The dark-faced burly man, who had been dozing by the side, sat up straight at the sound, glancing at the Guan Hu brothers as if asking: What's going on?
Guan Hu shook his head, they didn't know either.
The men stared at each other, finally all looking towards Jiang Tou'er. Jiang Tou'er remained composed, walking a few steps to the corner of the wall and standing there silently.
Not until Qi He's exclamations were heard again from outside the wall, "Haha, I dug up another one here, haha, look at this big one, it's almost as big as Yu'er's head."
While everyone was still puzzled about what good things these kids had found, the sound of Nianzi's voice also drifted over, "Are there any more? You heartless fellow, why didn't you leave one for me? Let me have some fun too."
As the voice arrived, the person appeared. When Nianzi darted over, Qi Shan's expression instantly changed, and he silently moved aside.
"Haha, Brother Nianzi, look." Qi He wiped the muddy water from his face and proudly showed Nianzi the seven or eight potatoes, cleaned by the rainwater, placed on the ground.
"Oh my, so big." Nianzi's mouth also dropped open in surprise at each potato, which was larger than an adult man's fist.
Qi Tian, holding large radishes in both hands, always wanted to interject but held back as he watched Nianzi's profile.
"No, brother also wants to try. Let me have a go too." After saying that, Nianzi, ignoring the mud and water on the ground, squatted down and started digging with Qi He.
Though they couldn't clearly see what the children were doing through the transparent wall, their voices carried clearly.
Jiang Tou'er listened carefully and understood most of what they were saying. He paid no attention to other words, but the word "potato" reminded him of something.
Early last year, a small foreign country had presented a tribute of a crop called potato. At that time, the foreign envoy had confidently claimed that the potato was simple to cultivate and highly productive, not picky about soil, yielding a bountiful harvest even in barren land.
The Emperor was overjoyed upon hearing this and richly rewarded the envoy. However, after the envoy returned, when the planting season arrived, everyone discovered that the envoy had not taught them how to plant it.
Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture discovered this oversight and immediately reported it to the Emperor. The Emperor, understanding the situation, was also distressed, realizing it was his own negligence.
In his excitement, he had forgotten to ask about the most crucial step.
Seeing the Emperor's self-reproach and worry.
Some officials from the Ministry of Agriculture stepped forward to offer solutions, suggesting that since it was a plant, it should simply be planted in the soil.
The Emperor was delighted and immediately decided that any official from the Ministry of Agriculture who could achieve the yield mentioned by the foreign envoy would be promoted by one rank.
For officials in the Ministry of Agriculture, a promotion was extremely difficult to attain. Now, with the Emperor's promise, they were all filled with energy.
They took the seeds back and experimented with planting them on the land managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, tending to them with utmost care, wishing they could spend twenty-four hours in the fields.
However, when the harvest came in autumn, everyone was full of confidence, expecting a doubled yield.
But they never dreamed that the hundreds of pounds of seeds planted in spring would yield less than the seeds themselves, and the produce was not as large.
The Emperor was furious. Before the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture could plead their case, they were all taken out and beaten on the spot.
For some reason, the Emperor did not have the Embroidered Uniform Guard gag them but instead pressed them to the ground and beat them in front of all the civil and military officials.
The officials of the Ministry of Agriculture wailed as they were beaten on the ground, while the surrounding civil and military officials were all so terrified that they held their breath and trembled like sieves.
Most of them gritted their teeth and endured, otherwise, someone would have lost their composure in front of the Emperor.
It was said that after the beating, the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture knelt on the ground, covering their posteriors, to express their gratitude.
But after they finished giving thanks, the Emperor ordered them to continue planting the next year, stating that if they failed again, they would be beaten again.
This left all the officials, high and low, in the Ministry of Agriculture in utter despair, as if they had lost their parents. They truly could not understand why their meticulous care, even with guards at night to prevent any oversight affecting the yield, had resulted in less than the original seeds.
They felt they were unjustly punished by the Emperor.
However, they dared not voice their grievance. They received their salaries, and it was their duty to be diligent.
Failing to even recover the seeds was their dereliction of duty. Let alone being beaten, they would have no complaint even if their heads were cut off.
Alas, from that time on, all the officials, high and low, in the Ministry of Agriculture felt a sword hanging over their heads, ready to fall and sever their necks at any moment.
Jiang Tou'er had a distant relative who served in the Ministry of Agriculture, and one of the officials who was beaten was his distant relative.
These events were also told to him by his distant relative who was depressed and had no one to confide in.
At the time, he had listened to it as an amusing story, gloatingly asking his distant relative what it felt like to be beaten by the Emperor and if he had thought of taking the board home as a shrine.
After he finished speaking, he angered his distant relative, who, fueled by wine, chased him down an alley, and they didn't speak for a long time.
He still wanted to cover his mouth and chuckle when he thought of it.
As Jiang Tou'er reminisced, his sparse goatee trembled with excitement. After the trembling, he began to worry about his relative's posterior again, muttering inwardly, "That scrawny body is thinner than mine, and he's a year older than last year. I wonder if he can take the beating."
Thinking of those fierce Embroidered Uniform Guards, who were all merciless, especially their skill in gathering information, Jiang Tou'er felt a chill run down his spine. He glanced around nervously, afraid of his thoughts being guessed, and involuntarily hunched his neck.
Oh my heavens, it was too frightening. He had to stop here and not think any further. What if those important officials found out he had been making fun of them, his posterior...
If it weren't for the disoriented members of the Meng clan opposite him at this moment, he would have reached out to touch his intact posterior.
Just as Jiang Tou'er was worrying about a certain part of his body, he suddenly heard Qi He and Nianzi rush back from outside with excited shouts.
Qi He was completely drenched by the rain and stood at the temple entrance, water still dripping from him.
Seeing that Qi He was completely soaked, Meng Qingping quickly called out to him, "Qi boy, hurry over here. Grandpa Meng will help you dry off. It won't be a joke if you catch a cold."
"Grandpa Meng, I'm fine." Qi He was feeling so happy that he didn't feel cold at all.
Meng Qingping, however, didn't care if he agreed and insisted he come over.
Qi He knew that Grandpa Meng was genuinely concerned about him. Clutching the things in his arms, he sheepishly walked over.