Chapter 28 Seeking Rice Seeds
When Yuan Hongqu was living in the Lin family, she tried to take out space to cultivate vegetables that were still seedlings.
She discovered that although these vegetables differed significantly from those produced in the space in terms of growth rate, taste, and yield, they were still many times better than those sold outside.
So she's always had this idea of finding farms to grow these crops on a small scale.
If you walk by the river often, you're bound to get your shoes wet. This is about making plans for the unknown possibilities ahead.
Yuan Hongqu, along with He Tao, Xue Yan, and two other old women, escorted Daiyu to the school.
The school in Rongguo Mansion where girls were taught was a quiet place where they could study and learn properly. Compared to the chaotic clan school, this was a proper place to go to school.
After reading it, Yuan Hongqu sighed in her heart, thinking that if Jia Baoyu had also studied in this school, with his intelligence and talent, he would surely have achieved fame and success!
She was probably not the only one who knew about this situation, but no one reminded Grandmother Jia and Jia Zheng.
Yuan Hongqu naturally wouldn't do anything to show off. She originally wanted to sever the preordained bond between Daiyu and Jia Baoyu and reduce their contact, which was what she hoped for.
Daiyu and Jia Baoyu are cousins, their blood relationship is too close.
If the two are close friends, and the affection between them is that of an older brother for his younger sister, then Yuan Hongqu also thinks it's a good match.
However, if the two of them were to develop into lovers or even husband and wife, even though current social norms would allow it, Yuan Hongqu would still be the sword that severed their ties of love.
Yuan Hongqu felt that it was better to nip problems in the bud than to start small, such as giving them a basic introduction to the history of biological development.
Although there's no need to go into details, with their eight hundred clever minds, how could they not think about it more deeply?
As for Jia Baoyu studying at the clan school, he didn't learn anything there, so she couldn't care less and wouldn't say anything to remind him.
She had only just arrived at the Rongguo Mansion and had already attracted a lot of attention. If she were to meddle in other people's affairs, she would likely be hated.
Moreover, if Jia Baoyu were to study with the girls in the inner courtyard, it would be unreasonable, and since all the men were studying at the clan school, and Jia Baoyu was the only one not going, would it be a sign of disrespect for the clan school?
After returning from school, Yuan Hongqu went to the space to collect plant seeds.
She placed the various seeds into small cotton bags and labeled them accordingly.
Then a small open space was cleared in the courtyard of the space, where she planned to plant some green glutinous rice.
Yuan Hongqu has always been very curious about this kind of rice.
However, the cultivation of this type of rice has become extinct in modern times, and she can only find a few records of this emerald green rice in literature.
This morning, she also tasted the green glutinous rice porridge sent by Grandmother Jia, and felt that the texture and taste of this rice were even better than the best rice she had ever eaten before.
This type of rice has a very low yield. Given the status of the Ning and Rong mansions, they could only obtain 240 catties a year, which was only enough for Grandmother Jia to eat.
Yuan Hongqu wanted a handful of rice to use as seeds, so she had to ask Wang Xifeng for help.
She emerged from the space and had just stepped outside when she saw one of the old women, Mama Yu, who had been following Daiyu, approaching.
“Granny Yuan, our young lady and the three Jia girls accompanied the old lady to stroll in the garden after school. The young lady asked me to tell you to prepare some tomato dishes for the old lady to try at noon.”
Yuan Hongqu nodded, "I understand. Take a break and then go back to the young lady's place. The sun is scorching hot today, so keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't stay in the sun for too long."
Mother Yu confirmed this, and after quickly tidying up the place where the servants rested during the day, she turned and went to the garden.
Cooking with tomatoes couldn't be simpler; all you need are peaches.
One of the things she brought back yesterday was tomatoes.
Everyone in the kitchen knew that this rare fruit was precious, and no one dared to touch it.
Xiangtao had always followed Yuan Hongqu, so she was quite familiar with tomatoes, and Yuan Hongqu had also taught her how to cook with tomatoes.
Yuan Hongqu drafted the menu: one dish of tomato and shrimp, another of beef brisket in tomato sauce, and a simple cold tomato salad. Xiangtao was free to improvise on the other dishes.
Since it was still early, Yuan Hongqu decided to stick to her original plan and go to Wang Xifeng to see if she had any connections to get the seeds of Bijing rice.
