In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

Except for visiting Chu Changying on her wedding day, Ling Shumo never set foot in Furong Palace again.

Chu Changying was quite patient. If Ling Shumo didn't come to see him, he would stay quietly in the yard alone, reading today and practicing calligraphy tomorrow, as if he was living in seclusion in his own little piece of land.

As the saying goes, "The emperor is not anxious, but the eunuchs are." Chu Changying acted like nothing had happened, eating and drinking as usual, but the system was very concerned about its annual bonus. "Host, host, host, how can you still eat? Didn't you sell yourself to Ling Shumo just to save that beautiful woman named Xue Wu?"

You have neither met Xue Wu nor mentioned this person to Ling Shumo, and Ling Shumo's favorability has not increased at all. What are you thinking about all day?

You married into the Eastern Palace, it can't be because you were too free outside and thus put yourself in the shackles of marriage, right?

Chu Changying slowly wrote another word on the paper, 'I'd have to be crazy to hang around Ling Shumo. Didn't you see that Ling Shumo went to Chenyou Palace three times, and Lu Jinshu used illness as an excuse to refuse twice.

If I spend the night with Ling Shumo tonight, Shangguan Xu will shoot me like a sieve with his arrows by tomorrow noon at the latest."

The system couldn't understand the twists and turns of human beings. Just as it was about to get to the bottom of it, Xie Shen came in with some freshly brewed tea.

Xie Shen was so shocked that he didn't hold the teacup firmly when he put it on the table. A few drops of tea leaves splashed onto the rice paper in front of Chu Changying. The beautiful word "Peach" on the paper was immediately blurred and could not be seen clearly.

Xie Shen was startled. Just as he was about to kneel down and apologize, Chu Changying gently interrupted him, "Don't kneel. Just be more careful next time. By the way, what news did you hear that makes you look like this?"

Xie Shen deliberately lowered his voice, but still couldn't hide the astonishment in his tone, "Master, you don't know, it's really crazy.

In the middle of winter, the Crown Princess's Concubine (Shangguan Xu) ordered people to transplant peach trees into the Changqiu Palace. Peach trees have poor cold resistance, and even if all the methods used in the greenhouse were used and money was poured into them, at least nine out of ten saplings would die.

When Her Royal Highness heard the news, she not only didn't reprimand the people in Changqiu Palace, but she also went to the palace to find the craftsmen who usually tended to the flowers and plants in the imperial garden, just to keep the peach trees in Changqiu Palace alive."

Chu Changying's gaze fell on the rice paper spread out on the table. What he had just written on the paper was a poem describing the peach blossoms as gorgeous as the spring breeze.

Shangguan Xu liked peach blossoms, and the Princess Royal catered to his taste. He had known about this for a long time.

Seeing Chu Changying's dejected expression, Xie Shen thought he was sad, and quickly comforted him, "Master, don't be sad. It's all my fault for telling you such nonsense..."

Chu Changying spoke calmly, "I'm not sad. If anyone should be sad, it should be the people of Zhongdu. The flood was followed by the plague. I don't know how many families sold their children just to buy a piece of mixed grain bread mixed with sand, but in the end they couldn't survive and their entire family died."

After hearing what Chu Changying said, Xie Shen couldn't help but tremble all over. He felt like he was hurt.

Because his family had no food, his parents sold him to a human trafficker for one or two taels of silver, and the human trafficker then sold him to a brothel.

Xie Shen tried his best to control his emotions and said jokingly with a smile, "Speaking of which, the madam of Ningshuang Pavilion spent twenty taels of silver to buy this slave. The men in the same village as this slave are far inferior to her.

They were sold by the pound, with each pound of meat costing only one penny. Some were so thin that the madam thought they might not survive even if fed, so she sold them at half the price.

The money earned from transplanting a peach tree in Changqiu Palace was enough to buy a team of carriage drivers, with some left over.

Her Highness the Princess truly dotes on the Consort Prince. I wish my Master could have this blessing as well."

Chu Changying stood up and patted his shoulder. Xie Shen said this to make him laugh, but he couldn't laugh at all. He opened his mouth several times to comfort Xie Shen, but he was tongue-tied and didn't know what to say.

A pound of pork costs fourteen cents, and it will double during disasters. In this era, human life is the cheapest thing, not even as valuable as animals.

Chu Changying opened the drawer of the desk and took out the bag of improved rice seeds that he had exchanged from the system mall from the bottom layer.

Shangguan Xu's sister, Shangguan Ran, was a man of ruthless cruelty. She killed people in the court and caused rivers of blood to flow. In the homes of ministers of the Xuanyou Empire who opposed her, babies were immediately sent to see the King of Hell just one day after they were born. Not even an ant was left in the whole family.

Shangguan Xu is currently in the limelight, and he shouldn't be in the spotlight now.

Before Xie Shen said this, Chu Changying was still able to sit back and relax, but when he thought of the pale and skinny disaster-stricken people, and then looked at the high-quality silver charcoal burning in the stove in the house, he suddenly felt uneasy.

He followed the officials to deal with the bodies of the civilians. The people were so thin that they were just skeletons, but their bellies were as big as those of a pregnant woman in her eighth month.

One of the villagers had his stomach cut open by a stone on the ground, and it was full of sand and bark.

Even if it wasn't to save Xue Wu, he would still give the improved rice seeds to Ling Shumo.

The new seeds need to be trial-planted before they can be promoted, and it is unknown how long this will take. As long as this rice is not promoted on a large scale in the Chisha Empire, he will be unable to sleep or eat because of the thought of the victims who starved to death.

Chu Changying felt his mouth dry, and he stood up suddenly. "I brewed two jars of Blue Tail wine. I mentioned it to His Highness last time. Go to Guangming Palace now and invite His Highness over."

Xie Shen took the order and went out.

Chu Changying went to the west courtyard in person and brought over two jars of wine.

The wine in ancient times had a light taste, but these two jars of wine were both high-concentration liquors. It would be hard for Ling Shumo not to get drunk if she drank them.

When people are drunk, their heads always get hot.

He just prayed that everything would go well today.

…