The Lucky Heiress

“Miss Wei need not worry about this. If I were to assign someone to assist you, I would naturally send a maid to handle matters with you, so you would not have to deal directly with me or any other men,” Chu Lan explained.

Seeing that her excuse of the distinct roles of men and women did not dissuade Chu Lan, Wei Ruo looked up towards Wei Mingting, hoping he would support her refusal.

Wei Mingting seemed to understand Wei Ruo’s need for help and turned to look at Chu Lan, “Your kindness towards the people is indeed a blessing. However, my daughter does not have much experience in managing large-scale personnel adjustments, perhaps it’s better to let her learn it step by step…”

Chu Lan interjected: “There is no need for more words, Mr. Wei. Miss Wei is the most qualified for the task of improving the southern wasteland of Xingshan County City. If she claims that it can’t be done, then I dare to say no one else could do it.”

Wei Mingting had no choice but to concede, “Since this is the young master’s goodwill, Ruoruo, you should accept it. He is kind-hearted and hopes that the people of Xingshan County can have enough to eat.”

“Then I will humbly comply,” Wei Ruo reluctantly accepted.

After conversing with Wei Mingting, Qian Magistrate, Chu Lan, and others, Wei Ruo ordered Agui and Xiaoba to start gathering rice seedlings, preparing for transplantation.

During the seedling stage, sowing is relatively dense. When it’s time to transplant, they are spaced out to ensure that each rice plant can fully receive sunlight and nourishment from the soil, so the spacing between the plants increases.

Therefore, the seedlings gathered from these two acres of nursery field will be more than enough to transplant into the two acres of paddy fields.

“Father, did we lose some seedlings in the paddy fields on Mantou Mountain this year?” Wei Ruo asked Wei Mingting.

The Wei Family, like other families in Xingshan County, planted early rice which had passed the transplanting period and grew higher than a child.

However, Wei Ruo heard that, due to the weather, many families in Xingshan County had poor rice growth, with some even losing a large portion.

“Your mother indeed mentioned it to me.”

During the brief periods when Wei Mingting was at home, Madam Yun rarely bothered him with mundane household affairs. But the issue of the rice plants dying concerned the family’s autumn harvest; she couldn’t hide it from him and informed him early to prepare.

“When we have extra seedlings from here, please arrange for someone to take them to Mantou Mountain in the north of the city to replace the ones that died,” Wei Ruo instructed.

Wei Mingting was momentarily stunned, then joyously praised, “Ruoruo is very thoughtful!”

He felt a touch of admiration for his daughter’s meticulousness and thoughtfulness towards their household matters.

Wei Ruo thought to head to Xiaoyang Mountain when she set off to deliver the seedlings to the north of the city.

As for the seedlings, if they weren’t used in the Wei Family fields they would just be given to others. Other wastelands weren’t cultivated in time for planting, and she wasn’t familiar with the situation in other households. If the seedlings weren’t planted on Mantou Mountain, it would be a waste.

After all, these seedlings were carefully grown through their hard work, it would be a pity to discard them.

Once all the seedlings were gathered, Wei Ruo instructed Agui and Xiaoba to plough the fields and prepare for transplantation.

Meanwhile, Wei Ruo headed back first, along with a portion of the seedlings destined for planting at Mantou Mountain in the northern city.

On the return journey, Wei Ruo leaned on the window of the carriage, observing the scenery along the way.

Xiumei massaged Wei Ruo’s shoulders and legs.

“Miss, should we select some trustworthy people and teach them the method of improving the soil, without letting others know?” Xiumei asked.

“No need for that, I will make the method public, which is much more efficient,” Wei Ruo replied.

“But what if the disciples starve the master once they learn it?” Xiumei asked.

Here was different from Mo Jiazha. There, they had a good relationship with the villagers, and there were no reservations in teaching them. However, they were not familiar with the locals here and feared there might be some bad apples among them.

“Rest assured, even if they learned it, they only learn the surface part, not the underlying logic, so they won’t quite grasp it. Besides, I have many talents, so sharing this one won’t matter that much.”

Some of Wei Ruo’s skills were reserved for her own use, to earn money and make a living, but some technologies could be shared to help innocent people who were suffering.

Take this method of improving land, for example. Retaining it didn’t have any significant advantages. Not everywhere had poor soil in need of her improvement, and she wasn’t likely to earn much silver from this method either.

Moreover, she didn’t entirely teach others how to improve wasteland. The method varied according to different conditions of barren land. Even in the case of saline-alkali land, the methods to render it fertile varied, with different mix ratios and usages, so only sharing the method for this specific piece of land might not work elsewhere.

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Soon, the developments in the southern city reached Madam Yun’s ears, and she was immensely excited.

From successfully cultivating crops on the improved land to acquiring a late-season rice variety, not only did these achievements earn praise from others, but also showed attention to the production issues on their terraced mountain.

All the things Wei Ruo did profoundly touched Madam Yun’s heart.

With repeated praises for Wei Ruo, each compliment weakened Wei Qingwan’s spirits.

Madam Yun didn’t notice Wei Qingwan’s mood change; instead, she busied herself arranging manpower to go to Mantou Mountain, preparing to transplant the seedlings gathered by Wei Ruo.

When Wei Ruo arrived at the Wei Residence, Madam Yun unusually went to the entrance to greet her.

“Ruoruo, you’ve worked hard these days!” Madam Yun was full of joy.

“I won’t be going back to the mansion for now. I’ll take these seedlings straight to Mantou Mountain. Have workers been arranged for planting the seedlings?” Wei Ruo inquired, her expression unchanged, maintaining her professionalism.

“It’s all arranged. They left for Mantou Mountain a quarter of an hour ago, just waiting for the seedlings to arrive so they can start transplanting,” Madam Yun answered.

“That’s good. I’ll go there too, taking the chance to look at the growth of the crops on Mantou Mountain,” said Wei Ruo.

“That’s a good idea, but Ruoruo, do pay attention to your own health. Don’t work yourself too hard,” Madam Yun said with concern.

“Mhm.” Wei Ruo didn’t continue to discuss family matters with Madam Yun. Having gained her approval, she immediately ordered Liu Bo to head to Mantou Mountain in the northern city.

When facing Madam Yun, Wei Ruo said she was going to examine the growth on Mantou Mountain, but in reality, she intended to head to Xiaoyang Mountain under the pretense of this visit.

Madam Yun was oblivious to Wei Ruo’s true intentions, she simply thought her daughter was very sensible and considerate towards their family matters: using the surplus seedlings to replenish the family’s rice fields and personally inspecting the condition of their terraced mountain.

Madam Yun was deeply moved. Even though there were some minor disagreements in their family, in relation to the family’s overall welfare, her daughter was certainly very aware of the bigger picture..