"Haha, you want to ask Dayong if he can come back, right?" The old lady teased and pulled her to sit down.
"The Marquis looks cold, but he is actually the most soft-hearted. Even if he can't come back, he will definitely send Lao Si and Dayong back for a visit. Don't worry!"
Huiniang blushed, "I'm not thinking about it either. , It's just that the baby is getting bigger and bigger, and I don't know what to do with it."
"This is your first time giving birth, so of course you are worried. Don't worry, I heard that the barbarians in Jiangbei were driven back again, and maybe Dayong will come back this time. , I can stay by your side until the baby is one month old."
"Seriously?"
"Absolutely, I heard a few words from the housekeeper of the Hou Mansion, I can't be wrong."
The old lady made Huiniang happy, and greeted everyone Have a meal.
After dinner, Dongmei accompanied Huiniang back, and Jiayin and her brothers lay on the mat under the eaves of the corridor to take a nap.
The old lady sat aside sewing clothes for her grandchildren, and occasionally picked up a big cattail leaf fan to help the children drive away mosquitoes.
In the scorching summer, the cicadas are heard, and the sky is extremely blue and clean.
Jiayin squinted her eyes, looking so intoxicated that she fell asleep unconsciously.
It was her birthday soon, and everyone in her family was very happy, but she actually thought it was unnecessary.
Other children like to grow up, but she wants to be a child all her life, carefree, loved and pampered, with all her relatives around her...
Unfortunately, time will not stop because of anyone's wishes.
In the blink of an eye, it was July 8th again. This day had just dawned, and the dew in the fields was still heavy.
Jiayin yawned and was carried to the melon field by her second uncle.
The village chief stepped forward and coaxed with a smile: "Fu Niu, please help the village chief's grandfather to see if the melons in the field are ripe? Which one is ripe? Pick them off and we will send them to the palace for the emperor to eat." "
As soon as Jiayin heard this, she immediately became energetic, jumped off the ground, and ran around in the melon field.
I have to say that with last year's experience, the melons grown by the villagers this year are even better.
There are no weeds in the ridges and furrows, the melon vines are all pinched to their tips, and melons with main roots are rare.
Nowadays, each jasper melon is as big as a pottery pot, with dark green skin, lying lazily among the melon vines, making people salivate just looking at it.
Because he had to pay tribute to the palace, Jiayin picked melons that were over medium ripe and had a round and beautiful shape.
As for the golden fruit field, it's even easier. When you touch the tail of the melon, the melon base will fall off easily, which means it is ripe.
Soon, sixty jade melons and one hundred and twenty golden fruits were loaded onto the car.
Some melon vines were stuffed around the carriage, giving it a wild look.
The village chief and Uncle Zhao drove the carriage in person, and Li Laoer, Liu Biaotou and Ye Shan got into the Marquis's carriage and followed behind.
It stands to reason that this lineup is very good.
But a dozen villagers were worried and wanted to go to the city to see the excitement, so they begged the village chief to take them with him.
The village chief simply waved his hand, "You can go if you want, but don't complain if you can't get into the palace gate."
"No, let's just see what the palace gate looks like."
The villagers were so happy that they didn't take the car. He walked on both sides of the carriage, guarding the carriage full of melons as they entered the city.
Broken Gold Beach is thirty miles away from the new capital. By the time we reached the city gate, it was already the end of the hour.
There was a lot of traffic and people at the gate of the city. Passers-by were curious when they saw the formation of people in Broken Gold Beach.
"Are there jade melons and golden fruits on this cart? Are they ripe so early?"
"No, the rich man Wang of our village found a handful of seeds somewhere and planted half an acre of land. I saw that the melons were the size of pottery bowls..."
"But look at the seeds on other people's cars. , this is too big!"
Someone couldn't help but asked loudly, "Brother, where did you buy the jade melon?"
Everyone in Broken Gold Beach immediately replied with three points of pride and seven points of joy: " We are from Suijintan, and this is what we grow at home."
"Ah, Suijintan!"
"Oh, no wonder, I heard that Suijintan's melons are the best. When I saw it today, it is indeed well-deserved."
" The melon garden in Suijintan has opened, how many do you have to buy?!"
"Follow me and see where they are going to be sold. Buy a few and go back to eat them fresh."
While everyone was talking about it, Ye Shan I took out the token from the Hou Mansion and entered the city directly without queuing.
The carriage swaggered all the way through the city, and it took half an hour to reach the east of the city.
Ye Shan went to the palace gate, took the token, and gave money to the young eunuch at the palace gate. He originally wanted to ask the eunuch chief next to the emperor to accept the jade melon.
Unexpectedly, the chief eunuch actually picked him up personally and called the village chief and Li Laoer in to answer the question.
A cart of jade melons and golden fruits was also carefully carried into the palace.
The emperor had just come down from court and was chatting with several old ministers about government affairs.
At this time, he naturally couldn't say much to the village chief and Li Laoer. He could only ask about this year's jade melon production and whether the business in the Hot Spring Valley was good.
Although the village chief was nervous, he had already met the emperor twice. His etiquette might not be so thorough, but his replies were honest, and his gratitude to the emperor and the court was beyond words.
The emperor was happy to hear this, and finally said to several veterans, "The Broken Gold Beach is a treasure land of geomantic omen. The folk customs are simple and honest, and the fruits grown are also the best. In a moment, you will take two of you back to have a taste."
After that, he I asked the village chief, "Isn't it true, old man, that this year's melons are sweeter than last year?"
If it were anyone else, they would immediately say that they had never eaten them and offer the first bite to the emperor.
As a result, the village chief was very sincere, his face turned a little red, and he whispered back: "Your Majesty, originally, all the young and old in our village said that we would dedicate this first melon to you to take the first bite, but I am afraid that this year's melon will not be sweet. Last night, I secretly opened one...it's sweet, it's really sweet!"
He looked like a child who was caught eating something secretly, which made the emperor and the old ministers laugh.
They are all used to intrigues and duplicity, so how could they not like this simplicity and sincerity.
"Come here! The people of Broken Gold Beach are sincere to me. They offer me the first cart of jasper melons and golden fruits in midsummer, and reward fifty pieces of brocade, a hundred taels of gold, and a thousand taels of silver. I ordered the Ministry of Industry to build an archway and engraved the four characters "Feng Shui Treasure Land" on it. ."
Long Xin was delighted, and the reward was naturally rich.
The village chief and Li Laoer hurriedly knelt down to thank us. The village chief also said: "Your Majesty, we just need a memorial arch. With the emperor's prestige and reputation, we won't be afraid of anyone bullying us in the future. We don't want this brocade and gold and silver. Your Majesty." Keep the gold and silver to reward the generals who go on the expedition. This year there will be a bumper harvest of jade melons and golden fruits. Our village can sell a lot of silver, enough to feed and clothe every family!"
Logically speaking, the emperor's reward cannot be declined. , this is disrespectful.
But the village chief didn't know that he was speaking with sincerity and thinking about the emperor and the court.
The chief eunuch and the veterans wanted to scold him, but they couldn't open their mouths.
After a long time, when the village chief and Li Lao'er were filled with fear and confusion, the emperor said, "Okay, then we will just build the archway."
The village chief and Li Lao'er were relieved and hurriedly kowtowed and left.
"Your Majesty, you are busy. We are going back. Many people on the road just saw us pulling jade melons, and they were so greedy that they might have gone to the village to buy melons. We have to go back and take care of them."