Chapter 124: Chapter 124: Magistrate Xu’s House
Zhou Anran fell into a momentary trance the moment she heard her father’s words. Her heart pounded against her chest.
"Ran’er?" Zhou Wenzhi called out again with a tinge of concern in his voice. He thought that she must have been anxious.
After all, from birth until she got married and had several kids, his eldest daughter never had dealings with officials like Magistrate Xu.
Zhou Anran snapped out of her daze. She took a deep breath and composed herself. "Father, when is it?"
"Tomorrow, after lunch." Zhou Wenzhi answered. "Are you alright with this? If not..."
"I am fine, Father. I will come!" She hurriedly replied. "I believe that Magistrate Xu is a good person."
No one could see her clenching her right hand. She was actually really nervous, partly because she might be able to see the man who had a similar face to her husband; the other reason was because she already had a vague guess why the Magistrate had called Shun Zi over.
With so many people having their harvest yield improved, it was bound to cause suspicion.
Fortunately, Shun Zi was a helpful person. They already predicted that this day would come and already made preparations in advance.
The story might have sounded like nonsense at first thought, but considering that most people were still superstitious, it should work.
Magistrate Xu might be doubtful. However, he also wouldn’t be able to prove its authenticity. Merchant Yang travelled a lot, which made him know a lot of places and their history.
He also contributed a lot to help Zhou Anran and Shun Zi in making up the story that made it sound believable.
"So... Mrs. Zhou found a pack of rice in an abandoned temple and tried to plant them?" Magistrate Zhou stroked his beard. "The more she plants it, the better the paddy rice’s quality becomes."
"That’s correct, Your Excellency." Shun Zi nodded. "It must be God’s blessing for us after seeing our people suffer a lot in our current conditions."
At this moment, they were sitting in Magistrate Xu’s living room. Xiao Qingya sat on her mother’s lap, extremely obedient. She never cried nor made a fuss in a new environment.
The moment Zhou Anran entered the house with Xiao Qingya, Magistrate Xu was momentarily in trance because of the little one’s appearance.
Why does he find that she was somewhat familiar? But he was sure he had never seen this little baby before. On top of that, Xiao Qingya appeared extremely obedient, unlike other babies.
Her eyes had a hint of cleverness, as if she was aware of what was going on and wasn’t as ignorant as babies her age.
"Your Excellency, my apologies. My daughter doesn’t want to be separated from me, so I have to bring her along on our visit." Zhou Anran had to apologize for bringing an extra person along.
Her words made Xiao Qingya a little bewildered, but she also didn’t think much of it.
"It’s fine, Mrs. Zhou." Magistrate Xu looked young, probably only a few years older than Zhou Anran.
Upon seeing Xiao Qingya, he also couldn’t resist asking. "Your daughter is so obedient. How old is she?"
Zhou Anran was a little taken aback, and she answered honestly. "She is nearly three years old, Your Excellency."
Fortunately, the topic about Xiao Qingya stopped at that. Soon, they brought up the long-awaited matter about the rice seeds.
The two proceeded to tell the magical tale of how Zhou Anran found a pack of rice in an abandoned temple. The location of the temple was quite hidden—the other side of the back mountain.
It was already filled with countless growing vegetation, moss, and even rats. Almost no one passed by that place anymore.
"I didn’t own the rice seeds and was planning to put it back, but I suddenly had a dream about an old man who told me I should plant the seeds." Zhou Anran began her nonsense. "Upon waking up, I still didn’t bring the rice seeds with me."
Magistrate Xu was listening attentively, quite invested. Meanwhile, Xiao Qingya was quite amazed.
[System, did you come up with this method to make an explanation? You are really smart!]
The System was bewildered. [Huh? Host... what?]
Alas, the little one was no longer listening to it. She focused on her mother’s next words instead.
"However, as I descended the mountain, a white cat actually followed me with the rice seeds in its mouth." Zhou Anran concluded her tale.
She had a sudden inspiration because of the System and Xiao Qingya’s conversation and decided to bring up a white cat, the System’s physical appearance.
Magistrate Xu stroked his beard, a little doubtful, yet he didn’t show it on his face. Instead, he shifted it to another topic. "How much is Mrs. Zhou’s family’s latest harvest yield?"
Zhou Anran fell silent for a moment. "Three hundred jin per mu."
Now, it was the entire room that had gone silent.
The magistrate’s butler, housekeeper, and the servants thought they had heard it wrong.
"How much... Mrs. Zhou?" The butler sputtered, in utter disbelief.
Shun Zi somewhat felt a little proud upon seeing their surprised look. Even though the butler and servants worked full-time at the magistrate’s house, most people at the county worked as farmers, so they were still aware of the recent decline in harvest yield.
"Three hundred jin per mu." Shun Zi repeated.
The people around gasped, looking at each other. They realized they hadn’t misheard when other people had the same shocked look as them.
Magistrate Xu had stopped stroking his beard. He realized he had accidentally pulled a few hairs due to disbelief when he heard Zhou Anran’s words.
He took a deep breath. "Mrs. Zhou... are your words really true?" He fell silent for a moment, and struggled to organize his words. "Can we see... when is your harvest season?"
At this moment, someone suddenly entered the room.
"Did someone say three hundred jin per mu?"
Everyone turned to the person standing at the door.
