Chapter Eleven: The Prince Wants to Farm

  The new servants were indeed skilled, and the affairs of the mansion quickly fell into place. After the grain was stored in the warehouse, they immediately began to heighten the walls and repair the courtyard. At this time, the weather also gradually cooled down. Zhao Yi seemed to have walked out of the shadow of the assassination attempt as well. Every day at dawn, he would start his routine stroll again, but now it was much more lively than before. Ji Xi carried a birdcage, while Feng Xi pulled along a dog, with two guards following behind them, their faces stern and trying to look cool.

  "Alas, if there were two more beautiful sisters by my side, I'd be even more like a playboy!" Zhao Shu shook his head and sighed, but there was no way around it. The last incident had scared everyone off, and with fewer than three people, Zhao Shu couldn't even leave the courtyard.

  Zhao Zhe walked two laps in the garden, suddenly saw a few people busy in front of the fake mountain, turned his face to Xian Xi and said: "Xian Xi, is it true that the giant python has appeared? Let's go!"

  "Second Master, don't bully Xiao'er anymore. Just thinking about it now makes me break out in a cold sweat!" Jian Xi said with a bitter face.

  "Hehe, don't be afraid now, there are guards behind us!" Zhao Yan turned his head and said to the two people a few steps away.

  After finishing speaking, he took the lead and walked over. Several people were inlaying something on top of a house. "Li Bo, what are they doing?" Zhao asked the newly arrived old craftsman.

  "Second Master, it's early!" Old Li hastily paid his respects and said, "The weather has turned cool, those delicate flowers are afraid of the frost, we're repairing the greenhouse."

  "Oh, what are they pressing on the rooftop?" Zhao asked again, pointing at the people above.

  "Second Master, this is a transparent tile that can let sunlight in!" Old Li handed over a piece of transparent tile to Zhao Yi.

  "Isn't this fish scale?" Zhao Yan took it over and examined it carefully, exclaiming in surprise. The fish scale was as big as an adult's palm, thin as a cicada's wing, not transparent, but wouldn't block sunlight from passing through.

  "Look, these are the scales of a giant fish in the ocean, each one costs over ten cents, and to cover the entire roof would cost twenty or thirty strings of cash!" Old Li replied, feeling a bit heartbroken, as this amount of money could feed his whole family for three months.

  Zhao didn't respond to Old Li's chatter, staring blankly at the fish scales in his hand. In this era without glass or plastic film, they could think of using fish scales to make a greenhouse. The ingenuity of the people was truly boundless. "Jian Xi, you go back and find the person in charge immediately, build me a greenhouse in the garden too. I'll tell you how to do it later, it must be done within ten days!" He said with an unyielding tone after some thought.

  "Second Master, what's on your mind again? What's the point of doing this?" Ji Xi had seen King Wang's antics many times before, but creating this was still beyond his comprehension.

  "What's it to you? I'm just doing flips in here, mind your own business! If you're told to do something, just go and do it!" Zhao Ze glared at him and walked away with a flick of his hand.

  "Alas, a child's casual remark is worth tens of thousands of dollars, what a waste!" Old Li shook his head and sighed as he watched Zhao Chu's back.

  "Haha, Old Li, don't worry about it, they're not short of money. With that dog gone, it's enough for your whole family to eat for five years!" The guard walking behind them said with a bitter smile, he also didn't have a good impression of Zhao Che, this 'prodigal son'.

  Building a greenhouse, although it was a temporary idea, Zhao Ye still wanted to find something to do for himself. The days of eating well and having nothing to do were unbearable, like a parasite. Moreover, he had already started preparing winter vegetables in the kitchen two days ago, but they were just things like radishes and cabbage. Even if he changed the way he cooked them, he would still have to eat them until the first batch of new vegetables came out in early summer next year, which was still several months away. Just thinking about it made him feel nauseous.

  It's really efficient to see the joy of doing things. Five days later, a nearly two-acre arched greenhouse has been completed. It is likely that Wang Ye wants to use this as an amusement park, so the entire greenhouse is made of high-quality wood, spacious and bright, with good ventilation. In the middle, a well was also drilled according to Wang Ye's request, but no one understands what Wang Ye wants to do.

  The king's next move shocked the entire government, the king wanted to farm! He called all the more than a dozen little servants who were still doing 'on-the-job training' and gave each of them an iron shovel to enter the greenhouse to flatten the land, dig ditches and build ridges. In a few days, under Zhao Che's command, the greenhouse had completely changed, a large area of land had been divided into rows of vegetable fields, each row was measured by Zhao Che with paces, and he required each row to be straight and neat, like a huge chessboard.

  Zhao Zhan was the director of a farm for many years in his previous life, and he is also an expert in farming. He can even talk about advanced hydroponics, let alone growing vegetables in greenhouses.

  "Second Master, are you going to farm?" Ji Xi said with a towel wiping Zhao Che's sweaty face.

