Chapter 329 Let’s Bet on These Ten Days
The wind in December was like a knife on my face. Even though the kang was heated, the cold air still seeped in through the cracks in the door and windows.
Gu Yuexuan sat at the table on the kang, facing the thick account book, her brows tightly furrowed. She pointed her fingertips at the last few lines of numbers where the ink had not yet dried, and sighed long and breathlessly.
Tu Subo had just come in from outside, feeling cold, with a bit of unmelted snow still clinging to his shoulders. He rubbed his stiff hands and walked over to the kang, where he immediately saw Gu Yuexuan's gloomy face and the familiar account book before her.
He untied his heavy cloak and casually draped it over the back of a chair, his tone somewhat helpless: "Didn't I just review it last night against the lamp core? How did it come up again? It's making my eyes dizzy."
He sat down next to her, and a cold breath from outside mixed with the usual crisp pine scent on his body instantly invaded the small patch of warm air around Gu Yuexuan.
Gu Yuexuan didn't look up, her finger stubbornly prodding at the shocking scarlet mark on the account book—the deficit she'd deliberately highlighted with cinnabar. "You've already seen it, and you can't look at it again? Young Master, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are until you manage the household!" Her voice was muffled, a hint of subtle anxiety in it. "Look at all this money, buying charcoal, thickening the straw mats, hiring temporary workers to keep the heating up day and night, and that special oilcloth... The money going out is like running water. And look at the income..."
She moved her fingertips to the few black records nearby and pressed hard, "Apart from the last batch of vegetables we sold before winter, and the few we kept in the greenhouse that were just enough for our own consumption, what else is there? This gap is so huge that it hurts my heart!"
She finally raised her head. The rare bright winter sunlight filtered through the Korean paper-covered windows, casting a soft, gentle light on her face. Compared to the pale, thin, and frightened concubine she had been on the road to exile, Gu Yuexuan's face was now plumper, and her eyes and eyebrows showed a weathered toughness and the shrewdness of a "farmer."
But at this moment, this shrewdness was somewhat dented by the huge financial deficit. She looked at Tu Subo, her eyes filled with genuine worry. "I'm not short of money for now. The money you gave me last time... well, it was a 'dividend,' so to speak, and it was quite substantial. But living off the savings isn't a good idea. As a farmer, I can't always be a losing business, can I? If this gets out, how will I, a female doctor of agronomy, put my face to it?" She spoke half seriously, half self-deprecatingly, her fingers unconsciously twisting the corner of the account book.
Outside the window, the north wind was blowing hard, sweeping the remaining snow and dead branches and leaves on the ground, whistling over the roofs and sheds, making a sharp whistle, as if responding to her melancholy.
This sound, during my first winter in exile at Fangling, had been the most despairing background noise of countless sleepless nights. Now the shanty had been replaced by a fairly sturdy tile-roofed house, but the power of the wind and snow was still undiminished.
Tu Subo didn't respond immediately. His gaze fell heavily on Gu Yuexuan's fingers, which were twisting the account book tightly. Her knuckles were slightly white from the force. For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the occasional crackling of the charcoal brazier and the roar of the wind outside the window.
He suddenly stretched out his hand, his dry, warm palm covered with thin calluses, and without saying a word, he covered the back of her slightly cold hand, wrapping her fingers that were clenched in anxiety.
Gu Yuexuan was startled and subconsciously tried to pull her hand back, but he held it even tighter.
"Pay me compensation?" Tu Subo's voice boomed, carrying a strange, unwavering conviction that seemed to pierce the bitter cold. He raised his eyes, his gaze fixed on her with a fiery intensity. "Gu Yuexuan, have you forgotten everything you've grown?"
Gu Yuexuan's heart skipped a beat when he looked at her. His gaze was too deep, filled with intense emotions that she couldn't understand for the moment, making her subconsciously want to dodge. "Grow...grow anything? The ground is frozen solid, except for the sparse seedlings in the greenhouse."
"Greenhouse?" Tu Subo interrupted her, his lips curling upward ever so slightly. The arc was so subtle, but it instantly dispelled the usual coldness and aloofness between his eyebrows, revealing an almost sharp brilliance. "You call your thing that can grow leafy greens in this awful weather a 'greenhouse'?"
He held her hand slightly harder, with an unquestionable strength, "That's your 'little sun'! Gu Yuexuan, as long as I have you, my 'little sun', let alone this little snowstorm," he raised his chin towards the howling snowstorm outside the window, his tone firm, "even if Fangling is frozen through for a thousand miles, it can still shine out mountains of gold and silver for you!"
