Her son was eleven now, about the same age as Grand Princess Fuxi. Even from this brief glimpse, it was clear that once he grew up, he would be an exceptionally handsome young man capable of charming countless young ladies. If he truly caught Princess Fuxi’s eye and became the Emperor’s son-in-law, then their family…
Madam Liu’s face was radiant with smiles. Taking her son’s hand, she asked, “Young Master Yuan, what did you think of that princess just now? Was she pretty?”
Wu Yuan stared blankly at his mother, his cheeks flushing crimson. “The princess… the princess is very beautiful. I’ve never seen anyone so lovely before.”
Madam Liu’s smile widened. Patting her son’s hand, she said, “If you want to marry the princess in the future, you must make a good impression on Wu Wanning and have her put in a good word for you before the princess.”
Wu Yuan said, “Wu Wanning and I don’t get along. We’ve been at odds for a long time. Why would she speak well of me?”
Madam Liu smiled. “You silly boy. You’re the only male heir of the Wu family! Sooner or later, she’ll marry and leave. If she wants to return to her maternal home after that, she’ll have to depend on your goodwill. In short, she’ll have to find ways to please you. If you ask her, she’ll certainly speak well of you.”
Wu Yuan nodded excitedly. “Mother, I understand! Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to perform well from now on! I’m going to become the princess’s husband!”
Madam Liu said, “My son is truly promising. Mother believes in you…”
…
“Waiter, bring us the bill.”
After they finished their meal, Gu Shen’an rose and called out.
The waiter came over and named the amount. Gu Shen’an took out the money and handed it over without hesitation.
Wu Wanning was so stunned that she rubbed her eyes vigorously.
Rongyao asked, “Warrior, what’s wrong?”
“Gu Shen’an took out money. He actually paid!”
“So what?”
Wu Wanning leaned close to Rongyao’s ear and whispered, “You don’t know him. He’s terribly poor. Whenever he eats with others, he never pays.”
Rongyao remembered the boxes upon boxes of silver she had received and immediately denied it. “That’s impossible. He’s very rich.”
Wu Wanning gave Rongyao a complicated look. “You really don’t know him. He’s famous throughout the capital for being a stingy miser who wouldn’t give away a single hair.”
Rongyao refused to believe it in the slightest.
Gu Shen’an was so wealthy that he could produce over a thousand taels of silver a year. How could he possibly be poor?
It must simply be a misunderstanding.
Seeing that the princess did not believe her, Wu Wanning felt she could hardly explain herself.
She studied Gu Shen’an for quite some time, deeply puzzled.
Was Gu Shen’an rich or poor, exactly?
Could it be that he was afraid of offending the princess, and had paid this time only after gritting his teeth and forcing himself to part with the money?
That couldn’t be right. She had heard that Gu Shen’an once left the palace with the Third Prince to dine at a banquet.
He had refused to spend even a single copper coin, relying entirely on the Third Prince to pay.
When the Third Prince had not brought enough money, Gu Shen’an had advanced the rest. Yet the very next day, he had shamelessly gone back to demand reimbursement from the Third Prince.
Such a miser had nothing to do with whether his family was rich or noble.
How on earth had the Duke raised a son like this?
Did he not give his son any spending money?
Even Wu Wanning’s own stepmother, despite not liking her, still put on a show of propriety and gave her ten taels of silver each month.
The group left their private room and was just about to depart from Bai Xiang Restaurant.
Unexpectedly, they ran into a tall, thin youth head-on. When the youth saw Gu Shen’an, he froze for a moment, then glared at him, gave a cold snort, and walked away with his chin held high.
Rongyao stopped and gazed at the young man’s back. She asked Gu Shen’an, “Who is he? Do you have some personal grudge against him?”
Gu Shen’an patiently explained, “He is Deng Sijun, the grandson of the Right Chief Imperial Censor. I have no grudge or quarrel with him. Judging from his expression just now, he was probably in a bad mood and simply took a dislike to me.”
Rongyao nodded.
Then Wu Wanning’s laughter rang out beside her.
