Chapter 2576 - 2550: Drought Relief II

The two of them tried to take the flattest road back, and four-fifths of the water was still there. They were delighted, quickly carrying the buckets and pouring the water into the field...

The two spent the entire day transporting water. Zhou Dalang used a rake to plow the field twice, mixing the water and mud more evenly.

Bai Shan brought down a bucket of water, seeing Manbao standing in the field washing her feet with the freshly poured water, he called to her, "Come over, the water here is cleaner."

Manbao immediately stepped forward, standing on a tuft of grass in the field. Bai Shan tilted the wooden bucket slightly, letting the thin stream of water flow down. Manbao washed her feet and the dirtied pants with the stream of water.

After washing clean, she sat on the field ridge to dry her feet.

Lord Wei finished planting a piece of field, wobbled over covered in mud, and went to the Zhou family’s field, gesturing for Bai Shan to continue pouring water.

Bai Shan fetched him a new bucket of water to wash his hands and feet.

"How many pieces of land does your family have, my lord?"

Wei Zhi sighed, "Just these two pieces around Yongzhou."

But his hometown was also suffering from drought this year.

Seeing his face full of worry, Manbao comforted him, "My lord, my mother says that farmers rely on the heavens for food. A bit of drought, a bit of flooding is normal for us; it’s just difficult for a while. What we fear is a long period without either, only to have years of perfect weather with no grain stored."

Wei Zhi was taken aback and asked, "Why can’t grain be stored during years of perfect weather?"

"If there’s no natural disaster, it must be man-made," Manbao explained quickly, seeing Wei Zhi stiffen. "I don’t mean official corruption specifically. Even a family wastrel or illness can count. My mother says, if you can’t store grain after several years of perfect weather, it’s better to have a bit of drought or flood every year."

"Why is that?" Wei Zhi was puzzled, "Perfect weather should be good, even if we can’t store grain."

Manbao shook her head, "My mother says, the heavens are watching; the world is so big. If you have perfect weather here, somewhere else must be suffering. Blessings should rotate."

"After several consecutive years of perfect weather, misfortune is bound to come," she said. "Like the year of the Yizhou flood; our village had perfect weather for years, then suddenly it rained heavily that year. Combined with man-made disasters, the levee broke."

Wei Zhi pondered carefully and realized it was true. There was a severe drought in the capital area a few years ago, but because of abundant grain and supplies from elsewhere, no major disaster occurred, just a poorer treasury and more work for officials.

After the drought, the capital area had two years of perfect weather; only last winter had a snow disaster, and this spring’s drought, but the Astronomical Bureau says it shouldn’t be very serious, it should rain soon.

Wei Zhi sighed, "Your mother is very insightful."

No wonder she could raise someone like Zhou Man.

Manbao nodded in agreement.

Bai Shan brought another bucket of water, calling Manbao, "Come help me."

Manbao stepped barefoot on the grass, jumped over, and poured water for him to wash his hands and feet.

Watching them, Wei Zhi couldn’t help but ask, "It’s been two days, how come Lord Zhou and Lord Bai aren’t tanned?"

Manbao proudly replied, "We take sun protection very seriously. Look, we wear straw hats and cover our faces with gauze when the sun is strong, only showing our eyes."

"Doesn’t it feel stuffy?" Wei Zhi asked.

"A little, but it prevents tanning," Manbao said. "Otherwise, after returning to court in half a month, how could we face the emperor and colleagues if we’re dark as coal?"

Wei Zhi was confused, "What’s wrong with that?"

Manbao said, "He is tall and graceful, and we should also appear elegant, how could we be disheveled?"

Wei Zhi didn’t say anything, just smiled and said, "Alright, then we’ll meet at the court in half a month, no, twelve days."

Complete sun protection was impossible, and being so unruly and free-loving, they lost the gauze in a few days. When it came time to plant seedlings, even the straw hats felt cumbersome, and when the sun wasn’t so strong in the morning and afternoon, they just tossed the hats aside.

Then they joyfully splashed in the fields.

After planting rice, they had to plant beans, which wasn’t in the water, so they felt the heat and wore the straw hats properly, but still felt the sunburn.

By then, putting the hats back on was too late; both of them were tanned.

Not to mention themselves, even Old Zhou was quite distressed, nagging them to hurry while saying, "This kind of work we can do ourselves; you being officials is much better, and even took field leave..."

Manbao straightened up, rubbed her back, and asked, "Dad, how many more days are we planting?"

Old Zhou looked around and estimated, "We’ll finish here in two more days. I don’t know how your Fifth Brother’s side is doing."

Old Zhou had given Manbao two pieces of land as dowry. One they were planting; the other was being planted by Zhou Wulang and a group of nephews who also took field leave.

Even Zhou Lixin (Daya) and Guan Yong came, spending a full seven to eight days in the fields.

There was no choice; with scarce irrigation water, the fields requiring planting had to be irrigated, stretching what should take three or four days to seven or eight.

Moreover, skilled and unskilled laborers were hard to find, truly the kind where you couldn’t find people even with money.

It’s said the imperial estates recruited many workers with good pay and food, attracting many.

And then some noble families also had to hire people to transport water due to the drought.

Otherwise, why would the emperor have granted early field leave and added three days, if not to combat drought?

Just after Manbao and others finished planting, the long-predicted rain finally arrived, drizzling lightly. So fine was it that Manbao and Bai Shan didn’t notice it was raining, thanks to their straw hats.

It was Zhou Dalang feeling hot, removing his hat to wipe sweat, who noticed the fine rain on his face. Stunned for a moment, he shouted, "Dad, it’s raining."

Old Zhou, bending over sowing bean seeds, was startled, took off his hat, and caught some rain with his hand, happily saying, "It really is rain, hurry, hurry, plant quickly."

Manbao and the others, invigorated, sped up.

Wei Zhi, who was inspecting how the seedlings fared, saw this and rolled up his sleeves to help. After planting the last two ridges, they happily went home together, and Manbao invited Lord Wei, "It’s too late to return to the capital now, why not rest at my family’s estate for a night?"

Wei Zhi agreed with a smile.

He and Zhou Man headed to the estate in Pu Village.

The group sat in an ox cart, shaking with the rain on the way back, yet with happy hearts, especially as the spring rain seemed to be getting heavier. Manbao breathed a sigh of relief, "It’d be best if it reached two fingers deep into the ground."

"Let’s see if it rains until evening."

At this time, the emperor was also standing in the Taiji Hall watching the rain. Seeing the rain getting heavier and heavier, he happily laughed and instructed Gu Zhong, "Go and tell the empress, I want hotpot tonight, have the imperial kitchen kill an extra chicken."

Gu Zhong agreed with a smile.