Lu Ye curved his lips, "My mother was a bonded female slave at the time. It was my father who, despite all objections, brought her home. Because mother was too beautiful, she was often targeted and bullied in the village. My father was always protecting her."
Third Uncle sighed, "Ran Ran must have suffered a lot. Actually, before the Baili family had their accident, your mother was engaged. Her fiancé was Zuo Han Chen, the eldest son of the Marquis of Wenshan. When Zuo Han Chen heard about your mother's incident, he was sad and depressed for over a year, then ran away from home and was never heard from again."
Lu Ye said, "No matter what mother was like before, she only loved my father in this life, even though my father was just a farmer with a humble background. Also, Third Uncle, I suspect my father is not the biological child of the Lu family. I asked Aunt Dong Gua, and she said my father suddenly appeared at the Lu family when he was only a few months old. Moreover, no one saw Granny Chen pregnant before."
"I thought from the beginning that Father didn't look like anyone from the Lu family at all. It turns out he's really not Chen Pozi's biological son. No wonder Chen Pozi was so vicious towards him," Bai Sheng said angrily.
Third Uncle raised an eyebrow, "Little Ye, if your father isn't the biological child of the Lu family, why don't you just change your surname to Baili? Baili Ye, Baili Hua, Baili Yun, Baili Yu, see how nice those sound!"
Bai Sheng gave a wicked smile, "Third Uncle, don't be anxious. The Baili family's lineage must be carried on by you and Fourth Uncle yourselves. I felt Concubine Mei's pulse, and her body is very good. She can still have children. You should hurry up."
Third Uncle's old face blushed, "You girl, you speak such indecent words. Aren't you ashamed!"
Bai Sheng giggled and nestled into Lu Ye's side, making a face at Third Uncle.
Lu Ye affectionately stroked her head and smiled, "Anyway, it's almost certain that my father is not the biological child of the Lu family. If we can't find out his origins in five years, then we'll change our surname to Baili."
Third Uncle grinned, "Let's do as Little Ye says!"
After visiting his elder sister and brother-in-law, Third Uncle rode his horse and toured the space. Looking at the boundless fields, lush forests and bamboo groves, clear spiritual springs, flowers and grasses covering the ground, and the chicken coops, rabbit coops, pigsties, sheep pens, cattle herds, fish ponds, horse farms, wooden houses... Third Uncle felt as if he were in a legendary fairyland.
After leaving the space, he pinched his arm hard, confirming that all of this was not a dream.
Seeing Third Uncle still looking incredulous, Bai Sheng took him in and out of the space repeatedly, until he finally accepted the fact that the space truly existed.
As the few of them just stepped out of the room, Concubine Mei hurried over excitedly, "Oh dear, where did you go? I've been looking for you for ages!"
Lu Ye said, "We were just having a private discussion with Third Uncle..."
"Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm," Bai Sheng nodded sincerely.
Third Uncle also nodded slightly, thinking about Bai Sheng's suggestion of him and Mei Qing having children, he felt a bit embarrassed to look at Concubine Mei.
Concubine Mei didn't think much of it. She looked at the three of them and laughed heartily, "I have good news for you, Tasha Commandery—it's raining!"
"It's raining in Tasha Commandery?" Bai Sheng and Lu Ye exclaimed in unison.
"Yes, I received a letter from Yu'er today, saying that it started raining heavily in Tasha Commandery the day before yesterday!" Concubine Mei said excitedly.
"That's great! It's finally raining!" Bai Sheng clapped her hands and jumped up happily, "Husband, it's raining in Tasha Commandery! It's been three whole years of drought!"
Lu Ye also smiled brilliantly and scooped Bai Sheng up, lifting her high.
Concubine Mei watched their joyful expressions and then shifted her gaze to Baili Rong Mo. Baili Rong Mo gave her a smile that only the two of them understood.
Tasha Commandery.
It started raining the afternoon before yesterday and has not stopped until today.
The entire commandery is celebrating in the rain.
All containers that could hold water were brought out to collect rainwater. People drank in the rain, bathed, danced with joy, and shouted madly.
For a full three years, the people of Tasha Commandery thought that heaven had completely abandoned them and would turn the entire commandery into a desolate purgatory. They never expected it to rain!
What was strange was that only Tasha Commandery in the entire Bian Prefecture received rain; other commanderies saw not a drop.
And within Tasha Commandery, Tianshui Town received the heaviest rain, while other places had light to moderate rain.
After the Commandery's agricultural official reported this situation, Prince Yu and Ji Cheng He concluded that their tree-planting efforts had worked, and Tasha Commandery was slowly entering a phase of virtuous climate cycle.
This rainfall was an opportunity for the entire commandery to turn their fortunes around.
Prince Yu summoned Lord He and Ji Cheng He. The three of them stayed up all night, discussing the grand development plan for Tasha Commandery.
They decided to mobilize all the county's residents to start planting trees.
They would first plan out cultivated areas and roads. Apart from these, all other areas would be planted with trees. The county office would provide free saplings and technical guidance. For every tree successfully planted, a reward of 5 wen would be given. For planting one hundred trees, an additional reward of 30 jin of grain seeds would be given. Furthermore, as long as a tree-planting agreement was signed, the grain seeds could be advanced.
To protect the saplings, each town needed to establish a forest protection team. The members of the forest protection team would receive a monthly salary of 400 wen. To supervise the work of the forest protection teams, the county also established a forest protection supervision team.
Supervision team members rode horses daily, patrolling the entire commandery to monitor the progress of various tasks and truthfully record and report the tree-planting and forest protection situation.
Those who performed excellently would be heavily rewarded, while those who violated tree-planting agreements or damaged saplings would be severely punished.
Within one day, the decrees issued by Prince Yu spread to all counties, towns, and villages in Tasha Commandery.
In response, the villagers buzzed with discussions.
"Now that it's raining, shouldn't we focus on planting grain? What's the point of planting these trees? They can't be eaten or drunk!"
"You're mistaken. Magistrate Ji said that while we should plant grain, we should also plant trees. The county is already giving us free grain seeds in advance, aren't they?"
"Exactly! I heard that these grain seeds were bought with Prince Yu's own money. To transform Tasha Commandery, Prince Yu is almost becoming a pauper."
"Indeed, Prince Yu is a great prince! Yesterday, I went to Prince Yu's camp to get saplings and sneaked a peek at Prince Yu. My heavens, the dignified Prince Yu looks almost like a farmer now, tanned even darker than me!"
"And Prefect He and Magistrate Ji are personally planting trees!"
"Also, Magistrate Ji has written many books on agricultural climate propaganda and sent the agricultural department to lecture in various villages. I went to listen yesterday, and it turns out we are planting trees to attract rainfall. With more trees, there will be favorable weather."
"Really? What's the connection between rain and planting trees?"
"There's a big connection. When the Dragon King sees this vast expanse of green, he'll sneeze, and if he sneezes, it'll rain here!"
"So that's how it is. Then we must hurry up and plant trees, so the Dragon King sneezes more."
"Let's not complain. In my opinion, Prince Yu, Prefect He, and Magistrate Ji are all rare and good officials, worthy of a century. How about we mobilize all the people in the county to carve stone statues for them and build a temple of merit, what do you think?"
"Okay, let's do that! When the rain stops, we'll find a few people to specifically mobilize the populace."
"Good, I agree too! Let those corrupt officials see how the common people treat good officials!"
...