Chapter 70 (Potatoes?)

They are discussing how to deal with King Chang.

The other side was still talking about food.

Mrs. Xiao pushed the door open and saw her little daughter licking her fingers. Her worries were suppressed and she was left with sadness: "Why didn't you tell me you were so hungry? This is still your house. Just tell the kitchen what you want to eat."

Xiao Huaiya's face flushed red, and she frantically tried to pull the quilt to cover herself, but she found her hands were dirty, so she found a handkerchief to wipe them clean, then quickly huddled under the quilt and whispered, "Mom, why didn't you knock before you came in?"

"You are my daughter, why do I have to knock when I come to see you?" Mrs. Xiao said unhappily, "Besides, I am afraid that you will bully me. How can you find out if I say hello?"

Xiao Huaiya: “…”

She said weakly, "Who are you afraid of me bullying?"

"Ah Shu, this child is kind and honest. I heard that she sent you food, but I was afraid that you would refuse it and make her sad." Mrs. Xiao said as a matter of course.

Xiao Huaiya muttered sourly: "...Does that disappoint you?"

Mrs. Xiao smiled, sat down on the bed, patted the quilt on her daughter's head, and said softly, "Mother is very happy. You have made some progress in the past few years."

When the accident first happened, the child had a very bad temper.

Although she would never do anything to her family, once someone entered her room without her permission, she would explode like a bomb and cry for a long time, and no one could comfort her.

Later on, he wasn't so desperate anymore and went directly to the Taoist temple.

But she had to admit that the years of practice in the Taoist temple had made her heart much calmer than before. Although she still loved crying, she would never reject other people's kindness.

The woman in the quilt pursed her lips, her eyes sore, and she carefully pulled down a little bit of the quilt, revealing her watery eyes: "Mom~"

Mrs. Xiao raised her hand and gently touched her messy hair, revealing her smooth and full forehead, and further down, there was a slightly ugly scar on the left side of her face.

Xiao Huaiya was looked at like this by her mother. The scar on her cheek that she herself didn't dare to touch was touched. Her tears flowed even harder and she felt very aggrieved.

At first, she was willful and thought she was good at martial arts, so she followed her brothers and brothers-in-law to the war. Her fourth sister should have gone that time, but she happened to be pregnant, so she went in her place. Who knew that her second brother and two brothers-in-law were all gone, and her fourth brother-in-law came back half dead to report that their military plane had been leaked and they were ambushed by the enemy.

In a rage, she led her troops forward to avenge her family, but when she actually got to the battlefield, she realized that it was easy for her to defeat those useless people in Kyoto, but when faced with a real life-and-death battle, they were just like that.

It's a blessing to be able to escape unscathed.

Finally, she chose to bring back the bodies of her brother and brother-in-law to apologize.

After this battle, three members of the Xiao family died, the family was severely damaged, and they also faced punishment from the royal family for the defeat. The situation of the Xiao family fell into an unprecedented severe period. The Xiao family had won so many battles before, but this defeat could not offset it, especially since apart from the young brother, there was no one else in the family who could take on the responsibility.

Those who were once dissatisfied with her seemed to reappear in her life, laughing at her and taunting her. Every time, Hsiao Huai-ya wanted to beat them all until they knelt and begged for mercy.

But she knew that the Xiao family could not withstand the storm any longer. In order to calm herself down, she chose to enter a Taoist temple, facing the Three Pure Ones and the Buddhist scriptures every day, eating vegetarian food, and praying for the souls of her father, brother, and brother-in-law.

In fact, it is true that she was avoiding the gossip, but she was not afraid that she would collapse because of the pressure, but she was afraid that she would not be able to hold on and make them collapse.

She cared about her appearance, but she was far from going to the point of running away and hiding for five years because of it.

"Don't be afraid anymore. It's mother's fault for not supporting the family." Mrs. Xiao said hoarsely, "Don't worry, I won't do that again. It's the same as before. If anyone dares to say a word to you, you can beat him up. Your brother has made a difference. Don't be afraid!"

Xiao Huaiya shook her head. She had cultivated herself for so many years and it was no lie. How could she still be as impulsive as she was when she was young? But after hearing this, she felt more relieved than ever before. She pursed her lips, but still couldn't help but throw herself into her mother's arms, sobbing: "Wuwuwu..."

The mother and daughter cried for a while, and the anger in their hearts was relieved a lot.

