In less than half an hour, Li Lanzhen led her family of five back to the grain shop in a horse-drawn carriage.

The man in this family of five is a man in his thirties surnamed Chen.

He used to be a manager in a grain shop owned by a wealthy family.

His wife worked as a cook in that kitchen, along with their three children.

The eldest son is 15 years old, the second son is a girl who is 12 years old, and the youngest son is also 8 years old.

Li Lanzhen settled them in the backyard of the grain shop and then went out again.

I brought back a cotton-padded coat for each member of the family, along with cloth, needles, thread, and other odds and ends.

Give these to the woman in the family and ask her to hurry up and make two more sets of clothes for the whole family in the next few days.

Tell them to wash up and cook for themselves, and she'll come over again tomorrow at noon to talk to them about things.

Li Lanzhen returned to her house, and when she got home, she saw Xuan Shen standing in the courtyard.

"Auntie, you're back."

"Oh, it's Scrophularia ningpoensis. You must have been waiting a long time. Come in."

"No, I just arrived."

The two entered the main room, and Grandma Gou Dan quickly brought over tea.

“Xuan Shen, there’s something I want to tell you.”

"Auntie, please speak."

"This time I have prepared 10,000 catties each of sweet potatoes and potatoes in the secret realm, which I would like to donate to the imperial court."

The imperial court should use these sweet potatoes and potatoes as seeds for large-scale planting next year.

In addition, I have a farm outside the capital, with more than 100 acres of land, all of which are planted with sweet potatoes and potatoes.

Once the sweet potatoes and potatoes in the village are ripe, I plan to sell them at this grain shop.

This way, ordinary families can also buy grain from my shop, plant it in their yards, and harvest some grain.

Xuan Shen did not expect that Li Lanzhen would once again donate sweet potato and potato seeds to the imperial court.

Yesterday in the palace, the Emperor was still talking about Li Lanzhen's contributions to the Le Dynasty.

He quickly stood up and bowed to Li Lanzhen.

"Auntie, you're so kind! I'll go to the palace right away to see the Emperor!"

Li Lanzhen said decisively, "Okay, you can arrange it as you see fit. Where should we put these things?"

Do you have any spare yards or storage rooms?

Xuan Shen straightened up, frowned, thought for a moment, and then smiled.

“Auntie, my yard is to the east of yours.”

"Oh, is that so? What a coincidence."

Xuan Shen thought to himself, "What a coincidence!"

"Alright, I'll leave them in your yard tonight and see how the imperial court manages to transport them away."

Xuan Shen stood still. "Auntie, why don't you go over there now?"

Li Lanzhen thought it made sense. If they ran to the neighboring yard in the dark and were seen by others, they would inevitably be criticized.

This is one of the reasons why she didn't want to live in the capital.

Every move we make is being watched by those who care, and we have no freedom at all!

It's still better to be in Peach Blossom Spring, where I'm carefree, with green mountains in the sky and thousands of acres of fertile fields in the distance.

Feeling great!

She stood up and said as she walked away, "Then let's go. I'll put it in your yard now. That way I can rest easy."

Xuan Shen's courtyard is half again as large as Li Lanzhen's.

"Scrophularia, should we put the sweet potatoes and potatoes in the front yard or the back yard?"

"Auntie, just put it in the front yard."

Li Lanzhen looked around the front yard, which was about half the size of their house.

After finishing speaking, Xuan Shen turned around and went to the backyard.

Although he knew that the secret place belonged to Li Lanzhen, he had been in and out of it many times.

But he didn't want to see with his own eyes how Li Lanzhen took the things out of the secret place.

Li Lanzhen glanced at Xuan Shen as he turned to leave, raised her eyebrows, and smiled.

"Kid, you're quite sensible."

With a wave of his hand, ten thousand catties each of sweet potatoes and potatoes appeared in the yard.

Li Lanzhen put down the sweet potatoes and soil, turned around and left the hospital, ignoring whether Xuan Shen came over.

After leaving the yard, I turned around, closed the gate, and returned home.

That night, Li Lanzhen had just closed her eyes in bed when she heard a noise coming from Xuan Shen's courtyard.

It's estimated that the imperial court sent people to transport the sweet potatoes and potatoes away.

The next day at noon, Li Lanzhen was about to go to the grain shop when Xuan Shen came in.

"Auntie, are you getting ready to go out?"

"?" Yes, I was about to go to the grain store. Do you have something to say?

The two of them talked and then sat down in the main room.

"Auntie, someone from the imperial court will be coming tomorrow, so you shouldn't go out."

Moreover, Han Mingxiang and the others will be on leave tomorrow and will stay home, so they don't need to go to the academy.

I'll come early tomorrow morning.

Li Lanzhen was a little confused. What were the people from the imperial court doing here? So she asked.

"Is it Du Shilang, that official from the Ministry of Revenue, coming? I gave the court sweet potatoes and potatoes again yesterday; is he coming to thank me? No need, it's something I'm willing to do."

"If I don't want to, even if you force me, I won't do it."

Xuan Shen smiled and shook her head. "No, Auntie, tomorrow the Emperor will send an eunuch to deliver an imperial decree. It's good news!"

