News of the punishments handed down to the primary wives of several princes at Changchun Garden spread, prompting their families to begin plotting against them. The Third Prince's wife and the Eighth Prince's wife, of the Gioro clan, were among the first to be targeted.
Inside the garden, Qingyan was playing with her four children. The twins and Batubuhe each had a basin in front of them, while Hafeng sat in a walker. The four children looked at Qingyan with bright eyes.
"Mother, are these... meant for winter?" Batubuhe looked at the vegetable seedlings in front of him, his face full of confusion.
Qingyan smiled and told Batubuhe all the things to pay attention to, hoping that he would remember that he would definitely return to Mongolia in the future, and that vegetables were very scarce on the grasslands in winter.
“These vegetables are rarely available on the grasslands in winter!” Batubuhe is getting better.
Hutu Lifengsheng Zhalafen directly gave Batubuhe guidance, telling him how to grow vegetables.
On an autumn afternoon, the three children got busy, and Qingyan started pickling vegetables at the table next to them.
This scene made Batubuhe feel like he was in an ordinary family. Even years later, when he returned to the grasslands with Lin Fujin by his side, he still tried his best to maintain the tradition of doing things himself. Of course, that's another story.
As evening approached, the three children sat down at the dinner table, looking slightly tired. Yinzhen looked at the children and then at Qingyan with suspicion.
"Let the children start making vegetables for winter so they can be self-sufficient." Qingyan smiled.
“Well, every two days, you will personally do some work for a day, which will be a good balance between work and rest.” Yinzhen smiled.
The twins and Batu Buhe exchanged glances. They felt that the work they had to do every two days, which was a whole afternoon, was even more arduous.
"Father, are all those flowerpots we planted meant to be placed in our respective side halls?" Hutu Lifengsheng Zhalafenhao asked.
Inside the villa, each of the four children has a bedroom, a study, and a side hall, so they all put rows of flower pots on their balconies.
“Yes, let’s see whose results are better in winter,” Yinzhen said, looking at the three children.
Batubuhe found this very novel. On the grasslands, these tasks were usually done by servants, and the masters rarely did them. But it was different for Yinzhen.
“Father, I heard from Yiken’e that you will personally go to the spring plowing and autumn harvest? Can I go with you next year?” Yiken’e asked Yinzhen.
"Okay!" Yinzhen readily agreed.
Qingyan looked at Batubuhe's bright brown eyes with a faint smile on her face.
After arriving in Beijing, Batu Buhe became unusually reserved. Yinzhen and Qingyan tried many methods to help him gradually relax.
"Batu Buhe, the autumn planting will begin tomorrow. These are all easy-to-ripen crops. You can come with us to Beiyuan Mountain Village." Yinzhen had originally planned to have Yinxiang and Yinti handle it, but Batu Buhe was unusually enthusiastic about the matter.
“Okay!” Batu Buhe’s eyes sparkled. Since arriving in Beijing, he had been confined to the courtyard and had lost the carefree spirit of the grasslands.
Just as dawn was breaking, Yinzhen woke up all three children. Qingyan even personally prepared breakfast for the whole family in the kitchen. He also left the head nanny at the waterworks to watch over Hafeng. The group of five then boarded a carriage and headed directly towards Beiyuanshan Village.
At 3:45 AM, the carriage stopped in the fields. Yinxiang and Yinti had changed into coarse clothes and were already out in the fields with hoes on their shoulders.
When Batubu arrived at the fields, he watched as Yinxiang and Yinti began to turn the soil, shovel by shovel.
Qingyan, carrying a basket, sat down at the edge of the field and began to observe the surrounding land. Many women were preparing pickled vegetables for the winter.
In the field, many women were digging outside the field, wielding shovels and digging up potatoes and other crops.
"Mother, look at those women, what are they digging for?" Batubuhe asked, holding a shovel and looking at the actions of the women and children with a bewildered expression.
The children who worked alongside the women were mostly their age. Batubuhe quickly integrated into the group of children and found it very strange to learn that the food was all dry rations.
Even during the most difficult times on the grasslands, Batubuhe never ate these things.
"They're digging potatoes, potatoes again," Qingyan explained to Batubuhe. "These can be used as a substitute for grain when there's no more food. Since the yield is plentiful, everyone won't go hungry."
"Why not use silver pearl powder? In winter, when there's no rice, how can you eat silver pearl powder? Why would you eat that?" Batu Buhehao asked.
Yiken rolled his eyes: "Silver Pearl Powder is a fine food. The servants here can only eat dumplings once a year during the Spring Festival. On ordinary days, they still need to eat these."
Qingyan sighed, finally managing to raise her twins to know about grains and cereals. But Batubuhe had actually heard that, and wondered why there was no wheat flour.
"Mother, is this delicious?" Batu Buhe realized that she didn't know as much as Yiken'e, and her face turned red instantly.
"At noon, Mother will make it for you!" Qingyan knew that Batu Buhe was very kind to all of this.
Emperor Kangxi would force his princes to participate in spring plowing and autumn harvest in order to prevent this situation.
"Mother, I want to eat French fries!" Hutuli Fengsheng Zhalafen heard Qingyan say that she wanted to eat potatoes, and quickly told Qingyan.
“Not today. If we’re making French fries, we need a lot of oil,” Qingyan said to her daughter.
Hutuli Fengsheng Zhalafen tilted his head and glanced at the field. Many children were piling up firewood and washing the potatoes they had dug up before throwing them directly into the fire.
"Mother, is it really not going to work?" Yiken asked quickly.
"We'll fry some French fries later, Batubuhe, we'll have something delicious to eat tonight!" Qingyan agreed to the children's request.
While outside, Yinzhen instructed his children to adapt to their environment, and that once they returned to the mansion, they would no longer need to worry, as their residence provided such an environment.
"Great!" the twins cheered, while Batubuhe looked at the two with anticipation for dinner.
There were still many things on the grassland that he hadn't tried before, so he was eager to give them a go.
"I really hope it gets dark soon!" Yiken waved his shovel and started digging potatoes. These were planted when the rice was being grown, and now they were ripe.
These potatoes will be made into potato noodles by Qingyan, so they can be eaten in winter.
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