Meng Cheng and Song Wan Yue also came over, their eyes fell on Xu Ling’er, their voices imperceptibly softened a little, “Is there anything in the other cellars?”
Xu Ling’er bowed her head, “I’ve checked, the others are fine.”
Meng Cheng nodded and looked at the subordinate who was carefully checking, “This is something that no one thought of, no one would blame you.”
Xu Ling’er still didn’t raise her head and bit her lip, “Many thanks to Third Young Master.”
Hearing her detached words, Meng Cheng jerked his head to look at her with obvious surprise in his eyes, opening his mouth to say something, only to see Xu Ling’er take a step back, seemingly wanting to draw a clear line with him. Meng Cheng swallowed back the words that were on his lips with difficulty.
The last time he came to the farm, he felt something was wrong with Xu Ling’er. He had thought of coming over sometime to ask her what was wrong, but then he got busy with the soap and forgot about it.
Song Wan Yue was in the back, taking in the interaction between the two clearly, and with a movement in her heart, she immediately concluded that there was something fishy between these two.
But judging from the reaction, I’m afraid it was Meng Cheng’s intention and Xu Ling’er’s lack of intention.
“Where did all the people from the manor go, how come there are only these few people?”
Meng Jiao asked.
There were quite a few people on the farm, apart from the workers and those in charge of the fields, it had just rained and there was no way to get down in the fields, where had these people gone?
When she heard her question, Xu Ling’er took the opportunity to move towards her, “They went to the fields to drain the water, the drains haven’t been repaired yet, there is a lot of rainwater stored in the fields, the head of the village said that if it is not drained out, it will affect the harvest this year.”
“Did the drains have an impact?”
“Didn’t hear my father say, I don’t think so.”
Seeing Xu Ling’er’s movement and realising she was avoiding him, Meng Cheng’s hand hanging at his side clenched as he answered, “I’ll go and take a look.”
“I’ll go with cousin.”
Meng Jiao did not stop, “You guys be careful.”
Meng Cheng nodded and turned around to walk with Song Wan Yue towards the outside of the manor.
Seeing them walking away, Xu Ling’er let out a few invisible sighs of relief.
There were nearly a hundred acres of land on the Meng family’s side of the estate, most of it on higher ground, with more than thirty acres on lower ground where a lot of water had been stored.
Those who were not working on the farm came and dug openings in the ground to allow the water that existed in the fields to flow out, and those who could not were plucked out with tools so as not to affect the harvest.
Li An was directing the men to work, when he looked up and saw Meng Cheng and Song Wan Yue coming, he hurriedly took quick steps to welcome them, “Third young master, Miss Song.”
The hem of his coat was covered in mud and his shoes were soaked through.
“Uncle Li.”
Song Wangyue called out.
Li An answered and looked to Meng Cheng, “Don’t worry, Third Young Master, the water will be drained in another half a day.”
Meng Cheng nodded his head and asked, “When will the aqueduct probably be finished?”
“It would have been completed in another half a month, but ……”, Li An was a little worried, “I see that there will be heavy rain next in this day, I don’t know how many days it can will rain, if it is three or five days it is fine, any more and the aqueduct will be more difficult to repair. ”
“You can read the sky?”
Meng Cheng was amazed.
“I know a little, but I don’t know if it’s accurate, I hope not, so that the canal can be repaired quickly and no more water will be stored in the ground if it rains heavily.”
Li An rubbed his hands uneasily, “Speaking of which, it hasn’t rained this much in years, I don’t know if it’s because it’s the south that gets a lot of rain, or if the rain is abnormal this year, if it really rains this much again without end, I’m afraid there will be a big disaster.”
When the word “catastrophe” entered her ears, Song Wan Yue thought of the rising water level of the big river outside the city, and her heart thumped, she immediately said, “Cousin, can you take me and Uncle Li to see the various drains?”
Meng Cheng was puzzled, not knowing what she was looking at in the various drains, but he nodded and took them to see them anyway.
They looked at many places in the morning, and most of them had drains, but because they had not been repaired for years, many of them were blocked, and once it rained heavily for days on end, the water could not be drained out at all, and could only pour into the fields.
Li An was shocked to see that, as there was a lot of water in the south, the drains should be kept open at all times, but he did not expect that most of them would be deserted.
“This is no good, the water can’t drain out, it will flood all the farmland.”
Song Wangyue also felt the seriousness of the matter and asked Li An to follow along back to the city to find Meng Yang and tell him about the aqueducts.
After hearing this, Meng Yang said, “Building the aqueduct is an official matter, if we dare to do it privately, we will be punished.”
Don’t look at those drains blocking the line, once anyone dares to do it privately, the government will definitely not forgive.
“Does uncle grandfather also feel that the weather this year is abnormal?”
“Yes, there is something, for as long as I can remember, it is the first time that it has rained so heavily in this month, which is not really a good sign to say, but we are just merchants, we don’t have a big friendship with the government people, we can’t say anything, and even if we did, they wouldn’t listen to us, they might think we are alarmist.”
“But if there really is a big flood, the consequences are unthinkable.”
“Even if it does, we can’t control it, we can only control ourselves. In this way, I will send more people to the village, and try to get the aqueduct repaired sooner.”
Meng Yang was not unaware of Song Wangyue’s worries, but he was just an ordinary merchant, with money and no power, and could not go and command the government people.
“If everyone is affected by the disaster and our fields are fine, we will only be envied and may even attract trouble. Uncle grandfather, we cannot stand by idly in this matter, you can accompany me to the governor and tell him our actual situation, I think he should be able to take it seriously.”
“This ……”
Meng Yang hesitated.
He was a businessman, so naturally he wanted to get on with the governor, but this was not a trivial matter, repairing the aqueduct was a laborious task, and if it was repaired but not put to use, not to mention the governor, even those who did the work would have complaints against their Meng family.
Song Wan Yue guessed his concern and said, “We are just going to say something, it is up to the governor whether he listens or not. If he really listens to our advice and fixes the aqueduct to save the people from flooding, it will be a great achievement and a good thing for the Meng family to make a name for themselves.”
Meng Yang thought about it in his mind and finally nodded his head.
The governor’s office.
It had been raining heavily for a few days and there was nothing going on in the city, so the governor simply did not go to the court, but stayed in his house to chat with his old mother and enjoy tea.
“Mother is looking much better.”
The governor personally poured tea and brought it to her mother, the old lady took it and took a sip.
“Even if it’s easier, you can’t steal the dessert.”
She was embarrassed by her own son’s comment, but she had eaten a small piece this morning.
The housekeeper came in from outside, “Master, Miss Song requests to see you.”