CHAPTER 115: CHAPTER 115: I HAVE A BETTER IDEA, LORD—CARE TO HEAR IT?

They now only hoped the households would eat and quickly leave.

But they underestimated the appetite of a households, and also underestimated the deliciousness of this cabbage.

Two large plates of one kilogram of cabbage were all eaten by the households in no time.

In the eyes of the four people, the mouth of this households was not just a mouth.

It’s an abyssal maw!

The sounds of chewing and swallowing tormented the four people.

Their cabbages!

It was for nothing, all for the benefit of this households!

The good thing is, everyone became accomplices once the households ate the cabbage.

When the households finished eating the cabbage, everyone was waiting for him to leave.

But then they saw the households’ gaze moving around the room and finally stopping at the twelve cabbages in the corner of the wall.

Only then did the households go over to take a look.

"These cabbages are really big, even bigger than the five we grow at home."

The four people repeatedly agreed, just hoping to deal with the households quickly so they could cook another meal for themselves.

They were almost full from just swallowing their saliva earlier.

A smile appeared on the households’ face.

"Since there are so many cabbages here, why not cook a few more and everyone can eat together then?"

The two government officers were pained, these were all their cabbages.

But compared to losing their heads, they thought having their cabbages eaten was bearable.

Thinking of this, the two government officers, along with Xiao Wu and Xiao Zhang, went to the kitchen to cook cabbage.

This time, they prepared as many as five cabbages, believing this would surely be enough.

While cooking, the four of them sneaked some to eat, as they weren’t sure if they’d be able to eat at the table later.

Now they had to eat to get their full share.

After eating about half a kilogram, they didn’t dare to keep the households waiting outside any longer and hurriedly brought out the cabbage.

When they got outside, they saw beside the households stood a Secondary Fifth Rank garrison and the Fire Head Army Commander.

The four of them felt their scalps tingle, what... what were they going to do now, they had attracted yet more incredible people.

This cabbage was too magical.

The two people were originally hungry, smelled the cooking from the kitchen, and came in to see if they could eat a bit.

Then they saw such large cabbages, they had already eaten raw cabbage which tasted really good.

Once they tasted the cooked ones, they couldn’t stop.

Delicious.

So delicious!

Zhang Feng, the Fire Head Army Commander, then remembered.

"Are these cabbages the tax from that plot of ground?"

The two government officers suddenly slapped their thighs, they had forgotten, these cabbages could serve as tax!

Previously, they had been so shocked by the size of the cabbages, they forgot about the tax matter!

Fortunately, the family at the Third House was honest and presumably wouldn’t secretly evade tax.

The two government officers, who had also snuck quite a bit to eat themselves, dared not stay any longer for fear of drawing more influential figures.

So, they fled to find other government officers.

Now they had to go collect taxes!

They had been in Gulan Mountain for so long, and with so many exiles planting land here, the other taxable crops were so poor they were not even worth a glance.

But this cabbage was different, this was the best cabbage they had ever seen.

Just as they reached the doorway, Zhang Feng, inside the house, spoke.

"Wait a moment."

The two men stopped, and saw Zhang Feng had chased after them.

He said, "Take me to that plot of land."

At the same time, as Zhang Feng was heading there, he specially diverted to the military camp to bring the procurement agent for food supplies.

Adding in the tax-collecting government officers, along with several carriages and pushcarts, the team was very large.

Originally, the government officers and the military camp were separate, but because of the dangerous environment of Gulan Mountain and a lack of military pay, the two were combined.

The government officers used the crops from tax purposes as military pay.

Otherwise, these soldiers would have starved long ago.

When they reached the territory of the Third House, the government officers explained their purpose, and Zhang Chao and others led them into the courtyard.

A courtyard full of cabbages came into view for the officials, quite a spectacular sight.

Tang Zan and Pei Shu’er walked over, Pei Shu’er smilingly pointed to the highest pile of cabbages.

"Lords, those are the taxes for this time, we’ve already weighed them and haven’t touched them."

The government officers nodded repeatedly, but going through the process of weighing was necessary.

After the officers weighed and loaded the cabbages into carts, they were delighted to see the fully loaded carriages and pushcarts.

This time everyone could improve their meals a bit.

Pei Shu’er smiled and said, "Lords, the rest of the cabbages from the Third House can also be exchanged."

For ordinary people, they might say they’d donate them to the military camp.

But Pei Shu’er wasn’t like that, they weren’t grown by her alone, when these cabbages were exchanged for money, it should be shared with everyone.

Zhang Feng’s eyes lit up, looking at these three thousand kilograms of cabbages might seem like a lot, but they couldn’t withstand the number of people.

Now there were twenty thousand soldiers in Gulan Mountain, and this would only feed everyone for a few meals, they still had to scrimp and save, otherwise, it’d be gone in one go.

Zhang Feng said, "We could offer credit, and then use your next tax payment to offset it."

Pei Shu’er smiled, "Naturally, I find the Lord’s proposal very reasonable, but I have a better idea, Lords, may I suggest?"

Zhang Feng was a bit stunned seeing the confident smiling Pei Shu’er.

Most women nowadays would blush for half a day when talking to men, and were used to complying with men’s arrangements.

Someone like Pei Shu’er, who had her own thoughts and dared to propose them, was indeed rare.

But he was curious, what would such a woman suggest.

Pei Shu’er smiled, "We only have a few thousand pounds of cabbage, which can only solve everyone’s immediate need. To truly solve the problem, the yield per acre in the Gulan Mountain Range needs to be increased, with an inexhaustible food supply for you all."

Zhang Feng frowned, waiting for Pei Shu’er’s next words.

"I have a way to increase the yield per acre, I can teach it to everyone, have everyone plant together, good for both the exiles and the generals."

Zhang Feng nodded, "It’s a good idea, just takes too long to see results."

Pei Shu’er smiled, "I see there are still some cabbages growing in the field now, with my method, the next batch will show significant improvement."

"If this is successful, the Lords won’t find dining at Gulan Mountain so hard, and you’ll have the strength to fight with the Dazi."

Zhang Feng looked at Pei Shu’er, naturally knowing she must want something in return for saying this.

"What do you want?"

Pei Shu’er said, "I know the border is difficult, and we all seek to atone for our crimes by good deeds. We hope that with the substantial increase in cabbage crops this time, our exile term could be shortened by a month."

The subordinates at the Third House looked at Pei Shu’er in shock.

They had vaguely felt earlier that Pei Shu’er was going to negotiate a sentence reduction with Zhang Feng.

But they all assumed Pei Shu’er was negotiating for herself.

Unexpectedly, she was negotiating for all those following the Third House.

Even Tang Zan was a bit dazed, usually, Pei Shu’er was already good.

At this moment, facing the government officers who could decide their life and death, Pei Shu’er was still so calm negotiating terms.

Including even the servants.

And, she wasn’t greedy at all, only asking for one month.

Compared to lifelong exile, reducing the sentence by one month almost made no difference to lifelong exile.