bookrandom Chapter 169 Zhuangzi
Chapter 169 Zhuangzi
Back in her room, Xiao Siyue was at a loss for what to do.
After sitting there blankly for a while, she suddenly remembered that she had planted corn before, which should have sprouted by now. Why not go and take a look? It's a sunny day, and she doesn't have to study.
"Chuntao, Lanyi, let's go to the estate to see the corn," Xiao Siyue said enthusiastically, calling to the two maids.
"Miss, please wait a moment, I'll go arrange the carriage." Chun Tao hurriedly stopped her. It was still quite hot outside, and the carriage wouldn't be ready anytime soon. Going out would mean waiting, so it was better to stay in the room for a while.
"Okay, then go ahead." Xiao Siyue sat down again.
Before long, Chun Tao came to say that we could leave, as the carriage was already waiting outside the gate.
Xiao Siyue stood up and walked outside with Lan Yi.
As he went out, he ran into Lin Qin as soon as he entered the courtyard.
"Yue'er, are you going to the paper mill again today?"
"Mother, I'm not going today. I plan to go to the estate to see how the crops I planted are doing."
"Mom, would you like to come with me for a walk?"
Xiao Siyue pulled Lin Qin's hand and invited her.
"Yue'er, go ahead. I won't go. I have things to take care of." Lin Qin affectionately pinched Xiao Siyue's little cheek.
"Alright then, Mother, I'll be going now."
"Well, be careful."
After saying goodbye to Lin Qin, Xiao Siyue went straight to the carriage outside the gate.
Xiao Siyue and Chun Taolan chatted and laughed all the way.
When they were almost near the manor, Xiao Siyue had the carriage stop, and the group walked over.
After getting off the carriage, what came into view were flat plots of land, with lush green rice paddies thriving.
The land in this area is all top-quality farmland, with ample water and nutrients, and the rice grows very well.
If you walk uphill along the road for a while, you'll come across a large area of dry land where potatoes are grown. The potatoes have been planted for some time now, and the leaves have sprouted, looking lush and green.
Xiao Siyue was particularly excited when she saw several people gathered together talking about something.
Xiao Siyue could only hear clearly after she leaned closer.
"Do you really think this thing called potato can achieve such a high yield?" one person asked, frowning.
"Of course! This was given to us by the imperial court. Would the imperial court lie to us?" The other person said, beaming with pride, as if he could already see a great harvest.
"That's right, the imperial court gave us the seeds for free, and we can harvest them in the second half of the year."
"I'm just worried. What if it doesn't work out? Wouldn't it be a waste of land? We don't have much fertile land."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Siyue interjected from behind, "You don't need to worry. The imperial court has already tested these potatoes before giving them to you, and the yield is indeed quite high."
The group was startled when they suddenly heard a child's voice.
Turning around, they saw a little girl standing behind them with a smile.
The group exchanged bewildered glances. What was this young lady from that wealthy family doing here?
These people are all villagers from the neighborhood. They have already planted their crops, but they are curious about this potato and often come to take a look.
"Young lady, whose daughter are you? What brings you here?" one of them asked.
“Me? I’m from that family.” Xiao Siyue said, pointing to the village not far away, and continued walking.
The group looked in the direction Xiao Siyue was pointing.
Oh, so this is the family. They all know about this estate, but they've never met the owner.
They had no idea what was growing inside, and there were even people guarding it. They couldn't even go in to take a look, which made them very curious.
Moreover, the thousands of acres of farmland behind this estate all belong to the owner of this estate.
The group watched as Xiao Siyue and her companions walked towards the manor, feeling curious and wanting to follow them, but not daring to.
Xiao Siyue has already arrived at the manor.
The person in charge of the manor knew Xiao Siyue; he was someone Xiao Qinian had specially transferred from the government office.
Upon seeing Xiao Siyue, he immediately came to greet her.
"Miss, what brings you here today?"
"Well, I came to check on how the corn is growing, and also to have some fun." Xiao Siyue followed the person in charge into the house.
Immediately, someone brought over a cup of tea.
Xiao Siyue sat down, picked up her teacup, took a sip, and then put the teacup down.
"Li Fu, how many people are there in our village?"
This farm isn't actually very big; it was a gift from Emperor Zhou.
"Miss, there are a total of 15 tenant households and some servants in our estate, totaling 123 people."
Xiao Siyue understood that the fields in this estate were originally rented to these tenant farmers for cultivation, but in the past two years, due to the need for breeding, the fields in the estate had all been taken back.
However, these tenants all stayed behind and helped manage the fields, but they exchanged the grain for silver.
Of course, this money was more than the grain they had collected before, and the tenants were all willing to accept it.
After sitting for a while, Xiao Siyue asked Li Fu to take her to see the corn.
"Miss, this way." Li Fu led the way, with Xiao Siyue and Chun Tao Lanyi following behind. They soon arrived at the cornfield.
Because corn is very important, it is planted near the village.
Xiao Siyue glanced around and saw that the corn seedlings had grown about four or five leaves and were growing very well.
After approaching, Xiao Siyue carefully walked between each row and looked at them. Basically, all of them had sprouted. She estimated that the germination rate was no less than 95%. As expected of the high-quality seeds produced by the system.
Of course, there was also the thoughtful care from the people in the village.
Xiao Siyue was very satisfied. In about two more months, she should be able to eat sweet corn.
"Li Fu, you've taken good care of the cornfield. Thank you for your hard work. I'll talk to my dad about it and ask him to give you a raise."
Upon hearing this, Li Fu was overjoyed and immediately said to Xiao Siyue, "Thank you, Miss. It's our duty. Don't worry, Miss, we will keep a close eye on these corns and there won't be any mistakes."
"That's good. After a while, the corn seedlings will grow taller and bear fruit. At that time, there may be birds and other animals around, so you need to be careful."
Especially since this village is located near a mountain, there might be wild boars or other animals there, which love to eat sweet grains like corn.
This is something we have to be careful about; these corns are all for next year's seeds, and absolutely no mistakes can be made.
If it's destroyed, she won't be able to get it again and will have to look for it overseas.
However, this cannot be accomplished in just a few years, especially since modern seafaring vessels are not advanced at all.