Chapter 232 Picking up a bargain or picking up a disaster?

The Imperial Household Department had never seen a watermelon like this before, so they summoned Jia Lian to inquire about it.

Jia Lian was also surprised when he saw it, but although he was sure that there was nothing wrong with eating the watermelon, the Imperial Household Department did not dare to present it to them rashly.

Jia Lian simply took a yellow-fleshed watermelon himself and tested it with the poison-testing eunuch.

With the future heir of the Duke's mansion willing to test poison on himself, what else is there for the Imperial Household Department to worry about?

Moreover, all of them who tasted it said that the watermelon did indeed taste sweeter.

So that's how yellow-fleshed watermelons appeared at the banquet that evening.

The watermelon caused a sensation at the banquet, but there weren't any more left to eat.

Even Jia Lian himself didn't know which melons in their estate's melon fields had red soil and which had yellow flesh.

However, after the banquet, the Imperial Household Department told Jia Lian that from now on, yellow-fleshed watermelons would be exclusively for the imperial palace, and no yellow-fleshed watermelons would be allowed to be sold in the market.

Starting tomorrow, 600 catties of watermelons, 500 catties of red-fleshed watermelons, and 100 catties of yellow-fleshed watermelons must be delivered to the palace every day.

Jia Lian was somewhat dumbfounded. Today, he would have to ask Yuan Hongqu how to distinguish them.

He originally bought the watermelon seedlings from E'er Village, the former estate of Hongqu.

The person who delivered the melon seedlings to their village said that their boss had a good relationship with Second Grandmother Lian, so he specially delivered an extra hundred melon seedlings, saying that these seedlings were related to Second Grandmother Lian.

“Now that we can’t distinguish between red and yellow watermelons, we’re afraid of sending the wrong watermelon to the palace and causing trouble. Jia Lian feels like he’s taken on a hot potato,” Wang Xifeng said hesitantly.

"Is that all there is to it? I can't tell the difference either." Although Yuan Hongqu didn't think it was a big deal, she still couldn't pick out a watermelon from the melon patch if she were asked to.

She doesn't have X-ray vision to see through the watermelon rind to see if the inside is red or yellow.

"Sister, what should we do? Should we tell the Imperial Household Department the truth?"

Wang Xifeng felt that she had gotten herself into trouble because of a watermelon.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have stood out like this. This isn't picking up a bargain, it's clearly picking up trouble!"

"Finding a bargain?"

"Yesterday, the watermelons at the Xue family's place weren't ripe, and something went wrong. The Xue family sent out a manager to take the blame, and I heard both his legs were broken..."

Which Xue family?

"The one who lives in Pear Fragrance Courtyard," Wang Xifeng said with a hint of disdain.

“Sister Yuan, I heard that the shopkeeper didn’t choose the unripe melon, but a melon from another shop. But Xue Pan was bewitched and insisted on that unripe melon… He bought the unripe melon from that shop and even made the shop’s daughter pay for it, which is why this happened.”

"Xue Pan? He can walk now?"

"That's right, I've been eating less ginseng lately, and I've lost a lot of money!"

Yuan Hongqu frowned, thinking that she had said she would break Xue Pan's legs again during the first month of the lunar year. She guessed that Lan Su was too busy escorting Daiyu to and from school and had probably forgotten about it. She thought it would be better to teach him a lesson again this time.

"Sister Yuan, what do you think we should do now? Will telling the truth get Jia Lian's legs broken too?" Wang Xifeng asked worriedly.

"What are you thinking? There's no way someone would break a leg over a watermelon," Yuan Hongqu said after a moment's thought.

"I don't have a good solution, but I do have a clumsy one. Do you want to hear it?"

"Listen, listen, sister, tell me quickly!" Wang Xifeng urged.

"Why don't you have the farmers cut open a watermelon on each watermelon seedling, see what color it is, and then mark it next to the seedling?"

"That's right, how come we didn't think of that!" Wang Xifeng clapped her hands and laughed. She was so caught up in the situation that she only thought it was impossible to open every single watermelon, but she never thought that she could open the watermelon directly on the watermelon seedling and mark it.

It's impossible for two different colors of watermelons to grow on a single watermelon vine.

“You need to be careful when dividing the seedlings. I think the farmers won’t plant them one red seedling and one yellow seedling. It will definitely be a patchwork of red and yellow. But don’t choose the ones that are too close together, lest they be cross-pollinated. If you send in watermelons that are a mix of red and yellow, and the Imperial Household Department takes a liking to them, it will be even more difficult for you,” Yuan Hongqu said with a smile.

"Sister, please don't make fun of us. It seems we need to send more literate people to the estate, otherwise things won't have gotten so complicated." Wang Xifeng said, still shaken.

"Hehe, you should let Jia Lian keep a closer eye on things. There are so many days between the watermelon seedling and the watermelon fruit. How could every watermelon in the field be perfectly intact? There must be someone in the village who knows that some watermelons have red flesh and yellow pulp. You've probably been a bit lax lately, and they haven't told you the truth."

Wang Xifeng nodded, "Thanks for reminding me, I'll tell Jia Lian later."

Having learned this method, Wang Xifeng breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sister Yuan, this is the first time we’ve grown watermelons on the estate this year, and we’re a little late in planting them. We hadn’t originally planned to send any to the Imperial Household Department, but it was Prince Xian who brought it up. Jia Lian said that we still had watermelons on the estate, so Prince Xian told us to prepare some, in case we needed them. And sure enough, we did.”

"You should prepare more. Even if the palace doesn't need them, which of these noble families outside doesn't want something new, and which one of them is short of money?"

"Sister, I'm short."

"You don't count." Yuan Hongqu said with exasperation, "Stop playing the poor card with me. How much have you swindled from me using this trick to subsidize Jia Lian?"

"Sister, I wouldn't dare lie to anyone else," Wang Xifeng said, pretending to wipe away tears. "Only you care about me. If I don't complain about being poor to you, who else can I complain to?"

"Alright, alright, stop acting... You should be a movie queen, who's so blind as to make you play a maid every day!" Yuan Hongqu said, both amused and exasperated. "You should hurry up and go find Jia Lian, or he'll get his leg broken, and you'll be crying to me even more."

"It's alright, let him be in a hurry a bit longer."

As the two were talking, they saw what appeared to be Li Wan leading Su Yun towards them from afar.

Wang Xifeng frowned.

"Sister Yuan, have you offended Li Wan?"

"How so?"

“Your position is equivalent to that of the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and she is the daughter of the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy.” Wang Xifeng was very disdainful of Li Wan’s behavior.

He usually stays out of the world, always dressed in mourning clothes, like a living dead.

But then she saw the big key that her housekeeper had, and she couldn't help but feel envious.

Even Ping'er was trying to sow discord between them and her; it was truly despicable.

"If I offend her because of this, then I've offended far too many people." Yuan Hongqu didn't take the matter to heart at all.

After Li Wan crossed the bluestone bridge, Ping'er, who was standing by the bridge, bowed to her.

"Madam never comes here usually, is there something urgent?"