Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 923 - 921_1

Chapter 923: Chapter 921_1

Xiao’er shook her head: "This is salt brine."

Salt brine is even cheaper than coarse salt. However, it can’t be used as edible salt because it is slightly toxic.

The two substances look similar. Consuming too much of one could poison you to death, while consuming too much of the other could...well, dehydrate you to death.

Baozi’s father clenched his fists, he never expected her to notice this subtle clue.

But what does that matter! Even if she knows the reason for the wilting of the fruit trees, there is no evidence proving that he did it!

He was careful to apply the salt brine to the yellow dragon fruit trees at midnight for several consecutive days, without anyone spotting him! Not even a dog barked!

After listening to Xiao’er, the villagers looked at each other, and the village chief asked the crowd, "Whose family accidentally left these salts here?"

Everyone shook their heads after hearing this:

"Not my family!"

"Not me either!"

...

"Not me."

Xiao’er watched their reactions: "I suspect that the yellow dragon fruit trees were killed by being watered with salt brine."

If plants are regularly irrigated with strong salt water, the salinity of the soil will be greater than that of the cell sap, making it impossible for the plants to absorb water from the soil, and causing them to wilt.

The wilted yellow dragon fruit seemed to have died from drought. However, villagers who saw them wilting had tried to water them.

But apparently, the water they poured was still not enough to dilute the salt concentration in the soil.

Baozi’s father’s expression changed. He glanced at Xiao’er. This damned woman was smart enough to guess it!

Last night, it was his responsibility to water the orchard with strong salt water. Because it was too dark, he must have accidentally spilled a bit into the bushes while pouring the salt brine into the watering bucket.

Upon hearing this, the villagers were shocked. Who could be so despicable! This person simply had no conscience! Was he trying to destroy the entire village?!

The village chief was so angry that he couldn’t help but curse out loud, "Who was it that did this wolf-hearted deed! I will kill him!"

"Right. I would break his legs too. His heart is too malicious. He can’t bear to see others doing well!"

"Could it be someone from another village?"

"Probably not! People from other villages don’t know we’re growing yellow dragon fruits. They think we’re growing night-blooming cereus!"

"So who actually did it?"

"Has anyone seen suspicious people wandering around at night recently?"

"Once it gets dark, I just go to sleep. I don’t know."

"I’m exhausted from working all day. I usually lie down as soon as it gets dark, and sleep till dawn! Didn’t notice."

The villagers were all speculating who did it, and if anyone had seen who did it.

They all pointed fingers at people from other villages.

After all, people in their village are always very united, often helping each other.

"Did anyone accidentally tell people from other villages?" asked the village chief after a moment of thought.

The people in the neighboring village, because of the return of a retired scholar, had set up a school in the village to teach villagers how to read and write. This enabled many of them to find good jobs like accounting in town or in the city.

This led to most families in the whole village living better lives than those in their village. The villagers often scorned them, and the daughters from their village who married into the neighboring village didn’t get treated well either.

And the daughters from the neighboring village who got married and came back to their parents’ home were not treated well either.

Now, the girls from the neighboring village are not willing to marry the young men from their village. They say it’s hard to live here, and they’re not treated well when they go back to their parents’ home!

This led to a feud between the two villages, and Huzi and the villagers of their village were determined to get rich and suppress the arrogance of the neighboring village.

The villagers shook their heads after hearing the chief’s question.

"No way! The yellow dragon fruit is so important, our wealth depends on it, why would I tell anyone!"

"Yes! I even remind myself in my dreams not to mention it!"

"Jiaxing, you always like to go drinking, did you accidentally let slip about the yellow dragon fruit when you were drunk!" the village chief glared at a villager.

"Chief, for the sake of these yellow dragon fruits, I haven’t been drinking for two months, please don’t wrong me!"

"If it’s not you, then who is it?" The village chief was so angry that his beard was bristling.

"How would I know who it is! Anyway, it’s not me!"

Seeing them bickering without figuring out who it was, Xiao’er said, "As long as it’s been done, there must be traces. Let’s look around!"

Hearing her words, everyone agreed, "We will definitely find some clues! Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, I will find him."

Xiao’er lead the way, and they all looked around again.

Baozi’s father was feeling a little nervous. He had been doing this for many days already, although he had been very careful, there were unavoidable oversights. This damned woman had very sharp eyes! What if she found some evidence?

Impossible, besides the salt, what else could she find, and the salt brine he bought had already been used up last night. As for the buckets, everyone has buckets! Baozi’s father reassured himself.

Walking with the villagers around the orchard, Xiao’er found no other evidence.

Everyone felt disheartened.

Seeing this, Xiao’er said, "Don’t worry, everyone. I keep a type of wolfdog at home. It has a very sensitive nose. As long as it gets a sniff of this salt brine, it can find out who has touched this salt, and which family’s bucket was used to hold this salt."

"Young lady, where’s the dog? Hurry up and let it out. I want to see whose heart is going to be gnawed on by the dog!"

Listening to this, Baozi’s father was taken aback. He had heard of this type of dog. The Government Office also kept such dogs to assist in investigations.

Baozi’s father wished he could go back home immediately, throw away the buckets, and erase all traces!

"There’s no hurry. I need to borrow the dog from someone. I will be back early tomorrow morning."

Baozi’s father let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. One night was enough for him to erase all signs.

Fortunately, they all thought it was someone from the neighboring village who did it!

"Can these fruit trees be saved now?" asked the village chief, looking at the wilting seedlings with a pained expression.

"We don’t know how much salt water that person poured into the soil. We need to first reduce the salt concentration in the soil. Otherwise, even if we replanted the seedlings, they would still die." Xiao’er explained.

Upon hearing these words, the villagers expressed their anger once again.

Xiao’er knew they were very angry. As people who depended on farming for a living, they cherished their crops the most.

Normally, they would feel upset for a long time if they accidentally stepped on a young plant. Let alone now, so many seedlings had wilted.

Moreover, with this delay, the day when villagers could harvest yellow dragon fruit is pushed back even further.

Although the climate here is quite warm and yellow dragon fruit can be grown all year round, there is an optimal time for planting them. Autumn has arrived and winter is near, certainly not the best time for planting yellow dragon fruit.

Yellow dragon fruit grows quite slowly in winter. It would indeed be strange if the villagers didn’t curse.

Since the culprit won’t be caught until tomorrow, Xiao’er said goodbye to the villagers.

The villagers enthusiastically followed her carriage to the edge of the village to see her off.