Chapter 172: 172



172 Childhood

The next day, Zhou Jia brought Li Yu and the others to the residence bestowed by the emperor on East Street. When they walked to East Street, they saw that the street was bustling and crowded.

The few of them walked all the way and found a vermilion mansion with fresh paint. They looked up and saw that the tall lintel was carved with exquisite patterns. The word Zhou Mansion was written on it, and there was a pair of majestic stone lions in front of the door.

Zhou Jia said to Li Yu, “This is it.”

The few of them went up the steps and walked to the door. A well-dressed man walked up to Zhou Jia and Li Yu and bowed. “May I ask if you’re Mr. Zhou and Madam Protector? I, Xu Lin, was sent by Shopkeeper Chu to wait for Madam Protector.”

Zhou Jia cupped his hands and smiled. “Yes, thank you.”

“It’s only right.” Xu Lin bowed and handed over the house key. He smiled and said, “I’ll take my leave.”

Ruyi handed a pouch to Xu Lin and sent him off.

He Tiezhu went up and opened the door. Zhou Jia saw a courtyard house with three entrances.

They entered the front door and saw a screen wall carved with an exquisite pattern. They turned the screen wall, passed the flower gate, and saw a small garden in the middle of the courtyard.

He Xiaoyu shouted in surprise, “Young Madam, look, there’s a garden here. The flowers inside are really beautiful.”

Li Yu pointed at a rose-red China rose and smiled. “Go pick one and let Ruyi put it on for you.”

Xiaoyu shook her head and said, “It will wither after I pluck it. It looks better on a branch.”

Ah Wei and He Tiezhu looked at the houses in the courtyard. Their eyes widened. “There are so many houses. Even if we call everyone from Phoenix Villa, it won’t be full.”

Li Yu and Zhou Jia walked through the corridor arm in arm and entered the backyard. The backyard was even more exquisite. There was a garden, a rockery, a pond, flowing water, a winding corridor, and a pavilion.

Li Yu sighed. “The house is really not bad, but there are only a few of us and so many houses. It will take a long time to clean it once. Let’s stay at our original place!”

“This is the residence bestowed by the emperor. It’s not good not to move in. We’ll stay at the original place for the time being. After the rankings are released, we’ll move in. Once we enter the courtyard, we’ll lock up the rest.”

“Okay, I don’t understand these things either. Do whatever you think is good. Now that we’ve seen the residence. Let’s go back!”

The few of them strolled around the street and bought some food before returning.

The next morning, Zhou Jia was called away by Young Master Lin. Li Yu was about to bring Xiaoyu and the others to the Imperial Manor to take a look when the Imperial Manor’s supervisor, Chu Fu, came with chickens, ducks, fish, and some grains and vegetables.

When Chu Fu saw that Li Yu was only a young and beautiful woman, he thought to himself, Shopkeeper Chu and the others couldn’t have made a mistake, right? Would such a young and beautiful woman know how to farm? I’m afraid it’s someone’s credit! Thinking of this, Chu Fu’s attitude towards Li Yu became more respectful.

He bowed and said, “I’m Chu Fu, the chief steward of the royal estate. I’m ordered to invite you to the royal estate to guide the tenant farmers in the royal estate in cultivating rice seeds.”

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Li Yu saw that Chu Fu had a medium build and was fair and fat. He had an arrogant expression and did not look like a steward. Instead, he looked like a wealthy country bumpkin from Phoenix Town. Li Yu thought about it and realized that he also had the capital to be arrogant. As the saying went, “Official slaves are also bigshots. The person in front of him is even a steward of the emperor’s family. How many ranks is he?”

Li Yu looked at the two men who looked like long laborers brought by Chu Fu. She carried the things out of the cart and said with a polite smile, “Supervisor Chu, it’s not guidance. We’re just communicating with each other. I’m also planning to go to the manor. Let’s set off now!”

Chu Fu bowed and said, “Madam, please. I’ll lead the way.”

Li Yu said calmly, “Thank you, Butler Chu.”

The group left the city gate and walked until noon before arriving at the Imperial Plantation on the outskirts of the city. Chu Fu pointed at the large piece of land and smiled proudly. “Madam, this area is the Imperial Plantation. There are thousands of acres of fertile land and thousands of acres of mountains.”

Li Yu saw that the Imperial Manor was surrounded by mountains and fertile land and praised, “Not bad. It’s a good place to plant crops.”

They walked around the farm. Li Yu saw that the tenants were all busy plowing the fields. The people on the farm seemed to be doing well.

Chief Chu pointed at the tenant farmers and said with a smile, “Madam, the tenant farmers all want to come to the Imperial Plantation to plant crops. There are people fighting to plant crops in the mountains in the Imperial Plantation.”

Li Yu asked in confusion,”Steward Chu, why are they fighting to plant crops in the mountains?”

Steward Chu cupped his hands in the direction of the Imperial City and said, “Her Majesty is kind-hearted. She instructed us, stewards, not to strip the tenants. The stewards will distribute salt mines to the entire family. In addition, the tenants of the Imperial Plantation only pay 40% of the farmland rent and 20% of the mountain land rent. The other farms have to pay at least 50% of the land rent. Do you think everyone will fight for it?”

When Li Yu heard this, she also felt that the Empress Dowager’s method was really good. Those who had embezzled would cause the entire family to suffer. Those who wanted to be calculative had to consider the consequences.

“The Empress Dowager is benevolent. The people below will each do their part, and the Imperial Manor will progress.”

“Yes, yes, that’s the logic. Madam, take a look. This is the fertilizer pool we dug. We taught the tenant farmers how to dig pits and tan them according to the method you taught. See if there’s anything wrong. We’ll change it.”

Li Yu picked up the hoe and dug open the top layer of the fertilizer pool. She saw that the fertilizer below had already turned black and gray, and the weeds and leaves inside had also rotted.

Li Yu put down the hoe and smiled at Chu Fu. “Steward Chu did very well. There’s nothing inappropriate.”

Seeing that Li Yu was efficient and was used to the stench in the fertilizer pool, Chu Fu believed that Li Yu knew how to farm.

Li Yu walked around the Imperial Manor and felt that Steward Chu was very responsible. The manor was also thriving. After staying in the Imperial Manor for a night, she made an appointment with Steward Chu to go to the Imperial Manor to teach them how to choose the seeds when planting them. Then, she took a cart back to Ten Families Alley.

In Tongzhou City, Li Qing had already passed the county examination. When he saw that he was ranked second, he still felt a little uncomfortable. Ji Xiang saw Li Qing hanging his head and standing in the courtyard unhappily. He comforted him and said, “Ah Qing, you’re already a child student. Brother Ji Xiang feels that you’ve already done very well. When you participate in the government examination in April and obtain the scholarly title, Brother Ji Xiang will pass the good news to Young Master and Young Madam.”

Li Qing looked up at Ji Xiang with red eyes. “Brother Ji Xiang, I’m not angry that I didn’t get first place. I’m angry at myself for being arrogant and complacent. After I did well in the first few rounds, I started feeling over-confident. I thought that first place in the county examination was already in my pocket, but this is good. It’s a wake-up call for me. My sister said that arrogance breeds trouble.” Li Qing stood up and looked into the distance, clenching his fists. “In the future, I’ll definitely take things slow and steady. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

Ji Xiang raised his thumb and praised, “Ah Qing, you’re good. You found your shortcomings so quickly, faced them head-on, and bravely corrected your mistakes. Brother Ji Xiang believes that Ah Qing will be able to fulfill your goals in the future.”

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