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a powerful force, striking Gu Yuexuan hard. The words "little sun" were like a tiny flame, suddenly igniting a corner of her heart temporarily buried by anxiety. She stared at him, stunned, taking in the undisguised, almost fanatical trust in his eyes, and something deeper. Her heartbeat suddenly became disordered.
At this moment, the voice of Tu Qi, Tu Subo's trusted personal guard, who deliberately lowered his voice but could not hide his urgency, came from outside the door: "Master! Madam! Urgent news!"
The atmosphere in the room was instantly broken. Tu Subo's eyes glared, and the scorching heat instantly subsided, returning to his usual coldness. He let go of Gu Yuexuan's hand, so quickly that her palm felt empty, and the remaining warmth was quickly replaced by a chill. "Come in."
Tu Qi pushed the door open and entered, bringing with him an even stronger chill. His expression was solemn, and he spoke rapidly, "Your Highness, I just received an urgent secret letter from the capital! Your Majesty... will arrive in Fangling soon!"
"What?" Gu Yuexuan screamed, standing up abruptly. The account book clattered to the ground as she dragged it along. The Emperor? The Emperor who had issued an imperial decree to confiscate the Tusu Mansion and bring them here, was coming to this bitter cold place? A huge shock and an indescribable panic instantly gripped her.
Tu Subo's reaction was completely different. His pupils shrank sharply, and his hands on his knees clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white, revealing that his heart was not as calm as he appeared.
But his face quickly became solemn, and Gu Yuexuan even seemed to catch a glimpse of an extremely subtle, sharp light in his eyes, like a hunter finally waiting for his prey to step into a trap.
"Is the news true?" His voice was as cold as ice.
"Absolutely true! Intelligence reports say that Your Majesty...is here to inspect the northern border defenses and personally observe the people's livelihoods in the exiled areas." Tu Qi quickly replied, "The ceremonial procession has passed Hangu Pass and will reach Fangling in ten days at most!"
Ten days! Gu Yuexuan felt a chill rising from the soles of her feet, even stronger than the north wind outside the window. The emperor's personal visit—what did it mean for these exiles? Was it a blessing or a curse?
She suddenly looked at Tu Subo, only to see that he had his lips tightly pursed, his jawline tense, and his eyes incredibly sharp. He was staring at the account book on the ground that was spread out and full of deficits, as if he wanted to burn through it.
In the suffocating silence, Tu Subo suddenly spoke, his voice filled with a fierce and desperate determination: "Gu Yuexuan!"
Gu Yuexuan trembled when he called her.
"What were you worried about just now?" Tu Subo's eyes lifted from the account book and grabbed her again. There was a fire burning in it that she had never seen before, crazy and scorching. "Worried about money? Worried about the deficit? Don't worry about it now!"
He stood up suddenly, his tall figure carrying an imposing aura. "Our turning point has arrived! It will happen within these ten days!" He pointed to the outlines of several special greenhouses covered with thick straw that were faintly visible in the snow outside the house. "Use all the skills in your 'Little Sun'!
"Within these ten days, I will make the most unlikely flowers bloom and the most incredible fruits grow in this icy land! I want it to become our greatest bargaining chip when we meet the Emperor! Let the Emperor see with his own eyes what kind of 'mountains of gold and silver' lie buried in the land of his exile!"
"Ten days?" Gu Yuexuan gasped, her scalp tingling. "How is this possible? Those who overwintered..."
"Nothing is impossible!" Tu Subo interrupted her firmly, his eyes blazing. "Manpower, I'll give you as many as you want! Materials, get them immediately, no matter the cost! As for the money, I'll give you the key to my warehouse! I just want results!"
He took a step closer, and the overwhelming pressure made Gu Yuexuan almost breathless. "Gu Yuexuan, think about how you made wheat ears half a man's height grow in this bitter cold land! Think about how you made those fruits so sweet that they attracted bees from outside the mountains! Now, use all your hidden skills! Bet everything you have as a doctorate in agronomy! Bet the future and lives of all of us! Just bet in these ten days!"
The word "gamble" hit Gu Yuexuan's heart like a heavy hammer. She looked at the lone wolf-like ruthlessness in Tu Subo's eyes and the strong hope hidden deep in his eyes that was almost bursting out. All the excuses she could offer were blocked in her throat.
She took a deep breath of cold air to suppress the bitterness in her eyes. When she looked up again, her eyes were clear and sharp, ready to fight to the end. "Okay!"
Her voice was soft but resolute. She bent down, picked up the account book from the floor, snapped it shut, and tossed it to the back of the table. "Don't look at this account for now! Ten days! Tu Subo, I need all your manpower, immediately! Right now! Follow my instructions! And the key to the warehouse!"
