Chapter 21 Sweet Potatoes and Wheat
Shen Yanzhi's study, always filled with the scent of ink, untouched by the clamor of dust, was now packed with people, the air thick with a tense odor of dirt and sweat.
Several managers and senior heads of the royal farms, all men who have been dealing with land for many years, now stood there uncomfortably with their hands hanging down, not even daring to breathe.
The candlelight crackled in the copper crane-beak lamp, casting Shen Yanzhi's shadow on the bookshelf behind him, appearing huge and oppressive. He didn't sit down, but simply pressed one hand on the cold rosewood desk, his knuckles slightly white from the pressure.
"Have you seen it all?" He finally spoke, his voice like ice, knocking on everyone's heart.
In the center of the desk, the letter was held down by a jade paperweight and spread out. The strange graphics and shocking numbers on it looked like an absurd joke.
The leader, Zhang Zhuangtou, was an elder who had been in the palace for generations and had been farming all his life. He bravely stepped forward, his cloudy eyes filled with embarrassment and disbelief. "Your Highness, please forgive my poor eyesight... What's drawn on this paper is unheard of. This, this yield per mu... is simply unbelievable. In a good rice year, the best paddy fields only yield three dan per mu. This... this is simply..."
He didn't dare to utter the word "nonsense", but the meaning was clear enough.
"Yes, Your Highness, if you could achieve high productivity by simply drawing something, there would have been no famine in the world long ago." Another steward couldn't help but agree, his voice revealing the absurdity of this theoretical talk.
Their words were like buckets of cold water poured on the spark of fire that had just ignited Shen Yanzhi.
The light in his eyes dimmed again in an instant, replaced by deeper irritation and disappointment.
Could it be that it was all in vain?
At this moment, Qi Ming's respectful voice came from outside the door: "Your Majesty, Madam Wen is here."
Everyone's eyes turned to the door.
The door was gently pushed open and Wen Yue walked in.
She was still wearing a plain dress and no makeup. Her face looked a little pale under the flickering candlelight, but she was unusually calm.
She first bowed calmly, her movements unhurried, as if she didn't notice the tense atmosphere in the room.
Shen Yanzhi's gaze gripped her like a hawk, his voice carrying a last glimmer of hope, yet also a harsh judgment: "Auntie Wen Yue, they say that what you wrote in this letter is a fairy tale. What do you have to say?"
Wen Yue didn't answer immediately.
She walked to the desk, bowed to Shen Yanzhi again, and then carefully took out two things from a small cloth bag she carried with her.
The same is true for the roots, which are irregularly shaped with reddish-purple skin and still have wet soil on them, giving off a fresh earthy smell.
The other is a piece of golden, full-grained stick-shaped crop.
"This is sweet potato, and this is wheat." Wen Yue placed the two things side by side next to the letter paper, and the real object and the picture instantly corresponded.
Her voice was not loud, but it was clearly heard by everyone, "What is said in the letter is not just wishful thinking."
Zhang Zhuangtou and others opened their eyes wide and moved forward as if they were looking at a monster. They reached out to touch it and then put it close to their noses to smell it.
The touch was real, the smell was strange.
"This... this really grew out of the ground?" Zhang Zhuangtou still couldn't believe it.
Shen Yanzhi's heart skipped a beat.
He stared at Wen Yue intently, a storm brewing in his bottomless eyes. "Why should I trust you? Just based on these few pieces of paper, two things I've never seen before? If anything goes wrong, it won't just be me who's implicated, it'll be the entire palace. Can you afford the price?"
His voice became heavier and colder, like a mountain, ready to completely crush the fragile woman in front of him.
The air in the study seemed to freeze, and even the flickering of the candlelight became cautious.
Wen Yue raised her head and met his sharp gaze.
There was no fear or retreat in her eyes, only a determination to fight to the death.
She suddenly lifted up her skirt and knelt straight down. Every word she spoke seemed to be spoken with all her strength, hitting the cold floor tiles.
"If Your Majesty does not believe me, I am willing to issue a military order."
She paused and raised her voice, the determination in her voice shocking everyone present.
"After the spring, Your Majesty only needs to give me one mu of thin land and ten strong laborers. If the sweet potato yield per mu is less than 1,000 catties, and the wheat yield per mu is less than 800 catties..."
She took a deep breath, and a sad light flashed in her eyes, as if her life had burned out.
"I am willing to use my own head as a guarantee! When the time comes, Your Highness will not need to take action. I will commit suicide in front of the palace gate to atone for my deception!"
"Auntie!" Qi Qiao exclaimed, her face pale.
The entire study was dead silent.
A thousand jin! Eight hundred jin!
These two numbers were like two thunderclaps, frightening the village managers to death. The way they looked at Wen Yue changed from looking at a madman to looking at a dead person.
Shen Yanzhi's heart was struck hard by this oath that was worth his life.
He looked down at the woman kneeling on the ground, thin but with a straight back. For the first time, he felt that he could not see through her at all.
Who is she? This shocking secret, this courage to risk her life, is definitely not what an ordinary woman in the harem should have.
He slowly reached out his hand, but instead of helping her, he picked up the heavy sweet potato.
The rough surface had a granular feel like dirt, which made his palms itch, but the weight of it felt incredibly real.
"Okay." After a long while, Shen Yanzhi squeezed out a word from his throat, his voice was very hoarse, "This king will gamble once."
He turned to look at Zhang Zhuangtou, whose face was ashen, his eyes becoming fierce and resolute: "Listen carefully. From today on, Madam Wen will be the general manager of these two new crops.
All of you must obey her orders. Fence off the best ten acres of land in the hills behind the mansion. No one is allowed to approach! If even the slightest word of this gets out…"
He didn't say anything else, but the chilling murderous intent in his eyes had already made everyone feel cold from head to toe.
"Yes! Your Highness!" Everyone answered in unison, their voices trembling uncontrollably.
Shen Yanzhi waved his hand to let them leave. In the study, only he and Wen Yue, who was still kneeling on the ground, were left.
He walked up to her, squatted down, and for the first time, looked her in the eye at eye level at such a close distance. In the candlelight, he could clearly see a few tears hanging on her long eyelashes, but she was stubbornly holding back her tears.
"Tell me," he said, his voice lowered to a whisper, like a lover's whisper, yet tinged with deadly danger. "Who are you? Is your purpose really just to 'protect the safety of the palace'?"
"I have been in love with the prince for a long time."
Then he stood up and poured Shen Yanzhi a cup of tea.
Shen Yanzhi watched her stand up without saying a word, watching her every move as if she were dancing and then turning around to sit on Shen Yanzhi's lap.
Put the teacup to Shen Yanzhi's lips.
Shen Yanzhi lowered his head and drank the tea but didn't notice that a small black insect entered his mouth along with the tea.
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