The door opened, and in walked the Emperor, followed by the Minister of Industry and a minor official who had previously been in charge of the rice threshing machine project.
Jiang Yuqing smiled and said, "Well, I want to make a winnowing machine powered by wind! That would save a lot of effort!"
Emperor Xia Jing took the blueprint and looked it over. The drawing was still ugly, but it was much better than the one for the rice threshing machine from a year ago.
The Emperor comforted himself that the child was still young and he couldn't expect too much. Any progress was good.
He didn't understand this well himself, so he handed the blueprint to the Minister of Industry for a professional opinion.
The Minister of Industry had been managing the Ministry of Industry for many years and had seen all kinds of odd farm tools. After looking it over briefly, he understood what it was. This thing, if built, could indeed save a lot of effort.
He passed the blueprint to the official who had come with him from the Ministry. This gentleman was much more of an expert. With just one glance, he could see the ingenuity in it and cried out, "What a great thing!"
But there were still some details and dimensions he didn't quite understand. This man was obsessed, so he completely ignored his superiors and started discussing the details with Jiang Yuqing.
Only after the discussion did he realize that the Emperor and his superior were still standing there watching him. He instantly broke into a cold sweat and quickly admitted his crime.
The Emperor was a pragmatic man. Compared to those officials just occupying space and doing nothing, he appreciated people like this official, who didn't talk too much and just focused on practical matters.
People like this minor official from the Ministry of Industry, and Jiang Wenyuan, were the real pillars of the country.
Therefore, when this official admitted his crime to the Emperor, the Emperor generously said, "What crime is there? I think you did very well, keep up the good work!" At the same time, he had a eunuch reward him with ten ounces of silver!
The official was overjoyed and quickly expressed his gratitude. Carrying the blueprint with detailed dimensions, he left with the Minister of Industry. They were going to hurry back to the Ministry of Industry to build the machine.
After they left, there were only Jiang Yuqing, Jing Yan, the Emperor, and Eunuch Li left in the room.
The Emperor stroked Jiang Yuqing's head and laughed, "I don't know how this little head of yours works. How can you be so smart?"
Baby Dumpling boasted, "Of course! That's why my daddy said that two hundred years of good feng shui has all fallen on me alone in our family!"
The Emperor didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "You're still panting when people call you fat. You're really shameless."
Baby Dumpling said, "That's called confidence..." She took the peeled papaya from Jing Yan and took a big bite, making her cheeks bulge out like a little stealing animal.
After eating a papaya, Baby Dumpling wiped her mouth and said, "Your Majesty, you and little brother can sit here for a while. I'll go to the kitchen to arrange lunch."
The Emperor waved his hand, "Go on, go on!" Baby Dumpling trotted off, and soon trotted back, clinging to the door frame with half her little head poking in, "Oh, I forgot to ask what you'd like to eat!"
The Emperor said, "Anything is fine. Just arrange it as you see fit!"
Baby Dumpling happily said, "Okay then! I'll just arrange it!" Then she trotted off cheerfully again.
The Emperor looked at the plate beside his son. Peeled lychees and two tangerines were on it. The tangerines didn't have a single shred of pith left on them. No need to think about who they were peeled for.
On his side, it was clean as a whistle without a single shred. The old father felt quite sour, like he'd eaten a lemon. He pursed his lips and said, "When you have a wife, you forget your father, huh!"
Upon hearing this, Jing Yan instantly blushed to his ears. Even his usually expressionless face showed some awkwardness.
He still had to pretend he didn't understand what was being said. Reluctantly, he pushed the plate of peeled fruit back in front of the Emperor.
The Emperor snorted derisively and pushed it back, "No, take it back to coax your little wife!"
Sure enough, Jing Yan's ears turned even redder, and even his face was tinged with rosy clouds.
The Emperor rarely saw such a spectacle and marveled at it for a while.
Then he finally became serious and said, "The little girl is not bad. Smart, sensible, and her family background is decent enough. If you really like her, you can keep her for now. Just don't tell her family yet. I'm afraid that if her father finds out, he'll put you on the blacklist."
