Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 816 - 814_1

Chapter 816: Chapter 814_1

Xiao’er found a deserted space outside and started spreading the poisonous grass. She kept doing so until the whole area was covered with it.

The locusts fluttering in the air probably sensed the aura of the water in the space and were immediately drawn to the grass below. Rushing down, they began to feast on the grass; they were undoubtedly tired and hungry after flying for so long!

In the dim light, their frenzied feeding seemed to suggest they found the grass rather delightful.

Of course, the locusts collapsed even before they were full.

Xiao’er believed that just as gold always shines, the aura of this grass would attract even more locusts!

Xiao’er quickly got back on her horse and headed towards another secluded area. Utilizing the cover of night, she laid out the poisonous grass with haste.

With the aid of darkness, even if swarms of locusts flocked to a particular region, no one could sense the oddities.

All through the night, Xiao’er scampered across more than a dozen locations, spreading the poisonous grass. It was only when dawn was about to break, making the journey to another location impossible, that she finally stopped.

Worried that Shangguan Xuanyi would be anxious if he didn’t see her at the inn, Xiao’er quickly remounted her horse and rushed towards the city.

Just as she reached near the inn, she saw Shangguan Xuanyi just climbing on his horse.

Relief washed over him when he saw Xiao’er. Dismounting his horse, he asked, "Where were you, young girl?"

"Huff!" Xiao’er brought her horse to a halt in front of Shangguan Xuanyi. Just as she was about to dismount, Shangguan Xuanyi reached out and held her.

"Didn’t I tell you to stay at the inn and get rest? Why don’t you listen?" Shangguan Xuanyi said, a look of concern in his eyes as he noticed the shadows under Xiao’er’s eyes.

"Let’s talk about this back at the inn." Shangguan Xuanyi brought Xiao’er down from the horse. Her legs gave a shudder as her feet touched the ground. She had been riding all night, and her normally delicate skin was now hurting fiercely. Not only did her thighs ache, but she was also exhausted from the previous two nights spent guarding the ducks and this night releasing the poisonous grass — she hadn’t even had a wink of sleep in the last two days and three nights.

Seeing that Xiao’er was barely able to stand, Shangguan Xuanyi lifted her in his arms.

"Brother Shangguan, put me down!" Xiao’er saw that Shangguan Xuanyi’s eyes were also bloodshot with dark circles as deep as hers. His chin had a stubble growth, making him look quite disheveled.

When they had ventured out to guard the ducks, he had driven the carriage while Xiao’er had managed to catch a bit of sleep. Shangguan Xuanyi, however, had gone two full days and three nights without any sleep.

Realizing that he was even more worn out than she was, Xiao’er couldn’t bear to let him carry her any further.

"Stop moving around. You’ve injured your leg, yet you want to walk on your own. Do you not want your leg anymore?" Shangguan Xuanyi glared at her before heading towards their room in the inn.

Xiao’er didn’t expect that Shangguan Xuanyi had noticed her leg injury. She rested her head on Shangguan Xuanyi’s chest without uttering a word. She didn’t even have the energy to speak and she soon fell asleep — she was just too tired.

Shangguan Xuanyi looked down at Xiao’er. How exhausted must she be to fall asleep that quickly?

He carried Xiao’er into their room in the inn, shut the door with his foot, and gently placed her on the bed. Once he made sure the door was locked, he proceeded to check Xiao’er’s injury.

Shangguan Xuanyi took off Xiao’er’s outerwear and observed her legs. Just as he expected, her inner thighs bore the signs of raw, chaffed skin. The pain must’ve been unbearable! Yet, how did she manage to sleep through it?

Shangguan Xuanyi was a mix of anger and concern. This girl would always push herself too hard. Why didn’t she wait for him to return before doing whatever was necessary?

He then took out a healing pill and brought it to Xiao’er’s mouth, "Wake up, take the pill and then sleep."

With a massive effort, Xiao’er opened her heavy eyes and gulped down the pill directly. She grabbed Shangguan Xuanyi’s hand and rubbed it on her face. In the next instance, she flashed into the space, "Brother Shangguan, you should get some sleep too."

Shangguan Xuanyi had used a warm cloth in the space to wipe Xiao’er’s body and face clean, and had also washed himself in the hot spring pool before holding Xiao’er to sleep.

By this time, after a night of citywide trapping, there were no longer as many locusts outside.

A few locusts could occasionally be seen flying in the sky, finally there was no longer a dense feeling.

Of course, this was also because those locusts had gone to the fields to harm the crops.

At this moment, many ducks could be seen in the fields busy eating locusts.

And the people also came to the fields to catch locusts, as the saying goes, to kill as many locusts as possible.

The presence of so many ducks in the field puzzled everyone, but seeing those ducks actually eating locusts, the families who raised ducks quickly went home to herd their ducks out into the fields.

Not only could the ducks eliminate the pests by eating the locusts, but they could also save some feed for the households. It was a win-win situation!

The county magistrate, fearing for his own life, had spent the entire night catching insects, and was now bringing soldiers from the government office to the fields to catch locusts himself.

Having been an official for more than a decade, he had never been as exhausted as he was today! This was not a job fit for a human!

Every household, men and women, old and young, all went out to catch insects, presenting an extraordinary scene.

When Shangguan Xuanyi and Xiao’er woke up, it had only been an hour since.

After a night’s sleep, they both looked radiant again.

Xiao’er prepared some more poisonous herbs, upon seeing this Shangguan Xuanyi asked, "Did you spend all of last night placing these herbs everywhere?"

"Yes! The effect is very good, let’s carry on distributing them today using the carriage. We need to get going! I need to sweep away the poisoned locusts, lest the people see them and gather them to feed their ducks."

It was highly likely that if the people knew their ducks could eat these things, they would definitely sweep up the locusts as feed.

Although Xiao’er had specifically chosen remote places to plant the poison herbs last night, a remote location did not mean no one would come.

The two ate a bit in the space, and then quickly went out again to get busy.

They first went to the grocery store to buy two brooms, and then set off for the places where Xiao’er had placed the poison herbs the night before.

When they arrived at the open space, they saw a dense coverage of locust carcasses on the ground, and the herbs were nowhere to be seen.

They quickly swept away the locust carcasses, and then Xiao’er placed some poisoned grass to attract the locusts.

Soon more locusts flew over. However, because many locusts had been killed last night and tens of thousands of ducks ate countless locusts today, there weren’t many locusts left, so the scene of locusts rushing over crazily was no more.

Seeing this, Xiao’er said, "There should not be many locusts left now."

Shangguan Xuanyi nodded, "Let’s go, continue sweeping away the remaining poisoned locusts."

So they spent an entire day cleaning up the poisoned, dead locusts all around.

Because more than half of the locusts had already been eliminated, and the remaining could be accounted for by the ducks, Xiao’er only placed poison grass at two places near the city. On their way back, they swept away the locust carcasses and left the rest to the ducks.

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