Li Lanzhen nodded, and seeing that Xuan Shen didn't say anything, she probably guessed what it meant.

It must have been through his own several grain donations that he discovered new, high-yield grain varieties.

The imperial court will reward me, right? What kind of reward? Gold? Silver? Or maybe some land? Anything will do!

"Okay, I understand. When they all come back tonight, I'll tell them to get everything ready by tomorrow morning and wait for the imperial officials to arrive."

After saying all this, Xuan Shen hurriedly left again.

Li Lanzhen sat for a while, then thought it over and decided to go to the grain depot.

Instruct Manager Chen to prepare all matters related to the grain shop.

Open for business as soon as possible.

Li Lanzhen still entered through the small door between the main entrances of the two shops.

Yesterday, she led Manager Chen and his family through the back gate.

They weren't given the key to the front gate either.

She came today to put all kinds of grains in the grain shop's warehouse.

Li Lanzhen passed through the front hall and went to the back warehouse where grain was stored.

The entire warehouse is rectangular in shape.

Row upon row, thick wooden frames were erected, 20 to 30 centimeters off the ground.

Li Lanzhen then categorized and put out all the wheat flour, rice, cornmeal, brown rice, millet, and various beans.

Fifteen minutes later, the grain warehouse was piled full.

There was also a batch of sweet potatoes and potatoes in the space, but Li Lanzhen wasn't sure if she could start selling them at the grain shop now.

I still need to discuss this with Xuan Shen tomorrow.

If we can't sell them now, we'll have to wait until July or August next year, after the sweet potatoes in the village are harvested, before we can sell them here.

After walking around and taking a look, she clapped her hands and opened the door to the backyard.

Upon entering the backyard, one could see Manager Chen and his eldest son cleaning the yard.

Upon seeing her, he quickly greeted her.

"The boss has arrived. Greetings, boss!"

"Manager Chen, come with me, I have something to tell you."

The two men entered the front hall of the grain shop.

Li Lanzhen took out a set of keys and handed them to him.

"Manager Chen, here are the keys to the grain shop. Take them."

Your office is the small room on the second floor near the stairwell.

"You can arrange things yourself; that's where you'll work and keep accounts."

Then Li Lanzhen took out two silver notes and gave them to him.

"Take this hundred taels of silver note for now, as living expenses in the grain shop. Just keep good records."

The head manager is my in-law; he'll be here in a couple of days.

The head manager was in charge of all the shop's affairs, including purchasing grain.

All you need to do is manage this grain shop well and keep good records of sales.

When the head manager arrives, he will tell you what the other members of your family do, how much their monthly salary is, including your monthly salary, and then he will discuss it with you.

"Get the grain shop ready in the next couple of days, then just wait."

Manager Chen bowed respectfully and nodded, "Yes, sir. I will prepare it."

When it was time for dinner, all the children who were studying in the academy returned, and there were many people there.

Besides their own family members, the Crown Prince, Xuan Shen, and Su Chen also came.

Everyone knew that the imperial court would announce the imperial edict the next day.

Granny Hua explained to them what to do tomorrow, and the children became excited again.

Right there at the dinner table, they were still chattering away.

Li Lanzhen shook her head and glanced at Han Mingxiang.

“Mingxiang, these kids have been studying at the academy for so long, and they’re still acting like little monkeys.”

Han Mingxiang smiled slightly, "Mother, they're not like this at the academy. They're all well-behaved and polite young masters."

"Oh, that's good. Just don't let the people in the capital think we're really country bumpkins who don't know manners."

The next day, everyone ate breakfast early, dressed neatly, and waited nervously and impatiently.

A moment later, Erniu, who had been watching from outside the courtyard, ran in.

Lowering her voice, her eyes crinkled with laughter, she said, "They're here, they're here! Let's get ready!"

Li Lanzhen smiled as she watched Erniu run in, clumsy and awkward. "He's up to no good," she thought.

He quickly stood up as the Crown Prince entered.

Following behind were Su Bisheng and his father-in-law, who was in his thirties.

He smiled and opened the bright yellow imperial edict in his hand.

In her distinctive voice, she said, "Peach Blossom Spring, Li Lanzhen receives the imperial decree."

Li Lanzhen and the children knelt on the ground.

"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Youzhou City..."

Discovery of new high-yield varieties of sweet potatoes and potatoes, and improvement of agricultural tools...

They donated sweet potato and potato seeds to the imperial court...

For her contributions to the agricultural development of the Le Dynasty and her noble character, Li Lanzhen was granted the title of Yiren (宜人)...

(Fun fact: In ancient times, the rank of an official's wife followed that of her husband. First-rank officials were called "Madam," second-rank officials were also called "Madam," third-rank officials were called "Shuren," fourth-rank officials were called "Gongren," fifth-rank officials were called "Yiren," sixth-rank officials were called "Anren," seventh-rank officials were called "Ruren," eighth-rank officials were called "Bapin Ruren," and ninth-rank officials were called "Jiupin Ruren." Among these, the highest title was "First-Rank Imperial Lady.")