Chapter 239: Gone Without a Trace

He still, like before, each time brings people back to take saplings from Qiao Mai here, but this year it's twice as many as last year.

The only fault is Qiao Mai's laxity; after the New Year, he went to Shexian and was immediately given a, 000 Tael Silver Note.

With money in hand, he has the drive for anything.

He bought all the wasteland in the county that exceeds fifty mu.

He gathered the needy households from each village, including Liu Mei's Xianggong, paying each thirty Wen per day; where else can one find such a good deal?

Digging pits to plant pine trees isn't very hard, and ever since Shexian passed the New Year, it's been bustling.

The County Magistrate truly is effective; besides adjudicating cases, he gives the people work and money to earn.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xianling felt a pang of envy.

Who wants to give me that much silver every year? I also let the people have work and earn money; not everyone has such a capable wife.

The whole Shexian erupted in a tree‑planting frenzy, and the people often see the County Magistrate idly patrolling with officials.

In the early stage, just buying the wasteland cost fifty thousand taels of silver, plus three years of labor costs; she didn't even count the saplings, throwing in seventy to eighty thousand taels, how could she just ignore it?

The situation was learned from Town Mayor Qian's conversation with Lu Sanniang, and she was speechless—keeping a man?

Lu Ruxin really dares to think; sponsoring a poor family is one thing, but sponsoring someone she can't even provoke, and letting Town Mayor Qian and Lu Sanniang clean up for her.

These workers, each paid one tael of silver per month, total three hundred taels for three hundred people, amounting to nearly four thousand taels of silver a year.

She calculated that a pine forest of several ten thousand mu would need at least two to three hundred people.

She looked at one Yuanzi, where a few Wang Jiaru's Servant Girls and old women sat drinking wine and chatting idly, then she went to another Yuanzi.

She wrote some pine‑tree maintenance instructions for Yuan Jiaqi, asking him to organize forest‑guard personnel to prune the pines regularly each year.

Even the Chen Family's façade lost the pair of large blue‑and‑white porcelain vases in the Keting.

However, pine trees differ from other trees; they stay evergreen year‑round, few use their branches for firewood, though dried pine needles can be used.

Too tall makes fruit harvesting difficult; too short hinders later use as timber.

Moreover, she doesn't take a loss.

"Don't worry, Lu Ruxin won't escape my palm; sooner or later she'll obediently submit."

Once the Zuofang is set up, there will be more people to support; she scratched her head anxiously, really wanting to grab Yuan Jiaqi and give him a good beating.

"Didn't you say she loves you to death and back?"

At night Qiao Mai was restless, with nothing to do she sneaked to the Qian Family, intending to see how the couple lived, but unexpectedly she saw Lu Ruxin there.

This further boosted the workers' enthusiasm; for some stones in the field, he had the workers move them to the perimeter, mix with mud, and build a wall, ensuring protection before the trees mature.

Qiao Mai pursed his lips; these ordinary people can only do this, so slow—if she had the time, she would have solved it already.

She vanished in an instant; a quarter hour later, a person appeared over the Chen Family in Weicheng, and she looked down.

"Hmph, didn't expect that lowly scoundrel to have ties with the Qian Family; she really got lucky."

They were kissing warmly, showing affectionate love, making Qiao Mai unable to watch any longer.

The pine trees planted last year have reached three meters; the workers trimmed the lower branches, and when they grow to five meters, they'll trim the upper branches to let them spread outward.

For such a trivial matter, she's willing to step in to solve it for Town Mayor Qian and Lu Sanniang.

Moreover, she must start planning now, drawing the Zuofang blueprints, calculating manpower, etc., and write everything down.

At this moment, Town Mayor Qian took out a pill and placed it in Lu Sanniang's mouth.

Some unwitting people just want to reap without effort, even slacking when chopping firewood.

Very clean—let me put it this way: any silver thing must be spotless, any gold thing spotless, any silver note spotless, any valuable thing spotless.

For those who are lazy and sly, once discovered, they'll never be used.

Since the New Year into spring, he has been sneaking to Shexian to inspect, using a spatial cheat device to water those trees.

"The Chen Family in Fucheng, seems to be the only one, right?"

Why say that? Because it's neither painful nor itchy, it just vanished mysteriously; isn't that strange?

After a night of complete silence, in the morning the servant girl attending the Master's washing discovered that the ornaments on the head, ears, and wrists were all gone; not to mention, even the Main Family's accessories had vanished.

Even some tools she still has to study; she can't let them scrape with their hands, can she?

"I don't blame you; it was my family's fault, but now it's finally resolved, we can finally be together."

Lu Sanniang gently leaned in his arms, "I'm sorry for making you wait all these years."

The Upper Room dormitory was lit; she didn't even need to poke the window paper—the images and sounds inside entered her mind clearly.

When she arrived, Town Mayor Qian was comforting Lu Sanniang.

He discovered that as long as the saplings are watered with the nutrient solution the lady gave, they can sprout a segment in three days; thus, whether they've been watered or not, he can tell at a glance.

Everything is manually operated, which can solve part of the labor employment for Shexian.

So she wandered around the Chen Family's backyard; at this hour most people were asleep, only one or two Yuanzi were lit.

She sighed, this Yuan Jiaqi always finds trouble for himself; does he think planting trees is all there is?

"Don't overthink it; I've sent people, they're probing the Chen Family's background, and once I catch any unspeakable secret, I'll deal with the Chen Family."

That night, the Chen Family in Fucheng was completely robbed, and Chen Kai's vital organ vanished without a trace.

Hearing the name Lu Ruxin, Qiao Mai's eyes flickered; she came today not to avenge Lu Ruxin.

Could something else have happened to Lu Ruxin during her busy days?

He also divided the workers into groups of ten, each with a foreman overseeing a sector; good and fast work earns rewards.

From now on, manpower must be cultivated.

"This time we lost ten thousand taels of silver; my dowry is nearly exhausted, and at this rate we'll definitely be in deficit."

"No, even though their family sent ten thousand taels of silver, this won't end; rest assured, I'll operate behind the scenes and they won't know."

"Lady, this time I've caused you grievance!"

"Won't cause you any trouble, right?"

She stood on the Qian Family's rooftop, staring at Weicheng, "Fucheng Chen Family, Eldest Young Master Chen Kai? Flirtatious by nature? Very well, in a moment I'll make your flirtation cease to be a habit."

She has already made plans: two years later, she will build several Zuofang in Shexian, specializing in processing pine oil and pine nuts.

"Good girl, come take the medicine; this is something Qiao Niang barely managed to obtain, excellent for conditioning the body, and also to help the husband finally have a son or a daughter."

Check whether the seedlings are qualified, whether the water used is the one the lady gave, everything must be examined carefully; no one dares to cut corners.

"That stinky woman, when she gets carried away, keeps demanding; at that time whatever I say she nods to, but after it's over she admits nothing, and it's hard to squeeze any money out of her."

Qiao Mai now has to support a bunch of people, and will support more in the future; she needs silver, and families like this should suffer poverty.

"I didn't expect it either; the effort I put into her was huge, and besides getting her body I got nothing; this woman is defensive everywhere."

So, she found this pretext and robbed people.

The Chen Family suffered a great disaster; Prefect Wang arrived at their home with officials, and this is the strangest case he has seen since becoming Prefect.

No movement, no hint of detection, no trace at all; even Chen Kai's thing is like that—how can you investigate it?

Attributing it to demons and monsters? That also feels inappropriate.

If you say it's the work of a rival family, it doesn't fit; if their rivals were truly that powerful, the whole family's lives would have been lost long ago.

(End of chapter)