"Shhh, keep your voice down, don't let those guards hear you!" Few villagers in Dongshan Village didn't recognize Prince Yang, and they explained to the people around them in a low voice with a little complacency, "That nobleman is the prince of the county, the genuine one Relatives of the emperor. If you collide with him, you will be beheaded!"
When the outsider heard this, he shrank his head and hid in the crowd in fright, not daring to say another word. A villager with a fairly good relationship with the Yu family asked Yu Jiang in a low voice: "Jiang Zi, I heard that your corn was harvested early, will it affect the production? Will the county prince blame the Hai family for this?"
Yu Jiang glanced anxiously at the guards guarding the gate of the courtyard, shook his head and said worriedly: "I don't know either! The county prince is very important to my second brother's family, and the corn was planted well before the disaster, but it's not Human error shouldn't cause any major trouble, right?"
Zhu Junyang walked into the yard and was stunned by the yellow and golden corncobs all over the place. The Yu family's yard was already very large. The place where vegetables were grown before had been tidied up and filled with corn cobs to dry. The corn is plump, bigger and brighter than the seeds he brought from overseas.
The Yu family was sitting together, with smiles on their faces, chatting and rubbing corn kernels. Yu Xiaocao was also among them, her smile was as dazzling as the summer sun. Her small snow-white hands held the cob that had rubbed the corn kernels in one hand, and the corn cob in the other. They rubbed each other, and the golden corn kernels fell into the basket in front of her.
When Zhu Junyang came, it seemed as if a heavy stone was pressed in his heart, and at this moment the stone disappeared instantly. He turned his gaze from the dazzling little girl to the corn drying in the yard. I found a few small animals flying back and forth between the corn, chasing the locusts that occasionally landed on it. Many locust corpses fell in the cracks in the corn. Could it be that these cats and dogs killed them? The Yu family is not only capable, but also raises small animals that are not inferior. Wait, isn't that a roe deer? Don't roe deer eat grass, how can they follow the example of cats and dogs, chasing and biting locusts
"Huh? Prince Xiaojun, have you come back from the capital?" Yu Xiaocao raised her head and saw Zhu Junyang who was walking leisurely in the courtyard, and greeted him warmly. The rest of the Yu family hurried up to greet the county prince.
Zhu Junyang said "Excuse me" and asked them to do what they should do, leaving Yu Xiaocao behind, and asked casually, "When did you raise two puppies again? They look like a hybrid of a wolf and a dog... "
Yu Xiaocao naturally wouldn't tell him that Xiao Hei Xiao Bai is a purebred wolf. She shrugged and said, "I picked it up in the woods a few days ago. At that time, the two little guys just opened their eyes. They thought it was very pitiful. It was their life anyway, so they picked it up and raised them."
Zhu Junyang glanced at her, and said with a blank expression: "It seems that my worries are unnecessary! During the disaster year, people can't wait to kill all the animals raised at home, for fear of wasting food. It's better for you to pick up animals at home. It’s because you think your family has too much food and there’s no place to throw it away, right?”
Yu Xiaocao has long been used to his cold face, and said with a smile, "How much can two puppies eat? The little guy now knows that he can catch locusts and eat them, and even pick up locusts with seeds in their stomachs. You are so smart!" Prince Xiaojun, what's going on in the capital?"
Zhu Junyang thought of the corn leaves that had been bitten into holes in the experimental field, sighed, and said, "The locust plague is not as serious as here, but it is still a disaster! Corn is an important period for grain filling. Drought and locust plague must be serious." To reduce production... Your corn has not been affected by the locust plague?"
Yu Xiaocao processed what her father had said to the village chief, and told it to King Yang: "When my father was carrying water on the mountain to irrigate the fields, he met a fortune teller who claimed to be a half-immortal. He divination We predicted that there would be a disaster two days later, but we didn’t say what the disaster was. We saw that the corn was almost ready to be harvested, and if there was a real disaster, it would be a waste of work. With the attitude of believing it, we broke the corn day and night It's okay. I usually take good care of it. After a few days of drying, it seems that the corn production has not been seriously reduced!"
Zhu Junyang didn't ask about the so-called half-immortal, looked at her with a glow of approval in his eyes, and nodded slowly: "You guys are doing the right thing! It's better to reduce production than to have no harvest! What about potatoes, do you have any?" Take it back?"
"Take it, take it! They're all in the East Wing!" Yu Xiaocao took the lead and walked towards the East Wing. The windows of Yu's house are all glass windows, and there are many windows in each room, and it doesn't look dark when you open the door.
Zhu Junyang saw the mountains of potatoes piled up inside, and the smallest one was the size of an adult's fist. His original facial expression changed with emotion: "Master, remember, we only plant one acre of potatoes, right? One acre of land, that's all you harvested?"
Yu Xiaocao snickered inwardly, thinking: Is this too much? We still have a lot in the cellar of the west courtyard! But she nodded solemnly and said: "Yes! Potatoes are also very productive. One mu of land is at least five or six thousand catties?"
