Spring comes to the desperate place

Song Chunlin also gave his father face and rushed over to pinch his arm.

"I'll give Dad a massage. Dad has worked hard."

Song Dazhuang's vanity was satisfied. If he had a tail, it would be up to the sky now.

In the evening, Gu Fengyue and Xiaojiu arrived as scheduled. Xiaojiu was holding a huge food box in her arms. Inside was some snacks made in the palace. Each one was small and exquisite, and they were all molded into the shape of flowers. Xiaojiu liked them very much and specially left a large box to share with Song Xiaobao.

As soon as he entered the room, he subconsciously searched for Song Xiaobao. After seeing the cub sitting and playing alone in the corner, he happily held the box to find his little friend. Even when Song Qin wanted to take the box from him, he refused and held it tightly.

Song Qin could only protect him all the way to meet Song Xiaobao, for fear that the child would fall. She had realized last time that Xiaojiu's status and position was probably higher than Gu Fengyue's.

When Song Xiaobao saw his friend, he threw the toys in his hand aside. The two cubs leaned their heads against each other and opened the food box that they had protected all the way. The chocolates inside were exquisite and beautiful. It was the first time that Song Xiaobao saw such exquisite pastries, and his eyes widened immediately.

Xiaojiu pinched a peach blossom-shaped cookie and handed it to Song Xiaobao. Song Xiaobao took it and took a bite. The sweet taste made the human cub like it very much. He also generously gave half of it to Xiaojiu.

Gu Fengyue and the others came after dinner. Both of them were boys, so they naturally didn't know how to play with those things for begging for skills. As the only boy in the family, he was not interested in these things, so Amma Song didn't prepare those things. Instead, she waited until the moon rose before slowly bringing out the huge cake from the kitchen.

The Song family had seen this cake a long time ago, but Gu Fengyue and Xiaojiu had not. When they smelled the sweet creamy aroma for the first time, Xiaojiu's saliva was watering with greed.

"Today is not only the Qiqiao Festival, but also Chunlin's birthday. This is the first time I've made a birthday cake. If it doesn't taste good, don't tell anyone."

Everyone said no and looked at Song Chunlin with expectation.

In his past and present lives, this was the first time that Song Chunlin celebrated his birthday with so many family members around him. His birthday in his previous life was in winter. His grandmother said that it snowed heavily that winter and the snow only stopped on the day Song Chunlin was born. When he was one month old, it was the beginning of spring, so his grandfather named him Chunlin.

In this life, Song Chunlin was born in summer and his name was based on the "Chun" in Song Chunsheng's name. Moreover, he now has the best family in the world. They will firmly protect him even if he says that he came from the end of the world. Song Chunlin is very fortunate that he saved Song Dazhuang and Grandpa Song. It was because of their unconditional trust that they gradually spoiled Song Chunlin into a child again.

Looking at his family members around him, Song Chunlin took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and opened them again after a moment, his eyes filled with smiles.

"Grandpa and Dad spent the whole afternoon making this cake, it must be delicious!"

The birthday boy took the first cut and handed the rest to Song Qinshi. The cake was very big and everyone was given a big piece on their plate. Only Xiaojiu and Song Xiaobao had small pieces on their plates, but there were the most fruits on them. Although Xiaojiu was a prince and had been favored before, it was the first time for him to eat many of the fruits.

Song Xiaobao is different. The fruit brothers often feed him those fruits secretly. He recognizes them all and likes them. Of course, his favorite is the big strawberry.

Ever since Gu Fengyue knew that Song Chunlin was the mysterious figure in the Song family, she was no longer surprised by new things happening in their family. It was unknown whether it was because of Song Chunlin's mental suggestion, but Gu Fengyue ate the cake very calmly and commented on it from time to time.

"These green grapes are actually sweet. They are bigger and sweeter than the ones brought by the Western Regions caravan. If such good grapes could be grown, I wonder how many nobles would go crazy for them."

It's not that Song Chunlin had never thought about growing grapes, but he had investigated the environment around the capital. In his previous life, this place was located in the north and was not suitable for growing grapes. However, he could give watermelon a try. In two years, Song Dazhuang should have taught the villagers how to grow potatoes and sweet potatoes, so Song Chunlin planned to let him plant one acre of watermelon first.

Of course, the big cake could not be finished, and in the end a large half was left. No one could eat any more. Grandpa Song and Grandma Song, the two elderly people, ate too much and had trouble digesting it, so they went to the yard for a walk to digest the food.

