"Oh! Auntie, ma'am, what is this thing? Why is the outer skin green and the inside red? And it's so big!"
Suddenly, a sweet, delicate voice came from inside, startling Yue Jiuyue, who was picking watermelons.
As expected of a lady from a prominent family, she walked silently even on the mountain.
"This is called a watermelon. I heard it was brought from the West, so that's why it's called that."
As for whether it came from a Western country or from a western city of this country, Yue Jiuyue did not explain in detail.
"Oh, what's this for? Is it a kind of vegetable?"
The delicate young lady continued to ask curiously. She had eaten sliced cantaloupe and cooked winter melon before, but this was the first time she had ever seen a whole melon like this!
"Watermelons aren't vegetables. I heard from the seed seller that they're a fruit in the West. In the summer, you can dip them in a well and chill them. Eating a slice on a hot day is incredibly refreshing and invigorating—it's definitely the best fruit for cooling off!"
As she spoke, Yue Jiuyue couldn't help but reminisce about the simple joys of eating watermelon and watching dramas.
Although working part-time during the day is tiring and hot, on my way home I buy half a watermelon. Without a refrigerator or a well, I just soak it in cold tap water, then use a spoon to scoop it out and eat it. I also use a borrowed TV streaming service to watch dramas. Life is tough, but sweet nonetheless.
"Really? Auntie, could you give me a few? We've never tried this kind of fruit before, and we'd like to try it."
As the young lady spoke, she gave a wink to the maid beside her, who then handed Yue Jiuyue a bulging purse and said politely:
"Auntie, I wonder if you could give a few more watermelons to our young lady? As you know, there are quite a few of us here this time, and it will be difficult to distribute them if there aren't enough."
Yue Jiuyue passively accepted the purse, and couldn't help but twitch her fingers.
It's not a copper coin.
It looks like loose silver!
This purse of silver must weigh at least a pound, right?
But now that we know her watermelons are one of a kind, how can we not sell them at an astronomical price to justify their "uniqueness"?
She reluctantly returned the money, explaining her unfortunate circumstances:
“Miss, it’s not that I don’t want to sell to you, but you’ve probably heard that all the sweet potatoes I found were sent to the capital, which is why I received a reward of five hundred taels of silver from the emperor.”
I am grateful for the emperor's gift, so I searched everywhere for seeds that we don't have here, hoping to grow some grains and fruits to present to the emperor as a way of expressing my gratitude.
So, I only picked this watermelon because I saw it had cracked open and was afraid it would spoil. As for the other watermelons, I plan to give them to Magistrate Tang when they are ripe, so he can present them to the Emperor.”
Yue Jiuyue appeared to be deeply grateful to the emperor, wanting to express her gratitude in every way possible, making it impossible for this pampered young lady to do anything against her will.
After all, this old lady wanted to present the watermelon to the emperor. How could she, the daughter of a lowly ninth-rank official, dare to compete with the emperor for something, even if it meant the extermination of her entire family?
"Oh, ma'am, I was being presumptuous. Please forgive me!"
The young lady's fair face turned bright red, and she wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground.
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