Tu Subo watched her radiance, like a sharp, quenched blade, and the corners of his tightly clenched lips finally lifted in a smile filled with fervor and flamboyance. "Tu Qi! Pass the order! Everyone in the mansion, including the farmhands and tenants, who can move, must obey Madam's orders immediately! Anyone who disobeys will be subject to military law!"
He took off a heavy brass key from his waist and put it into Gu Yuexuan's hand without hesitation. The key was cold, but it burned her palm so much that it trembled.
For the next ten days, the entire estate under Tu Subo's name turned into a vast and frenzied battlefield. Gu Yuexuan completely transformed into a ruthless commander, and her agricultural knowledge was exploited to the extreme.
She personally adjusted the concentration of the nutrient solution, down to the precise ratio for each bucket of water; she redesigned the ventilation and heating pipes of the greenhouse to minimize the heat loss from the precious charcoal fire; she germinated the few cold-resistant vegetable seeds to the extreme, and even took the risk of trying two rare fruits and vegetables that had never been cultivated in winter.
The staff worked in three shifts, and the lights remained on all night. Hot spring water was continuously channeled into specially designed heating pipes, where huge iron pots heated the water day and night to create steam and keep it warm.
Gu Yuexuan was wrapped in a thick cotton robe, her face was blackened by the charcoal fire, her voice was hoarse from constantly shouting orders, her eyes were red from staying up all night, and she was almost nailed to several core greenhouses.
Tu Subo became her strongest supporter and most ferocious warlord. He personally led his men into the mountains to cut the finest timber to reinforce the scaffolding, and went to the provincial capital a hundred miles away to buy the thickest oilcloth and lamp oil at high prices, even by force.
He was in charge of all external resources, suppressing any slackness or chaos with an iron fist. Whenever Gu Yuexuan was exhausted and almost collapsed, he would silently hand her a bowl of boiling ginseng soup, or without explanation, force her to rest on a bench covered with a thick mattress.
On the morning of the tenth day, when the first ray of bleak winter sunlight barely penetrated the thick leaden clouds and sprinkled on the snow-covered land of Fangling, a solemn and huge royal procession, stepping on the knee-deep snow, like a silent dragon, slowly arrived at the core of this exile land - outside Tu Subo's manor.
The gate of the manor was wide open. Tu Subo, dressed in the half-worn uniform of a prince, stood alone in the deep white snow in front of the gate with a straight posture like a javelin. He had a calm expression without any flattery, only a kind of fortitude that came from being free from worldly desires.
Behind him stood Tu Qi and several other personal guards, also in a state of solemnity. Gu Yuexuan, donning a clean, starched-white dress, stood quietly in the shadows of the manor's main hallway, her hands drooping. Her brows lowered, her eyes subdued, she resembled an ordinary peasant woman. Only her straight back and slightly clenched hands betrayed the turmoil within her.
The bright yellow imperial sedan came to a halt, its curtain respectfully lifted by a eunuch. Emperor Jingren, clad in a dark black sable fur coat and sporting a stern and imposing expression, stepped down from the carriage on a footstool. The biting wind ripped the hem of his sable coat. His sharp gaze, as if tangible, swept across the humble manor before him, past Tu Subo, and finally, seemingly inadvertently, rested for a moment on the woman in the corridor, her head bowed.
The gaze was deep and difficult to discern, carrying the scrutiny of someone who had long held a superior position and a hint of subtle inquiry.
"I, your humble servant Tu Subo, kowtow to Your Majesty." His voice was steady. He lifted his skirt and performed a meticulous, profound salute, resting his forehead against the cold snow. Snow foam stained his dark temples.
Emperor Jingren looked at him in silence, then raised his eyes to look at the desolate and cold exile land. After a long moment, he slowly said, "Stand up. Lead the way. I want to see how you survived in this exile land."
The emperor's tone was calm, but it struck like a hammer on everyone's heart. The accompanying officials and guards looked around at the desolate and shabby houses with complicated expressions.
Tu Subo stood up and led the way: "Your Majesty, please follow me."
Instead of heading towards the main house, he led the royal carriage straight to the area behind the manor, which was covered with thick snow and tightly wrapped with countless straw mats and tarpaulins.
The closer they got, the faintest whiff of a strange, moist warmth, a stark contrast to the bitter cold outside, reached them. Emperor Jingren paused, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. Finally, they reached the entrance to the largest greenhouse. Tu Qi and another personal guard forcefully pulled back the thick straw curtains.
An indissoluble strong breath of life, a mixture of the fragrance of soil, the sweetness of plants and warm water vapor, suddenly hits you in the face like a surging spring tide!
It instantly dispelled the coldness from everyone and violently impacted everyone's senses!
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