Song Chunsheng could eat, but cake is something that can make you sick of it if you eat too much. So Song Chunsheng ate one piece and stopped, but he still poked at the fruit and ate it with some reluctance.

"Chunlin, let's make a cake for Grandpa's birthday next month. Just make a smaller one."

Song Chunlin thought there should be some whipped cream in the space, so he nodded: "Okay, we can make one half the size of this one."

After eating the cake, the moon had climbed to the center. Grandma Song and Grandpa Song took the two children to the yard to admire the moon. In this time and space, there was no Cowherd and Weaver Girl that everyone was familiar with in the previous life, but the legend of Vega was widely circulated.

People worship the Weaver Girl as the goddess of skills. Every Chinese Valentine's Day, girls and boys would pray to the Weaver Girl to bless them with ingenuity and dexterity. This is very different from the previous tradition of treating the Chinese Valentine's Day as Valentine's Day.

Song Chunlin also brought out a small stool and listened to Grandpa Song telling the ancient legend.

Song Xiaobao was the youngest, and he became drowsy as he listened. Song Qin gently carried him back to the house. Xiaojiu also looked sleepy, so he followed Song Qin back to the house.

A good night's sleep.

In July and a half, the door to hell opens.

Gu Fengyun finally returned from Yingchuan, and Wen Yan came back with him. He came back to Beijing to report on his work. The date for the third prince to ascend the throne was set for the autumn harvest. The Ministry of Rites has been busy recently. Gu Fengyun also holds the position of a doctor in the Ministry of Rites. He returned to Beijing at this time purely because the Ministry of Rites was short of staff.

As for why Gu Fengyun, a Marquis of Wu, worked in the Ministry of Rites, there are too many twists and turns. On the surface, the late emperor was sympathetic to his subordinate and let him stay in the Ministry of Rites to retire, but in fact it was to keep him away from the Ministry of War.

The Gu family held too much military power, and the late emperor could not continue to reduce it. He could only subtly reduce the influence of the Gu family in the army.

The first thing Gu Fengyun did when he came back was not to go back to the palace to pay his respects to the third prince, but to come to the Song family as soon as possible. Xiaojiu had been living in the Song family recently, and he came to pick Xiaojiu up.

That day, Gu Fengyun, Grandpa Song, and Song Dazhuang talked for a long time behind closed doors. No one else knew what they talked about, but from that day on, Xiaojiu never came to the Song family again.

Song Xiaobao was a little distracted by this. He liked the little brother who played with him every day. They were of similar age, and Xiaojiu was very cute. Song Xiaobao spent more time with Xiaojiu than with his own parents.

Auntie Song looked at Song Xiaobao who was not eating well, and her face was full of worry: "During the days when Xiaojiu was not at home, our Xiaobao has become thinner."

Song Qin pinched her son's chubby cheeks hesitantly, wondering where he had lost weight. It might be because of the "grandson" filter.

On the other side, Xiaojiu in the palace was also unhappy, so he returned to the cage. Before he had seen the vast world outside, Xiaojiu thought this was the best place. After he had experienced all kinds of great changes and had lived a period of freedom in the Song family, Xiaojiu felt that the palace was more like a dormant beast that would eat him if he was not careful.

The teachers chosen by his third brother were very strict and old-fashioned. The textbooks used in class were bare with only words on them. They were not at all as beautiful and childlike as Xiaobao's literacy books.

Xiaojiu misses the Song family very much. The Song family has delicious meals, fragrant cakes, and the fun Song Xiaobao.

Xiaojiu sometimes feels strange. The palace is where he grew up, so why is he happier in the Song family than in the palace?

"Have the palace maids been taught the rules?" The third prince looked at the memorial nonchalantly and asked the eunuch casually.

The eunuch bent over and replied, "Your Highness, the palace servants over there have been carefully disciplined, and a group of unruly slaves were dealt with a few days ago. Now even if they have ten times the courage, they dare not abuse the royal heir."

The third prince was satisfied now. There were still some remnants in the palace that had not been eliminated before, and it was not safe for Xiaojiu to stay in the palace. Now those little bastards were finally cleaned up, and Xiaojiu returned naturally. Xiaojiu would not move out of the palace completely until the third prince ascended the throne.

The young Xiaojiu didn't know all this. He was still looking forward to the day when he could go to the Song family and play with Song Xiaobao again.

When Gu Fengyun came to see him, Xiaojiu rushed forward with a happy face. He circled around Gu Fengyun, thinking that he was here to take him to the Song family.

