Guan Jiang: "..." He wasn't looking at Nan Wen because he craved his buns, but rather because he felt this bandit was a bit pitifully poor.
He smiled politely and declined the bun. "No thank you, I already ate lunch."
Nan Wen revealed a genuine smile. "It's good that you ate, haha, good indeed."
After saying that, he couldn't wait to stuff the meat bun into his mouth. With one bite, the thin dough and generous meat filling burst with savory juices. It was absolutely delicious!
Although Qiu Liao felt Nan Wen's behavior left much to be desired, he too was drawn in by the meat buns. He quickly finished two of them, feeling completely unsatisfied and savoring the lingering aftertaste.
He let out a long sigh of relief, only to realize that Guan Jiang and several people in the tavern were staring at him.
He almost swallowed the breath he had let out halfway, his face remaining impassive as he resumed his guise as an aloof expert. "The buns here taste quite good."
Guan Jiang looked incredibly proud. "But of course. This tavern was opened by our lord. Come, I will take you for a stroll around the area."
Qiu Liao and his companion walked through the bustling commercial district and the lively residential area filled with the atmosphere of everyday life. They heard the clear sounds of reciting students and the resonant chants coming from the military camp...
It was like a scene of a prosperous era straight out of a dream, causing the two men to grow increasingly silent as they walked.
"Could we go see the fields you cultivate?" Qiu Liao asked, breaking the silence.
Guan Jiang nodded. The lord had said that as long as it wasn't a highly classified area like the granary, he could take them to see it.
He led the men to the north city gate, greeted the guarding soldiers, and brought them up the watchtower.
Standing on the north gate tower, they could see almost all the fields planted in the new city and the outer city.
Qiu Liao truly saw it. The first things to catch his eye were the golden waves of wheat and the heavy ears of rice, along with the farmers busily harvesting.
His pupils shrank drastically, and he leaned forward in disbelief, wanting to get a clearer look.
"Are, are those wheat and rice? How can the yield be so high?" Nan Wen could not help but exclaim.
Earlier outside the city, he only knew that crops were planted in the outer city, but he did not know what they were due to the distance.
Now, standing on the watchtower, he could see everything perfectly clearly, especially the densely packed, heavy ears of wheat and rice.
Guan Jiang puffed out his chest a little more. "That is right. Only our Gefeng possesses these high-yield crop seeds. They were brought here by our lord."
Nan Wen's lips trembled, and for a moment he did not know what to say. Although he knew nothing about farming, he was somewhat aware of crop yields.
The yield of wheat was generally around 150 catties per mu, and rice was usually around 180 catties per mu. Even at its highest, it would not exceed 200 catties. Yet the two types of grain before his eyes had to yield at least a thousand catties per mu, perhaps even more.
What kind of concept was that? In the past, it took two or three mu of land to feed one person, but now one mu could feed several people!
Guan Jiang's voice continued: "Elder Mu said that the rice yield should be around one thousand and five hundred catties per mu."
"Oh, right, we have also harvested quite a bit of wheat, and its yield is also over a thousand catties per mu. And do you know about potatoes? They are delicious, and they yield over five thousand catties per mu! There are also radishes and Napa cabbages, yielding ten thousand catties per mu..."
Qiu Liao felt a roaring in his ears. Over a thousand catties per mu, over five thousand catties, ten thousand catties!
His grip on the battlements tightened, and he murmured softly, "Ten thousand catties?"
Guan Jiang nodded, pointing to a patch of vibrant green and tender yellow outside the city. "Those are the radishes and Napa cabbages."
Qiu Liao followed his pointing finger. He did not know what radishes were, but the dense, tender yellow cabbages were indeed flourishing.
"Good, good! With such crop seeds, our Han people are saved." Qiu Liao's eyes reddened, and he shouted good twice in a row.
Nan Wen was also thrilled beyond words.
The two then looked at the equally high-yielding cotton, vegetables, and so on.
There were also many crops they did not recognize, such as the bright red, pointy ones, and the purplish-red green leaves.
"What is that?" Nan Wen pointed toward the outer city walls that were currently under construction.
Guan Jiang looked over and saw workers mixing sand and stone with cement.
He explained, "That is cement. We have used cement in quite a few places inside the city as well. Houses built with cement are incredibly sturdy."
This was yet another new thing they had never heard of.
It was as if a whole new world was hidden here, a world completely different from the one they had known before.
As the sun set in the west, the afterglow bathed the ancient yet vibrant city walls, as if coating them in golden light.
Xiaohua and a few women had just finished their shift and returned to the residential area when they heard screams and angry shouts coming from ahead.
The women exchanged glances. They were all local residents and knew a bit about their neighbors, so they immediately guessed what was happening.
They could not help but quicken their pace, eventually breaking into a jog. Soon, they arrived near Xiaohua's house. By this time, quite a few people had already gathered in the alley to watch the commotion.
Xiaohua nimbly pushed and squeezed her way through the crowd, quickly reaching the inner circle.
Her friends followed her and squeezed in as well.
However, the scene before them made Xiaohua's heart run cold.
She saw a man straddling a woman, grabbing her hair and smashing her head against the ground.
Bang, bang, bang. Again and again.
There was already a significant amount of blood and bits of flesh on the ground.
The man was still cursing furiously: "You have been married into my family for so many years without bearing me a single son or daughter, and I still haven't divorced you! I have been generous enough."
"So what if I make you do a little more work? Coming home this late every day, are you trying to starve my mother to death? You lazy hag, I will beat you to death!"
The woman pinned beneath him was a bloody mess. Her screams were accompanied by weak pleas for mercy: "Stop hitting me, I came back as soon as my shift ended. I... ah, ah, stop hitting me..."
An old woman stood not far away, watching coldly with a sneer on her lips. "Good hitting! So what if she goes to work? Coming back this late every day, does she expect me to cook dinner for her?"
"Dalang, stop hitting her head. Do not actually beat her to death, there is still so much work to do around the house."
Hearing his mother's words, the man really did just toss the woman's head onto the ground, splashing up another puddle of bloody water.
The woman's screams weakened, and her pleas for mercy ceased.
Seeing this made the man even angrier. He kicked the woman's abdomen twice. "Stop playing dead! Get up and go cook, you barren, lazy hag."
The woman's body twitched. She struggled to lift her blood-stained face and begged the surrounding crowd for help: "Help, me, save, me, please..."
She did not want to die, but she felt like she was going to die.
The man had not expected her to actually dare ask outsiders for help. Feeling utterly humiliated, he grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the house. "Just wait until we get inside, I will show you."
"Ah!" A scream rang out. The woman tried to grab the man's hand with her left hand; she felt as if her entire scalp was going to be torn off.
But she failed despite several attempts. She could only let the man drag her toward the house by her hair, her eyes filled with terror and despair. "No, save, me, save..."
Perhaps knowing that she might actually be beaten to death if dragged inside, her survival instinct drove her to desperately claw at the gaps between the bricks on the ground. Even when her nails tore open, she still clung on tightly.
Only then did the crowd notice that her right arm was bent at a grotesque angle, hanging limply at her side. She was only clinging to the ground with her left hand.
With a forceful yank from the man, five more bloody finger marks were added to the ground.
