Chapter 36 Entrustment

  Xiao Xin was clearly entrusting his last words, Xiao Da Peng couldn't help but rush over and wail loudly: "Grandpa..."

  "Don't cry! Cough...!" Xiao Xin's voice suddenly grew louder, triggering a severe coughing fit. "Go, give Zi Qiu big brother three loud head knocks, cough..."

  Xiao Xin mentioned Liu Ziqiu's name twice, and the villagers around him didn't feel surprised because just outside, Gao Xiuer had already spoken out the truth. Of course, Liu Ziqiu concealed the most important part of it. If he told others that he was a time-traveler, it would be strange if he wasn't considered an evil spirit. He didn't even dare to tell Gao Xiuer about this matter.

  Xiao Dapeng had already turned around and was knocking his head on the ground, making a "thud thud thud" sound. Liu Ziqiu hastily went to stop him, but then heard Xiao Xin say: "Elder brother... like... father..."

  When everyone looked again, Xiao Xin had already closed her eyes forever...

  Xiao Dapeng suddenly jumped up from the ground and shouted loudly: "Get ready, follow me to the salt field! Go find Yang's family for revenge!"

  The villagers were outraged and responded one after another. Suddenly, Liu Ziqiu let out a loud roar: "All of you stop right there, no one is allowed to go!"

  Xiao Dapeng's eyes had already turned red, and he said in a stern voice: "My grandfather's bones are not yet cold, you don't avenge him, but..."

  "Shut up! Have you forgotten your grandfather's words?" Liu Ziqiu's tone was slightly softer as he said, "What you're doing isn't revenge, it's going to get yourselves killed."

  The crowd only then remembered the cruelty of the Yang family and couldn't help but lower their heads. Only Xiao Dapeng still clenched his fist: "Can this grudge not be avenged?"

  "I'll take care of the revenge myself." Liu Ziqiu instructed directly, "Uncle Li, please help Da Peng with the funeral arrangements for Second Uncle. The others can rest early after finishing their work, and those who need to go to the salt farm tomorrow should go as usual."

  This time back, Liu Ziqiu originally planned to bid farewell to the villagers after clearing up the doubts in his mind, so he would no longer be under the identity of Big Cow. However, since Xiao Xin had entrusted Xiao Dapeng and Changshan Village to him, he must take on the responsibility.

  Baozi suddenly thought: "Why didn't the people from the saltworks come to urge us today?"

  According to the situation of the past two days, the people from the salt field should have arrived an hour ago, but now they are nowhere to be seen.

  "Hmph! They don't come, then so be it. But if they do come, I'll definitely make them kowtow and apologize in front of my grandfather's spirit!"

  Liu Ziqiu shook his head and said, "They won't come."

  "The villagers asked in surprise: 'Why?'"

  Liu Ziqiu sneered: "Three-legged frogs are rare, but aren't two-legged people even harder to find?"

  Everyone listened and couldn't help but feel tense.

  As the salt farm expanded in scale, the number of salt workers also increased, and it has already grown from the initial 80 people to the current 300 people. The extra people are all recruited from other places. Salt workers only do simple physical labor, with a little training, they can get started in just one or two days. The people from the salt farm still haven't arrived, probably they have recruited people from elsewhere again.

  After the villagers moved here, it was no longer convenient to go out to sea for fishing. Their income relied entirely on the dividends from the salt fields. If they didn't work at the salt fields, they wouldn't be able to receive the dividends and their lives would become difficult to sustain.

  Having a restless mind, he wanted to go to the salt fields to take a look. Liu Ziqiu scolded: "What's the hurry! First deal with Second Uncle Gong's affairs, and it won't be too late to go tomorrow!"

  They didn't know what was going on, but after the villagers found out he wasn't really a big shot, they suddenly became reverent towards him, even Third Aunt's speech became constrained. These changes made Liu Ziqiu feel very uncomfortable for a while. He had already heard from Xiao Xin that these villagers were originally slaves of the Xiao family, and perhaps the slave nature in their bones was still difficult to eradicate for the time being. However, this also had one advantage: whatever Liu Ziqiu said, they would execute it without hesitation, except for Xiao Dapeng who seemed somewhat dissatisfied, no one dared to express dissent.

  In the past, when someone died in Changshan Village, they would just find a reed mat, roll it up and bury it at the back of the village. That's how Da Niu's parents and Xiao Xin's son and daughter-in-law were handled. Although Xiao Xin was the head of the clan, the Xiao family had already declined, so it was impossible to have a grand funeral. However, Liu Ziqiu still spent money to let Er Zhuang bring two people to the county town to buy back a coffin, and chose a high place at the back of the village. Several people were busy until nightfall, finally burying Xiao Xin.

  Returning home, however, he saw Gao Xiuer staring blankly at a stack of medical manuscripts in front of her, her face covered in tears. Liu Ziqiu couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Xiuer, what's wrong?"

  In this day and age, people have long since become indifferent to life and death. Although Xiao Xin has always been good to Gao Xiuer and Xiang Cao, he wouldn't be so heartbroken either.

  Gao Xiuer sighed, "I finally understand why Grandfather asked me to bring a copy back. If I had read the medical book a few days earlier, I might have been able to help diagnose Qin Shubao's mother's illness and also cure my second uncle."

  Liu Ziqiu sat down beside her and said in a low voice: "Xiuer, if you were to study for a month, do you think your medical skills would be better than Old Sun's?"

  "Old Sun?"

