Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family-Chapter 862 - : Building a Greenhouse
Chapter 862: Chapter 862: Building a Greenhouse
Old Cheng lowered his gaze and nodded in agreement before turning around and gesturing for them to please follow.
“Your Honor, this way, please!”
Not long after, Old Cheng turned back and whispered something to Di Yelei.
“Oh? Could it be that Marquis Yongwu is also involved in this matter?” Di Yelei furrowed his brows.
“This servant does not know. However, the eunuch indeed said so just now. After Marquis Yongwu had an audience with His Majesty in the palace and left, His Majesty then sent him to the Di Residence with a decree. He also repeatedly emphasized that if anyone at the mansion was injured, they must be carefully treated! Should there be any problems, only the two would be held accountable,” Old Cheng highlighted the key point.
“Who is this Marquis Yongwu? I haven’t heard anyone mention him before,” Liu Sisi asked curiously.
...
“Sisi, you may not know about him; he is a veteran minister who served two emperors. He followed the late Emperor in military campaigns from the south to the north. After His Majesty ascended the throne, he seldom attended court or appeared before the officials. Even so, his prestige in the court is no less than that of Prince Luo,” he explained.
Prince Luo was the one who saved His Majesty and incidentally became sworn brothers with him, which is why His Majesty bestowed upon him the title of an honorary prince.
“If he doesn’t even attend the early morning sessions usually, why did he go to the palace tonight?”
“Don’t worry, Sisi. We’ll find out whether it’s a donkey or a horse at tomorrow’s early morning session,” he assured her.
More seriously, Di Yelei said, “Compared to that Marquis Yongwu, what I want to know more is who set this fire!”
Whoever it was must be someone very familiar with our daily routines to have seized that fleeting opportunity to start the fire. Similarly, having such a poisonous snake lurking around us is what is truly horrifying.
“We must find out who this person is!” she would not allow such a venomous snake to be near herself and her family.
“Don’t worry! As long as he’s still in the mansion, we’ll surely root him out!” Di Yelei’s expression was exceptionally resolute.
The next day, early in the morning, Di Yelei went to attend the early morning session.
Meanwhile, Liu Sisi ordered her people to tally the losses from last night and even ventured into the burned site for scrutiny, especially the study room at the center of the fire, where she carefully investigated, using a wooden stick to prod at the incompletely burnt debris, meticulously searching for possible clues.
By her ear, Old Cheng was quickly reporting the losses: “… one famous painting on the wall, one tiger skin seat cushion, and one pear wood desk. The estimated losses are all listed here. In addition, there was a carry basket of historical materials moved from the Ministry of Personnel…”
At this point, Old Cheng finally paused and surreptitiously observed Liu Sisi’s expression.
That’s it!
Yesterday, she had been occupied with worrying about everyone’s safety and had inadvertently ignored this matter.
“Now that it comes to this, there’s no other way than to tell the truth to His Majesty and see how he deals with it.”
So many historical records were burned; indeed, it was not something that could be simply settled in a few words.
Before long, Di Yelei returned from the early morning session.
“What did Father Emperor say? Did he mention anything?” Liu Sisi asked eagerly for an answer.
“His Majesty inquired about the reason for the water incident yesterday. I mentioned that it might have been the candle flame tipping over, igniting the books in the study room, leading to a raging fire today. Lord Bai from the Ministry of Records spoke about those historical materials and pointed out how I initially guaranteed with a pat on my chest that there would be no problems. Using this as a basis, he demanded a clear explanation from me. Fortunately, our people helped speak up, and His Majesty seemed inclined to indulge us, only asking us to cooperate with Lord Bai to quickly restore the documents.”
“Cooperate with Lord Bai to restore the historical materials? That’s like asking for the impossible!”
Liu Sisi almost jumped in shock!
So many records, without spending a year to a year and a half, how could they possibly be completely restored, let alone guarantee that nothing would be missed?
“This matter is actually not impossible. I will just go to the Ministry of Personnel occasionally over the next half a year to report in, and that would be considered as having dealt with the matter. However, because of this, we do owe Lord Bai a favor. After all, restoring so many historical records is indeed not something that can be done overnight,” Di Yelei said with a profound sentiment.
“This morning, I took stock of the losses and also cleared the ruins and broken walls of the study room, planning to rebuild a new study room after some days.”
“That can wait; I’ve just thought of something else.”
Di Yelei leaned in close to Liu Sisi’s ear, “Today, His Majesty mentioned that the weather is extremely cold and the meals are bland, he finds the meat dishes too greasy and with an undesirable strong smell, truly hard to swallow, with no appetite. I’ve given it some thought; in the past couple of times His Majesty invited me to dine at the palace, the table seemed to be predominantly meat dishes, with few vegetable dishes served. So, I was thinking, haven’t you been growing a lot of bean sprouts and those what do you call them, vegetables? We could offer some to the palace for His Majesty to try something fresh.”
Liu Sisi’s eyes lit up, suddenly seizing the critical point in Di Yelei’s words, “Are you saying that Father Emperor’s imperial meal lacks vegetables?”
“Not exactly lacking, I saw drunken duck with mushrooms, pumpkin pancake, cabbage turnip soup, but there were no green vegetables, it felt like something was missing,” Di Yelei answered with some hesitation.
He remembered back to his time in the border city, when to reduce grain and salary expenses, his men often ate wild vegetables with dried turnips during their downtime.
“So you mean, Father Emperor’s imperial meals do not include fresh vegetables, no wonder Father Emperor complained about losing his appetite…”
The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on freёnovelkiss.com.
Liu Sisi lowered her head and thought for a moment, then her eyes shone brightly, “Ye Lei, since that area has been scorched black by the big fire, why don’t we choose a different place for the study room, and use that burned land for a greenhouse? What do you think?”
The wealthy families here all have greenhouses, planted within are various flowers and plants, which are used to adorn rooms or decorate courtyards when guests come or when needed.
But Liu Sisi had another idea.
Planting flowers and foliage might be aesthetically pleasing, but it serves little practical purpose. Better to use the greenhouse to grow out-of-season vegetables, which could not only feed themselves but also be sent to the palace for His Majesty.
“Your suggestion is excellent. The area for the study room might be a little small, so why not take half of the training ground as well, and I’ll just tear down the row of houses next to the training ground,” Di Yelei said.
Liu Sisi didn’t understand at first what that row of houses was for, until she discovered in several residences that such locations were generally inhabited by concubines. Then it dawned on her!
Di Yelei, being frequently on military campaigns and having no other concubines besides Liu Sisi, left that row of houses perpetually vacant. However, whenever Liu Sisi passed by there, she couldn’t quite describe the feeling in her heart.
Now that Di Yelei had taken the initiative to mention demolishing them, Liu Sisi naturally was pleased.
“Do we need to tear down the houses? Didn’t Father Emperor just reward us with a few manors some days ago? We might as well build a greenhouse in those manors, planting whatever vegetables we wish to eat, and save ourselves the trouble.”
