I wonder if the Zhao family's happy occasions happen in clusters. While the Zhao family was enjoying their feast, an imperial edict arrived from down the mountain.

The whole courtyard was in an uproar, including Magistrate Qiu, who was struggling with the pig's trotter.

The Zhao family members quickly set up an incense table and changed their clothes.

The young girls, including Zhao Qingyan, who had been staying in the back, now had to come out and receive the imperial decree.

The Zhao family members will be arranged according to age and seniority.

After everyone had lined up, the procession to read the imperial edict arrived.

Zhao Qingyan had expected to see the legendary eunuch, but instead, a bearded man appeared.

Well, I'm somewhat disappointed.

"By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees that Zhao is humble, polite, gentle, and possesses exceptional talent."

They discovered a high-yield grain variety, presented it to the imperial court, and it has now been successfully cultivated. They are truly a model for the people.

Huang Xiuhua, beautiful and intelligent, kind and diligent, generous and charitable, established an orphanage to shelter the lonely and widowed, which deeply moved me. She is truly a heroine…

A reward of one hundred taels of gold and one hundred acres of fertile land…

After rambling on for a while, the gist of it was that the potatoes and sweet potatoes had been successfully cultivated, which pleased the Emperor. He also investigated the Zhao family and discovered that they ran an orphanage. After praising them, he bestowed rewards upon them.

Putting everything else aside, that hundred taels of gold alone would be enough for the orphanage to spend for a while.

With a hundred acres of fertile land, more grain can be grown. After all, these days, large tracts of good land have long been taken by those with connections.

Ordinary people who want to buy land usually do so in small, scattered transactions. Even the Zhao family's thirty acres of fertile land were acquired over the years, with them buying a little each year and exchanging it with other villagers.

Only then can they be connected into one piece.

Huang had intended to give the messenger a large red envelope, but the messenger declined.

You wouldn't believe it until you hear it, and the messenger who came to deliver the imperial edict was none other than the Grand Minister of Agriculture, Chu Zhongji.

Quickly invite the Grand Minister of Agriculture into the house, and also settle the Zhao family members who accompanied him to deliver the imperial edict.

The kitchen staff quickly prepared and cooked the food on the spot. Since they didn't have enough ingredients, Zhao Qingyan quickly went to the storeroom and put in a lot more good ingredients.

Zhao Minggeng brought him out again, and the hospitality couldn't be lacking.

The previously sarcastic Yuan Runqian and his ilk have now shut their annoying mouths, and not one of them dares to utter another word or gossip about the Zhao family.

They didn't know anything about high-yield or low-yield grains, but they did know about orphanages.

Not to mention Qingyang County, even in Lingnan Prefecture, there is only one such place.

It is said that there are hundreds of children inside, and even if they only eat brown rice for three meals a day, it would still weigh hundreds of kilograms.

The amount of money spent was so enormous that even families with some spare cash wouldn't dare to squander it like that.

But the Zhao family was willing to spend money on children who were not related to them by blood.

That kind of magnanimity and spirit is something that these people can't reach.

When you do the math, the little reward the emperor gave seems insignificant.

Normally, imperial edicts are delivered by eunuchs, but Chu Zhongji himself had to fight for this job when he entered the palace.

Obsessed with farming, he started to scheme after learning that the potatoes and sweet potatoes came from the Zhao family.

"Your Majesty, I believe the Zhao family is quite extraordinary."

The fact that those rare seeds were planted before being handed over to the imperial court shows that it was a safe and reliable practice.

Since we were able to obtain these potato and sweet potato seeds from foreign merchants, perhaps there are other high-yield seeds as well.

Moreover, the potatoes and sweet potatoes planted by the Zhao family are said to be growing well and have an exceptionally high yield.

"This humble servant wishes to take over the job of the imperial messenger and make this trip. If I could manage to extract even more high-yield crops from the Zhao family, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

The emperor of Shenlong Kingdom wasn't a fool. Looking at Chu Zhongji's face covered in wrinkles, he wondered what he was up to.

"How do you know the Zhao family has more grain seeds? What if they don't? Wouldn't your trip have been for nothing?"

Chu Zhongji quickly bowed.

"Your Majesty, what if there is such a thing?"

Even if there's nothing there, one can imagine that the Zhao family's planting techniques are quite good.

Otherwise, how could the reported yield be higher than that of our public fields?

Thus, both the emperor and his minister harbored the ambition to plunder the Zhao family. Chu Zhongji accepted the task of delivering the imperial decree.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture was given the head seat at the main table. The food served to a second-rank official could not be leftovers or half-eaten food.

Quickly remove it from the table and replace it with something new.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture usually loves to eat meat, but pork always has a gamey smell, and beef is hard to find, so he eats mutton, chicken, and duck the most.

Seeing that the Zhao family's dining table contained not only chicken, duck, goose, and fish, but also many items that looked like pork, I automatically ignored the pork when I picked up my chopsticks.

Magistrate Qiu, whose family was from the capital, had met the Grand Minister of Agriculture before. He sat down beside him and used serving chopsticks to specially place a piece of braised pork into the Grand Minister of Agriculture's bowl.

"Grand Minister of Agriculture, try this braised pork. It's fatty but not greasy. This kind of meat is hard to find outside."

Although the Grand Minister of Agriculture didn't show it on his face, he didn't take it to heart.

"What kind of meat haven't I eaten before? This piece of lousy pork?"

Out of politeness, I picked up the piece of glistening braised pork from his bowl.

I took a bite, and my eyes lit up.

"Why does this meat have so little of the fishy smell that pork has?"

Zhao Qianci smiled and said, "These are raised using our Zhao family's unique secret method, and they also eat Chinese herbal medicine on a daily basis."

Therefore, it's normal that it doesn't have a fishy or musty smell.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture was delighted, thinking to himself that he hadn't made a mistake in coming.

So the Minister of Agriculture, without bothering with pleasantries, started eating meat one chopstick after another.

The chickens, ducks, and geese that he had always favored were completely untouched.

The accompanying messengers were all eating with gusto.

After the meal, the accompanying officials prepared to return to the county. Magistrate Qiu, being the local magistrate, naturally had to do his part.

The Zhao family prepared a gift for each member of the entourage, plus a ten-tael silver coin.

However, the Grand Minister of Agriculture stayed at the Zhao family's house and refused to leave, claiming that he wanted to discuss farming methods with them.

This greatly troubled the Zhao family. "We need to study, so it's not appropriate for the adults to stay at home, is it?"

Zhao Qianci voiced his concerns. It wasn't that he was afraid the old man had any bad intentions, but people's mouths are open, and it wouldn't be good if gossip spread.

"Hey, what's the big deal? I see your village is much richer than other villages, so I'm sure it will be easy to find a place to settle the old man."

Besides, I can stay wherever Mr. Yun lives, and I can also ask Mr. Yun for some Buddhist teachings.

Hey, I knew you were such a stubborn old man.

You're just going to study at the county school. This Mr. Yun was once a highly accomplished monk, and his knowledge is even greater than that of your headmaster.

Why bother with school? Just consult Mr. Yun and your headmaster directly.