Qin Junyao took three baked buns and stopped reaching. There was wind on the summit, and her mouth still felt a bit gamey when she spoke.
"Three are enough to fill you up? You eat so little. Fuzi can eat eight or nine. Have two more," Zhao Liangcai pushed the bun in his hand towards Qin Junyao, wanting her to eat a few more.
Qin Junyao covered her mouth, chewing the bun, and replied to Zhao Liangcai, "No more. It's windy, I'll eat back at home."
"Alright then."
"Come with me behind the rocks. It's sheltered from the wind there," Zhao Liangcai wrapped up his buns and pointed to the large rock he usually lay on, showing it to Qin Junyao.
"Brother, the wind is giving me a headache. I want to go behind the big rock too."
Fuzi, who had been eavesdropping, protested as soon as he saw them leaving. If they went behind the rock, he wouldn't be able to hear them.
"Stand properly. You didn't say you had a headache when you rode in front of me on the horse."
Zhao Liangcai walked up to his younger brother and gently kicked his leg. "Crouch lower. If you eavesdrop, I won't take you to the salt lake." Sudan Novel Network.
"If you don't take me, I'll sleep with Sister Qin."
"Are you going to wet Sister Qin's bed again?"
"Hmph," Fuzi pouted and fell silent.
Having dealt with Fuzi, Zhao Liangcai walked towards the big rock with Qin Junyao and asked her, "Can the *rou conglong* you mentioned really be cultivated?"
Qin Junyao nodded. "Yes, that's why I want to buy the outer areas of the desert, and also some of the Gobi behind my house that are covered in wolfsbane."
"Why are you looking at me?"
Qin Junyao noticed Zhao Liangcai's eyes were full of amusement, as if he had discovered something interesting again.
"You're beautiful," Zhao Liangcai said without any pretense. He genuinely thought Qin Junyao was good-looking.
However, he was more curious about why Qin Junyao wanted to buy the useless Gobi.
"You're very boring," Qin Junyao rolled her eyes at Zhao Liangcai. "Let's talk business. I'm in a hurry. How do I buy that land?"
Zhao Liangcai looked at Qin Junyao, who was three steps away from him. He took two steps forward, and Qin Junyao naturally took two steps back.
"You're too far away, I don't want to talk."
Qin Junyao heard a hint of grievance and a touch of playful pouting in Zhao Liangcai's tone.
Qin Junyao shook her head, thinking that such thoughts were not good.
She put on a professional fake smile. "You're too tall. If I stand close to you, I have to look up, and my neck will get tired."
Zhao Liangcai hadn't expected that reason. He thought it was because she was afraid of him or that he had an odor.
He touched his nose and took a few steps back, leaning against the large rock, instantly lowering himself by twenty centimeters.
Qin Junyao saw that Zhao Liangcai had his legs apart, knees slightly bent, and his feet braced to prevent himself from sliding down.
She thought to herself that it was completely unnecessary.
Maintaining a smile, Qin Junyao walked to within a step of Zhao Liangcai. "Can you tell me now?"
Zhao Liangcai was satisfied with their current distance. It would have been even better if they were a little closer.
"If you only want the land on the edge of the Gobi and the desert, you don't need to buy it."
"What do you mean?"
"Those places are mine."
Zhao Liangcai might have sensed that his current posture wasn't ideal, so he slid down and sat on the ground, looking up at Qin Junyao.
"Most of the houses you lived in were vacant before. We've repaired them."
"Those places are far from the farmland on the plateau and close to the desert. Over time, the gardens won't be able to grow vegetables. Every few years, the people at the front of the village move to the back, and the whole village shifts backward bit by bit."
This was similar to Qin Junyao's guess. The traces of foundations in the Gobi indicated that people had lived there before.
It wasn't comfortable to look down either, so Qin Junyao squatted down one step away from Zhao Liangcai, leaning against the large rock.
She turned to Zhao Liangcai and asked, "Why didn't the villagers think of moving closer to the farmland?"
"The village has a well. The closer the water table is to the surface, the easier it is to dig a well, and the less it costs. Digging a well here costs more than building three houses."
Qin Junyao now understood why the well-digging team in Yan County was not enthusiastic and answered her questions perfunctorily. They probably thought she couldn't afford to dig a well.
Zhao Liangcai picked up a clod of earth and crushed it in his hand. Then he picked up another. "Most of the military dependents living where you are are the families of my deputy generals and guards."
"At that time, we wanted to raise camels there, and they could have a livelihood. We directly bought two thousand mu of land. Now..."
"Two thousand mu?" Qin Junyao moved closer to Zhao Liangcai. "You said you bought two thousand mu? How much silver did it cost?"
Zhao Liangcai leaned towards Qin Junyao and said, "Twenty taels of silver, plus a meal for the county magistrate."
Upon hearing that twenty taels of silver bought two thousand mu of land, Qin Junyao was already rapidly calculating how much she wanted to buy and didn't notice Zhao Liangcai's proximity.
"You didn't use force to make the county magistrate agree, did you? It was a normal transaction with the court, the kind with a land deed?"
Zhao Liangcai looked at Qin Junyao, who was only a foot away from him, and patted her head. "Yes, the kind with a land deed."
Qin Junyao's expression shifted from anticipation to surprise, and then to disbelief.
"My goodness, it's too cheap! Zhao Liangcai, can you help me buy another ten thousand mu of land?"
Zhao Liangcai rubbed the clod of earth in his hand instead of crushing it. "Qin Junyao, do you know how big ten thousand mu is? Why do you need to buy so much useless land?"
Qin Junyao, ignoring the cold ground, sat down directly. "How can it be useless? You saw us digging wolfsbane. You should know that wolfsbane is for making money, right?"
Seeing Qin Junyao sit on the ground, Zhao Liangcai threw away the clod of earth.
He handed the wrapper of the baked buns to Qin Junyao. "Wolfsbane is very common in the northwest. How much wolfsbane do you need to sell to earn back the money for buying the land? Besides, you don't need to buy land to dig wolfsbane."
Qin Junyao took the wrapper and put it on the ground, sitting down again. "What I mean is that the Gobi with wolfsbane and the edges of the desert can generate economic benefits, meaning they can be used to make money."
"If you want to raise camels, what will the camels eat when there are many of them? The large sheep farmers here have to provide sheep to the court every year. The grass where sheep have grazed is hard to regrow."
"The grazing range is getting larger and larger, forcing shepherds to sleep with bedding while herding their sheep. In winter, there isn't enough fodder."
"I," Qin Junyao patted her chest, "can plant *sha hao* and *sha mi*. Camels love to eat these, and people can eat the seeds too."
Qin Junyao didn't mention that grain could be planted between the *sha hao* and that eventually, the Gobi could become fertile land.
She thought these reasons would be enough to make Zhao Liangcai agree to help her buy land.
Zhao Liangcai had lived in the northwest for more than two years. What Qin Junyao said about *sha hao* and *sha mi* being able to feed camels was true, and that people could eat the seeds was also true.
The seeds of *sha hao* could be ground into flour and mixed with white flour, and *sha mi* could be ground into flour and made into a paste.
The key was that the *sha mi* paste could feed young livestock shortly after birth.
Therefore, *sha mi* seeds were a necessity that every farmer here spent a lot of time collecting every year.
Because these plants were also common, no one wasted time growing them, and more effort was put into growing grain.