She found a glass bowl and filled it with cherry tomatoes.
Give this to Wang Xifeng; she'll surely like it.
Yuan Hongqu didn't bring anyone with her; she followed the path to the side hall where Wang Xifeng lived.
This place is really small; it can't compare to Rongyueyuan at all.
She had just reached the door when she saw Zhou Rui's wife come out.
As soon as Zhou Rui's wife stepped out, she saw Yuan Hongqu. Startled and somewhat embarrassed, she quickly greeted Yuan Hongqu and then walked away.
The reason was that when Yuan Hongqu arrived the day before, Zhou Rui's wife looked at her young age and never expected that she was the backbone of the Lin family. Zhou Rui's wife regarded Yuan Hongqu as an ordinary cook or servant in the Lin family.
So when they were disembarking, Zhou Rui's wife directed Yuan Hongqu to move a box. At that time, Zhou Rui's wife looked at Yuan Hongqu with her nose in the air.
Little did she know, Yuan Hongqu completely ignored her, which made her extremely angry.
It wasn't until they abandoned ship and boarded the vehicle that Zhou Rui's wife realized she had made a grave mistake.
That young woman got on the same bus as Miss Lin!
Zhou Rui's wife busied herself asking around and learned that Yuan Hongqu was actually Miss Lin's teacher and the Lin family's housekeeper. Her status in the Lin family was probably no less than that of the current Second Madam Lian.
Zhou Rui's wife was afraid that Yuan Hongqu would hold a grudge against her, so she didn't dare to show her face these past few days.
Today, the First Madam had something to discuss with her, so she came to see Wang Xifeng. She had just finished speaking with Wang Xifeng when she ran into Yuan Hongqu as she went out.
How could she not be embarrassed!
However, Yuan Hongqu had no idea what Zhou Ruijia was thinking, or even her complex psychological state.
Wang Xifeng had just finished dealing with the trivial matters in the mansion and completed the task handed over by the last old woman.
She was just about to remark that she was in a good mood today and had few things to do, and that she could go visit Sister Yuan later to ask her about Jia Lian's situation.
Wang Xifeng tidied her makeup and was about to go out when she heard Caiming's voice at the door.
"Greetings, Granny Yuan! You have some free time to come and see our Second Mistress?" Caiming ran to the door to greet Yuan Hongqu. "Miss Ping just instructed us to ask Granny Yuan to come over when she's not busy."
“Oh,” Yuan Hongqu said, though she was somewhat surprised.
"I've come to see your second grandmother."
“Alas, Second Madam and Second Master Lian had a huge fight last night. Last night, Second Madam kicked Second Master out to the outer study and wouldn’t let him in!” Caiming whispered quickly to Yuan Hongqu, “Miss Ping wants to ask Granny Yuan to persuade Second Madam.”
Yuan Hongqu pursed her lips; she could roughly guess the reason for the couple's argument.
She didn't stop walking; before Caiming could finish speaking, Yuan Hongqu had already entered the house.
"Second Grandma, I found some interesting things when I went out yesterday, so I brought them to you to try."
"Sister Yuan, why are you being so formal with me, calling me Second Madam? It makes me sad!" Wang Xifeng lifted the curtain and came out, saying she was unhappy, but her face showed no sadness at all.
Yuan Hongqu readily agreed and said with a smile, "Feng'er, look at this." She handed the glass bowl she was holding to Wang Xifeng.
"My goodness!" Wang Xifeng's eyes widened. She snatched it away, hugged it to her arms, sat down on a chair, and started popping cherry tomatoes into her mouth.
Yuan Hongqu smiled and sat down next to her.
Wang Xifeng ate seven or eight in a row before stopping.
"Sister Yuan, how do you understand me so well? If I were a man, I would definitely marry you. To have such a confidante by my side is truly a blessing!" Wang Xifeng said in a very exaggerated way, and Yuan Hongqu couldn't help but laugh.
"Feng'er, what did you say?" A person flashed in from outside the door. Who else could it be but Jia Lian?
Jia Lian didn't hear what Wang Xifeng said before, he only heard Wang Xifeng say something about "a confidant" and "it's my great fortune".
He suddenly felt as if he were surrounded by a green cloud, and the suspicion he had just put aside last night immediately rose again.
"What confidant? Besides me, who else would you want?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
