Chapter 304: Good News
After the imperial banquet, even Xingnong, who had excellent stamina, felt exhausted.
During the day, she saw Shen Ruoxi so tired that her legs were weak and she couldn’t walk. In the end, the Jin Kingdom Emperor carried her onto the imperial carriage.
Thinking about her and Chu Tiankuo’s wedding, she couldn’t help but enter the Spirit Orb Space to ask a certain someone.
Chu Tiankuo was already waiting for her in the space. He had just returned to his lodgings from the Jin Kingdom Imperial Palace and received a letter from Chu Kingdom with good news to share.
As soon as Xingnong saw Chu Tiankuo, she asked directly, “Is the Chu Kingdom Crown Prince’s wedding and investiture ceremony also so complicated?”
Chu Tiankuo nodded, “Almost. We also have the wedding procession. To ensure ample time for the sacrificial ceremony to Heaven, we need to start the procession at midnight, so we hardly sleep the night before the wedding.”
Xingnong: “. . .”
She didn’t even want to get married anymore!
“Why does it have to be so complicated? Can’t it be simpler?”
Chu Tiankuo shook his head, “Etiquette cannot be neglected. There are established rules to follow. Besides, there will be envoy delegations from various countries. It wouldn’t be appropriate if it wasn’t grand.”
Xingnong: “Isn’t this just suffering for the sake of appearances?”
Chu Tiankuo chuckled and rubbed her head, “Think about it. We’re compressing three days into one, only tiring for one day. It’ll be much better!”
“What do you mean three days into one? It’s two days into one, right?”
The Jin Kingdom Emperor received news about the reactions of the envoy delegations from various countries.
One day for the wedding, one day for the investiture.
Chu Tiankuo: “As the Crown Princess, wouldn’t you attend the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony?”
Xingnong: “. . .”
Calculated this way, it was indeed a gain!
If she had to be tired for three days, it would be unbearable!
Chu Tiankuo took out a letter from his sleeve pocket and gave it to her.
Xingnong took it, asking while opening it, “What is it?”
“Good news.” Chu Tiankuo raised an eyebrow, indicating for her to read it herself.
Xingnong rolled her eyes at him before lowering her head to open the letter.
Even rolling her eyes, this beautiful person was so lively and charming. Chu Tiankuo loved to see her spirited look, and his lips curled up unconsciously.
Xingnong scanned the letter and finished reading its contents.
This letter was sent by Ren Zilin. The winter wheat in Futai County had started to be harvested. The letter said that the wheat was growing very well. The ears were heavy, and the grains were plump. When he went to inspect the villages below, he found that the people went to the fields every day, their eyes filled with tears of joy! There were even people who were worried that such good wheat would be stolen or destroyed by wild boars from the mountains, so they slept in the wheat fields at night.
People from neighboring counties came to see it and were extremely envious! They couldn’t believe that wheat could grow so well and have such large grains!
The letter was very long. At the end, Ren Zilin even wrote that he was waiting for a promotion, a raise, and to be remembered for a thousand years!
The handwriting at the beginning of the letter was still relatively formal, but as it went on, it became more unrestrained and free-flowing, revealing the writer’s mood.
Xingnong’s lips curled up, “It is indeed good news. I really want to see how plump those wheat grains are.”
She calculated the time. This letter should have been written a few days ago. A few days ago was precisely Grain in Ear, and agricultural work in Jin Kingdom had also started to get busy these days.
From Grain in Ear to the Summer Solstice, this half month was the busiest time of the year. Summer-ripening crops needed to be harvested, summer-sown and autumn-harvested crops needed to be sown, spring-sown crops that hadn’t yet matured needed field management. Everything needed to be done.
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Grain in Ear, this was a tiring solar term, but it was also a joyful one.
And by the time she returned from Jin Kingdom, the summer harvest and summer planting would have been completed.
“You can see it during the autumn harvest.” Chu Tiankuo looked towards Chu Kingdom, his eyes deep. He also wanted to see this harvest with special significance with his own eyes. From now on, Chu Kingdom’s grain production would no longer be the lowest among the four kingdoms.
Xingnong nodded, “When we came, the rice seedlings were already being raised. They can be planted now, right? I wonder if the people will adopt the rice transplanting method I taught them.”
Previously, when planting winter wheat, the people in some villages didn’t follow the methods provided by the yamen.
They had been farming all their lives and felt that their own methods were more reliable.
“I’ll still write back and ask Ren Daren to compare the yield of those planted according to the method and those not planted according to the method.”
Even if it was the same wheat variety, the yield would be different due to different planting and management methods!
Rice transplanting also required specific methods. The spacing between two seedlings couldn’t be too wide or too narrow. Too narrow, and when the seedlings grew up, it would affect the efficiency of photosynthesis, resulting in reduced yield. Too wide, and it would waste land, reducing the total yield. She had explained all this before.
Chu Tiankuo: “Don’t worry, Ren Zilin will take care of these matters. From the current wheat harvest, I believe all the people in Futai County are willing to listen to the yamen.”
Grain was the foundation of the people and the cornerstone of the country. He had already instructed Ren Zilin to find the household with the highest yield in the entire county after the wheat harvest and record their planting methods for reference.
Moreover, during the wheat’s growth period, he had arranged for people to inspect the various villages and record the villagers’ field management practices. They would then make comparisons to try and find the best planting methods.
Grain was the villagers’ lifeline, so they were all very cooperative with those recording the data.
Xingnong also thought that Chu Tiankuo had already made arrangements, so she didn’t say anything. She just didn’t know if the villagers in Peach Blossom Village could handle the workload. She was worried that to save money, they wouldn’t hire temporary workers to harvest the wheat and would rather work overtime themselves to rush the harvest.
The summer rain could come at any time. If they didn’t harvest and dry the wheat quickly, it would be bad if it got moldy or sprouted!
Thinking of this, Xingnong decided to write another letter back! She had written a letter to remind them before Grain in Ear.
But she knew very well how frugal and hardworking the villagers in Peach Blossom Village were. When the snack workshop was busy, she wanted to hire temporary workers to help, but they all said they could manage, even if it meant working later.
Later, when the orders were really too large and they couldn’t keep up, they finally agreed to Xingnong hiring people.
~
Futai County, Peach Blossom Village, threshing ground.
It was already late at night, but the villagers were still busy on the threshing ground, even their dinner hadn’t been eaten yet.
Village Chief Gu pushed the wheat aside and said, “No, tomorrow we still need to hire more people. Don’t be stingy! Finishing quickly is the priority. Otherwise, if we delay the work in the workshop and the autumn harvest, it will be a big loss! If we delay any longer, the Beginning of Summer will be here!”
The rice seedlings in every household’s fields were only half planted. In addition to rice transplanting, the cornfields needed watering, cultivating, weeding, and fertilizing! The same went for the cotton fields! These were new crops, they had no experience, and they needed to carefully follow Xingnong’s instructions.
And there were sweet potatoes, peanuts, sorghum, soybeans, sesame seeds, and so on.
They were all busy!
Gu Yuxia said, “Let’s hire people! This year is different from previous years! Last year, everyone’s families didn’t have any fields, or if they did, it wasn’t much, only one or two mu. They either rented a few mu from the landlord’s family or worked as temporary laborers for the landlord. This year, every household has at least twenty mu of land, plus the work in the workshop. We really can’t manage it all!”
