“He was rescued onto the ship but was unable to return to Dayan for a while. Later, he worked aboard the ship to pay for his meals.
Afterward, when they passed by a large island, he was sold by a group of foreign tribesmen to that island. There, two kinds of crops grew—ones he had never seen before: one called corn, the other sweet potato.
From then on, he became a slave cultivating corn and sweet potatoes. After two years of tending these crops, he realized that their yields were quite impressive.
He estimated that the corn’s yield per mu was over four hundred jin, while the sweet potatoes produced more than a thousand jin per mu.
By a stroke of fate, he managed to escape back to Dayan. Exhausted from his ordeal at sea and the harsh treatment on the island, he collapsed by the seaside before even making it home.
He was found by someone and eventually brought to the capital city, which led to our meeting.”
Although he recounted the entire story, some details were vague and ambiguous. Yue Fuguang didn’t press for more; it was already impressive that he could come up with such a tale on short notice.
Besides, she had already prepared herself mentally—still somewhat childlike—unable to overthink or notice the ‘adults’ inconsistencies in the story.
At this moment, the ‘weak’ Wang Shouchen knew exactly how to proceed. Trembling, he straightened up and took over from Yan Bingqing, who was running out of words.
He said, “At the time, although both I and Lord Yan didn’t fully believe that man’s story, after a night of careful consideration and weighing the possibilities, I reported it to His Majesty the next day.”
Emperor Mingxi nodded in agreement. “When I heard the news, though I found it hard to believe that such a miraculous thing could exist in this world, for the sake of the people and for Dayan, even if there was only the slightest chance, I would not let it slip by. Therefore, I sent people with the two lords to the medical hall to look for that fisherman.
I want to summon him, hear the story again with my own ears, and if it’s true, ask him to lead us out to sea to find the island with these high-yield crops.”
The emperor grew increasingly excited as he spoke, as if convinced of the truth. But then his expression suddenly darkened, shadowed by endless regret and helplessness. With a long sigh, he said, “But we were too late. That man, after meeting with Lord Wang and the others, passed away that very night.
The doctor at the medical hall said that until his last breath, he kept murmuring ‘sweet potato, corn… sweet potato, corn…’”
Wang Shouchen quickly filled in, “Over the past two years, His Majesty secretly dispatched many people to quietly inquire about these two crops among coastal regions and foreign merchants.
Because the man’s knowledge was limited and he couldn’t understand the language of the tribesmen who saved him, our search hit many dead ends.
Two years have passed, and we still have nothing. Everyone here, except the younger Lord Wu, is fully informed.”
This is a mess that requires everyone to dive in together. If the two of us are floundering in the water while you all just watch from the shore, what kind of effort is that?
Everyone immediately nodded, wearing solemn expressions. One by one, they slipped into the roles of mourners at a funeral, putting on the most convincing faces of grief and respect, thoroughly impressive in their performance.
Wang Shouchen’s aged face first clouded with sorrow, then brightened with joy. “I never imagined that the rare seeds we had been desperately seeking without success would today be found right here with Young Master.”
“Therefore, I apologize for my earlier outburst. Please forgive me, Young Master. We were simply too overwhelmed with excitement!”
Wang Shouchen cupped his hands respectfully toward Yue Fuguang, and the others followed suit, their apologies sincere.
Everyone chimed in, “Yes, yes, we were simply too excited!”
“A bit out of line, please pardon us, Young Master!”
If Yue Fuguang hadn’t known the truth behind this, she might have almost believed the trio of lord and ministers had spontaneously concocted such a story.
Such a brilliant tale, one that neatly explained away their earlier behavior, Yue Fuguang naturally chose to accept it wholeheartedly.
She said, “I see. I thought perhaps you all had heard me mention it before.”
“小 Pearl, no wonder the original timeline of Dayan had no records of sweet potatoes and corn. It turns out it was because they were never found. Has this world already developed these two crops? Though their yield per acre seems lower compared to the sweet potatoes and corn we once saw on Water Blue Star.”
[Master, this world and Water Blue Star are alike; both belong to the Three Thousand Small Worlds under the Vast Universe, sharing the same origin. Their evolution is similar, but due to ‘human’ factors, individual differences in historical development have arisen. Yet at their core, they are like twins—so many things are the same, which is not surprising.]
Hearing the two voices in their minds, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at last, they hadn’t aroused the suspicion of the Little Immortal Lord.
They also felt fortunate that the Little Immortal Lord’s memories were sealed, and her spirit, influenced by her physical body, was like that of an eight- or nine-year-old child, unable to detect the holes in their story. Otherwise, they might not have gotten away with it so easily.
Wang Shouchen and Emperor Mingxi exchanged a glance.
The old man’s wrinkled face bloomed into a smile like a chrysanthemum. He rubbed his hands together nervously, stealing cautious glances at Yue Fuguang one after another.
She realized he was trying to get her attention and deliberately asked, “Elder Wang, do you have something to ask Fuguang?”
Hearing Yue Fuguang offer him a way out, Wang Shouchen immediately took it. His face flushed red as he asked, “I just wanted to ask, Young Master, do you still have any of this corn and sweet potatoes?”
Yue Fuguang pointed to the few remaining pieces of sweet potato and some ears of corn on the table. “Isn’t this enough for Elder Wang?”
Rather than saying these were leftovers, it was more accurate to say that once they knew what these things were, no one dared to eat them anymore. Even though they were fully ripe and could no longer be planted, no one could bring themselves to eat them.
“Fuguang, what Elder Wang means is, besides these cooked ones, do you still have any raw ones left at home?” Yu Chongshan, seeing Emperor Mingxi repeatedly signaling him with his eyes, had no choice but to voice the question everyone wanted answered.
Yue Fuguang shook her head. “Grandfather, no. All the corn and sweet potatoes my friend gave me are right here.”
With Yue Fuguang’s shake of the head, the hopes of the Dayan lord and ministers were dashed, as was the chance to openly request the rare seeds.
“Can you still get in touch with that maritime merchant friend of yours? Could you buy more? The court is willing to pay, pay handsomely,” Emperor Mingxi still refused to give up.
“He gave me all he had, so…”
Emperor Mingxi and his ministers looked awkward. They knew exactly what was going on but couldn’t say it out loud. It was frustrating beyond words.
“Master, are you really not going to give them the corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes?”
“No. Haven’t you already looked into this? In the Dayan Dynasty, most of the land is held by landlords and powerful elites. Even if I were to distribute these crops, would the common people truly benefit and have enough to eat?
Once these high-yield grains—capable of producing thousands of jin per mu—are introduced, they would inevitably disrupt the existing staple crops.
What do you think the grain merchants and landlords, who profit from these traditional crops, would do?
Emperor Mingxi is too soft on the scholar-gentry and landlords—the very classes that hold the power of speech—in order to preserve his reputation as a sage ruler for all time.
Without solving the land issue, handing out these crops would only be tailoring a wedding dress for others to wear.”