  "It's just the grandfather you recognized, this is called intimacy."

  "There's no need to ask, it's definitely not comparable."

  "So what did you learn in the past year?"

  "Grandfather has been immersed in medical skills for decades, how can Xiuer catch up?"

  "If it were Old Sun, he would first go to rescue and treat Qin Shubao's mother, then rush back to replace Second Uncle in treating the illness. Do you think that would be in time?"

  Gaixiu'er thought for a moment and shook her head: "Grandpa isn't a god, how can he catch up?"

  Liu Ziqiu smiled and said: "Since even Old Sun can't do it, why must you blame yourself?"

  Gaixiu'er put away the medical book and said quietly: "I'm just a little sad."

  "Medicine isn't that easy to learn, even if you memorize all these medical books, it's still hard to cure people. Old Sun entrusted the medical books to us because they're too precious and we need to keep multiple backups in case they get lost, not for you to study." Liu Ziqiu knew well that traditional Chinese medicine was profound and complex, learning it was a tough task, he didn't want Gao Xiuer to suffer too much, so he changed the subject and asked, "Xiuer, how much money do we have left?"

  Although this money was the ill-gotten gains that Xu Tingfu had scraped together, Liu Ziqiu had secretly taken it by underhanded means. It could only be done in secret, and it wasn't suitable to carefully sort through them at Li Jing's home. More importantly, among these valuables were gold, silver, jewels, jade artifacts, and precious antiques - everything was there. However, Liu Ziqiu didn't know the market value of any of these items. Therefore, up until now, he still couldn't figure out how much wealth he actually had.

  Liu Ziqiu remembered that on the boat, he had given Qin Shubao 100 taels of silver as soon as he made his move. Gao Xiuer immediately became alert: "Why are you asking this?"

  Liu Ziqiu knew that she was meticulous and couldn't help but smile: "Second Uncle spoke to me about something before he left, wanting to fund the village children's education."

  Gao Xiuer had lived in the village for more than half a year, and at that time she was dressed in a very ugly manner. The villagers not only didn't laugh at her but also showed sympathy towards her. Since it was something beneficial to the village, Gao Xiuer didn't ask any further questions and said: "I calculated today, apart from what's been used up, there are still over 3,000 taels left."

  "What a lot!" Liu Ziqiu was shocked and cursed, "Xu Tingfu, this dead eunuch, really knows how to make a profit!"

  Gao Yun had never been in a difficult situation and was wealthy. Gao Xiuer had been dressed in fine clothes and eaten delicacies since childhood, so she wouldn't even notice three thousand taels of silver. However, after experiencing this change, she gained a new understanding of money. She glanced at Liu Ziqiu and said: "To set up a school in the village and invite a teacher is enough, with ten taels of silver per month for expenses, I'll give you 150 taels, which can also be used to invite the teacher to drink twice."

  Liu Ziqiu nodded and said, "Well, let's do it your way. Tomorrow you give the silver to San Shu, she is more familiar with the county town, just have her take care of it."

  Liu Ziqiu actually understood that the Shes and those Jiangnan aristocratic families were not just teaching their children to read and write, but wanted them to take the imperial examination. This was not as simple as inviting a tutor. Not only did they need to invite famous teachers, but also needed to grease palms in all aspects, spending a lot of money. Although the Shes and other Jiangnan aristocratic families no longer enjoyed the treatment of the scholar-official class, their family was large and wealthy, so they could still afford it. However, the Xiao family no longer had this power.

  However, Liu Ziqiu never intended to participate in this plan from the start. This plan is not impossible to turn around, it's just that the waiting time is too long, and it's hard to see results without a decade or two of effort. If the Sui Dynasty can last for 200 years, this would indeed be a good idea, but unfortunately Liu Ziqiu had the ability to "know before being told" and knew that the Sui Dynasty wouldn't last more than ten years. If there is such a large sum of wealth, it's better to use it to build a strong army and compete for the world. Nevertheless, learning is still necessary for children, otherwise they can only be laborers for their whole lives.

  The second day, before dawn, Liu Ziqiu had already arrived at the village entrance. The villagers who were going to work in the salt fields got up especially early today. Yesterday, no one from the salt field came to urge everyone to go to work, and many people began to feel uneasy in their hearts. Xiao Dapeng was also standing in the crowd with red eyes, probably didn't sleep all night yesterday.

  Liu Ziqiu looked at everyone and suddenly said: "Dapeng, you don't have to go today."

  "What's wrong?" Xiao Dapeng said angrily.

  Liu Ziqiu sighed and said: "Second Uncle just left yesterday, today you accompany me to offer two sticks of incense to his elderly again."

  Xiao Dapeng didn't dare refuse, and in a huff, he flung his sleeve and walked away.

  Liu Ziqiu then said to the rest of the people: "Today you go to work at the salt field, and it's inevitable that you'll be bullied and ridiculed. I only have one request, no matter what they say or do, you must all keep your temper, don't talk back, don't make a fuss, and absolutely don't fight!"

  "Suppose the saltworks hires someone else and doesn't want us to go to work, what will we do?"

  Er Zhuang and others also started whispering to each other, obviously all worried about this matter.

  Liu Ziqiu waved his hand and said: "If the salt field doesn't let you in, you come back and I'll take care of it."

  Although Zhangzi and others were somewhat puzzled, they still followed the words out of the village. Liu Ziqiu patted Xia Dapeng's shoulder and said, "Let's go and see where your grandfather went!"