Chapter 65: The Queen Mother Passes Away and Xu Nian Plants
Luo Jin'an walked out of the princess' bedroom and returned to the Yarrow Courtyard and ordered:
"From now on, you will stay by Miss Xu's side to protect her safety and keep me informed of everything that happens to her every day."
A figure walked out from the darkness, knelt on one knee and said, "I obey your command."
Luo Jinan opened a wooden box and once again took out the gifts and letters Xu Nian gave him. He read them one by one and wanted to write a letter back to her, but in the end he put the brush in his hand down.
At this moment, Mo Bai hurried in.
"Your Highness, a message from Shengdu."
Luo Jinan took it and read it, then couldn't help but sneer: "It seems that some people can't hold back any longer. Don't keep anyone around me recently. I'm curious about how long his hands are."
Mo Bai said anxiously: "Your Highness"
"No need to say more. Send a message to Shengdu. It's time to start now." Luo Jin stroked the guqin beside him and sighed, "It's a pity that I won't be able to hear the sound of the orchestra for another year."
In a palace far away in Shengdu, a young eunuch handed the food box in his hand to a female official and flattered: "Prince Han, you have worked hard recently. This is a gift from the subordinates to you."
The female official named Han Gongling, who looked to be in her early twenties, nodded indifferently, took the food box and returned to the Queen Mother's bedroom.
All the palace maids bowed their heads wherever she passed, showing her status. Before she even stepped into the gate of Ci'an Palace, a young palace maid hurried over and saluted, saying:
"Han Gongling, the Queen Mother has woken up and is looking for you."
The female official nodded indifferently, but her pace obviously became much faster.
When I entered the bedroom, I saw an old man with white hair and a haggard face leaning on a soft couch.
"Shuyi, light the incense for me."
Han Gongling took out a piece of incense from a box as instructed. When the wisps of incense entered the Queen Mother's mouth and nose, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Everyone knows that the Queen Mother loves fragrance, but few know that she cannot live without "calming incense", otherwise she will have trouble sleeping every night.
At night, everything was quiet and no one noticed that the empress dowager, who should have been asleep, seemed to be awakened by a nightmare. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was wide open as if she wanted to call for help, but no sound came out.
The cold dissipated, the dead trees began to sprout, it was supposed to be spring, full of vitality, but at this time Ci'an Palace was all mournful and lifeless.
The Queen Mother's death was announced to the world, and all subjects were required to observe plain clothing for one year.
The Xu family also put away their gorgeous clothes and wore plain clothes.
Xu Nian found that the two people had become much more relaxed towards her in the past few days. She thought it was because of the Queen Mother's death.
Now that she has time, she has started to take care of her sweet potato seeds. It is already the spring farming season, and her father has been worried about this batch of new seeds recently.
Because grain supplies were limited, Xu Yaozu selected a village as a pilot. He went to the village almost every day during the past few days, otherwise he would feel uneasy.
As usual, they still had to go to Zhujia Village today. After Xu Nian learned about it, he also wanted to go with them. Originally, Xu Yaozu disagreed, but no one knew the method of intercropping new grain seeds and soybeans better than his daughter, so he nodded in the end.
But this time when he went out, Xu Nian was accompanied not only by Xiu'er but also Liuyun and Liuqin.
"You two should stay in the carriage when you get there. There's no need to follow me back and forth in the muddy fields."
"Miss, you are worrying too much. We are originally from a farming family. We are not afraid of mud and water at all."
This was somewhat half true and half false. They were indeed from farming families, but they had entered the palace at a young age and had long lost any memory of their previous homes.
Seeing that the two insisted, Xu Nian didn't say anything more, but she always felt something was strange in her heart. She didn't know since when these two people's attitude towards her changed.
Zhujia Village was not far from the county town, and Xu Nian felt like it took less than quarter of an hour to get there.
The villagers were busy working in the fields. When they learned that the county magistrate had arrived, they happily ran over to greet him and talked to Xu Yaozu about the situation in the fields.
Although the villagers of Zhujia Village were curious about why the county magistrate brought his family here, they did not dare to ask.
Xu Nian looked at the black and oily land here and had to say that Wansheng County was indeed a good place for the common people.
Xu Nian walked into the field and nodded with satisfaction when he saw that the soil had been deeply plowed and was very loose.
Xu Yaozu, who had learned about the situation, called back Xu Nian and said to everyone, "This is my daughter. She has always been interested in agriculture. Now she has developed a new planting method. Let her explain it to everyone in detail. In the future, we will plant according to her method in the spring."
Xu Nian stood up and said to everyone:
"The main crops in Wansheng County are rice and soybeans, and the new planting method I'm talking about is interplanting soybeans with sweet potatoes."
"Intercropping?"
"Yes, intercropping is a method of planting different crops on the same land and combining them reasonably to save land and increase production.
Of course, not all crops are suitable for this method, but sweet potatoes and soybeans happen to be very suitable.”
Xu Nian didn't care about people's questioning looks.
"Everyone knows that this batch of new grain seeds is crucial, so you must strictly follow my instructions to plant them. I dare not say how many times this year's harvest can be multiplied, but I can guarantee that everyone can have a bumper harvest this year."
Although many people had doubts in their hearts, they still agreed to everything.
Next, Xu Nian explained to everyone in detail the methods and precautions of raising seedlings, transplanting, intercropping, etc. At the same time, Xu Yaozu also ordered his men to hire a group of militiamen to patrol the fields.
Xu Nian was talking until her mouth was dry when she saw a cup of tea in front of her. She looked over and found that it was brought by Yun Renren, while Qin Renren and Xiu'er were pulling a piece of cloth to block the wind for her.
Xu Nian's eyelids twitched as she watched. She had no idea when these people started this fight. She sheepishly took the piece of cloth and stuffed it into the hands of the old man in front of her.
"Keep it to make a dress."
After explaining everything, Xu Nian followed Xu Yaozu back to the county government office, but he didn't know that the people in Zhujia Village had started talking about it.
"I don't know if this method is reliable. Does this rich girl really know how to farm?"
"That's right. You're using such fine fabric to block the wind. You're so delicate that you probably don't even know what rice seedlings look like."
"Okay, shut up." The head of the Zhu family, holding the cloth in his hand, scolded, "We should do whatever the official tells us to do. We will know if it works after we give it a try."
After hearing what the clan leader said, others dared not say anything even if they had doubts.
It was not just the people of Zhujia Village who were suspicious. Even those who heard the news in the government office could not help but wonder, could it be that the current County Magistrate Xu was doing the same thing as the previous County Magistrate Wu, seeking to bring fame to his daughter?
Xu Nian turned a deaf ear to all the questioning voices, but this move made the two people look at her with admiration.
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