The Lucky Heiress

Despite this, Chu Lan did not appear upset, but quietly enjoyed his time with Wei Ruo.

“I find that the days I spent on the farm were actually the most comfortable ones I’ve had during my time in Taizhou prefecture,” Chu Lan commented thoughtfully.

Wei Ruo wanted to retort that during that time he was physically wrecked and his face was horribly disfigured; how could he describe those days as comfortable? She figured he must have lost his senses!

Wei Ruo did not engage in the conversation, focusing instead on stoking the fire in the furnace.

Suddenly, Chu Lan untied a jade pendant from his waist, placed it on the table, then pushed it towards Wei Ruo.

“You should keep this.”

“Master Zhu, I’ve already accepted your medical fee, there’s no need for more,” Wei Ruo replied.

“Take it. If you ever need help in Capital City, you can use this pendant to find me. Perhaps I might be able to assist you.”

Before Wei Ruo could reject him again, Chu Lan added: “If you don’t accept, I won’t leave today.”

Wei Ruo was left speechless, unable to utter her ‘No’.

After numerous thoughts, caught between accepting the jade pendant and Chu Lan not leaving, Wei Ruo chose the former.

“I will accept it then,” Wei Ruo picked up the jade pendant and placed it in her pouch.

Once the tea was consumed, Chu Lan got up to leave.

“Mr. Xu, until our paths cross again,” Chu Lan offered a bow, formally bidding Wei Ruo farewell.

“Until our paths cross again,” Wei Ruo responded.

Chu Lan turned around and left the farm.

Before getting onto his horse, he gave one last glance to the place where he had resided over the winter.

He then rode away, his black silhouette fading into the distance until it eventually disappeared from Wei Ruo’s view.

Once Chu Lan had left, Wei Ruo breathed a sigh of relief.

She was unsure why Chu Lan was so fixated on repaying her for saving his life. He’d already given her silver as repayment, so they should be even by now.

Furthermore, given her attitude towards him, it was surprising that a proud man like him still insisted on showing gratitude. She didn’t expect him to have such a strong sense of gratitude.

Declining to mull it over further, Wei Ruo hurriedly went to Caili Farm and Stone Village to inspect the growth of the crops and the state of the winery before returning to the General’s Residence.

Upon returning, Wei Ruo was unable to rest. She pulled out the maps of the two farms and nearby mountain villages again, with the intention of finding another empty plot of land.

The fabric Wei Ruo had previously promised to the Madams of several noble families was met with their fondness. Now, more people were asking Wei Ruo about the source of the fabric and expressing a strong desire to buy it.

Wei Ruo told them that the fabric was limited, and those who wanted to buy would need to wait.

As of now, she didn’t have a way to mass-produce either the fabric or the dye, and she didn’t intend to either.

However, she still needed to figure out how to set up a place to work on dying fabric, since she couldn’t always use a large water vat in her small yard. It was simply not convenient and could easily be discovered by others.

The next day, Wei Ruo received another letter from the nurse, updating her on the progress at Fengting Villa in the provincial city.

Following Wei Ruo’s instructions, they had taken in some refugees and started clearing some of the relatively flat land on the mountain, preparing to plant long-life regenerative rice.

Due to the terrain, the initial planting would be relatively strenuous. For the next half a month, they would plant as much as they could, and not rush what they could not finish in time. The remaining work would be planned for the warming-up period next year.

Other areas with a bit more slope in the landscape had been planted with tea trees.

These tea trees were wild tea bushes that Wei Ruo had asked people to fetch from the mountains around the provincial city and Taizhou prefecture.

The locals were aware of the wild tea bushes, but no one had the idea of transplanting it because there was simply nowhere to plant them. Land resources were very precious, and everyone prioritized planting food crops to fill their bellies.

As a result, tea, a non-essential commodity, was low on the priority list. Poor families drank water more often, and most did not have the time or resources to pick tea, make tea, and brew tea.

In the provincial city and Taizhou prefecture, the wild tea bushes on the mountains were mainly green tea, with varieties similar to Longjing tea.

After being transplanted, all the branches and leaves of the tea bushes were pruned by Wei Ruo’s group.

By the time spring arrived next year, they would be able to pick their first batch of tea leaves.

In addition to updating Wei Ruo on the progress at Fengting Villa, the nurse also informed Wei Ruo in her letter that the prince responsible for disaster relief had already left Jiangzhe. Rumor has it that he was punished for poor performance in disaster relief efforts, and the court was preparing to assign someone else to take over the job.

With Chu Lan returning to the Capital City and the sixth prince also gone, and the appearance of the feeble ninth prince, it seemed that things in the Capital City would become lively.

To Wei Ruo, however, it mattered little how lively the Capital City became, as long as she remained undisturbed here.

###

On the following day, Wei Ruo left the house dressed as a woman, going together with Madam Yuan, Granny Qin and others towards the reclaimed land.

Although Chu Lan had returned to the Capital City, Granny Qin and her group were staying behind to continue the relief work with Wei Ruo.

In addition, several Madams also joined them, which included Yunshi.

The land reclamation had yielded the first results and wheat had been planted. The Madams were eager to see the current state of the farmland their wealth and efforts had contributed to shape.

According to the agreement with the Government Office, the land ownership belonged to those who had invested in it, and so did the harvest of this season.

And after today’s inspection, the Government Office would start to allocate lands. How much each family could be assigned would be made public.

Seeing Yunshi and Wei Ruo, the Madams of every family offered their felicitations.

This was because the Wei family had recently enjoyed a string of successes.

Wei Mingting had been promoted, Wei Yichen had passed the imperial examination, Wei Ruo had received a reward, and Wei Qingwan was to be married.

For a while, they were unparalleled in their glory.

To this, Wei Ruo merely responded with a polite smile.

The smile on Yunshi’s face was even more radiant than Wei Ruo’s. She felt truly proud and happy from the bottom of her heart.

However, Madam Xu did not congratulate Wei Ruo like the others. Instead, the look she gave the latter was somewhat complex.

Upon reaching the location, everyone saw the expanses of newly cleared fields on which the vibrant, green wheat shoots were brimming with life.

Everyone involuntarily wore a joyful expression.

“It’s hard to imagine that a year ago, this was a rocky landscape where hardly any wild grass could grow!”

“Exactly. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe that these large tracts of fertile land were reclaimed only over the last half year!”

“I heard from the older generation that this area used to be a place where nothing could grow! Now look at these lush green wheat shoots, it’s as if they were brought to life by some kind of divine intervention!”

“…”

The Madams continually expressed their admiration.

After the tour, Madam Yuan presented the land allocation map to everyone.

The layout of the reclaimed land was drawn on the map, clearly marking the size and ownership of each plot.

The sight of the marked areas on the map filled the Madams with satisfaction because its contents matched exactly with what Madam Yuan had initially agreed upon. Each family’s share was determined based on a fair calculation of their individual contributions in terms of money, grain, and labor.

Only Yunshi, after seeing the map, had an awkward expression on her face.