Chapter 43: My People, No Matter How Awesome
Damn it, this isn’t acting cute, it’s seduction, right?
Shang Wan was uncertain, so Shang Wan decided to watch a bit more.
Seeing that Shang Wan still wasn’t speaking, Lu Chengjing pursed his lips tightly, raised his eyes to look at her, his narrow eye tails unknowingly tinged with a touch of rouge red, his cool features alluring.
Shang Wan: “…”
This is seduction! Even if the king of heaven or his father came, damn it, this is still seduction!
How could there be someone who looks so perfectly to her taste?
Shang Wan grabbed that pretty small hand on her sleeve cuff and rubbed and pinched upward along the fingers, “Speak, I’m listening.”
His ears hidden under the black hair quietly turned completely red, Lu Chengjing lightly struggled to pull his hand back, but Shang Wan gripped it tightly and wouldn’t let go, giving him a sideways glance, “Just say it like this.”
Lu Chengjing’s fingers curled lightly, and in the end, he went along with Shang Wan’s wish and didn’t struggle anymore.
“Do you know why I don’t want to be Li Wen Hua’s secretary?”
Shang Wan focused on playing with the pretty small hand, not even lifting her head as she said: “Don’t beat around the bush, say it quickly.”
Trying hard ignoring the unfamiliar touch coming from his hand, Lu Chengjing said: “Li Wen Hua is a man who fishes for fame and praise, adept at deceiving superiors and subordinates.”
“Four years ago there was a flood disaster that affected countless villages. The Imperial Court sent disaster relief grain to Dongning County. On the surface, Li Wen Hua inspected the people’s suffering, but secretly he swapped the Imperial Court’s grain with moldy, rotten old grain from the warehouse mixed with stones and sand.”
“When the disaster victims were complaining bitterly, he opened his private granary to release grain for three days, making the disaster victims grateful to him, calling him the living Bodhisattva who saves the suffering. Some even set up longevity tablets for him at home.”
“Despicable and shameless.” After Shang Wan commented, she asked doubtfully, “How do you know it was him who swapped the grain?”
Lu Chengjing’s voice was low, “Half of that old grain came from the Lu Family.”
Shang Wan tsked in confusion without understanding, but didn’t ask the foolish question of why Lu Chengjing didn’t speak out the truth, only saying: “Isn’t Lord An a just official? He was also fooled by Li Wen Hua?”
“The person in office at that time wasn’t Lord An, and besides, Li Wen Hua wasn’t the only one who replaced the disaster relief grain.”
Shang Wan understood: officials protecting each other, colluding as thieves.
She asked: “What does this matter have to do with this time’s disaster relief grain?”
“Although Li Wen Hua’s actions are despicable, his reputation has spread far. Now with Lord An in charge in the county town, for the sake of the people and his reputation, he absolutely won’t do worse than Li Wen Hua.”
Shang Wan got it; Lu Chengjing had exploited an information gap.
The villagers had previously suffered in the flood disaster and been cheated by the disaster relief grain manipulated behind the scenes by Li Wen Hua, so they had lost trust in so-called disaster relief grain.
Now the method proposed by Lu Chengjing and a few elders could be seen as providing them a safety net in advance. Even if the disaster relief grain sent by the Imperial Court had problems again, since Lu Chengjing and the others had given their word beforehand, the villagers would naturally come to them for it.
Lu Chengjing knew that this time’s disaster relief grain probably wouldn’t have issues, but the villagers didn’t know that.
Farm laborers had nothing in abundance except strength. Weighing the two sides, paying some labor for real grain wasn’t a big deal.
“How did you convince Uncle Wu and them to bear the risk with you?”
Lu Chengjing chuckled lightly, “They are Elm Tree Village people.”
The elders might not be willing to bear the risk with Lu Chengjing, but their strong sense of belonging to Elm Tree Village made them unwilling to see Elm Tree Village turn into the Willow Tree Village as described by Shen Qi and the others, with panicked hearts and scattered like sand.
After being prompted by Lu Chengjing’s words, they agreed without much hesitation.
Shang Wan raised her eyes to carefully study Lu Chengjing, feeling more and more that her own vase looked like a fox, scheming against people with one trick after another.
