Chapter 196 Mr. Yuan, are you calmed down now?

The darkness before dawn is, after all, only temporary.

The rising sun quickly swallowed all the darkness.

The sky was a clear, deep blue in the morning, without a single cloud.

Yuan Hongqu led Daiyu to the lakeside to stretch their muscles a little, and then they jogged slowly around the small lake together.

It's said that it's not easy to live in the capital, but that's because you don't have a high enough official position or strong enough connections.

The Lin family's accumulated wealth over generations is so vast that there's no problem running horses around in their yard.

And this small lake is like a bright pearl, adorning the landscape.

I've heard that no other garden in the capital has such a large body of water.

Since the beginning of the first month of the lunar calendar, the weather has been fine, and the ice on the water has long since melted.

The large koi carp by the water's edge are clustered together, plump and big.

After running around for a while, Daiyu couldn't resist taking some fish feed to the koi by the water.

"Granny, when we first came back before the New Year, I didn't see that the koi here were this big, and there weren't that many. How come they've gotten so fat after just one year?"

The koi by the water are not afraid of people at all. They crowd together and swarm forward, disappearing instantly when a handful of feed is thrown in.

For some reason, Yuan Hongqu thought of the scene of piglets scrambling for food. The scene of koi carp fighting for food was exactly the same as that scene, except that one was in a pigsty and the other was in a pond. Moreover, the scene of koi carp fighting for food was obviously more beautiful.

The old woman who guarded the koi lake, upon hearing Daiyu's words, came over and said with a smile.

"Young lady, it was cold before the New Year, so the fish didn't like to move, and not many came to the surface; now that the weather is warmer, they need to come up for some fresh air. We feed them every day, using the recipe given by Granny Yuan, and the carp are growing bigger and bigger, looking more and more auspicious," the old woman said with a smile.

“In previous years, every spring there would be some fish floating belly up, but this year there haven’t been any. They’ve all grown quite robust.”

“Very good. No wonder the Imperial Household Department planned the banquet route to pass through this Koi Lake. Just standing by the water and looking at these koi makes me feel very comfortable.”

Daiyu threw in another handful of feed, and the koi came forward to snatch it. She could almost hear the koi slurping.

"Granny, there's a golden one over there! Oh, it's gone down! Look, its tail is shimmering with golden light!" Daiyu excitedly pointed to a carp in the water.

“Look, there are several golden carp in our lake, not just this one.” Yuan Hongqu stood by the water with Daiyu.

This pond of koi includes some that originally belonged to the Lin family, as well as some that she put in there.

Unfortunately, the pond is too small to keep such large koi.

The nourishing effects of crops grown in this space on the human body are not immediate, but rather gradual and cumulative.

But its effects on animals are obvious.

Not to mention the chickens, ducks, and geese in her space that are almost sentient, even a pond full of fish grows faster than the ones outside.

She threw the koi that had been "bathed" in the pool into the Lin family's koi lake, and that's how the current scene appeared.

Thousands of koi carp scrambled to get in, some even floating on the rocks by the water's edge, splashing around a few times before jumping back into the water.

“Princess Lin, golden koi are truly rare. I have a favor to ask…” Eunuch Chen Li led a few people over from the other side of the Koi Lake, clearly having also noticed the koi in the pond.

When Eunuch Chen approached, he first bowed to Daiyu before speaking.

"His Majesty passed by the Imperial Garden yesterday. The small pond in the garden was too monotonous. If there were a few koi fish, it would have made His Majesty linger for a while and smile a bit. The Imperial Household Department did purchase some, but I think none of them are as clever as the koi fish in Miss Lin's house."

"Whichever one Eunuch Chen takes a fancy to, just have someone scoop it up in a bit. My pond is called Koi Lake, and we've always kept koi there. There are at least eight or ten thousand koi in it, if not ten thousand," Daiyu said generously.

These past few days, Eunuch Chen has been leading people from the Imperial Household Department to arrange the venue and other matters for the Lin family's birthday banquet, and he inevitably sees Daiyu frequently.

In addition, he had had many interactions with Daiyu in the palace before, and the two are now very familiar with each other.

When Daiyu saw Eunuch Chen, she treated him as if he were family.

It's just a few koi fish. Now that she's a princess with such a large fiefdom, how many koi fish must she be worth?

Since the Emperor likes them, it is only right to send him a few koi fish.

"Thank you so much, Princess Jiangzhu," Eunuch Chen said, overjoyed. He was going to have another chance to impress the Emperor.

"Eunuch Chen, you've come so early today, is there something else?" Yuan Hongqu calculated the time. A few days ago, the people from the Imperial Household Department wouldn't have come this early, so it's unusual for them to come so early today.

"The venue, the stage, everything is almost set up. The dishes for the banquet that day will also be prepared by the Imperial Kitchen. Except for not being in the palace, everything else is no different from the palace. Mr. Yuan, Her Majesty the Empress has asked me to pass on a message..." Chen Li lowered his voice, speaking in a tone only the two of them could hear:

"Mr. Yuan, are you calmed down now?"

Yuan Hongqu felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

The Empress? When did she meet any Empress?

Yuan Hongqu only knew that the current empress was the second empress and was not very old.

Could it be that he was also the original owner's student?

How many secrets did the original owner of this body not know?

"Your Majesty the Empress?" Yuan Hongqu remained calm, showing no emotion. "I am not angry at all."

Chen Li breathed a sigh of relief and his face lit up with joy.

"That's excellent."

Yuan Hongqu found it strange that Eunuch Chen had come all morning just to ask her this one question.

"Eunuch Chen, which one do you like?" Daiyu directed the old woman to take a long-handled fish scoop to scoop up the fish.

The large wooden tub next to it was already half full of water.

"Excellent, entirely golden, an auspicious sign," praised Eunuch Chen.

The old woman scooped it out and "huffed" as she poured it into the wooden bucket.

"Aunt Yu, catch another golden one. We need to make a pair to give away." Yuan Hongqu didn't seem to have taken Chen Gonggong's question to heart and instructed Granny Yu to catch another golden koi.

Granny Yu stepped further in, spotted a carp, and prepared to scoop it up.

"Lan Su, hold onto Aunt Yu's hand, the rocks over there are a bit slippery."

Upon hearing this, Lan Su casually grabbed Granny Yu's arm.

“Miss Lan, we walk on these rocks all the time, so we know where we're going. Don’t pull so tight.”

Granny Yu tugged at her arm, feeling that Lan Su's grip was too strong; when Lan Su held her, the scoop in her hand was becoming difficult to control.

Lan Su didn't let go. "Auntie, hurry up. I'm holding you because I'm afraid you'll fall into the water and splash us all over. It's so cold, changing clothes is such a hassle."

"This young lady Lan, she's only been with them for a few days, and she's already become so sharp-tongued. It's not time for her to sneak around and ask the old lady to catch fish for her anymore..."

As Aunt Yu chatted and laughed, her hands didn't stop moving, and she deftly scooped up another golden carp.