coobybook Chapter 316 4 New Crops
Chapter 316 4 New Crops
Peng Xuan'an was also in the provincial capital, so in addition to congratulating Bai Jingzhou on his admission to high school, his letter also made an appointment to meet him during the next ten-day break.
In addition to congratulating him on his success in the imperial examination, Mu Jingzhi's letter also urged him once again to pass the imperial examination and come to Beijing as soon as possible.
In addition to congratulating him on his high school admission, Mu Hanzhi also asked him if he had any wine or other fresh items for sale.
If so, Mu Hanzhi wants to continue purchasing it at a favorable price.
He told Bai Jingzhou that he had already informed the old butler who stayed behind in advance, and Bai Jingzhou only needed to go to the old butler to explain the situation, and the old butler would help notify the Mu family steward who was responsible for receiving the goods.
What surprised Bai Jingzhou the most was that Mu Hanzhi actually said at the end of the letter that in addition to the gifts, the things he had people bring to Bai Jingzhou also included sweet potatoes and sweet beans (peanuts, also known as ground beans) that his caravan had recently obtained from Quanzhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the south.
He told Bai Jingzhou that these two crops were already being grown in Quanzhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so he spent money to buy the growing methods from the locals and had them delivered to him.
Of course, before that, he did not forget to present the advantages and planting methods of these two crops to His Majesty the Emperor.
In addition to these two crops, Mu Hanzhi also sent Bai Jingzhou and his men barley and chrysanthemums, which he had asked the emperor for and which were tributes from foreign countries.
The names "Fan Dou" and "Zhang Ju" were unfamiliar to Bai Jingzhou, but as soon as he saw the real objects, Bai Jingzhou immediately realized that these two were exactly the peanuts and sunflowers that he and Gu Wenxuan had been longing to find.
Mu Hanzhi also explained the origin of the name of the sunflower in the letter. It is said that it is called "Zhangju" because its "stem is more than ten feet long". Some people also call it "Passion Flower" based on its flower shape.
Bai Jingzhou was so excited to get four crops, sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn and sunflowers, that he subconsciously called out "Wenxuan". Only then did he realize that Gu Wenxuan was not in the state capital. He had no way to show the letter to Gu Wenxuan and tell her the good news as soon as possible.
Unable to help but miss Gu Wenxuan for the umpteenth time, Bai Jingzhou stroked his chest and began to seriously consider the feasibility of bringing Gu Wenxuan to the provincial capital.
While thinking about this in his mind, Bai Jingzhou's hands never stopped moving. He took paper and pen, then added water to the inkstone and began to grind ink.
After writing the letter to Gu Wenxuan, Bai Jingzhou arranged for his servants to deliver the big surprise that Mu Hanzhi had sent back to Baijia Village the next day.
After receiving the letter, Gu Wenxuan happily turned around in circles. She had sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, and sunflowers, so could her favorite potatoes be far behind?
There are also peppers and tomatoes, she wants them all!
What she didn't know was that Bai Jingzhou, who had a tacit understanding with her, when writing a letter to thank Mu Hanzhi and considering what generous gift to give him to thank him, did not forget to ask Mu Hanzhi again to continue helping them find new and exotic crops.
He couldn't tell me what I wanted specifically, so he could only ask his acquaintances to cast a wide net.
The next day after receiving a pile of gifts from the Mu Hanzhi brothers, Bai Jingzhou went to find the old steward of the Mu Mansion who stayed in Xingzhou and expressed his willingness to sell this year's wine and other items to the steward of the Mu Mansion.
After hearing this, the old butler immediately sent someone to find the steward of the Mu Mansion who was waiting in the mansion for a reply.
The two met and talked briefly. After deciding on the approximate trading scope and price of the goods, Bai Jingzhou assigned Yang Wandong to lead the Mu family caravan to Baijia Village to conduct transactions with Gu Wenxuan and others. He also asked the steward of the Mu Mansion to help pass on the reply letter he wrote to the Mu Hanzhi brothers.
As for Peng Xuan'an, he lived in the provincial capital, so he could just send a servant to deliver the reply to the house where Peng Xuan'an was temporarily staying.
In Baijia Village, after completing the transaction with the steward of the Mu Mansion, Gu Wenxuan began to collect green manure seeds such as astragalus, alfalfa, sweet clover, sisal, sweet potato, etc. She clearly marked the price and purchased directly from people in the village.
It was the first time for the villagers to hear that grass seeds could actually be sold for money. After the autumn harvest, many people carried cloth bags and ran to the fields, woods and wilderness, trying to collect the grass seeds that Gu Wenxuan wanted.
In order to prevent someone from mixing other varieties of grass seeds in to fool them, Gu Wenxuan arranged for Bai Jingxin, Jia Yuelan, Ning Qirui, the Fang brothers, some members of the Bai family headed by Bai Rong, Chun Ni'er and her second brother Wang Zhen, and third sister Yan Ni'er to be personally responsible for the inspection.
Bai Rong is the successor to the village chief favored by Bai Lizheng. Over the years, he has won the recognition and support of several village elders. Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou also trust him very much. Therefore, Gu Wenxuan nominally did the selection of Bai clan members herself, but in fact she directly selected people based on the list given by Bai Rong.
Gu Wenxuan wanted to use the green manure seeds for crop rotation with cotton. In order to ensure the fertility of the soil, Bai Jingzhou planned to adopt the method of "cotton and fertilizer multiple cropping" after research. That is, in the same year, after harvesting cotton, green manure crops would be planted to fertilize the land and replenish the fertility of the land.
Since he was not at home, the task of collecting seeds fell solely on Gu Wenxuan.
Of course, Bai Jingzhou was not idle either. He wrote letters, prepared thank-you gifts for his teacher and New Year gifts, and paid money to ask Mu Jinyang's caravan to take them to the Lin father and son to tell them that he had passed the imperial examination.
Lin Shuzhen also took this opportunity to send New Year gifts and letters to her parents' home. Now her parents' life has gradually improved, and her parents and brother and sister-in-law will send her three or five gifts and letters every year.
Because of this, Mu Jinyang, Bai Jingzhou, and the Lin father and son became particularly familiar with each other.
Every time Bai Jingzhou and the Lin family father and son asked him to bring something, they would pay the full amount according to the rules. They never took advantage of Mu Hanzhi's esteem for Bai Jingzhou to make things difficult for him, which made Mu Jinyang feel very good about them.
In addition, even though Bai Jingzhou passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, he never showed any superior and annoying aura in front of him, a merchant. In fact, every time he came to their house, he would patiently accompany his grandson to study and play. It was really hard for Mu Jinyang not to like him.
Mu Jinyang's eldest grandson was actually very smart and lively, but because of some things that happened in his early years, he became introverted, inferior, timid and silent.
Mu Jinyang told Bai Jingzhou that when the Mu family was in a difficult situation a few years ago, the direct branch of the Mu family, that is, Mu Hanzhi's family, suffered the most, followed by the side branches that were close to the direct branch of the Mu family. This child also suffered a lot and was bullied a lot with the adults, and his personality gradually became what it is now.
As adults, they have better psychological endurance than children. When they are bullied, they will at most feel humiliated and angry, but children will be left with lifelong scars and shadows.
Just like his grandson, even though the Mu family is no longer what it used to be, this child is still the same as before, always wanting to shrink himself into a small corner where no one would notice him.