Lu Chengjing felt slightly uneasy under her gaze, shifted his line of sight, and stared fixedly at the soft rotten vegetable leaves at the bottom of the bowl.
From the times Shang Wan called him vase, he knew that in Shang Wan’s eyes, he was probably good-looking, fragile, in need of care and protection—these could be glimpsed from how Shang Wan treated him.
Just now was the first time he had proactively shown an aggressive side in front of Shang Wan. He was uneasy about Shang Wan’s reaction, yet also anticipated seeing it.
Would she… be like mother?
Sensing Shang Wan’s gaze fall on him, Lu Chengjing stared tightly at the soft rotten vegetable leaves, quietly waiting for Shang Wan’s reaction.
“You… why are you nervous?” Shang Wan raised their clasped hands and shook them, “Your hand has gripped mine red.”
Unbeknownst at some point, Lu Chengjing had turned the tables, tightly gripping that white soft small hand that had been making trouble in his palm, blue veins bulging on the back of his hand, as if afraid the small hand’s owner would shake him off.
Reminded by Shang Wan, Lu Chengjing let go as if electrocuted, a flash of annoyance passing through his eyes. He hid his hand in his wide sleeve, quietly clenching it into a fist.
Seeing his overreactive response, Shang Wan burst out laughing, shook her own hand, her voice full of amusement, “Xiucai Scholar, you don’t need to hold hands with such force, lighter next time.”
With that teasing tone, Lu Chengjing’s cheeks flushed red in an instant, his brows and eyes drooping, even more afraid to look straight at the person beside him.
But Shang Wan leaned closer to him, stretched out her index finger to hook his chin, “My person, no matter how fierce, it’s fine.”
Lu Chengjing suddenly raised his eyes, his pitch-black pupils staring straight at Shang Wan.
Shang Wan didn’t dodge or evade, her lip corner curving into a delighted arc, “Although the dumb and vase is cute, I prefer the clever fox.”
“You…” Lu Chengjing opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his heart felt like it had an accelerator installed, beating faster and faster, faster and faster.
The thumping heartbeat disrupted his thoughts, making him forget what he wanted to say, just staring blankly at the face in front of him, its contours, brows and eyes, spirit—carefully, bit by bit, quietly tracing, secretly treasuring.
“I have something on my face?” Shang Wan raised her hand and touched her face doubtfully.
Lu Chengjing: “…”
He turned his face away, his red ears flashing under the black hair, and muttered: “No.”
Shang Wan: ?
Why are you being awkward again?
She stood up holding the soup bowl. “The soup has cooled. I’ll get you a hot one.”
Full and satisfied, Yuan Yuan crawled back and forth on several benches connected together. With Shang Wan not blocking her, she bumped headfirst into Lu Chengjing.
The little one raised her small hand and touched it, then lifted her little head to look at her own daddy.
Huh? So red!
Her big, shiny black eyes blinked, and Yuan Yuan hugged Lu Chengjing’s arm to borrow strength and stand up. She pursed her little mouth and blew cooling air on his red-hot ear. “Hoo~ hoo~ owie, owie, fly away.”
Her soft, milky baby voice was full of concern. Lu Chengjing reached out to hold the little one and said warmly, “Daddy doesn’t hurt.”
“Owie.” Yuan Yuan pointed her little finger at her own bumped-red forehead, feeling it was her turn. “Hoo hoo.”
Lu Chengjing lowered his head and gently blew on it. At the little one’s strong insistence, he kissed it once more.
He was just about to tease his daughter when the little one twisted her butt, quickly crawled away along the bench, and went to play with her little friends.
Lu Chengjing: “……”
After breakfast, everyone started working.
First, each family cleaned their own house: usable items were sorted to one side, unusable ones piled together for the village to handle uniformly.
After finishing their own, they helped nearby families, working from four directions toward the big elm tree in the village center, not missing a single household.
Shang Wan handed Yuan Yuan to Lu Chengjing to hold and took Xiao Huan and Shi Tou to start working.
A sparkle flashed in Yuan Yuan’s shiny black eyes, and her little mouth muttered, “Come… busy…”
