Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 200 - 199: They All Left

Chapter 200: Chapter 199: They All Left

Five hundred acres of land in Wangshan Village, of which four hundred are cultivated with winter wheat, and one hundred are prepared to be planted with peanuts in mid-March. Chen Afu and Mr. Zeng, led by Mr. Lin and his son, conducted a tour of their fields. The wheat was lush and green, growing vigorously as far as the eye could see.

Dabao, brimming with joy, whispered to Chen Afu, "Mother, with this enormous land, our family is now second only to Uncle Chu as major landlords."

Chen Afu laughingly pinched his chubby face, saying, "Your Uncle Chu is a high official, not a landlord."

She then suggested to Mr. Lin that only eighty acres of the hundred acres of vacant land should be used to plant peanuts. The remaining twenty acres would be used to grow watermelons. She would supply the watermelon seeds and asked Uncle Lin to find a few households experienced with watermelon cultivation.

After Chen Afu and the others had finished touring the fields, they had lunch in the farmhouse. Aunt Lin’s cooking was very good, tasting just like the food from Jiangnan. Mr Lin’s thirteen-year-old granddaughter Lin Zhi and eleven-year-old grandson Lin Lang were both quick-witted and likable, serving their guests attentively. Especially Lin Zhi, who had the delicate beauty of a Jiangnan woman and spoke in a gentle and compliant manner due to her soft regional accent.

Chen Afu decided to have Lin Zhi serve her personally.

The Lin family was happy with the arrangement, knowing that serving a master promised a better future. Besides, this master seemed to be kind and had a pleasant disposition.

Mr. Lin was even happier. He had met several of the Chens’ daughters and one son years ago and privately wondered why none of the children resembled their handsome and talented father. Yet this young lady was remarkably beautiful and clearly a replica of their former master.

Although the former master, who now came to be addressed as Mr. Chen, had just told them that he was bestowing them and their land to a certain Miss Chen, whom they were to serve as loyally as they had served him.

The Lin family was perplexed, unsure of who this Miss Chen was, how she had won Mr. Chen’s favor, and why they and their land were given to her. They prepared for a tough life ahead, assuming their circumstances would be much tougher than when they served the governor.

But having seen the character of Miss Chen today and hearing various rumors, Mr. Lin could guess who she is.

No wonder Mr. Chen likes her so much!

It seemed that serving this Miss Chen might bring an even better future for their family.

When Chen Afu left, Mr. Lin gave her a few wild rabbits and chickens—the spoils of some local hunters—as a token of respect.

Upon arriving home, Chen Afu renamed Lin Zhi and Zeng Xiaoqing to Qiu Yue and Xia Yue respectively. She had a knack for keeping names simple and easy to pronounce.

Early in the morning on the eighteenth, they bid farewell to the old gentleman. Not only was Chu Hanyan crying uncontrollably, but even Dabao shed tears, and Chen Afu also felt a little heartache. The old gentleman was genuinely good-hearted.

In the following days, aside from looking after the children and occasionally making some snacks, she wasn’t as busy.

Beginning from some day in the middle of this month, either swallows or geese occasionally appeared in the sky, flying north in formation. Although not in great numbers, they were sighted regularly.

Whenever Dabao and Yan’er saw them, they would become extremely excited. They would yell "Jin Bao" aloud, afraid that Jin Bao would miss the way home. They even shed tears of disappointment when they saw groups of swallows soar across the sky to distant places.

Jin Yanzi in the dimensional space was deeply touched by this. Her heart felt as if it had grown wings, desiring to fly out of the space.

She was no longer in the mood to build her golden house in the space and thought about going out to play every day. Like a human child, she became restless whenever she was idle. She detested the watermelon seeds and rice seeds that Chen Afu brought into the space, taking up half of the space.

Chen Afu brought some delicious food almost every day to please her and hope that it would excrete more feces.

On February 22, she took out the rice seeds and watermelon seeds. The rice seeds, which were only in the space for two days, were immediately prepared for seedling cultivation while the watermelon seeds would be grown into seedlings the following month.

The rice seeds were taken out of the space before they changed color. However, the watermelon seeds turned darker after being in the space for five days.

From her previous experiments, she knew that if seeds were kept in the space for more than three days, their color would slowly darken. Five days later, the color would no longer change, marking them as the best seeds.

However, the rice seeds were to be given to the tenant farmers to grow into seedlings. If the color wasn’t right, those tenant farmers would be afraid to plant them for fear of wasting their months of hard work. At the same time, rice is one of the most important crops, highly valued by the court. She didn’t want to take drastic measures that might be hard to explain. The best seeds will be cultivated step by step.

She asked Chen Ming and the experienced farmer, Mr. Zeng, to go to Laohuai Village in Guanghe Town, Zhongning County the next day. While inspecting the 200 acres of rapeseed fields there, they would give the rice seeds to the tenant farmers for seedling cultivation. Following the rapeseed harvest, they would plant the rice. They were also advised to soak the seeds in warm water for a day before germination.

Mr. Zeng was startled by these instructions and said, "Miss, you don’t fully understand farming. I’ve lived all these years and never heard of soaking seeds in warm water."

Chen Afu smiled and said, "I heard this in Dingzhou from barbarians. It should be correct." When an explanation can’t be provided, she decided to blame it on the barbarians.

Although she said this, she knew that the experienced farmers would definitely not follow this practice. She didn’t even dwell on it as she had previously told Chen Ye and Chen Agui and his son about this. Chen Agui kept silent while Chen Ye proudly said, "We can’t claim to know everything, but we are experienced in farming. Those barbarians are uncivilized, drink raw blood and eat raw meat. Why listen to them?"

Chen Afu was left speechless.

She thought of telling Mr. Lin later that the seeds of wheat and corn needed to be soaked first. He was the head of Wangshan Village, and the tenant farmers there certainly wouldn’t dare disregard his instructions.

The following day, Chen Ming and Mr. Zeng were seen off.

At noon, a letter arrived from Chen Shi, stating that the renovation of the wine-shop was complete and staff were ready. The official opening would be on the 25th of February and Manager Luo, Chen Ye, Chen Ming, Chen Afu were requested to visit Dingzhou. Mrs. Chen was also invited along.

In the afternoon, Chen Ming returned. Upon hearing this news, he was extremely happy and immediately sent someone to deliver the letter to the main house, inviting them over for dinner at the same time.

In the evening, everyone from the main house arrived to discuss their trip to Dingzhou. Chen Ye and Mrs. Chen were certainly going, but Mrs. Hu, Chen Aju, Dahu, and Daya all insisted on going as well. Furthermore, cries broke out when deciding who goes and who stays.

Chen Ye finally yielded and said, "Fine, everyone except Agui, who will stay home to watch over the land, will go. After all, we are going to be the owners of the business and are certain to make money. What do we do when we make money? We let my mother, wife, and children enjoy the fruits of our labor."

The moment his voice fell, cheers erupted.

No wonder Chen Shi had said Chen Ye was a good patriarch. With so many people from the Chen family going, accommodations might be difficult to find.

She observed them argue over who gets to go, feeling a headache coming on even before leaving. With all the instructions given, she had decided to stay home and not join the crowd.