Spring comes to the desperate place

The Third Prince would definitely not come to accompany the Ninth Prince. The royal family members have always had a weak relationship, not to mention that the Ninth Prince's biological mother had done such a heinous thing. Being able to save the Ninth Prince's life and plan his future for him, for the Third Prince, it has already been a great kindness.

However, the Ninth Prince was truly pitiful. After Gu Fengyue coaxed the Ninth Prince to sleep, he went home and waited for Gu Fengyun.

The dedicated Gu Fengyun still came back at dusk. He didn't seem surprised to see his brother sitting in the front hall waiting for him. He had heard during the day that Gu Fengyue went to see the Ninth Prince.

Gu Fengyue saw her brother coming back and hurried over to ask him, "Brother, can you take Xiaojiu out for a few days? Just a few days."

Gu Fengyun: "Now that you've picked him up, where are you going to take him, the Song family?"

Gu Fengyue nodded as a matter of course: "It's too pitiful for him to stay in the harem alone, so I will take him to the Song family to play for a few days, and I will definitely send him back when His Highness's coronation ceremony is held."

Gu Fengyun pondered for a while before he slowly sighed: "I will tell His Highness about this matter, but I can't guarantee that it will succeed."

The conversation between Concubine Wan and Prince Ru'an on the day of suppressing the rebellion made the Ninth Prince's life experience unclear. Many eyes in the court and the harem were staring at him, and even there were many rumors in the streets. If the Third Prince hadn't suppressed them in time, who knows how bad the rumors would have been.

Locking the Ninth Prince in the harem is both a form of protection and surveillance. For the Ninth Prince, this is the best outcome, but for a four-year-old child, it is rather cruel.

Gu Fengyun had also taken care of the Ninth Prince for a period of time, and he still had some feelings for the child. When he heard his younger brother say that the Ninth Prince was not very happy in the palace, he felt a little more pity for the child.

So the next day he requested to meet the Third Prince. Someone had reported the affairs of the harem to the Third Prince yesterday, and even the imperial physician came to repeat the Ninth Prince's condition. When the Third Prince learned that Gu Fengyun wanted to see him, he knew why he came.

But the Third Prince did not give in. This was what Gu Fengyun had expected. He did not plead for the Ninth Prince again, but only asked if Gu Fengyue could visit the Ninth Prince more often.

The third prince did not make things difficult for him and agreed readily.

So Gu Fengyue would come to the palace to see Xiaojiu after school every day, and would often bring him food made by the Song family. He ordered the servants to get these from the Song family early in the morning. These were all the things Xiaojiu loved to eat when he was at the Song family. Once, he even brought back a box of chocolates.

That was what Song Chunlin had promised to treat Xiaojiu to. He replaced the chocolate wrapping paper with oil paper bought at the market. Xiaojiu ate it very carefully and would only take out a piece when he really couldn't help it.

Gu Fengyue comforted him and told him that if he had finished eating, he could ask Song Chunlin to bring more.

But Xiaojiu shook his head: "This candy is delicious, it must be something precious. Xiaojiu is not greedy, Xiaojiu wants to save it and eat it slowly."

There were not many chocolates in a box, and when the box was empty, the third prince finally ascended the throne.

As a prince, Xiaojiu also had to attend the ceremony, but because of the previous rumors, everyone always whispered when they saw him, and some princes would stare at him with contempt. Xiaojiu was young and frightened by his previous experiences, so he didn't dare to argue when being stared at, and just shrank back and dared not move.

Seeing that he was timid, those people talked louder and louder.

"Humph, he's just a bastard. Your Majesty is really something. How can a bastard come to watch the ceremony?"

"That's right, your majesty is merciful. If it were my family, I would have been kicked out long ago. How could he still be alive?"

"It's a muddled thing. Just looking at it makes my eyes dirty."

Those people talked more and more unscrupulously, and a lot of dirty words came out. Although Xiaojiu didn't understand, he could tell from their expressions and eyes that they were not good words. He pursed his lips, his eyes were red, and when the tears were about to fall, he wiped them away fiercely.

Second Brother Gu once said that the least valuable thing in the palace is tears. He cannot cry, because if he cries he will lose.

Fortunately, this embarrassing situation did not last too long because Gu Fengyun came over. He glanced at those people with a calm look, and the few who were making the most noise immediately became quiet.

