In the pavilion of Xishan Villa.
Dong Shulan came here after taking a shower and changing clothes.
Yan Xiwen brewed a pot of tea, and Chunxiu brought a bowl of ginger soup to Dong Shulan.
"I heard from the people at Xishan Express that you came to Xishan, and I was thinking Brother Fu... I think you know something about Brother Fu, so I wanted to ask you, when will he be back?"
Dong Shulan took a sip of ginger soup and said with a smile, "Why? If he doesn't come back, does that mean I, the young lady, can't handle those things?"
Yan Xiwen smiled awkwardly, poured two cups of tea, and handed one over. "Back then, you were a renowned talent and accomplished person in the capital... You probably didn't realize that you were even considered quite famous among the students at the academy."
"Tell me about it."
"They said that if you were a man, your father's position as Minister of Revenue would probably fall on you."
Dong Shulan pursed her lips and smiled, then shook her head. "Wu Ling'er of the Wu Dynasty was able to ascend the throne and become the first female empress in history. As a woman, does that mean I can't become the Minister of Revenue?"
"That's different. If he wasn't the son of Emperor Wen..." Yan Xiwen stopped there. He wanted to say that if all the sons of Emperor Wen had died, then he suddenly remembered that Fu Xiaoguan was also the son of Emperor Wen. Whether Fu Xiaoguan was dead or not was now an ambiguous question.
The Wu Dynasty has announced the death of Fu Xiaoguan. This is the order issued by the Empress herself!
But the people of the Yu Dynasty seemed to find it difficult to accept that Fu Xiaoguan died at the foot of the Great Snow Mountain. Now, neither Emperor Xuan nor Empress Shang nor his grandfather Yan Beixi mentioned the matter.
As for Yan Xiwen, he certainly hoped that Fu Xiaoguan was alive, because he still had many things that needed Fu Xiaoguan's help - such as the Yao County Wharf that was under construction.
"Brother Fu brought me a letter last time, saying they wanted to expand the dock in Yao County and build a shipyard. I specifically consulted a shipbuilder about this shipyard. If it were a three-masted sailing ship, the shipyard wouldn't need to be too large, but Brother Fu meant a warship..."
Yan Xiwen looked at Dong Shulan and said, "The Yu Dynasty doesn't have any ships. I don't know how to get them, so I wanted to ask you for information on them."
When Dong Shulan heard this, she was also confused.
Fu Xiaoguan had never mentioned this matter, and she had no idea what the ship looked like, so she put down her ginger tea bowl and thought seriously, "I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while for this."
Since Dong Shulan didn't mention Fu Xiaoguan, Yan Xiwen didn't ask any further questions. She just had a bad feeling in her heart. It seemed that something really happened to Fu Xiaoguan, otherwise how could Dong Shulan come to Xishan, and how could she go down to the fields.
They already had a marriage certificate from His Majesty, and Yan Xiwen knew this because his cousin Yan Xiaolou was also one of Fu Xiaoguan's fiancées.
If something really happened to Fu Xiaoguan... could it be that Dong Shulan was determined to guard this property for him alone for the rest of her life?
Yan Xiwen did not try to persuade her because he knew what kind of person Dong Shulan was.
"The businesses your family owns in Yao County are already on track. They're cash cows. They alone can solve Yao County's fiscal and taxation problems. Don't you plan to go and take a look?"
"We planned to go and see it in three days, but now we have to see the weather..."
Dong Shulan's eyes suddenly lit up. She looked at Yan Xiwen and said, "My husband has some good stuff, but it's related to people's livelihood. Are you interested?"
Yan Xiwen was of course interested. He understood the good things that Fu Xiaoguan was tinkering with, so he nodded quickly and said with a smile, "After all, we're classmates. Besides, I've really been secretly in love with you for years. If you have something good, of course you have to give it to me first."
Dong Shulan glared at Yan Xiwen. "That field just now is the new rice seed my husband is trying. Let me put it this way, the yield from this one acre of land is at least double what it used to be!"
Yan Xiwen was shocked, "This is impossible!"
"Is it possible? It doesn't matter. What I want to tell you is that although my family has a lot of land in Yao County, there is also a lot of government land. We can sign a contract. If my family's rice seeds don't reach twice the previous level, I won't take a penny. If it reaches twice, the price of the rice seeds is 200 coins per catty. Do you think you can accept it?"
Yan Xiwen was shocked. "You're simply blackmailing me! A pound of rice is no more than twelve wen, and you're selling it to me for two hundred wen... This is clearly robbery!"
Dong Shulan laughed. "Let me do the math for you. The average yield per mu of land is two dan, or about 240 kilograms. If we use my rice seeds, it would be at least 480 kilograms!"
"Rice costs twelve coins per jin (approximately 1200 jin) of rice, so five hundred jin (approximately 1200 jin) of rice would cost six thousand coins. And one mu (approximately 1000 jin) of rice seeds costs only one thousand coins, yet the profit reaches five thousand coins."
"Let's calculate the previous yield of rice seeds. One mu of land yielded 240 kilograms, which adds up to a mere 2,800 coins. Even if we ignore the cost of the rice seeds, one person would earn 5,400 coins, and the other 2,800 coins... I'm selling it to you too cheaply!"
Upon hearing this, Yan Xiwen looked up at the old butler standing beside him, but the old butler frowned in disbelief.
He looked at Dong Shulan again and asked, "Can it really produce around 500 kilograms?"
"It's a legitimate business deal written down in black and white, signed and sealed by everyone. I'm not afraid of giving it away for free, so what are you afraid of?"
"Deal! I'll work out a contract when I get back, and we'll sign it when you come to Yao County!"
"Okay. Also... my husband has something magical that you haven't even seen. Do you want to plant it in your Yao County first?"
Yan Xiwen was puzzled. Who on earth was this Fu Xiaoguan? Why was he the only one who could come up with all these novelties?
"Of course I do. Tell me about it."
"That thing is called a sweet potato. It's not picky about the soil; it can grow even in the poorest of land. And the yield... according to my husband, it can reach... over 2,000 kilograms per mu!"
In fact, Fu Xiaoguan said that if the soil quality was better, the yield per mu could be more than 5,000 kilograms. Dong Shulan was worried that it would scare Yan Xiwen, so she spoke more conservatively, but it still scared Yan Xiwen!
"Two thousand kilograms per mu?" Yan Xiwen's eyes widened. "Can this be used as food?"
"Of course you can. I've tried it. It's soft, sticky and very sweet. I believe everyone will like it."
"Can I have a taste?"
"There aren't any left now. They've all been grown into seeds. My husband said they'll be ripe around October. I'll have someone send some to you then."
“Is it easy to plant?”
"I don't know about that. I don't think it will be too much trouble. I can provide you with a technical advisor, but you have to pay him a salary."
"Tell me, what's the price of this thing?"
Dong Shulan didn't know how to sell this thing, so she thought about it and said, "There's no rush. Let's wait a while."
Yan Xiwen thought that Dong Shulan was definitely keeping him in suspense and would sell it at a high price when the time came.
But the fact is that Dong Shulan hopes Fu Xiaoguan can come back, and she really doesn't know what price to sell this thing for.
At this moment, Fu Xiaoguan was on his way back and had already arrived in Xuanzhou in the western part of Jiangnan.
He chose to travel by water, boarding a ship in Xuanzhou and sailing up the Yangtze River. It would take about ten days to reach Linjiang.
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