However, Xiao Huaiya still couldn't go out calmly and had to stay quietly in the yard. As a result, some people with ulterior motives couldn't find a place to start, so they had to give up some ideas temporarily.

Yan Qiushu went to deliver food at that time and originally planned to remind Xiao Huaiya tactfully. However, after discovering that Xiao Huaiya still refused to take off his veil after returning home, she knew that the story in the book would not happen.

There were no mobile phones or internet at the time, so it was impossible for Prince Huai's people to run to the Xiao family's backyard and run into Xiao Huaiya by other means. The Xiao family had very strict control in this regard, so this matter was put aside for the time being, otherwise she could not explain why she made such a guess.

Over the next two days, Yan Qiushu would cook a bowl of soup and send it over every day. There was bone soup, and there was also white fungus and lotus seed soup for beauty and skin care. On the third day, Steward Gu sent someone to tell her that everything in the manor had been arranged.

She has not been idle in the past few months. After she settled down in the food court, she started to run her own business.

Due to limited funds, she did not make any major changes. She simply raised the height of the courtyard wall and repaired the house to ensure it did not leak, was clean and had no rats. She then hired farmers to reclaim the land and grow crops.

Unfortunately, she didn't know much about agriculture, so it would be difficult for her to grow hybrid vegetables. But she did have some experience in scientific planting, mainly because she had learned a lot of knowledge about the land she contracted before coming here.

In addition to farming, the farm also raises some chickens, ducks, fish and other animals, but due to insufficient manpower, there are not that many.

All Yan Qiushu required of them was to be self-sufficient and have a little surplus to entertain guests.

After these few months, Manager Gu has been busy day and night, and the manor has already taken on the model of a farm stay. Many fruit trees have been planted and a special orchard has been built.

She was too lazy to run back and forth, so she asked someone to help her draw the drawings and gave them to Manager Gu. When they were finished, she would come over to check them.

This steward Gu was worthy of being the steward of a wealthy family. He restored the manor almost exactly as she wanted it. Yan Qiushu didn't find anything to change, so it was good enough.

After inspecting everything, she looked at the fields that were already covered in green, the energetic chickens, ducks, fish and other small animals, as well as the still green pear trees, apricot trees, hawthorn trees, etc., and her eyes were filled with satisfaction.

Finally, Yan Qiushu returned to the entrance of the manor. The road was paved with stones, so she didn't have to walk on mud. At the very entrance, there were three big words written by Xiao Huaiqi - Farmhouse Joy.

Yan Qiushu finally took out a silver ingot from her sleeve and handed it to Manager Gu: "You have done a great job. This is for you. If you continue to do well in the future, when the manor becomes profitable, the manor will also give you 20% of the profits."

Manager Gu took it with both hands and was overjoyed when he heard the words: "I wish you a prosperous farm business!"

Yan Qiushu smiled happily: "It's still early, still early."

She might use the farm stay business model only when the Xiao family is out of the crisis. But now she has to stay in the Xiao family, so the profit of this farm is probably just from selling some livestock such as chickens, ducks and geese.

Fortunately, the food court has started to make a profit, and Xiao Huaiqi has agreed with her that dividends will be distributed once a quarter, which means that in June, she will receive her first dividend.

Although it’s not a lot, but the business in the food court is so prosperous, there should be fifty taels, right?

Yan Qiushu had an extravagant expectation. Fifty taels for a quarter was enough to cover the expenses of everyone in the farm, and the money earned from selling the things in the farm would be pure profit!

Steward Gu said with a smile, "Miss, are you going back to the Xiao family later, or are you staying here for dinner?"

Yan Qiushu said, "Stay here, don't worry about it. I have invited some friends, we'll talk about it when they arrive."

"Yes." Manager Gu nodded and stepped aside, letting Yan Qiushu look around on her own.

Of course, the friends she invited were a group of children, Dongdong's friends.

A few days ago, Dongdong and others asked for leave to go and fulfill their vows.

Today is a formal holiday, and we were supposed to come here with Yan Qiushu, but because Dongdong has more friends now, and has made many friends in the Huangzi class, when we heard that Dongdong invited Ah Heng to have delicious food at "Sister Ah Shu's" house, everyone clamored to go.

They have been watching Dongdong and Ah Heng eating different delicious foods sent by "Sister Ah Shu" every day lately, and they are so greedy. Although they also receive some gifts, it is not enough!

Now that we have the chance, of course we have to come together.

