After ten days of repeated flooding and draining, most of the salt has now been washed away, and the ground, which had been hardened into a crust, has finally loosened up a bit; stepping on it leaves a shallow footprint.

“Sir, the ore powder has arrived.” Xiang Changqing ran over, wiping the sweat from his forehead, followed by a dozen or so ox carts piled high with grayish-white powder—the ore mined from the gypsum mine west of the city a few days ago, ground into a fine powder by stone mills. “As you ordered, we ground it three times and sifted it twice; there’s a total of over five thousand catties.”

Duan Jin bent down, scooped up a handful of gypsum powder, and rubbed it between his palms. It was as fine as flour, trickling through his fingers.

He nodded. “Give the order to spread it at a rate of two hundred catties per mu. After spreading, use a rake to work it into the soil to a depth of three inches—no deeper, and no shallower.”

Xiang Changqing looked troubled. “Sir, isn’t two hundred jin per mu a bit too much? If we use two hundred jin per mu, that adds up to… We only have a few dozen convict laborers; we’ll never be able to keep up!”

“Then hire more workers.” Duan Jin brushed the powder from his hands, his tone calm yet unquestionable. “Unless the alkalinity in the saline-alkali soil is neutralized, nothing will grow. Gypsum can replace the sodium ions in the soil—this is a method verified by our predecessors. If the dosage is insufficient, it’s a waste of effort. We don’t need hundreds of laborers here right now anyway. See if anyone is willing to go mining; raise the daily wage to fifteen wen.”

Xiang Changqing nodded in agreement and turned to organize the laborers.

Duan Jin stood with his hands behind his back at the edge of the field, gazing at the leveled land. The first two steps were nearly complete; success or failure now hinged on the final one.

As he stood lost in thought, soft footsteps sounded behind him. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was; at this hour, the only person who would come up to the field ridge was the young prince, who was never one to sit still.

Duan Jin turned to see Xiao Yunqing dressed as an ordinary young gentleman today—in a plain blue robe and white shirt, his jet-black hair held back by a single jade hairpin. At first glance, he truly resembled a young master from a wealthy rural family.

Yet his face was as fair as jade, far too radiant; an air of nobility shone in his eyes and brows—a quality no ordinary country gentleman could even begin to match. Behind him, Eunuch Liu carried a lunchbox, surveying the surrounding scenery.

Duan Jin took two steps forward to greet him and said, “Why have you come so early today, Your Highness?”

“You’ve been out since early morning without even having breakfast. Have a bite to eat before you go tend to your fields.” Xiao Yunqing gestured for Eunuch Liu to bring out the bowls and plates from the lunchbox. “My attendants have prepared some lily-bulb congee today, along with steamed buns and hibiscus cakes.”

“Thank you very much, Your Highness.” Duan Jin raised an eyebrow as he accepted the bowl of porridge. The warm, comforting aroma of the porridge, mingled with the delicate sweetness of the lily bulbs, filled his nostrils, and he found himself genuinely hungry.

As he sipped the porridge, he watched the laborers toiling in the fields. Plaster dust swirled up, creating a hazy white veil that looked like a light dusting of snow.

Xiao Yunqing also gazed at the field. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Will this method of yours really work?”

“I’m about fifty percent sure,” Duan Jin said, setting down his bowl and speaking frankly. “After all, I’ve never done this myself before; I’ve only read about it in books. But I have to give it a try—it’s better than watching hundreds of acres lie fallow year after year.” But this method had been refined through repeated trials by countless officials in later generations; resting in the shade of trees planted by his predecessors, Duan Jin felt he actually had an eighty percent chance of success.

“You’re willing to mount such a massive operation with only a fifty percent chance of success?” Xiao Yunqing’s eyes widened, her almond-shaped eyes brimming with disbelief. “Magistrate Duan, you really are quite bold.”

“If we waited until we were absolutely certain, those hundreds of acres would likely lie fallow for another hundred years.” Duan Jin stood up. “The common folk can’t wait, and neither can I. All right, I must go to the fields to keep an eye on things. Your Highness, please be careful—the morning wind is strong.”

Xiao Yunqing suddenly grabbed his sleeve, her expression turning serious. “I may not understand farming, but I know you’re doing this for the common people. Go ahead with confidence. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be there to help. If it comes to it, I’ll cover the losses myself.”

The young prince’s noble and chivalrous demeanor was truly captivating. Duan Jin felt a warm glow in his heart; he raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Then I’ll be counting on you, Your Highness.”

After a few days of eating his fill, Shouhou no longer looked gaunt and haggard; he even chatted with the others while working.

“Why did so many people suddenly show up? Are they all criminals, too?” A huge crowd suddenly poured in from outside. Shouhou pushed a handcart loaded with ore and asked as he went.

Dazhuang, the man pulling the cart up front, said, “I don’t think so. Look at their faces—they look well-fed. Maybe they’re here for some other reason.” What they were seeing were laborers who had come willingly to work here—a full two hundred of them.

The foreman, Old Wu, saw them whispering among themselves and cracked his whip against a rock. “No slacking off! Get to work!”

After a moment’s thought, deciding to offer them an incentive early on, Old Wu raised his voice and said, “Hurry up and work! If you do a good job, today you’ll not only get rice and pickles, but half a salted egg for each of you!”

“Salted eggs?”

“A real egg?”

“Overseer, you’re not pulling our leg, are you?”

