some women who had to take care of their children.
“Tomorrow, these 1000 people will be divided into 100-man groups. 100 people will follow Cheng Ming to develop the wasteland, 100 people will dig fish ponds, and the rest will be felling trees and digging the pits to make charcoal.”
The area of the Tiger Base was actually very large, but not much of the land was used. Most of the land was wasteland. If these wastelands were used to grow food, they would be self-sufficient even if they did not buy food in the future.
“Listen up, all of you. From tomorrow onward, you’ll start working. If you have tools at home, bring them with you. If you don’t have any, think of a way. Use tree roots or wooden planks, it’s up to you. If you don’t have the brains, use your hands to dig.”
After the West District was reorganized, Su Ying and the others left. The other people could handle the rest.
The day before, Su Ying had checked the inventory of the interspatial store and realized that she had bought a bunch of fruit tree saplings at some point. Fortunately, time stood still in the interspatial store, otherwise, these saplings would have been wasted.
Su Ying went to look for Cheng Ming when she got home.
After Cheng Ming was bitten by a venomous snake, he recovered within a few days after taking an antivenom serum. Now, he went down with Madam Jiang and worked with Li Laosan and the others in the fields every day.
“Cheng Ming, do you know how to plant fruit trees?”
“Fruit tree? What kind of fruit tree are you talking about, Mistress?”
Su Ying went back into the house and came out with a bunch of saplings.
Cheng Ming picked up the sapling and looked at it carefully. He looked at her in surprise. “This is a citrus fruit sapling. Where did you get it, Mistress?”
“I got it from the Tiger Base. Tiger Might got someone to buy it. Can it be planted now?” Su Ying answered without thinking.
Cheng Ming said, “Based on the current weather conditions, we should be able to make it in time to plant the saplings one last round. It will be too late if we wait any longer. May I know how many saplings there are?”
Su Ying thought of the inventory in her interspatial store and frowned. “It’s not that many.”
“Not many?”
Su Ying left the house after she finished speaking. When she returned, she had a number of carts full of saplings.
One couldn’t blame her for buying so many at that time. These things were really cheap, one copper coin for two saplings. She thought it was a good deal, so she put them all into her interspatial store.
Cheng Ming looked at the tall pile of saplings and was so shocked that he couldn’t close his mouth. This was considered “not many?” Even if they had a small hill, the hill wouldn’t be able to hold all these saplings!
Xiao Jin was also surprised to see so many saplings. “Why did Tiger Might buy so many saplings?”
Su Ying raised her eyebrows. “How would I know?”
Xiao Jin looked at Su Ying and saw that her eyebrows were raised very high as she spoke. Based on his observations over this long period, he knew she was lying, but he didn’t call her bluff. He was waiting for the day when she would tell him the secret she had been keeping so securely to herself.
Cheng Ming quickly asked everyone to help unload the saplings. The saplings would not survive after planting if they were squashed together for too long.
“Mistress, I think that the slope that was set on fire is very suitable for planting these saplings. After the land was burned by fire, it became fertile. We can go and plow the soil again and plant the saplings. We don’t have to develop the wasteland again. This can save a lot of time and increase the survival rate of the saplings to a certain extent.”
Su Ying also felt that the slope was not a bad choice. The place was not too high or low and the altitude was just right. “Then you can bring a hundred people from the West District to work on it tomorrow.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Meanwhile, the man Xiao Jin released ran all the way back to the South District.
The man rushed into an exquisite wooden building.
“Area Chief, Area Chief, I’m back.”
In an innermost room on the second floor of the wooden building, a man so fat that he could barely open his eyes was sprawled out on a large wooden bed. A few beauties were beside him, kneading the flabby flesh all over his body.
“What are you making such a din for? Are you looking for death?” Long Ba sat up on the bed and glared at the man in anger.
“Don’t be angry, Area Chief. I’ve already found the information you asked me to look for. Today, the people from the East District have really assimilated the West District. Some of the more unruly ones were beaten into submission.”
Long Ba raised his sparse eyebrows, revealing a pair of eyes that were almost squeezed out by the flabby flesh. “They were assimilated?”
“Yes, assimilated, assimilated. It’s that same woman who had a conflict with the Azure Dragon Base. Those people have been docile ever since she came.”
Long Ba stood up from the bed, moved his obese body, and walked around the room. “Go and prepare some generous gifts. I’ll make a trip to the Tiger Base tomorrow.”
“Yes, Sir.”
At night, after dinner, Hea Shouyi went to look for Su Ying.
Su Ying saw his troubled expression and spoke first, “Uncle Hea, if you have anything to say, just say it.”
Hea Shouyi rubbed his hands in nervously as if he felt very embarrassed. “I’m a burden to you all along, Mistress. I shouldn’t be making such a request. But now that my old friend has reunited with me, I really…”
“Uncle Hea, you want to be together with Uncle Murong?”