Chapter 118: You left me

Meng Chengping held his neck stiff, muttering to himself, not knowing who he was speaking to.

"With external enemies not yet pacified, how can I think of home? How could I possibly have such thoughts? Impossible! The He family's young lady didn't come for me; a person should know their own limits—I absolutely could not..."

Mu Nan Zhao gave Gu Xixi a look.

The two looked at Meng Chengping with amusement.

Gu Xixi rarely got to gossip, and she was quite excited.

I really didn't expect General Meng to be such an innocent person.

Just teasing him with a couple of sentences made him this shy.

But seeing General Meng's reaction so strong, who knows if it wasn't because Mu Nan Zhao saw through his nature?

The gate of the small courtyard stood open, and He Jinglan was standing in the sunlight watching someone sweep the ground.

Hearing the commotion outside, she turned and looked over, then ran over delighted, "Xixi! A-Zhao!"

Mu Nan Zhao unconsciously glanced at Gu Xixi, then sighed to He Jinglan, "I've said it countless times since childhood—I'm a few months older than He Jinghui; you should call me elder brother."

He Jinglan replied without hesitation, "No way, I don't have a habit of calling just anyone brother."

Now even Gu Xixi and Meng Chengping couldn't help laughing.

Mu Nan Zhao frowned and asked, "Why did you come here?"

He Jinglan laughed, "I was bored staying in the capital, so I planned to come out for a stroll."

"It so happened that before the festival, Xixi wrote to me saying she would come to work near the army camp in early spring, so I thought I'd come early to wait for you—never expecting you to arrive so quickly."

"Really nonsense." Mu Nan Zhao displeased, "What is He Jinghui doing, eating? He doesn't even stop you."

He Jinglan spread her hands, "He tried to stop me, but as you know, it was useless."

She then turned and embraced Gu Xixi's arm, laughing, "Xixi, you have no idea how much I've missed you!"

Several people laughed as they entered the house.

Meng Chengping had earlier hired two local women to handle boiling water, cooking, cleaning, and so on for the small courtyard.

After Gu Xixi moved in, she had no other worries and that day threw herself wholeheartedly into the Northwest Army's land reclamation.

As for Mu Nan Zhao, she kept him in the courtyard with excuses like "old friends catching up" and "your specialty is elsewhere—you couldn't do much even if you went, so why stand in the cold wind?"

For several days the sky was clear; after the sun shone around noon, the frozen soil of the Northwest's vast wasteland began to thaw.

On the first day they first demarcated the land.

Once the regions were clearly divided, Gu Xixi only needed to teach them the methods of reclaiming and leveling the land; after she left, they would slowly do it themselves.

The next day Gu Xixi personally walked over the land, specially marking the areas that needed key improvement.

She had previously tested the soil composition; the specially marked parts could not grow grain, but after improvement they were suitable for planting alfalfa.

Of the remaining land, only a small portion could grow wheat, while a larger portion could grow oats.

However, winter comes early and is extremely harsh in the Northwest's interior, so winter wheat cannot be planted as in Huachi Du Village.

Meng Chengping furrowed his brows, "You mean spring wheat? I've never seen it."

Gu Xixi smiled faintly, "Although spring wheat is sown in early spring, it is actually more cold-resistant than winter wheat."

"Such wheat exists in some countries of the Western Regions."

She glanced at Meng Chengping and said assuredly, "Don't worry, I have a way to obtain it."

"However, the price will have to be negotiated by you yourselves with the other party."

The Geshu boss of Yunling County, whose hometown is a major landlord of spring wheat.

Meng Chengping grinned, "That's easy; at that time I'll conceal my identity and go posing as a northern merchant you helped recommend."

"The northern lands?" Gu Xixi nodded with a smile, "That's a good start."

Meng Chengping said, "Oats are coarse, fine for feeding horses, but for human consumption wheat is better."

Gu Xixi said, "Actually oats can also be made into tasty noodles, just the process involves several more steps than wheat."

Oat flour processed into ready-to-use powder is called youmian in some places later on.

It's chewy and filling, making it a very good carbohydrate.

Meng Chengping's eyes sparkled as he looked at Gu Xixi, wearing an eager-to-learn, fawning expression.

Gu Xixi chuckled, "Don't rush; I'll write you the eating method when the oats are harvested—no later than then."

Starting from the second day, Gu Xixi left before dawn every day.

This was the time she had proposed to Meng Chengping.

Before coming, she had considered that Mu Nan Zhao's constitution couldn't handle it, so she set a four-day return date for this trip, which absolutely could not be delayed further.

Excluding the return day, she had three days to finish arranging the land reclamation.

Over the next two days, Mu Nan Zhao only saw Gu Xixi after dark.

Gu Xixi possibly, exhausted from a day's work, hastily ate two mouthfuls of rice and said she was going back to her room to sleep.

Thus Mu Nan Zhao and He Jinglan hardly had any chance to speak a few sentences with her.

That night, Gu Xixi went to sleep again, and He Jinglan sighed, "General's work really isn't easy—look how exhausted Xixi is; just now at dinner I saw her eyelids drooping."

Mu Nan Zhao's face showed no expression as he flicked his sleeve, "Hmm, then go to sleep."

He Jinglan shouted from behind him, "You're going to sleep too? This early?!"

Mu Nan Zhao did not answer.

The next day, Gu Xixi once again set out in the dark, tip-toeing, only to encounter someone blocking the road.

Gu Xixi was startled, patted her chest to calm herself, and whispered, "Did I wake you?"

"It's so cold—hurry back inside! What are you lurking in the pitch black trying to scare someone to death for?"

She said this while reaching out to push him, but couldn't move him, and looked up in confusion.

Mu Nan Zhao lowered his gaze to look at her, "Gu Xixi, you promised to bring me along, yet you've left me abandoned in the courtyard—don't you think that's excessive?"

Gu Xixi laughed and said, "We didn't come here to sightsee; am I taking you out to drink wind and eat dirt?"

"Besides, I'm not abandoning you."

"Jing Lan stays at home with you; you two will have company and won't be bored."

What Gu Xixi didn't say was that He Jinglan was fond of Mu Nan Zhao, and given Mu Nan Zhao's current condition, letting He Jinglan look after him was the most reassuring.

Mu Nan Zhao sized up Gu Xixi, raised his eyebrows slightly, "You're quite at ease with Jing Lan."

Gu Xixi felt inexplicably guilty under his gaze, "Of course, Jing Lan is your childhood sweetheart."

Mu Nan Zhao's eyes were deep and dark like ink; he suddenly flicked his sleeve and strode toward the door.

At dawn, Meng Chengping stood on the field's edge, watching his soldiers bury fertilizer.

The formula was given by Gu Xixi, prepared overnight last night, buried deep in the soil and watered, then left to steep for a month. It both increases fertility and neutralizes alkalinity.

When the weather is favorable, it will not delay sowing.

However...

Meng Chengping couldn't help but glance sideways.

Why did Mu Nan Zhao also come today?

He came, yet he kept a stern face, silent, just standing there motionless.

Meng Chengping silently pulled his cloak tighter and gazed into the distance.

In such bitter cold, he thought there was hardly any scenery to see around.

Looking again at Gu Xixi, she was especially earnest in directing the soldiers, her heroic bearing like a female general. Yet when she occasionally glanced at Mu Nan Zhao during breaks, she seemed dazed, as if unsettled.

Meng Chengping was full of doubt: what's wrong with these two?