Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 174 - 173: Blessings

During the day, Bai Qihong led people around to search, and they were quite lucky to find a rather large abandoned courtyard, including several main rooms, wing rooms, and storage rooms, totaling about seven or eight rooms.

So he left the most spacious main room for Lu Qing and others, allowing everyone else to choose a place to rest at will.

Actually, these craftsmen were not originally picky about food and accommodation. Once they were tired from work, they didn’t even need a proper beddings; they could just find a flat place by the roadside and fall asleep.

However, with the constant rain lately, everywhere was muddy and flooded, and people simply couldn’t sleep in the rainwater.

Now with that dilapidated abandoned courtyard, they roughly repaired a few leaking roofs. Although there were many people, each only needed a place to lie down, so squeezing together, they all found a way to sleep.

With the accommodation issue resolved, the next issue to tackle was food.

In this area, due to the flooding, the grain stored by the local families was basically gathered to provide rations for the craftsmen helping to dig canals and drain water, and there wasn’t much more to give.

So when it was time for dinner in the evening, Zhu Yu looked at the thin soup in the pot and finally understood why the pale-faced man would suddenly pass out while working, and why people around were not surprised by it.

They were doing such heavy physical labor every day, yet they couldn’t even fill their bellies with the thin gruel. Even if heavenly soldiers came, they might not withstand it!

Zhu Yu felt a twinge of compassion, thinking about the dry rations they brought with them, but the idea quickly disappeared.

The dry rations they had could last the five of them several days if eaten sparingly, but if they were to share it with everyone present, each person might not even get a piece the size of a fingernail.

Not only would it not solve the underlying problem of the craftsmen’s hunger, but it would also deplete their own food supply for the journey ahead.

"Is there really no way to gather more food?" Though Zhu Yu’s stomach was also empty, seeing the craftsmen, who were busy and thin-faced after a day’s work, he couldn’t bear to take another bowl of gruel from the pot, claiming he wasn’t hungry, and turned to ask Bai Qihong. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Bai Qihong, holding a half bowl of thin gruel, sighed in response: "The court allocated plenty of silver taels for this canal construction, but Huazhou is already lacking surplus grain, and Li State was never high-yield to begin with, so we’ve bought just about all we can from there.

Places farther away, like Qu State and Liangzhou, are even further and many roads are flooded, rendering it time-consuming to transport grain here, not to mention that it might spoil due to rain by the time it arrives, making it inedible and useless.

At this rate of consumption, it can only last at most another half month."

Zhu Yu anxiously looked at the gruel in the large pot not far away.

Bai Qihong mentioned that their current consumption could support them for half a month, and she didn’t doubt it.

But if these craftsmen could only rely on gruel to stave off hunger, their bodies might not last until the gruel runs out.

She contemplated for a moment and then turned around to find Lu Qing.

Lu Qing was in the main room, mulling over the map of Huazhou that Bai Qihong had given him.

Upon hearing someone enter, he looked up at the doorway and saw it was Zhu Yu. His brow relaxed, and he waved: "I was just about to ask Fu Lu to find you, and here you are yourself. Could it be that we truly have such tacit understanding?"

"When does the Prince plan to set off?" Zhu Yu sat down at the table straightforwardly, asking directly.

"To where?" Lu Qing asked in puzzlement.

"Just a moment ago you spoke of tacit understanding, and now you’re pretending not to know?" Zhu Yu glared at him.

Lu Qing chuckled, pointing to a spot on the map with his finger: "Rain makes the roads muddy; it’s not suitable for night travel. We’ll leave at dawn tomorrow, and it’ll take just a day and a half to get there."

Zhu Yu nodded: "Just now Vice Minister Bai told me that even with their gruel, the food will at most last for half a month."

"Then it depends on your skills, Madam." Lu Qing hinted.

Zhu Yu furrowed her brows slightly, contemplating seriously: "In five days, we’ll either succeed or die trying."

Zhu Yu and Lu Qing communicated seamlessly, but Yan Daoxin, who had been fiddling with his bottles and jars on the side, could no longer stay out of it. After packing his things casually into a trunk, he came over to the table.

"What are you two whispering about?" He asked with furrowed brows, looking from Lu Qing to Zhu Yu, "Your talk is so cryptic it makes one’s head spin! Where do we plan to go at dawn?"

"Didn’t Vice Minister Bai mention it? We can’t let the flood submerge the farmlands of Shuo Country just to solve Huazhou’s water problems." Zhu Yu said to him, "So of course, we’re heading to the Shuo Country to ask my father to have people on the other side of Black Stone Mountain break the mountain, dig canals, and prepare to divert the water."

"What does that have to do with how long the food here can last?" Yan Daoxin still didn’t understand.

"The Prince is kind-hearted. While helping the people of Huazhou solve their water problems, and achieving Vice Minister Bai’s grand ambition of building canals for the people’s benefit, he can also conveniently help Shuo Country resolve its long-standing issues of water scarcity in farming and barren fields.

The people of Shuo Country shouldn’t benefit for nothing. In return, if they can gather some food to sell to the canal workers as rations, that would be ideal." Zhu Yu explained.

Yan Daoxin suddenly realized and fully understood their intentions.

He couldn’t help but look oddly at Zhu Yu and Lu Qing, shaking his head and clicking his tongue as he got up and walked away, exclaiming: "It’s strange... two people speaking in riddles, yet they can understand each other perfectly!"

Zhu Yu glanced at the door, seeing the figure of Fu Lu, knowing he was guarding outside. With the rain as cover, this was a convenient time to speak freely.

"The Holy Emperor forbade Bai Qihong from extending the canal to the Jin and Shuo border, and there should be similar measures on the Jie Country side, right?" She asked the question that had been nagging her all day.

Lu Qing nodded, not surprised that Zhu Yu would ask him about this.

"Since that’s the case, why do you go against his wishes and discreetly let Bai Qihong extend the canal to Shuo Country?" Zhu Yu was aware that if this plan succeeded, it would be an immense blessing for the people of Shuo Country, yet it obviously contradicted Emperor Jin’s intentions.

Lu Qing had always been surviving in a difficult position, with the unpredictable intentions of Emperor Jin on one side, and the unmasked exclusion and hostility from Duke Yan’s faction on the other, now further complicated by the machinations of some mysterious force.

Therefore, he had always been discreet, calculating thoroughly, revealing no flaws, to avoid making a mistake that could ruin all his plans.

This was why, realizing his intentions, Zhu Yu couldn’t help but be surprised.