The emperor had also heard about the flowers in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. One day, after discussing business with Luo Changqing, he suddenly asked with shining eyes, "I heard that the Hundred Flowers Pavilion was opened by your wife?"
Luo Changqing nodded: "Indeed."
"It is said that there are many rare flowers and plants, many of which are not found locally. I wonder if there are any rare chrysanthemums?" The emperor loved chrysanthemums the most, and his imperial garden was also planted with various rare chrysanthemums, but he had never seen chrysanthemums from other places, so he wanted to see them.
"This... I don't know. If Your Majesty wants it, just send someone to buy it from Baihua Pavilion." Luo Changqing said indifferently. He didn't pay much attention to Xu Shichu's affairs, so naturally he didn't know whether her Baihua Pavilion had exotic chrysanthemums.
"Even if there are any in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, they have been snatched away long ago! It is said that your wife's garden has the most complete varieties. You can go back and find your wife directly for me. Why should I go to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion and snatch them from others? If your wife has any, remember to bring me a few pots back." The emperor ordered bluntly.
So Luo Changqing received the order, left the palace and returned home, and had no choice but to go find Xu Shichu.
The last time he came to Xu Shichu's yard was on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was dark at that time and he didn't even notice whether the flowers in the yard were blooming or not.
Today he came during the day, so as soon as he entered Xu Shichu's yard, what caught his eyes were all kinds of gorgeous and dazzling flowers, large patches of them. At a glance, it was a sea of flowers. The scene was even spectacular and stunning.
Luo Changqing was shocked and stood on the side of the road looking at the flowers around him.
He usually had no interest in flowers and plants. When he saw rare ones, he would just admire them and then forget about them.
But even though Xu Shichu didn't like flowers, he still felt a shocking beauty in this sea of flowers.
Beauty does not deceive people; it is a subjective feeling of human beings.
The same thing may be beautiful or ugly in the eyes of different people. For example, a proud scholar may think that the rocks on the mountain remain unmoved by wind and rain, which is a kind of unwavering and proud beauty. But in the eyes of a crude and humble woodcutter, they are ugly rocks that can be trampled upon by anyone. How can they be beautiful
No one can say that this spectacular sea of flowers in Xu Shichu's garden is not beautiful. The bright colors, petals of various shapes and the faint fragrance of the flowers give people an extremely shocking enjoyment of beauty, making people want to transform into a butterfly or a bee and fly into the flowers to roll around.
Luo Changqing stopped and watched for a long time before going in to find Xu Shichu.
Xu Shichu, on the other hand, was lying on a hanging chair which was suspended from two adjacent trees. The base of the chair was made of woven bamboo and covered with a soft cloth cushion. Xu Shichu would lie on it, stretching his legs in stockings and shaking the ropes from time to time, and the chair would sway gently, making him feel comfortable and leisurely.
Luo Changqing looked at her strange hanging chair again and again, unable to understand what was going on in her mind and how she could come up with such strange ideas that could make her life more comfortable.
Luo Changqing looked at the hanging chair and wanted to have someone make one for him. It would be fun to lie under the tree and read a book during his break.
When the maids and servants around him saw their master coming, they hurriedly bowed to him.
Xu Shichu lazily opened his eyes and saw Luo Changqing standing there, so he couldn't help but say, "Prime Minister, you don't come to me for no reason. You came to see me again today. Is there something important?"
Luo Changqing raised his hand and covered his mouth with a fist, and coughed lightly. He did come to Xu Shichu for something. Even though he had trained himself to be thick-skinned, he couldn't help feeling a little guilty at this moment.
"I haven't been here for a while. I didn't expect that your yard has been turned into a garden. It's really a world of difference from before." Luo Changqing said.
Xu Shichu immediately stared at him sharply: "Are you here to take my garden too?"
Luo Changqing's eyes wandered for a moment, and he said, "I don't have any. I'm just asking on behalf of His Majesty if you have any chrysanthemums from foreign countries? The rare ones, not from here. Your Majesty loves chrysanthemums very much."
Xu Shichu didn't expect that the reputation of her garden had spread to the palace. She answered knowingly: "Yes, there are, but these flowers of mine are either used to make spices or sold, so..." She looked at Luo Changqing with a suggestive look.
Luo Changqing understood her look and immediately said, "Don't worry, I'll pay for it."
Xu Shichu nodded with satisfaction. Although she didn't mind giving the emperor one or two pots, what if she gave him flowers this time? What if the emperor liked other flowers of hers next time or the next time? Should she give them or not? If she gave them, she would lose a lot. If she didn't give them, she would offend the emperor. So it would be better to sell them to him impartially from the beginning. In this way, even if he was dissatisfied, he couldn't blame her, right
Xu Shichu got off the chairlift, Zhichun helped her put on her shoes, and then she took Xu Shichu to the chrysanthemum area: "Come with me, you can choose for yourself."
"I'm not quite sure which ones are local and which ones are foreign. You can see which ones are not available in the palace and pick them." Xu Shichu said. As long as you pay, she is quite generous.
"This one with two petals is called Purple Jade Mandarin Duck, the one that looks like a flying dragon and a dancing phoenix is called Coiling Dragon and Dancing Phoenix, and the one over there is called Jade Thread and Silver Needle... The one over there is Autumn Water and Red Cloud... The one at the edge that is as round as a baby's fist is called Ping Pong Chrysanthemum..."
Xu Shichu introduced the chrysanthemums to Luo Changqing one by one, even explaining how to cultivate, divide, control pests and apply fertilizers.
Luo Changqing listened with great interest. Planting flowers was not his forte, so he listened attentively. When Xu Shichu talked about his expertise, he began to talk nonstop: "These chrysanthemums have grown into their current appearance after years of cultivation and even grafting, so they are very different from their original and most primitive varieties..."
"Didn't you say that these flower seeds were bought from foreign merchants? How do you know that they have been cultivated and... grafted for many years?" Luo Changqing frowned in confusion and looked at Xu Shichu.
Xu Shichu felt guilty for a moment when he was looked at by his clear black eyes, and said hurriedly: "The businessman told me that he wanted to sell the flower seeds to me in order to succeed."
Luo Changqing didn't know whether he believed her or not, but he didn't ask any further questions. Instead, he asked another question: "What is grafting?" He could vaguely understand it from the meaning of the word, but the specific meaning seemed to be covered by a layer of fog and he couldn't understand it clearly.
"Grafting means to graft the branch or bud of one tree or flower onto another tree or flower, so that the two flowers or trees can grow into one. The grown flower or tree can then merge the shapes of the two flowers or trees into another one or have both shapes at the same time." Xu Shichu didn't quite remember the exact meaning of grafting, so he gave a brief explanation.