"Mm. Son understands. Thank you, father, for allowing this."
The Emperor became smug again, "The little girl really has outstanding talents. Someone like this was born to belong to our imperial family."
Jing Yan: "..." Thank you for that early call.
At lunchtime, Jiang Yuqing talked to the Emperor about selling the improved rice seeds. She needed officials to be involved.
This method was refined by Jiang Wenyuan to maximize the number of commoners who could obtain the high-yielding seeds.
For something that benefited both the country and the people, the Emperor agreed without hesitation. He called in Zhang Xiu, the Minister of Revenue, and asked him to implement the matter.
After Zhang Xiu left, the wife of the village chief brought in lunch.
There was a plate of stir-fried pheasant, braised rabbit meat, stir-fried green beans with pork, steamed eggplant with garlic, pan-fried tofu, and fish soup with crucian carp.
The pheasants were freshly caught from the fields, the rabbit was hunted when Lu Yi went up the mountain to gather medicine. The rest were all home-cooked dishes.
There were few dishes, but the portions were all generous, lacking the rigid rules of imperial cuisine and possessing the spicy freshness of rural areas instead.
Emperor and son ate very contentedly.
Jing Yan was fine since he had eaten rural meals before when following his uncle in Qingzhou.
But it was the Emperor's first time. He kept calling out how delicious it was. He especially liked the stir-fried pheasant, saying the meat was fat and tender, hot, spicy and fresh. He asked if there was any more.
Jiang Yuqing said, "The fields are full of them. If you want to eat them, just grab a fat string when harvesting."
The Emperor was satisfied.
With one thing off his mind, Jiang Yuqing happily ate an extra bowl at lunch.
After the meal, Jiang Yuqing personally arranged rooms for the Emperor and Prince to rest.
Only after the Emperor fell asleep could Eunuch Li finally catch his breath a little.
Jiang Yuqing quietly tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "Eunuch Li, I saved a portion of the meal for you. It's being kept warm in the pot in the kitchen. I'll have someone watch over here, hurry and go eat."
Eunuch Li was deeply moved and stroked her little head, almost crying, "Good child, you're the best, always considering our family no matter what you do."
"Go on, hurry, hurry!"
Under her urging, Eunuch Li didn't refuse her kindness in the end. He went to the kitchen, got the meal, and ate heartily.
Because the Emperor wanted to eat pheasant, Jiang Yuqing specifically told the village chief to catch another fat string.
She didn't say it was for the Emperor to bring back to the palace, afraid the village chief would pass out from happiness.
After the afternoon break, the officials had to keep working whether they wanted to or not.
The Emperor was watching right there at the edge of the fields. If they were caught slacking off by the Emperor, that would be a real scene.
It wasn't until the second quarter mark of the Shen hour (3-5pm) that the Emperor ordered returning to the palace.
These big shots who were used to living in luxury finally squeezed their arms and beat their legs, staggered along groaning and moaning, before going back.
Jiang Yuqing wickedly thought that there would probably be quite a few asking for sick leave at tomorrow morning's court session.
After sending off the freeloaders, the rice harvesting troops officially started working the next day.
In addition to the original manpower of the village, Jiang Yuqing also recruited over a hundred more from surrounding villages.
Nearly two hundred men and over twenty rice threshing machines lined up in the fields, the deafening noise making for a spectacular sight.
Jiang Yuqing nodded satisfactorily. This was what the autumn harvest was supposed to look like!
Apart from the occasional outstanding ones, those high and mighty gentlemen from yesterday were just there for show.
Wearing a little straw hat and carrying a small basket, she slowly followed behind the harvesting troops with Bai Xiaoshi, picking up fallen rice grains.
In the distance, a group of children were peering over the fence, looking enviously at it all.
Jiang Yuqing walked over and saw they were boys and girls aged five to nine. Their clothes were all patched up.