  "Is it? Can't I?" Zhao asked back with a smile.

  "It's beneath you, Your Highness. Planting fields is something that servants do. How can you, as a king, do such things?" Xi said with a swallow.

  "Haha, the king is not a three-headed six-armed god, the king also needs to eat and drink, shit and fart, we are all the same people. Every spring, Father Emperor personally plows the land, what can't I do?" Zhao Che said nonchalantly.

  "Second Master" still wants to persuade him despite seeing his joy.

  "Stop talking!" Zhao Yi waved his hand to stop Jian Xi's chatter, and said to Gou Xi who was leveling the ground: "Gou Xi, everyone has been working hard these days. Go to the kitchen and order a big pot of mutton stew for lunch today. I'll eat here too, not going back home!"

  "Alright, I'll go and pass on the message!" Xiang Xi wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.

  "Hey, wait for me, I'll go with you." Xiang Xi is now afraid of Zhao Ye in her heart and doesn't dare disobey him, so she can only make an excuse to report to Huang Jingchen.

  "Everyone has been busy for half a day, come and take a break!" Zhao Yan stood up and beckoned to the servants who were still busy. Hearing Zhao Yan's call, everyone gathered around, there were no chairs or stools here, so they all sat on the floor.

  "What's your name and how old are you?" Zhao asked the oldest of the young servants, who was able to come out, and everyone seemed to take him as their leader.

  "Second Master, my name is Zhao Ren and I'm twelve this year!" The young servant replied respectfully.

  "Oh, and you?" Zhao asked again, pointing at another one.

  "Little Zhao Yi is eleven this year!"

  "Little Zhao Li is twelve this year too!"

  "Little Zhao Yong, eleven this year!" The servants didn't need Zhao Zhan to instruct them again, and they all reported their names and ages. Zhao Zhan also figured out that these little servants had all changed their surnames according to the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity, loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and bravery, and had become his own household servants, sharing joys and sorrows with him. That is to say, if he were to be arrested in the future, none of them could escape!

  "Zhao Xin, you're so young, how can you be 11? Are you lying?" Zhao Yan handed him a bowl of tea soup he had prepared for himself and asked with a smile.

  "Little really has eleven, just a child who is small in stature." Zhao Xin explained, his face flushed red with embarrassment, tears almost streaming down.

  "Alright, alright, I believe you. Don't rush, have some tea!" Zhao Che said with a smile. At this moment, he felt like he was back in his old unit, chatting with a group of new recruits who had just enlisted. He asked them where their hometowns were, whether they had any siblings, and how life was treating them in the palace. The children didn't have any ulterior motives, and seeing that the prince was very friendly, they gradually let down their guard. Before long, the group had accepted the prince as a new friend.

  While chatting with these young men, Zhao's heart was not pleasant. These children (in his mind, they were just children) were all miserable people. A few of their fathers had died in the expedition to conquer Western Xia, leaving them alone and helpless, and some had been sold by human traffickers. Some came from large families that couldn't make ends meet and had no choice but to sell them off. At this moment, he was grateful to heaven that compared to them, he wasn't the most unfortunate one after all; at least he had managed to become a prince.

  At noon, Xi brought two large basins of clear stewed mutton as ordered by the king. These little servants probably hadn't seen meat for a long time and their eyes turned green. They didn't care about etiquette anymore and wolfed down the two basins of meat in no time. Zhao Ye also joined in the fun, holding a bowl and competing with everyone else to grab some food. After this meal, everyone's feelings drew closer together, feeling that the king was not a bad person.

  "Zhao Ren, this afternoon you all must tidy up the vegetable plots according to this standard, otherwise there will be no meat for dinner tonight!" Zhao Chen demonstrated, using an iron hoe to make the vegetable plots neat and tidy with clear edges and corners. He lifted his head and said to the crowd.

  "Second Master, rest assured, we will definitely get him sorted out today!" Before Zhao Ren could respond, everyone had already chimed in with their agreement.

  "Alright, Jian Xi! If everyone cleans up the place tonight, we'll add meat to dinner!" Zhao Che said loudly, and the enthusiasm of the servants was once again mobilized. Jian Xi nodded with a bitter face, he had already asked Huang Jingchen today, and the old man just gave one sentence: let the prince do whatever makes him happy, as long as nothing goes wrong.

  In the following days, Zhao Di spent every day after breakfast in the greenhouse, directing everyone to water the vegetable field, spread horse manure from the stable, flatten it twice, and then sow vegetable seeds, starting to raise seedlings. By this time, the weather had become cooler and cooler, until the chilly late autumn arrived!

  After several autumn rains, the weather has been getting cooler day by day. The vegetables in the greenhouse have already sprouted and need to be covered with a grass curtain at night for warmth. On October 6th, it is auspicious to move, and Xiaoyuan had been renovated a few days ago. Today, Zhao Ye moved from Dongyuan to Xiaoyuan.