Chapter 43 The Possibility of Growing Rice in the Desert

Chapter 43 The Possibility of Growing Rice in the Desert

"Junior," Kavi called out to Harold who was about to leave.

"Senior Kavi, is there anything else?" Harold stopped.

"Remind you to change your clothes when you come tomorrow," Kavi shook his head and rolled up the sleeves of Harold's coat, revealing the white sleeves lining, which were stained with mud.

Someone like Kavi, who pays attention to details and aesthetics, simply cannot ignore these things. During the activities they just learned, Haroldt's arm movements revealed mud spots on his sleeves several times. Kavi noticed it, but each time he resisted the urge to take his junior to change clothes immediately.

He actually endured until the end of the society. If there were only three of them there, he would have dragged them to the clothing store right there.

Kavi straightened Harold's collar and asked curiously, "Why don't I seem to have seen you wearing anything other than your school uniform?"

It turned out to be just about clothes.

Well... this is the real Teyvat. Even for scholars of the House of the Decrees, it is indeed unreasonable to wear student uniforms even on weekends.

Harold raised his arm and checked his sleeves, then casually said, "I got up late this morning, so I just took one from the closet. It's not like I don't have other clothes. I'll change into something tomorrow and show it to you, senior."

Because of his work, he inevitably got his clothes stained with mud or grass debris, especially the wide sleeves of the student uniforms of the Oratory, which added a lot of inconvenience.

Kavi reminded him that after coming to Xumi, he had not even bought a set of clothes. There were only three sets of student uniforms issued by the Academy of Teachings in his closet. He was the only one wearing green at the society activity today, but everyone focused on the discussion of the subject and no one made a fuss about this aspect.

It was necessary to buy some casual clothes as he was going to visit Nafis today and wearing a school uniform would be too conspicuous.

Hearing what Harold said, Kavi showed some curiosity and anticipation.

Harold said goodbye to Kavi and planned to go to the clothing store to buy some clothes immediately.

However, he had only taken a few steps when he was stopped.

"Harold!"

Harold stopped and nodded to the man: "Senior Setare."

Finally, the wait came. Setale breathed a sigh of relief and showed the brightest smile: "Are you free now? I would like to treat you to a meal, as a sign of care from the senior to the junior. I will also find time to treat the other members of the society, Kavi, Elhaisen, and Senor, individually."

"Thank you, senior, but no, I still have a lot of food in my freezer, and I want to go home as soon as possible to start my translation work," Harold refused flatly. He knew that this dinner was definitely not as simple as Setale said.

"...Is that so?" Setale looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to them, so she wanted to express her feelings directly to Harold and ask him about desert rice cultivation.

But when the words came to her lips, she showed a look of hesitation again. She didn't know whether it was a good choice to directly tell the other party her purpose.

After learning the whole story, would Haroldt be angry because she had peeked at the documents he submitted to the great sage? Would he think that she wanted to steal his research results and despise her as a person?

In Xumi, the country of wisdom, academic plagiarism has always been considered a serious crime, but she had no choice. On one side is public morality, and on the other side are her compatriots who are starving and looked down upon. If she had to choose one side, she certainly hoped to let her compatriots live a better life, especially since she once betrayed her own beliefs.

Hope, regret and guilt...these complex emotions made her make her current choice.

She thought that if Harold's document was really comprehensive, and she was sure that the research was feasible and she could complete it on her own, she might have really returned to the desert with other people's research results.

But when the desert people live a prosperous life, she is willing to return to Xumi City to be interrogated by the disciplinary officer, and she will not regret it even if she is sentenced to life imprisonment in the end.

Seeing Setare's conflicted look as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, Harold temporarily gave up the idea of ​​leaving immediately. He recalled what had happened recently and had a vague guess about Setare's abnormal behavior.

"...You came to me to ask about rice?" Harold asked in a low voice.

If that were the case, it would all make sense.

Setale was stunned. She didn't expect Harold to guess her purpose, and she didn't expect that the other party would directly point out the little thoughts that she had in her heart and didn't know how to express.

After a brief moment of distraction, Setare's eyes showed hope: "Yes, so you guessed it all. Lord Harold, please tell me, what stage has your research progressed to? Is it really possible to grow rice in the desert?"

...Lord Harold?

Why is it another name that makes me dig my toes on the ground in embarrassment?

Harold sighed: "Just call me Harold. Of course it is feasible, and someone has already succeeded."

Setale's breathing stagnated, and she could hardly control her voice: "Really?!"

"Shh, keep your voice down," Harold reminded softly.

Setale also noticed her own gaffe and immediately adjusted her facial expression.

Harold continued, "It was an old immortal from my hometown. He had always hoped that everyone in the world could be free from the torture of hunger. In my hometown, he succeeded and he made many people eat rice."

Even in another world, Yuan Lao's research can still benefit tens of millions of people suffering from hunger. In Harold's idea, when he successfully grows sea rice in the desert, he will erect a statue for Yuan Lao beside the rice field, so that every desert person who sets foot in the rice field will know that this is the person who can feed them.

Harold's answer made Setale see hope, and her expression became more eager: "Then what do you need me to do for you?"

Harold uttered a word slowly: "Wait."

"Wait? Wait until you can reproduce the research of that old immortal? Or..." Setale's voice gradually tapered off, and she also knew where the problem lay.

If you want to grow rice on a large scale in the desert, you need to invest a lot of money, as well as high-end irrigation equipment and technical personnel. The current desert people cannot do this on their own. Only the House of Religious Orders can provide these things.

Moreover, even if the House of Faith wants to complete this huge project, it needs to carefully consider and arrange the budget. But the current House of Faith is simply unable to allocate funds for this project.

If all the gilded brigades in the desert could be united together, everyone worked together, jointly invested in purchasing equipment, and invited technical personnel from other countries to conduct research together, there would be a chance of success.

But the Gilded Brigade in the desert is a loose group, with deep resentment among the various tribes. The desert is vast and it is very difficult to contact the leaders of each tribe, let alone get them to sit together calmly while drinking tea and discussing fundraising.

Thinking of this, Setale felt as if someone had suddenly poured a bucket of cold water on her. At the same time, she couldn't help but start to have doubts: "Waiting, is it really useful?"

As if he had predicted Setare's thoughts in advance, Harold said softly: "When the little Lucky Grass King reappears in the public eye, that will be the beginning of change."

"...Will Little Jixiangcao King really help us? When will she show up?"

Harold said softly: "A few years later, so now I need you to wait and do something else to help your compatriots, but don't go too far and don't let the sage notice anything unusual.

Well... this society is a great opportunity for you. You can do some additional translation work and bring more poems and literary works from the desert to the rainforest people, but this process may be lonely, after all, stereotypes and prejudices are hard to eliminate. "

He spoke in summary terms, and he knew that was enough, and Setare understood what he meant.

He also revealed a lot of information today, that's because he knew very well what kind of person Setale was, and he really hoped to promote sea rice to the desert, otherwise with his King Gou's personality, he would never waste words with her. He is not a person who likes to get into trouble, and he will avoid trouble if possible.

"I understand," Setale said, smiling again, as if relieved. "I'll go to the Palace of Wisdom right away."

(I will post this chapter separately, and the other chapter will be posted at 7 o'clock in the morning, because I want more people to know that Mr. Chen, the father of sea rice, and Mr. Yuan successfully turned the desert into a granary)