Chapter 33: Luan Shu Village
A new day.
Xilutiya wore a black long skirt, one hand carrying a suitcase, stepping on a small wooden stool to board the waiting horse carriage.
The coachman shook the reins, and soon the sound of wheels turning rang out, crushing over the slightly undulating stone brick road, as the six horse carriages headed outside Jiaoshi City.
Inside the horse carriage, Xilutiya sat together with Komiya and Karen, with quite a bit of luggage placed here as well.
“Did the teacher say where we’re going?”
As Xilutiya asked, she bit a white hairband with her mouth, then reached her hand behind her head to tie up her hair, avoiding it getting messy inside the horse carriage.
“I heard them say it’s Luan Shu Village.” Komiya thought for a moment and replied.
“I’ve been there once before; it’s not far from Jiaoshi City. We should arrive around noon.”
“The village is built beside a forest of luan trees, with a small river nearby; the scenery is very nice.”
“It seems to be Viscount Xue Feng’s direct territory. Every year, he sends servants there to purchase chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep as food supplements for the castle, and occasionally takes his family there to sightsee and go horseback riding.”
“In that case, the environment must be very good.” After tidying her hair, Xilutiya put her hands down. Now she had tied her hair into a high ponytail, revealing her graceful neck and the side contours of her cheeks.
“Yes.” As she said this, Komiya looked at the maiden for a long time.
“It looks really nice, Tiya.” As she spoke, she also tugged at Karen beside her.
“Karen, look at Tiya. Doesn’t she look much better like this?”
“Yes, after changing her hairstyle, she looks much more spirited overall.” She could also see the difference.
“Huh? Did I look very listless before?” Xilutiya tilted her head.
“Probably just too plain, without any vitality.” Komiya thought for a moment.
“You should tie your hair like this from now on, Tiya~” She gave a thumbs up, and Karen thought for a moment before following suit.
“Mmm, that won’t do. It’s just that today it’s only the three of us, so I’m relaxing a bit.” The maiden blinked.
“Why? It clearly looks so good.”
“It’s precisely because it looks good.” The maiden replied with a smile.
“It would be more troublesome.” She looked out the rear carriage window. The horse carriage the three of them were in today had a structure similar to a cargo cart, not the box-style kind specifically for passengers.
“Because of Miss Iona, the noble students often vie for favor and get jealous. I’m a bit afraid of that kind of life; plain and simple like now is best.” As she spoke, she placed both hands under her legs, watching her calves under her skirt gently swing back and forth, like playing on a swing in a game.
The two who had wanted to persuade her more saw Xilutiya’s serene and contented appearance and suddenly felt she really should live this kind of life free from worldly strife, so they closed their mouths.
“I might come to like this kind of life in the future too, but right now I still have a lot of curiosity and impulses.” Komiya touched her chin thoughtfully.
“What about you, Karen?” She suddenly turned her head to ask the other girl beside her.
“Me?” Karen pointed at herself with her finger.
“I don’t want much—just to become an excellent hunter, have my own wooden cabin in the forest, then raise two dogs, occasionally go hunting, trade with villagers, and live like that.”
“Wow, Karen’s goals are so clear. I don’t even know what kind of life I’ll live in the future.” Komiya was surprised.
“Because Komiya still has many possibilities.” Karen could occasionally say surprisingly profound things.
“That’s true. My personality is flighty, so it’s hard to stick to one goal long-term.” Komiya replied, propping her chin, her eyes casually closing then opening.
“This trip to Luan Shu Village, I definitely have to have fun—that’s my goal lately.”
The three sat in the creaking horse carriage, chatting and laughing along the way, and before they knew it, it was noon.
……
The horse carriage stopped, and the three bent down to lightly jump off, then stood on the grassland.
Not far away, a peaceful and harmonious village appeared in their view.
There were probably over fifty households here, dotted along the main village road, followed by large expanses of grid-like wheat fields extending out. Much of the wheat had already been harvested, with bundled wheat stacks piled in some fields.
“Leave the luggage on the horse carriage; the coachman will take it directly to the village. The teacher will lead us on foot and tell us some things.” Yeluo notified the students one by one. Though his build was a bit plump, he was exceptionally nimble on these rural paths.
“Got it, we understand.” Tiya replied in acknowledgment, after which Yeluo headed toward another group of gathered students.
Soon, the students gathered beside Scholar Heide, listening to his teachings.
“Is everyone here? Good, then I’ll begin.” He turned around to introduce to the students behind him.
“This is Luan Shu Village, located about 20 li northeast of Jiaoshi City, famous for the yellow-flowered luan tree forest around the village.” He led the students down a small path along the mountain slope.
“As you can see, the main crop planted here is wheat, with some flax as well. Remember what I taught before? How flax is made into thread and spun into cloth—today you can go to villagers’ homes to see how they do it.”
“Though flax cloth is rough, it’s exceptionally sturdy and durable. Plus, flax grows quickly and can be planted anywhere, keeping costs low, making it the first choice cloth for many farmers’ clothes. A crudely made flax garment can sell for about 70 copper coins; if tailor-made and carefully cut, 150 copper coins and people will still buy it.”
Scholar Heide walked along, introducing the crops along the way to the students, explaining the influence of local climate, rainfall, soil fertility, and so on various crops.
“Generally speaking, you can’t continuously farm the same land long-term, as it leads to soil exhaustion. So you can see the fields here are roughly divided into four sections for rotation.” He explained again.
“Grain output is crucial, whether you’re a noble managing a territory or an ordinary farming commoner.”
“Without food, you can’t survive. You might not fully understand this yet, but I, as an old man who’s endured two cold Sinking Mist Seasons, have seen too many tragedies of starvation in the harsh winters.” He leaned on his wooden staff and stopped in front of a wheat field.
After negotiating with the villagers in the field, he brought the students to this freshly harvested field.
Picking up scattered wheat straw from the field, he carefully counted the wheat grains on the ears, then rubbed off grains with his fingers to observe if they were plump or shriveled, analyzing the local soil fertility.
“This wheat field is pretty good; about 60-70 jin of wheat per mu.” Scholar Heide estimated.
“Teacher, is 60 jin of wheat a lot?” Some noble students weren’t very familiar with this.
“Not much, not little—one jin of wheat sells for about 1 copper coin, so one mu of wheat is worth about 60 copper coins.” Scholar Heide put the wheat grains into a small cloth bag he carried, planning to take them back as samples.
“Let’s go; the village is just ahead. Your accommodations should be set up by now.” He clapped his hands, shaking off the soil, then walked ahead.
The group entered this scenic village with curiosity.
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