"Go, go!" Xiao Jiu pulled Gu Fengyun, but Gu Fengyun did not move. He just reached out and touched the top of his head.

"Ninth Prince, don't worry. Once your third brother ascends the throne and this busy period is over, I will take you to the Song family, okay?"

Xiaojiu didn’t know what ascending the throne meant, but when he heard the word Song family, he naively thought that as long as he waited obediently, Gu Fengyun would take him to the Song family, so he nodded hurriedly.

"I will be good. I have finished all the homework assigned by the teacher. When can I go to the Song family?"

"Xiaojiu is so good. I'll give you a candy as a reward." Gu Fengyun took out a chocolate wrapped in oil paper. Xiaojiu had eaten chocolate at the Song family, so he knew it was given by Song Chunlin just by the smell.

"Wow, it's Xiaobao's candy!"

Looking at Xiaojiu's innocent smile, Gu Fengyun suddenly felt that it was fine to let him remain ignorant.

When Gu Fengyun went to see the third prince, he was eating sweet potato leaves, which he brought back from Yingchuan.

"Oh, Lord Gu has finally come. Come on, sit down. Someone, bring some bowls and chopsticks for Lord Gu."

Gu Fengyun: “…”

"You are the crown prince after all, some etiquette cannot be neglected!"

The third prince was displeased: "Why didn't you talk about etiquette when we were playing together to get bird eggs?"

Gu Fengyun's face darkened: "How many years ago was that? Let's be serious. Is this dish edible?"

The third prince took another bite with his chopsticks and said, "It's OK. It's edible."

Gu Fengyun was not surprised by this evaluation. As a person who had been used to eating delicacies from land and sea since childhood, it was impossible for him to taste anything delicious when eating a plate of sweet potato leaves. It just tasted okay.

The Third Prince asked again, "Is this really grown in Yingchuan? I remember you were in Yingchuan for only a little over a month. Can this thing grow so fast?"

Gu Fengyun: "Of course, as long as this thing is grown in fertile soil, it will grow at an amazing speed. And after pinching one round, you can water it and it will grow another round in two or three days. These on your plate are the second round."

The third prince was very surprised: "This is the second round? You actually gave me the second round instead of the first round?"

Is this the point?

"Your Highness, the focus is not on the first or second batch. When I returned to Beijing that day, I went to the Song family's field to see that they expanded the area of sweet potatoes in June from the original one acre to six acres. Except for the first acre of land that was planted with seed plots, the remaining five acres were planted using the so-called cutting method."

"What is cutting?"

Gu Fengyun took out a chopstick and demonstrated it to him: "Cutting is to cut a vine as long as a chopstick from a sweet potato vine, insert it diagonally into the soil, and after watering it to fix the roots, it will survive on the second day, and new leaves will grow on the third day."

After hearing about the cutting method, the third prince also became serious.

"You mean, even if we don't have that many sweet potato seed blocks, we can still use cuttings to expand the area, but what is the yield of sweet potatoes grown by cuttings? Is there any difference compared to planting with seed blocks?"

Gu Fengyun didn't know all this, because this was the first time that Song Dazhuang used this method. After all the seedlings survived, he wrote down the key points and methods of planting and had someone send it to Yingchuan. Before Gu Fengyun left Yingchuan, he asked the locals to try to plant using this method, and sure enough, the survival rate was extremely high.

"Although I haven't seen the final yield, if I plant it this way, even if there are no fruits underground, the vines above ground are edible, which can solve the urgent problem."

The third prince had put down his chopsticks. He had just tasted the sweet potato leaves. Compared with the delicacies in the palace, the taste was indeed novel, but not very delicious. It was just that for the common people, it was a great thing to have one more food to fill their stomachs after the disaster.

Thinking of this, the Third Prince felt much more relaxed: "The sweet potatoes from the Song family are really timely rain. Lord Gu, the ones I gave as a reward last time may not be enough."

Gu Fengyun: "I think so too. Since Your Highness also feels that the rewards are not enough, why not open the national treasury and add some more?"

The third prince: "..."

No, I treat you as a brother and you treat me as a fat sheep?

The third prince, who was worried about his wallet, immediately shook his head like a rattle: "I have no money. The treasury is empty enough to run horses."

Gu Fengyun naturally knew that the national treasury was empty. There had been a three-year drought and the previous emperor had exempted taxes for three years. It was impossible for there to be any money in the national treasury.