As a royalist, Lord Gu has recently been a favorite of the new emperor. They are so busy trying to curry favor with him that they dare not offend him.

Only two princes looked suspicious, snorted coldly at Gu Fengyun and ignored him.

Gu Fengyun had no intention of paying attention to them. When he saw that the ceremony was about to begin, he slowly walked to his seat.

After the long coronation ceremony, Xiaojiu was already drowsy. He forced himself to hold his head open, waiting for the new emperor's ceremony to offer sacrifices to heaven to end. It was already afternoon, and he had been standing for a whole day without a drop of water. His stomach was growling with hunger.

He complained in his heart that being an emperor was so troublesome, fortunately he didn't have to be an emperor.

When the new emperor ascended the throne, the whole country celebrated for half a month, which happened to be the autumn harvest. This year was a good year and the harvest was good. Everyone praised the new emperor as the true dragon emperor and the chosen one by heaven.

The Song family's field was surrounded by people again. They were all guards sent by Marquis Gu. With the help of this group of young men, all the sweet potatoes in the field were harvested quickly.

After weighing all the sweet potatoes, Song Dazhuang found that the yield was even greater than that planted in spring. Even those sweet potatoes grown by cuttings weighed 1,200 kilograms per acre, which showed that the cutting method was feasible.

The other villagers who also planted sweet potatoes were all smiling. Some of them also planted some using the so-called cutting method, but not as much as Song Dazhuang. Now seeing the yield in Song Dazhuang's fields, they all went to dig sweet potatoes in their own fields happily.

The bumper harvest of sweet potatoes made the new emperor smile even more brightly. He held the lump of earth in his arms and felt like he was holding a lump of gold.

"This stuff is great. It can produce over a thousand kilograms per mu, which is higher than any other grain we have now. And what about the potato? When can it be harvested?"

Gu Fengyun: "Your Majesty, the potatoes will not be harvested until next month, but they planted a lot in the sand this time, and it is said that the harvest may be better than that in the fertile fields."

After saying that, Gu Fengyun took out something wrapped in a small cloth from his arms. He opened the cloth layer by layer, then handed it to the palace servants and asked them to take it to show the emperor.

The emperor looked at what the palace servant presented to him. The thing looked familiar, but also a little different.

He broke off a seed and found that its feel and shape were very similar to a small ornament that was popular among noble ladies a few years ago.

The emperor looked at the corn kernels with some confusion: "Is this the corn those ladies were talking about? But those corns don't look the same as this one."

"Your Majesty, this is indeed corn. As for why it is different, it is because the corn in the past only had one row of kernels, but this one has five rows, and it is much larger than before."

The emperor didn't quite understand what the use of something that could only be looked at was. He had seen many people make these into ears of corn and hang them around their waists, and he had also seen people put them as potted plants at home for appreciation, but he had never seen anyone grow five ears of corn from one.

"What's the point of this thing having such a high yield? Can't we eat it?"

Gu Fengyun nodded: "Of course it's edible."

"Oh?" The emperor now became interested. He had never thought that this thing that could only be displayed for viewing could actually be eaten.

"If your majesty doesn't believe it, you can boil it in water. After it's cooked, the corn will have a fresh fragrance and taste good."

"Okay." The emperor immediately ordered someone to take the corn away and cook it. The imperial chef had never seen anyone eat this before, so he just put it in water and boiled it with the mentality of giving it a try.

Corn has a unique corn aroma when it is cooked. This was the first time for the royal chef to cook it. When he smelled the aroma, he guessed that it was cooked. To be on the safe side, he quietly broke off one and put it into his mouth to chew without caring about the heat.

As he chewed, the chef's eyes lit up. This thing was actually edible!

The emperor had the same idea. Like the imperial chef, he broke off one and threw it to the palace servant who was tasting the fruit next to him. The palace servant chewed it carefully and indicated that it was really edible. The emperor then ate one with a skeptical attitude.

The ear of corn that Gu Fengyun brought was a little old, but it was still edible, and the more you chewed it, the more fragrant it became. It had a completely different aroma from other grains. The emperor ate the entire cob of corn one by one, and in the end he was still feeling unsatisfied.

"Gu Aiqing, this thing is really edible, not bad." The emperor couldn't help but praise it: "This thing is not bad as a rare food, but since you brought it, tell me, what do you think?"

"I hope that corn can also be used as the staple food of the people."