They were all holding baskets or small pails with scattered grains and pheasants inside. Seeing her approach, they all unconsciously retreated back a few steps, looking somewhat at a loss.
Jiang Yuqing asked, "Are you all children from surrounding villages?"
The children seemed not to expect that this girl who looked so wealthy would speak to them. They glanced at each other speechlessly for a moment.
One slightly older child plucked up his courage and said, "Our fathers are working here in this village. They said the rice grown here is the best rice in all of Da Xia."
"We're not here to make trouble, we just want to come and take a look. Please don't chase us away, okay?" What simple and lovely children.
Jiang Yuqing laughed and said, "I'm the owner of this farm. If you'd like, you can come in and help me gather the rice stalks. Of course, I can pay you for your work."
The children hadn't expected such a good thing, and immediately nodded their heads: "We're willing!"
There was no opening in the fence here, so Jiang Yuqing told them to go around to the main gate.
After they ran off in the direction of the main gate, Jiang Yuqing told Er Yu to go receive the children and find some baskets for them.
Before long, the group of children came in, all holding baskets. As soon as they got to the fields, they spread out on their own initiative, adeptly searching for any dropped rice stalks.
The men who were working were quite surprised to see the children come in. When they heard that the master of the household had hired them to pick up rice stalks, they all grinned and told the children to work hard.
Jiang Yuqing took her own small basket and walked over to a girl a bit older than her. She spoke to her: "Sister, has your family finished gathering all of your rice?"
"We've finished gathering it all. My family doesn't have much land, so we finished gathering it in just a few days!" The girl nimbly flipped over a rice stalk from the straw, snapped it off at the base of the stalk, and threw it in her basket.
"How was the harvest?"
The girl thought for a moment and said, "My father said the weather was good this year, so the grain harvest was better than previous years. But compared to the rice from your household, it's not even close."
Jiang Yuqing consoled her: "Don't worry, after New Year's your family will be able to plant this kind of rice too."
When the girl, whose sun-darkened face was flushed red, heard this, a brilliant smile spread across her face: "My father said that your family is kind-hearted and willing to sell us high-yield seeds at a fair price. My father also said that as long as we can plant this kind of grain next year, we won't have to worry about going hungry anymore."
Now that the conversation had opened up, the girl was less restrained and chattier. She babbled on happily, telling Jiang Yuqing about amusing things happening in the village.
Although Jiang Yuqing had grown up in the village from a young age, she didn't have a happy chat like this with a girl her age.
Perhaps in her current body's consciousness, she still needed friends her own age!
Er Yu was also very happy to see her chatting with a girl she could really talk to, since that didn't happen often.
She had heard that when they were at Xijin ferry in the past, she didn't have any close girl friends the same age as the young miss of the county chief's household, for certain special reasons.
The boys in the family were willing to play with their little sister, but they were often busy with their studies and didn't have much time to accompany her.
And since Er Yu was precocious, she spent most of her time studying. On the rare occasions she went out, it was only to go into the mountains with Doctor Qiu to gather herbs. She was very lonely.
The morning passed quickly.
Jiang Yuqing told the children to go eat with the men.
She was an extremely generous employer. Aside from the 50 wen daily wage for each laborer, she also provided them with three meals a day.
Not only were there big white steamed buns and coarse rice, but two meat and one vegetable dish at every meal, plus an egg drop soup.
Harvest was hard physical labor, so they had to eat their fill in order to have energy to work.
The men were grateful for the master's generosity, and worked even harder, making it a win-win situation.
After the meal, the men each found a shady place to rest. Jiang Yuqing told them to resume work at 2pm.
The autumn sun at noon was scorching, and working under it they could easily get heat stroke.
Not only that, she had also specially instructed the kitchen to brew large vats of mung bean soup for the workers to help themselves to at any time.
After lunch, Jiang Yuqing took a short nap. When she got up, she went to the study.
She was thinking of summarizing her work notes and reflections from this period and binding them into a volume. She could then have copies made and placed in the Medical Academy's library for the students to refer to at any time.