Mr. Liu, who was following behind the master, was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth. The yield of one mu of land exceeded five thousand catties? Is it more productive than sweet potatoes? It is still planted in not very fertile sandy soil. If it is planted in fertile land, the yield will be higher? If the emperor knows, he will be very pleased, right? The emperor has been looking for high-yield crops for these years so that the people can fill their stomachs and live and work in peace and contentment. With the high-yielding potatoes and the corn drying in the yard, the emperor's wish should be fulfilled.
Zhu Junyang bent down to pick up a palm-sized potato, looked at it repeatedly, and asked, "Do you know how to eat this potato? Cook it like a sweet potato?"
Yu Xiaocao thought for a while, and said vaguely: "It should be okay? But potatoes have no taste, and taste very bland, and they are delicious when eaten with salt or sugar. However, if it is a bad year, it can satisfy your hunger. And it’s not like eating too much sweet potato can cause heartburn.”
"How do you know? Did you eat it secretly?" Zhu Junyang's charming phoenix eyes gave her a slight sideways glance, but he didn't mean to blame at all.
Yu Xiaocao laughed dryly, and said: "During the digging of potatoes, many people were injured. I was afraid that they would be damaged, so I tried to make a few dishes with potatoes. The taste is not bad. Xiaojunwang, what do you want?" Why don't I make you a potato feast at noon today?"
"You still have a little conscience!" Zhu Junyang looked at the potatoes in the room, with a faint smile in his eyes, looked at Yu Xiaocao, and said, "The Lord is the master, one-tenth of the potatoes in this room belong to you Yu Xiaocao." Home. Eat whatever you want! No need to be sneaky!"
"Long live the king of the small county—" Yu Xiaocao had just yelled, but Manager Liu, who appeared beside her at some point, stuffed her mouth with his hand. The expression on Yang Junwang's face also changed suddenly.
Manager Liu shouted angrily in a low voice: "Do you want to kill our county king? Can you say something like 'long live' casually? If someone listens to it and frame our master for a crime of treason, you will take it up?"
It was only then that Yu Xiaocao remembered that "Long Live" was a title for emperors in ancient times, and it was not a synonym for cheers like in the previous life. She was also aware of the importance of the matter, and her eyes were red from holding back, and tears rolled in her eyes: "Little Prince, I didn't mean it. I'm so happy that I don't even know what I said! What should I do?" ? I am a commoner, I will die when I die, I will not bring trouble to you, the little county king, will I?"
Zhu Junyang looked outside. Yu Xiaocao's voice was not loud just now. From the reaction of Yu's family rubbing corn in the yard, they seemed to have not noticed the movement here. The gate of the courtyard was far away, and the guards outside were all his cronies. He gave Director Liu a wink and asked him to check around to see if there were any idlers.
Manager Liu gave Yu Xiaocao a cannibalistic look, turned around and took the order to leave.
Zhu Junyang looked at Yu Xiaocao, who was so frightened that his face had changed, his expression softened unconsciously, and his words of reproach turned into comfort: "I believe you are unintentional. You must be careful when you speak in the future, not everyone They are all so talkative like you! If you said such rebellious words in Beijing, you would have your house confiscated and beheaded!"
Yu Xiaocao nodded with tears in her eyes, sniffed and said, "I know! I won't mention those two words again in the future."
It was rare for Zhu Junyang to see her as obedient as a rabbit. On weekdays, when he said a word, she had several words waiting to refute him. Facing such a pitiful, obedient and well-behaved Yu Xiaocao, the cold-faced little county king still had the heart to joke with her: "It's not that you can't mention it, but it depends on who is in front of you. If you meet the emperor, these two words can still be used." Said."
Yu Xiaocao's tears hadn't dried yet, and she began to yell at him again: "I'm a plain-haired commoner, how can I have any chance to meet the emperor? You are the most honorable person I've ever met... No, it seems that when the emperor visited in private before, I cooked for him!"
Zhu Junyang thought of the grandpa who was always talking about food, and he didn't know what to say. When he returned to Beijing last time, Grandpa Huang came to him specially to ask him for pork head meat and pig ears made by the little girl of the Yu family. He also said that the Zhenxiu restaurant in the capital is not authentic, but Yu Xiaocao's one suits his appetite.
Hearing that he didn't bring food back because of the hot weather, his foodie grandpa clamored to come to Dongshan Village, saying that it had been a long time since he had eaten the farm food from Yu's little girl, so he panicked. In the end, it was his emperor's cousin who said good things and made a promise to "find a chance to call the little girl from the Yu family to Beijing and cook him a big table of delicious food" that made him calm down.
The emperor's grandfather is getting old, and the emperor is afraid that his body will not be able to bear his wandering around all over the world, so he doesn't want to make him run around and work hard, and let him be raised in the royal garden.
But what did Grandpa Huang say: "Life lies in exercise!" There is always no peace, so they, the princes and grandchildren, are worried all day long. It is said that if the emperor hadn't discovered it early a few days ago, the emperor's grandfather would have gone to the frontier to conduct some military exercises with General Zhao.