Chapter 355: The past is like smoke

At this time, He Zhaojun was stopping everyone: "Stop eating. If you eat too much, your whole body will be dyed orange yellow the next day." Unfortunately, only a small number of people listened and stopped eating in time, and many people continued to eat oranges.

The result was that the next day, many people had recovered, but had turned into "yellow-faced men". They looked weird from the inside out, and scared several children who accidentally entered the tent.

After this incident, the most common oranges became the most popular and sought-after fruit in the local area, and He Zhaojun also received many oranges sent to her spontaneously by the people. Everyone became curious about this princess whom they had not seen for a long time.

"The refined salt is out of the furnace!" He Zhaojun had changed into the clothes of local people and was waiting beside her with Zhao Hudu. She opened the lid and saw that it was filled with snow-white salt grains. Unlike the usual bitter brine, these white crystals were pure, only salty, without bitterness.

Zhao Hu was ecstatic. He pinched a good portion, put it in his mouth to taste again, and praised repeatedly: "Jun'er, where did you come up with this method? I think the quality of this is no different from the salt sold in the Central Plains. Now, the people of Lingnan can finally eat salt without the bitter taste!"

He Zhaojun frowned. She felt that she seemed to have taught someone the method of purifying salt before, but her memory now was just some vague fragments. It seemed that there was a very important person who she had forgotten.

She looked at the people around her, tears streaming down their cheeks as they clutched their salt, and her heart ached. Lingnan, a remote region unlike the rapidly developing Central Plains, maintained its most primitive farming methods. Without access to trade with the Central Plains, the crops and seafood grown here were largely wasted, leaving them unsought.

"Why not open up trade with the Central Plains? I heard that the current Emperor Wen is very benevolent. He has already agreed to open up trade with foreign races in Liaodong, Northwest and other places." He Zhaojun walked for a while alone, still a little puzzled, and pulled a few people to ask.

A straightforward villager nearby, speaking in somewhat unstandard Mandarin, carefully replied, "Judging from your age, you were probably not even born then. Naturally, you don't know that the late King Zhao Tuo once declared himself emperor and forged a feud with the current Emperor Wen of the Central Plains. At the height of their feud, he threatened to close the border trade forever unless a prince was sent to the Central Plains to serve as a tutor for the princes."

"Unfortunately, the late emperor had only one son, the king!" The people around him also laughed, and their words revealed helplessness. They couldn't let the only heir go to the Central Plains Palace as a hostage, right?

After enough laughter, a few people gathered together to gossip: "Did you know that Emperor Wen actually relented a few years ago? All he needs to do is marry the princess and the two of them make concessions. This will naturally benefit the people's livelihood."

He Zhaojun said, "Then Princess, are you unwilling to get married?"

"I'm telling you this in secret. Don't tell anyone. I heard from the sailors that they deliberately let the princess go because they didn't want her to sacrifice her happiness for them. I think they were right."

One of them nodded repeatedly, agreeing: "The king only has this one sister. If it were our own sister, no one would be willing to give her up."

"Lord Zhao sent the princess away just to find a way out for us. She left home at such a young age. Even if she lived in luxury, how could she be considered lucky? The princess has already devoted herself to us for ten years. Is she going to be trapped in an arranged marriage for the rest of her life?"