Chapter 111 Cornelian Cherry Red

The faint sound of fireworks drifted into the dungeon. The old Goguryeo king, chained to the wall, slowly opened his eyes, his parched lips moving slightly, "Water..."

No one answered him for a long time.

After a long while, a jailer finally brought food and water. The food consisted of cabbage and cornbread. The Goguryeo king, disregarding the unpalatable taste, slurped it down with relish.

Since the birth of his daughter, Wei Li has become increasingly stingy. In the past, he would occasionally let the prisoners have some meat scraps, but now he eats only plain water, cabbage, and potatoes every day. He invests half of the money he has saved in military equipment and keeps the other half in his private treasury.

He could faintly hear the voices of several jailers outside.

The Northeast region has many ethnic groups and languages. He is a member of the Buyeo ethnic group. From a young age, in addition to learning the Buyeo language, he also had to learn Chinese and the Mohe language. Naturally, he could understand what the prison guards were saying.

Today is the full moon celebration for Wei Li's daughter, no wonder it's so lively. Speaking of Wei Li's daughter, he can't help but think of his own heir, the son who led the people to independence in southern Goguryeo.

He had originally been filled with resentment and anger towards that son, but now he only felt deep longing and anticipation.

Thinking back to how his queen had knocked him unconscious and fled with her valuables before the army entered the city, he felt that he must have been blinded by kimchi to say something like deposing the crown prince.

Hopefully, his son can put aside past grievances and save his elderly father.

The crown prince of Goguryeo was indeed deeply devoted to his father and quite filial. If he had been a little more ruthless at the time, he could have simply led a coup and seized the throne, which would have been quite satisfying. But in the end, he couldn't bear to do it and only divided the territory into Southern Goguryeo.

He was still afraid of his elderly father dying, so he discussed with Wei Li repeatedly and decided to cede Pyongyang, the border town between the two places, to Pyeongju in exchange for the King of Goguryeo.

Wei Li disagreed, thinking that such a small place was not enough to satisfy beggars. He suggested that the land should either be divided starting from Hancheng or not be divided at all.

Southern Goguryeo was already a small place, and from Pyongyang to Seoul it occupied almost half of the territory. If it had been divided up as Wei Li suggested, the remaining area would have been almost as small as Bu Xian.

Wei Li was busy lately taking care of his wife during her postpartum period and their child, monitoring the progress of the mine, inspecting the rice paddies that Shen Du'an had planted at the foot of the mountain, and finally inspecting the newly built girls' school. He was so busy that he was spinning like a top and couldn't spare the time. Otherwise, he would have stopped arguing with him and directly conquered Southern Goguryeo in one fell swoop.

Mining can't be done in a day. The first few months are just for building the structure and customizing the equipment. It won't be until next year that we can actually extract coal.

As for the rice paddies down the mountain, Shen Du'an spent three whole months practically living among them, recording the growth of the rice and ducks every day, and even trying to raise fish in one of the rice fields.

After harvesting and drying, the results showed that each acre could produce three shi and eight dou of rice, raise sixteen ducks, and produce nearly four hundred fish.

Fish, ducks, and rice together form a sustainable aquaculture system. As long as the number of ducklings and fish fry released is controlled, the rice will not be damaged, and pests and weeds can be eliminated.

When Shen Du'an showed the record book to Wei Li, he almost burst into tears. It turned out that his method worked, and he wasn't a useless person.

Wei Li stared at the booklet, secretly counting on his fingers. Sixteen ducks per mu (unit of land area), and the experimental field totaled two hundred mu. How many ducks would that be! These ducks could be kept to entertain guests at Zhizhi's 100-day celebration, so there would be no need to spend money on buying ducks, saving a lot of money. How wonderful!

There's also fish, so you don't need to buy any more.

He couldn't figure out exactly how many ducks there were, but fortunately Shen Du'an read the summarized data to him: "Two hundred mu of land, producing a total of seven hundred and sixty shi of rice, more than three thousand ducks, and sixty thousand grass carp."

Shen Du'an then tapped the abacus, his eyes growing brighter as he spoke, "If we calculate based on the previous annual rice yield of three shi and two dou per mu in Pingzhou, this is a full 120 shi more produced, enough to feed 35 more people for a year."

Wei Li was a little confused by his calculations, but no matter what, increased production was good. "Then let's promote this method throughout Pingzhou. Shen Du'an will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver for his merit. I will also add some of this year's rice harvest to make up a thousand shi, which will be used for charity when Zhizhi is 100 days old."

When the emperor had a crown prince, he would grant a general amnesty. His daughter Zhizhi couldn't be any different, could she?

The Double Ninth Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, which happens to fall in mid-October in the Gregorian calendar. Zhizhi was exactly one and a half months old when she was born.

Chen Ruojiang presented Wei Li with three sprigs of Evodia rutaecarpa, saying, "It's the Double Ninth Festival, so we're sending you three sprigs as a token of our appreciation. You can wear them and play with them, and there are also a few pots of chrysanthemums for you to enjoy."

He smiled obsequiously.

Wei Li felt that his attentiveness was abnormal, but she still wrapped the dogwood in a handkerchief and put it in her bosom. "Just tell me what you want."

"It's nothing, I was just thinking that you've been so busy at home lately, and I missed you, so I came to check on you. I'll be going now, no need to stay for dinner." Chen Ruojiang seemed to have really come to deliver a few sprigs of dogwood and a few pots of chrysanthemums, and hurried off.

He slowed his pace outside the courtyard and strolled quietly for a while. When he heard a light footstep, he quickly took out his handkerchief, opened it, and revealed the red dogwood inside.

