On this day, Li Xue and Li Guang's family returned to Shuixian Village. Zhao Xian and his men greeted them at the village entrance. It was already dusk, and Zhao Xian had prepared a banquet to welcome them back.
During the meal, Li Xue kept smiling at Zhao Xian. Zhao Xian quickly understood what was going on and said:
"I am very grateful to the princess this time."
"Why did Brother Zhao suddenly want to thank me? What's going on?" Li Xue pretended to be puzzled.
"Does the princess really not know?"
Zhao Xian knew that Li Xue was pretending to be ignorant.
"How would I know if Brother Zhao didn't tell me? Tell me quickly."
"Just after the New Year, Lord Luo, the Junior Supervisor of the Ministry of Revenue's Directorate of Works, came to Shuixian Village and said that he was acting on the Emperor's orders to build a Marquis's Mansion in Shuixian Village as a reward for me."
The Emperor has already bestowed upon me a residence in the capital as a Marquis's mansion, but he still wants to build me a Marquis's mansion in Narcissus Village.
Under normal circumstances, the Emperor wouldn't bestow two mansions upon me. I suspect the Princess must have asked the Emperor for them during their audience.
Upon hearing this, Li Xue couldn't help but laugh and said:
"Brother Zhao is now a local lord, and he should have his own marquis's mansion in Narcissus Village."
I knew Brother Zhao wouldn't build a mansion for himself, which is why I shamelessly asked the Emperor for one. That's only one reason; there's another one too.
Li Xue's words confused Zhao Xian, as he didn't know what the other reason she mentioned was.
Seeing that Zhao Xian didn't understand his meaning and was staring at him, he spoke up:
"When the third phase of the farmers' market was being built in Shuixian Village, there were a lot of residential houses for sale, and Brother Zhao even suggested that I buy one."
I told him at the time that I wouldn't buy a residential house, but planned to build one next to Brother Zhao's house so I could go over to his house for meals.
Li Xue's words made everyone laugh, and Zhao Xian spoke up:
"The princess did say that. Now, are you considering building a house?"
"I did have this idea at first, but I've changed my mind now."
Brother Zhao owns a luxury mansion in Beijing, but judging from the current situation, he will not be living there.
In this way, that house became our place of residence, and I must say, it was quite comfortable living there.
So I thought, if Brother Zhao had a marquis's mansion in Narcissus Village, then I wouldn't need to build a house. You know, according to the imperial court's standards, a marquis's mansion is very large.
"Such a large marquis's mansion shouldn't be a problem for me to find a room to stay in. That has one advantage: I won't have to go to their place for meals; I can just go to the kitchen and get a bowl to serve myself."
Li Xue's words made everyone burst into laughter again.
"Of course, there's absolutely no problem. The Marquis's mansion, once completed, will cover thirty acres, which is larger than a small village."
When the time comes, the princess and Li Guang can move to the Marquis's mansion. It would be such a waste if so many houses were left unoccupied.
However, the construction period is a bit long, requiring a year and a half, so we'll need to be patient.
“No problem. We’re willing to wait so we can move into the Marquis’s mansion,” Li Xue said with a smile.
After the meal, everyone dispersed. Zhao Xian planned to go to the farm soon to give Li Guang the prepared vegetable seeds for promotion this year.
To help Li Guang understand these vegetables more intuitively, Zhao Xian purchased vegetable pictures from the system. Of course, these pictures were not photographs, but drawings.
A few days later, Zhao Xian came to the farm and handed the vegetable seeds to Li Guang. Each type of seed came in a small cloth bag with the name of the seed labeled on it.
Upon seeing so many seeds, Li Guang was overjoyed and began to examine them against the pictures.
Zhao Xian introduced several varieties of vegetables, focusing on the planting methods of these seeds, and Li Guang took careful notes.
Spring planting season has arrived, and vegetables such as lettuce, loofah, and tomatoes can be sown at this time. Other varieties of vegetables can be sown after autumn.
There was a lot of open space next to the farm, and Li Guang planned to plant several kinds of vegetables there. After fully understanding the growth habits of these vegetables, he began to promote them.
The most important festival after the Spring Festival is Qingming Festival. At that time, people attached great importance to Qingming Festival, mainly in terms of agricultural affairs.
As the saying goes, around the time of Qingming Festival, farmers are busy planting melons and beans.
At this time of year, there is a lot of rain, but not heavy rain; it's mostly just a light drizzle, which is beneficial for crop growth.
During this period, farmers worked in the light drizzle, but fortunately the weather was not too cold, so it did not have a significant impact on farming.
After the Qingming Festival, the weather warmed up further, and the lettuce, loofah, tomatoes and other vegetable seedlings planted by Li Guangbo were growing well and had reached the transplanting season.
Li Guang did not keep any of the seeds that Zhao Xian brought; he planted them all, and they grew into a large number of seedlings. Li Guang could not use them all, so he planned to give these seedlings to the villagers to plant.
When the farmers heard that Li Guang had a new variety of vegetables, they all went to see them. Li Guang then gave them the seedlings and told them to take them back and plant them.
In the past, the seedlings that Li Guang gave to the villagers were very beneficial after they took them back and planted them. This time, they treasured the new variety of vegetable seedlings.
After Li Guang finished planting, he had some seedlings left over, so he took them out to give away. Because so many people came to ask for seedlings, they didn't get many, but it was enough.
For example, with loofah seedlings, just planting two or three seedlings will produce enough loofahs for the whole family to eat, and it's also easy to save seeds.
Unlike other vegetables, tomatoes and loofahs need to be supported when they grow to a certain height. For example, the higher the support for loofah, the better.
After the Qingming Festival, the rainy days finally passed, and the long-awaited sunny weather appeared. On this day, Zhao Xian was inspecting the production of products in the newly built workshop area when the village head came to find him.
"Uncle Village Head, is something the matter?" Zhao Xian asked.
"A lot of people came to the village today, mostly young men and women. They came to the village to find something to do, so they can have something to eat, not to make money."
Zhao Xian was stunned. There were many people from other places who came to the village to work and earn money.
But these young people who come to the village are just trying to get a meal. What's going on?
"Uncle Village Head, are these people fleeing from disaster?"
"It shouldn't be. Judging from their clothes, they don't look like refugees. One of them is older and claims to be the village head, and he brought these people with him."
Wang Lizheng's words made Zhao Xian feel even stranger. If a village head was leading the young men and women of the village out to work just to make a living, then something must have happened in the village, otherwise the village head would not have led them away from their homes.
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