Old Wu replied, “I don’t have time to mess with you guys. Get to work—once you’re done, you can eat!”

Hearing this, the men were thrilled. Since they’d started mining, they’d been able to eat their fill every day. Though the work was tiring, they all felt they were living better than they had when they were robbing people.

After all, most of the people traveling on the main road were from their own county, and since the whole county was poor, there wasn’t much silver or food to be plundered. As more and more people came down from the mountains, the number of times they could eat their fill grew fewer and fewer.

On ordinary days, when Shouhou thought of the brothers still left in the mountains, he even felt that his own life was better than theirs.

He never expected that today they’d not only have rice to eat, but that everyone would get an egg as well.

“It’s all thanks to Magistrate Duan’s kindness,” the kitchen attendant chattered to them as he dished out the food. “These eggs were originally meant for the hired laborers, but Magistrate Duan took pity on your hard work and ordered extra, so you can all have half a salted egg every day.”

Shouhou was eighth in line, so it was his turn soon.

He took the bowl of dry rice—a mix of brown rice and white rice—from the first guard, then received a serving of salted radish strips and pickled cucumbers to top his rice. He watched eagerly as the constable sliced a salted duck egg in half and placed it on his plate.

The moment the egg was cut open, golden oil instantly oozed out, and a rich, savory aroma filled the air, making Shouhou’s mouth water.

“Hey, tuck your chin in. If you dare let it drip on these vegetables, you’ll get whipped,” the constable chuckled, looking at Shouhou’s pathetic expression.

Shouhou didn’t care what others said. He eagerly scooped up his tattered earthenware bowl and walked away, finding a random spot to squat down. He carefully picked out a few grains of rice soaked in the oil that had seeped from the salted egg.

Delicious!

Shouhou couldn’t bear to eat the half-egg he’d been given all at once. Instead, he took a bite of pickled vegetables with rice, then a bit of salted egg white with rice, and only after several mouthfuls did he carefully pick up a bit of the yolk and eat it.

The texture was smooth and creamy, with a rich, savory flavor!

Shouhou was so busy today that he completely forgot to take advantage of this rare break to chat with his friends. But he didn’t notice that it wasn’t just him—the mine was unusually quiet today. Aside from the occasional smacking sound of someone chewing, everyone else seemed eager to bury their heads in their bowls.

After finishing his bowl of rice, Shouhou still felt unsatisfied. He licked the entire bowl clean, gazed at the spotless bottom, and sighed, “If only the brothers up in the mountains could eat this too!”

The moment the words left his mouth, a sudden thought struck him: since they, as prisoners, were eating better than they ever had as bandits, why on earth were those brothers still up in the mountains continuing to rob people?

To say nothing of other things, even if they could get a meal, they certainly wouldn’t get eggs this delicious! After all, back when Shouhou was on the mountain, he’d gone through periods of hunger and satiety. But how could he get the word to them to come down from the mountain?

Shouhou moved over to the other brothers who had also finished eating and posed his question. The group chattered away, brainstorming ideas.

“Why not have the county magistrate write them a document offering amnesty? That’s how storytellers do it.” 

“That won’t work—our brothers can’t read.”

“Easy enough—just have someone read it to them.” 

“But will they believe what they hear?”

“True. What if they think the imperial court is trying to round them all up? It might even lead to an even bigger conflict.”

“That’s right. Even when we were first thrown in here, we were scared out of our wits—we almost thought we were going to be beheaded or thrown onto a bed of nails!”

The group racked their brains for a while but couldn’t come up with any good ideas, so they had to put the matter aside for the time being.

However, Xiang Changqing, who happened to be passing by, paused for a moment. After eavesdropping on their entire conversation, he returned to Bailang Village.

The next day at noon.

Just as Shouhou had received his meal for the day, he hadn’t even taken two bites before someone called his name and singled him out. The ones who stepped forward were the very same men he’d been chatting with the day before.

“Sir? Have we done something wrong?” The group felt uneasy.

Xiang Changqing glanced at them and said, “Good news. You lot are in for a stroke of luck.”

Xiang Changqing explained what had happened the previous day. “Magistrate Duan said that if you can persuade everyone on the mountain to come down, your sentences will be cut in half.”

He put away the amnesty document he’d just shown them and continued, “In other words, if you serve just two more months, you’ll be released.”

“Great! Wonderful!” someone exclaimed joyfully.

“No, no,” Shouhou said anxiously. “Don’t reduce my sentence. I just want to keep doing this.” He was the only one left in his family; everyone else had died of illness or starvation. The fields back home were covered in frost; nothing would grow there. If he went to work as a tenant farmer, he’d be living on nothing but thin soup all day, and the work wouldn’t be any easier than it was here. Here, though, he could eat his fill every day, and even get half a fragrant egg.

Thinking this through, he became even more resolute. “I’m not leaving. I’ll work here until I die!”

Xiang Changqing understood his thoughts and couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s not like you can’t work here after your sentence is up. See those hired laborers over there? Besides the food you get, they also earn fifteen wen a day.”

Shouhou gasped, “That much?”

Even working at the docks only paid ten wen a day—and that didn’t include meals. He’d have to spend at least two or three wen just to buy a meal every day. How could that compare to the deal here!

“You bet! I’ll take that job!” Shouhou declared with boundless loyalty, pounding his scrawny chest. “When the time comes, I’ll make sure every single one of my brothers up on the mountain comes down with me!”