“He naturally takes a dislike to you.”
Rongyao turned to Wu Wanning. “Why?”
Wu Wanning said with a laugh, “You don’t know? Deng Sijun once owed money to a gambling house and borrowed ten taels of silver from Gu Shen’an. Three days later, Gu Shen’an went to the Right Chief Imperial Censor’s residence to collect the debt and demanded twenty taels from them.”
Rongyao’s eyes widened. She looked at Gu Shen’an. “Why?”
Gu Shen’an replied, “When Deng Sijun borrowed the money, he promised to repay me twenty taels for the ten taels I lent him. The grandson of the Right Chief Imperial Censor would never be the sort of person to make an empty promise and cheat someone.”
Rongyao nodded. “I see.”
Wu Wanning said, “You’re all acquaintances from the capital. For the sake of a mere ten taels of silver, why did you have to collect the debt and offend the Deng family?”
Gu Shen’an said, “That was twenty taels, not a small sum.”
Rongyao nodded. “Exactly. Twenty taels is a lot. It’s enough to support an ordinary family for an entire year.”
Wu Wanning fell silent.
She was utterly baffled.
The Gu family was poor, Gu Shen’an was poor, and they considered twenty taels hard-earned money. Why did Rongyao also think twenty taels was a considerable sum?
She was a princess!
Was twenty taels really that much?
It was not even enough to buy a single bracelet.
Was she the one with the problem?
After leaving Bai Xiang Restaurant, the group did not return to the imperial palace. Instead, they headed toward the outskirts of the capital.
It was spring, and countless flowers were in bloom. The countryside beyond the city was breathtakingly beautiful.
She was going to the estate outside the city to retrieve something valuable and bring it back to the palace!
A year ago, her second maternal uncle had obtained a type of crop through a trade with foreign merchants.
It was called the golden sweet potato. The tubers varied in size: the largest were about as big as a foot, while the smallest were roughly the size of a fist. Their skins were red, and their flesh was yellow.
Her uncle had exchanged ten bolts of silk for ten golden sweet potatoes. Last year, they had planted them at her estate.
With careful cultivation, one mu of land yielded thirty dan in less than five months—thirty dan!
The maximum annual yield of rice was only three dan per mu, while one mu of golden sweet potatoes could produce thirty dan!
Golden sweet potatoes were extremely drought-resistant. They could survive even in sandy soil!
She and her second maternal uncle had arranged for people to observe the crop carefully. They discovered that golden sweet potatoes preferred sandy loam and feared waterlogging, making them suitable for ridge cultivation. Once the leaves turned yellow and the tubers beneath the soil had fully swollen, they were mature. They had to be harvested before the Frost’s Descent solar term, then stored in a cellar to protect them from frost and dampness. They could be preserved for a long time, or even dried and kept for an entire year!
It was now time to cultivate the sweet potato seedlings. She and her second maternal uncle had used nearly all the golden sweet potatoes harvested the previous year to grow seedlings. They had enough to plant a hundred mu of land.
Today, she was going to take the golden sweet potatoes to the imperial palace and present them to her imperial father, so that he could promote the crop among the people!
This was especially important for Northern Province. She remembered that the region would receive little rain the following year, followed by three consecutive years of drought. Perhaps this crop could help them withstand the disaster to some extent.
If possible, it would be even better if she could persuade her imperial father to have a long canal built!
They arrived at the estate.
The first thing Rongyao did was go to inspect the golden sweet potato seedlings.
Then she took out two large golden sweet potatoes and showed them to Gu Shen’an and Wu Wanning.
Raising her fair chin, Rongyao asked proudly, like someone showing off a treasure, “Have either of you ever seen this before?”
Gu Shen’an stared at Rongyao’s face, then quickly shifted his gaze to the sweet potatoes in her hands. “I have not.”
Wu Wanning craned her neck to look. “What is this enormous clod of dirt?”
A smile curved Rongyao’s lips as she said earnestly, “This is a treasure! In the event of a drought, it could save the lives of an entire city’s people.”
