Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 250 - 249: Spring Is the Season for Sowing
Recently, Lin Wanwan sought out Chen Carpenter, renowned in the area, to craft Agarwood and Yellow Flower Pear Wood furniture and handicrafts. She also dispatched Sun Chuyao to keep an eye on the docks for incoming merchant ships, ensuring she’s notified of quality materials like rosewood as soon as possible.
Now, Sun Chuyao travels daily between the Lin Family Manor’s small dock and the South Pier of Mao County, bringing Lin Wanwan news from outside.
With Lin Wanwan’s financial backing as the Village Lady of Le’an and his language skills, Sun Chuyao has thrivingly mixed at the South Pier.
Furthermore, due to Sun Chuyao’s previous experience with the Beggar Gang, he now employs these methods to quickly gather a group of laborers and beggars.
Nominally, these people aren’t Lin Wanwan’s servants, but they effectively depend on her, similar to those manor guests who lost their land.
Meddling with the dock’s underground order isn’t easy, relying solely on money and the Village Lady’s nominal power isn’t enough; it also requires the tiger skin of her cousin Xiao Chong.
In January, Xiao Chong just eradicated the Wang Family who dealt spices, sending a strong message. Even the local strongmen and gentry in Mao County dare not challenge him, so how could the underworld dare? Everything had to be planned long-term.
Lin Wanwan doesn’t take advantage of Xiao Chong without giving back; she sent him many crops that would only be introduced to China centuries later, not just high-yield ones like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn, but also delicious ones like tomatoes, cucumbers, peanuts, sunflowers, fast-growing bok choy.
Of course, the most precious are the Kirin Chilled Melon seedlings (watermelon, known as chilled melon in the Great Tang).
For the giant Kirin Chilled Melon seeds that can be sown all year round, Lin Wanwan bought them in modern times, learned the technique, and then returned to the Great Tang to sprout them herself.
First, the seeds soaked for over five hours, disinfected with warm water beforehand, then sprout them using modern methods, best done in a thermostat incubator, or alternatively converted from a foam box.
However, the Great Tang lacked these facilities, but it wasn’t impossible. Lin Wanwan asked Third Uncle to build a wooden box, moved it into a glass greenhouse, filled it with straw, creating an ancient version of the thermostat incubator.
Next, the seeds were spread flat on wet gauze, covered with three layers of wet gauze; they sprouted within a day, the ideal length is just white, within two to three days they fully sprouted.
Then, the sprouted chilled melon seeds were transferred to prepared river mud boards, each marked in grid with cotton thread, and planted one seed per grid.
Once everything is set, the sprouted chilled melon seeds can grow into seedlings and then be sold outside.
In modern times, Lin Wanwan bought two hundred seeds for eight yuan, then sprouted and nurtured them alone before selling to Great Tang nobles at ten gold per seed, in high demand!
Given the sweetness of the Kirin Chilled Melon, she felt no guilt selling at ten gold. Nowadays, even in the Great Tang Western Regions, there’s no chilled melon so thin-skinned and juicy!
Huaxia achieved watermelon abundance thanks to agricultural masters!
For instance, Academician Wu Mingzhu, an expert in melon breeding, rooted in the Turpan Region, collected and sorted local melon varieties, rescuing resources near extinction, establishing innovative systems in melon breeding, and hydroponics.
She studied and cultivated over forty excellent varieties of watermelon and cantaloupe in her lifetime, contributing greatly to Huaxia’s agricultural efficiency and farmers’ income.
She also enabled Huaxia’s melons not only to satisfy domestic appetites, but also export to Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, and the Middle East markets.
If it weren’t for Wu, it’s possible that ordinary Huaxia citizens today, like those in Japan and Korea, couldn’t afford melons.
Undoubtedly, Huaxia people are truly blessed; whether rice, watermelon, or caviar, there are always exceptional elites who popularize and cultivate these necessities, preventing international capitalists’ high-price manipulations, allowing ordinary citizens to eat affordably and abundantly.
Lin Wanwan, standing on the shoulders of elite giants, as a space-time profiteer, seeks benefits for Great Tang people, not just for profit.
Lin Wanwan lent chilled melon seedlings to clansmen, teaching them to plant in their yards, selling chilled melons later to repay her for the seedlings.
Only then did the clanspeople realize these chilled melons’ value, a single seedling selling at ten gold!
Some timid clanspeople didn’t dare plant, such valuable seeds in their yards prevented a restful sleep at night!
Only a few bold youth dared to borrow seedlings from Lin Wanwan.
Thus, the Clan Leader began organizing a militia within the clan due to the excessive valuable possessions, necessitating force enhancements.
Lin Wanwan naturally wholeheartedly agreed, directly sponsoring militia meals and weapons (golden steel fish forks bought in modern times, divine weapons in Great Tang).
When Xiao Chong visited Lin Family Manor to discuss planting matters (for a free meal and drink), he was startled by the militia holding fish forks.
He stared at Lin Wanwan without speaking for a long time, causing Lin Wanwan to feel uneasy, suspecting he saw through something.
"Cousin, these were gifts from my senior brother, he’s somewhat skilled in steel refining, hehe." Anything unexplained was attributed to the mysterious Ranger senior brother; Lin Wanwan found it truly challenging.
Fortunately, she’s only doing this on her own turf, far from the Emperor, not under the imperial gaze. Otherwise, she truly feared arrest and interrogation, given the abundance of good things!
Before leaving, Xiao Chong meaningfully said, "Wanwan, is your senior brother named Jei Sihin? He pops up mysteriously, disregarding checkpoints, making me tempted to enforce naval defenses nearby."
Lin Wanwan: "Please don’t, Cousin. My senior brother is a law-abiding citizen, quietly contributing to the Great Tang. See, he brought so many good seeds, yet seeks no fame."
Xiao Chong: "Haha, Cousin’s point is valid."
Lin Wanwan wiped cold sweat, diligently escorting Xiao Chong to the village entrance, waving her handkerchief with a vibrant smile.
"Ah, if every Great Tang official were as tough as Xiao Chong, my local emperor wouldn’t even materialize! Unless I’d smuggle contraband weapons from the modern Golden Triangle, that is." Lin Wanwan worried if the new County Magistrate would be difficult after Xiao Chong’s tenure expired.
He might lack Xiao Chong’s keen insight, but greed alone is enough to trouble.
Time to foster wealth around; everyone united into a new gentry force, daunting subsequent challengers from daring bites for fear of tooth breakage.
With Xiao Chong’s strong backing, it’s crucial to act swiftly!
Xiao Chong couldn’t remain Mao County’s County Magistrate for long; this year, she presented him numerous achievements, and he’s building Ta Mountain Dam, combining accomplishments and connections, his path to promotion is unstoppable! 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
In July, Xiao Chong’s grandfather will be removed from office, posing both a crisis and an opportunity for Xiao Family’s descendants to ascend.
Time is of the essence!