So more people came, and for the safety of the children, the Xiao family and Prince Chang arranged guards to escort them together, so we had to wait for a while.

only……

Yan Qiushu looked at the sky. Logically, he should have arrived by now, so why hasn’t he arrived yet?

She turned around again and suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves.

Yan Qiushu quickly ran to the entrance of the manor, but saw that the people who came were the guards of the Xiao family: "Miss Yan, there is a big happy event in Kyoto! The young master and his family can't come!"

"Ah? What's the happy event?" Yan Qiushu asked in confusion.

The guard's face was also full of joy. He said in a shocking voice: "Prince Huai returned from his travels and found something called "potatoes". It is said that the production volume is very high. Now His Majesty has summoned the ministers to the palace to discuss how to deal with it. Even the eldest master has been summoned to the palace!"

Yan Qiushu: “!!!”

She came out early in the morning, and she didn't expect that something like this would happen today!

The potatoes actually came out!

And the name hasn’t changed!

Maybe it’s because this is the world of a novel, and the things created by the author are actually very similar to the real world. The names of herbs, white sugar, sugarcane, etc. are all the same.

Potatoes are something unknown to this world, but to the author, who wrote about this world, they are all the same.

But none of this matters.

The important thing is that the potatoes are here!!!

Yan Qiushu didn't wait any longer and got on the carriage directly, urging, "Go back quickly!"

The groom was also very surprised just now. When he heard the order, he shouted directly: "Okay, girl, sit still!"

Then he cracked the whip and the horse ran forward quickly.

Yan Qiushu staggered in the carriage and almost fell.

But this did not make the smile disappear from her lips.

Potato!

Woo woo woo, her French fries, mashed potatoes, hot and sour potato shreds, potato cakes, potato flour, and braised potatoes with various kinds of meat!

The driver was very excited and the carriages were driving very fast.

But for Yan Qiushu, every minute and every second was torture. When she finally arrived at Xiao's house, she lifted her skirt and went to the main courtyard, but she bumped into Xiao Huaiqi at the entrance of the inner courtyard.

"Young Master? You're back!" Yan Qiushu said in surprise.

Xiao Huaiqi smiled and said, "Well, I'm back now. I just happened to have something to talk to you about."

Yan Qiushu took a deep breath and looked at him with a flushed face: "What's the matter? Tell me."

Xiao Huaiqi waved his hand, and his servant came forward and took out two round, yellow, soiled objects from a sack. Upon closer inspection, there were many dots and dents on the objects.

"This..." Yan Qiushu's eyes lit up, but she was not sure what he meant.

Could it be that such a valuable thing was given to him just like that?

Xiao Huaiqi said, "I think this thing looks a bit like the thing in the picture you gave me before, but I'm not sure, so I came to ask you."

The drawings were what she asked Xiao Wai Ting to find before he went on the expedition last time.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and various types of peppers are all on it.

She also gave a copy of these drawings to Xiao Huaiqi, asking him to get them as soon as possible if he found them anywhere.

I didn’t expect that it was brought back by the Fourth Prince Huai!

The strange thing is that he clearly didn't have that in the plot!

But it doesn’t matter. The plot has already changed, so what if this thing is changed again?

Yan Qiushu only paid attention to the things in front of her. She took it, looked at it carefully again and again, and said slowly: "It is indeed the potato I mentioned. This thing has a large yield, and each eye on it, if cut open and planted in the soil, can produce a lot of potatoes."

The man in the wheelchair's eyes lit up and his chest was beating with excitement.

Yan Qiushu didn't pay attention to this and asked, "How much of this do you have?"

Xiao Huaiqi said, "Two. His Royal Highness Prince Huai brought back quite a few, but most of them were kept for seed. Only a few big families were given two. They said they were great to eat directly steamed."

Yan Qiushu was a little disappointed. She looked at the potatoes in her hand and said, "Is this one time to plant?"

"This is for us to eat. If you can cook it, just cook it and eat it." Xiao Huaiqi said calmly, "Your Majesty will have specialized farmers growing it. I estimate that in a few months, we will be able to distribute a lot of it. After a while, the whole country will be able to keep seeds."

Yan Qiushu wanted to jump up and down, holding two potatoes in her hands, and vowed: "Just wait, I'll do it right away. By the way, although this thing has a high yield, it has one thing, it is very fragile. Once it gets sick, it is easy to lose everything. It can't be easily planted on a large scale as a staple food."

Xiao Huaiqi's face froze, and his voice deepened: "There is such a weakness?!"