Xiao Tao, holding a jar of chrysanthemum wine, greeted him indifferently, "Hello, Vice General Chen," and then turned to leave.

Chen Ruojiang took a step forward and handed her the dogwood, saying, "I just gave the lord three branches, and the remaining one is for Little Peach Lady."

"I don't want it. You have a younger sister at home. Give it to her." Without even thinking, Xiao Tao took a step back and hurriedly ran into the yard.

Chen Ruojiang was a little disappointed. After thinking for a moment, he simply put the dogwood in his hair.

His sister gets a ride, why would he?

Zhizhi was still sleeping. In a day with twelve hours, it was rare for her to be awake for even two hours.

Her skin was fair and tender, like a steamed bun. Apart from her dark eyes, which resembled Wei Li's, it was impossible to tell who she looked like.

Wei Li walked over and picked up Zhi Zhi. Zhao Xi Heng was frightened by the sight. She still didn't dare to hug Zhi Zhi, only daring to kiss and pinch her when she was lying down. Wei Li was much bolder than her.

"How dare you hug her?" she asked hurriedly, standing up and protecting Zhizhi's head.

Wei Li couldn't suppress the smile on his lips, and raised his head slightly with a hint of pride, "What's so difficult about this? Isn't it easy to learn at a glance?"

Luckily, he was quick-witted and had learned it in advance. He really felt good seeing Zhao Xiheng's envious and admiring gaze.

Zhao Xiheng rolled her eyes at the sky, not at all reserved.

"I'll teach you." He gently moved Zhizhi into her arms. "It's been over a month, she's not as brittle anymore."

Zhao Xiheng froze, afraid to move. She felt that no matter how strong she was, she was still weaker than Wei Li. If Wei Li couldn't hurt her, she certainly wouldn't hurt him either.

Xiao Zhizhi is really soft; it feels like a lump of soft flesh when you put your hands on her.

"Move around a bit, don't be so stiff."

As soon as the nanny came in, she saw the two of them handling the child like a rag doll. She was so frightened that her heart almost stopped. She quickly stepped forward to correct their movements, saying, "Make sure to support the child's cervical spine properly."

The way several people took turns carrying her made Zhizhi uncomfortable, and she let out a soft "ah-woo" as if she was about to wake up. Zhao Xiheng quickly and carefully put her back in her crib.

Suddenly, I relaxed and realized that I had been sweating profusely from the tension, and my arms were sore from the stiff posture.

Wei Li took out a handkerchief wrapped with dogwood from his bosom, opened it, selected the best one inside, and put it in Zhao Xiheng's hair. "This was given to me by Chen Ruojiang just now. Dogwood is worn on the Double Ninth Festival."

He lowered his head and unfolded the handkerchief for her, saying, "You can wear it too."

Zhao Xiheng looked at the remaining two flowers, picked out the best one, looked around, found a place, and inserted it near his hair tie.

The bright red dogwood hairpins adorned their heads, making them look festive and beautiful, adding a touch of vibrant color. The two looked at each other and laughed together.

Finally, the sprig of dogwood on the handkerchief was pressed down, and a clump fell off. Wei Li picked it up, shook it, and looked at it.

"This isn't good, I'll give mine to Zhizhi." Zhao Xiheng quickly tried to remove the hairpin from her sideburn.

With lightning speed, Wei Li pressed the fallen tuft of dogwood under Zhi Zhi's pillow, then put the dogwood that Zhao Xi Heng had picked back into her hair, whispering, "It's okay, give it to her. Anyway, she doesn't know anything right now."

He added, "She doesn't have long hair, so she can't wear it."

Why did Zhao Xiheng always use the best things before, but now that Zhizhi is born, she has to wear inferior dogwood?

Zhao Xiheng was stunned. How hurtful were those words? All that was said was that the person's hair wasn't long, but Wei Li insisted that the person had no hair.

Her gaze swept over the dogwood in Wei Li's hair, her meaning quite clear.

Since you won't let me exchange my dogwood, then I'll exchange yours.

Wei Li felt a little wronged and quickly covered her dogwood, saying, "What's wrong with you? Didn't you just put this on me?"

But Wei Li was still unwilling to exchange his dogwood for Zhi Zhi's.

"If you can't bear to part with it, just give mine to her." It's just a dogwood flower, nothing special, it doesn't matter what kind you wear.

"Why would I be reluctant to part with it?" Wei Li retorted, trying to sound righteous, since Zhao Xiheng's things couldn't be exchanged anyway.

Little Zhizhi lay in her cradle, completely unaware of everything.

Wei Li was a little unhappy all day because the dogwood that Zhao Xiheng had personally given him was given to Zhizhi instead.

Although he didn't say it directly, Zhao Xiheng could tell whether he was angry or not, happy or unhappy, just by the slightest smirk at the corner of his mouth.

After washing up in the evening, Wei Li rolled into the quilt, only a tuft of black hair showing.

Pull him out, "Close your eyes, I have something for you!"

"What is that?" He obediently closed his eyes.

Zhao Xiheng touched his ear, "Open your eyes!"

She held up a bronze mirror for him to see.

Wei Li wore a bright red dogwood tucked behind her ear; it was new.

"Is it pretty?" Zhao Xiheng looked at him expectantly. She had asked someone to buy it especially for her. "Cheer up." Don't always be jealous of your daughter.

Wei Li looked at herself in the mirror, pursed her lips, and blushed slightly. "Your mirror isn't clear anymore. I'll sharpen it for you tomorrow."