"Staple food? If I remember correctly, the output of this thing is probably not as good as wheat, right?"

"It was indeed inferior to wheat before, but as you can see, Your Majesty, this corn had only one ear at the beginning, but now it has five ears. In the future, there may be ten, twenty, or even thirty ears. By then, one cob of corn may weigh one kilogram, and one corn stalk can produce two or three cobs. Then the yield per acre can easily exceed that of wheat."

The emperor listened to his description for a long time without saying a word, turning the leftover corn cob over and over in his hand. It was a thin and tiny piece of corn, but the corn before it was even smaller than this leftover cob.

"After all this talk, who actually grew this corn?"

"Song family."

"The Song family again?" The emperor smiled. "Hearing what you said, I would like to go to the Song family to see what kind of people can grow these unheard-of things one after another."

If the emperor's reward last time was known to everyone, this time it was done with great fanfare, parading all the way from the palace to the Song family. Many people watched along the way, and they were all discussing which nobleman would receive these rewards.

However, to their great disappointment, the team left the city with drums and gongs, and actually went to the countryside.

This aroused everyone's curiosity even more, and they all followed the team from a distance, determined to see who the person was.

When he heard that there was a reward team coming out of the palace, Song Chunlin didn't take it seriously. But when he heard the noise getting closer and closer to his home, he released his mental power to take a look.

At the same time, someone had come in advance and asked the Song family to quickly set up the incense table to welcome the imperial edict.

"Imperial edict!" Grandpa Song was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped to the ground. He was so old, but he didn't expect to receive an imperial edict. For a moment, he was a little dazed and didn't know where to put his hands and feet.

Fortunately, the head of the village and the village chief both rushed over. The head of the village was older than Grandpa Song. Even though such a big thing had happened in the village, he insisted on rushing over on crutches and asking his son to support him.

Under the command of the two old men, the Song family's incense table was set up, the yard and the front gate were cleaned, and they were just waiting for the person who was to deliver the imperial edict to arrive.

The person who came to deliver the imperial eunuch was the old eunuch who had served the previous emperor. After the new emperor ascended the throne, he was kept by his side to serve. The fact that he could come to deliver the imperial edict also gave enough face to the Song family.

Song Chunlin knelt on the ground with everyone else. He didn't understand much of what the eunuch said, but he only heard the eunuch's acceptance of the emperor's orders and thanksgiving at the end.

The eunuch helped Grandpa Song up with a smile, and Grandpa Song was a little flattered.

"Thank you for your hard work, father-in-law. Please come to my humble abode and have some hot tea and snacks."

This eunuch was also a shrewd man. He knew that the Song family was now popular with His Majesty and he also wanted to make some friends with them, so he did not refuse and followed Grandpa Song into the main hall.

As soon as the eunuch sat down, Song Qin brought him hot tea and various snacks. The tea was the top-quality Tieguanyin in Song Chunlin's space. Song Chunlin had a lot of this stuff, and the Song family usually used it to entertain guests. The snacks were a combination of Chinese and Western styles, including Chinese mung bean cakes, flower cakes, as well as Western cookies and pork floss biscuits.

Among them, the pork floss clams were taken out of the space and placed on a white porcelain plate, which looked particularly different.

The eunuch calmly picked up one and took a bite. The combination of the salty fragrance of the meat floss and the sweetness of the cream was just right. The eunuch boasted that he had eaten many imperial snacks, but he did not expect that this small Song family could actually come up with snacks that were not inferior to those of the imperial chefs.

"This snack tastes pretty good. Who made it?"

Amao Song and Qinshi Song looked at each other, and finally Amao Song gritted her teeth and took the lead.

"My dear father-in-law, this snack called pork floss is something I made on a whim. As long as you think it tastes good, that's fine."

The eunuch seemed to like the pork floss dumplings very much. He asked Auntie Song with a smile: "Master Song is really good at cooking. To be honest, I really like this pork floss dumplings. I wonder if the master has any left in his kitchen. I'd like to ask for some so I can share it with my colleagues when I go back."

Song A'mo hurriedly looked at Song Chunlin, only to see him nod to her, so she breathed a sigh of relief.

"To be honest, father-in-law, there are indeed some, but the materials are hard to find, so I only made twenty. I will ask my daughter-in-law to assemble them for you to take with you later."

"Thank you very much for giving up your love, my lord."